tearjerker director

Chapter 1639 To save money, make a one-person movie

Is "The Heartbreakers" considered science fiction?

This issue is bound to be discussed.

Some netizens conducted a voting survey, and the result showed that more than half of the respondents believed that "The Heartbreakers" was not science fiction in the strict sense.

"I don't think so. After all, in the movie, apart from He Xi from 150 years later traveling back in time to 150 years ago, and existing only as a "soul", he was unable to make any changes to this era.

So, it seems that this really can't be considered science fiction, because there are too few science fiction elements, too few, it's more of a drama, or more relaxed, it can be considered soft science fiction, right? "

"Definitely not. At most, it's a drama film disguised as science fiction!"

"Why not? Maybe it's not that hardcore, but it should be counted, right? "The Microcontinuum", "The Grand Unified Theory" and time travel, aren't these science fiction elements?"

"It can be considered pseudo-science fiction. After all, all the science fiction elements are only touched upon superficially, or used as background."

This discussion is destined to produce no conclusion.

But soon another domestic science fiction director said: "The real constraint on the development of domestic science fiction films is still the cost issue."

In fact, many people’s feelings and impressions of science fiction movies are still about big special effects movies!
In fact, Li Yi has filmed several science fiction movies, but even the original "Artificial Intelligence" had a very high cost.

It’s no wonder that people say that science fiction movies cost too much.

In the domestic film industry, although the box office market has increased countless times compared to the past, the investment return cycle of movies is still very long, and science fiction movies are the best among them.

At the first Science Fiction Film Festival, Li Yi's "Moon" was actually considered a low-cost science fiction film.

But there are too few movies like that, so when some people first tried to imitate them, the results were only mediocre.

For this reason, this topic was brought up again after a few years.

The reason why "The Heartbreakers" is so popular this time is that the cost of this movie should be lower, but the problem also lies here. It can be said that "The Heartbreakers" is less referenceable than "Moon".

Li Yi was also invited to the stage at the Science Fiction Film Festival's symposium.

A young director asked Li Yi: "You once said that science fiction movies don't necessarily have to be big productions, but over the years, low-budget science fiction movies have all failed miserably without exception. So, is the path of low-budget science fiction movies feasible?"

"Of course, taking the original "Moon" as an example, I actually made it very clear, right?
A simple environment, inexpensive leading actors, and special effects that don't require much high technology, all of these together are enough for a low-budget movie.

Of course, the script is definitely important, and I've had some inspiration recently.

As for how to reduce the cost of science fiction movies, I think the first key point is the difference between spending a lot of money to do small things and spending a little money to do big things!

Many of our costs are actually unnecessary. Of course, if you have money, then it doesn’t matter. But if you want to do big things with little money, then you have to be frugal.

The saving here certainly does not mean saving money randomly.

Here are a few suggestions for your reference.”

As Li Yi was speaking, many young directors in the audience took out pens and paper and waited to record.

“The first way to save money: replace those sci-fi visuals with a sci-fi concept!”

"What does that mean?

It’s about how to conquer countless audiences who have high demands on science fiction with simple and unpretentious images!

How to do this? If this can be done, the cost of science fiction movies will be more than half solved!

Of course, the key is how to do this! Next, I will talk about my ideas.

If we want to achieve great things with little money, we must use 6 yuan to do the work worth 600 million yuan.

This involves what I mentioned before, replacing those sci-fi visions with sci-fi concepts. First of all, we must understand that sci-fi is not simply sci-fi vision. A good sci-fi concept is also hardcore sci-fi.

For example, I have a science fiction story about parallel worlds. In order to find the murderer, the hero repeatedly travels back to the train 8 minutes before the explosion disaster. Each time he goes back, he creates a different parallel world because of his different actions. But this parallel world is exactly the same as the real world, that is to say, I don’t need to spend a lot of money to create special effects here, because the normal world is already contained in science fiction.

What is the science fiction concept mentioned here? "

Someone quickly responded: "Is it a time loop?"

