They need to achieve the best possible results within the limited cost of 10 million.
It is useless to retreat at this time, you need to open up your mind.
To broaden his horizons, Rowan surfed the Internet.
In addition to filming, he also tinkered with many Internet websites.
Apart from a portion of it being used to raise money, among the private film-related projects, Rotten Tomatoes has developed the best.
There are some very professional movie lover chat rooms in the Rotten Tomatoes Reddit.
Rowan got in and within a few days he became friends with several Australian college students majoring in film.
When the time was right, Rowan threw out the bait "We have recently joined a project and they want us to find ways to save costs. Does anyone have any good ideas?"
James Wan "How to save costs? I know!"
"The first step is limited scene locations."
"A cabin in the woods, a haunted house, or a girl's room with a spirit. The more locations a project involves, the more expensive it is to produce, and these abandoned Iocations are free or low-cost."
"Step two, turn off the lights. Literally."
"It was used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th."
"They didn't have enough lighting on the set of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was just one lamp and one flashlight most of the time."
"Shooting on 16mm film, with a sensor area smaller than a Micro Three-Quarter, with an ASA of 25, allowed them to focus on a very small area, like turning on just one light."
"When the lights are turned off, you can cover up the details of the props, and you can use ordinary or even second-hand props to good effect."
"Step three, less dialogue."
"In horror movies, most of the time the various characters spend running and screaming, so less dialogue means cheaper pay. You can also hire less experienced actors to reduce costs, and you can go to acting school or even pick some beautiful actresses on the street."
"The fourth step is to shorten the shooting cycle."
"The longer the cycle, the higher the personnel costs. Finishing the filming in one month can save a lot of money."
"The fifth and final step is creative techniques."
"For example, we can use traditional leather suits and models to shoot freeze-frames to save on CG special effects. In order to save on the production costs of sound effects and reverberation, we can ask the actors to cover their faces with a trash can when dubbing, and used props to imitate the same effects as in post-production, etc."
"This step can be applied to other types of films, it just depends on whether the crew is creative enough."
"Special effects originally rely on imagination, not electricity and machines."
James Wan complained a lot.
Rowan feels that there is a lot to learn from.
Crowdfunding is the right way to make a movie!
James Wan is also a talented guy.
According to James Wan, he is a 20-year-old college student. He seems to be of Chinese descent and clearly interested in Horror movies.
With all these clues Rowan would be an idiot if he didn't knew the other party was the king of Horror movies that made many low cost Horror series such as, Saw, Insidious, Annabell. He is young, has a professional background, is talented and has great potential. Once I have a company, I will bring James Wan in to work for me!
Rowan made his debut on Taxi.
He planned to take advantage of the audience's attention effect.
The audience's attention is most focused at the beginning and will relax in the middle and late stages, so you should focus on this... That's probably the principle.
Various cost-saving solutions will be used for the stunts in the middle and later stages.
Fortunately, Rowan's driving skills were so great that he saved a lot of effort. Coupled with the dream copy simulation, he finally achieved both cost and effect.
By the beginning of May, the filming of the literary scenes of "Taxi" had come to an end, with only the last few big scenes left.
Rowan had more time to help director Gerard Pires and took on the job of assistant director.
Director Gerard Pires also knew that he was interested in behind-the-scenes work and tried his best to teach him. During conference calls, Luc Besson would occasionally give some advice on script writing.
On May 6, Leonhard and the core crew of Taxi went to Cannes.
This is an invitation from Luc Besson because "The Fifth Element" will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow, May 7th, and has been selected as the opening film.
Marseille is less than 200 kilometers away from Cannes, and the group took a bus.
On the bus, Gerard Pires said, "Gaumont organized an event, including a futuristic ballet, a Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion show, and a fireworks display. It is said that they spent one or two million US dollars on this event. Wow, it broke the record. They are really willing to spend money."
Rowan seemed to see a lemon.
He laughed and said, "After all, it's a $90 million science fiction blockbuster."
Gerard Pires: "I saw the preview, it's a good film, but the critics' reactions are divided."
"The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Sun-Times were praising it, and Variety was disparaging it. This guy Todd McCarthy said, 'Europe's attempt to make American sci-fi spectacular has largely failed. The Fifth Element is a barbaric sci-fi movie. It may not be the worst movie ever made, but it is one of the most unhinged."
"McCarthy always does."
"You're right, McCarthy will always be Iike this."
The two of them chatted excitedly.
Marion Cotillard next to her looks a little resentful.
If she hadn't confirmed it, she would have doubted whether there was a problem.
Rowan noticed this and brought her into the conversation: "Marion, what do you think the first-day box office was? How about we take a guess?"
Marion Cotillard smiled back and said uncertainly, "25 million dollars?"
Girard Pires thought and then answered "About 20 million dollars. There is a certain threshold for watching it. It is not very commercial and may affect th e box office performance. Rowan, how much do you think it is?"
Rowan: "Eighteen million dollars."
"So low?"
Marion Cotillard was surprised "Why?"
Rowan smiled and said "Some analysis and judgme nt based on mathematics."
Gerard Pires became interested "Can you tell me about your analysis process as a super mathematical genius?"
"sure."
"I have a little business on the Internet, including a site called Rotten Tomatoes and ChatAnon(chat anonymous) that collects a lot of online reviews," Rowan said.
"After summarizing these reviews, the result is that the preview audience gave it a B score, and the general public's expectations were 71% supportive."
"I combined it with a database I stole... borrowed from a professional film research and analysis company, and did some analysis and judgment."
"According to the 'box office drop-off formula' I created, I think it will be difficult for The Fifth Element to break 100 million in North America and Canada, and the drop-off point should be between 60 million and 65 million dollars."
Hearing Rowan's analysis, Marion Cotillard couldn't help but exclaim "Wouldn't that even cover the cost?"
Gerard Pires' expression also became serious.
We are all insiders and know exactly what this means.
Excluding peripheral products, DVDs and copyrights, if we only count the box offi ce, the box office must be at least three times the production cost to recover the cost.
--Having your own distribution channels is another matter. The commission for distribution is 35%, and the proportion is not much different all over the world. If you have channels, you can save money.
"The Fifth Element" cost $90 million, in other words, it would need the box office of at least $270 million.
This doesn't even include publicity.
Even if the publicity and promotion cost tens of millions more, if the film really develops according to Rowan's analysis, the result will be that the film will be so bloody that even its mother won't recognize it.
Although it is a project of Luc Besson, everyone has a good relationship with him, and "Taxi" has a lot to do with Luc Besson, so it is inevitable that it will be affected.
For a moment, everyone was in a bad mood.
At this time, Rowan added: "My analysis is for the North American market. The international market is still uncertain. Personally, I feel that Europe should like The Fifth Element, and it is very likely to make around 200 million in overseas box office."
"If we take into account the surrounding areas, it will be no problem to recover the cost in a few years. It's not that serious."
"And this is all my personal analysis. How things will develop in the future is unknown. I might just get slapped in the face by reality."
"You are too modest, Rowan. The analysis of mathematical geniuses is much more accurate than ours."
Gerard Pires said this, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He suddenly thought of something: "Cnn we use the Rotten Tomatoes you mentioned?"
"Of course, the website data is public."
"There is also a formula for where the box office will land."
"The formula and algorithm are my own. If you need it, I will analyze it after the post-editing and preview of Taxi."
"That's great. In fact, I feel like this couId be like an investigation company that provides paid services to the film industry. Strictly speaking, this is what a math genius Iike you should be doing."
"I have this plan. I'll think about it when I return to America."
The bus arrived in Cannes with lots of chatting and laughing.