Chapter 242: Chapter 242 - Felix's Ambition
Just as Ecks was deeply impressed by the visual special effects of the movie, an in-depth discussion about the connotation of the movie was raging in Cameron's office.
Revisiting Avatar with the eyes of a later generation, the powerful visual effects had already been left behind by Lin Mingyang. He knew that a movie with only technological advances could only stop at the textbooks of film schools, but could not stay in the hearts of fans. A Hollywood movie like Transformers, with more technical inputs, more dazzling visual effects, and more complicated fight scenes, is just a gimmick that lacks real emotion, and the fans will have no other impression other than addiction after watching it.
The reason why Cameron's Avatar is great is not only because of its unprecedented 3D technology, not only because of its unrivaled visual effects, not only because it took four and a half years to spend half a billion dollars on the careful forging, the most important thing is that it has a conscience, it tells the truth, it stands on the opposite side of the capital and the power, and it lets human beings re-examine themselves.
Revisiting the visual feast of Avatar with the mindset of a reborn person, the magnificence created by technological advancement certainly made Lin Mingyang marvel, but it did not move him. Avatar's position at the top of the technological heap is undeniable, but in terms of the movie itself, it's lackluster - one might even say it lacks originality. Putting aside the similarity between the whole idea and Pocahontas, the shadow of City in the Sky can be found in numerous scenes; the healing ritual under the Tree of Souls is the same as the scene by the lake in The Phantom Princess; the humanoid machine armor can't be traced back to Gundam is also at least partially similar to Wachowski's The Matrix, and the film's levitating, mid-air Hallelujah Mountain is even more similar to Tsui Hark's The New Shushan.
But the movie is also characterized by "enclosure", "colonial expansion", "Vietnam War", "demolition" and "deforestation". However, the film is also characterized by the cruel shadows of "enclosure movement", "colonial expansion", "Vietnam War", "demolition", "deforestation", and many other historical bloodshed and human social realities, and this sense of social responsibility is one of the things that makes Lin Mingyang admire Cameron the most, in addition to his unparalleled revolution in film technology. Especially in the movie, the savage cruelty of mankind's "countering terrorism with terrorism" and "preemptive military strikes" is mentioned, and the spearhead is directed at the present-day U.S. government.
This independent spirit of cinema makes the whole movie's connotation rise abruptly, and the movie's ingenious metaphor even reveals a kind of introspection, which is very rare in Hollywood movies.
At the end of the script, the hero Jack says, "They'll be back, like the rain that never stops!"
In his previous life, when Lin Ming Yang saw this scene, there was some small denigration in his heart. At that time, he thought to himself that the Americans were also too capable of pulling their punches, not just to make a sequel, but had to settle for such a grand excuse. But with the realization of being reborn, Lin Mingyang's heart was filled with very different emotions when he saw these familiar words again.
These words reminded him of a famous speech by an Indian chief, in his Reply to the Government of the United States, he said this: "The white chief says that the great chief of Washington sends us friendly greetings... His people are numerous, like the grass that covers a vast wilderness, while mine are scarce, like the sparse trees on the plains after the winds have battered and rained upon them . ...They are willing to buy our land, and at the same time to leave a moderate amount of it for us to live on comfortably. This does seem fair, even generous, for the red man has nothing left that he can honor with power."
If the chief had lived in modern times, he would have been able to guess the ending of the Avatar story: the Indians could no longer hold on to their ancestral lands, and wave after wave of those white settlers with their rifles appeared on the horizon.
The Indian chief was called Seattle, and the largest city in the northwestern United States was named after him. After writing this letter, he eventually led his tribe and moved into a government-designated reservation, losing forever the land on which his ancestors had lived.
In the movie, what happened to the Na'vi people on Pandora is similar to what happened to the Indians on the American continent. As the "original inhabitants" of the United States, 1/4 of the Indians live below the poverty line, the rate of violent crime is more than 20 times higher than the national average, and the percentage of the population with a college education is 1/2 of the average. The rate of college education among the population is 1/2 of the average.
In a wisp of curling coffee aroma, Lin Mingyang began his own statement, in the crew has always shown passionate Cameron at this time is consciously quiet as a listener.
"In the plot of Avatar, I think the planet Pandora is an obvious metaphor, it is rich but dangerous, beautiful but deadly, attracting countless self-conscious and brave explorers, for them, it is just a game. 500 years ago, the explorers by the temptation of the "golden empire" and hormone-driven desperation. 500 years ago, explorers were driven by the lure of "golden empires" and hormones; for the marauders of Pandora, the Avatar incarnation has made it possible for life, the minimum bargaining chip for such adventures, to go unpaid."
"For whites and other uncut races, it's a role-playing game: a way to tour new worlds, ride six-legged horses, and pick up indigenous sisters along the way. But for the Na'vi, for the Indians, for the African natives, for those who had lived on their 'own land' for generations in the face of muskets and cannons, this 500-year-long 'game' was a nightmare! Cruel!"
