At this moment, what catches my eye is a huge research room of nearly 300 square meters, where countless staff members wearing uniform white research uniforms walk around, each busy with the work at hand, and occasionally one or two people pass by the door, and when they see Johnson and Chen Xuanting, they will politely stop and say "Hi"!

The floor, walls, and ceiling of the research chamber were apparently paved with an alloy of metal, presumably to protect against moisture and corrosion underground.

Stretching against the four walls are densely packed rows of computers, each of which has a staff member in front of a nervous busy.

Johnson smiled and turned to Chen Xuanting, Li Jiaxin and John Woo, and said proudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our digital kingdom of Industrial Light & Magic!" ”

Chen Xuanting looked at it. There are at least 200 researchers working intensely in this large research room, including Americans, Europeans, and Asians; Caucasians, blacks, and yellows live in harmony here; There are also some arrogant Ermans, Jews, and some who look like the descendants of the Anglo-Saxon people who have been displaced in small European countries; The most interesting thing is. Some Arabs did not wear uniforms, but mixed in with the researchers in their own national costumes.

Chen Xuanting watched from the side for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask the question in his heart, "Is it illegal to study filmmaking technology in the United States?" Why did you set up your research base in such a secluded place? ”

Johnson laughed: "Of course it's not illegal. But there's something special about Hollywood here. In the early days of the development of the American film industry, the eight major Hollywood companies at that time, including MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner, United States, Universal, Columbia and Raiden Hua, signed an alliance to agree that while sharing technical resources, any Hollywood film company should strictly leak its own country's film production technology, so as to maintain the hegemony of American Hollywood films in the world......" Speaking of this, Johnson smiled: "And our industrial light and magic is responsible for such an important mission, We've created many firsts for Hollywood, the first human digitization program, the first fiber optic processing, the first image reproduction...... Also, Mr. George Lukes loved the mystique, and God knows, he grew up pretending to be an Indian, which is why he set up his company here! ”

After listening to Johnson's narration, Chen Xuanting has some understanding of Industrial Light and Magic, and it seems that it is really difficult to acquire it.

Li Jiaxin next to him nodded thoughtfully, but suddenly thought about something, and blurted out, "That's not right." Mr. Johnson, your place is so secretive, but you have so many researchers from all over the world, you can't keep them here all year round, can you? What if when they come home from vacation? ”

Johnson laughed: "Of course you can't lock them up." In fact, all the workers here are paid more than twice as much as the average professional institute in the United States, and their usual vacation is in full accordance with the labor laws of the United States. However, the things that are being studied downstairs are irrelevant, and even if they are spread, at most it will only let people know that ILM has an underground research institute here, and my American colleagues will not mind when they hear about the research content. ”

"Is something so good or irrelevant?" John Woo's jaw-dropping look made him feel like a hillbilly who had never seen the world.

Liu Weiqiang asked in surprise: "Is there still upstairs?" ”

Johnson pointed to the southeast side of the research room, where a spiral staircase of a dozen steps led up to the space above. Everyone saw this staircase just now, and when they looked at the structure, they thought that the top of the staircase was something like an elevator leading to the ground, but they didn't expect that there was something like an elevator above the head of such a large research room.

"The secrets of Industrial Light & Magic are all on the roof of this building. The results and data of the research of the ordinary researchers downstairs are passed on to the researchers upstairs, and they develop advanced technologies that belong only to our company and Hollywood. ”

Johnson showed a trace of American-specific arrogance, but this pride immediately disappeared in front of Chen Xuanting, and he still hoped to have a good relationship with this super tycoon with four or five billion dollars in a rich country, regardless of whether he was Chinese or American.

"Come on, guys." Johnson shook his cane and smiled: "Since I promised Mr. Chen Xuanting to let you visit the post-production of the film here, then of course you will become the first batch of outsiders to enter here in the past twenty years." ”

Subsequently, Chen Xuanting and others went upstairs with Johnson and visited the production base of the real "Industrial Light and Magic".

The film "Fengyun" submitted by Hong Kong Thunder Pictures is being digitized, and all the staff are working nervously, almost turning a blind eye to Chen Xuanting's arrival. Just as Chen Xuanting and the others were visiting and listening to Johnson's explanation, the staff suddenly told me to wait for a while. Lucas may come, Chen Xuanting was inevitably a little excited after hearing it. Speaking of which, he is also half a Star Wars fan, and he naturally has a bit of a love for Lucas that is incomprehensible to ordinary people.

The first time I came into contact with "Star Wars" was on the TV screen, it was in the early nineties, and Chen Xuanting thought that the latest sci-fi films were being broadcast on TV, but he didn't expect that it had been filmed for a long time.

