"Gravity" and "Interstellar" are two very different works, and although they both involve the filming of the gravity-free environment of space, the storylines are very different.

"Gravity" was weightless throughout the entire process, and how to present this gravity-free environment became a problem for the entire crew, and Alfonso Cuarón spent years exploring the effects of lighting and camera movement, and finally created a lightbox and completed an impossible shooting task.

"Interstellar" is almost in a state of gravity throughout the whole process, whether it is a spaceship or two planets in space, all of them simulate the gravitational environment of the earth, because the task is to find an earth-like planet suitable for human survival, which makes the special effects team more focused on the visual effects production of interstellar.

In the whole shooting concept of the latter, the only weightlessness appears in the five-dimensional space-time:

Cooper floats in a space-time tunnel and completely loses himself, and if he doesn't find a solution, he will be lost in the five-dimensional space-time forever, and then Cooper finds the timeline, finds Murphy's room, and sends a signal through gravitational waves, hoping that Murphy can decipher the code.

For the filming of such an important section, Christopher Nolan naturally completed the idea ahead of schedule.

Because of the particularity of the five-dimensional space-time hypercube, the surging light and shadow in all directions are always changing, and furthermore, the light changes in different spaces will further affect the light float of the three-dimensional plane where Cooper is located, which is bound to become an important task of the computer visual effects team, but at the same time, it also means that the audience's attention will be focused on the hypercube, and the attention to the weightlessness effect will also be diverted.

Before "gravity", Hollywood had formed a relatively stable system for the shooting of weightlessness, mainly using green screen and WIA technology to create the effect of the character floating in mid-air, and then creating the overall atmosphere through post-production special effects, although it is not perfect, but it is better than simple and convenient, and for non-professionals, the flaws are not big.

In the five-dimensional space-time, the light fluctuations are very violent and very special, which can invisibly weaken the audience's attention to the weightlessness state and focus more on the hypercube, which also makes WIA technology more effective to present the effects required by the weightless environment.

That's what Christopher originally planned to shoot.

The lighting problem raised by Lan Li is still within the scope of Christopher's conception, and the actor and the director obviously have more say in the lighting problem, but another problem mentioned in Lan Li's words, "the feeling of body bulkiness", which is the part that the director and the gaffer cannot personally feel, which gives Christopher more inspiration.

To put it simply, Lan Li's question set off Christopher's other thoughts, and it was right to the point.

Then Lan Li realized that he had opened Pandora's box, just like Lan Li's dedication to acting, and Christopher's dedication to the picture is not trivial.

Lan Li arrived at the crew for less than 30 minutes, and he hadn't even walked around the entire No. 18 studio, and then he was caught as a guinea pig: the Weiya experiment and the lighting experiment.

This could have been done with a stand-in, but in Christopher's words, "Since Lan Li has just raised the question about the feeling of being bulky, it would be best if Lan Li could go into battle and let us adjust the poundage of Wia and understand Lan Li's balance and state at the same time, wouldn't it?"

Christopher is serious. Lan Li did not refuse.

So, Lan Li put on Weiya equipment, was suspended in mid-air, entered the square box in the center, and began to adjust the work.

Emma Thomas immediately contacted a more professional WIA stunt team to come to the studio, joined the original stunt team, and discussed specific solutions with Christopher, the lighting team, and the VFX team. Now they are trying to add Wia, like a marionette, hanging Wia for Lan Li's two ankles, and then using the guidance of Wia technicians to control Lan Li's floating trajectory.

This is not an easy task.

The main Wia is tied to the waist and hips to ensure the stability of the main trunk of the body, while the auxiliary Wia is tied to the ankles to ensure the freedom of movement of the limbs.

When the body moves, then the main torso moves, and the assistant Weiya needs to relax and return the control of the limbs to Lan Li, and when the body is still, because the whole person is suspended in mid-air, the control of the limbs cannot find the power point, and there will inevitably be the bulkiness described by Lan Li, at this time, the auxiliary Wei Ya needs to pull his legs up, and cooperate with Lan Li's movements, showing a state of floating in mid-air.

To put it simply, actors and technicians need to cooperate with each other to find a relatively stable rhythm and way to make the shooting go more smoothly.

