Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1090 Matte Scenery and Photoshop
"What do you mean by painting?" Ronald knew nothing of this ancient stunt.

"Matte Painting may be the earliest stunt technique..." Cameron thought for a long time, but couldn't figure out how to describe it, so he simply dragged Ronald to the office building of Twentieth Century Fox.

In the most famous "Star Wars" scene display in the reception room, Cameron pulled Ronald to look at the Millennium Falcon fighter carefully, and was pulled in by the Imperial Star Destroyer with a tractor beam.

One detail in this scene that is normal to the viewer but looks weird to the filmmakers is that the tractor beams are empty up, down, left, and right.But in the real world, there is no such tractor beam, and the model of the Millennium Falcon must be hung with other things. How did Lucas shoot it at that time?

Cameron pointed to the screen and explained to Ronald that the Imperial Star Destroyer in this scene was not a real model, but a painting drawn by an artist, which was placed behind the Millennium Falcon spacecraft as a camera Fake background when shooting.Even those groups of white stormtroopers were obtained from the painting.

The painting was carefully drawn so that all perspective and lighting were exactly the same as in the studio, so that the audience would have the illusion that they saw a huge star destroyer on a black sky.

Originally, in the shot, there was nothing at a distance beyond the Millennium Falcon. With the addition of the background painting painted with matte paint, it looked almost normal when illuminated by the light.

Finally, let the camera mover zoom in and out, so that the originally static background painting can produce the same effect as we are flying and watching the scenery outside the window, so that the audience can't see that it is actually a painting.

It is very simple to say, but it is quite complicated to realize. First, find a suitable painter who has the skills of sketching and gouache painting.No one in the film industry has used this ancient technique for a long time, and it is a problem to find high-level painters.

Second, the perspective of the background changes as the camera moves beyond a fixed length.The traditional Hollywood method is to draw several background matte paintings, so that according to different scenes, the puzzle pieces are carefully connected.

Because if there is a slight discrepancy, the audience will see that it is wrong. Experienced people must carefully handle the interface between the real background and the fake painting.That's why this kind of work is called a scenery operator.

Likewise, there are not many experienced setters because of the gradual death of this technique.Even a big studio like Twentieth Century Fox probably couldn't find anyone who could still do this job.

However, the same method of matte painting to connect the scene, if done well, also has the advantage that other special effects methods do not have, that is, painting can handle details and perspective very realistically.Compared with the current computer special effects and shots shot by other methods, it is even more invisible to the audience.

And compared to setting up a scene, shooting on the spot, the method of setting up a scene is almost only one-tenth of the cost of the first two.

With such great benefits, anything can be done in Hollywood.

Ronald called Joel Silver and told him about his special effects ideas.Joel Silver carefully watched the Star Wars tapes and found no flaws.He waved Pamela Anderson, the meatball, away to have some private chat with Ronald.

"Ronald, I don't have any doubts about your technical judgment. But after all, the bulk of this movie was paid for by Fox. Such a cheap special effects method, the budget is only..."

"Who said it's cheap?" Ronald understands the thinking of an independent producer like Joel Silver, who can cheat a little production cost, just cheat a little.He continued, "This method is almost extinct in Hollywood. It's not so easy to hire experienced painters, but let them practice and trial production. Moreover, our special effects shots for movies are very long, and we need to draw many pieces.

Can these matt landscape paintings be combined with real shots to achieve our effect? ​​Do we need to experiment repeatedly?Do you want to adjust your thinking according to the effect? "

"Hahahaha, you are so right. We also made an important contribution to Hollywood's preservation of traditional craftsmanship..." Joel Silver was inspired by Ronald, and immediately came up with a dozen ways to make money. There is no problem at all with making the budget five to ten times higher.

"That's still the old division of labor. I'm in charge of technical implementation, and you're in charge of the budget..." Ronald also smiled, just in time to find someone to come over to experiment with some other special effects.Anyway, I can't use much.

There is still a specific division of labor between the two co-producers. Joel Silver takes care of the money, not the shooting situation.And Ronald was in charge of the shooting, not the money.

