Chapter 302 Digital Realm
Cameron is one of the top commercial film directors in Hollywood. Since his debut, all the movies he has shot have never failed.
Now that MGM and Cameron have reached a cooperation, it is absolutely good news for shareholders. MGM's stock, which had just improved, immediately rose sharply, and within a few days it reached the level before Liu Hongmin bought the shares.
If Cameron had never directed a fantasy movie, the stock price might be even crazier than it is now.
Of course, Cameron’s lack of experience in directing fantasy movies doesn’t mean he can’t do it. Many people know that Cameron is a technology geek, so as long as he directs, the movie won’t be too bad. The lower limit is guaranteed, but the upper limit depends on the compatibility of director Cameron with fantasy movies.
Just because of the lower limit, shareholders regained their confidence in MGM.
Having just completed the equity change, MGM is now ready to move in a better direction!
While Cameron was assembling the crew, he also registered the special effects company. He had already thought of the name, Digital Domain.
He brought in many of his technical staff to join the company, and then immediately purchased machines after MGM's funds arrived.
MGM paid $30 million for a % stake. After the production team of The Curse of the Black Pearl was formed, another $ million of the special effects budget was transferred to Digital Domain's account.
Cameron understood MGM's sincerity and sped up the preparation of the crew. He took more than a dozen contracted directors sent by MGM to complete the crew's preliminary work.
The first is the script. The Curse of the Black Pearl is a complete story. Cameron only needs to lead the screenwriters to simplify the story and form a text script. Then draw a storyboard script based on the text script, and then make a preliminary screening of the special effects shots based on the storyboard script.
Meanwhile, the casting director selects the actors.
Liu Hongmin has already confirmed the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. This role must belong to Depp. Others simply cannot play that role. Although Depp is still very young, he already has that role in terms of temperament. He is a talented actor. Edward Scissorhands many years ago proved his outstanding talent.
In order to finalize Depp's makeup, Liu Hongmin specially asked someone to draw a color picture of Captain Jack Sparrow. According to the dress in the picture, Depp's image immediately became Captain Jack Sparrow.
Cameron is also very satisfied with this. Captain Jack is a charming character. If there is no good actor to play it, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series will lose most of its luster.
The female lead Elizabeth chose Jennifer Connelly, a 21-year-old actress who has a classic Western beauty. Her high education gives her a temperament that is very suitable for the identity of an aristocratic girl. Of course, she will face more challenges in showing her rude side.
Will Turner chose Keanu Reeves, a handsome guy who is a very hard-working actor. He was willing to accept martial arts training, so Cameron chose him to be the second male lead.
After the three main characters were decided, the remaining actors became much easier. Whether it was the villain Barbossa or other supporting roles, there were countless candidates in Hollywood who could replace them.
However, to be on the safe side, MGM signed a three-film contract with them, including the three leading actors. If "The Curse of the Black Pearl" is a big success, MGM will increase their salary by a certain percentage.
This is to prevent actors from asking for more money if "The Curse of the Black Pearl" becomes a big hit at the box office. You should know that Hollywood pays stars very high, up to 20 million US dollars + box office revenue dividends. In the end, the star may get 40 to 50 million US dollars. In fact, movies and actors complement each other. Especially in a series of movies, both benefit if they work together and lose if they separate. If the movie is good, it is reasonable to pay more, but if it increases dozens or hundreds of times at once, it is a rip-off.
If all the profits are given to you, will other people still have food to eat?
Therefore, for a series of movies, it is normal to sign multiple contracts with actors at once.
This is actually a protection for the actors. If "The Curse of the Black Pearl" is just OK, then these actors' careers will not be ruined. Even if they don't shoot a sequel, MGM will pay them liquidated damages.
While selecting the actors, the location is also being selected.
"The Curse of the Black Pearl" requires a large number of sea and island scenes, and these scenes require a lot of time to select in order to determine the best shooting locations.
MGM has staff in this area, but it may be a lot of trouble to connect with Cameron. Because it is the first time they have cooperated with Cameron, they need to get used to Cameron's shooting habits so that they can find a location suitable for Cameron to shoot.
However, the filming has not started yet, so they can only spend more time, seek Cameron's opinion, and then finally decide on the location.
After having a rough idea of the initial special effects, Cameron focused most of his attention on the special effects company. He had to follow it from beginning to end in order to realize his ideas.
If there is no machine, buy one; if there is no technology, buy technology. He contacted Feng Kan, who immediately found someone to help him and acquired a number of technical patents.
But there are still some technologies that are not available now. Cameron turned on his technology maniac characteristics, and led the technical staff to conduct continuous experiments, and then developed these technologies. It is not too late to develop them, and he still needs to conduct a lot of verification to ensure that these technologies can be perfectly applied to the film.
Liu Hongmin sent Mai Zishan and others here, this is a rare learning opportunity. If Mai Zishan and others can learn a little from Cameron, then the technology development of the film special effects company will be greatly improved tomorrow.
Cameron did not object to this, because after contact, he found that these Hong Kong people had good brains, especially some college students recruited from the mainland, who could quickly understand the operating principles of these special effects and apply them to other situations.
More importantly, these people are hardworking. They are still working overtime even when the employees in the digital field have all gone home. In order to learn technology, they even eat and live in the company. Some of them are so outstanding that Cameron even offered them high salaries to keep them in the digital field.
However, these people are employees of the Tomorrow Movie Special Effects Company, and they still have to go back to Hong Kong to work. Cameron had no choice but to recruit students from the mainland or Green Island who studied in related majors to train as technical backbones.
When Cameron offered a high salary, these international students decisively signed the agreement. Some even applied for green cards, planning to work here for the rest of their lives and never go back.
(End of this chapter)
