Made in Hollywood

According to the original plan, Duke was going to go to Australia with Scarlett for a vacation, but the day before departure, news came from Marvel Studios that "Captain America" ​​was going to Louisiana for some additional shots, many of which were For Natasha Normanov's role, Scarlett could only report to the crew first.

Duke went to Wellington alone. He came to New Zealand not only for vacation, but also to see James Cameron's crew.

In the first half of this year, James Cameron's new project code-named "Project 880" was officially launched. Although in his style, the time for filming and even selection of actors is far away, the important preparatory work has already begun.

After getting off the plane, Duke went directly to the Weta studio, where he met James Cameron in the studio's professional studio.

Although there is no friendship between the two, Duke is one of the film owners who account for one-third of the investment. He is also named as a producer in the project and has the right to intervene in some matters.

However, Duke knows how to get along with James? Cameron, unless it involves financial issues, or will not interfere with each other's work.

James? Cameron also received Duke, and made a certain introduction to the project.

In fact, he is also very clear that in order to gain enough power, investors and producers must build strong confidence.

Walking in the busy studio, James Cameron introduced some scenes and equipment arrangements to Duke, while talking about his plans, "I will use 3D technology to shoot the film, and I will use IMAX cameras for some scenes. We have talked with 20th Century Fox, and there will be three screening methods: ordinary 2D version, 3D version and IMAX 3D version.”

Duke nodded, "The number of 3D screens is increasing rapidly, and the increased ticket prices are also a guarantee for the box office."

Talking about anything else is false. Both he and James Cameron knew that this investment was all about making money.

Duke stopped and circled around a brand-new camera, unlike traditional 3D cameras and used IMAX cameras.

"James, is this your new device?" Duke asked curiously.

"That's right." James Cameron was still a little proud. "Movies will mostly be shot with it."

Duke just asked a question and didn't say much. Compared with all directors in the world, James Cameron is the pioneer of film technology.

As an investor, Duke has also done enough to understand.

Back in 2000, James Cameron and partner Vince Pace started developing a new camera system with support from Sony Electronics, which used two Sony HDCF950 HD cameras for shooting. The purpose is to create an environment with a three-dimensional sense of reality, which is the later 3-D virtual image capture photography system.

The technology was first used in the 2003 IMAX documentary "Ghost of the Abyss".

Later, James Cameron also asked his peers to help him test this technology. The famous Cut film director Robert Rodriguez tried it in "Very Little Secret Service" and "Three-dimensional Little Raiders". After that, most of the 3-D stereoscopic movies were also shot in this way.

Over the past few years, Cameron has been perfecting the technology, making it more dynamic and three-dimensional without making the audience dizzy. With many experiments and applications, this technology has matured day by day. It was finally used in the shooting of "Avatar".

It can be said that without the experiments and improvements over the past few years, "Avatar" would not have been born.

This is also the reason why Duke never considered "Avatar", just pull this film out and shoot it. That's more than the Arabian Nights.

Not only that, under the introduction of James Cameron, Duke saw several new devices, all of which were developed and improved by the king of the world for the new film.

Most of the pictures of "Avatar" are generated by CGI, so during the shooting, the live-action performance and the final CG picture must be perfectly matched.

In order to achieve this condition, Cameron specially developed a virtual camera for more accurate previews when filming live-action performances. This camera can observe the actor's actions and the interaction of the virtual world in real time, allowing the director to adjust and adjust in real time. Direct each play.

While the actor is performing, he can preview the effect of the actor's "avatar" as a nearly 3-meter-high blue Na'vi walking on Pandora through the LCD screen on the side.

According to Cameron, the picture rendered by this new technology is more intuitive and visible, allowing producers to instantly see what the virtual background looks like in the live performance footage, and accurately determine whether it is the final screen.

"It's like a powerful game engine," Cameron told Duke Set, shuttle inside."

