v2 Chapter 353： Find the trick

This battle in the mine of Moria must end up with a continuous fierce action scene, but it was divided into countless small pieces when filming. In some scenes, Duke would often show up after an action and expression. Pause, and then he watched the three-dimensional special effects map with Anna Prinz, John Schwarzman and Andy Serkins, and found out the shortcomings.

Using real people's motion data to drive virtual characters, this optical technology has been used in Hollywood for a long time.

Weta Studio is not stuck with the original technology. In the past two years, Duke’s crew is making preparations. They are also improving the original motion capture technology. The optical motion capture technology currently mastered is quite mature and accurate. It's very tall.

This technology has been developed by Weta Studios into various sub-fields. For example, if a team specializes in fluid special effects production, a picture of pouring water can be made very realistic, and it is completely impossible to see that it is made by a computer; In the case of crowd simulations, such as the final scene of the orcs pouring out like a tide in the Hall of Moria, in fact, only a few main actors are performing with motion capture, and others are simulated.

With the development of computer technology up to now, the effects of some special effects synthesis pictures are completely unimaginable ten or even five years ago. After the model of the troll character played by Duke is completed ↙, just modify the action information in his performance. Then assign values ​​to these models.

These seem very simple, but in fact a lot of preparation work has been done by Weta Studio.

The production of troll special effects consists of four key parts. One is to establish a character model, which is to use a computer to make a character that needs to be virtual, and to make each level of fineness according to the different control points required; the second step is to start building a skeleton structure, because the virtual character will eventually move It also depends on the movement of the bones, which also builds the associated actions between the bones.

The next step is to build a model of the skin, because skin is elastic. Actions such as the stretching of bones will also cause skin contraction, so a corresponding relationship must be established.

Finally, when Duke is performing, use motion capture technology to collect motion data, and then bind these data to the corresponding skeletal model, then the actual captured motion data can be used to drive the motion of the skeletal model.

Therefore, Duke will hang a motion capture device in a specific position. Then it is captured by high-speed cameras all around, so that a series of dot running track information is obtained, which is equivalent to obtaining the spatial running coordinates of each point.

But this also has its shortcomings. The light spot emitted by the motion capture device does not have an identity mark, and the computer is not easy to identify it, which may cause confusion.

This kind of shooting is only suitable for studios, not for location shooting with more complicated lighting conditions.

Weta Studio’s technical improvement is still in progress. Their newly developed motion capture device can emit infrared light of different frequencies, captured and collected by a specially modified camera, and it will not be long before it will be used in Guru's shooting.

In this way. There is no need to limit the shooting of Guru scenes to indoor studios, and the interference of natural light can also be avoided outdoors and effective data can be captured.

After watching a few motion capture shots, Andy Serkins looked at Duke and said, “Your performance is too restrained. You are playing a troll. You need to fully release your brutal and brutal side. Your body movements can be More exaggerated..."

"More exaggerated?"

Frankly speaking. Duke is really not a good actor.

Anna Prinz stood on the other side and agreed with Andy Serkins. "Duke, you have to forget your directorship. You are just an actor now, just a troll."

A troll?

Nodding his head, Duke entered the shooting location again, ready to continue the fierce battle with the Fellowship Team.

After the technicians from Weta Workshop came to inspect the equipment. Shooting starts again.

Holding the prop hammer wrapped in the blue screen, Duke hit the ground with a hammer, and Melly and Pipin's stunt stand-in turned into a ground gourd. Then he went to Frodo, and Elijah Wood hid in a corridor. Behind the column. Hidden hiding twice in a row, and bumped into Duke almost head-to-head.

"Roar……"

Duke let out an angry roar, as if an ancient monster came and wanted to eat Elijah Wood raw.

"Great!"

Anna Prinz's voice came from outside the set, "Duke, you are doing very well."

Handing the hammer to the staff, Duke and Andy Serkins went behind the monitor. On two huge screens, Duke's own performance and the effect of transferring his motion data to the three-dimensional model were displayed on two huge screens.

After watching his performance, Duke's mouth trembles slightly. His facial expression is extremely exaggerated. If he is acting in a normal scene, he is not qualified.

But on the other screen, the man-eater who represented him was also roaring, and this exaggerated movement was displayed on the ugly and terrifying face, and the effect looked quite good.

