This star is going to the moon

Chapter 38: Exoskeleton movie props also have bottlenecks?
The filming location of "The Wandering Earth" is located in Oriental Movie Metropolis in Ludao City, Qilu Province.

This is a newly built film and television base with 40 studios that meet international standards, 32 set workshops, and 1 square meters of high-tech single studios.

It is also equipped with a world-class outdoor pool and indoor constant temperature water shed, a digital audio-visual center with full-process post-production equipment, and Asia's largest film and television virtual shooting and production platform, which can meet the full-chain industrial production process of film and television works from shooting to post-production, and focuses on the shooting of large-scale and special effects movies.

Oriental Movie Metropolis’ hardware and software are very advanced, and can handle most of the virtual and real-life special effects of “The Wandering Earth”. Only a small number of special effects still require international teams, such as complex powered exoskeleton props.

The powered exoskeleton props were provided by Weta Workshop, which had previously only worked on Hollywood projects. Director Guo personally went to the workshop to discuss the project for "The Wandering Earth."

Director Guo knew that progress required learning and paying tuition fees, but he didn’t expect the tuition fees to be so expensive!
A set of powered exoskeleton props used for filming costs 80 yuan, and the exoskeleton equipment for several people in the CN171-11 rescue team cost several million yuan.

As a result, these powered exoskeleton props are not easy to use.
Moreover, the ergonomics of the props were very poor, as the exoskeleton was too heavy and the actor's limbs were restricted by 80%, making it impossible to perform movements.

Some actors who are not in good health have to push themselves to their physical limits every time in order to stand up. After all, the exoskeleton prop weighs 80 kilograms, which is almost equivalent to most of the actress's weight.

This caused some actors to vomit during filming.

In addition, the interior of the helmet is closed, which makes it easy to fog up and lack oxygen. The lines spoken by the opponent actor are also intermittent and half of them have to be guessed.

Also, each exoskeleton has nearly a thousand parts, and there are several layers of tights, body shapers, armor, and shoulder blades. It is complicated to put on and take off, and it takes more than an hour, so you have to wear it all day and can't sit or lie down.

Fortunately, people invented a life-saving device - the "gantry".

When taking a break, they would just hang the person up and distribute the weight of the exoskeleton to the frame, and then Uncle Da would joke that it was a "hanging oven roast duck."

Even this is considered good. There is no actor who doesn't suffer when shooting this kind of movie. They just have to endure it with all their might. The key is that the shooting intensity is high and the exoskeleton props have many small parts, which are easy to break, greatly delaying the shooting progress.

But the most important thing is the work attitude of the Weta Workshop staff... I can only say that the "weird attitude of foreigners coming to work in developing countries with a condescending attitude" is something you must experience.

So after Director Guo shouted several times, the people from Weta Studio slowly started to repair it.

Director Guo could only ask their team leader again: "Mr. White, is it really impossible to upgrade the exoskeleton props? Such frequent maintenance will greatly affect the filming progress."

White, with a big beard, shrugged nonchalantly: "Mr. Director, the money you gave us is too little. This is all we can do."

"You can't make a blockbuster if you're not willing to spend money, Mr. Director. If you follow Hollywood standards, we'll be happy to serve you according to Hollywood standards."

The meaning of this statement is very clear, that is, he is dissatisfied with the crew's lack of money.

He was also certain that the technology of other prop studios cooperating with the crew was not good enough, and only his was good enough, so he was fearless.

The filming of the movie did not go smoothly, and Director Guo's temper was getting worse and worse. He almost cursed at people, but the producer pulled him aside and he was able to hold back.

Seeing that Director Guo had held back, White smiled slightly and slowly went to the site to guide the maintenance work.

"Everyone from the crew, please stop standing around and watching. It's affecting our work. This is a very sophisticated movie prop. You won't be able to learn it just by watching."

There were many people at the scene who could speak English, and they rolled their eyes when they heard what he said. Just wait, there will be a chance for us to show you our "Copy Sharingan"!
Director Guo was still angry, and the producer advised him: "Okay, this is probably the price of learning. No one can avoid it. Who made us get stuck?"

"Let's make the movie well. After this one, the prop studio we're working with will be almost up and running. For the next one, we'll do it ourselves!"

Director Guo sighed and said, "It's fine if we're stuck with foreign advanced technology, but why are we also stuck with movie props?"

"It's mainly because we started late." Lu Yun approached Director Guo and said, "In fact, many cutting-edge technologies nowadays are no longer bottlenecked by technology. They just took advantage of the early development time and then erected a high wall of patents."

"But their advantages are becoming increasingly smaller. Once we bypass patents and make all kinds of technologies affordable, we'll eventually crush them. Let's see what they're still boasting about!"

"Also, the exoskeleton movie props weren't actually stuck, it's just that Director Guo didn't find the right person. Look at this~"

After Lu Yun finished speaking, he handed his tablet to Director Guo.

"?"

Director Guo looked at the very familiar design on the tablet and asked, "What is this?"

"It's the design for the powered exoskeleton prop from 'The Wandering Earth'."

Lu Yun said, "Our country's powered exoskeleton technology has been developed for many years. Both military and civilian applications have reached the testing stage, but most people only learn the basics by watching videos."

"Of course, even though those exoskeletons haven't entered the stage of widespread use yet, if modified for filming, they would definitely be much better than the current garbage."

"This is a design I came up with before. It's about like this, without making any major changes to the existing exoskeleton props, while ensuring fast manufacturing and keeping the cost as low as possible."

Lu Yun showed Director Guo the design on the tablet. "I made some adjustments to the exoskeleton's support structure to ensure that most of its weight can be self-supporting. Wearing an 80-pound thing feels like wearing a 20-pound thing."

"We've also optimized the ergonomics of the exoskeleton, making it comfortable for actors to wear while also ensuring the integrity of the exoskeleton. The quick-release and quick-donning system ensures it only takes 10 minutes to put on and take off."

"These servers are common consumer products. To ensure the prop's appearance remains unchanged, they're not very powerful. They only provide a small amount of electric assistance, but they can't multiply the actor's strength."

"But for someone like 'Hammer' from the CN171-11 rescue team, his heavy firepower exoskeleton weighs 130 kilograms. After the modifications, it will be much easier for him to operate the Gatling machine gun. He won't need assistance from staff anymore, he can do it all on his own..."

As Lu Yun introduced bit by bit, Director Guo's eyes became brighter and brighter.

The benefits of signing Ro-Woon as the leading male role are increasing!
This isn't even the leading male role at all, he's simply "Doraemon Cloud"!

"Good good!"

Director Guo was very happy, but then he thought, "Aren't you at Blue Star Aerospace busy researching rocket engines? Do you have extra researchers to help us modify the exoskeleton?"

Lu Yun leaned back slightly upon hearing this, glanced at Director Guo and said, "Why would a researcher be needed for this kind of thing? Give me 20 yuan, and I'll find some of my classmates who have been admitted to graduate school and do it for you in two days."

"They're all serious aerospace graduate students. Their original competitions involved building drones, mini-rockets, lunar rovers, and probes. Modifying an exoskeleton for a movie prop is a piece of cake."

"Anyway, they work for the 'boss' and they work for me."

“I even pay you more…”

Director Guo was slightly stunned.

Is 20 considered a lot?
Then wouldn't it be foolish of Weta Workshop to ask him to spend tens of millions to upgrade the exoskeleton props?

Director Guo only knows that undergraduate students are cheap and useful, and they will work hard for a little money. Are graduate students also so cheap and useful now?

(End of this chapter)