Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 523 World Premiere, Explosive Bei Learning
At 2007:12 p.m. on December 6, , Los Angeles time, Pacific Rim officially held its world premiere at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, which later became the Highland Center.

The scale of the premiere was very grand, and it can be seen that Warner Bros. referred to "Transformers" in many aspects for this premiere.

Like "Transformers", Paramount also placed a huge mecha model in front of the Kodak Theater.

The only difference is that the former is 1:1, while the latter is 1:0.5.

This alone has attracted enough attention.

Things like robots and mechas are simply men's favorites.

Ask the whole world, which man doesn't have a middle school mecha dream, dreaming of using mecha to maintain world peace.

The premiere had a red carpet walk, and many celebrities attended. They walked the red carpet in groups of three or five and were photographed by the media.

"It's directed by Quentin Tarantino~"

"Look, it's Mel Gibson..."

"It's Michael Bay, why is he here too..."

"Who's that with the white hair, Roland Emmerich?"

"Oh my god, who do I see, James Cameron..."

As one big shot after another appeared, fans on both sides kept exclaiming in surprise, and the media faithfully recorded this scene.

In Hollywood, the appeal of top directors is no less than that of top stars, and may even be more so.

Apart from anything else, just the number of fans of God of Cards probably exceeds that of most first-line stars.

In addition to the red carpet, there were countless producers and well-known members of various unions who were invited, but they did not need to walk the red carpet and could just enter directly.

Of course, there is also a group that film and television companies love and hate - film critics.

These guys don't think highly of commercial films, especially big productions like "Pacific Rim", but they have to be invited.

This is still an era when traditional media is king, and these guys' film reviews still have a significant effect, but they are already on the decline.

In China, there are cultural celebrities like Han Han who work as film critics, and the situation is similar abroad.

In two years, when self-media emerges, professional film critics will completely disappear in the long river of history.

"I hope this is a good science fiction film. I am a fan of director Zhang Chen and I really like his "Taken", but I don't know how he is at making science fiction films..."

After the red carpet, it was time for interviews, Quentin said.

He is a person of true nature. He has a foot fetish and he really takes pictures of beautiful feet without hiding anything.

In the original time and space, he also expressed several times that he is a fan of Wu Baige and is deeply influenced by the aesthetics of violence.

It’s just that in this time and space, I have also become a fan of “Taken”.

"I watched the trailer, it's very exciting. I hope this is a masterpiece that can surpass "Transformers"..."

The one who said this was Explosive Bay.

Now is the time when he is most proud of himself. The movie "Transformers" has earned $7 million in box office worldwide. His directorial career has reached its peak, and he himself has also made a lot of money.

The director's basic salary is $1500 million, and he also enjoys a 7% profit share, which is about $5000 million.

In addition, he is also a co-producer and enjoys 8% of the net profit share, which is not much, just over 500 million US dollars.

But these are not actually the big ones.

The real big money comes from the sales of toys.

For every Transformers-related toy sold by Hasbro, Exploder can get an 8% commission.

So far, 14 billion toys have been sold, and Explosive Bay has earned 1.12 million US dollars in commission from toys alone.

So Explosive Bay dares to say this now.

More than "Transformers", it literally means blessing~
But it is difficult to really achieve it.

"Transformers" can sell so well because it has been cultivated all over the world for 20 years. Once the harvest comes, the box office is of course horrible.

I haven't seen other movies like "Harry Potter", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Spider-Man", but none of them can reach this level.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what science fiction films made by the Chinese will be like?" Emmerich seemed to have some hidden meaning when he spoke.

"Pacific Rim, the trailer looks good, I'm full of expectations, but I'll have to wait and see how it turns out..."

What God of Cards said was more conservative, but the meaning behind his words was actually similar to Emmerich's.

In fact, this is also what most Americans think.

A science fiction film made by the Chinese!
Are you kidding me?
When will the Chinese learn to make science fiction films? Aren't they good at making fancy action movies with flying and fighting scenes?

Many people who attended today's premiere actually came with the intention of watching a joke.

