On one of Disney's indoor studios in California, a scene is being filmed, with actors wearing sensor costumes connected to data cables, in front of a green curtain, performing a variety of movements, which are then processed into characters and scenes in the movie through post-production computer special effects.

"Alright, that's all for today." Director Howard took off his headphones, waved his hand absentmindedly, walked to his small office on the edge of the set, took out a stack of manuscript paper and quickly drew a fox figure on it, looking left and right, always feeling dissatisfied, crumpling the manuscript paper into a ball and throwing it into the wastebasket.

"Knock knock ......" Outside the transparent glass window, assistant director Moore knocked on the door.

Howard is a young genius type of director, talented, Moore is older, more experienced and calm, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and is a famous golden partner of Disney and even Hollywood.

"Please come in." Howard spouted at the coffee machine in the office, Nunu: "You really know how to choose the time, and you just bought your favorite flavor." ”

"You guy who doesn't pay attention to the quality of life, what kind of taste can instant coffee have, no matter how good the instant coffee is, it is not the original and false substitute."

Moore said so, but he still made a cup of coffee by himself, smelled it, put down the cup with a disgusted face, and asked, "You don't seem to be in good shape lately?" ”

"Is it already so obvious?" Howard then crumpled up an unsatisfactory piece of paper and threw it in the trash.

"It's my responsibility to assist you in your work, and I'll certainly be more meticulous than anyone else. In the past, when you photographed Lightning Wolf and worked as an art director for Mulan, you were always a workaholic, and you rarely got off work at 4 p.m. Moore looked at his watch, stooped down and picked up a wad of manuscript paper from the trash and spread it out on the table.

It depicts a fox with a long mouth and a large tail, and its eyes reveal a taste of cynicism and cunning.

"You see, it's the first time I've seen you start filming and you're still not happy with the main character's look. Is there something wrong with this red fox? ”

Moore said as he picked up another piece of scrap manuscript paper and spread it out over the side of the previous one.

This time, there is a rabbit with long ears on the manuscript paper, but it does not have the big teeth that are typical of cartoons, and the eyes are large and round, with a layer of eye shadow, although it is a black and white sketch, you can still see that the eyes are smart, and it should be a young female rabbit.

"Oh...... God, it seems that our director is not only dissatisfied with the male lead, but also not optimistic about the female lead. ”

"Not only the hero and heroine, but I now have a resistance to every animal." "It's very much affecting my work, and when I think about the finished product, I don't get interested in shooting," Howard distressed. ”

Moore shrugged his shoulders, retracted his smile, and said, "Then it's a big problem." Howard, it took us eighteen months, dozens of animal experts, hundreds of animals of the same kind as models, and finally we were able to create a model of the character in the film, and you were involved in the whole process and finalized it. Can you tell me what's bothering you? ”

"I ......," Howard scratched his head, "what do I say......"

"Aren't these animals realistic enough?" "If that's the reason, I think we should talk to the producer, Mr. Spencer, about getting the best out of the market, whether it's an additional investment or an extended shoot," Moore said. ”

"That's right, realistic! That's the word, damn realistic, that has bothered me for a long time! ”

Howard threw the pencil on the table, inhaled deeply, and did not exhale until it seemed to burst his lungs, then he exhaled a long breath, like a deflated ball, drooped his shoulders, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Moore, you should have seen that horror Zootopia." ”

"Of course I've seen it, these amazing Orientals, I doubt that they can do some kind of magic, and they can all be filmed with real animals." Moore said.

"yes, why do we use virtual computer technology when there are real animals? As you said, no matter how good instant coffee is, it's not as good as the original coffee beans! When I think that there are already people in the world who can shoot real animals, but we spend a lot of time and money here to create animals, I feel like you drink instant coffee. When I think that there are better ones, but we have to use fake ones, you say, where did I get the motivation to shoot? ”

Howard scratched his head in annoyance: "What's even more hateful is that I heard that the company had a plan to establish a partnership with the company that filmed Zootopia, and rent some of each other's animals to serve our film, but I don't know why no agreement was reached." The thought of this makes me even more unhappy. ”

"Howard, you always like to think too much, maybe this is the difference between the brain of a genius and us ordinary people."

Moore shrugged and smiled, "I've heard this rumor too. Personally, however, I don't think cooperation is necessarily a bad thing. ”

"Why?" Howard asked.

"In Zootopia, the protagonists who connect the plot are still human beings after all, strictly speaking, all animals are supporting roles, and at least more than half of the shots are for humans, and in our movie, all the characters are animals, and 100% of the shots are for animals."

Moore said: "This requires animals to have the same 'acting skills' as human actors, every movement and expression must be vivid, even the eyes must be anthropomorphic, computer special effects can do it, but real animals can do it?" I don't think it's possible. ”

"Of course I do. But if you shoot with real animals, the audience will find it very novel, and the requirements for acting skills will be reduced. And we didn't completely give up computer special effects, use real animals to star, and later add computer special effects to supplement the lack of animals themselves, right! It's a great idea, real animals plus computer effects! There are a lot of supporting characters who only need one expression, such as the group of moles that eat popsicles, and they can all use animals, without any special effects......"

When it comes to shooting with real animals, the sparks of Howard's creativity are rushing outwards and chattering.

"Okay, okay, you genius, I admit that what you said makes sense, and you have convinced me that I believe that using real animals is more gimmicky and marketable."

Moore interrupted Howard and shrugged: "But it's not enough to convince me, in order to shoot with those animals in Zootopia, we must first convince our producers that a large additional investment will also mean that a lot of our previous investment is wasted." ”

"Haha, dear Moore, my task is to convince you, and your task is to help me convince the producer." Howard suddenly smiled smugly.

Moore was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized: "I fell into the trap of you, you bad boy!" ”

"Haha, Moore, let's go, let's go talk to the producer, Mr. Spencer." (To be continued.) )