1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 333 The largest investment in Hong Kong film industry

(Shame on me, I'm finally done with my work, I'll start updating tomorrow to pay it back)
The earliest use of special effects in film can be traced back to "A Trip to the Moon" in 1902.

The whole film is 14 minutes long, but only 24 minutes after being converted to 8 frames.

At that time, the so-called special effects were to have the actor walk out of the screen when a shot was halfway through, then turn off the camera, release a puff of smoke in front of the camera, and then restart it.

Then the films before and after the camera was turned off were spliced together and printed out, thus creating the special effect of the actor suddenly disappearing in a puff of smoke.

This short ten-minute film took the crew nearly half a year to make.

As soon as the film came out, it amazed the audience and practitioners at the time, and since then it has inspired a new era of innovation in film shooting techniques.

Today.

With the advent of computers, CG technology has become a new direction for special effects production.

In 1973, the American film "Westworld" used pixelated photography for the first time to simulate the field of vision of a robot killer.

In 1976, another film, "Future World", used static D generation technology for the first time to show the process of robot creation on a computer, which shocked countless audiences.

It is also the first science fiction blockbuster to be introduced to the mainland after the economic reform and opening up.

And just when the audience was still immersed in the shock brought by "Future World".

The following year, a super bomb exploded in the film industry.

"Star Wars 4", known as one of the greatest movies in film history, is released.

This marked the beginning of a new era of using computer special effects to make movies.

Whether or not Star Wars is the greatest movie ever made is debatable.

But it is one of the most profitable films of all time.

Then how can our Hong Kong film industry, which is best at following trends, not take advantage of this wave of popularity?

So Jiahe, the big injustice, invited Xu Ke, who said "no one knows special effects better than me", and invited a Hollywood team to form a luxurious cast of Adam Cheng, Damian Lau, Ching-Hsia Lam, Sammo Hung, and Yuan Biao, and spent more than 30 million to make a "New Shushan Swordsman".

In the end, I lost so much money that I almost vomited blood.

While the old rival Zhao was mocking Jiahe, he was also planning to teach his former younger brother a lesson on what it means to truly follow the trend.

The following year, Zhao followed suit and released a science fiction blockbuster with a larger investment - "Interstellar Blunt Embryo"

Let the actors wear the same clothes as Superman and blatantly promote their company's logo in them.

The film's newspaper announcement at the time read:

'Chung Chung-hung, Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind with Aliens. Yi Lei, Laser Fights the Dark Lord. Zhang Guoming, the latest masterpiece of the Golden Horse Award-winning director'

'The most advanced special effects, the most relaxed and joyful songs and dances, the freshest humor'

'Please look forward to the best movie of the year, "Star Trek"'

This movie, which disregards advertising laws, is a copycat from the title, and the main film is filled with endless tributes:

The film features two male protagonists who combine the personalities of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, a Jedi Knight holding a laser sword and fighting Bruce Lee with nunchakus, flying saucers, spaceships, and werewolves, and all kinds of popular elements are fully utilized...

The main plot of the movie is clear:

An evil doctor invented spaceships and laser weapons with the ultimate goal of pretending to be an alien and raping beautiful women, but his conspiracy was eventually exposed.

It took 90 minutes to shoot this crap!

As a result, "Star Blunt Embryo", which Zhao used to teach Jiahe how to behave, was hastily taken off the screen in Taiwan after only three days of release. It lasted quite long in Taiwan and was only cancelled after five days of release.

This directly accelerated Uncle Zhao Liu's idea of focusing on the television business from then on.

The only impressive thing in the whole movie is probably the scene where Chung Chu-hung imitates Marilyn Monroe. When her high heels get stuck in the air vent, she covers her rising skirt with a look of panic, revealing her two plump long legs in stockings.

"As pretty as Chung Chu-hung is, this movie 'Star Blunt' is as ugly as it gets. I wonder what the original creative team of Zhao was thinking."

In the car, Zhai Yuan, Wang Jin and Xu Qi discussed the development of special effects films overseas and in Hong Kong, and couldn't help but complain about the movie "Star Blunt Embryo" which wasted 90 minutes of his time.

"Although your film "New Shushan Swordsman" is also a mess."

Zhai Yuan leaned back in his chair and gave some comments: "But at least the art is pretty good, and there are enough pretty girls to please the eyes. I went to see the movie 'Interstellar' and only then did I know what it meant to feel like a thorn in the back, a fishbone stuck in the throat, and sitting on pins and needles. The creative team of Zhao's must have eaten dirty food to write such a script. I heard that it cost more than one million to build a cabin set. Miss Fang Yihua is really generous once but has to be cautious for a lifetime..."

The privilege of rich people is that they can speak freely and say whatever they want without having to worry about the faces of those below them.

