Demystifying ｜ What problems should I pay attention to when ＂falsifying＂ Moon Man？

Special feature of 1905 film network If you find a keyword for this summer’s summer file, first nominate, "explore".The box office is about to exceed 2.2 billion, and Mahua FunAge has broken the conventional knowledge of science fiction movies. In the form of "science fiction+comedy", he not only combines the typical style of the team, but also breaks through the theme of science fiction.

Even the director said frankly in our interview, "All shooting is almost a new attempt for me."

Coincidentally, the film that took seven years to make was directly labeled as "China’s first sci-fi mecha cool film" in the publicity.The chief producer and starring actor lamented more than once that it was difficult to do this, and the whole team was China’s own special effects team.

For the first time, China team used the method of real-life virtual shooting at the scene to complete the vivid image of Mozart.

Many "firsts" and countless "breakthroughs" are presented on the big screen. In the eyes of the audience, it is even more advanced than the usual light and shadow magicians. But perhaps in the eyes of the special effects team, behind it is a series of coding designs, or the technical conquest again and again.

Yes, yes, this summer’s Mozart in Outer Space and Moon Man’s War of Tomorrow collectively gave the audience a "good look" with almost perfect special effects.

If "Mozart" meets "King Kong Mouse"

The cost of "Mozart" is comparable to that of a medium and small budget film. In order to truly restore kangaroos, "King Kong Mouse" produced 50 million hairs … …

It’s just that the stories behind these digital characters have long been the key words on hot search, but behind these numbers and magnitudes, there are actually more different technical stories.

What is the concept of 50 million hairs?For example, the "Red-haired Ghost" in A Writer’s Odyssey is the first digital character independently completed by the China team. It has more than 900,000 hairs, and the single frame is rendered for more than 16 hours, while the kangaroo is rendered for more than 20 hours.

Li Shuai, the visual effects director of Mozart in Outer Space, and Zhang Fan, the visual effects director of Moon Man, are both from MORE VFX. The team has previously participated in special effects masterpieces such as The Wandering Earth A Writer’s Odyssey.

The two projects are almost parallel, and it took two years before and after, but there are different motives behind the similar time.

The virtual shooting of Mozart in Outer Space is not easy. Although such films and TV works were shot in Hollywood as early as 10 years ago, it is still a blank page in China.

"For this film, we set up a live real-time moving capture shooting system that can interact with actors," Li Shuai said.

In this way, the scene can fit the emotional interaction between actors and digital characters. The previous guarantee, "to a great extent, saved the time of making Mozart in our animation link."

"Mozart" is set as a plush toy, and the team conducted a hair test for 3 or 4 months according to the designed physical product in the early stage to ensure that it made various movements in the film, which caused the hair rhythm and was a physical reaction in line with reality.

But the design of "King Kong Mouse" doesn’t stop there.Kangaroo is a real creature, and the audience is no stranger to it. "The team is completely in accordance with its real bones, muscles, fascia, cortex, and finally to the hair (details), and all layers need to be grasped."

Although 50 million hairs have been a commonplace figure in recent propaganda, there are more detailed details behind them, such as "the distribution, direction, even luster, texture, softness and hardness of these hairs".

For the static effect of a single kangaroo, the team "spent 11 months before and after" according to different postures.

Not only that, the temperament of "King Kong Mouse" has puzzled Zhang Fan’s team for a long time. "It is a realistic image, but the plot is a comedy. We can’t make it too real, and it may not be able to complete the performance. If it is mimicry, cute or fierce, it will be separated from the movie."

The team has repeatedly adjusted, and finally it is between the two. When it is found, it will sigh. If there is still time, it can be better.

In the case of real-time moving capture, the moving capture actor can give appropriate feedback according to the expression of the opponent actor quickly, but after Moon Man completes the virtual shooting, he still needs to perform the green model interactively. "The performance of people needs to be completed within the range we set."

In an interview with A Writer’s Odyssey, the director admitted that virtual shooting can complete the preview of the film and the formal post-shooting, and can make more creations based on it, such as fine-tuning the performance.

However, for an actor like Shen Teng, who has many sparks of inspiration at the scene, it may be necessary to exercise restraint. The special effects team will also put forward certain demands for the actors at the scene according to the later consideration.Of course, performing in a certain limited category also means that actors need more accurate acting skills.

Faced with this "restriction", we put forward a guess, if the shooting of king kong mice is also real-time moving capture, can we avoid this problem?

The answer is, yes.Only in the face of different projects, the creator will still find a relatively more accurate way.

When the environment is "faked"

Whether it is "Mozart" or King Kong Mouse, the difficulty of these digital characters can be seen by the naked eye. For a film, they are the focus, but also only a part.

Although Moon Man is a sci-fi comedy movie, there are many fantastic ideas, but the actual physical state of the moon should be considered as a whole. "We can refer to very few cases, even if the films have been released in the market, the number is not much. We have never encountered the effect in a vacuum environment before, for example, what is the effect of moon dust under vacuum and low gravity after the car is driven. "

Zhang Fan and his team can only simulate over and over again, and find all kinds of relevant documentary studies on science and education. "Especially the contents of the previous Apollo landing on the moon, one of which is how the moon dust was stirred up and how it fell after they landed on the moon."

However, the clarity of these materials is not high, and the team did not paint a tiger as a cat, but invested more time and energy in research, and finally let the audience experience the feeling of being immersed in the moon through the big screen.

If the moon environment is relatively realistic, then the unconstrained style in Mozart in Outer Space needs the description of the artists behind it.

Sound is invisible, but the director hopes to visualize it. "Sound propagates in waves in the air, and strong and weak will have different changes in the shape of waves. We will design from this point. For example, a bird flaps its wings, generates sound waves in the air, hits the building, and then bounces back. "

Li Shuai and the team conducted more than ten versions of the test in the early stage, and finally, the audience could see the sound of the city through ripples in every detail.

Mozart in Outer Space is not a science and education film after all, so we can’t make these details too rigid. "We let the sound enter the cochlea according to Xiaotian’s hobby of astronomy, and then through artistic processing, there is a feeling of spiral nebula, and then slowly let these sound waves unfold."

Match Hollywood’s progress

After The Wandering Earth and A Writer’s Odyssey, and after the technical exploration of these summer films, a more direct question is put before the public. Can the strength of the special effects team in China now rival Hollywood?"Technically, there is no problem," Li Shuai gave a very direct answer.

At the same time, however, more cruel problems lie ahead, such as the imperfect industrialization process and the lack of technical platform, which lead to the cycle and cost are still the key issues for special effects directors.

When the special effects team has accumulated a lot of technologies and various assets in the asset library with the advancement of one project, different projects are always faced with a new attitude.

In the early stage of shooting, Moon Man followed the virtual shooting technology of Mozart in Outer Space. "But there must be some temporary adjustments on the scene. (After the technology is used,) we can quickly achieve the desired results and upgrade at the same time."

The film has improved the animal hair skills of China’s special effects team. The team is in Moon Man. "There will be lessons, but kangaroos are short-haired, and they will definitely dig some details separately according to each project."

Every creation will grope for progress on the original basis. Even what Zhang Fan and Li Shuai are participating in, although the whole is still in the confidential stage, it can be revealed that "there are many new attempts".