章 927: Chapter 929: A Touch of Dark Humor
[Chapter 929: A Touch of Dark Humor]
After several remote video conferences, Firefly Group began to methodically execute Eric's proposed 'RealD' and '4200' plans.
The core of the RealD plan was to develop a specialized RealD projection system for 3D films, as well as DMR technology to convert regular movies into IMAX. Achieving this wasn't overly difficult since both 3D movie and IMAX technology had been in development for decades. What Firefly needed to do was to combine existing technologies and further enhance them to meet Eric's demands.
However, implementing the '4200' plan was far more challenging. Eric wanted to ensure that while Firefly could supply sources for both 3D and IMAX films, it would simultaneously complete the transformation of 4,000 3D theaters and the construction of 200 IMAX theaters worldwide. Ultimately, a situation where theaters were built without available films or films produced with nowhere to screen them would be incredibly awkward.
To achieve such synchronization in timing required the plan's executor to possess strong organizational skills. Fortunately, as the world's largest media group, Firefly had no shortage of talented managers with the ability to execute plans effectively. Katzenberg decided to lead the charge personally, responsible for overseeing the progress of the '4200' plan.
Firefly Group's global employee count had already surpassed 120,000. As the boss, Eric made high-level decisions and no longer needed to get involved in the minutiae; he simply had to wait for the outcome. If the thousands of managers and over 100,000 employees within the group could not deliver what he wanted, then there would surely be a major issue within the company. The reality, however, was that Firefly Group operated far better than any other media group in Hollywood.
...
After deploying these two plans, Eric shifted his focus to the creation of the Spice Girls while also beginning to draft the screenplay for Gravity. Since he was over a decade ahead, the original script would clearly no longer serve his purpose.
With Simon Fuller at the helm, all five members of the Spice Girls had been finalized. The original Spice Girls had only remained popular for less than two years before disbanding due to various internal conflicts. Eric was unclear about the complexities involved but had no intention of reinstating the previous members. Simon Fuller also signed the new group members to a much stricter five-year contract, ensuring that the revamped Spice Girls would remain intact for at least that long.
Eric took the time to develop the Spice Girls mainly in preparation for the release of the Fireflyer Player in North America next year. Firefly Electronics had already signed intention contracts with several members of the Spice Girls for brand endorsements. Once the group rose to fame, they would also serve as the brand's representatives in Europe when the Fireflyer Player debuted in that market. Additionally, the Spice Girls could provide a collection of the hottest digital music copyrights for Fireflyer's promotional efforts in Europe.
Although Firefly Electronics had expanded the monthly production capacity of the Fireflyer Player to 450,000 units by July, the device became increasingly popular across North America, rendering that production amount still insufficient to meet market demand. While Amazon steadfastly maintained a sales price of $299, prices at various retail chains remained above $300.
From its launch in April, within less than six months, the Fireflyer Player's sales approached 1.5 million units. Firefly Electronics' management expected that once the Malaysian assembly factory commenced operations, the Fireflyer Player's 1997 sales figures in North America would easily exceed 3 million units.
Even at the original price of $299, that annual sales figure would bring Firefly Electronics' first product's annual revenue to over $900 million. The threshold for the Forbes Fortune 500 was only about $2 billion; thus, if they chose to, Firefly Electronics could easily make the list the following year, achieving a goal that countless companies aspire to but ultimately fail to reach during their existence. However, reaching this milestone would merely serve as a starting point for Firefly Electronics.
...
After spending several days in a villa on Kensington Garden Street in London, finalizing the two plans with the team in Los Angeles, Eric moved to Pinewood Town near Pinewood Studios. He also rented a soundstage within the studio, both for rehearsals of the Wannabe music video and to brainstorm ideas for filming Gravity.
Actually, these two matters closely intertwined. Eric had originally intended to shoot the single-take Wannabe MV purely out of interest but was tempted to abandon this notion due to a busy schedule. However, after considering the production of Gravity, he decided to pick up the camera himself to film this one-shot music video. This would allow him to refine his techniques regarding long take shot composition, framing rules, and other technical specifics to better prepare for directing Gravity.
When it came to choosing a cinematographer for this film, Eric initially thought of Emmanuel Lubezki. However, after watching several of his films, he dismissed that idea. At that early stage in his Hollywood career, Lubezki was still an ordinary cinematographer, having worked on films that showed basic shot standards, far from the mastery he would develop in a decade or two. Finding him now would be less ideal than if Eric just did it himself.
Eric actually considered taking on the task himself, as this aligned with a little dark humor he entertained in his heart. Through his work on The Others and last year's My Heart Will Go On, Eric had already snagged two Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song, earning him the titles of "Best Screenwriter" and "Best Composer" in directing circles. Given that, continuing onward to secure a title of "Best Cinematographer" was appealing as well.
Eric wasn't particularly obsessed with the Oscars, but playing this "game" was entertaining nonetheless. Apart from the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories -- which he believed were out of reach -- he felt he could contend for most of the other major awards. Being only 27, he didn't intend to put down the directing baton just yet. Setting such a humorously ambitious goal could energize him for the future.
