Military experts have provided a lot of interesting advice for Future Apocalypse, such as the belief that in 50 years, soldiers will no longer use grenades in combat, and that canisters and ballistic launchers are the most effective way, because the radius of the grenade is too large, it may reach 40 meters, and if you throw it by hand, you will not only kill the enemy, but also burp yourself. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, there are often different opinions among military experts, and even completely opposite opinions, for example, some experts believe that in 50 years, human soldiers will be equipped with mechanical exoskeletons, which are wearable devices that assist individual combat, which can enhance individual combat capabilities and output greater power. But some experts think that this is pure nonsense, this kind of exoskeleton equipment is useless, fifty years later, the robot technology is so developed, just let the robot assault is not enough, what kind of human soldiers?

In order to solve the problem of exoskeleton, Industrial Light & Magic invited experts from the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley released a lower limb exoskeleton (BLEEX) in 04, BLEEX takes the human walking action charging scheme, the power supply can be maintained for 20 hours, the maximum load can reach 45kg, and now they are working on a new generation of products.

After hearing Zhang Ran's question, Berkeley's experts believed that a practical mechanical exoskeleton would be realized within 20 years, and then they used their imagination to conceive of a mechanical exoskeleton in the next 50 years, which they thought would be a relatively light weight and super maneuverable equipment that could greatly improve the strength of the wearer.

After synthesizing the opinions of all parties, Zhang Ran made a decision on this issue.

In the movie "Future Apocalypse", some soldiers wear mechanical exoskeletons, but this mechanical exoskeleton is not as exaggerated as in the game, but the enhancement of strength can not directly enhance speed and protection, and it is a new type of body armor system that increases the defense of soldiers. This bulletproof system is a new generation of body armor developed based on Kevlar materials in combination with the latest nanotechnology, which can achieve full-body protection. The mechanical exoskeleton system coupled with the body armor system has greatly improved the individual combat ability of soldiers.

Zhang Ran is a director who likes to use digital technology, if it was in the past, he would definitely use CG to fly, but this time in order to create a sense of realism in the movie, he asked to shoot as much as possible if he could shoot real. The same is true for mechanical exoskeletons, which rely mainly on real physical models to perform, and the actors will wear mechanical exoskeletons to perform, which will be replicated and enhanced by the visual effects team in the later stage.

In order to meet Zhang's request, ILM approached Pierre Buchana to design a model of a mechanical exoskeleton, and he worked on several science fiction films to design a suit for Nolan's "Batman".

Pierre Buchana is a sci-fi fan, as well as a mecha fan, and is thrilled with the mission. He quickly came up with a design, and excitedly approached Zhang Ran to show off his results: "I gave this mechanical exoskeleton a cool name called Storm Striker, how about you take a look?"

Zhang Ran stared at the design of the mechanical exoskeleton and found that it was a bit like the one worn by Tom in "Edge of Tomorrow", but it was much lighter, he thought it was very good, and praised: "It looks great!"

Pierre excitedly introduced Zhang Ran: "This mechanical exoskeleton is battery-powered and equipped with four weapons, an assault rifle on the right arm, and a grenade launcher, a triple cannon on the left arm, an automatic cannon on the right shoulder, and a 16-round grenade launcher on the left shoulder." ”

Zhang Ran opened his mouth and said: "The weapon system is a bit exaggerated, there are too many weapons, there are rifles and grenades in the right hand, and there are three launcher cannons in the left hand, can you put so many things on your arm? With a three-barreled cannon, how many bullets do you need, the mecha is so small, where do you put the bullets? In addition, this mecha is very thin, you have an automatic cannon on your shoulder, can you withstand the recoil?"

Pierre doesn't see it that way: "Director, this is the equipment fifty years later." Robots are at war with humans, you can't beat robots if you don't have strong firepower, besides, how cool is this!"

Of course, Zhang Ran also hopes that his movie will be cool, but his biggest pursuit of this movie is realism, and he will never sacrifice authenticity for the sake of coolness: "No, this looks too exaggerated, it must be changed!"

As a designer, no matter how famous you are, no matter how creative you are, as long as the director says no, then you must also revise it. Seeing that Zhang Ran said no, Pierre immediately picked up a pencil and crossed the two hands of the mechanical exoskeleton, and said with a smile: "Okay, I understand what you mean, I will change it soon!"

Zhang Ran patted Pierre on the shoulder and said, "I want that cool and real exoskeleton! Please!" With that, he left the room and went to various other studios to check the situation.

Coming to the office of the gun and weapons designer, Zhang Ran knocked on the door and walked in, he saw Eric Nobby, who designed the rifle, sitting in front of the computer discussing firearms with others, and asked, "Erik, how is my new rifle?"

Eric heard a knock on the door, turned his head to see Zhang Ran, got up and smiled: "Robin, come and see!" Eric pointed to the display screen and said: " This is the Kusar-Crow Pulse Rifle that I just designed, which is a man-portable weapon designed for humans and large vehicles, the gun is lightweight, simple to operate, relatively small range, but powerful at short range, and also has a set of anti-thrust piston muzzle system that greatly reduces recoil, and advanced capacitive storage equipment allows the gun to be greatly reduced, but thus limits the breadth of the Crow Pulse Rifle, because the gun must be connected to an auxiliary power supply on the power mech to be able to use it. ”

Zhang Ran stared at the rifle on the display, and then looked at the technical parameters of the rifle.

