Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 196 Aerial Photography and DJI

Aerial photography with drones is not actually a very novel thing.

As early as 1903, when German pharmacist Julius Neubronner began using carrier pigeons as couriers to receive prescriptions from a local sanatorium and deliver medicines, he had an idea to put light cameras on pigeons to record their flight journey.

This may be the earliest drone aerial photography in historical record.

After that, with the development of the aviation industry, drone aerial photography technology has been constantly updated and iterated, but because of the particularity of the technology, it has always been used in the military field.

It was not until world peace that drone technology in the civilian market really developed.

Today, more than a hundred years later, drone aerial photography has been widely used in various fields as a new industrial technology.

However, most of the remote-controlled drones nowadays are still miniaturized aircraft models, which are not very stable during flight. Rotor-type drones that can hover in the air like those in later generations are not widely used nowadays.

It was not until 2010 that the high-performance quadcopter platform AR.Drone produced by the French company Parrot was born, which set off a global craze for the commercialization of quadcopters, and then drone companies in China began to emerge like mushrooms after a rain.

Therefore, the drone that Wang Hao and his team used for aerial photography this time was still an ordinary helicopter-type aerial drone.

In addition to regular cinematographers like Li Kui, there were also DJI founder Wang Tao and his team at the shooting site. What these three people did was to provide technical support for the aerial photography of the film.

The reason why DJI was present at the filming site was that when Wang Hao was designing this set of opening shots last year, he wanted to use aerial photography and suddenly realized the important value of drone technology for film shooting.

Before the emergence of drone technology, the use of aerial photography was actually limited to a certain extent.

Conventional helicopter aerial photography usually requires operations at an altitude of more than 500 meters. If the altitude is lowered, danger may occur.

However, ground equipment such as jibs, slides, and Steadicams can only reach a maximum of 20 meters.

Therefore, within the range of 500 to 20 meters, there are no good choices for current film shooting equipment, which means that drone aerial photography will have a huge market in the future.

In the future, DJI will be the overlord of this industry.

Therefore, whether based on investment returns or for the development of China's film shooting technology, Wang Hao would not miss such a unicorn company. So after asking someone to inquire about DJI, he went to the door specifically.

Wang Tao, who had just founded DJI not long ago, was also very surprised by Wang Hao's arrival.

As a graduate of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Wang Tao is a typical science and engineering man who firmly believes that technology can change the world.

So after graduation, he called two partners who had worked on the same experimental project together, and went to Shenzhen to establish DJI Technology. In a residential area, he continued his research direction in college and delved into aircraft hovering technology.

However, science and technology research classes are not like making movies like Wang Hao and his colleagues. Sometimes, even if you invest energy, time and money, it is difficult to see results in a short period of time.

Therefore, at this stage, DJI is still in a difficult dormant period, lacking both money and people.

Many high-tech talents that they were eyeing, after visiting the office, thought it was just a small workshop and turned around and left. Wang Hao's arrival just happened to be a ray of hope for DJI Technology.

Although the other party is just a director, Wang Tao, as a science and engineering man who likes technology, happened to have seen his "Fatal Call" and liked it very much.

Especially when Wang Hao stated his purpose of visit, which was to find technical support for drone aerial photography, Wang Tao and others were impressed.

Before this, when they were researching aircraft, they didn't really give much thought to the market. They were more motivated by passion and pure interest.

But now Wang Hao's words have inspired them, giving Wang Tao and others a general idea of ​​the company's future development direction.

So when Wang Hao expressed his desire for them to help him complete the aerial photography mission and invest in DJI, Wang Tao and others considered it and agreed without hesitation.

It’s not that Wang Hao has any domineering aura, it’s just that DJI Technology is indeed short of money now. On the other hand, Wang Hao is famous enough. If DJI’s research is successful in the future, Wang Hao shooting with DJI equipment will undoubtedly be the best advertisement.

The two sides reached an agreement, and Wang Hao used the 800 million yuan from the mortgage loan of his villa to set up Spark Investment, and then spent 400 million yuan to buy 40% of DJI Technology's shares.

This investment share is naturally a bit inflated. After all, DJI’s current valuation is less than 1000 million.

However, Wang Hao didn't care about these. After all, he knew how much profit this 400 million would bring him in the future.

Moreover, technological development is not easy, and Chinese technology companies like DJI that can forge ahead in the international arena are even rarer. If we can help them a little in the initial stages, it counts as a favor.

With the help of DJI, the drone aerial photography went very smoothly.

Three days later, the crew completed the filming of the Hongqiao hub project and its surrounding environment.

In the following days, the crew filmed some minor scenes at several other locations in Shanghai, and then returned to Beijing to prepare to shoot the remaining scenes in the studio.

Before leaving, Wang Hao once again visited the leader in charge of publicity in Shanghai and discussed with him about participating in the Shanghai International Film Festival this summer.

The reason why he approached the government leaders was because he wanted to make a big move at this film festival and officially bring his own science fiction movie universe to the forefront before the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes off next year.

For this reason, he even invited senior executives from Columbia and Sony Pictures behind it to come to Shanghai for a discussion when Howard Bruno called him a few days ago to discuss "Taken".

"Mr. Bruno, believe me, the film project plan I announced at the Shanghai International Film Festival will definitely drive you crazy!" said Wang Hao on the phone.

Although he didn't know what Wang Hao was trying to say, Howard Bruno agreed to his request for the sake of the "Taken" project and said that he would help Wang Hao invite senior leaders from Sony Pictures who were on good terms with him.

After arranging all this, Wang Hao took the "Source Code" crew to leave Shanghai and return to Shangjing.

(End of this chapter)