From the end of the 15th century after the opening of the New Voyages in just 100 years, the American Indian trail population from 40 million plummeted by 95%, and 500 years later today, the United States has only 3 million Indians, Lin Mingyang with a nightmare such a rhetorical analogy is not too much.
"This movie is enough for entertainment, but I have a feeling that you want to say a lot more. Avatar can be considered a 500-year-late letter of apology in 3D, but it's not sincere enough. Until the very end, you are unwilling to let the people who should be repenting do so properly, failing to be cruel to the end at a moment when they should be cruel."
After a soft sigh, Lin Mingyang continued, "In fact, in my opinion, this 'game' of hunting should have ended the moment the helicopter crashed and the female pilot sacrificed herself - all the rebels would have died, and the ones who survived The surviving Na'vi will never regain their spiritual heritage. The most powerful crossbow can't penetrate bulletproof glass, the greatest hunter can't stand up to the Beast of Steel, and the luckiest Aborigine can't own a grenade. For the sake of entertainment, you have hardened the plot of your movie to give people a perfect ending, whereas, in my opinion, true perfection is inherently tainted with flaws, like Venus with a broken arm."
Cameron shrugged regretfully, "A movie is a movie after all, and consumers will always have the right to demand a happy ending for all, will always have the right to walk out of the movie theater laughing and go to a Christmas party. That kind of heavy subject matter is not only difficult for consumers to accept, it's you as an investor and Mr. Murdoch who I'm afraid don't want to see the film end up as a satirical documentary on reality."
Lin Ming Yang nodded, a commercial sci-fi blockbuster that could be shot to this level was already unique, as the saying goes, flaws don't cover up flaws, the problems he just mentioned strictly speaking wouldn't fail to prevent Avatar from becoming the pinnacle of existence in movie history.
The discussion between the two didn't go any further, and when the staff led Eckles into Cameron's office, he still had the shock of the movie still on his face. Under the influence of this emotion, Cameron, who had "cheated" 300 million dollars from Lin Mingyang, became cute in Eckles' eyes, and from their intimate conversation, Eckles had clearly demonstrated his desire to make friends with Cameron.
And after seeing Lin Mingyang's bold and unique insights, Cameron also gave birth to the idea of further cooperation with MGM, of course, this idea wants to become a reality is estimated to wait a long time, but this does not prevent Cameron to take this opportunity to Lin Mingyang and Eckles to show him in the "Avatar" during the shooting of the invention of those powerful shooting techniques.
The biggest difference between Avatar and previous movies is the use of a 3D camera system developed by Cameron's team. This point is Cameron's most proud place, under his leadership, Lin Mingyang and Eckles first visit is the operation of this set of shooting system.
Under Cameron's demonstration, Lin Mingyang basically figured out the principle of this system. It was shooting through two high-definition cameras, and the lenses of these two cameras were cool like human eyes, which could provide different perspectives of the picture, because of the assembly of different filters, thus removing different parts of the image when the subject entered the lens, transmitting a parallax illusion to the brain, establishing a three-dimensional perspective obtained by the final senses.
In the case of Avatar, the improved camera would give a more in-depth screen presentation, with the foreground and background appearing on different levels, instead of the flat moving images of the past. The advantage of this is not only to get a better and more dynamic three-dimensional visual effects, but also to make the audience watching the movie is no longer due to the depth of the picture jitter and fast frame progression produce dizziness, and this set of equipment also makes direct shooting 3D movies into reality.
Lin Mingyang was so in love with this equipment that he even filmed a part of the movie himself with Cameron's acquiescence, which was a small addiction. Because also want to visit the studio, the last time to leave, Lin Mingyang eyes more or less some unfulfilled feeling.
Such an expression was Cameron and Eckles saw in the eyes, the heart is indeed very different reactions: Cameron heart has a remarkable sense of achievement, Lin Mingyang, despite his youth, but look at Hollywood is also counted as a number of top figures, this set of equipment can be favored by him, at least to prove that Cameron's choice of this path is not wrong; and Eckles at this time the feeling is a bit strange, he knows that every time He knew that every time Lin Mingyang had such an expression, it meant that he already had a different idea in his heart, as for what Lin Mingyang was playing in his heart this time, Ecks did not know.
In the next tour, Cameron showed them the virtual studio where the live action and CG images were mirrored. The studio itself is actually an empty space, but when viewed on a monitor, it reveals that a variety of virtual scenes already exist. The director can direct the actors through the virtual camera. Actors are similarly put into a virtual space full of CG objects, through this system can make the director in the real world filming the same way, arbitrary selection of various camera angles, control and coordinate the activities of CG objects, in the first time to see the combination of live performance and virtual scene after the visual effects.
About this system, Eckles had already been informed from the staff member responsible for receiving him, and Cameron, who was responsible for the explanation beside Lin Mingyang, directly explained the working principle of the whole system. He began with the 140 digital cameras that covered the top of the studio, and from this he built a performance capture technology platform.
"The cameras track the reflections of the near-infrared spectrum hit by the LED lights on the set, and transmit the captured data to a system, which then combines and analyzes the reflections of the spectrum with the movements of the actors to come up with a three-dimensional model of the entire shot. This data is then mapped to post-production computer processing, resulting in a highly realistic CG scene."
