Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 604 Filming and New Film Release

"Boss, Tencent called me and said they want to invest in 'Black Myth: Wukong'!"

When Wang Hao hung up the phone with the senior leader of the cultural department and answered Feng Ji's call, the news he heard surprised and astonished him.

But then he thought again and asked Feng Ji on the other end of the phone with a smile:

"Doesn't it feel great, like you've finally let off some steam?"

When Feng Ji and his team were developing "Dou Zhan Shen" at Tencent, they were forced to leave by Tencent due to disagreements with the operations team.

After all, Tencent at the time believed that once a game was developed, it was meant to make money. Quality had to take a backseat to profitability, and the right thing to do was to rapidly update and iterate online games to harvest more players' profits.

This led to Feng Ji and his team leaving Tencent, being poached by Xinghe Group, and establishing a game development company specifically to develop and produce "Black Myth: Wukong".

However, after Feng Ji and his team left, the game "Dou Zhan Shen," which they had poured so much effort into, eventually faded away due to a lack of core elements, leaving its most outstanding chapter at the "White Bone Lady" episode.

Now, Feng Ji and others, who left Tencent, have actually created a top-tier AAA game like "Black Myth: Wukong," which has ignited the entire gaming industry. Its popularity is so high that even Tencent, which went bankrupt, shamelessly came back to join them.

It's no wonder that Feng Ji's tone was tinged with smugness and joy when this "you used to ignore me, but now you can't afford to miss me" scenario from a fantasy novel happened to him.

"If I'm not mistaken, they probably called not only you, but also your subordinates," Wang Hao said to Feng Ji.

Feng Ji immediately understood what he meant.

"Boss, you mean Tencent is poaching people?"

“It’s not necessarily just penguins,” Wang Hao paused, “This afternoon alone, I don’t know how many calls I’ve received. The game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ is like a depth charge, bringing out all sorts of demons and monsters.”

"Then, boss, this way..."

Feng Ji hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself, while Wang Hao smiled.

"Just do it with confidence. You have to believe in the expectations of domestic players for a good game, and you also have to believe in the power of the masses."

"I understand, boss!"

Feng Ji answered decisively on the other end of the phone, and Wang Hao hung up the phone with satisfaction.

Tencent is a large and powerful company, and its side is not to be trifled with either.

Moreover, compared to Tencent, Galaxy Group undoubtedly has a stronger cultural foundation. Wang Hao is confident that his "Black Myth: Wukong" will far surpass the previous work of the same name, so he is determined to keep this golden goose in his hands.

As for the so-called external pressure, Wang Hao's performance in front of Feng Ji was mostly genuine.

After all, no matter how sensational Black Myth: Wukong is, it's just a game. Could the interests involved possibly exceed those of the StarCraft Cinematic Universe?
Now he firmly holds the Galaxy Group in his hands, so "Black Myth: Wukong" is naturally no problem for him.

As for the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], although the third phase of the press conference gave "Black God: The Legend of Wukong" a big advantage, its popularity was only temporary.

After all, the game hasn't been released yet, and a 13-minute demo video isn't enough to keep people constantly on their toes.

In contrast, shortly after the press conference for the third phase of the StarCraft cinematic universe, The Dark Forest, they capitalized on the hype by releasing a trailer for the film Kingsman 2.

And as the hype surrounding "Black Myth: Wukong" began to subside, the other content from this third phase of the press conference naturally came into the public eye as well.

The first thing to trend on social media after "Black Myth: Wukong" was the news that "Star River Paradise" will officially open next year.

#【Star River Paradise】Opening in September 2018#
When will pre-sales for [Star River Paradise] begin?
Which is more fun, Galaxy Park or Disneyland?
……

As the first large-scale amusement park in China with its own intellectual property rights, incorporating Chinese culture, and operated by its own people, [Galaxy Park] attracted a lot of attention from the very beginning.

