Chapter 640 New Directions for the Future
Back to the production of the series, although so many things happened this summer, most of Gilbert's energy is still focused on the production of "Edgewalker".
The filming of the content is over, but this does not mean that the production of the entire series is over.
Although "Edge Walker" uses a lot of real-life shooting methods to produce, there are still a lot of special effects shots that need to be processed. Even before the film started shooting, the overall 3D structure of Night City had already been made.
Aesthetic design is a crucial point, and the psychedelic electronic style of cyberpunk is the main art design point of the series.
Art director Serena Hafey held many meetings with the art and special effects to establish the art style. After that, the digital model was manufactured bit by bit and then used in production.
Gilbert Jr. clearly said that building a world from scratch may be more complicated at the beginning and cost more money and energy.
But this is only temporary. When movies or TV series on related themes are produced later, these digital assets will play a major role.
Another job that the special effects engineers at Orange Studio do is the scanning of digital assets.
Night City is a fictional West Coast city, but Gilbert Jr. hopes viewers can find some traces of the real world in it.
Therefore, some landmark buildings in Los Angeles will also be made into digital assets and appear in various forms in dramas or future works.
For example, the famous Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory, the beach in the satellite city of Santa Monica, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame were all scanned.
The appearance of these familiar landmarks in the series will give the audience a sense of familiarity, and they will also feel that the stories happening in Night City are stories that will happen in the near future.
Although it is a new IP, thanks to the team’s years of tacit cooperation and the overall control of Gilbert Jr., the project went smoothly.
Although Warner Pictures has a new president and has revealed that it will decouple from Melon Studios, the resources it should provide for "Edgewalker" have not been reduced.
"Edgewalker" is a ten-episode limited series that has been confirmed to be broadcast on Warner's HBO and Disney premium channels.
“After the first round of broadcasting, we can also resell the network broadcasting rights, as well as the broadcasting rights of the second and third rounds.” Little Gilbert told producer Charles Rowan.
“There are also DVDs, which is also a big profit.” Charles Rowan said.
The DVD market is still very hot today. Before the era of smartphones and mobile Internet came, the market size of DVD had always been good.
However, DVD also faces a problem, and that is the impact of piracy.
In my previous life, I heard many people say how good copyright protection was in foreign countries, with a strong sense of authenticity and not many pirated goods. But only by personal experience can you know how true this statement is.
You must know that genuine products are not cheap. A peripheral product produced in China costs only a few dollars, but can be sold for dozens of dollars. Many people have to save money to buy one.
The same situation applies to DVD. The DVD of "Edgewalker" is expected to be released in the fall of next year and will be divided into three levels. Regular edition, hardcover edition, deluxe edition, the price of each edition is different.
For example, the deluxe version will cost $59.9, and it comes with posters, setting books, etc. It's very attractive to movie fans, but the price is really expensive.
At this time, pirated copies came into play. Although the workmanship and quality are not as good as the genuine ones, they are better because they are cheaper!
These pirated goods greatly satisfy ordinary movie fans who want but are short of money.
Little Gilbert's movies have always been the hardest hit by piracy. Starting from the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" series, many pirated copies produced by the workshops of Mexican gangs have flowed into the United States.
Mexican drug dealers suddenly discovered that piracy was more profitable than drug trafficking. It was a huge profit, so many border gangs began to piracy vigorously. Just last month, Fobole uncovered a piracy and smuggling case. It includes various popular movie peripherals, DVDs, etc., worth more than 10 million US dollars.
Agent Fobole even discovered several models of "Transformers" machine lifeforms over five meters high, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Power Rangers, etc.
Although the major Hollywood companies are fighting openly and covertly, they are still very united in combating piracy. However, after so many years of fighting, little effect has been achieved. After all, if there is demand, there will be a market, and people will take risks to do it.
Besides, piracy is not only more profitable than drug trafficking, but the crime is less serious than drug trafficking if caught. It is really a good deal.
For this reason, Robert Iger has also discussed with several major Hollywood giants before, preparing to lobby Washington to introduce legislation to severely crack down on piracy.
Make piracy a serious crime and make them pay the price, otherwise the cost of piracy is too small.
It’s hard to say about other pirated products, but DVD piracy will become increasingly difficult in the future, because the Internet will eventually replace the role of DVDs.
But online videos will also face a new problem, that is, the problem of pirated resource websites. Nowadays, there are many similar pirated resource websites. As soon as a movie is released in theaters, so-called high-definition resources appear on the Internet.
The theater companies are also severely cracking down on piracy, but with little success.
But fortunately, the so-called high-definition resources are actually quite blurry, far inferior to the viewing effect in a cinema.
So very few people will go online to search for resources to watch, unless they actively release high-definition resources like "Transformers", but this is actually for publicity.
Another type of pirated video resource is stolen from genuine video websites and placed online.
Nowadays, genuine video websites on the Internet are in full bloom. There are more than a dozen large and small video websites, and many of them have received investment from venture capital institutions.
But the biggest success in the industry is undoubtedly Xigua Video, a subsidiary of Ximelon Company controlled by Fruit Group. Mark, the new chief content officer of Xigua Video, announced that he plans to produce self-made content belonging to the platform in the future.
“We believe that the development of streaming media platforms in the future will be beyond imagination. Xigua Video will focus on the future and launch our self-made content.”
“Is there a general plan? For example What will be the first content to be produced? "
"In fact, we have acquired many well-known IP copyrights, and they are all within the plan. At present, our internal priority is Michael Dobbs's. The novel "House of Cards"
.
In fact, the whole plan came from director Gilbert Jr., who is a fan of the original book and the British version of "House of Cards". We will move the story from the UK to the US, and I believe it will give the audience a different experience. ”
When they heard that it was a plan from little Gilbert, for some reason, the audience felt a lot more at ease.
After all, little Gilbert has become a golden brand, no matter what projects he does. , all think he will succeed.
But reporters are more concerned about other questions: "Will Director Gilbert Jr. direct it himself? "
After all, Gilbert Jr. has already directed "Edgewalker" himself, so directing another "House of Cards" is not a problem.
Mark replied: "Director Gilbert Jr. will serve as the chief producer and be responsible for the advancement of our entire content."
(End of Chapter)