Chapter 616: Building a World
The crew has its own considerations on how to build a cyberpunk city. In addition to several blocks and floor buildings converted from airplane hangars in Nevada, the crew also chose a location in Canada.
As we all know, Hollywood today is actually a title that refers to the entire North American film community, rather than a place name.
More and more Hollywood crews are not filming in Los Angeles, but instead filming elsewhere. To put it simply, the more ambitious crews will travel all over the world to find suitable scenery.
In order to attract Hollywood film crews, local governments in various places usually provide great discounts to help the film crews save costs.
When little Gilbert was filming the "Lord of the Rings" series, he went to China.
"Batman Begins" was filmed in Chicago, "Pirates of the Caribbean" was filmed in Mexico and the Caribbean, and "The Last of Us" was filmed in Australia and New Zealand.
With his reputation, his crew is the most popular wherever they go, and this time is no exception.
In order to cooperate with the crew, the city of Toronto has specially approved a place for the crew to build the scenery they want according to their own projects.
Warner and Disney initially invested US$300 million in this 150,000-square-meter filming base.
Obviously, the production of a series does not require so much money. This photography base is to prepare for the large-scale development of the cyberpunk universe in the future.
The first phase of the project will first meet the shooting needs of "Edge Walker", and the second and third phases of the project will be added later.
The Toronto city government has built this as a 5A-level scenic spot, and some people have suggested that a cyberpunk cultural festival can be held here in the future to attract cyberpunk fans from all over the world.
A very detailed plan has been made in the detailed project prospectus, including future festivals, as well as catering and accommodation driven by tourism, which are all income.
Of course, as major investors, Warner and Disney must own a majority of the equity in this cyberpunk cultural city. In fact, most of the profit plans were proposed by the two companies in order to achieve profitability.
Otherwise, it would be a bit exaggerated to build a cyber city just for filming TV series and movies, and it would not conform to the logic of commercial operations.
Little Gilbert obviously would not object, and he was even a strong promoter of this plan. Only a few people in Hollywood can do this kind of thing of creating a top-notch IP by hand.
If it achieves good results, this cyberpunk project will be as great as George Lucas's "Star Wars".
Of course, if you want to create a top-level IP like "Star Wars", these alone are not enough.
A new era requires a new understanding. What is cyberpunk culture most closely related to? Of course it's the Internet.
After the preliminary preparations for "Edge Walker" started, the official website of "Cyberpunk: 2077" was also established simultaneously.
The official website introduces the development history of the entire cyberpunk culture starting from board games, giving unfamiliar netizens a general understanding.
In addition, the writers at Melon Studios began creating a cyberpunk chronicle based on Gilbert Jr.'s outline, filling in bits and pieces.
In the technology module, there are various technological fantasies about the cyberpunk world, including prosthetics, floating vehicles, and even space casinos and lunar bases.
The forces module introduces the forces that have developed from the chronicles, including military technology, Arasaka Corporation, Kang Tao, as well as street gangs such as the Tiger Claw Gang and the Uzumaki Gang, as well as the special profession of middlemen.
The character module introduces several legendary figures in Night City, where the story mainly takes place. However, when netizens entered, they found that several tasks at the top were not unlocked.
David Martinez, Johnny Silverhand, and a V whose images are all gray. David Martinez's character introduction also reads: From "Edgewalker". Netizens suddenly realized after seeing this that "Edgewalker" tells the story of David Martinez.
The condition for unlocking this character is to watch the episode and share it. This progress will also be extended to other legendary characters.
This is also a good opportunity for tabletop game manufacturers.
Under the leadership of the project, board game manufacturers have reached cooperation with Coca-Cola and McDonald's. If you choose the David Martinez meal, you will have a chance to obtain a legendary card, and if you drink Coca-Cola, you will also have a chance to draw a legendary card.
Of course, not just the legend cards, but other character cards, such as Lucy and Rebecca's, were animated and then turned into cards after the actors arrived.
The card collecting gameplay is very mature. Both Marvel and DC have done it to collect their superheroes. This time the board game manufacturer is just copying the cat and imitating the tiger, and believes that little Gilbert can make this plan a huge success.
In addition to the above sections, the official website also has a forum for fans to discuss and share their understanding of cyberpunk culture.
In the early days of the website's establishment, little Gilbert also appeared on the forum and answered several questions from netizens.
For example, little Gilbert said this about the whole story: "I have been imagining what the human world will be like in the future, and whether we should go to the stars or take root under our feet.
The entire story created this time can be said to be my bold imagination of the future and my reflection on reality. ”
Regarding why he went to make a series, Gilbert Jr. said this: "Because I want to tell the entire story coherently, and it may not be enough time to make a movie.
In order to let more viewers understand the entire worldview and make the story more complete, I chose to produce it in the form of episodes. ”
Afterwards, little Gilbert shared several photos of work, including actors training hard, scenes being built, engineers building props, etc.
The most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly that Harley-Davidson has built a cool motorcycle with a full sense of science fiction, and it can actually drive on the road.
There is no doubt that everyone is attracted by this motorcycle with its arrogant and cool styling, and some people ask if this car can be sold.
It will definitely be sold, but the price won't be cheap. But it doesn’t matter, I really can’t afford it, there are models available for purchase.
After the website was established, after the initial traffic diversion, the number of daily visitors reached more than 100,000, making it a relatively popular official website.
It is also because of the high level of community activity that the website has strong stickiness. Many people have become loyal users and fans of the official website, and have found many people who like cyberpunk culture like themselves here.
From offline to online, huge resource investment has attracted a lot of attention to "Edge Walker". That, coupled with the director and cast, made the project a hit even before it was completed.
At present, HBO and Disney paid channels will definitely broadcast "Edge Walker". Not only that, "Edge Walker" will be launched on the online video platform, becoming the first online paid series.
At the joint high-level meeting between Warner and Disney, Gilbert Jr. pointed out the advantages of future online video platforms and asked the two companies to pay attention to the development of streaming media platforms.
"Digital platforms will become the future trend, not only in the film and television industry, but also in the recording industry." Little Gilbert said to the executives: "You should also know that the Apple Music software launched by Apple has replaced the traditional record CD to a certain extent. .
What if high-definition video playback can be achieved on Apple phones in the future? What if other phones could implement this feature?
This means that there is no need for a bulky DVD player or carrying a computer around. You only need a software solution to achieve portable playback through your mobile phone. ”
Gilbert Jr.'s words made Warner and Disney think deeply, and after returning home, they began to do some research on the development of streaming media platforms.
(End of chapter)