However, at that time, I enjoyed the most classic main story of the "Star Wars" series, "The Empire Strikes Back", but it was a pity that it was not George who directed the tube. Lucas, but the famous Hollywood director Owen, but the special effects of this film are definitely made in "Industrial Light & Magic".

Then "Star Wars Prequel" once again made Chen Xuanting appreciate the charm of "Star Wars", and at that time Chen Xuanting was already sensible, so he was even more impressed.

It's not that Americans have a hard time understanding why Star Wars is so popular, just as Americans don't understand Zhou Xingxing's nonsensical humor. And Chen Xuanting is just one of the few people who can be inspired by "Star Wars", so he naturally praises George Lucas, who is called the "special effects emperor" by the film industry.

Generally speaking, the stunt technology of "Star Wars" represents the highest level of special effects in Hollywood movies, and the launch of each "Star Wars" means another technological innovation.

Heard about George. Lucas still wants to continue filming "Star Wars", Chen Xuanting is really convinced: a movie can be made for a lifetime, and it can always bring him very high income, and he is also the first person in ancient and modern movies.

Of course, there is one more that can be compared to him, and that is Hitch. Kirk. This old guy who has been away from everyone for more than 20 years has never stopped pursuing his career, shooting a series of suspenseful and terrifying movies, and he has not really reassured people to finish the work boldly.

It is a pity that his life has only gone through fifty-three years, and in his life, the director has produced 59 movies and more than 300 TV series, all of which are based on people's tension, anxiety, snooping, fear, etc.

Chen Xuanting really wants to make a remake or take over a film with Hitch. Cork-related movies, but I'm afraid this will also be a matter of the next year. Now just the work at hand is enough for him to be busy, and it is also difficult to use the knowledge of "future" in his mind to find new talents for the Thunder Group.

Although he is an investor, for post-production, he might as well come to work for directors like John Woo, and people can still see the way, but he only knows a little about the skin, and he sees it very whitely.

At the moment, those masters of industrial light and magic are busy doing the post-production of "Fengyun". Wu Yusen and Liu Weiqiang were amazed, but Chen Xuanting, but from the expressions on their faces, you can judge their admiration for the computer special effects technology of Light & Magic Company.

In fact, the post-production of every film is as difficult as shooting, and if some subtle links are not handled well, the whole film is in danger of being remade.

Although Chen Xuanting is not an expert in this area, today he has the opportunity to meet George, a master in this area. Lucas, on the other hand, could also ask him for advice on his post-production experience. After all, for Chen Xuanting, he has a lot of information about computer special effects in his previous life.

At present, Chen Xuanting can't fully understand a large number of computer stunts for the time being, but in his opinion, even if he really can't acquire Industrial Light & Magic, he can set up a movie special effects company by himself in the future, and then provide his own opinions and ideas according to the advantages of his prophet. With money, technology, and his own advanced ideas, Chen Xuanting believes that he will be able to conquer the fortress of special effects, which is controlled by Westerners

Just as Chen Xuanting was pondering, the staff told him that George. Lucas has come and is now in his office.

Johnson also smiled and said, "It's very rare, Boss Lucas rarely sees guests," after speaking, he looked at Chen Xuanting and them, "But he has always been very busy and not very sociable, Mr. Chen, do you think it's ...... Going in alone? ”

Li Jiaxin smiled: "It's okay, Ah Ting, we still want to go around, you can go in." ”

Wu Yusen and Liu Weiqiang were very sorry, but they were very happy to be able to come in Industrial Light and Magic, and they didn't say anything more.

Although Chen Xuanting felt that Lucas was inevitably a little too big to do this, but he was not a person who cared about these, so he smiled, and under the guidance of Johnson, he came to the office of the base with curiosity. Lucas was already waiting for him at the door.

At this time, Lucas looked at Chen Xuanting and said with a smile: "Chen, it's a pleasure to see you, you are the most amazing filmmaker and businessman I have ever seen, and you have created a series of miracles at such a young age, which really makes me admire." "With that, George. Lucas gave Chen Xuanting a warm hug.

"I'm also very happy to see you......" This hug made Chen Xuanting almost out of breath. Lucas is really a good person to get along with, "I'm afraid you don't know yet, you are the director I admire the most, George ......" When Chen Xuanting said this, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he said in an inquiring tone, "By the way, can I call you George?" "Americans are different from Chinese, and they have a lot of attention to their names.

"Chen, of course you can call me that." Lucas still has a good impression of Chen Xuanting, everything this young director has done in Hong Kong, everything he has done in Hollywood, and everything he has done on Wall Street has amazed him, this is a genius! He thinks.

