Chapter 23 Computer Effects

Ronald, who had finished filming the MV, took the material and returned to Portrait Records. Here is the latest editing equipment that lawyer Hoffman rented for free through personal connections, which he got from the producer of the snl program group. Just unpacked, the latest device that has not been officially listed.

Ronald is ready to be right here, quickly edit the mv with the new machine, and get the right to use the episode after the crossover.

In Portrait Records' office, Diane and Donna stopped Ronald, opened the bag they were carrying, and took out two thick printouts.

"Here are the two scripts I told you last time. Both producers have sent me a call back to audition again. I'm a little bit at a loss as to which one should I choose." Diane took the two scripts. In hand, hand it to Ronald.

Diane was obviously a little anxious, and instead of waiting for Ronald to finish the MV, he and Donna came to him in advance to ask him for advice. .

"What did Bert say?" Ronald picked up two scripts and flipped through them.

The first thick script was "The Mermaid." Two brothers, heirs of the New York Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Terminal, one of them is named Ellen. When they were playing on a yacht as a child, they met a little mermaid and rescued him after falling into the water.

Years passed, and the adult mermaid used magic to transform into a humanoid, and went ashore to spend seven days with Ellen. Unexpectedly, a few days later, the mad scientist caught the mermaid, and Alan rescued the mermaid. In the end, in order to love the mermaid, he gave up life on earth, grew gills, and returned to the sea with the mermaid.

This script is obviously born out of the classic "Daughter of the Sea" by Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen.

However, the ending of the story is completely opposite. It is not that the little mermaid can't bear to hurt the prince and disappears, but the prince of mankind (who owns a vegetable and fruit wholesale terminal in New York and can live like a prince) abandons his worldly life and returns to the sea with the little mermaid. There are also some subtle environmental themes.

"Director Ron Howard, he wants me to play The Little Mermaid." Diane pointed to the script.

Ronald raised his eyebrows and heard that Ron Howard had pushed back "with all his strength", it seems that he is more optimistic about this movie. "How much are they going to invest?"

"More than 10 million. A live-action movie invested by Disney." Diane said proudly.

"Um..." This production budget, in the Disney studio, is already a big production. President Ron Miller apparently did not give up his plan to transform into a live-action film, and continued to move forward on his own determined path.

Ronald looked up at Diane,

Diane didn't wear makeup today. She was wearing a white shirt under a thick coat. There seemed to be a golden brooch on the shirt.

"And this one is a Universal project with a budget of more than 10 million." Diane took the second script and handed it to Ronald.

"Untitled Project" was written on the cover of this book, which Ronald opened for a quick glance. It was a classic gangster story.

The female rock star from a small town was snatched away by the gang leader. The ex-boyfriend of a retired soldier came back to attack with his current boyfriend and manager, and snatched the female singer back.

Then the ex-boyfriend organized the men in the town to stand up together and resisted the counterattack called by the gang leader. Finally, the female singer and the agent continued their journey to fame, while the ex-boyfriend continued to wander.

The script is very thin, with only about fifty pages of detailed content. There are no details in many places, just half a page or a page of the script, and the words like gunfights, duels, gang fights, etc. are written in general.

"Why do I look a little familiar, this storyline is like, like...'North African Spy'?" Ronald asked Diane, a little confused, raising his eyes. The ex-boyfriend broke up with the heroine, and by chance, he saved the heroine and her current lover, and finally got a new boyfriend and went far away.

"Well, they also said that it was the prototype of the story of 'North African Spy', but it added a lot of modern rock content. Burt said that it would be better for my career to take over this movie." Diane's eyes were bright, As if waiting for a compliment from Ronald.

"Well, if that's what he said, it's this one. Hello, new Ingrid Bergman." Ronald smiled at Diane. Teenager to girl is the most difficult hurdle for actresses to overcome. It seems that Diane has transformed well under Burt's plan.

But he immediately frowned, is this kind of gangster-themed movie really selling well now? Ronald has always felt that today's teenage audiences don't necessarily like these kinds of films. Whether it can be done or not will be known by watching the box office release of "The World's Urchin" next month.

"But I want you to give me some advice, Ronald. You are an accomplished director, and I think your opinion is more valuable." Diane clasped her hands together.

"Don't let Bert hear that. Well, but I'll have to wait for the evening to read the two scripts carefully, and I'll give you my opinion tomorrow, okay? I'm busy getting used to the new editing machines now. I'm also I have to help edit this mv before I can switch to..."