In the years that followed, although it was under construction, Galaxy Group would release some news every year. Coupled with the influence of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, this large-scale amusement park project in Beijing was still talked about.

Following "Galaxy Paradise," the second thing that became widely discussed and trended on social media was Wang Hao's new movie.

#Wang Hao's new film "The Martian" begins filming in Dunhuang!#
A week after the press conference, Wang Hao finished some work at his company and set off for Dunhuang with the film's main creative team.

Here, just like when they were filming "Ball Lightning," they were once again warmly welcomed by the local government.

After all, just one movie, "Ball Lightning," and a new "Northern Galaxy Cinema" have already significantly increased the number of tourists and tourism revenue in Dunhuang in recent years.

Now, with the addition of the "Mars Rescue" project, it will be a significant boost to the development of local cultural tourism.

No, it doesn't even have to wait until the future.

After Wang Hao's "The Martian" started filming in Dunhuang, the number of tourists visiting the area began to increase rapidly.

Even though it's already late November and not the best time to visit, many people still come to the film studio every day hoping to run into the crew of "The Martian".

However, they were bound to be disappointed, because after filming started, while the weather was still good, the crew was eager to shoot the outdoor scenes first.

Every morning, a bus and several pickup trucks would carry the film crew and props to the Gobi Desert, a two- or three-hour drive from Dunhuang.

The area features a unique reddish-brown sandstone landscape, surrounded by desolate wilderness, somewhat resembling the surface of Mars. It was perfect for filming the scene where the male protagonist drives a lander on a long journey across the Martian surface.

"Okay, cut! That's a good take!"

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction as he watched the footage on the monitor. He had to admit, the location was excellent, and the resulting shots were superb.

"Adjust the filter color and see the effect."

He directly directed the special effects team to process the footage that had just been filmed, while simultaneously issuing orders via walkie-talkie to the Mars rover in the distance to move to a different location.

The Mars rover used in "The Martian" is actually drivable. Although it wasn't built to a 1:1 scale, it has all the necessary functions. If you use a long shot and don't have a detailed reference point, you can't tell its true size at all.

When filming the exterior scenes of these Mars rovers, Wang Hao and his team used the latest DJI Matrice 800 Pro photography drone, which they had previously showcased at the Film Science Expo, along with a complete all-around unmanned shooting system.

Now they stay in the tents that have been set up. Not only the director, but also the cameraman, lighting crew, and other behind-the-scenes staff do not have to go to the filming location and endure the wind and sun. They can remotely control the equipment to carry out the filming work from here.

As for actors, they are not needed.

Because of the outdoor scenes, the male lead's face will not appear in the footage, and the driver in the car only needs to wear a spacesuit.

The shoot went smoothly for two days, and Wang Hao and his team soon moved to the studio at the Star River Cinema in Dunhuang.

The first site to be put into use is the newly built Mars base. In order to add new tourist attractions to the film city in the future, this place has been built into a real 1:1 Mars base. Its overall structure uses a steel frame, concrete, glass and plastic airbag covering layer.

Meanwhile, during construction, the suggestions of experts from the aerospace department were fully adopted, and many of the living facilities were even restored to be usable, which basically ensured the hard science fiction characteristics of the entire movie.

In this Mars base, filming finally returned to normal, with everyone from cinematographers, lighting technicians, makeup artists, costume designers, prop masters, production assistants, and assistant directors all busy at work.

Of course, this also includes the lead actors.

As part of a cinematic universe, "The Martian" naturally doesn't use newcomers, retaining the original cast from "Gravity." The male lead is played by Liu Ye as Zhang Beihai, and the female lead is played by Jing Tian as Cheng Xin.

However, the scenes at the Mars base don't involve much for the female lead, so Jing Tian will have to wait a while before officially joining the crew, as the focus of filming is still on Liu Ye.

Fortunately, as a middle-aged actor who won the Best Actor award at a young age, Liu Ye's acting skills are also quite good. Whether it was Zhang Beihai's fear of being left on Mars at the beginning, or his resilience and finding joy in hardship later on, he performed very well.