Science fiction films are indeed not exclusive to Hollywood.

Europeans have made films, Russians have made films, Japanese have made films, and Indians have made films, but only Hollywood can be considered successful.

Hollywood's view of their works is like learning to walk in Handan, which is to try to draw a tiger but end up drawing a dog instead.

The type that can't even copy homework well.

So many people don't take Pacific Rim seriously.

Although the trailer does look good, there are too many examples where the trailer was successful but the feature film failed.

To put it bluntly, as long as all the essence of the feature film is cut into the trailer, it is difficult for the trailer to be bad.

Of course, Zhang Chen also has a group of fans in North America.

"Eden Lake", "Taken", and "A Quiet Place" are several films released by Zhang Chen in North America. Almost each film has a different theme, but the quality of the films is very good.

So Zhang Chen suddenly changed his career and made the science fiction film "Pacific Rim", and they still felt that the quality must be good.

During the entire premiere, the most lively area besides the red carpet area was the theme exhibition area.

The theme exhibition area also draws on the creativity of the Transformers premiere.

At the premiere of "Transformers 1", the organizers set up an area for fans to communicate.

"Transformers" fans can share their experiences and even exchange some of their own collections in this area.

The comics, animations, novels, chronicles and some peripheral products of "Pacific Rim" were fully launched half a year in advance in order to expand the number of fans.

The effect is remarkable.

In the chronicles of "Pacific Rim", several of the world's top countries all have their own mechas.

Although not all of them are in the movie, they are all in the comics and novels.

America has dangerous strays, mountain lions, and worried blue Romeo;
Russia has the Eden Assassin, Cherno Alpha;

South America has the Dark Interceptor;
Japan has Tango Wolf and Invisible Ronin;
Mexico has the wrath of the matadors;
Australia has its volcanic ghost, the Eureka Raiders;
South Korea has the planet Rhea;

China has Horizon Warriors, Shaolin Rangers, Storm Red...

Major countries all have their own mechas. If not, then reflect on whether your country's world ranking is high enough.

The benefits of doing this are obvious. The novel is widely accepted around the world. Everyone wants to see what the mechas of their own country look like, even if they are not the protagonists.

The popularity of mecha culture is one aspect, but the more important aspect is that Zhang Chen came up with a cool trick - he created wearable props for "Pacific Rim".

In fact, it is a wearable prop in major theme parks in later generations, mostly Bumblebee and Sun Wukong, but the most famous one is Universal Studios' chatterbox Megatron. This thing became popular in later generations, and almost all theme parks have related performances.

It was even more powerful in 2007.

The 1:0.5 scale model in the square is cool, but too big for photos.

But these wearable props are different. A height of three meters is just right for taking photos.

Zhang Chen prepared three sets of such wearable props, namely Storm Red, Dangerous Wanderer and Cherno Alpha.

Storm Red is the most popular because it has the best aesthetics.

At a premiere, the most important thing is of course watching the movie.

A bunch of bigwigs are waiting to give their reviews after watching the movie, and the media are also waiting to forward their reviews.

When the opening credits are over, the movie officially begins.

It starts with a background introduction, and the quality of the DV documentary is acceptable.

Monsters invaded, various conventional weapons became ineffective, and humans had to use nuclear bombs.

Killing the monster also polluted the environment.

The Hunter Project was born, and humans began to build their own mechas - using monsters to defeat monsters.

Then came the second invasion, when humans sent out mechas to fight the monsters, with impressive results.

When Michael Bay saw the scene where the aircraft carrier was dragging the corpse of the monster, he was shocked.

He felt that this shot was very well designed. This simple shot perfectly highlighted the huge size of the Kaiju.

This Chinese director has something.

Michael Bay suddenly got an inspiration. Could this shot also appear in Transformers? For example, what was pulled up on the aircraft carrier was not the corpse of a monster, but a Transformer...

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed to him. Currently, Paramount is in contact with him to discuss the sequel, and if nothing unexpected happens, he will still be the director of the sequel.

There were no surprises in what happened next.