At the same time, the gaffer and the photographer need to cooperate with each other to find the location of the lighting, use the misalignment of light and shadow to further highlight the floating effect in the weightless state, and reduce the visual effect of the sinking body as much as possible.

It's a very, very difficult and tedious job.

But Lan Li was not impatient at all, and conscientiously cooperated with the Weiya technician to adjust his body position, sometimes, everyone stood at the bottom and started a fierce argument, and Lan Li was suspended in the air alone, five minutes, ten minutes passed like this, and everyone seemed to have forgotten the existence of Lan Li.

Anyone who has really tried WIA knows that this is an extremely painful thing.

Because the whole body is maintained by a wire rope, which also means that all the weight is pressed on your waist and crotch, even if there is no special action, the feeling of pressure will squeeze the muscles little by little, and there will be a lot of bruises on the waist and crotch, and it is a trivial matter to wear out the skin, and the most serious thing may be that the muscles and bones are faulty, which directly leads to the inability to stand up;

The cornices and walls and fairy wind bones seen on the movie screen are definitely a severe test of body and will during the filming process.

In most crews, the actors almost use stand-ins when they can, but they can't use stand-ins before they go into battle in person.

Now Jessica Chastain and Timothy Chalamet looked up at Lan Li hanging in mid-air, and their expressions couldn't help but show a worried look.

Mei Gan Shanke, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but mutter, "Lan Li, why is this so troublesome? These tasks can be completed by professional stuntmen." ”

In fact, the "Interstellar" crew does not have stuntmen. Because there are no martial arts scenes, and there are no dangerous scenes, there is no need for stuntmen at all. But now there are special circumstances, and if necessary, finding a stuntman in Burbank is just a phone call, and Lan Li still chooses to go into battle in person.

"Lan Li is now worth more than 100 million, isn't this embarrassing for the crew?" Mei Gan complained while worried, and his contradictory emotions made people laugh.

Jessica couldn't help but chuckle, "He just deliberately gave the crew a headache, you know, all the expenses can be reimbursed by the insurance company." ”

The current value of Lanli has been completely different, which is reflected in all aspects, not only the salary, not only the crew-related treatment, the most important change is: insurance.

When Lan Li joined the "Interstellar" crew, according to the contract, they had to provide Lan Li with sufficient security. Warner Bros. has purchased an insurance policy with a very high compensation amount, and the rumor amount has exceeded 100 million US dollars, and this insurance will fully cover all the problems of Lan Li during her work on the crew, including illness, accidents, mental breakdowns, etc.

For reference, top superstars such as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks have regulations on insurance when signing contracts, and if the insurance amount is not high enough, then dangerous actions are performed by stuntmen as much as possible.

In some special moments, it is not that the actors are not professional enough, but that the film companies are worried that the actors are too professional because they do not want to pay high insurance premiums. Film companies are more inclined to use stuntmen and things are much simpler, and their insurance premiums may be one-tenth or one-twentieth of the top actors, or even lower, which is much more cost-effective for the studios, which is the right way to do business.

For example, when Tom Cruise was filming "Mission Impossible 6", he personally went into battle and jumped off the building with Wia, but accidentally broke his knees and ankles, which simply scared Paramount out of a cold sweat, which not only delayed the filming process, but also needed to worry about Tom's follow-up health. If he could, Paramount would rather Tom not be so desperate.

Of course, such a situation is still very, very rare, and more often than not, the actor takes the initiative to hand over the work to the stand-in. What's even more special is that like Vin Diesel, in order to show his big-name nature, he refuses to go into battle in person, and pushes everything to the stand-in, which makes fellow actors even more disdainful.

Now, Lan Li's level has also reached the level of a top superstar. Not only "Interstellar", but also when shooting other commercial films in the future, this is also a part of the contract that must be guaranteed.

However, Jessica's ridicule is obviously a joke, and Megan is helpless.

At this moment, the low voices of several other staff members came from behind him.

“…… I don't understand either, maybe he's just trying to make a name for himself......"

"Che, why does he want to be famous? If he doesn't, what do you think other people can say? Do you think other studios won't want to look for him? He doesn't need to be famous at all, okay?"

"Also, he is now worth more than 100 million, even if it is for fame, there is no need, have you heard how much he earned from the salary of this 'drunken country ballad'?"