……

The search for the right matte painting talent went extraordinarily smooth.This is because George Lucas, the boss of Industrial Light and Magic, the largest special effects company in Hollywood, admires Ronald very much.He told Ronald that after [-], Industrial Light and Magic had done two matte scenes for large films.It is possible to find the only experienced painters and cooperative photographers in the industry.

"I maintain a small team at ILM, specializing in matte painting and setting work. But recently, only a few small productions such as Steven (Spielberg)'s 'Young Sherlock Holmes' have this kind of work. Now, you can use this technology, just in case I can keep this small team."

In George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, there are many strange technical teams.Except for some popular special effects teams, such as explosions, air combat, and matt scenes, there is very little demand for niche special effects, and the team is supported by the boss.

This time Ronald was able to let them start work, and Lucas was actually very happy, otherwise, relying on him and Spielberg to start work alone, the financial pressure is actually not small.

"Hello, my name is John Knoll. I am very happy to serve you." The special effects team quickly rushed to Hollywood from Lucas' Star Wars manor to meet Ronald.He worked on Cameron's "Abyss" special effects team, and Ronald knew him well.

"Hello, we seem to have seen it before. I have a big project here. The longest continuous shot takes 35 seconds. Come and see the schematic diagram I made."

Ronald made a small model of the last airport scene of "Die Hard 2", showed it to John Knoll, and asked him how difficult it was technically to realize.

"There is no big problem in the shooting, but the matte painting is bigger, the hole in the middle is bigger, and more supports are made, and it takes a little effort."

There should be a place for the actors to perform in the scene, so a hole will be left in the painting for them to perform in the hole. When the camera shoots, it can form an illusion and integrate the picture and the characters into one.

With such a large scene and such a long shot, the painting will be several meters high, and it will take a long time to complete the painting slowly. After completion, it needs to be fixed in many ways to prevent it from collapsing accidentally during shooting.

This part is just time-consuming, and there are still a few months before the shooting, so it will be no problem to try slowly.

However, when the best of the last matte scene painters in Hollywood, the Japanese-born Yusheng Shangshan, came to see it, he asked a question.

"This picture is too big. I can't draw it by myself. I have to double the size, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to draw it accurately." Shangshan Yousheng repeatedly called it difficult. This kind of scene composition is rarely played by even old Hollywood.Except perhaps that Kubrick played a few shots on the scale of Spartacus.But at that time, it was the golden age of painting and scenery, and there were many people and experience.

"However, if the picture is small, the holes in it are also small. It is essential to have a large panorama in the shooting. The rest of the shots can be shot in a small version." Ronald opened the script and gave it to him. Look, this shot would have lost its magic if it hadn't been pulled from the close-up to the long-range.

Ronald didn't agree to remove the biggest lens, Shangshan Yousheng still shook his head.Today's painters are not as powerful as they were back then. When several people work together, the style cannot be completely unified. He has never dealt with such a big special effect, so he dare not promise for sure.

"Excuse me, is John Knoll here?"

During the stalemate, a young man in jeans and a baseball cap came to look for the special effects director of Industrial Light & Magic.

"He is changing the track of the camera behind him, do you have anything to do with him?" Shangshan Yousheng asked.

"I'm his younger brother Thomas. I'm here to see him on business... Oh, are you using scene painting? Not many people practice this craft now."

"Why, you understand this too?" Ronald was a little surprised.

"This is a technique, which means that we cover the periphery of the real scene, replace it with a picture, and open a hole in the middle, so that the actors can perform in it. This technique is very classic, and the new software I developed uses this idea. "

"Software, what software?" Ronald seemed to have some inspiration.

"It's a small software that Thomas and I wrote that can modify photos on an Apple computer like in a darkroom. I wrote the first version of the program with him. Later, Apple and a company called Adobe took a fancy to it. We Just sell the software and come back to do the special effects we like for movies.

However, there is still a lot of programming work to be done in the follow-up. I am mainly upgrading the main program. My brother is more busy with work at Industrial Light and Magic, so he writes some small functional plug-ins. This time I am here to show him the upgraded version. main program. "

……

It just so happened that Ronald bought some Apple computers last time, so he invited the Knoll brothers to show him the software.

