Chapter 1417 1417 Industrial Light and Magic
Looking at the simple and clear building in front of me, the completely white exterior wall surrounds the courtyard that is slightly desolate in winter, and the three-story "concave" shape building is well-behaved, without any fancy or special design, It doesn't look anything special. If someone told Hugo that this was a nursing home or an old hospital from decades ago, he would have believed it.
After looking around several times, Hugo couldn't find anything like a house number or sign, as if it was just an ordinary small yard. He couldn't even find any signs or words for "Industrial Light and Magic", which made people strongly suspect this place. Is it the destination?
Although it is said that after nearly 20 years of development, computer visual effects have not fully matured until now, and have begun to take the "future water world" as the dividing line to a higher level. At best, it can only be regarded as a surprise, rather than a hegemony enough to dominate half of Hollywood, so the office building is still not reborn, which is forgivable; but looking at such a low-key building in front of him, Hugo can't help but let out a sigh, the so-called The Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger probably means this.
However, Alan, who was approaching, answered Hugo's doubts: they were not looking in the wrong place.
Allen and a man with a big beard and a teddy bear walked over with a smile, and the relaxed smile on Allen's face could be seen from a distance, "Finally waited for you guys, I'm still here. I wonder if you are trapped in Los Angeles by the paparazzi." Allen stepped forward and greeted Rick and the others one by one, then held Hugo's hand and said with a bright face, "Tell you, you can absolutely Looking forward to today's surprise, it's truly a place where miracles are born."
It can be seen from those eyes that sparkle with excitement, Allen can't wait to show off.
"This is John Knoll, he's working on 'Mission Impossible' with Tom Cruise, and I watched a little special effects in the trailer yesterday..." Allen paused for a moment, then sent out He exclaimed, "Wow!" Apart from that, he didn't need any words to express his inner surging.
Such Alan makes people a lot closer, just like all boys who got Transformers toys when they were young, and they were uncontrollably excited. John, who was standing on the side, stood with his hands crossed somewhat cautiously. Hearing Alan's praise, he not only was not proud, but a little shyly looked away, turned his head to look at the gray scenery next to him, obviously He is not used to such communication situations.
However, John only paused for a moment, then turned around, "Nice to meet you, welcome to Industrial Light and Magic, I hope you can enjoy a pleasant journey today."
Hugo held John's outstretched right hand and said with a smile, "I hope we don't interfere with everyone's work." John looked only in his early thirties, and should be about the same age as Hugo. He was dispatched as a representative to receive Hugo and others, probably because he was professional enough and at the same time possessed certain communication skills, so that he would not neglect the guests.
What Hugo didn't know was that this middle-aged man, John Knoll, and his younger brother Thomas Knoll, who looked a little shy and shy, were the original developers of the image processing software Photoshop.
"No, absolutely not. In fact, George is very happy to hear that you are coming, and he is currently in the office answering a call from James, er, I mean, a work call, so there is no way to come down to meet you." John His voice was still a little tight, but he could feel the sincerity in his eyes.
James? Who is George Lucas calling? The first thing that came to Hugo's mind was James Cameron, and then "Titanic" - the special effects technology for this work was also done by Industrial Light and Magic. Just don't know if Hugo's guess is accurate.
"I refuse to talk to George here, because these things are unfamiliar to me, and I don't want to look like an idiot in front of George." Hugo's slightly teasing words made Alan laugh, and John also seemed Some could not help laughing, and the atmosphere suddenly relaxed a lot. "I think I'm ready now to get a taste of what the VFX has to offer, and if you can, please lead the way."
After being reminded by Hugo, John realized that they were still standing at the gate, which was really impolite. He quickly moved out of the way and led the way ahead.
"I didn't expect you to appear today." Hugo looked at Alan who was walking side by side with him, and said actively. Hugo originally thought that it would be very rare for Alan to arrive on the set to visit the set, and the production of computer special effects would be too boring.
Alan looked in a very good mood, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, "Watching these behind-the-scenes productions is a bit boring, but it's really interesting. I only understand now why you want to see the effects of special effects, in my mind. The difference between whether there is a picture or not is really huge.”
