If he lined up all the big names in Hollywood, and then gave Shen Chong a pistol with only one bullet and asked him to kill one of them, he would not hesitate to choose George Lucas.

It's not that he disrespects the master of cinema, it's that he's too much like a time-traveler......

Lucas's dream as a teenager was to be a race car driver and he had little interest in movies, but a few days before graduating from high school, he was in a car accident and was seriously injured, but miraculously escaped death. (Note 1)

After the car accident, Lucas was admitted to the film department of the University of Southern California, where he made a splash in his first film class, and then went to work at Warner Bros. Pictures during the holidays, where he met Francis Coppola, the world-famous director of "The Godfather".

At that time, Coppola was already well-known in Hollywood, he not only recruited Lucas into his film crew, but also helped him find a job writing scripts.

After a few years of farming, Lucas founded Lucasfilm under his own name, and then spent $780,000 and 57 days filming "American Painting", which won 5 Academy Award nominations and 1. With $1.5 billion in box office revenue and a whopping $55.88 million in video tape rentals, it became the film with the highest return on investment in film history. (Note 2)

The film made him a millionaire before he was 3o years old.

Back in 1973, while filming "American Painting," Lucas used a two-page outline to fool the boss of Twentieth Century Fox into giving him $160,000 to write the script for "Star Wars."

It took Lucas three years to write the script, and then went on to trick the bankrupt Twentieth Century Fox into agreeing to pay $8.25 million for "Star Wars" and add an additional $3oo in the process.

Before filming, Lucas gave up the high director's salary, and instead asked for $175,000 plus 4o% of the film's merchandise profits plus the rights to shoot the sequel......

And then he became a billionaire.

Even without the magical and visionary Industria1Lightmagic, Lucas is the quintessential urban entertainment protagonist based on his current resume.

In one world, how can there be room for two traversers!

Lucas must die......

Should I bring a gun?

Shen Chong was thinking wildly while browsing the scenery outside the car window.

"Alan, Alan?"

Shen Chong came back to his senses, turned his head and asked, "What's the matter, Michael?" ”

"It's nothing, I see you've been wandering, didn't you sleep well last night?"

"No, I slept well." Shen Chong shook his head and said, "I'm just a little nervous. ”

Ovitz laughed and said, "Alan, I thought you were a person who wouldn't be nervous. ”

"We're going to meet a Hollywood legend." Shen Chong pursed his lips and said with a smile: "I'm a Star Wars fan. ”

"Who isn't?" Ovitz pointed to himself and said: "When "Star Wars" was released, I stood in line at the entrance of the Chinese theater for 6 hours, and immediately after watching it, I queued up again, and watched it again, and the whole day was spent queuing. ”

Shen Chongzhi shook his head and said, "It's crazy." ”

"It's crazy, but it's worth it." With a satisfied expression, Ovitz said: "It's a blessing to be one of the first viewers in the world to see Star Wars. ”

Even a determined figure like Ovitz is not exempt from vulgarity, and Americans are really fanatical about Star Wars.

"Have you seen Lucas?"

"I met once at the Beverly Hills Hotel." Ovitz said with some disappointment; "Unfortunately, he doesn't know me yet."

"It's nothing." Shen Chong comforted: "Maybe in the future, you will become his agent." ”

"Maybe." Ovitz looked at him with a wistful eye, picked up his glass, drank it all, and said, "I can do anything, as long as I can be his agent." ”

Shen Chong was not interested in the culture that foreigners can drink all the time, he picked up a bottle of juice and asked with some curiosity; "How did you get in touch with Lucas this time?"

"He's not going well lately." Ovitz smiled and said, "Gary Hendler told me that Lucas was short of money, and I just knew that his Industrial Light & Magic had what you need. ”

"George Lucas will also be short of money?" Shen Chong smiled and said, "Star Wars can make him live comfortably for the rest of his life." ”

"If you want to blame him, you can only blame him for having too much appetite." Ovitz laughed, then explained the ins and outs.

In 1977, "Star Wars" was born out of nowhere, causing a sensation all over the world, and the huge profits it earned doubled the stock price of Twentieth Century Fox Films.

So he broke Hollywood conventions, personally invested and worked as a producer, and then hired Ervin Kershner, a teacher at the University of Southern California, as a director, to start filming "Star Wars 2: The Empire Strikes Back".

Unexpectedly, the filming was very unsmooth, in March, I went to the glacier in Norway to shoot the location, and encountered a snowstorm once in 50 years, the snow was five or six meters deep, and the cast and crew could not leave the hotel for a while. (Note 3)

"So, there's a big funding gap for Star Wars 2?"

"It should be." Ovitz shook his glass and said, "Otherwise, he should be in the studio in London at the moment, instead of going back to Los Angeles for all sorts of boring drinking parties." ”

Shen Chong lifted the juice, greeted Ovitz, and said with a smile: "If it is said, this business is nine out of ten, and after the matter is completed, I will not be stingy with intermediary fees." ”

"It's my pleasure to serve you."

