Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 411 Jing Tian's big eyes

Guo Fan was very efficient in execution and contacted the artist as soon as he returned to the company.

For the next two days, Zhang Chen locked himself and four artists in a small conference room to determine the shapes of the mecha and monster.

In his previous life, he watched the documentary "Pacific Rim" and heard the designers from Industrial Light & Magic brag about how they designed several mechas and monsters.

To be honest, the mecha designs are good. China, the United States and Russia each have their own characteristics, and they also combine specific elements of each country.

The designs of monsters are actually pretty much the same all over the world.

It is nothing more than combining one or several animals in reality.

The sickle head, axe head, thunder beast, demon witch and several other monsters in the original work all follow this idea, combining reptiles and crustaceans to highlight the shell and enhance the bone texture.

The skin takes its scaly structure from reptiles, rather than the hair form of mammals.

It is said that the original monster combines the characteristics of gorillas, lobsters, beetles, leatherback turtles, snakes, etc., and Zhang Chen's one is similar.

Like Industrial Light & Magic, the design was also redesigned based on references to various insects and animals.

After the mecha and monster were decided, Zhang Chen arranged for them to produce some concept drawings first.

Then he continued to retreat and started to tinker with the storyboard script.

There are various commentary articles in later generations, and he knows very well why "Ring 1" was successful but "Ring 2" failed.

The biggest problem is that the two elements of the mecha, the heaviness and the upward perspective, are gone.

It can be said that these two aspects are crucial to the success of "Ring 1".

The heavy feeling of the mecha is the biggest difference between "Pacific Rim" and "Transformers".

Mechas are machines and an extension of the human body, so they must have a sense of heaviness. They cannot be flexible and instead carry heavy inertia.

Only in this way will people believe that this is a mecha.

The director of "Ring 2" ignored this point, probably thinking that it would be more interesting to be as flexible as "Transformers".

But the end result was that the audience didn't buy it.

If you change it like this, is it still "Pacific Rim"? I might as well just go watch "Transformers".

The second is the upward perspective.

This is so important.

Several classic shots in "Ring 1" were shot at an upward angle:

A huge mecha passed over the camera~
A close-up of the mecha from the feet upwards when it leaves the factory~
Zhang Chen will absorb the experiences that have proven to be successful and correct the mistakes.

An 8 million project cannot afford to fail.

Zhang Chen began to draw storyboards in seclusion. In his previous life, he actually wondered why the scene of the battle between mechas and monsters should be set in the sea.

Wouldn't it be better if we moved it to land?
When he actually put it into operation, he found that it could only be placed in the sea because this was the most cost-effective way.

If all the battle scenes were to be set on land, the special effects costs would have to be doubled to cover the cost.

And this has another advantage. Putting it in the sea and simulating rainy weather, the rain falling on the mecha can just highlight the huge outline of the mecha.

After another two days of seclusion, he drew all the important storyboards and also some storyboards.

None of the classic shots were missed, such as the scene where the mecha towed a large ship as a weapon, and the scene where the mecha's big feet passed over its head.

Then Zhang Chen began to perfect the settings. Setting this thing is neither important nor unimportant.

The purpose of Pacific Rim is to let the audience watch mechas fighting monsters.

Then someone will definitely ask, why do we have to fight hand-to-hand, and what are the uses of so many conventional weapons and nuclear weapons?

This requires a reasonable explanation.

The explanation in the original work is that when the first monster Axehead appeared, humans used conventional weapons, but found that missiles were useless.

Later, they had no choice but to use nuclear bombs, three in total, and destroyed three cities before they eliminated the monster.

This is still the weakest one.

Humans realized that they could not use nuclear bombs to fight monsters. The monsters would be destroyed, but the destroyed cities would become uninhabitable. They could only create their own monsters to fight the monsters in close combat, and this is how mechas came into being.

While Zhang Chen was in seclusion during these days, the outside world was not idle either.

When Zhang Chen was interviewed that day, he criticized Feng Xiaogang and the Fifth Generation, and the media immediately made an article about it.

Some curious media outlets specifically asked the fifth generation whether they could make science fiction films.
Zhang Yimou was the most frank and admitted that he really couldn't shoot the film.

