Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 370 Filming Wrapped Up, Personal Thoughts
June 16, 2008, was a sunny day in Los Angeles.

The sunlight was like gold sprinkled with silver dust, and the wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean carried a faint scent of sea salt, sweeping across the red brick walls outside the Universal Studios soundstage, brushing against the set props, lighting rigs, and the last camera that had finished its work.

The principal photographer for "The Martian" officially completed the reshoot of the last shot at 3:26 p.m. that day.

When Wu Chen took off his headset, stood up, and personally shouted "Filming wrapped," the audience erupted in applause.

The main set of "NASA Control Center" still remains in the studio, and the word "Houston" on the electronic signage glows faintly.

Universal Pictures did not miss this opportunity and had arranged for major media outlets to be present for interviews and filming.

Before evening, the first reports were already online and quickly spread to mainstream entertainment pages across the United States.

[Wu Chen and Universal Pictures wrap up filming for "The Martian": A new generation of Eastern directors completes the challenge of a space epic!]

[Filming wrapped on the highly anticipated space-themed film of the year, "The Martian."]

[Chinese director Wu Chen completes filming of "The Martian," collaborating with Universal to create a new generation of space survival epic!]

【.】

Universal Pictures also took the opportunity to release various behind-the-scenes production photos and did a lot of publicity as the film wrapped up.

With the completion of filming for "The Martian," the movie has officially entered the post-production stage, with special effects being a top priority.

While The Martian may not appear to have many special effects, its post-production special effects work was actually quite extensive, making it a heavy-effects film with a realistic tone.

Although it is not a pure CG blockbuster, its special effects are used in a very "hidden and high-density" way—pursuing a realistic and believable sense of scientific reality. This type of special effects requires more precision, physical texture and visual logic.

Global arranged for four companies to collaborate and divide the work, including Xiantao Digital.

"We were assigned about 20% of the mission for 'The Martian,' mainly responsible for details such as the potato experimental module, the panoramic interactive screen of the space agency's ground control center, and data image generation."

The work has been divided up. It definitely won't be finished in Beijing within three months, and we also need to take on a portion in Hong Kong. We need to ensure the final assembly time with the main project is met.

Wu Chen specifically called Zhu Jiaxin.

This was a part he deliberately chose.

Although this part is complex, it does not determine the "viewing impact" and is considered a low to medium difficulty shot, so it is appropriate to have it handled by our own team.

"Yes, Mr. Wu!"

Zhu Jiaxin nodded, looked at the busy special effects engineers, and couldn't help but sigh.

Xiantao Digital went from being on the verge of collapse to thriving in just over a year. However, in another month, "Xiantao Digital" will have to change its name to "Xingchen Visual Effects".

Because the official promotional campaign for "Painted Skin" started in July.

On the other hand, after resolving the issues surrounding "The Martian," Wu Chen made a special trip to Nolan's Syncopy company, an unassuming office building.

When Wu Chen led his team to Los Angeles to reshoot "The Martian," Nolan actually called him.

Christopher Nolan personally came to greet them, wearing his usual gray-blue three-piece suit.

“Wu, this is my wife, Emma Thomas, and this is my brother, Jonathan,” he introduced with a smile.

Nolan introduced the product to Wu Chen with a smile.

"Hello, hello." Wu Chen shook hands with each of them.

After taking their seats, the group moved into the core discussion area.

On one side of the long table stood a whiteboard covered with arrows and squares, while on the other side lay a newly printed script—Inception.

That was its name at the time; it was still a working version, and the header even had "Version V6.2" handwritten in pen.

Wu Chen glanced at it. Now that the script had the support of the dream hierarchy diagram and Jonathan Nolan was helping to sort out the character relationships, it was already taking shape and was getting closer to the final version.

"We have roughly completed the dream structure,"

Jonathan picked up a marker and stood in front of the whiteboard:
"The five-layer structure has been established, and the time ratio between each layer has been clearly defined. The ratio from reality to the first layer of the dream is 1:12, and then it scales up sequentially. We are also trying to use the 'psychological projection' of characters as an obstacle mechanism in the dream."

