Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 597 Galaxy Technology Expo (Part 2)
2000?!
Isn't this price a bit too cheap?

The top leader touched the AR helmet in his hand and asked with some surprise.

Wang Hao smiled and shook his head, replying:
"Currently, most mainstream AR display systems internationally are a bit more expensive than ours."

For example, the PlayStation VR released by Sony last year was priced at 2999 RMB.

Our company's helmet was jointly developed with Sony. There is some overlap in technology and similar materials, but because the production is done in China, the cost is much lower than that of Sony.

Moreover, the 2000 yuan AR helmet is just the basic model; there will be a more feature-rich deluxe version available.

Also, this is just the price of the helmet; other items like the haptic feedback suit and the electron gun with a gyroscope need to be purchased separately.

Regarding paid content, our Galaxy Group possesses a large amount of high-quality film, television, and game IP content, and we are currently transforming this content into corresponding AR modes to build a complete ecosystem around the devices, thereby ensuring healthy development.

What Wang Hao said is actually the current practice of smartphone manufacturers in China: they don't make money on the hardware, or even sell it at a loss, and rely on subsequent software operation and advertising revenue to make a profit.

To be honest, only Xinghe Group in China can do this kind of thing, because only they have a large number of well-known IPs and excellent content materials.

With VR currently enjoying immense popularity, there's never a shortage of VR products.

Leaving aside foreign countries, even within China, given the counterfeit capabilities of Huaqiangbei, a usable AR glasses device can be produced for just one or two thousand yuan. If quality requirements are lowered, the price can be even lower.

But having the device is useless; a knock-off AR device isn't like a knock-off phone, computer, or TV that you can just find content resources online and download to use.

Furthermore, the parameters of equipment from different manufacturers are inconsistent, which means that the produced content resources need to be adjusted together with the hardware and software in order to provide users with the best experience.

Therefore, in the early stages of the VR industry, many manufacturers are not selling equipment, but rather the ecosystem and content.

Sony's VR glasses, for example, mainly rely on the company's massive game resources.

As for Oculus, the virtual reality headset manufacturer acquired by Facebook, it had already established an internal lab called "Story Studio" in January 2015 to create virtual reality versions of movies.

However, in May of this year, Facebook suddenly announced the closure of "Story Studios" to reallocate resources and continue to fund virtual reality film and television content through investment.

This actually shows that Facebook is still a novice in AR content creation, and the investment and returns are clearly disproportionate, making it difficult to achieve results.

However, Xinghe Group is different. When their Xinghuan AR headset was still in the research and development stage, the group had already established a dedicated AR content creation department and deeply participated in the device development process, collecting relevant device information and data. Then, based on this device data, they adjusted Xinghe Group's existing content materials and adapted them into AR versions.

The "Wolf Warrior" series, which is currently being used by top leaders, can be considered one of the most mature products.

"Currently, Xingkong Video Network under our Xinghe Group has launched an AR movie section. In the past six months, more than 30 AR movies have been remade, including works that are particularly suitable for AR presentation, such as Inception and Gravity. All of them have been adapted and reshot in a way that fits the device."

After this adaptation and remake, the film's story will be more compatible with AR devices, unlike many so-called AR movies that are simply formatted and renamed.

After listening to Wang Hao's introduction, the senior leader nodded in satisfaction with Xinghe Group's achievements in the AR field. He also looked around the AR exhibition area and chatted with staff from several overseas VR equipment manufacturers.

Then they arrived at the new photography equipment area, where the DJI booth was the most eye-catching.

Large and small, black and white, quadcopters and octocopters—a dazzling array of exquisitely designed drones.

One of the largest, a hexagonal black drones, standing a full meter tall and with a large camera suspended below, attracted a lot of attention.

When DJI's technicians saw Wang Hao and his group, they immediately came forward to greet them warmly and introduced them, saying, "Distinguished leaders, these are all DJI drones."

"Of course we know you're DJI." The senior leader made a good-natured joke.

Wang Hao, who was standing to the side, then introduced:

"Currently, DJI and our Galaxy Group have a deeply integrated cooperative relationship, and we have jointly invested a lot of money and manpower in the research and development of equipment for film and television shooting and production."

DJI's drones are not only exported overseas, but are also playing an increasingly crucial role in the film and television production field.

“We purchased two of these during the filming of Wolf Warrior 3 not long ago, and they will also be used in my new movie The Martian.”

Wang Hao pointed to the largest drone in the center of the venue, and then asked a DJI employee waiting nearby to introduce the specific parameters of the equipment to his leader.

"Boss, this large hexacopter drone, model DJI Matrice 800 Pro, was customized by our company in cooperation with Galaxy Group, specifically for location shooting of commercial films and special effects blockbusters."

With a wheelbase of 1550 mm, it uses high-strength carbon fiber to build its fuselage, which ensures structural stability while reducing overall weight, allowing for more flexible flight and longer flight range.

The DJI Matrice 800 Pro also boasts a powerful powertrain, equipped with six high-performance intelligent ESCs and motors, allowing for a maximum takeoff weight of 15 kg, sufficient to steadily support professional-grade large cameras mounted below.

Speaking of cameras, a technician from a foreign company in the adjacent camera equipment exhibition area approached and, following up on the DJI employee's words, pointed to the camera mounted under the large drone and explained:

"This is our latest RED HELIUM 8K S35 camera, a true 'star' in the filmmaking industry, used by many Hollywood production crews."

It boasts 8K resolution, capturing extremely fine image details, and the image quality remains excellent even after significant post-processing cropping.

Furthermore, its sensor uses the S35 specification, offering extremely high color reproduction accuracy, precisely capturing the color style desired by the director. It also supports multiple frame rates, easily handling everything from the standard 24fps cinematic frame rate to 120fps slow-motion shooting, providing a wealth of possibilities for film creation.