In particular, there was a scene where potatoes were planted at a base. To film this scene well, Liu Ye specially set up a potato field in his own yard after receiving the script and personally experienced the potato planting process for several months.

Of course, some scenes couldn't possibly be filmed using only the Mars base.

Due to the limited space, another part of the filming had to be done after returning to Beijing and in the newly upgraded Studio 1 of the Oriental Galaxy Cinema.

That place is the largest film studio in the country, larger than many top film studios abroad. It can easily build the entire surface of Mars, place a full-size Mars base, and even operate a Mars rover.

In addition to the help from the post-production special effects department, the on-site lighting team also played a crucial role in the filming of the Mars scenes for Wang Hao and his team.

Because Mars and Earth have different atmospheric environments, the lighting conditions on the two planets are also significantly different.

For example, the sun on Mars is blue, so during filming they used five Arrimax 18K and 12K HMI Par lights plus a Rosco 1/2 Soft Frost diffuser to simulate the sun. In addition, the lighting crew had to adjust the light according to the time in the movie's plot.

This was a very complicated task, but fortunately their lighting team did a great job, and there were no major problems during the filming process.

While Wang Hao and his "The Martian" crew were filming peacefully in Dunhuang, after more than half a month of intensive promotion, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," the first film in the third phase of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, was also released worldwide.

This film captures the time period from when the story of "The Three-Body Problem 1" takes place, but the setting is in the United Kingdom.

In coordination with the United Nations' operations against the ETO, the Kingsmen also organized an operation to eliminate ETO-affiliated forces in Europe.

They just didn't expect that just as humans have the desire to hunt tigers, tigers also have the intention to harm humans, and thus a conflict ensued.

In this conflict, the "Kingsmen" were outmaneuvered by the enemy, who used the intelligence advantage previously provided by the Trisolarans to launch a surprise attack, destroying the base in the bombs dropped by the enemy and causing countless casualties among the agents.

Fortunately, in the critical moment, "Galahat," who perished in the American hurricane in the previous film, returned to Britain with the help of an American friend. Ultimately, he helped the protagonist storm the enemy's lair, successfully defeat the enemy, thwart the ETO organization's conspiracy, and once again save Europe.

There are two Easter eggs at the end of the story.

Just like the ending of "The Three-Body Problem 1", the protagonist of "Kingsman 2", far away in Europe, also saw a strange phenomenon in the sky that was sometimes bright and sometimes dark.

As for the second Easter egg, after everything is over, "Galahat" returns to his residence and receives a phone call from a friend who had saved one of his men in the United States, saying that he is in trouble and needs his help.

The camera then gives a close-up of Galahad's friend's hand, with a very eye-catching ring on his finger. Any seasoned fan of the StarCraft universe would recognize him as John Wick, the male lead of John Wick.

Overall, the story of "Kingsman 2" is actually the same old Hollywood spy action movie content, not much different from "007" and "Mission: Impossible".

However, with its acceptable film quality and content, Kingsman 2 achieved the effect of "old wine in new bottles" by maintaining the same exaggerated action style as the previous film and contrasting it with the British gentleman spy.

With the added prestige of the StarCraft cinematic universe, Kingsman 2 actually received decent reviews.

However, because the story is mainly set overseas and it was released in mid-December, Kingsman 2's box office performance in China was not too exaggerated, only taking in 170 million yuan on its opening day, which only ranked in the middle among the films in the StarCraft universe.

Fortunately, this film is also aimed at overseas moviegoers, especially in the European market.

In North America, Kingsman 2 grossed $7000 million on its opening day.

In Europe, Kingsman 2 grossed €1200 million on its opening day.

All these factors combined mean that its global box office has exceeded $1 million. According to the analysis of Galaxy Entertainment Group's internal marketing department, its final box office is expected to exceed $7 million.

(End of this chapter)