The preparation stage of the film is a meticulous and strategic process, just like building a house and making a design drawing, all aspects that need to be considered and perfected as much as possible. Before the official start-up, every prop, every shot, and every person must be well considered, otherwise it is easy to have problems when shooting.

Hollywood movies are generally U-line structure, the preparation period and post-production are particularly long, and the shooting time is relatively short, and the same is true for domestic regular crews;

"Time Prisoner" will be broadcast during the Spring Festival, and Zhang Ran plans to complete the production in two months, and the preparation period is undoubtedly greatly compressed. Fortunately, the Qingying Studio has a complete range of categories, and the lighting and photography are all ready-made, and these people have quite rich experience in film shooting, saving the run-in time.

Zhang Ran looked at the main creators of the crew, cleared his throat, and said loudly: "The movie is a collective project, it is difficult to do it well by relying on the strength of one person, and it is necessary to concentrate the strength of everyone, so I hope that everyone will cooperate sincerely to make this movie well! I think so, if our crew can get 4.5 points, the crew will give you 200,000 yuan, and if we get 5 points, we will get 500,000 yuan as a reward!

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and they all applauded warmly, and two of the old fritters also slapped Zhang Ran's sycophants with their throats.

Zhang Ran pressed his hand and motioned for everyone to be quiet: "The movie channel plans to broadcast our film during the Spring Festival, the time is limited, and we will try to complete it within two months." Now the first task in front of us is to break down the script, ask each team to break down the script as soon as possible, and come up with a plan, so that the production team can make the production schedule and the producer can make the budget. ”

When it comes to film preparation, many people think that the first thing is to write a storyboard script, which is actually wrong, and the first thing is to break down the script. To put it simply, it is to disassemble the script one by one according to the basic elements such as scenes, locations, and actors, and also pay attention to the shooting length, props, stunts, and camera equipment. The best way to do this is to write everything down on index cards and make scene cards.

Once all the scenes are broken down, the production team was able to add variables one by one. This includes the distance between locations, whether the shooting time is day or night, indoor or outdoor, when the location is available, and then the actors: when they can shoot and who needs to work together.

Then you can put everything together, make a master production schedule, and make a detailed shooting plan. Before the official shooting, all the crew members had a table.

Why do this in the first place? So that the producer can come up with a budget based on the list and the shooting plan. Only the members of the crew can act separately, engaging in props and props, setting the scenery, contacting the venue, and borrowing the machine.

At the end of the meeting, Zhang Ran called the members of the director team to a meeting. Zhang Ran has two assistant directors, the first assistant director is Huang Kunming, an old man from Qingying Studio, and the second assistant director is Ning Hao.

Zhang Ran looked at his assistants and said: "Time is relatively tight, we have few people, and the division of labor can save time." Lao Huang, you are the first assistant director, it may be a little harder, you have to do the main work of breaking down the script, and I have to prepare special effects!"

Huang Kunming responded: "Director, don't worry, I have participated in the filming of a lot of movies, just leave this matter to me, I will definitely be able to do a good job." ”

"Thank you for your hard work!" Zhang Ran smiled at Huang Kunming, then looked at Ning Hao and said, "Ning Hao, I'll have to trouble you about the scene survey!"

"Director, look at me!" Ning Hao nodded.

"We have limited time, so please leave it to everyone!"

After arranging the work, Zhang Ran explained the precautions again, and then the director team meeting ended, and everyone was busy.

You will find that there are some places where the camera position is not available at all, some of the scheduling is actually unreasonable, some scenes that are very well shot have serious noise problems, and some of the angles you design are not light at all...... As a result, the storyboard became a pile of waste paper and had to start all over again.

Therefore, the process of location scouting is very important, and only after the location survey is completed can the storyboard be written.

Under normal circumstances, the director can not be on the scene during the initial survey, and only need to ask the assistant director or other assistants to shoot some video materials as needed, and the director can select suitable scenic spots.

But when it comes time for the re-examination, the director must be present. Because the director can only determine the composition of the shot and draw the storyboard only after looking at the exterior scene. Storyboarding can't be drawn entirely by imagination, for example, with a framed composition, you have to find the elements that make up the frame, if you draw the picture first, what if you go to the scene and see what doesn't form the frame?

At the same time as the director's review, the cameraman, lighting engineer, sound engineer and other relevant personnel must also be present. The photographer must choose the appropriate camera position according to the situation of the scene, and design the shooting techniques of some scenes in advance; the gaffer should also look at the light position, see if there is a power supply nearby, whether the battery car can be driven in, if there is no power supply, you have to bring a generator, and then design how to set up the lighting according to the situation of the scene survey.