Zhai Yuan didn't notice that Xu Qi's expression beside him was becoming more and more serious.

Wang Jin on the side seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to cough, Wang Jin whispered, "Mr. Zhai, in fact, Ah Xu is also an important member of the creative team of "Star Blunt Embryo"."

Zhai Yuan was slightly startled when he heard this and looked at Xu Qi in surprise.

Xu Qi smiled and said, "I just made a few small suggestions and played a blind man in the play. Mr. Zhai may not have recognized me."

Zhai Yuan nodded thoughtfully, then turned to look at Wang Jin: "Hey, what do you think of Zhong Chuhong being the heroine of our play?"

……

The car drove all the way to the office.

Zhai Yuan and Wang Jin got off the car one after another. When they talked about the casting of actors, Xu Qi was always uninterested.

Until we stood downstairs of Tokyo-Hot Company.

Zhai Yuan seemed to have refreshed his state, completely forgetting his previous disparagement of "New Shushan Swordsman" and "Star Blunt Embryo", and smiled as he put his arm around Xu Qi's shoulders.

"Don't be so stingy. Let's go upstairs and meet the special effects team of Dongyangzi."

Shota Tanaka was not a professional in the film industry, and his method of selecting a special effects team for Zhai Yuan was simple and crude. He inquired about the best local computer special effects company, directly negotiated with them in the capacity of a Toshiba shareholder, and poached a group of elites from Mitsubishi Research Institute.

The Mitsubishi Research Institute of later generations is a famous think tank in Japan, helping clients with planning and advice in various fields.

Today, this think tank is still in its growth stage. Although the research areas it covers are extremely broad, it is difficult to commercialize. It relies entirely on the Mitsubishi Group for transfusions to accumulate experience, and has not formed a systematic business model.

"I think that compared to the mainland, Japan needs economic reform more."

In the elevator, Zhai Yuan was talking seriously to the two directors beside him: "If it weren't for Tanaka Shota as a guide, no one would have known that the most powerful special effects company is actually hidden in an inconspicuous small department of a Mitsubishi subsidiary."

"In fact, it's more like Mitsubishi, a big capital, has monopolized the industry's resources. Even if it loses money every year, it doesn't matter. Once the technology develops to a certain level, it will make a profit sooner or later."

Xu Qi said, "After New Vision was established, we consulted with most special effects teams around the world and exchanged experiences with each other, but the Japanese side was the most difficult to communicate with."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "This is a good opportunity."

As we chatted, the elevator door dinged. We had arrived at the sixth floor.

When I walked out of the elevator, I saw a bilingual sign in Chinese and Japanese hanging on the wall.

'Hong Kong 91 Entertainment Office in Japan'

The office was renovated temporarily and looked a bit simple. Upstairs is the territory of Tokyo-Hot.

In the conference room on the sixth floor, several Japanese men in suits and ties had been waiting for a long time.

Michiko did not come with us on this trip.

Zhai Yuan, Wang Jin and Xu Qi did not speak Japanese, so they asked Chao's secretary Helen to translate for them.

Push the door open and enter.

Helen, who was receiving Dongyangzi, greeted Mr. Zhai and introduced herself to Dongyangzi from the institute.

"Hello, President Zhai. I am Kawakita Hirokazu, the special effects director of Mitsubishi Research Institute. I am currently working as a special effects director at Toho Corporation."

A middle-aged man who looked mature and steady came up and introduced himself to Zhai Yuan in a humbly manner.

Several other Japanese people also came forward to shake hands. They were either technical backbones in the research institute or special effects masters of Toho.

"Kawakita Koichi?"

After listening to Helen's translation, Xu Qi looked at the middle-aged man who spoke first and said to Helen, "Can you please ask me if he is the special effects director of last year's Goodbye Jupiter?"

After receiving Kawakita Hirokazu's affirmative answer, Xu Qi showed a look of surprise on his face.

"Mr. Zhai, have you ever seen the play Goodbye Jupiter?"

"Impressed."

Zhai Yuan glanced at the mature Kawakita Hirokazu and responded with a smile.

From the earliest Ultraman, to Godzilla, and the later Mothra series of movies, the name of this special effects director can be seen more or less in these monster movies.

As for "Goodbye Jupiter" mentioned by Xu Qi, it is the first film in Asia to combine real scenes with CG technology.

The story is about the future Earth's population super-growth, and the Japanese President of Earth commands humans to migrate to the stars. At this time, a medium-sized black hole approaches and swallows the spacecraft. In order to solve the crisis of the entire solar system being swallowed by the black hole, the protagonists set up a particle accelerator in the orbit of Jupiter, causing the collapse and explosion of Jupiter's core, successfully changing the trajectory of the black hole...

That sounds pretty good.

Too bad it's still a bad movie.