On the Apple computer, this software called Photoshop was installed quickly.Icons are a person's eyes, and a color palette.

Thomas Knoll was more familiar with the program, so he opened a picture, added a channel to it, and clicked the mouse. After ten seconds, a hole appeared in the middle of the landscape painting.

Then he opened a picture of a figure, shrunk the figure, and put it into the hole in the landscape painting. This effect is the same as that of the matte painting.

"So, we can move the special effects of the matte painting to the Apple computer, and let the computer handle the process of cutting out the middle of the picture, keeping the surrounding background, and adding the actors' performances to make them fit seamlessly."

"Oh, this computer is really good, so I only need to draw a matte painting with a much smaller size, and then use..." The painter Shangshan Yousheng also watched the whole demonstration, and his work was much easier.

"Then find a way to turn the painting into film, and we can use PhotoShop to synthesize it." John Knoll continued.The plug-in for this channel was developed by him.I never thought of using this method to deal with it before, but fortunately my brother Thomas had an idea.

"So, the next step is to make a few frames of pictures to verify whether this method can be successful..." Ronald calculated, if this method of computer synthesis is used, it will not only save the labor cost of painting, Shooting will also become very simple. There is no need to set up a large drawing board on the scene, and it is necessary to ensure that he does not shake when the blower blows to simulate the strong wind when the plane takes off.

Just simply shoot in the designated area without leaving the circle.

"This is much simpler. Do you have any way to turn paintings into film?"

Although the idea is very good, the final step of format conversion is still a big problem.It is impossible to achieve the resolution required by the film with ordinary printers or film remakes.Professional equipment is necessary to convert the digital pictures stored on the hard disk into 35mm film that can be projected.

"It also needs to be of sufficient resolution to meet the high standards of the film industry," added Thomas Knoll.

"I know that Industrial Light & Magic is working with Kodak to jointly develop a film machine that can convert computer images into a four-hole 35mm film format."

"Four hole 35 film?" Ronald was a little dissatisfied.The final shot was amazing. If only the standard four-hole film was used, it would not be able to fully express the hot scene of the explosion and action.

Generally speaking, in the production of special effects shots, they will use the VistaVision format invented by Paramount Corporation, and each frame occupies the length of eight holes.Any shots that require particularly high-quality images, or scenes with rich details such as explosions, will use VistaVision format film to achieve better results.

"To switch to VistaVision, the graphics department of Industrial Light & Magic is developing a laser film scanner, and there are still some shortcomings. Every minute or so, there will be a frame failure, and no one knows where the problem is. "

"Whatever, let's try both ways."

Ronald hung up a phone call to George Lucas on the spot, saying that he could pay some money for the additional research and development costs of the two technologies, so that he could actually use them in film production, and first build two prototypes...

"Great, I said Ronald, if you have any special effects shots in the future, remember to find me, as long as you have money, I will get it for you." Lucas laughed out loud, it is a great thing for someone to send money .The Star Wars series is no longer filmed, and several of my own special effects movies are not doing well at the box office. The research and development of various technologies have stagnated.

"Very well, George has agreed. I have a few Apple computers here. You are here to experiment. If you need more computers, just tell me..." Ronald came over and announced the good news to the three.

Who knew that the two Nuoer brothers looked at each other, as if there was something wrong.

"what happened?"

"Adobe is definitely willing to let you use it for free. This is a live advertisement for the Photoshop software we will officially launch next year, but now Mr. Lucas..." Thomas Knoll hesitated.

"Mr. Lucas is a little dissatisfied with some practices after Apple's acquisition of his animation department. We, Industrial Light and Magic, have fully cooperated with SGI. Now the company uses Apple computers internally, which is a bit sensitive...We don't care, other engineers It might be emotionally unacceptable.”

"What are you afraid of, just use it..." Ronald took out an SGI workstation from the corner. It was expensive and often crashed. He hadn't used it much since he bought it last time.

Click, Ronald took a knife and pried off the Silicon Graphics logo on the SGI workstation, "I'll let the props copy some, and you can paste it on the Apple computer."

(End of this chapter)