The original words were: "Director Zhang is right. A director can only shoot what he knows. I don't understand science fiction films. I don't even know what is a good science fiction film and what is a bad science fiction film. Of course, I can't shoot it well~"

After hearing the reporter's question, poet Chen turned and left without leaving any answer.

The media speculated that he was a little embarrassed.

Ever since The Promise, he has become unwilling to listen to even the slightest dissenting voice.

As for Feng Xiaogang, he is very stubborn.

“No one knows if they can do it before filming~
Also, Zhang Chen is a bit too self-righteous. Am I just good at talking? His words don’t count. Let the movie speak for itself. The Banquet will be released on November 11th. We will see the box office results then..."

Feng Xiaogang was very bothered by Zhang Chen's comment that he was only good at talking.

In fact, this is also the general evaluation of him by the audience, but Zhang Chen felt a little embarrassed when he said it in public.

But even so, he did not forget to take advantage of the popularity and promote his new movie.

It’s just the same as when he started a war of words before the movie was released in the past.

From this point of view, Feng is really quite commercial.

However, none of this reached Zhang Chen's ears. He had already gone into seclusion and had specifically instructed that if it was not an extremely urgent matter, he should not be disturbed.

If you want to impress Warner, you have to let them see your professionalism.

Zhang Chen seemed to have returned to the time when he was preparing for "The Dark Invasion". At that time, he was nothing and could only rely on storyboards and storyboards to impress people.

Haha~
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Otherwise, even with the help of China Film Group, the six major Hollywood studios may not be willing to play along with him for a business worth tens of millions of dollars.

Drawing storyboards is not a difficult task for a director. A solid foundation in art is a must for learning to be a director. The most difficult part is to have a picture in mind.

Why is it easiest for a photographer to become a director? Because photographers are most sensitive to picture composition.

The director's most outstanding abilities are his ability to compose pictures and tell stories.

In addition to this, there are many other requirements, such as coordination skills and the ability to train actors, but those can be accomplished with the help of other people.

As long as a person has these two abilities and is accompanied by two assistant directors, he or she can make a good movie.

See, being a director is that simple.

beep~
There was a knock on the door, and Zhang Chen raised his head irritably: "Didn't I tell you not to bother me if it's nothing important~"

The assistant nodded awkwardly, but still said, "I know, Director Zhang, but the person who came is Miss Jing Tian, ​​and Manager Dong said that you'd better meet her~"

When he heard it was Jing Tian, ​​Zhang Chen calmed down.

Jingtian is different from others.

After the Academy Awards, this silly girl publicly expressed her support for herself during a reporter's interview, causing the almost-finished female lead role in "The Warlords" to be lost.

At that time, Dong Jianqiang suggested that they should try to find her as much as possible in the future, even if it meant paying a huge sum of money for her bones.

Now, Star Entertainment is at its peak. Every movie it produces is a hit, and it almost dominates all the good schedules in the year. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the public enemy of the industry.

I don’t know how many people are staring at it, hoping that it will make a mistake.

Xingchen Entertainment is not alone, but also hopes to have many friends.

Especially someone like Jing Tian who has a background.

No one else could get "Painted Skin" approved, but Jing Tian could.

"You are here, sit down~"

Seeing Zhang Chen walk into the reception room, Lu Zheng and Jing Tian both stood up, and Zhang Chen quickly waved his hand for them to sit down.

He also sat down opposite and said, "You are here for "Crocodile Storm" this time, right?"

Jing Tian nodded, and Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Yes, the preparations for the film are all ready. I came here this time just to discuss the schedule with you and see when the filming can start."

Zhang Chen thought for a moment and said with difficulty: "Sorry, sorry, I'm afraid I have to break my promise this time. Pacific Rim has started preparations and I have a lot of things on my hands. In two months, A Quiet Place and Crazy Racer will be released one after another, and I have to promote them. I'm afraid I won't have time to direct a movie..."

This was indeed not a fair thing for Zhang Chen to do.

His original plan was to wait until the filming of Painted Skin was finished and then take advantage of the post-production time to shoot Crocodile Storm.

This kind of film is not difficult to make and can be completed in a little over a month at most.

But after getting started, I found that there were too many things to prepare for "Pacific Rim". A science fiction movie of this scale requires too many supporting facilities, and many of these were not available, so Zhang Chen needed to coordinate.

The current situation is exactly what is meant by "everything needs to be done".

