The former "Apollo 13" is a classic in film history, and one of the most important aspects of this is that it used the "vomit comet" device used by the space agency to train astronauts to shoot the film.

This "vomit comet" was modified from a Boeing plane, and was able to get nearly 25 seconds of weightlessness in the process of falling, but in this way, every weightlessness could be barely supported by rich and willful people, and finally "Apollo 13" filmed more than 600 weightlessness in it before finally finishing the film......

Of course, this may seem a little ridiculous in the eyes of some people, for a movie to be so exciting, and to pay such a big price, but in fact, for more people, making movies like this is actually a real intention, and it can withstand scrutiny anyway.

However, in Chen Xi's "Gravity", he has found a solution to this problem, that is, using a robotic arm.

This kind of whimsical idea made the people who came over from the special effects team feel great, and Chen Xi's method was really beyond what they had thought of before.

But that's not all......

Although they feel that the creativity of the light box is extremely troublesome, from the perspective of the film industry, it has to be said that this is a real innovation.

By doing so, Chen Xi got rid of a lot of things, and was able to make more things true.

...... "Gravity" officially started filming!

In fact, many times, it is often the director who is really the most tormented by a movie, even if the actors need to overcome such and such difficulties and obstacles, but the real realization of many of these things still has to be put on the director, from this point of view, "Gravity" is also like this.

But sometimes, when some movies need to play with a lot of things, you have to put a heavier task on the actors......

It's like Cheng Chan's successful movies one after another. His hard work without a stand-in will add luster to the whole movie, but the pressure on the actors themselves is also quite terrifying.

It also seems to be Brother Tom's "Mission Impossible 5", in this movie, Brother Tom, who is close to sixty years old, still has to stage a terrifying scene like picking up a plane, although Brother Tom at that time finally decided to perform, but he still had insomnia the night before the performance.

After all, in this kind of scene, no matter how many measures are taken in terms of safety, there is still no way to guarantee his absolute safety, otherwise. If there were really safety measures that would not be dangerous, there would be far fewer dead people in this world.

...... "Gravity" doesn't have a lot of dangerous shots, which is also determined by the shooting environment.

However, there are quite a lot of places that require people to be particularly tired, tired, and hard, and even beyond the imagination of many people.

For example, now.

"Do you think that's okay?"

Chen Xi asked the Frank standing next to him. Zhao.

Hearing this kind of name, you obviously know that he is a Chinese-American, this guy is about forty years old now, in fact, Chen Xi is really not interested in him, after all, this guy did not grow up in the United States, but he is now completely American. No one knows what his Chinese name is.

But this man's skills are really good, so from a pragmatic point of view, other ideas are really unnecessary, as long as he can make the movie well.

He was sent by the special effects company, because "Gravity" was a film that involved a lot of CG production. Many things need countless post-production to complete and realize, which requires special effects companies to make more reflections, in order to better understand Chen Xi's ideas, so they specially sent people to communicate with Chen Xi.

Thinking of this Frank. Zhao is also a senior executive of their company. They are all Chinese, so let him listen to Chen Xi's requests and ideas by Chen Xi's side.

Frank. Zhao actually came with a disdainful attitude at the beginning, or it can't be described as disdainful. But it is true that he came with a feeling of coping, after all, in his impression, a large part of the directors in China do not know how to pretend to understand, and they want to use a penny to do a ten-yuan thing, and their understanding of the industry is actually quite shallow, and in the end, some are easy to be fooled.

He felt that Chen Xi was almost like this......

As a result, he really came to China, and he realized that he was very wrong, although Chen Xi is not very familiar with the special effects industry, but he does understand a lot of things in the special effects industry, he knows exactly when to do something, and also knows the price of some things, etc., and there is basically no way to fool him.

And these are not the most important ...... The most important thing is that Chen Xi's creativity can really only be described as awesome!

Thinking of his robotic arm and the idea of a lightbox, Frank. Zhao just wanted to say a word of genius to Chen Xi!

Yes, genius!

Chen Xi's genius-like creativity really makes "Gravity" unique, and it will be a wonderful movie.

Although this makes it difficult for them to do post-production special effects, purely from the perspective of cinematic performance, these are fantastic!

Now Chen Xi was asking how the preparations he had just made were going. Zhao woke up from his thoughts, and then smiled at Chen Xi: "Not bad! You've done all this well. ”

Chen Xi heard his words in Mandarin, and when he thought of the name of this product, he felt a little strange in his heart.

Frank. Zhao then said to Chen Xi at this time: "Director Chen, I am really pleased to see that we have a director like you in China. ”

Chen Xi couldn't help but say: "Thank you for the compliment, but Mr. Zhao, I remember that you are an American now, right?" ”

Frank. Zhao shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly, and glanced at Chen Xi, now that the preparations here are almost ready, the two of them also have a little time to chat, so Frank. Zhao said to Chen Xi: "Yes, I am indeed an American citizen now......"

Chen Xi nodded, didn't say anything, in fact, what nationality or something, although Chen Xi was occasionally a little angry on some issues, he was not so angry.

Frank. Zhao opened the conversation, and then said to Chen Xi: "Many people say that I have almost forgotten about China...... In fact. It's that I don't have the face to come back! I'm also scared of people knowing my real name. ”

"Huh? What's the situation? "Chen Xi is a little strange, is there any story behind this guy?