In addition, unlike Duke's previous motion capture films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and "Iron Man", James Cameron also revolutionized motion capture technology.

In addition to requiring the actors to wear bodysuits full of capture points during filming, a set of "collaboration cameras" were also set up in the studio to complete the work.

The system consists of hundreds of digital cameras scattered across the top of the studio to form a capture stage.

By tracking the reflection of the near-infrared spectrum from the LED lights on the scene, the camera transmits the captured data to a system, and then combines the reflection of the spectrum with the movement of the actor to obtain a three-dimensional model of the entire shot.

This data is then mapped to post-computer processing, resulting in a highly realistic CG scene.

From a technical point of view, all directors in this world have to be ashamed in front of James Cameron.

In Duke's view, the tyrant on the set is the real movie genius. Even if the directors of the Golden Lion, Golden Bear, Palme d'Or and even the Little Golden Man are dissatisfied, even if those film critics belittle the big boat, they can't change the fact. In terms of the development of the entire film industry, James Cameron has done much more than them!

After simply walking around the studio, Duke didn't stay long. When he was about to leave, he said, "James, if you need to, you can call me directly."

"You have confidence in me?" James Cameron blurted out.

Duke shrugged. "We had a great and successful collaboration on Titanic."

Thinking of Duke's full support for him on "Titanic", James Cameron sighed softly and said, "The success of "Titanic" is indeed a satisfying thing. After that, I made several documentaries, and it can be said that I have basically left the original circle, and I need to change a way of working and living, and shooting such a film is a very tormenting thing.”

He made a few gestures and said, "I've been away for nearly 10 years, and I'm back. I know that many people are looking forward to it, and more people are doubting, can I still make movies? It's normal for everyone to think this way. but."

Duke just looked at him, the director far from the mainstream film circle, seemed to be a little emotional.

"Titanic's box office? It's really good," James Cameron shook his head and said seriously, "I don't think "Avatar" can break the box office record of "Titanic". This movie isn't designed to break anything, and I don't think any movie will surpass this record in the next few years. As long as Avatar can make money for investors like you, I'm happy."

It seems that James? Cameron himself has no confidence.

Of course, if it weren't for the rapid development of 3D and IMAX, Duke didn't think that "Avatar" would definitely be able to cross the hurdle of the big ship.

The increase in fares is a factor that cannot be ignored.

The news that James Cameron was preparing a new film in Wellington was released by Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox long ago. When Duke left, he was surrounded by some media reporters.

"Director Rosenberg..."

A reporter from North America was intercepted by security personnel and Duke bodyguards, and struggled to hand over the microphone, "It is said that investors including you have offered director Cameron a much higher price than "Titanic". Investment, James Cameron has been away from the mainstream film circle for so long, you still have confidence in him?"

"I have great confidence in James' new project," Duke simply said. "James Cameron's artistic charm is universally recognized, and I don't think anyone will doubt his commercial value for the film."

After he finished speaking, under the protection of the bodyguards, he got into the car when he came, no longer concerned about the surrounding reporters, and said to the driver, "Go to Victoria Hill."

At the foot of Mount Victoria, he also has a holiday estate, which he bought when he was shooting the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Later, he and Ivanka Trump came to vacation from time to time, but after the two drifted apart, Duke became very Don't come here again, but entrust the manor to a specialized housekeeping company to take care of it.

Some time ago, Tom Cruise called him. He and Nicole Kidman bought a large farm in Australia and invited him to visit. If you are interested, you can also buy a residence nearby and become a neighbor .

Duke is still a little interested in Australia's vast and relatively cheap land. Many wild animals there lack natural predators. If a hunting ground is established, they can come to hunt and relax every year.

Duke came to the foot of Mount Victoria, and someone asked him to meet.

It has been several years since we met. The other party asked him to meet in New Zealand, the origin, which may have some special meaning, such as reminding him a little of the good memory of the past and softening his heart on some things. (To be continued ~^~)