Looking at the simple and clear building in front of me, the completely white façade, surrounding the courtyard that is a little depressed in winter, the regular three-story "concave" shaped building, without any fancy or special design, does not seem to have anything special. If someone told Hugo that this was a sanatorium or an old hospital from decades ago, he would have believed it.

After looking around several times, Hugo couldn't find any house numbers or signs, as if it was just an ordinary small courtyard, and he couldn't even find any signs or words for "Industrial Light and Magic", which made people strongly doubt that this was the destination?

Although computer visual effects have only fully matured after nearly two decades of development, and have begun to reach a higher level with the "future water world" as the dividing line, for now, ILM can only be regarded as a surprise in the industry at best, rather than a hegemon enough to dominate half of Hollywood, so it is understandable that the office building has not been reborn; But looking at such a low-key building in front of him, Hugo still couldn't help but sigh, the so-called Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger probably meant that.

However, Allen, who approached him, answered Hugo's doubts: they were not looking for the wrong place.

Alan and a bearded, teddy-looking man walked over with a smile on their faces, and the relaxed smile on Allen's face could be seen from a distance, "Finally you guys have arrived, I'm still wondering if you're trapped in Los Angeles by the paparazzi." Alan walked up and greeted Rick and the others one by one, then shook Hugo's hand and said with a spring breeze on his face, "Sue you, you can expect today's surprise, this is really a place where miracles are born." ”

It could be seen from those eyes that shimmered with excitement that Alan couldn't wait to show off.

"This is John Knoll. knoll), he's working with Tom Cruise on 'Mission Impossible', I watched a little bit of the trailer's special effects yesterday......" Alan paused at this point, and then let out an exclamation, "Wow! Other than that, no words are needed to express the surging of his heart.

This kind of Eren is a lot closer, just like all boys get Transformers toys when they are young, and they are uncontrollable excited. John, who was standing on the side, stood with his hands crossed a little stiffly, and when he heard Allen's praise, he not only did not feel proud, but looked away a little shyly, and turned his head to look at the gray scenery next to him, obviously he was not suitable for such a social occasion.

However, John only paused slightly, and then turned back, "It's a pleasure to meet you, welcome to ILM, and I hope you can enjoy a great journey today." ”

Hugo took John's outstretched right hand and said with a smile, "I hope we don't get in the way of everyone's work." John looked to be in his early thirties, which should be not much different from Hugo's age, and the reason why he was sent to receive Hugo and others as a representative was probably because he was professional enough and at the same time had certain communication skills to not neglect the guests.

What Hugo didn't know was that the middle-aged man in front of him, John Knoll, and his brother Thomas Knoll (Thomas. Knoll) was the original developer of the image processing software Photoshop.

"No, absolutely not. In fact, George was so happy to hear that you were coming, and he's in the office right now answering James' call, uh, I mean, a work call, so there's no way to come down and greet you. John's voice was still a little tense, but the sincerity could be felt in his eyes.

James? Who is George Lucas calling? The first thing that came to Hugo's mind was James Cameron, and then there was "Titanic" - the special effects technology of this work was also all done by Industrial Light and Magic. It's just not known if Hugo's guess is accurate.

"Here I refuse to talk to George because these things are unfamiliar to me and I don't want to look like an idiot in front of George." Hugo's slightly teasing words made Alan laugh, and John also seemed a little smiling, and the atmosphere suddenly relaxed a lot. "I think I'm ready to experience the VFX now, and if I can, lead the way."

After being reminded by Hugo, John realized that they were still standing at the gate, which was really not polite, and quickly got out of the way, and then led the way ahead.

"I didn't expect you to show up today." Hugo looked at Allen, who was walking side by side with him, and took the initiative to speak. Hugo originally thought that it was already very rare for Allen to arrive at the crew to visit the set, and the production of computer special effects was too boring, but he didn't expect Allen to appear, which made Hugo impressed.