Frank. Zhao said: "At the end of the eighties, when the reform and opening up was in full swing, I used to be in the film, learning traditional art and the like, and then just in time for that year, there were many special effects outsourcing companies in Guangnan, after all, our China had just opened up at that time, and the labor was very cheap!" I passed, and I could earn more than 6,000 a month. You know, at that time, the income of more than 6,000 was already the rich class, and then I was poached by the special effects company in the United States, and then I participated in the production of "Mulan...... But...... Alas, thinking about that time, I don't know what to say, I don't know if I should regret it or rejoice......"

Frank. As soon as Zhao said this, Chen Xi understood what he meant.

Truly. At that time, Hollywood was also taking advantage of China's cheap special effects human resources, many things were outsourced in China, and it also poached a lot of excellent Chinese animation personnel.

At that time, Shangying was the hardest hit area......

Most of the technicians in the upper shadow. Almost all of them are emptied! The upper shadow has almost been dug into an empty shell...... In fact, it is not surprising why the film studios that have produced classic movies such as "Havoc in Heaven" can only appear after the new century some rotten things that have not been inherited.

In the past, Chinese animation, without exaggeration, was the absolute world's top level. Moreover, Chinese animation is unique in the world with many classic elements such as traditional Chinese painting freehand blank. Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki was also deeply influenced by Chinese animation, and Osamu Tezuka made "Astro Boy" because of "Iron Fan Princess". Later, Hayao Miyazaki insisted on not coming to China, and a large part of the reason was that he was defected to Hollywood by the people who went to the film, and it was heartbreaking to dismantle the film into an empty shell.

The results are now ......

However, after a brief period of brilliance, especially the production of "Mulan", many of them are more recognized in the world...... It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and with the rise of 3D animation, most of these people who are good at traditional Chinese painting methods have begun to face severe tests, and only one or two of them can re-adapt to the environment.

This Frank. Zhao just said that.

Hearing this, Chen Xi didn't know what to say for a while, because this kind of thing is not right and wrong, black and white, indeed, what they do may be from the perspective of the Chinese animation industry, it is really a drain, but for them themselves, there is nothing to blame for using the technology in their hands to make a fortune.

So, Chen Xi could only say: "I know, don't think too much, we will catch up again after all." ”

Indeed, in fact, China's special effects production level started from the outsourcing company in that era, and has developed step by step to today, and it basically has a world-class level, and many Hollywood blockbuster outsourcing productions are carried out in China, and the later "Monster Hunt" shows this special effects level very well.

Many people have the impression that Chinese special effects are particularly bad because of Chinese films...... But in fact, Chinese special effects are often doing things for foreign films, and domestic films, the special effects production is not good because of the level, but because the money given is so little.

In this regard, Chen Xi will try his best to ask for the participation of the Chinese special effects team in "Gravity".

What he can do, little by little.

After Chen Xi and Frank each expressed a sigh in their hearts, the filming of the movie officially began.

Zhang Ziyi and Andy Lau are now both sent to the robotic arm, in fact, although this robotic arm is more convenient for the director and the entire film production team, it is a kind of torture for the actors.

It's no exaggeration to say that the shots that are going to be shot now are extremely important to "Gravity", and they have their own influence on many things.

Later, at the beginning of "Gravity", an 18-minute-long space shot shocked everyone. Even the most discerning and demanding fans will be impressed by the intricate movement of the camera, the imaginative scene scheduling, and the seamless CG production...... This long shot also became an important symbol of "Gravity", in fact, it was not until the later "Birdman" that this long shot completed a spectacle subversion.

But such a long shot is really quite troublesome to shoot, and not to mention, it still requires special effects to complete, originally, it is already difficult to create a zero-gravity scene, and it is ten times more difficult to show a zero-gravity scene with a long lens.

Therefore, in Chen Xi's shooting plan, these 18 minutes are not really a long shot in one go, "It is spliced together by two long shots. The first shot lasts about 12 and a half minutes, and then another shot is added to make up the entire long shot

Of course, even so, after Chen Xi adopted the original "Gravity" shooting method, this long shot is still undoubtedly original. It uses the IRIS robotic arm to manipulate all the camera pans, all of the actors' action points and camera angle shifts, all precisely calculated and arranged, which is a length that has never been achieved before programmed shots.

In order to show panoramas, close-ups, and action scenes in a continuous long shot, you have to find a solution that can show different plots at the same time in a single shot, which is definitely the most difficult part. So it's quite difficult to combine zero gravity and long shots...... It also requires the cooperation of many people.

In fact, these things are almost a little bit of a seedling for the development level of the Chinese film industry, fortunately, Chen Xi has seen "Gravity" before, and Chen Xi has studied it himself a few times before, and many things have quite unique experiences, but they are not very worried about this problem, as long as Chen Xi is present, it can be completed.

Now the requirements for Zhang Ziyi and Liu Dehua are really high, not only asking their acting skills to perform these things, but also requiring the two of them to prepare for the present.

When they got on the robotic arm, the weight of their whole body was almost all supported in a few places, and maintaining balance and the like was a big problem, and it was quite tiring......

In addition, in this huge LED light box, because there are 1.8 million light bulbs, the temperature inside may be more uncomfortable than a sauna, in short, but only a few tens of seconds, Chen Xi can already feel a feeling that two people are not very good to support. (To be continued......)