Before Eric came to Europe, he had already handed the song Wannabe over to Simon Fuller, and the Spice Girls had now expertly practiced it. Eric had chosen a club in London for filming the MV, but rehearsals could only take place in the soundstage for fear of being overwhelmed by crowds.
...
Meanwhile, after his visit to the industrial city of Birmingham to tour an automotive assembly line, Eric found himself intrigued by a high-precision assembly robot from the German company KUKA. Upon learning that Eric Williams planned to use their robots for his next film, KUKA expressed great enthusiasm, offering to provide him with two robots free of charge and support the necessary modifications. The only condition was that Eric would need to mention KUKA in the promotional process for his next film.
The robot Eric was interested in cost about $1 million each. Given the complexity of such precise machinery, modifying it independently could be quite difficult. Since KUKA was willing to provide the robots for free and assist with the modifications, Eric naturally accepted the offer. Moreover, when it came to promoting Gravity, the method of filming would definitely become a topic of discussion, and casually mentioning KUKA would be no big deal.
KUKA sent two high-precision robots to Pinewood Studios, and after they were installed in the rented soundstage, Eric spent most of his time in there, preparing the set for the Wannabe MV while simultaneously collaborating with the specially assigned KUKA engineers to analyze and learn about the robot modifications and operational methods.
...
Upon returning to London -- particularly after Eric relocated to Pinewood Studios -- Caroline had been in excellent spirits. Not only could she return home every night, but, notably, Eric had finally settled into work mode and was no longer elusive. She could meet him promptly each day.
As noon approached, Caroline and Melanie left their office at the Pinewood Studios and headed towards a soundstage in the northwest corner, intending to join Eric for lunch and discuss work matters.
This large soundstage, measuring 60 meters long and 50 meters wide, boasted an interior space close to 3,000 square meters, with a ceiling higher than other soundstages, providing a spacious feel.
Inside the soundstage, several crew members were setting up according to the layout of the club chosen by Eric. After surveying the surroundings, Caroline understood that the setups were nearing completion. Eric had mentioned that he planned to spend a week in rehearsal before heading back to central London to start filming. Even if shooting in the city didn't go as planned, the entire process should wrap up within two weeks.
Two weeks -- Caroline wondered how much longer Eric would remain in the UK after that. Deep down, she hoped that the date would extend as much as possible.
As they navigated past the external setups, they quickly entered a designated area of approximately 300 to 400 square meters.
On the ground lay two striking orange-red robots. The sturdy bases were mounted on sliding tracks, with mechanical arms extending over three meters long. One had a small DV camera attached, while the other was intended to support a performer, but modifications had yet to be completed, and it currently held a mannequin.
Eric and Brian Cranston, the engineer sent by KUKA, stood together on the periphery, each controlling a PDA while manually maneuvering the robots at a slow pace.
Caroline and Melanie quietly stood a few paces away from several crew members, waiting for Eric and Brian to finish their operations before approaching from behind Eric, collectively watching the footage captured by the DV camera on the computer screen.
Ignoring the robotic arms, the mannequin's movements appeared almost carefree, lacking confinement in any direction, creating a slight sensation of floating in space, though only minimally. This might have been due to the mannequin's stiff limbs or perhaps due to Eric and Brian's still-developing skills.
"If only we could switch those out for a real person in a spacesuit, the mannequin looks too rigid," Eric mused softly after replaying the footage several times.
Brian Cranston showed a keen interest in the footage on the computer screen and said, "Eric, if you need, I could start on the modifications right away. It would only take two days."
Eric smiled and shook his head, saying, "Thanks, Brian, but I still need to think about how to proceed with the modifications."
"Of course, Eric, there's no rush," Brian nodded with a smile.
Eric rewatched the footage, then turned to Melanie and Caroline, having just noticed that the two girls had arrived.
"You two, find a set of space suits this afternoon; they don't need to be real, just models that can fit over the mannequin," he instructed.
"Sure thing," Melanie nodded, then glanced at her wristwatch and said, "And, Eric, it's lunchtime now."
"Alright, let's head out for some food," Eric replied, giving a sidelong glance at the small box Caroline was holding. He smiled and asked, "You didn't prepare lunch for me, did you?"
"No, I didn't," Caroline shook her head and displayed the box to Eric. "This is a sample of the music phone that Nokia sent over this morning."
Seeing the Nokia logo on the box, Eric nodded, "Let's go to the cafeteria and check it out."
After saying that, he exchanged farewells with a few other crew members before they all headed out for lunch. Brian Cranston did not join them, only offering a quick goodbye as he left with other crew members.
...
Eric, Caroline, and Melanie arrived at a cafeteria inside the studio, ordered their lunch, and then opened the box Caroline brought.
"I've seen the documentation already," Caroline explained as Eric unpacked the sample and started to play around with it. "These two models -- a flash memory-based one -- has a capacity of only 64 megabytes, which can hold about ten songs. This is the current standard capacity for flash memory chips. The other model uses a micro hard drive from Seagate, with a capacity of 2GB. The material from Nokia indicates that they won't mass-produce the flash memory music phones for now; this is just for technological accumulation. Only the micro hard drive music phones will be market-ready. They'll officially launch in January, similar to the second-generation Fireflyer Player plans, with models available in 1GB and 2GB capacities, priced at approximately $600 and $700, respectively."
*****
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