"Yes, it's a time loop. Do you think this is a hardcore science fiction concept?"

"Calculate!"

Everyone looked as if they had suddenly realized something.

"Then let's talk about the benefits of recycling. My story here is a science fiction film that begins with a disaster, but I think the special effects used in the disaster scene only require one scene of a train exploding.

We all know that blasting and bombing everywhere also require very high costs.

So how can we save costs reasonably while still achieving the desired effects that are comparable to visual effects that cost ten or a hundred times more?

The key is still the cycle! I believe that someone should have figured out the beauty of the cycle by now, right? "

"The one in the second row, tell us what you want to say." Li Yi pointed to a director who raised his hand and said.

"Hello Director Li, I wonder if the same explosion scene is being recycled multiple times?"

Li Yi snapped his fingers: "Yes, this is the beauty of looping! Because our story happens over and over again in the same period of time, the explosion can also happen repeatedly. So, the same thing, just showing the explosion scene from different angles, can be repeated once, and repeated 10 times, so we can use it 10 more times! In this way, it is logical and can create the explosion effect that everyone wants to see, and it is also reasonable!
The benefits of doing this are self-evident. We only need to use different angles and the embellishment of different debris, dust, fire and other materials to make the audience think that this is an explosion scene that has been shot many times. But in fact, we used the same explosion scene a full 10 times, or even more times!

But the effect is completely different, this is doing big things with little money!
So, the loop is a very interesting concept that is very suitable for low-budget movies. Of course, the script is indispensable here.

The second way to save money: find a leading actor who is “good value for money”!

This is actually a cliché. In fact, since it is a low-budget film, there is really no need to find a big star. There are many actors in China who are cheap, have good acting skills and excellent image, and they can definitely play the leading role.

Science fiction movies are different from other movies. We must win with creativity and story. So when it comes to actors, as long as the image fits and the acting skills are good enough, it’s enough. There’s no need to crave for big stars.

The third trick to save money: In fact, it has the same effect as the loop explosion mentioned before, that is, repeating small indoor scenes over and over again!
I have actually used this in the movie "Moon".

Now let me talk about my recycling concept.

We can design a scene in which the male protagonist keeps waking up in a small space similar to a space capsule imagined in his brain. In such a small enclosed space, the leading actor can perform most of his monologues. The only change in this space during the filming process is that it becomes more and more chaotic as his condition gets worse.

Another important scene takes place on a train that is about to explode. In order to avoid the cost of shooting in various places, we can build a model train, shoot in front of a green screen, and finally synthesize the scenery outside the train to complete some scenes on the train.

This can save a lot of costs!

In addition to keeping the film's plot entirely within a small, indoor setting, another way to save money is to reuse footage.

For example, the creative male protagonist I mentioned keeps waking up in a space capsule-like environment he imagined, and every time he wakes up, it's the same shot, and every time he travels back to the train that's about to explode, it always starts from the same shot. The same characters sit in the same positions, and he will first go over everyone's previous actions in his mind and select the person he suspects as the perpetrator.

Although the same shots are repeated over and over, we can use the plot to make this repetition reasonable. While repeating, the entire film also maintains clean editing and a straightforward narrative approach. This approach ensures experimental narrative challenges while maintaining a commercial rhythm, and more importantly, it greatly saves costs.

The fourth way to save money: the finishing touch of special makeup!
In fact, it is very simple to put it bluntly. It is to use special makeup to create visual effects that shock the audience.

"

What made Li Yi laugh and cry was that after he said so much, everyone's focus was on the idea that Li Yi mentioned and this new science fiction film.

"Source Code" is a memory that was triggered when Li Yi attended a science fiction film festival.

It has to be said that as a "low-cost" science fiction film, "Source Code" truly achieves the points mentioned by Li Yi before.

In fact, low-budget science fiction movies that want to be hardcore science fiction actually have something in common.

That is, a lot of them are "one-man movies!"

