After March, Levi's crew temporarily overcame a major problem in filming. One of the most troublesome parts of the filming, the group scene at the United Nations venue, was completed at this time.
In this scene, a large number of actors participated, ranging from big-name actors and actresses to extras. The scale of thousands of people, the huge venue, and the consistent use of long lenses made the shooting extremely troublesome, requiring a lot of time and energy from the crew.
"This scene was really enjoyable to shoot."
Even after filming the movie, Washington could not help but admire. In this scene, he is just an actor who shows up, and most of the time, he is just watching others perform. Such a big scene is undoubtedly a huge test for the actors' acting skills. Watching his colleagues perform astonishingly, Washington couldn't help but admire them sincerely.
For actors, good acting skills are always fascinating. Washington also found it extremely interesting to see people like Streep, Javier Bardem, and Ralph Fiennes acting on the same stage.
"Such a large-scale rivalry scene really tests the director as well as the actors' acting skills. There are too few such scenes."
Washington made his own comments, but the person beside him was Alexander. Looking up at the huge scene built in front of him, Alexander felt a little unsatisfied. "What a wonderful scene. It's a pity. It's too expensive to have just this one."
Washington didn't say much to Alexander's words. He knew this producer had been complaining for a long time, so he just smiled. "Even for one scene, if it can be used so well, it is enough to satisfy people. Moreover, I'm afraid it will cost more if you go to the scene to shoot."
In front of them is the scene layout of the huge United Nations conference hall. This thing was built just for this scene. After this scene, it will be useless.
But as Washington said, even if it's just this one scene, it's worth it.
After all, the scene is shot in a studio. Compared with shooting on location, it is much simpler and cheaper. Although building a scene in a studio may seem like a huge project, it is actually more economical than shooting outside.
Firstly, because there are inevitably environmental constraints during live shooting, there are some scenes where it is impossible for film directors to be allowed to shoot movies. Such a situation will naturally affect the shooting - for example, in the very famous North by Northwest, Hitchcock wanted to shoot at the United Nations Headquarters but was not allowed.
If Hitchcock was not allowed to shoot movies in the United Nations, naturally, Levi's three-body filming was not expected to be filmed in the United Nations.
Secondly, shooting in a studio offers a more comfortable environment compared to live locations. The lighting crew, scene setup, and even the actors' performances all benefit from the controlled studio setting.
After all, film shooting is not just about finding a place to shoot. When a scene needs to be shot, many issues, such as camera positioning, lens placement, and art concept drawings, need to be taken into consideration.
These problems, some real scenes, can easily meet the shooting needs. Then, the director can shoot very well, but some scenes cannot meet the director's needs. That would be more troublesome.
If the thing affecting the lens is a tree, it is relatively easy to cut it down. But if what affects the shot is a house, doesn't it also have to be removed?
Even if the crew is rich and doesn't care about renting houses, what if the crew is filming more formal occasions?
For example, the filming of the Three-Body Problem involved the Louvre. Could it be possible for the movie to go to the Louvre to tear down the walls?
For another example, in this movie, some arrangements need to be made in the United Nations venue. Because we have entered the cosmic era, some of the venue arrangements of the United Nations in the movie naturally need to be changed. The United Nations headquarters won't have anything to say with this approach. It simply won't be allowed.
These conditions restrict that movies cannot be shot under any circumstances. Therefore, many times, movies must be completed in a studio.
Fortunately, even if you shoot a movie in a studio, as long as you invest enough, you can still shoot it well.
Levi's movies are definitely no worse than any other movie in terms of investment, so when building a studio, he spent no less money than anyone else.
In his studio, the scene he built was also one of the important elements for shooting the movie. It is precisely because of this that after the shooting, Alexander would still sigh when he thought about the cost of the movie.
The money was just spent... but it was well worth it.
There has always been a great relationship between film investment and quality: one of the reasons why films with large investments are better than films with small investments is that movies shot in setup scenes, whether in terms of scene layout or lighting, shooting and the performances of the actors, can all be in the best condition.
Compared with the worries of real-location shooting, such a big-budget movie will actually be much better in terms of aesthetics and composition.