Artists also need location scouting to determine how to set up, what props are needed, how to arrange props, and when they don't have the conditions for live shooting, they need to set up the scenery manually. The recording engineer also needs to check whether the surrounding environment is noisy and disturbing the recording, and see if the space is inconvenient to support the boom.

The scenes of "Time Prisoner" are relatively simple, most of the scenes are in the hotel, and the scouting work is going very well, it only took one day for all the scenes to be determined.

On the second day after completing the site survey, Zhang Ran came to Nortel Animation Academy.

The School of Animation was originally established in 1952 as the Department of Animation, but in January 2000 it was changed to the School of Animation. The School of Animation has the most complete film and television animation teaching and practice facilities and excellent teaching team in China, and has strong strength in 3D animation and computer multimedia technology.

Zhang Ran found Sun Lijun, the dean of the School of Animation, and the special effects of "Time Prisoner" needed the assistance of the School of Animation, and it was easy to carry out various tasks with the approval of the dean.

Sun Lijun is famous in the animation industry, of course, mainly infamy, and is the existence of Japanese animation lovers who can't wait to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. Sun Lijun doesn't understand special effects, but "Time Prisoner" is the school's own project, and Zhang Ran is a teacher at the school, so he must have strong support, so he recommended Chen Ningyu to Zhang Ran.

According to Sun Lijun's guidance, Zhang Ran found the office where Chen Ningyu was.

"Alas, why did the handsome guy Zhang come to us? The female teacher of our department has been talking about you a lot!" Chen Ningyu was reading the newspaper in the office, and when he saw Zhang Ran, he made a joke.

"Teacher Chen, don't make fun of me, I have something to do with you!" Zhang Ran walked in with a smile and greeted several other teachers.

Chen Ningyu felt strange, put down the newspaper and asked, "What's the matter?"

Zhang Ran smiled and nodded: "I brought a project and wanted to cooperate with Teacher Chen." ”

Chen Ningyu was stunned and said curiously: "Oh, what project?"

Zhang Ran explained: "Our Qingying Studio and the movie channel are preparing to co-produce a movie called "Time Prisoner", which has been approved and the funds have been put in place. is a science fiction film that involves computer special effects and requires 3D modeling. I heard Dean Sun say that Mr. Chen is proficient in 3DMAX, so we came to the door and wanted to invite you out of the mountain. ”

"Make a sci-fi movie?" Chen Ningyu was stunned and looked at Zhang Ran in surprise, "I know how to build 3dmax, I don't know what model you want to build, I have no experience in making movie special effects, can this work?"

"It's just to make a flying car, and a 3D model of a street, we have chosen the address of the street, I'll show you!" Zhang Ran opened his backpack and took out a stack of photos and put them on the table, "It's this street, make this street into a 3D model, replace this house, and make a more sci-fi building again." ”

"It's not difficult to do, but I definitely can't do it alone, at least I have to bring more than a dozen students. What's the deal with flying cars?"

"The story takes place 40 years later, cars are able to fly, the heroine flies over this street in a car, and then the car lands from the sky, the car doors open automatically, and the heroine gets out of the car. It requires green screen keying and post-compositing, and the specific operation is like this......" Zhang Ran took out the storyboard, pointed to the camera, and introduced his design to Chen Ningyu in detail, and how to operate it.

Ordinary CG special effects are not as complicated as imagined, Zhang Ran remembers that in later generations, domestic special effects companies received a lot of outsourcing from Hollywood, such as BaseFX, which not only participated in the production of many American blockbusters, but also won three Emmy Awards for Best Visual Effects. The special effects of "Time Prisoner" are relatively simple, and it is enough for Chen Ningyu to bring the students of the Animation Academy to do it.

As for why the special effects of domestic film and television are all five-cent special effects, the reason is very simple, one is the problem of money, the money for domestic film and television works is mainly spent on actors, and the special effects cost is very small, you only spend five cents, and if you want to make special effects for fifty yuan, it is obviously impossible. The other is the director's problem, the special effects are made in accordance with the director's aesthetics, the director has to do what he says, and the effect made by the director's aesthetic is naturally wonderful.

Zhang Ran's understanding of special effects technology is actually limited, he knows ordinary special effects, 3D modeling, and he has only heard of advanced things like motion capture. However, he is quite clear about the future development path of special effects, and these advanced things still frightened Chen Ningyu into a daze.

(Thanks to "Matic, not too drunk" for the reward, ask for collection, ask for recommendation!)