As the saying goes, all appearances are false. From the original two movies "Moon" and "Source Code", whether it is Sam working in the lunar energy base or Captain Kurt on the intercity train to Chicago, they are in a world that does not belong to them. To be precise, they do not belong to themselves. This is just like the continuous development of science and technology, but people's doubts about their own existence are increasing day by day. From eschatology to the myth of intelligent machines, in essence, they are all manifestations of the inability to control their own destiny.

Some people emphasize that, aside from the advantages of low-cost production, the original director Duncan Jones's science fiction works all discuss humanism, not science and technology. Whether it is survival or destruction, replication or source code, human thoughts and ideas can change everything. Therefore, the source code system will not be the focus of "Source Code". The film is still about human nature. In addition to the forced task of finding the murderer, the captain met Christina, moved Goodwin, talked to his father and reconciled to save everyone in the car. These have nothing to do with hard science fiction, but are related to "people".

The doctor said that the source code system is just a time-space copy, and it will automatically restart after eight minutes. It sounds like an RPG game without a save file, but starting from the third time travel, the concept of eight minutes has become increasingly vague. The captain got off the train and beat someone up, but the train still exploded. In the following time travels, the system became more and more unstable, the explosion time kept changing, and the captain's self-world began to collapse and disintegrate. Obviously, the doctor lied to everyone, perhaps even himself. After all, the source code itself is an immature research and development system. Therefore, if you want to solve the loopholes in "Source Code", there is only one way, and the film is to create multiple parallel worlds that can be cut off at will.

If we don't discuss the parallel world, "Source Code" does not give many highlights purely from a film perspective.

Although the budget is not as tight as that of "Moon", the same shot segments, the special effects are just explosion scenes, and the camera angle is changed each time.

After watching it for a while, the film is just a few carriages and some indoor scenes in closed spaces.

As for finding the murderer, the camera had already given active hints, even with close-ups, so many viewers guessed it was that guy, including the losing of things, which were all old plots.

Later, the captain burst into tears and ran away after just a few words. He was really not a tough guy.

Therefore, there is no ultimate boss in Source Code. The conflict is how the captain can confirm his identity and distinguish between truth and falsehood. In fact, it is all about time games. The protagonist cannot tell which space he is in. The eight minutes of Source Code are always slow and there is no sense of urgency. On the contrary, the biggest impact on the audience is that the captain dies again and again. That feeling is like someone hitting you on the head with a hammer, killing you alive - killing yourself is not a pleasant feeling.

Even at the end of the movie, Source Code is a bit of a promotion of the main theme, talking about truth, goodness and beauty. There is little criticism, only emotion. Everyone in the car laughed heartily, and a sweet, frozen kiss. Duncan Jones believed in people so much, and hoped that they would all end in a beautiful and decent way. His overemphasis on humanism also led to a huge loophole, that is, no matter how the captain traveled through time and how he sought the best ending, there was a most pitiful person who was thrown into the endless void, and he was the history teacher. Even if everyone was intact and got off the train, the history teacher disappeared, and his consciousness was occupied by the captain.

But in Li Yi's opinion, the original intention of the script of "Source Code" is like this. Because of the imperfections of the real world (train explosions and terrorist attacks), a group of people are determined to change the outcome of this event, and as a result, they create multiple parallel worlds. Compared with the many limitations of time travel, it is obviously easier to travel between parallel worlds. Each parallel world has a different direction, which is like the multiple endings of an RPG game. Good, bad, ordinary, perfect... Among them, the world of the captain and Christina before the millennium egg is perfect, so it is a perfect ending.

It’s just that many people have never thought that most audiences don’t care about parallel worlds. Chewing on theories is always not as direct as visual impact. A kiss, an explosion, they are more attractive than any theory. In his opinion, "Source Code" and "Moon" are similar. A person, driven by consciousness and emotion, strives to find the truth. Whether it is perfect or cruel, they are making "a movie of one person."

(End of this chapter)