The film was originally planned to have a publicity and production budget of 3 billion yen, but due to various reasons caused by the accidental death of the director, it only got 1 billion yen in the end. The plot was reduced again and again, and the performance after its release was indeed a flop, and it only earned 300 million yen at the box office.

If the author of "EVA" Hideaki Anno had not been a fan of this film and paid tribute to the "Third Tokyo City" in the movie, it would have been forgotten long ago.

The only bright spot.

Perhaps only the special effects shot of Jupiter's explosion supervised by Hirokazu Kawakita was produced. In this era, the scene is no less inferior to "Star Wars 4" produced by Industrial Light & Magic.

Those two big productions in Hong Kong.

Plus this science fiction film from Japan.

Zhai Yuan couldn't help but think to himself: "Before The Wandering Earth came out, Asia was not suitable for making this kind of special effects blockbusters. Each one was a failure."

Fortunately, "Hiroshima Monster" is not about entering into a grand narrative of outer space.

To build a temple in a snail shell, you just need to make good monster models and CG, and the rest will depend on the storyline.

After meeting with Kawakita Hirokazu.

Xu Qi quickly introduced the technical support that "Hiroshima Monster" now needs.

Kawakita Hirokazu is worthy of being a big shot in special effects films who got his start by shooting Ultraman. He is very good at shooting monsters and he quickly gave some pertinent suggestions.

"The prop masters in Hong Kong are very famous in Asia, so I won't teach you how to model objects."

Kawakita Hirokazu continued: "However, since we have to combine CG technology, I suggest not to use traditional wood carvings when selecting materials for monster modeling. It is best to use plastic materials throughout the body. This will not only allow for finer details, but will also be lighter and more convenient when manipulating robotic arms and motion control cameras. In addition, plastic modeling can easily melt under the heating of lights on the set, so we need to consider the issue of multiple backup models in advance..."

"Mitsubishi Research Institute currently has the most advanced Cray-1 supercomputer in Asia, but the CG production software needs to be customized from an American film company. According to the model of "Hiroshima Monster" that Director Xu described to me, it will cost about 100 million US dollars to customize such a software..."

"Generally speaking, it costs at least $10 per second to directly use CG images in movies, and the production cycle is also very long. But Mitsubishi Research Institute has the texture mapping technology patent of the University of Utah, which can greatly reduce the cost by combining it with physical modeling. In this way, it only costs about $3000 per second. Of course, the institute will charge an additional fee, which depends on the length of time you use CG images in the movie..."

The costs of special effects production continued to come out of Kawakita Hirokazu's mouth.

Helen, the translator next to them, was shocked by these exaggerated numbers. After asking several times to confirm that they were correct, Helen timidly translated them back to Zhai Yuan and the others.

10 US dollars per second, and even if I buy the right to use your patent, it still costs 3000 US dollars per second. Are you making a movie or just burning money?
After listening to this, Xu Qi nodded to Zhai Yuan and said, "It's about the same price. My movie "New Shushan Swordsman" uses direct special effects and modeling special effects, and the cost in this regard is more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars."

Zhai Yuan nodded, but his expression did not change.

There is no such thing as film and television special effects that doesn’t cost money.

Not to mention those Hollywood popcorn commercial blockbusters, Director Feng later couldn't afford the Lord of the Rings team when he filmed "Earthquake", so he had to settle for a cheaper one, and the short four-minute scene still cost more than 20 million.

Sony's later all-CG animation "Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children" cost tens of millions of dollars.

Although the movie suffered huge losses at the box office, it made hardworking Tifa invincible in the 3D world.

Zhai Yuan asked: "How many special effects shots does "Hiroshima Monster" need?"

Wang Jin said, "Based on the current script, roughly speaking, there are about 270 shots. If each shot is 3 seconds on average, that's 800 seconds."

Zhai Yuan silently did the math.

As a result, the cost of special effects alone for "Hiroshima Monster" is no less than 2000 million Hong Kong dollars.

Plus Chen Shilon’s film remuneration of 1200 million.

The budget of the movie exceeded 30 million before it even started shooting.

"Including subsequent filming, a conservative estimate is that the budget will be 5000 million."

Wang Jin calculated the bill faster than Zhai Yuan and quickly gave a price that made his heart beat faster.

He swallowed his saliva and said with a wry smile, "Mr. Zhai, the Hong Kong film industry has never seen such a large investment. From a commercial perspective, if you must make such a big production, it is best to bring in a few investors to bear the risk."

“That’s totally unnecessary.”

Zhai Yuan shook his head, turned his head to look at Xu Qi, and said with a smile: "Call back to Hong Kong and ask your wife to do a round of publicity first. 5000 million is still not enough for the gimmick, so write million for the publicity..."

(End of this chapter)