A lot of people are watching closely from outside, waiting to see him make a fool of himself. If Zhang Chen doesn't take it seriously, the project will really fail.

In this case, asking him to take more than a month would definitely not work.

But this would be a bit too unfair to Jingtian.

They spent so much money but didn't ask for a penny in return, which means Xingchen Entertainment took full advantage of them.

But Zhang Chen kept dragging people along, which was really not a big deal.

Lu Zheng and Jing Tian did not expect this result. They had paid so much and were fully prepared, but something went wrong with Zhang Chen.

Seeing Zhang Chen's embarrassed look, Lu Zheng and Jing Tian looked at each other.

Lu Zheng wanted to wait until Zhang Chen was free before shooting.

He felt that Zhang Chen's script should not be wasted.

Jing Tian didn't want to wait, because she had waited too long. Every day she would practice according to the plot in the script and also hired a professional acting teacher.

It can't be said that he was not attentive.

In order to get herself into the best shape, she even trained her swimming skills to the level of a professional athlete and strictly controlled her body shape, striving to show her best side in the movie.

Now Zhang Chen suddenly said that he didn't want to shoot anymore, which made her feel like all her efforts were in vain.

"What if Director Ning Hao takes over as the director?"

She thinks Ning Hao is the second best director, and the first is of course Zhang Chen.

If Zhang Chen can't do it, Ning Hao can do it.

After all, he also directed "The Dark Knight Rises", and it did well at the box office, which shows that he can handle this kind of horror theme.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Chen shook his head again: "Ning Hao may not be able to make it either. He is currently busy with the post-production of "Racing", and he will be shooting a movie soon. I am afraid he may not be able to make it in time~"

When Jing Tian heard that the main candidate was not suitable and the backup candidate was not suitable either, she was so anxious that she was about to cry. Tears filled her eyes and she had to look up at the sky to ensure that she would not cry.

Seeing Jing Tian’s aggrieved look, Zhang Chen felt even more embarrassed.

Why did you make the little girl cry?

"Don't cry, don't cry~"

After Zhang Chen said this, Princess Jing, who had just been pretending to be strong, could no longer hold back her tears, and tears fell like beads from a broken string.

Zhang Chen swore that this was the first time in his life that he thought of a line from ancient poetry in such a concrete way - pearls big and small fall on a jade plate.

Without any prompts, this line of ancient poetry popped into my mind.

"Don't cry, don't cry~"

Seeing tears falling from Caroline's big eyes, Zhang Chen was suddenly confused.

"How about this, although I can't direct, I will definitely help you find a qualified director, okay, please stop crying..."

Zhang Chen was overwhelmed.

But this sentence really works.

Miss Jing, who looked so pitiful just now, suddenly stopped.

There were still tears in Caroline's big eyes, but they were no longer falling.

The rain finally subsided.

"Really?"

"real."

"who is it?"

"Well, I haven't decided yet, but it should be one of the best directors in Hollywood who are good at making thrillers. I am very familiar with them, don't worry..."

That’s right, what Zhang Chen thought of was the Huala Gang.

Everyone in the Huala Gang comes from the horror film industry, and they are all masters.

Pick any one of them and make a slightly more thrilling movie like "Crocodile Storm" with ease.

"Don't worry. I'm going to fly to Hollywood tomorrow and will definitely decide on a director. You should get ready and be ready to start filming at any time."

"Okay, poof~"

Seeing the other party burst into laughter, Zhang Chen also breathed a sigh of relief.

I have never experienced such a scene, mainly because Jing Tian is different from ordinary female stars.

After spending several times with her, Zhang Chen could feel that this girl was very simple.

Maybe it’s because I was protected too well by my family.

Otherwise, future generations will not be deceived by that scumbag Zhang Jike.

"That's it, I'm really sorry for being so abrupt today. We'll take our leave first..."

Lu Zheng just wanted to leave quickly.

He couldn't understand how this situation had happened.

Although the ending is good, the process is really...

It’s hard to describe~
The two of them were thinking about their own things. Lu Zheng felt that today had been full of twists and turns and was still reviewing it in his mind.

Jing Tian felt embarrassed at this moment. Why did she cry for no reason? It was really...

But slowly, a blush appeared on his rosy smiling face. It turned out that he fell for this trick.
After Zhang Chen sent the two away, he realized that his forehead was covered in sweat.