"Okay, let's go to the stunt shop and see how they work, it's one of my jobs, and I have to know what it's like every day." George. Lucas patted Chen Xuanting on the shoulder, chatting and walking towards what he called the special workshop, stopping from time to time to inspect the work along the way.

ILM is not a cover, otherwise Spielberg would not have left all the effects to ILM.

When they arrived at a huge room full of computers and unknown equipment, George . Lucas told Chen Xuanting that his destination had arrived.

Subsequently, George. Lucas patiently recounted the whole process to Chan, and the language of his narration was much more professional and profound than that of Johnson.

"What you see now is called 'digital non-linear editing', which is actually a one-to-one or two-to-one desktop editing machine to splice the material on the master tape into the second version of the finished tape, which is completed in the middle, such as the setting of the entry and exit points, transitions, etc., are all analog signals to analog signals, because once the conversion is completed, it is recorded as a magnetic trace, so it cannot be modified at will. As soon as you need to insert new footage in the middle or change the length of a shot, the whole rest of the content has to be restarted. In a sense, traditional line editing is a very thankless task, and it is often abandoned for a small detail, or you have to reluctantly cut your love and save the trouble of re-editing at the expense of the quality of the program. In contrast, the technology of our 'ILM' is much more advanced. ”

Then many professional terms that he had never heard before entered Chen Xuanting's ears, and his head was a little big when he heard it. Although some of the technologies in "memory" are much better than now, the "self" of "then" was not involved in this line at all, so it corresponds to Chen Xuanting not having any impression at the moment. To be precise, he's a complete layman now. Therefore, humbly seeking advice is what he needs to do most at the moment.

Therefore, Chen Xuanting put down his supertycoon shelf and asked shamelessly. Seeing Chen Xuanting asking for advice so humbly, combined with his unique identity, Lucas was very satisfied, so he explained more and more carefully. For a while, the guests were very harmonious like masters and apprentices.

Time passed quickly, and after a pleasant conversation, Chen Xuanting and Lucas said goodbye to each other.

Chen Xuanting once again led his team out of the digital base of ILM.

Along the way, Chen Xuanting didn't speak, as if he was thinking about something.

Li Jiaxin saw him like this, so he didn't bother him.

I don't know how long it took, Chen Xuanting looked at the strange and prosperous world outside the car window, the lights were bright, the lights were on, and the whole Hollywood seemed to be a dreamlike kingdom.

Chen Xuanting said: "You say, where is our Hong Kong film lagging behind compared to Hollywood? ”

"Ah, what?" Li Jiaxin was stunned.

"Maybe it's technology." Li Jiaxin said.

"It's talent." John Woo said.

"It's an idea." Liu Weiqiang said.

Chen Xuanting rubbed his temples with his hand and asked Lei Yaoyang, who was driving: "Yaoyang, what do you say?" ”

Lei Yaoyang pouted, "I didn't go in again, why did you ask me why?" But I have to say, I think it's self-confidence! ”

"Confidence?"

"Yes, it's like cutting someone, if you don't have the confidence to cut down the other person, then no matter how big you can endure, it's bullshit! Give you a dragon slaying knife, you can't use it well! ”

Chen Xuanting pondered.

Yes, Hong Kong movies are no worse than Hollywood, and they can even use very simple technology to shoot movies comparable to Hollywood's high-tech, but Hong Kong movies have failed to hit Hollywood several times, and they have long lost that kind of proud self-confidence, leaving only the discouragement of failure.

All I have to do is to change all this.

From now on, start with yourself!

Early the next morning, as the boss, Chen Xuanting rushed to "Industrial Light and Magic" alone again to study and direct the post-production of the film. Lucas once again took on the role of his teacher.

In between work, Chen Xuanting made a rough calculation, and it is estimated that the global release time of "Dark War" in Hong Kong should be around July 25. I don't have much time to stay in Hong Kong. And this drama "Fengyun" will also be released in Hong Kong in the summer. can be regarded as the last real big-budget film in the summer closing stage, Chen Xuanting believes that there should be no film that is the opponent of Thunder.

In order to make "Fengyun" understandable to audiences in Europe and the United States, Chen Xuanting also specially invited several more translators to participate in the post-production of the film.

Sometimes, translators and translation software can't accurately convey the exact meaning. And the literal meaning of Chinese is very broad, unlike English, at most, it is a word with multiple meanings, because it is not easy to use twenty-six English letters like this.

George. Lucas also had a tight schedule, and when he stayed with Chen Xuanting for three days, and when he felt that there was nothing to teach him, he asked the visual effects supervisor to participate in the production company of the drama "Fengyun" with Chen Xuanting. Of course, Chen Xuanting will not forget to bring Wu Yusen and Liu Weiqiang to study together. After all, they are directors, and their ability to accept them is stronger than their own.

(To be continued)