Chapter 671: How Could He Be Stronger?!
Therefore, the ten-second clip ended in the blink of an eye. A moment later, the theater burst into applause!
They were all professionals, so they had a good understanding of camera language and appreciation for beauty.
Hence, this special effect clip was enough to gain everyone’s approval.
This was especially so since the clip was done in only a little over half a month. Therefore, to be able to make this clip so perfect with such outstanding details, it had definitely reached the level of a first-tier.
In fact, the special effects for this clip was on par with “Wolf Warriors” which Su Yang was in charge of. Furthermore, there was a high chance that this new clip could win.
Because the design of Guo Fan’s camera was too outstanding, it was easy to improve the impression it would leave for the audience.
On the other hand, Guo Fan also stood up excitedly and clapped. “This is amazing! This clip has really shown what I imagined!”
He took a glance at Su Yang and Mr. Fang before saying, “Mr. Su, Mr. Fang, to be honest, although I have a certain understanding of our company’s special effects, I have always been nervous because of the high standards of this film.
“However, now that I’ve seen this clip, I’m really relieved! I feel like we will definitely be able to make a locally-made sci-fi movie!”
Su Yang smiled and patted his shoulder. “You can’t go wrong by trusting us.”
After that, Su Yang complimented Mr. Fang as well. “This clip has really exceeded my expectations. I’m really happy that you guys managed to produce this without my help. Your standards have improved a lot.”
Mr. Fang was all smiles. “It’s all because Director Guo designed the set well and also your superb guidance.” Su Yang smiled and patted him after hearing his perfunctory words.
Then, this special effects clip was replayed more than ten times, allowing everyone to appreciate the most likely classic special effects scene in China’s first science fiction blockbuster.
Mr. Fang took this opportunity to explain the story behind the special effects.
According to him, this 13-second clip required 500 servers to operate 24 hours a day and 20 days before they were able to complete the rendering frame by frame.
Even so, this was only a demo, not the final draft. Mr. Fang planned to wait until all the special effects were done before he continued to render and try to achieve perfection, where every detail was so vivid that no one could tell that it was fake.
While he was explaining, Bubbles came to the office with a lollipop in her mouth.
After arriving at the company, Bubbles realized that everyone had disappeared. After thinking about it for a moment, she remembered that it was the day of the competition that day, so she went to the screening room.
She was wearing a frilly princess dress that day, making her look cute and playful. However, it was just... too unlike her.
Perhaps it was because she had left too deep of an impression previously, hence Su Yang felt that goth suited Bubbles more.
If Bubbles were to hear Su Yang’s inner thoughts, she would probably want to give Su Yang a good beating because he was the one who said that she should not dress up like that, so now that she had changed her style to seem cuter, Su Yang could not get used to it! What a troublesome man!
Then, Su Yang called Bubbles over and asked her to listen to Mr. Fang’s explanation and watch the special effects clip.
While she was watching the special effects, the rest of them were already excited.
Although they had already watched this special effect video at least 10 times, the more they watched, the more impressed they became.
Previously, they did not have the confidence to win against Su Yang’s “other team”. This time, hope was reignited in their hearts. They felt that to be able to create such special effects in such a short period of time was already considered to be top standards within the country.
‘Unless Su Yang has gone to Hollywood to look for a first-tier special effects team, there’s no way he’s going to be better than us!’
Especially since Su Yang and Guo Fan had given a high evaluation of this special effects clip, they were filled with even more confidence!
Therefore, after watching the special effects clip a few more times, some employees asked to see what the other team’s special effects looked like.
Actually, their plan was to decide the winner as soon as possible, or else the outcome would be uncertain, and their hearts would be hanging by a thread.
Apart from them being curious, the same went for Guo Fan. He looked at Su Yang and said, “Mr. Su, it’s time for you to show us the product of your mysterious team, isn’t it? You seem very confident.”
Su Yang smiled and said, “I’m sorry. I was a little excited when I saw the special effects that our company made, so it slipped my mind.”
With that, he stood up and walked onto the stage with a hard disk.
Su Yang walked up to the stage and said, “This special effects clip was completed last night and is about 20 seconds long, slightly longer than ours, so there are close to 500 frames in here. Let’s all watch this and learn together.”
After Su Yang said that, some of the employees started discussing quietly.
“20 seconds? That long? That’s twice as long as ours. It definitely can’t be as good as ours.”
The others agreed as well. “This other team can’t possibly think that this is a competition where the longest clip wins now, can they?”
“God knows. Let’s wait and see. Anyway, I feel like we can win now.”
“I think so too.”
“I never thought we would lose in the first place.”
“Ha! You’re only saying this now that the results are obvious.”
They were all professionals, so they knew that every time the duration doubles, the workload involved would double up as well.
Especially since this special effects competition was confirmed to take place right at the last minute, the duration both parties had to prepare were basically the same. Therefore with a shorter preparation period, the shorter the duration of the clip was, the more detailed it was going to be. Furthermore, at the end of the day, the deciding factor of this competition depended on how detailed the clip was.
Therefore, when they heard that it was twice as long, everyone expressed doubt about the amount of details in the clip and they started to question it.