"I think I found the trick." Duke simply borrowed a line from Sam.

After all, he is just a tortured troll, not Gollum, a complex character with dual personality. Relatively speaking, it is very simple. If Duke's motion capture starred Gollum, he would not be able to cope.

This is just a guest appearance. In order to add material to the propaganda and hype, Duke knows that directing is his main business.

This is Hollywood. There are not few people who both direct and act, but even the old cowboy Clint Eastwood will only focus on one of his careers, let alone Hollywood. Even if you look at the world, Can't find someone who can be both a director and an actor, and who can stand in the trend at the same time.

Both actors and directors are occupations that require high concentration.

Just like Andy Serkis, he can become the first person in Hollywood motion capture in the future, and he cannot be separated from focus. Most of his real-life roles are playing soy sauce, while King Kong, Gollum, Caesar, etc., are simply Both are landmark roles in the history of motion capture shooting.

The scenes in the Moria Mine are interrupted, with actors and stunt doubles taking turns. Part of the shots of the trolls are not only from Duke's motion capture, but also relying on a one-to-one scale model shooting. The whole process seems Extremely long.

While Legolas was shooting the troll model, Duke took off his motion capture suit and sat on a chair to take a quick drink and rest. At the same time, he reviewed the shots that had already been taken. Shoot.

"Are you satisfied with our special effects?"

I don’t know when, Richard Taylor, the head of the Weta studio, walked behind Duke. Duke pointed to the chair next to him, "Please sit down, Richard."

When Richard Taylor sat down, Duke said, "Although it is a little different from what I imagined, Richard, your work is better than I expected."

"Thank you." Richard Taylor couldn't hide the excitement in his smile.

If "The Lord of the Rings" is counted as a trilogy, plus Peter Jackson's "King Kong", Weta Studio has undertaken 4 super masterpieces with a production cost of more than 100 million US dollars, which will be released in the next few years. .

For Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor’s confidence is not very high, but for Duke, he has great hopes. Let’s not talk about the status and appeal of the other party in Hollywood and the world’s film industry. It is only meticulous and cumbersome. The preparatory work to make people collapse is the guarantee of success.

If the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is successful, even if it can't sell as big as "The Matrix", and a single box office can achieve the same results as "Break into Death Island", Weta Studios will accompany him. Super directors go to the world.

It can be said that Weta Studios has knocked on the door of mainstream Hollywood business circles. Whether it can truly penetrate the North American market depends on the performance of Duke's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

After discussing a few words with Richard Taylor, Duke is back at work. There is no trick to special effects. If you want special effects to be good enough, you can only use a lot of money and time to accumulate. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has always followed him. The style is the same, the extra budget is all devoted to special effects.

Special effects technology is developing rapidly, and the future will inevitably be outdated. What Duke wants, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy must be the top special effects of the same period.

As for the special effects that have been screamed by countless film critics, Duke doesn't care at all.

It took nearly four days to shoot before this battle scene was completed. Duke also ended his first performance since entering Hollywood, but the role will definitely make people fall apart.

Subsequently, Anna Prinz was sent out by Duke again to film a scene about Isinger and the Orcs in the Minas Devil's Cave. Zach Schneider went to Sydney to talk with Warner Bros., and Duke led The Fellowship Team continued to take a tour of the Mines of Moria on the set.

A large number of models were also used in the shooting. The magnificent Moria pit did not completely rely on the later CGI technology. Weta Studio built a large number of models and combined the model with CGI to make those magnificent panoramic shots.

As for the actors, except for the scenes arranged with props and sets in the close-up shots, most of the time they have to perform against the blue screen and the air. The powerful Balrog that drags Gandalf into the abyss together also applies to the model. Add motion capture to shoot.

The scene in Moria Mine lasted for half a month. After this part of the scene was over, Duke once again led the crew to leave Wellington to prepare for location shooting.

The Fellowship Team finally fell apart, and the scenes in the filming were scattered, instead of gathering all nine people together.

Now that Ian McLean has ended Magneto’s journey, and other actors’ schedules are temporarily loose, Duke changed the shooting plan and asked Andy Serkis to continue looking for the feeling of Gollum and set foot with the Fellowship Team. Wilderness trip. (To be continued...)

ps: Brothers~~ More recommended tickets~~