Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 113 New Stunt Director
No one knows what Eiji Mantani talked about with Kagi Ie.

However, the next day, Eiji Mantani returned from TBS and brought two pieces of news.

First, TBS has made further additional investments, increasing the previous production budget of 10 million yen per episode to 12 million yen, which is twice the budget of the original Ultraman.

The second point was given to Tetsuo Kaneshiro.

I hope that the planning office can create an epic and sci-fi feel when producing the work.

In Wan Gu, everyone gathered together, but this time there was no excitement as before when they talked and discussed. Instead, there was an indescribable depression.

I wanted to do better, but I found that I couldn’t do it at all.

Wangu Eiji spoke first: "I have already met with Mr. Kashii Takeshi, and TBS is willing to make additional investments."

Wanguyi was a little hopeful: "Are we going to look for that Stavros department?"

Wangu Eiji shook his head: "No...it's additional money for our hand-drawn special effects."

In the late 1970s and 1980s, hand-drawn special effects were actually better than those produced by Industrial Light & Magic, but there was a problem.

It is labor-intensive and prone to errors if one is not careful.

If you want to create special effects for the entire film like Star Wars, the amount of money you spend will be astronomical.

Because special effects need to be produced in every frame when hand-drawing, and every frame of the film needs to be drawn by workers by hand. If some powerful lighting effects are involved, they need to be repeatedly processed with a synthesizer.

This is simply unrealistic for a weekly drama.

A movie can take a year or even two years to shoot, repeatedly polishing the special effects, but a weekly drama has to produce at least twenty minutes of results every week, so there is no time to repeatedly produce special effects.

TBS's additional investment of two million per episode is already very sincere.

Gu Ming said, "Let's put the special effects issue aside for now. Currently, there's no company in Japan that can produce something like this. Wangu's optical synthesizer is currently the most advanced special effects equipment in Japan."

Gu Ming was not exaggerating, because there were only two such devices in the world, one at Disney in the United States and the other in Wan Gu's hands.

"Based on that, it's not necessarily worse than Star Wars. But it's still not enough."

Gu Ming admitted that the crude special effects were not as good as the real ones, but since there were no other means at the moment, he could only use crude special effects.

"I will work with Mr. Koichi Takano to create the best special effects shots within my action studio, but this will also require funding."

Gu Ming stated this point very bluntly.

Eiji Mantani made the final decision.

"Xiaoyi, go draft a contract and hire Extreme Action Studio as the stunt coordinator for the new film. The price should be 700,000 per episode."

Although it is not much compared to the investment of 12 million per episode, special effects itself is a technique that burns money, and the buildings consumed in each episode are astronomical figures.

700,000 yen per episode, and a season consists of twelve to thirteen episodes, which is more than 8 million yen. This price is twice as high as that offered by Toei's "Judo Straight Line".

Of course, Toei is responsible for the materials, while Gu Ming only provides guidance.

The other side is fully entrusted to Gu Ming.

Gu Ming made a quick estimate. This was still the overall funding for the firm, including the manpower Gu Ming employed, various stunt equipment, materials and other expenses. These things were equivalent to being outsourced to Gu Ming by Wan Gu, so all the funds needed to be advanced by the firm. In the end, the firm's profit was about 20% to 40%, depending on how much materials would be consumed.

In this way, Gu Ming's position in the crew was determined.

Stunt supervisor, stunt director.

"Then, there's the more detailed planning. This drama is still part of TBS's Ultra Project, so it will still be named after Ultra..."

Wangu Eiji counted his fingers one by one and counted them for everyone.

"The seven key elements of an excellent film are: the script must be rich in emotion and not dull; the visuals must be beautiful and artistic, with the director's careful use of the camera; the actors' performances must be natural and not expressionless; the voiceovers must complement the plot and be evocative; the plot must flow naturally and without hindrance; the production must be professional and pragmatic; and most importantly, the overall approach must be innovative and changeable, not simply dwelling on past glories!"

“Hence, the new work is named Seven!”

"SEVEN!"

He gave orders one by one.

Tetsuo Kaneshiro was asked to lead the planning department to quickly come up with a script that would focus on creating a sense of mystery, the starry sky, and the universe. Narita Toru was also asked to quickly come up with suit designs for the main character and various aliens.

Toru Fuyuki was required to create a sound effect that matched the scene and had a sense of mystery and sublimity.

All kinds of.

Narita Toru suddenly spoke up: "I have a request, which is extremely important."

Wangu Eiji nodded slightly: "You go ahead."

“I want to recommend an actor…”

"no!"

Before Narita Toru could finish his words, he was interrupted by Mantani Eiji.

This made Narita Toru even more surprised.

"but I……"

"No. Just do your job well. We'll make other arrangements for the actors."

Gu Ming had guessed what Cheng Tianheng was going to say, so he raised his hand to stop Cheng Tianheng.

"Mr. Narita, just do as Daddy says."

However, this little guy showed amazing strength. Even when he was being pulled by Gu Ming, he still shouted his words loudly.

"I think Armin should be given a role, preferably a main character!"

For a moment, there was silence in the Japanese-style room.

In fact, everyone could guess what Narita Toru was going to say, but no one expected his attitude to be so firm.

The expression on Gu Ming's face seemed a little awkward.

Of course, he also wanted to fight for the leading role, but Gu Ming never expected that Narita Toru also had such an idea.

Eiji Mantani did not make a conclusion, but turned to Tani Akira.

"The new work still needs suit actors, what do you think, Furuya-kun?"

Gu Ming then spoke up, "I recommend 'Masatoshi Ryu'. He's played Pigumon and the Zarab alien before, has experience in suit acting, and has martial arts skills. If he were to play the lead suit role, I think he could pull it off."

Wangu Eiji couldn't help but laugh: "You are really good at recommending people regardless of their relationship."

Gu Ming naturally looked at Wan Gu Eiji calmly.

"If he can, I will certainly recommend him. If we deliberately hide him just because we know each other, that would be an injustice."

Eiji Mantani clasped his hands together, not knowing what he was thinking.

In fact, he still prefers to let Gu Ming continue to play the main role in the suit rather than the human role in this work.

And the treatment will not be bad, because the pay of the main actors in suits has always been higher than that of human actors.

But Narita Toru firmly opposed Gu Ming continuing to play the role of a suit.

He originally thought that Narita Heng had other ideas, but he didn't expect that he actually wanted to have a human as the leading actor.

Mantani Eiji said, "So, what do you think?"

Gu Ming said directly: "I want to give it a try, I think I can do it."

Still silent.

After a moment, Mantani Eiji sighed and made his conclusion.

"Tomorrow, bring that Manatsu Ryu here to see me. Let me confirm whether he is truly capable of taking on the role of the main character in the suit."

(End of this chapter)