Made in Hollywood

This battle in the Moria Mine must have been a continuous and intense action scene at the end, but when it was filmed, it was divided into countless small pieces. In some scenes, Duke often made a movement and expression and then it would be different. Pause, then he looks at the 3D special effects with Anna Prinz, John Schwartzman and Andy Serkis, and finds out.

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

Weta Studio does not stick to the original technology. Duke's crew has been preparing for the past two years. They are also improving the original motion capture technology. The optical motion capture technology they have mastered is quite mature and accurate. high again.

This technology has been developed into various sub-fields by Weta Studio. For example, there is a team specializing in the production of fluid special effects. A water pouring picture can be made very realistic, and it is completely impossible to see that it is made by a computer; some Specializing in crowd simulation, for example, the scene where the orcs gushed out like a tide in the Moria Hall, in fact, only a few main actors are performing with motion capture, and the others are simulated.

With the development of computer technology, the effects of some special effects synthesizing pictures are completely unimaginable ten or even five years ago. After Duke's troll character model is completed, he only needs to modify the action information in his performance and assign values. Just give these models.

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

The production of the Troll special effect consists of four key parts. The first is to establish a character model, which is to use a computer to make a character that needs to be virtualized, and can make various levels of sophistication 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 bones, and the associated actions between bones are also constructed.

The next step is to model the skin, because skin is elastic. Actions such as stretching of the bones can also cause the skin to contract, so a corresponding relationship needs to be established.

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

So Duke would hang motion capture devices at specific locations. Then, it is captured by high-speed cameras scattered 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 is also flawed. The light spot emitted by the motion capture device has no identification mark, and the computer is not easy to identify and is likely to be confused.

Such shooting is only suitable for studios, not for outdoor shooting with more complex lighting conditions.

Technological improvements are still underway at Weta Studios, and their latest motion capture device can emit infrared light at different frequencies. Captured and collected by specially modified cameras, it will not be long before they will be used in Gollum's filming.

In this way, the shooting of scenes about Gulu no longer needs to be limited to indoor studios, and the interference of natural light can also be avoided outdoors, and effective data can be captured.

Check out a few motion capture shots of the shoot. Andy Serkis looked at Duke and said, "Your performance is too restrained. You are playing a troll, and you need to fully unleash the brutal and brutal side. Your body movements can be more exaggerated..."

"More exaggerated?"

Frankly speaking, Duke is really not a good actor.

Anna Prinz was on the other side. Also agree with Andy Serkis, "Duke, you have to forget your identity as a director, you are just an actor now. Just a troll."

A troll?

Nodding his head, Duke entered the shooting location again, preparing to continue the fierce battle with the Fellowship of the Ring.

After a technician from Weta Studios came over to inspect the equipment, filming began again.

Holding the prop hammer wrapped in the blue screen, Duke slammed the hammer on the ground, Merry and Pippin's stunt double became a rolling gourd, and then he found Frodo, Elijah Wood hid in a corridor Behind the column, after hiding twice in a row, he almost collided with Duke.

"Roar……"

Duke let out an angry roar, as if an ancient monster had descended and wanted to eat Ilya Wood raw.

"Great!"

Anna Prinz's voice came from outside the set, "Duke, you did a great job."

Handing the hammer to the staff, Duke and Andy Serkis went to the back of the monitor. On two huge screens, Duke's performance and the effect of his movement data transmitted to the 3D model were displayed.

Looking at his performance, Duke's mouth trembled slightly, and his facial expression was extremely exaggerated. If he was in an ordinary scene, he would not be qualified at all.

But on the other screen, the troll representing him is also roaring, and this pompous action is displayed on that hideous face, and the effect looks quite good.

"I think I got the hang of it." Duke simply borrowed a line from Sam.

After all, what he played was just a troll who was tortured and killed, not a complex character with dual personalities like Gollum, which was relatively simple. If Duke motion capture starred Gollum, he would not be able to handle it.

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

This is Hollywood, and there are a lot of people who both direct and act, but even old cowboy Clint Eastwood will only focus on one of these professions, let alone Hollywood, even if you look at the world, I can't find anyone who is both a director and an actor, and who can stand in the top ranks at the same time.

Whether an actor or a director is a profession that requires a high degree of concentration.

Just like Andy Serkis, he can become the first person in Hollywood motion capture in the future, and it is inseparable from concentration. Most of the real-life roles he plays are soy sauce, while King Kong, Gollum, Caesar, etc., are simply Both are milestone roles in the history of motion capture photography.

This scene in the Moria mine was on and off, with actors and stunt doubles taking turns. Some of the troll shots were not only from Duke's motion capture, but also depended on a one-to-one scale model. The whole process seemed extremely long.

While Legolas was shooting arrows at the troll model, Duke took off his motion capture suit, sat in a chair and took time to drink water and rest. At the same time, he also reviewed the scenes that had been filmed. shoot.

"Are you satisfied with our special effects?"

At some point, Richard Taylor, the head of Weta Workshop, walked behind Duke, Duke pointed to the chair next to him, "Please sit, 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 Workshop 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 is not very confident, but for Duke, he has great hope, not to mention the status and appeal of the other party in Hollywood and even the world's film industry, it is only meticulous and cumbersome. The preparatory work to the collapse is the guarantee of success.

If the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is successful, even if it can't be as big as "The Matrix", and a single box office can have the same results as "Brave to the Dead Island", Weta Studio will accompany him. Super directors go to the world.

It can be said that Weta Workshop has knocked on the door of the mainstream Hollywood business circle. Whether it can truly enter the North American market will wait for the performance of Duke's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

After discussing a few words with Richard Taylor, Duke went back to work. There is no trick to the special effects. To make the special effects good enough, only a lot of money and time are used to accumulate. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is consistent with him. The style is the same, the extra budget is all invested in special effects.

Special effects technology is developing at a high speed, and it will be outdated in the future. 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 madly sprayed by countless film critics, Duke doesn't care at all.

After nearly four days of filming, this battle scene was announced to be completed, and Duke also ended his first performance since entering Hollywood, but the role will definitely make people shattered.

Afterwards, Anna Prinz was sent out by Duke again to shoot the scenes about Isengard and the Orcs in Minas Mage. Zach Snyder went to Sydney to talk with the people from Warner Bros. Duke led the Fellowship of the Ring, continue on a tour of the Moria Mine on the set.

A large number of models were also used in the shooting. The magnificent Moria Mine did not completely rely on post-CGI technology. Weta Studio built a large number of models and combined the models 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 who dragged Gandalf into the abyss is also suitable for the model. Shoot with motion capture.

The Moria mine scene lasted for half a month. After this part of the scene ended, Duke led the crew out of Wellington again to prepare for location shooting.

The Fellowship of the Ring eventually fell apart, and the scenes during filming were scattered, instead of having to gather all nine people together.

Now that Ian McLean has ended the trip to Magneto, and the schedules of other actors have been temporarily relaxed, Duke has changed the shooting plan and let Andy Serkis continue to find the feeling of Gollum, and set foot on the road with the Fellowship of the Ring. Field trip. (To be continued ~^~)

PS: Brothers~~ Come and recommend more tickets~~