From the words is not difficult to hear, Cameron for their own invention of this system is quite proud, the previous traditional practice is to first capture the actor's performance action capture added to the database, and then with the virtual scene with. Cameron let it all become more intuitive and faster, not only so that the actors can synchronize with the digital environment for interaction, but also for the director to effectively guide the deployment of the line is very convenient.
"It's like a powerful game engine, so if I want to fly through the air or change perspective, I can do it right away. I can also turn the whole scene into a 50:1 model set and walk through it."
During Cameron's explanation, Lin Ming Yang seemed to be thinking about other issues, so Lin Ming Yang didn't have any reaction after he finished speaking, but it was good to see that Ecks was used to Lin Ming Yang's frequent "distractions". Lin Mingyang this side did not say anything, his end immediately gave high praise to Cameron's invention. Although these compliments have an obvious polite tone, but the affirmation from the president of MGM still let Cameron a small vanity, so did not pay too much attention to why Lin Mingyang suddenly became silent.
Until he left the set, Lin Ming Yang had maintained that strange silence, and after getting into the car, Ecks spoke very directly and asked, "After seeing those things Cameron invented, you're moved?"
Lin Ming Yang nodded his head, sort of acquiescing to Ecks' statement.
Ecks tried to ask, "So you're planning to make a movie like that too?"
Lin Mingyang didn't say anything, but from the figure released from his eyes, Ecks clearly saw a strong desire.
After gently shaking his head, Ecks continued, "I admit that this idea of yours is indeed very human, but have you ever thought about the limitations of this type of movie? In fact, when watching the Avatar clip just now, I have been thinking that such a film can only be truly felt in an IMAX theater with that kind of shocking visual effect. Extreme audio-visual effects require high-end hardware equipment to support, but the time is not yet ripe."
It should be said that 3D movies as a new form of expression, the development should be relatively smooth, but in fact its experience in Hollywood can be described as apprehensive twists and turns. Although as early as the 1950s 3D technology has been used in the film, but always stayed in the gimmick with simple visual effects with the lobbying for people. 80s 3D is widely used in some types of films, but because of the artistic standard of these films themselves are not high, the lack of a blockbuster to hold the stage, coupled with technical limitations, came to the nineties, 3D film is in a long time! In the nineties, 3D movies have been in the limelight for a long time, and have gradually faded from people's view.
One of the most important reasons is that the IMAX screen, which can provide the ultimate experience for the movie's audiovisual enjoyment, is really pathetic, and can't provide the audience with an immersive 3D experience. Even in the United States, the number of IMAX screens and the number of occupants is not optimistic, although at that time there were a number of drive-in theaters and other similar to the giant screen form of screening, but from the hardware conditions and cost-effective, but also difficult to satisfy.
"has always been, IMAX theater building are basically in some places such as exhibition halls, science and technology museums, theme parks and so on, the screening is also painless science and education films, purely to give people the most primary audio-visual shock only. If this is the case in the United States, what about other countries? I think it's only going to get worse, not better." Ecks' analysis was silky smooth, and he wasn't trying to disabuse Lin Ming Yang of the idea, but rather stating a basic fact.
Lin Ming Yang replied in a strange tone that was half reminiscent and half affirmative, "What you're talking about was the situation a few years ago, it's like Titanic, this new film by Cameron will completely bring about a revolution in Hollywood cinema, and in the not too distant future, it'll be an era that belongs to 3D cinema!"
Ecks shook his head, "Your thoughts are almost identical to what Cameron swore to me just now, and what I need is proof!"
"After the launch of Disney's 3D movie 'Four Eyed Chicken' in 2005, there were only a total of over 200 digital movie screens in the entire United States as well, and as of today, that number has reached 5,000; and a consortium consisting of the largest movie theaters in the United States is on the verge of striking a deal of as much as a billion dollars, which will be used to finance the conversion of 15,000 screens into digital projection systems."
Lin Mingyang began to methodically state his findings, "This 3D trend is not only having an impact within the United States, but has gradually affected the entire world. As far as I know, a company in Germany has already contributed $136 million to co-build 3D theaters; Britain is preparing to open 30 3D movie halls, add 144 3D screens and introduce 200 sets of 3D projectors. And France is also starting to prepare for a new round of retrofitting programs. In Asia, Japan and South Korea to extend the focus of development to 3D TV platform, Sony and Panasonic are sparing no expense to develop a new generation of TVs capable of playing 3D stereoscopic images! Whoever fails to catch this train will regret it!"
Eckles spread his hands, "Even though the hardware conditions for broadcasting this kind of movie are already in place, I think it's really hard for other movies to surpass Avatar!"
"Yeah!" Lin Ming Yang looked at the scenery flying past outside the car window, "That's why I'm going to make a movie first to test the waters, unable to fully compare with Avatar, but at least able to equal it on a technical level... I'll definitely be able to make a movie that completely surpasses Avatar in the future!"
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