A standard three-act structure, with the first climax about ten minutes into the film.

The base's sensors located in the space-time rift showed that a new Kaiju had invaded.

The three siblings of the Fan family went to the war.

Put on combat uniforms, enter the cockpit, and connect the cockpit to the mecha~
The rhythm of this segment is very good, coupled with the explosive soundtrack, it makes people unable to stop.

Michael Bay has found that so far, this Chinese director has done a very good job, which is completely different from what he had imagined.

Then, Storm Red made its debut!
The camera never gave any panoramic shots from beginning to end, only close-ups of details.

Head, shoulders, waist, back, arms, legs...

The camera swept from top to bottom, showing every detail of Storm Red one by one, while the background showed a text introduction about Storm Red.

It has defended Hong Kong seven times, making it the mecha that has participated in the most battles in Pacific Rim so far.

Full of style~
But most importantly, the overwhelming feeling...

It has the same effect as the previous aircraft carrier shots.

The director of this film seems to be very concerned about creating a sense of enormity.

When Michael Bay thought back to the previous shot, he actually had the illusion that the huge mecha could not fit into the shot.

He understood that this illusion was implanted in him by the director of the play without his knowledge...

He began to reflect on whether he could use this creation technique in "Transformers 2".

"Transformers 1" was very successful and Michael Bay himself was very satisfied.

But the sequel must definitely innovate on the basis of the previous one.

But how to innovate has always been a difficult problem.

If one thing is not handled properly, it may cause the sequel to fail. Perhaps this kind of huge creation is something we can learn.

It is certainly no coincidence that Explosive Bay was able to be promoted from a commercial director to a director of Hollywood A-level productions. Being good at learning is one of the characteristics of such people.

"Pacific Rim" is still going on, and the rhythmic soundtrack is very inspiring.

Michael Bay noticed the art style of Pacific Rim.

It's completely different from Transformers.

Every frame of "Transformers" is exquisite, and every car transformation is so dazzling and colorful.

The audience's biggest wish is to understand the detailed process of the transformation.

For example, where did Optimus Prime’s head come from?

What part of his arm becomes a truck?
And what about Pacific Rim?

There is a strong heavy metal industrial style everywhere.

The pilot's combat uniform was rough and heavy, with the paint even showing signs of wear and tear in some places.

There is also the cockpit, the exposed gears, the huge hydraulic linkage, and the white steam coming out from time to time...

Every movement made by the three drivers seemed so laborious, the feeling was all too real.

Michael Bay doesn't know how Zhang Chen shot it.

It's impossible that they really built a hydraulic device to cooperate with the performance.

That sense of power that emanates from the surface.

A similar choice was made at the beginning of the project of "Transformers": should the robots be made bulky or flexible?

In the end, flexible opinions prevailed.

The reason is very simple. Transformers are living beings, higher life forms, so they should not appear clumsy.

So even though they are heavy mechanical bodies, each of the Transformers is incredibly flexible, just like a hero.

During the filming, Michael Bay used the most advanced motion capture technology at the time. The tall Transformers on the screen are actually real-life action actors who are covered with sensors, and they perform in this way.

The following scenes change rapidly, and all scenes are edited quickly within one to two seconds, which makes the audience's adrenaline soar.

In Michael Bay's opinion, the subsequent monster-fighting films were inferior and just mediocre.

As to why the director decided to set the battle to take place at night, it's simple: the dark environment is more friendly to special effects.

For example, if the battle takes place during the day, the angle at which the sunlight hits the mecha must be consistent with the reflection of water droplets and the reflection of the mecha's surface.

If something is not done well, it will immediately give people a fake feeling.

If it is at night, then many situations do not need to be considered. Not only will the workload of the staff be greatly reduced, but the budget of the producer can also be reduced a lot.

Michael Bay was somewhat disdainful of this. He felt that Zhang Chen was not bold enough to hold a big scene in the daytime.

"Transformers" was released in the daytime, and the consequence of its pursuit of perfection was that those fans were singing praises in vain.

(End of this chapter)