Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 468 Bidding (14)

Xiangshan Film and Television City has specially built a science fiction filming base.

It is equipped with four international standard photography studios and more than ten set construction workshops, as well as hardware facilities such as a digital audio-visual center and a virtual film and television shooting and production platform.

Without these things, science fiction movies simply cannot be made!
These were all specially made by Xiangshan Film and Television Base for "The Martian".

The two film studios were set up to depict a Mars base and a Chinese space base, respectively…

It definitely needs to be filmed on location!
Both of these photography studios are 1500 square meters...

In addition, two film studios were also used, one specifically to simulate the Martian ecosystem, and the other to build a space capsule...

These things took a total of six months to complete!

They also pay great attention to their clothing.

The spacesuits that appear most frequently in the movie were designed based on many spacesuit styles, and each of the final suits weighed thirty to forty kilograms.

These costumes were all custom-made by the aerospace department; more than thirty sets were purchased in the name of the film crew…

The digital audio-visual center for post-production, including mixing studio, recording studio, special effects studio, and color grading studio, is fully equipped with all necessary facilities.

I heard it cost over 6 million!

From this perspective, Shen Yan is truly grateful to Xiangshan Film and Television Base…

They've also signed a cooperation agreement, and after "Naruto Rescue," they'll definitely be making another science fiction film!

Shen Yan's confidence in "The Martian"...

Actually, it's not quite enough!
Initially, he considered having Ridley Scott direct, but after inquiring... after the success of *Prometheus*, Ridley Scott was directing his favorite epic films, and he wasn't keen on directing a film in China...

Forget it, I'll do it myself!
With Shen Teng's influence, even if they don't make much profit, they should be able to break even.

Moreover, the first person to try something new will receive the most enthusiastic response from the audience.

After arriving in Xiangshan, Shen Yan talked with the three visual effects supervisors for over a week…

The visual effects supervisors are Xu Jian, Ding Yanlai, and Wei Ming, who are the co-founders of Mojing Tianhe, Orange Vision, and MORE VFX, respectively.

Their styles and strengths are not entirely the same.

Shen Yan brought the three of them together, and also brought in dozens of special effects companies from across the country...

Actually, movie special effects don't necessarily have to be expensive. You can use software like Premiere, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro to create some simple special effects. Many of the "cheap special effects" we usually talk about are generated and rendered by ordinary computers.

This kind of work can be done by any person who knows editing; a few thousand yuan is enough to handle it.

However, the requirements for computer processing in big-budget commercial films are on a completely different level from those for "cheap special effects."

For the average person editing videos, a Macbook Pro costing 20,000 yuan or a desktop computer costing around 10,000 yuan is basically enough for everything.

However, if it's used for editing special effects movies, a 20 RMB Mac Pro is just the starting point, and a typical special effects movie requires at least several hundred computers.

In film special effects production, there is another frequently used concept: "special effects production time".

For example, if you have 1000 computers, and each computer spends 20 hours creating special effects, then the total rendering time for these computers is 2 hours.

Basically, a special effects movie with a budget of $1 million requires several million hours of special effects production time.

Why does it take so long?

Because movies are meant to be watched on a big screen.

While both are used to create a character, online movies only need to render relatively detailed outlines, but theatrical films must render every single hair—otherwise, the character's head will appear blurry. Of course, *The Martian* doesn't need to be that precise…

But you can't be too bad either...

At least reach the average level!
Oh, let me explain. Millions of hours of special effects rendering seems like a lot, but actually, if it's done separately, it can be done on hundreds or thousands of render farms, not just one computer…

As China's first large-scale special effects production, the special effects team joined the project before filming, with professionals providing guidance on scene setup and shooting, which greatly helped in the post-production of special effects.

Actually, our special effects are really cheap—the labor cost is very low. A special effects artist can be paid about 1 yuan a month.

That can't be any lower, or people will switch jobs!
Their American counterparts earn at least $20 a year.

……

After leaving Xiangshan, Shen Yan prepared to fly back to Beijing.

Bidding for "Mekong River"...

The Ministry of Public Security decided to revise this project.

Select a partner company through a bidding process!

If it weren't for the bidding process, as a mainstream subject matter, this film would definitely have been handled by China Film Group.

In the original timeline, Chairman Han of China Film Group personally oversaw this project, bringing in Li Ming from Pegasus Motion Pictures to participate, and initially selecting Lan Xiaolong as screenwriter and Gao Qunshu as director…

Of course, Bona Film Group snatched this project away!
However, if Bona can be robbed, then Shen Yan certainly can be too.

It's just a military action movie.

Actually, the original "Operation Mekong" was just an ordinary Hong Kong film, only the identity and background were made more upscale, and a plot was inexplicably added about a man who, after his girlfriend of ten years was murdered, willingly infiltrates an enemy country to seek revenge, turning his hatred for his enemy into motivation...

The perfect act of 'deus ex machina'—if it can't explain faith, then attribute it to love.

Furthermore, the villain Nuoka was portrayed as incredibly foolish…

The way to deal with gold is either to hoard it and hide it from others or to make it into a gold gun that looks very heavy.

This logic doesn't hold water; it's like a farmer imagining the emperor's golden hoe.

However, "Operation Mekong" was dressed up in the guise of patriotism.

The presence of patriotic elements elevates the film beyond mere action, giving it a deeper meaning.

In "Mekong River," the audience witnessed the sacrifices of anti-drug fighters, became aware of certain things, and were awakened to certain things. This is the tone of a good movie.

Most importantly, the movies released at the same time were terrible: *L.O.R.D.: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties*, *Mission Milano*, *I Belonged to You*...

Moreover, that was the peak of the anti-pretty boy movement…

The story framework is quite good.

The character design is also acceptable; the liaison officer is essentially an undercover agent!
Shen Yan's idea is... to win the project through bidding.

The director... should still be Dante Lam. Look closely at the mise-en-scène, cinematography, and sound design in "Operation Mekong"—they all demonstrate a very high level of industrial sophistication.

After all, they've filmed "The Viral Factor," so their production quality and camera work are quite impressive!
The screenwriters include Feng Ji, Liu Yi, and Dong Qun…

The overall framework will follow the original, but the plot development will be left to the mainland screenwriters!

After all, Dante Lam is a Hong Kong filmmaker. We're not looking down on Hong Kong screenwriters, but to be realistic, Hong Kong's armed forces have absolutely nothing to do with "military affairs." They would never come into contact with real soldiers in their daily lives.

(End of this chapter)