Alan looked very good, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly, "Watching these behind-the-scenes things is a bit boring, but it's really interesting." I'm only now understanding why you want to see the effects of the special effects, and the gap between the images in your mind is really too big. ”

Hugo chuckled, "This means that we are not suitable for the job of special effects design, because imagination is too scarce." ”

Hugo's words made Alan chuckle too, and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes." "It can be seen that Alan is really in a good mood today.

Walking into the office building, you can immediately feel different, on both sides of the corridor hang a huge one-to-one poster, on which the characters designed by ILM once appeared, including the epoch-making "Star Wars" Master Yoda, the fantasy alien image in "The Abyss", the lifelike dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park" and so on. It's hard to imagine that these real characters are all made with computer technology.

There were no desks or office equipment in the lobby on the first floor, just a mess of tools and materials, among which you could see half-made black warrior armor, a dinosaur tail and a half-way cruise ship left, and some messy things, which were scattered all over the corner of the first floor, with some discarded drawings in between.

It seems that this should be the place where the staff personally realize the effect of the characters, the connection point between the virtual and the real, they are to realize their imagination here, and then touch the bypass to trigger more imagination, and then put it into the computer. Although the role of the movie is to realize the imagination of human beings, the so-called imagination must also be supported by facts, and this testing ground plays such a role.

Hugo's eyes were constantly searching through the jumble of objects, and it seemed that the most of them were aliens, too many to count, and Hugo couldn't help but wonder if they were conceiving for the "Man in Black" - after all, there are so many aliens in this work. Then he also saw all kinds of strangely shaped spaceships, which made Hugo really curious, so he wanted to go up and open them to take a closer look.

But John's footsteps did not stop, and when he stepped up the stairs, he noticed Hugo's inquiring gaze, "Sorry, if you are interested in these, you can study them slowly when you come down later." ”

Hugo withdrew his gaze and quickly followed, "Of course, there will be time later." "At present, the main task is to watch the special effects of "Independence Day", after all, the staff are waiting for Hugo.

"I didn't expect you to be really interested in these." John looked at Hugo, whose eyes were full of excitement, and said in surprise.

"Curiosity, to be precise." "It's a completely new territory to me, so I've always admired you for how you can turn the endless fantasies in your mind into reality, and that's one of the biggest charms of cinema, isn't it?" "ILM is the important piece of the puzzle that makes those dreams come true.

"That's a big part of why movies are so appealing." Allen's voice interjected from the side, "Bring out all the intricacies in our minds, through the means of images, sounds, and performances, and then influence more people." ”

Hugo looked at Alan in surprise, he didn't expect that Allen would have such an understanding of movies.

After walking up to the second floor, the line of sight suddenly became narrow, because the spacious space in front of him was divided into workshops, but the workshops here are different from ordinary white-collar offices, each workshop here is huge, the spacious table can even accommodate two people lying side by side, and there is a computer on one side of the table - Hugo did not expect that the current computer is so advanced, although it is still much larger than he imagined, Today, high-speed processing of memory can only be achieved with processors that occupy a huge amount of space.

There are all kinds of things on the table, including design drawings, toys, colored pencils, plasticine, and paints...... Everyone's desk furnishings are different and have a distinct personal character.

Before Hugo could sigh at the "casual style of the design studio", he saw a man in shorts and plastic slippers walking by, and his vision was occupied by pizza boxes, beer bottles and potato chip bags.

John seemed a little embarrassed, then tugged at his crumpled light blue shirt stiffly, "Sorry, we're used to it here." ”

Hugo raised his eyebrows slightly, he couldn't say, "It's not much different from what I imagined", it was too rude, so he hesitated, "It seems that we have broken into the earth, maybe it is a good choice to unbutton the two buttons." ”

Hugo is comparing himself to aliens, and this situation is the norm on Earth, this is the world of otaku, and they outsiders naturally need to follow the local customs. Hugo's words stunned John, and then the whole person relaxed.

At this time, Allen, who was standing next to him, said, "I hope you don't need to take off your shoes and socks here...... and the words behind it don't need to be repeated, everyone understands that men's "aroma" is not so easy to deal with. It made everyone in the group chuckle.