Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 345 Industrial Light & Magic
Gu Ming really has nothing to say about people like Marcus who claim to be elites of the high-level Japanese society.

What agencies and what TV dramas, they actually don’t have much effect. People develop in the United States and don’t go back to Japan to work.

What really moved him so much was of course two things.

First, Shadow Warrior had investment from Fox, and Fox was willing to invest because George Lucas played a role in it.

second.

This film not only won the Palme d'Or, but also produced a Cannes Film Festival Best Actor.

Even Americans care about this kind of honor and reputation.

Besides, he is not a genuine American!

A few days later.

Several people arrived at the location of Industrial Light & Magic.

The current Industrial Light & Magic is not in San Francisco, but in an old warehouse in the suburbs of California.

Gu Ming felt familiar with this place as soon as he saw it.

“It seems that all the big names started their businesses in the same environment!”

Niemoto Tatsumi was also happy: "Come to think of it, we are also in an old warehouse."

"But their old warehouse is bigger than ours."

“There are a lot of people.”

There are indeed a lot of people at Industrial Light & Magic.

After all, Extreme Action Agency is an acting agency. Including Gu Ming, there are a total of more than 20 people. Except for actors with some status such as Niemoto Tatsumi and Manatsu Ryu, the remaining dozen or so people are mostly just stand-ins, extras, or simply roles behind the action scenes.

In comparison, Industrial Light & Magic, which was also located in an old warehouse in the 1980s, had more than 100 employees and was considered a large company.

It’s just that the nature of the two is different. Gu Ming’s is an actor agency, and this is a special effects company after all, so it’s normal to have a lot of people.

If Gu Ming had hundreds of actors, and they were all leading actors with movies to shoot, he would be at the top of the Japanese film and television industry.

Marcus, with a somewhat nervous expression, led Gu Ming and the other two in.

George Lucas is currently supervising the production inside Industrial Light & Magic and has been waiting for several days.

When the two met, George Lucas, with his big beard, laughed and came over to hug Gu Ming.

"Very good, very good, I finally waited for you."

Marcus gave a humble look from the side.

This action doesn't seem to be as simple as that of an ordinary employee.

He was feeling uneasy, but Gu Ming did not mention anything about Marcus, and only talked about what he had seen and heard in the past few days.

George Lucas made a few polite remarks and then looked very apologetic.

"I really want to show you around, but the film is in production right now and I'm too busy. Marcus, take Akira and this friend to get a set of work badges and tour our Industrial Light & Magic."

"Yes! Mr. Lucas!"

After George Lucas left, Marcus became even more respectful and served him at his beck and call. He took the initiative to find two visitor badges for Gu Ming and the others to hang up, and also brought them two glasses of ice water.

Gu Ming smiled jokingly: "Why, you won't restrain yourself anymore?"

Marcus shook his head desperately: "Sorry, so sorry!"

"Don't be a craftsman."

Gu Ming shook his head and stopped teasing Marcus. He held the ice water in his hand and followed Marcus to visit Industrial Light & Magic.

Nijiamoto Tatsumi was very curious about this form. For some reason, the work badge hanging around his neck gave him a feeling like a dog leash, and it always seemed very bad.

Gu Ming was embarrassed to tell him.

Isn’t a work badge just a dog leash?

Later, the divisions among companies were so strict that there were even job levels within each company. It was basically a small country.

For example, the famous Tencent internal anti-corruption department...

That’s right, Tencent needs to fight corruption internally.

Marcus walked in front, doing his job conscientiously and explaining continuously.

"The work we are currently producing is the sequel to Star Wars. We are currently busy with some parts that require a lot of special effects shots, and the parts that require actors to perform have not yet started shooting."

Niemoto Tatsumi suddenly said, "Star Wars, that's the... that movie about spaceships, right?"

Gu Ming had let everyone go before in the office. Seeing Marcus nod, Niemoto Tatsumi asked, "So, how did you shoot that scene? Could it be the same technique as special effects?"

Marcuston gave a strange look.

Generally speaking, trade secrets cannot be disclosed.

But ILM isn't afraid to reveal.

the reason is simple.

No money...

Industrial Light & Magic was founded from scratch by George Lucas. Anyone who wants to imitate it will have to invest a huge amount of money. It would be better to directly ask Industrial Light & Magic to do the special effects.

Therefore, even in later generations, although there were many special effects companies, there were not many companies of the same scale as Industrial Light & Magic.

Marcus casually explained: "Well, first of all, we have to completely darken the studio to create a sense of space."

There was no one in the studio, so he casually turned off the lampshade, and in an instant, the room was plunged into darkness.

Marcus turned on another lamp and hung it high above the canopy.

"This is like a star. When shooting, the light source shines from this side and will not move anymore. The spacecraft can only move towards the light source, but the light source cannot move towards the spacecraft."

Niemoto Tatsumi was speechless in an instant.

It was not because I saw the star, but because I saw the huge, suspended spaceship in the studio under the shining star.

A giant object that is tens of meters long can appear to be hundreds or even thousands of meters long under the camera.

Gu Ming crossed his arms and said nothing.

Is Star Wars a special effects film?

The answer is yes and no.

Star Wars only used special effects techniques in its earliest stages, but as the level of special effects improved, it soon reached the level of full special effects.

Special effects, special photography techniques, are essentially the lowest level of special effects created without special effects, and are considered to be homegrown special effects.

If Wangu had the ability to directly produce CG in 1966, he would not have used the leather suit method at all.

In the works of the new era, Wangu began to use CG synthesis extensively, and the leather suits more often just served the purpose of appearance.

After all, you can’t call yourself a special effects worker if you don’t use a suit. Otherwise, you would want to use CG to shoot the whole thing.

As a special effects work.

The crudeness of Star Wars’ special effects techniques cannot mask the brilliance of its special effects production.

The effect of shooting this giant object of dozens of meters in size sailing in front of us is completely different from the shooting effect of Wangu using a miniature model.

Marcus is still talking about how Industrial Light & Magic used techniques to shoot the spacecraft's navigation. He is beaming with joy when talking about it, as if he is also proud of it.

Gu Ming suddenly interrupted Marcus.

"Actually, it's just using the 'background painting' method."

Marcus was slightly startled.

Gu Ming gestured with his hands and said, "Draw three different layouts at the same time. The first shot is the black and white silhouette as the background, the second shot is the special effects that need to be added, and the third shot is to combine the two and apply the real model's picture."

Marcus nodded. "Yes, that's right. I didn't expect you to know that."

Gu Ming could only smile bitterly.

Of course he knew.

Because historically, this technique was used by Japan when filming Baltan in 1966.

However, it is expensive and entirely hand-painted, making it impossible to replicate.

Therefore, even if the technology is more advanced, it will not be able to form a scale in the end, and it will not be able to achieve the so-called "industrialization".

Zhou Guo started even later in special effects photography, and was still groping for it around the millennium, and only achieved results in recent years.

Gu Ming vaguely remembered what he had heard someone say before.

The gap between industrialization and non-industrialization is that Hollywood stopped developing for 30 years, and we have been pursuing it hard for 30 years and have only just caught up with Hollywood.

In other words, there is actually a gap of sixty years!
Later generations of Hollywood were harmed by political correctness. Otherwise, in terms of works alone, no country would be able to easily surpass it.

If you want blockbusters, there are blockbusters; if you want humanistic care, there is humanistic care, everything is available.

Gu Ming touched his chest and felt inexplicably heavy in his heart again.

(End of this chapter)