Wu Chen listened while looking at the script, and then asked a question: "I want to ask a question about 'the feeling of falling,' which is also known as the kick-to-wake mechanism."

The Nolan brothers both looked at him.

"You set the wake-up mechanism for each layer of the dream to be through external physical stimulation."

But have you ever considered that in some dreams, characters might actively choose not to wake up? Perhaps they even know it's a dream, yet don't want to wake up?” Wu Chen paused, his voice softening as he guided the two:

"If you define dreams as a projection of some psychological dimension, is there a layer of dreams that is not pulled away by 'reality,' but rather trapped by 'memory' and 'emotion'?"

For example, if Cobb sees his last moments with his deceased wife in a dream on one level, and he is unwilling to leave—that level is no longer an obstacle, but an abyss.

Nolan's brow twitched, and he slowly put down his teacup: "So, in a certain layer of the dream, gravity comes from subjective will, rather than objective stimuli?"

Wu Chen nodded: "Yes!"

Jonathan seemed to be deep in thought at this moment. He looked at the whiteboard, erased part of it, and started writing again.

As the three discussed, Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan listened attentively to Wu Chen's remarks and nodded in agreement.

After talking for a while, Wu Chen couldn't help but pick up his cup and gulp down a mouthful of water.

Christopher Nolan couldn't help but praise, "Perfect, Wu, I think your idea is even better."

Jonathan nodded slightly.

Wu Chen put down his water glass, then suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Christopher, I have a personal wish. I personally hope that the character of Adrian can be rewritten."

"Oh, you say it!" Nolan thought it would be something big, but after hearing Wu Chen's so-called "selfish motives," he couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course, there is absolutely no problem with that. I have seen Black Peony. Crystal expressed the themes of 'dream and reality' and 'identity tearing' in it, which are naturally in sync with the themes of Inception."

It's a pity she's a bit too young, otherwise the role of Mel would have been very challenging.

The character Adrian is actually based on the "Clues" from Greek mythology who helped Theseus escape the labyrinth. He is the youngest and most creative "dream builder" in the team.

Liu Yifei's image is naturally suited to silhouettes, slow motion, and reconstructed spaces, and the experience of "Black Peony" makes it even more fitting.

Nolan faced this "personal motive" with almost no hesitation.

Just then, Emma Thomas stood in the doorway and called out, "You three, this is the third time I've come in. It's time for dinner!"

The group burst into laughter at the same time.

Time had passed and evening was approaching, but the discussion seemed to have only just begun.

Nolan then brought up the things he had discussed with Warner earlier.

After dinner, Nolan finally discussed the investment in Inception:

"Wu, there are no objections to your nominal investment in Warner. If you want to increase your share, I can help you make an offer, but you'll need to negotiate with Warner on the specifics."

"Inception is still in the development stage. I guess Warner Bros. is waiting for The Dark Knight to be released."

"understand!"

Wu Chen also understood that Nolan had already reached his limit in negotiating with nominal investors, and it would be extremely difficult to demand an additional share from Warner.

In fact, Warner Bros. is probably taking a wait-and-see approach to Inception. Although they trust Nolan, they will definitely wait for the box office performance of The Dark Knight before deciding whether to give it the green light.

Hollywood is the most lucrative place, where a single film can easily fetch tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one dares to gamble on it directly.

"What a pity, Christian," Wu Chen said with a smile.

Nolan also felt a little sorry when talking about his old partner Bale.

He has become increasingly confident in the script for "Inception," especially after Wu Chen joined the project, which has elevated the script to a higher level.

"If Christian isn't going to act, who would you like to see in the role?"

“Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m very interested in him, he should be suitable,” Nolan said with a smile.

Seeing this, Wu Chen didn't say anything more.

The next morning, before leaving, Wu Chen called Bell: "It's such a pity, I feel you'll regret it."

He knew that Wu Chen had gone to Nolan's place to finalize the script these past two days, and hearing Wu Chen say this now only made him more upset: "Wu, don't say anymore, I feel extremely heavy-hearted right now."

"Haha, it's okay, we can cooperate again if there's a chance."

"You must remember me," Bell sighed, deliberately playing the victim.
(End of this chapter)