This is also the reason why some directors have to build sets when shooting certain movies.
When shooting the movie Lincoln, Spielberg went to a certain place and built a city in Virginia in order to shoot the sky to complete a shot.
In some small-investment movies, you don't even have the money to build a shed, so you can only carry a camera and find angles to shoot in real scenes - even the most skilled photographers and directors will find it difficult to make up for this difference.
But with the setting of the scene, these problems are made up for. The pictures captured in this way are very good, which he has to admit.
"Fortunately, there are only a few shots in the movie that need to be shot indoors. If there were more shots like this, the cost of the movie would inevitably rise."
Alexander shook his head again and sighed. In fact, he also understands that setting up scenes actually saves money compared to shooting on location. But when looking at the money spent, people always think that the one they did not choose is more economical.
In this movie, after shooting this important scene, a large part of it is completed. Unlike this scene, which was shot in a studio, many of the subsequent shots were shot in real scenes or on a green screen.
Different from shooting in a scene set up in a studio, whether it is real-life shooting or virtual shooting, it is actually a more troublesome shooting method.
It goes without saying that real-life shooting is necessary: some subsequent parts of the movie need to be shot in real-life situations.
For example, the movie involves some larger scenes; some need to be shot covering the entire street, and some need to be shot in certain countries and regions.
These shots are difficult to pull off in a studio. Although studio shooting has many benefits, one has to consider shooting on location for some things that require scenes and characteristics. After this part of the movie is shot, they still have to shoot the actual scenes.
While the movie was being filmed, Levi had already had people inspect the actual scenic spots and contacted them.
These negotiations are relatively time-consuming and labor-intensive and require a long period of consultation to reach an agreement. While Levi was filming the movie, his people were not idle either and were helping him deal with these things.
And some more are the virtual shooting that the movie needs.
Compared with previous commercial blockbusters, shooting commercial blockbusters in a high-tech environment is actually much simpler. After all, many scenes can be shot directly on a computer in addition to being shot in a studio.
Whether it is the space environment or the environment inside the spacecraft, these things are all things that are impossible to build in a studio. Virtual shooting on a computer is a simpler method.
Since virtual shooting was widely used in movies in the 1990s, science fiction movies have always favored virtual shooting because this method can shoot many scenes that do not exist in reality.
However, virtual shooting also has its own troubles: the virtual shooting scene seems to be just a picture, but in fact, on the computer, they also need to build a scene and make a model. In this model, the director also needs to decide the camera position and how to shoot before he can capture the scene.
In terms of shooting difficulty, the difference between virtual shooting and real-life shooting is not very big. The real difference lies in the fact that setting up scenes on the computer is not as time-consuming and laborious as setting up scenes in reality.
However, building these cannot be like in reality, where anyone can do it. Producing these scenes requires a professional team. The success of virtual shooting often depends on whether the film's technical staff is good enough. This is also an undisputed thing.
While the shooting in the studio was going on, Levi also kept people simulating virtual scenes on the computer. These tasks can be carried out simultaneously.
Now that the work in the studio is over, Levi needs to be responsible for how to proceed with the virtual shooting and how to string together these images.
This movie requires outdoor shooting, studio shooting, and virtual shooting. After these shootings are completed, they all need to be edited into a movie that can be aesthetically, graphically, and storyline-wise can be strung together. These aspects, even just thinking about it, make Alexander find it quite difficult, and now, Levi is actually doing this kind of thing.
Filming is getting increasingly difficult. Compared with those who shoot movies with cameras, these high-end shooting methods are really difficult to understand.
There have not been many good commercial movies in the past few years. Except for superheroes and things like Harry Potter, other movies are difficult to satisfy.
In fact, it is partly because some directors are not proficient in using these tools. After all, how many people who study art have backgrounds in science and technology?
Even Levi probably has more learning possibilities than others because of his youth.
Now, he can only say that he hopes he does better and grasps this possibility. After all, this is a big gamble. If this big gamble succeeds, the company's benefits will be immeasurable.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Marcelo Maia
Britanna
Mandy G
Scott DePaepe
Oluwatimileyin Olayemi
Herylle Ian Gloria
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