Weight: 2 kg per gun

Muzzle velocity: 5-8 km/s

Muzzle kinetic energy: 19-30 megajoules

Effective range: 2-5 km

Launch rate: 1-1200 rounds/sec (single and combo mode)

Bullet specifications: 22 mm caliber non-explosive armor-piercing projectile

Zhang Ran frowned and said, "The whole is okay, but the appearance of this gun seems to be a little too realistic, and it feels similar to the current gun." You think that the difference between the guns of fifty years ago and the guns of today is quite big in terms of appearance and craftsmanship, I think it is a little bit sci-fi, and the sense of industrial design is a little stronger!"

Eric also laughed: "A little more sci-fi, I know, you will see a new gun soon." ”

Zhang Ran turned his head to look at Jack Kerouac, who was in charge of the robot design, and asked, "Jack, how is your robot?"

"Future Apocalypse" needs to design a lot of things, there are more than ten kinds of guns alone, in addition, there are tanks, armored vehicles, various aircraft, and various types of robots, each of which requires pictures and texts, and requires detailed settings. Therefore, what Zhang Ran has to do every day is to walk between various groups and departments, look at the concept drawings designed by everyone, solve their questions, and put forward his own opinions and suggestions.

Although the third act of Future Apocalypse will be adjusted, the film's scenes are largely fixed and will not change much. After breaking down the current script, ILM concluded that there were more than 900 special effects shots, and the entire film consisted of 46 sets, including 25 exterior and 21 interior.

"Future Apocalypse" does not have many special effects shots and scenes, but its complexity is far more complex than ordinary Hollywood blockbusters, especially two of the war scenes are unimaginably complex, involving thousands of soldiers, as well as many tanks, armored vehicles, and robots, and Zhang Ran asked for a long shot, in order to meet his requirements, ILM has begun software development.

In fact, large-scale special effects movies like "Future Apocalypse" often involve the research and development of software, and many effects need new tools to be realized, and these tools need the research and development of the research and development department.

While ILM's designers were immersed in designing weapons and scenes, art director John Mayer was also working on concept drawings for the film, which were designed to determine the overall style of the film and set the tone for the film.

Zhang Ran chose John Mayer as the art director of the film, in large part because he liked Edward Hope's paintings. Zhang Ran hopes that "Future Apocalypse" is the tone of Hope's famous painting "Far View", where the light enters obliquely from a low angle, leaving a strong shadow all over the wall, clean and clear, silent and translucent, filled with a sense of silence and alienation, and permeated with an uncontrollable sense of fate.

Just when Zhang Ran was busy preparing for the film, Jonathan Lauran, the head of the Los Angeles branch of the Irish Film Association, came to the door. Jonathan is also the Vice-President of the Film Society of Ireland and is responsible for bridging and assisting American studios in filming in Ireland.

After Jonathan clarified his identity, he said directly: "Mr. Zhang, I read the novel "The Colonel's Saber", and I believe it will be an excellent science fiction war movie. Shooting this film in Ireland should be the best choice, and I recommend you to shoot it in Ireland!"

After Zhang Ran revealed that the movie he made was a war between humans and AI, American netizens were at a loss, while domestic science fiction fans immediately guessed that it was "The Colonel's Saber", and then the novel was quickly translated into English and quickly spread on the Internet. Now almost everyone who follows the film knows what Future Apocalypse is about, and it's not surprising that Jonathan knows.

Hearing that the other party invited him to go to Ireland to film, Zhang Ran was a little surprised, he had never been to Ireland, and he couldn't find any reason to go to Ireland to film: "Ireland is too far for us!"

Jonathan smiled: "The Irish government has a subsidy for all films shot in Ireland, and films can get up to a 20% tax rebate on the first day of production, capped at $10 million. In addition, the Irish Film Society will contribute $1 million to assist in the filming of the film. ”

In fact, Zhang Ran had a lot of thoughts about the location of the movie, and even considered taking the crew back to China for filming. If Lin'an's Oriental Hollywood project can be discussed in a short period of time, can the location be placed in Lin'an? This will be good publicity for Lin'an and the whole project.

However, Zhang Ran finally gave up this idea, there are a lot of extras in "Future Apocalypse", and they are all foreigners, where can I find so many foreigners when filming in Lin'an? It is impossible to pull hundreds of extras from the United States to Lin'an to film, right?

Zhang Ran shrugged his shoulders and said, "We plan to shoot in Canada, I have filmed in Canada before, and they also have tax refunds, and the tax rebates are even higher!"

Jonathan knows that he can't compare with Canada for tax refunds, but he also has advantages that Canada can't match: "I've heard that the U.S. Department of Defense refuses to help you, and it's certainly the same in Canada." If you are filming in Ireland and hiring local workers in Ireland, the Irish government can provide a force of about 500 people for the crew to assist you with the shooting. ”

500 real soldiers! strong enough and well trained! definitely better than finding 500 extras, and cheap!

Zhang Ran immediately said: "Mr. Laulan, this reason is very good, I was persuaded by you!"