……

However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

When George Lucas finished introducing his "non-linear film editing system", Shen Chong's disappointment was palpable.

In the post-production of "Crazy Robbery", he deeply understood the inefficiency and inconvenience of the linear editing system, and realized the importance and necessity of developing a non-linear editing system, which is a big killer that can subvert the rules of film production.

After getting acquainted with Ovitz, the first thing Shen Chong entrusted him with was to find out about Hollywood's non-linear editing system, anyway, as long as there is a commission to earn, even if Shen Chong is a pig, the agency will do its best to serve it.

Yesterday, Ovitz called to inform him that ILM had opened a non-linear editing system, and George Lucas intended to sell it, so Shen Chong flew to Los Angeles overnight.

It's a pity that he overestimated the current level of science and technology, even if he is as fierce and sharp as industrial light and magic, he can't go beyond the times and prescribe the digital non-linear editing system that Shen Chong expected.

The digital editing system first needs to solve the problem of large-capacity storage, and the largest hard disk on the market is IBm's 334o 14-inch hard disk, which weighs dozens of pounds and has a capacity of only 6om, which is amazingly expensive.

6om is a drop in the bucket for the number of data that needs to be stored in a movie, and if multiple hard drives are connected, the price will be sky-high.

So Industrial Light & Magic made a stupid trick, they copied the original material of the filmed film to more than 20 video recorders at one time, and then programmed a computer control program, this program can be according to the preset playlist, find the corresponding lens from different video recorders, and then play it out in order for the editor's reference, if you re-edit, change the playlist, do not need to re-change the original material like linear editing. (Note 4)

This editing system, which is based on tape and cannot be accessed randomly, has some characteristics of non-linear editing, but the efficiency improvement is limited, there is no room for further development, and it is expensive.

Ovitz didn't know much about film technology, and when he saw that Shen Chong was silent, he had a bad feeling in his heart, so he asked, "Alan, what do you think?" ”

"This system is cumbersome to use." Shen Chong no longer has the mind to buy this system, so he has no scruples, "And the cost is too high to promote on a large scale, and the market value is very low." ”

"This is what ILM spent months designing for Star Wars 2." George Lucas was not angry when he heard this, and said in his unique accent: "Due to the current level of technology, it can only be done like this, in fact, I am also very dissatisfied with it, it is not what I want." ”

"You want an editing system where you can choose whatever you want, any combination of them." Shen Chong smiled and said, "Is that right, Mr. Lucas?" ”

"Yes." When Lucas heard this, he felt like a confidant and said, "You're right, that's what I want." ”

"That's what I want, too." Shen Chong touched his head and said tentatively: "Mr. Lucas, how about we cooperate to develop a new film editing system together?" ”

"Cooperation?"

"Yes." Shen Chong said: "It has been almost a hundred years since the film was released, and the content, form, shooting techniques, etc. of the film have been very mature, but the basic technology of film production has not improved, and I think this is the key to restricting the further development of the film." ”

"What kind of cooperation do you want, Mr. Shen?" Lucas was intrigued.

"We can set up a joint venture." After thinking about it, Shen Chong decided not to invest in Industrial Light and Magic, but to start anew, "I have the funds, and Mr. Lucas has the talents to engage in this kind of research, which can just complement each other." ”

"Mr. Shen, I'm very interested in this. But at the moment, both myself and ILM are working Star Wars 2 and don't have the time and energy to juggle anything else. Lucas pondered for a moment and said with some embarrassment: "Can we wait for the completion of the production of "Star Wars 2", and then we will discuss the matter of cooperating in the editing system?" ”

"No problem." Shen Chong knew that as long as the computer hardware did not make a leap forward, the digital non-linear editing system would be in a hurry, and he couldn't be in a hurry, so he changed the topic and said: "I heard that Mr. Lucas's "Star Wars 2" budget has something wrong, I don't know if I can help?" ”

"It would have been great if I had met Mr. Shen a week ago." Lucas smiled and said, "However, the problem of crew funding has been solved, and there is no problem at all." ”

What a pity!

If you can leave your name on the legendary movie "Star Wars" series, and use the system to check its production process in the future, there will be a big discount.

It seems that this trip to Los Angeles has come to nothing......

Shen Chong lamented in his heart.

At this time, Lucas said: "If Mr. Shen is interested in investing in films, I can recommend you a person who is making a great movie." ”

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Note 1: Baidu said that his lungs were smashed to pieces...... It's a bit too exaggerated.

Note 2: The filming budget of "American Painting" is 777,777 US dollars, paid in one lump sum, the publicity fee is 5o US dollars, and the box office is 92 times the investment, and the so-called "summer file" concept started from this film.

Note 3: The studio was burned down during the filming of "The Shining" in January '79, and the "Star Wars 2" crew needed to be rebuilt.

Note 4: This system is a MontagePictureProcessor system that only appeared in 1984, not opened by Industrial Light and Magic, and the reader does not need to delve into it for the sake of the plot.

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!