Why didn't I think of it earlier? If I had thought of it earlier, I wouldn't have made the beauty cry. Wait, why am I still being so kind to her?
The next day, when reporters came to Zhang Chen with the reactions of the three directors, hoping to start a new round of topics, they were told that Zhang Chen had gone to Hollywood.

"What did Director Zhang do in Hollywood?"

"Of course, we are discussing cooperation matters regarding Pacific Rim~"

"Ah, Director Zhang, are you serious?"

Even among the media, many people did not believe that Zhang Chen really wanted to make a science fiction film.

It’s not their fault. In the 50 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, no one has ever made a science fiction film in the country.

Not to mention China, no one has filmed it even in Hong Kong.

As for "Interstellar Blunt Embryo"?
That's not science fiction.

The science fiction here is hard science fiction.

……

Los Angeles International Airport

Still the same place, still the same people.

Diane was wearing a pair of sunglasses and standing in the distance, waving at Zhang Chen.

"Hi, Boss~"

"Hey, Diane, how's the task going for you?"

"Oh Boss, how can you be like this? We haven't seen each other for such a long time. According to your Oriental custom, shouldn't you talk about family matters first when you meet?"

"Okay, Diane, you're right, let's start over. Hi, Diane, how have you been lately?"

"Great, Boss, do you know how much our movie 'Hold Your Breath' made at the box office? You'll never guess~"

Zhang Chen cooperated and said, "Okay, I really can't guess. Tell me, how much is it?"

"4100 million US dollars, haha, it will take two more days for the movie to be released. I think it can make a few million in these two days."

"Great, Diane, you did a great job~"

"No, we did a great job, Boss. The cube has become a big hit in the industry..."

Diane was in high spirits and kept talking about one good news after another.

"Oh, there's another piece of good news. Our leading actress, Ms. Blake Lively, has been asking me about your whereabouts recently. I think she wants to express her gratitude to you in person. After all, because of our movie, she has gained quite a bit of fame..."

After hearing this, Zhang Chen understood what was going on.

Maybe Blake Lively wanted to strengthen her friendship with him and find out if she would be in the sequel~
The female thief played by Lively in this play is indeed outstanding, she is cute and lovely, with a bit of wild beauty.

Generally, similar thrillers have similar configurations, and the heroine must be a beautiful girl.

Beauty and the Beast.

The more beautiful a woman is, the more memorable she is when she is destroyed.

"Do you need me to inform her that you have arrived in Los Angeles and ask her to come over in the evening to help you adjust to the time difference..."

Diane was very concerned about this, but Zhang Chen was really not used to talking about this with her.

Blake Lively's father was Diane's friend, and he always felt that it was immoral to do things like this with her.

But Diane didn't think so.

Zhang Chen chanted Amitabha, and then said, "OK, let her wait for me at the hotel tonight. Let's go to the company first."

After saying this, Zhang Chen finally asked about the main business.

"How's the special effects company I asked you to buy going?"

Zhang Chen was talking about Activision Special Effects, which was one of the three companies that Zhang Chen investigated when he wanted to buy the company.

At that time, the five founders of Activision did not want to sell the company, so the acquisition was not successful.

But later they changed their minds. Two of the founders wanted to withdraw. Zhang Chen happened to be preparing to launch "Pacific Rim", so he directly let Diane acquire their company.

"Of course, you will be able to meet them when you go to the company. I did not break them up. I still let them maintain the original structure. Some of them are very good."

Diane thinks it's a good deal to spend $500 million to acquire this company.
The main thing is that they have some patents in their hands, and these people have development capabilities, which is very important.

……

First of all, let me make it clear that I am simply soliciting opinions and have no intention of engaging in a war of words.

Those who can catch up with the latest chapters are my bread and butter, and I just want to try my best to meet everyone's needs.

Looking at the comments, some people said that movies should not be adapted because there is no sense of immersion, which made me very confused.

Chinese entertainment literature, isn’t magical adaptation one of the highlights?
The previous "Taken" was revamped to create an agent universe. I thought it was interesting, but I wondered if I was wrong.

It takes a lot of effort for me to make some modifications, so it would be easier if I don't make any modifications.

I would like to ask you to clear up my doubts.

(End of this chapter)