After the camera manufacturer's technician finished his presentation, the DJI employee continued:
"In terms of battery life, the DJI Matrice 800 Pro is equipped with six DB1560 smart flight batteries, which use advanced lithium polymer technology and have high energy density."

Even fully loaded, it offers up to 40 minutes of flight time, sufficient for extended shooting sessions. Furthermore, this drone features fast charging, significantly reducing charging time.

"As for flight, to ensure shooting safety and image stability, the DJI Matrice 800 Pro now integrates a very advanced flight stabilization system, equipped with multiple high-precision GPS modules, inertial measurement units (IMU), visual sensors, and aerospace-grade gyroscopes, which can perceive the drone's position, attitude, and surrounding environment in real time."

Even in complex shooting environments, it can automatically adjust flight parameters, and with its intelligent obstacle avoidance function, it can effectively avoid collisions with obstacles.

This allows it to maintain stable flight, whether in the windy high altitudes or in the complex low-altitude near-ground environments, ensuring smooth and fluid footage.

In terms of image transmission, the DJI Matrice 800 Pro uses O3 Pro dual-control image transmission technology, combined with Huawei's communication technology and the latest 5G network solution, achieving a transmission distance of up to 15 kilometers. Moreover, the signal is stable and the latency is so low as to be almost negligible, allowing the director to see the drone's footage in real time and clearly from the ground control station…

Seeing that his superior was listening intently but couldn't make sense of the data, Wang Hao smiled slightly and interjected:

"Sony Pictures recently ordered two sets of this equipment, and Universal and Fox are also in talks with DJI. Currently, the export price of the complete solution, including the drones and the supporting hardware and software, is $110 million!"

"This isn't cheap."

The top leader wasn't interested in the specific data about the drone, but he was very interested in what Wang Hao said about exporting it and generating foreign exchange.

Although $100 million for a set of equipment may not seem like much, the fact that domestically produced film and television equipment can not only be self-sufficient but also exported overseas can be considered an achievement of the cultural department, at least something that can be compared with the leaders of the Ministry of Industry.

"Boss, there's a reason why it's expensive. Currently, DJI is the only company in the world that can produce this kind of professional-grade low-altitude photography platform."

Wang Hao said with some pride, after all, he owned a portion of the company's shares.

"Take my new movie that I'm currently preparing for, for example. We plan to use this equipment and a whole shooting system during the location shooting process."

This technology will be a revolutionary change for location shooting of commercial blockbusters.

In the past, traditional shooting methods required setting up various equipment on location to shoot outdoor scenes, such as tracks, light stands, and cameras. At the same time, many staff members needed to move around in the complex environment.

Sometimes, a slightly more complex long take involves tedious camera work, requiring advance planning of the actors' and crew's movements and the placement of equipment.

Not only is it time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it is also easy to cause scheduling chaos if you are not careful. Moreover, it is difficult for staff to completely avoid the camera. If they are not careful, they will appear in the picture, which will affect the immersive experience of the film.

Therefore, some technical shots can only be filmed by a highly professional team after a long period of practice.

Alternatively, they could abandon those flashy shots and use only short shots, then edit or add special effects in post-production.

But now, with this low-altitude hovering photography system, things are different.

Taking a Martian-like Gobi Desert scene as an example, the field of view is open and unobstructed, so when shooting, you need to pay attention to controlling the framing angle and range of the lens.

By adopting this drone photography system, which combines a photography drone with a lighting drone and a recording drone, a 'clean' environment without any staff can be achieved on-site.

Imagine this: on the vast Gobi Desert, without heavy tracks, lighting rigs, or a large crew, only one actor performing, surrounded by several professional drones flying overhead. Drone pilots precisely control the shooting angles and positions from a safe distance, while the director watches the footage in real-time via a monitoring terminal, quickly adjusting the shooting plan. This is already considered a modern film production method!

The senior leader seemed to be drawn into the scene by Wang Hao's description, and couldn't help but nod repeatedly as he imagined it.

"It's truly high-tech!"

"Yes, that's what our company has been pursuing, and that's also the significance of holding the Film Technology Expo."

We must use technology to change the way we create and unleash more creative productivity.

Nowadays, young directors and cinematographers no longer need to spend as much time and energy as their predecessors did figuring out composition and on-set management.

With this suspended shooting system, they can shoot from all sorts of tricky angles, capture the scenes they want, and engage in imaginative creative work without worrying about people appearing in the frame, thus ensuring the purity of the footage.

In addition, drones can also capture shots that are difficult to achieve with traditional shooting equipment.

For example, when filming fast-moving vehicles or people, drones can use their agility to follow and film at the same speed, capturing the most impactful dynamic footage.

In filming dangerous scenes, drones have become an even greater guarantee of safety for the filming team.

For filming dangerous areas such as cliff edges, canyon waterfalls, or blasting sites, drones can easily reach the locations and obtain high-quality footage without requiring staff to risk their lives.

"Technology can change production, that's a good idea, and this drone shooting system is also great!"

The senior leader nodded in approval:

"As society develops, the film and television industry also needs innovation and progress in order to keep up with the cultural needs of the people and create better and more popular works."

In this respect, the approach taken by Galaxy Group and DJI is undoubtedly correct and highly effective…

Taking advantage of this scene, the top leader began an impromptu speech, and the official media immediately took photos and made records. When taking photos of the leader's speech, they did not forget to include the huge DJI Matrice 800 Pro as a background.

After the leader finished speaking, they visited other venues and various novel equipment and technologies related to film and television shooting and production.

More advanced cameras and lenses; a more sophisticated lighting matrix management system specifically developed for large-scale film studios like the Oriental Galaxy Film City; and faster 3D prop printing equipment…

(End of this chapter)