"Really? You want to take a closer look? Of course you can. But don't make me wait too long, both movies are about to start." Diane was very happy, interrupting Ronald's explanation. It would be nice if Ronald could give her advice anyway.

Ronald patted two scripts and put them in the bag Donna brought. Diane has starred in two consecutive Coppola films and seems to have made a name for herself in Hollywood.

The scripts sent to her now are all full copies, not the kind of excerpts that only have their own scenes. This shows that Diane has been qualified to pick the project, rather than being picked by the project. This time, there are different movie projects competing for her to star.

Two big Hollywood productions let her choose. If the next "urchin" and "Betta fish" can sell well, half a foot has firmly stepped into the ranks of first-line female stars.

"I'm going to learn the operation of the new machine, why don't you and Donna go back first? I'll ask the assistant to call a taxi for you."

"Okay, remember to come back early in the evening, my mother hasn't seen you for a long time." Donna dragged Diane, and the two walked to the door to wait for the car.

"Is that the machine?" Ronald stepped on the bag with two scripts and entered the room.

"Which script do you think Ronald will let me choose?" Diane and Donna whispered.

"I don't know, but I like that mermaid, it's interesting."

"Isn't rock star bad? I think rock star is very exciting."

"It's not bad, haven't you acted in a rock movie?"

"That movie was so bad at the box office, it doesn't count."

...

"It's this editing machine, equipped with an ado special effect machine. This is the first machine in America that can generate special effects with a computer." The technicians sent by snl to buy a new machine company for training are waiting for Xiang Luo. Nader introduced.

The editing table still looks like a traditional horizontal editing machine, but a large metal table with various knobs and switches is added next to it.

"ado (ampex digital optics)" Ronald saw the logo on the panel.

"Yes, this is the latest digital video effects machine. We are the first company in America to make this kind of product." The staff began to carry the introduction in the sales brochure.

"How does this thing work?" Ronald interrupted the endorsement and directly asked him how to use it.

"Get the tape in first, and here are several special effects." The staff introduced him to the use of the ado special effect machine.

"...First enter the x-axis data, and the y-axis data, so..., and then you can..." The staff worked on the sample tape, and then pressed play.

The entire monitor screen was peeled off like an onion, and then the entire screen flipped over like a book, and finally stopped at the upper left corner, becoming a picture-in-picture.

"Huh?" Ronald exclaimed in surprise.

"This is the special effect I just made. I'll show you the demo tape. There are various special effects displayed in it." The staff put in a video tape, and then showed it to Ronald on the monitor.

"This is the effect of turning pages, this is the effect of upside down, this is the effect of rotation, this is to turn the picture into a sphere, and then there is this, which can make several balls collide with each other."

The staff showed Ronald a demo with the ado special effect machine.

"Can this machine be used for special effects in the movie if I rent it?" Ronald came up with the idea of ​​a special effects machine. Could it be used for the title of "Night of the Comet"?

"Yes, yes, but you need to convert the film footage to tape before you can edit it with an ado special effects machine."

"What if you don't use pre-filmed film? Just use this ado to make some special effects fonts?"

"That's very cheap. If it's just a few dozen seconds of the title, it's about 5,000 yuan. In the end, when it's converted into film, it doesn't exceed 10,000 dollars."

"Okay! Can the effect be like this?" Ronald rubbed his hands and asked the staff by pointing to the special effect font on the sample tape.

"No problem, the old-fashioned special effects machine used an old-fashioned analog circuit to deform the picture, and then cooperated with a film optical printer to achieve the effect. Lucas used the one used in Star Wars. It does the simplest traverse and elimination. For the effect, the man-hours cost tens of thousands of dollars. His subtitles cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make.

Our ado uses digital circuits to do special effects, so we can directly let the computer use mathematical formulas to complete the same effects of zooming in, zooming out, flipping, etc., just enter the parameters, and there is no need to use a film optical printer to synthesize it. There is also the deformation of this sphere, which is even more difficult for analog circuits to achieve. "

"Okay." Ronald was very happy, "Then you teach me, let's use the MV material to achieve the effects you said."

"Our digital special effects machine has not yet been officially launched. There is only one in America. This MV of yours will be the first time that computer-generated special effects appear in commercial video."

"I still have a movie's subtitles to do some effects, you can give me a little cheaper? If you can, I'll put all the special effects that ado can do in the mv, and it's equivalent to advertising for you."

"Is that so? I can call the company's sales director. They may be willing to make movie titles for you for free. Our company hopes to enter the film production market."

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