Su Yang, on the other hand, did not pay attention to the discussions beneath him. Instead, he plugged in the hard drive and played the special effects clip.
The storyline that Su Yang chose was the climax of “Wandering Planet”, where Earth had to pass through Jupiter and use the latter as a gravitational springboard to jump out of the solar system and into the universe.
The special effect that he chose for the 20 seconds was also the intersection of the two planets, where the atmosphere between the two planets converged like liquid. Finally, the planet broke through everything and left Jupiter.
As the lights in the screening room dimmed, the clip was played.
There was no sound, no foreshadowing and the camera was very monotonous as it hung in front of the two planets without moving at all.
On the screen, the atmosphere of the two planets seemed to come alive as they slowly interweaved, burned, and flowed continuously.
historical
Then, Earth squeezed forward with difficulty like a baby going through a tough time to be born.
Finally... with a “Boom”, it broke through all obstructions, passed through Jupiter and ran towards the vast universe.
20 seconds of special effects were over in an instant.
Instantly, the entire screening room fell silent.
Then, the clip was automatically played again, hence the two planets once again interweaved, burned, flowed, separated and parted ways again.
Still, no one spoke...
After a while, Bubbles looked curiously at the people around her. Then, she looked at Su Yang, who was smiling confidently. Puzzled, she asked, “This special effect doesn’t seem very good. Why aren’t you guys talking?”
Bubbles’ cute voice echoed in the theater, waking everyone up.
Everyone turns their attention to Bubbles and then... Still remained silent, where the smile on the employees’ faces disappeared, the confidence on Mr. Fang’s face disappeared and Guo Fan’s face turned serious.
After a while, Mr. Fang sighed deeply and started clapping. His applause was as empty as Bubbles’ words in the huge theater, but gradually, the other employees started clapping along with him.
However, their applause was not enthusiastic. Instead, it was heavy, as if a huge rock was pressing on their hearts.
Bubbles looked around in confusion and asked again, “What’s wrong with you guys? This scene doesn’t feel as good as the previous one.”
Seeing that the little princess in the company kept asking, Mr. Fang smiled bitterly. He touched Bubbles’ head and explained, “Bubbles, this special effect is much better than ours. It’s almost on a different level.
“If I can give our special effects clip 100 points, then this clip is worth 200 points. No... 400 points.” He smiled bitterly and added, “After all, the duration of this special effect is twice as long as ours.”
Bubbles was puzzled. “Why? I feel that it’s very ordinary. It’s not as shocking as ours.”
Mr. Fang explained, “Yes. It does seem very plain with its monotonous camera angle, plus there aren’t any changes in the scene as well. But... we’re competing based on special effects.”
As he spoke, Mr. Fang stood up and walked to the screen. He pointed at the flow of gas at the intersection of the two planets and said, “The special effect of this scene is on the effect of “fluid simulation”.
“If you like to play games or watch a 3D animation, you will know what a game or a 3D animation is like. You will know just by looking at the water. Because this is the most crucial fluid simulation technique in special effects technology.
“This technology requires a huge amount of computation and it is currently the most time-consuming and costly portion in a movie within the special effects industry. It is the real difference between a world-class company and the others.
“So, we mustn’t look down on this fluid simulation. Trust me, if this special effect is taken out individually, add a few more layers to it and undergo some serious production, it won’t be a problem to win more than 10 Best Visual Effects awards if we participate in the showbiz or advertising industry.
“The reason why our clip was so shocking is mostly because Director Guo’s special effects were well designed, but the technology was far from reaching this kind of fluid simulation.
“It’s only because both of our clips weren’t played side by side that you thought ours was better. However, if we played it together, you would realize how crude our special effects are, we’ve got to compare this apple to apple.”
As he spoke, Mr. Fang opened the special effects his team made and played it.
Sure enough, when she first saw the shocking scene, Su Yang’s scene was like a gem before her. Although the camera presence was still very strong, it was a little rough and inferior.
In fact, because of the comparison, they discovered that Mr. Fang’s team was trying to speed up the camera so that the special effects would be able to cut through this quickly.
After Bubbles finished comparing the two videos in shock, she said, “Indeed... The second one is better.”
Her innocent words caused the people in the screening room to laugh kindly.
After Mr. Fang finished laughing, the knot in his heart was untied. He bowed deeply to Su Yang and said, “Mr. Su, after this comparison, we admit our defeat. In terms of special effects production, we can’t compare to your other team.
“In the future, we will focus on the pre-production special effects design. Then, we will work hard on the technology and try to catch up to your other team. We will make sure that you are willing to put the project in our hands again.”
Su Yang nodded.
He knew that these technological geeks working under him were actually very hardworking. From the moment they entered the company to the special effects earlier, he could tell that they had put in a lot of effort.
‘I’ve got to nurture this team well. After all, I’m too busy, so I might not be able to pay attention to the special effects in the future.’
Just as he was thinking about this, Guo Fan looked at Su Yang and asked, “Mr. Su, which company is your mysterious team from? Is there a company in the country that can produce such outstanding special effects?”