Hugo laughed, "This shows that we are not suitable for the job of special effects design, because the imagination is too lacking."
Hugo's words made Allen chuckle and nodded again and again, "Yes, yes." It could be seen that Allen was in a really good mood today.
Walking into the office building, you can immediately feel the difference. There are huge one-to-one posters hanging on both sides of the corridor, which are impressively designed by Industrial Light & Magic, including the epoch-making "visual effects". Master Yoda in "Star Wars", fantastic alien figures in "The Abyss", lifelike dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park" and more. It is hard to imagine that these real characters are all made with computer technology.
There are no desks or office equipment in the lobby on the first floor, but messy tools and materials are piled up everywhere. Among them, you can also see the half-made Darth Vader armor, a dinosaur tail and a cruise ship that is only half left, and Some messy things, these things are scattered in every corner of the first floor, and there are some abandoned drawings in the middle.
It seems that this should be the place where the staff personally experiment with character effects, the connection point between virtual and reality. They realize their imagination here, and then trigger more imagination by analogy, and then put it on the computer. Although the role of the movie is to realize the imagination of human beings, the so-called unrestrained imagination must also be supported by factual basis, and this test field plays such a role.
Hugo's eyes were constantly searching through this pile of messy objects. It seemed that the most of them were aliens. There were too many to count. "Conceived - after all, there are so many aliens in this work. Then I saw all kinds of strange-shaped spaceships, which made Hugo really curious, and wanted to open it up and take a closer look.
But John's footsteps didn't stop, and when he stepped up the stairs, he noticed Hugo's exploring eyes, "Sorry, if you are interested in these, you can study it slowly when you come down. ."
Hugo withdrew his gaze and followed quickly, "Of course, there is still time." The main task at present is to watch the special effects of "Independence Day". After all, the staff are waiting for Hugo.
"I didn't expect that you are really interested in these." John looked at Hugo with excitement in his eyes and said in surprise.
"Accurately speaking, it should be curiosity." Hugo said with a smile, "This is a field that I am completely unfamiliar with, so I always admire you very much. You can evolve the endless fantasies in your mind into reality. One of the greatest charms of cinema, isn't it?" ILM is the big piece of the puzzle that makes those dreams come true.
"This is also an important reason why the movie is so attractive." Allen's voice interjected from the side, "Show all the intricate things in our minds through pictures, sounds and performances, and then affect more people. "
Hugo looked at Allen in surprise. He didn't expect that Allen had such an understanding of movies.
After walking up to the second floor, the line of sight suddenly becomes narrow, because the spacious space in front of you is divided into workshops, but the workshops here are different from ordinary white-collar offices. Every workshop here is huge and spacious. The table can even accommodate two people to lie down side by side, and there is a computer on one side of the table - Hugo did not expect that the current computer is so advanced, although it is still much larger than he imagined, and now it is processed at a high speed. The amount of memory can only be achieved with a processor that takes up a huge amount of space.
There are all kinds of things on the desktop, including design drawings, toys, crayons, plasticine, and paint... Everyone's desktop is different and has distinct personal characteristics.
Before Hugo could sigh about the "casual style of the design studio", he saw a man in shorts and plastic slippers walking by Shi Shiran, and his vision was again occupied by pizza boxes, beer bottles and potato chips bags. , Sure enough, this is a world of otakus, it's like a collective dormitory where countless otakus move together - that is, a paradise for technical otakus!
John seemed a little embarrassed, then tugged on his wrinkled light blue shirt cautiously, "Sorry, we're just used to it here."
Hugo raised his eyebrows slightly. He couldn't say, "This is not too different from what I imagined." Two buttons are a good choice."
Hugo is comparing themselves to aliens, and this situation is the normal state of the earth. This is a world belonging to otaku, and these outsiders naturally need to follow the local customs. Hugo's words made John stunned for a while, and then the whole person relaxed.
At this moment, Alan, who was standing next to him, said, "I hope that there is no requirement to take off shoes and socks..." There is no need to repeat the following words, everyone understands that a man's "scent" is not so easy to deal with. All of them laughed lightly at once.