Special effects of domestic dramas, fifty cents, thirty cents and fifty cents.
The TV series "Hua Qiangu" starring Wallace Huo and Zhao Liying is being broadcasted. The point of netizens’ joy is not "bone painting love", but the steamed stuffed bun made of Altman monsters and CG special effects. Of course, the "sweet baby" made by animation is also jaw-dropping.
Special effects buns in Hua Qiangu
Hua Qiangu’s "spirit bug" sweet baby is burping.
The same special effects were spit out by the long-awaited online drama "Tomb Notes". Before the broadcast, Nanpai’s uncle said frankly, "The narrative aspect of his own story and the charm of the characters are far stronger than the need for special effects." "I don’t believe there will be such a situation as’ fifty cents special effects’. But after all, there will still be a bottleneck in the film and television production of online dramas in China, and there will still be an industrial development process, so we can wait patiently. ". After the broadcast, netizens spoke out that "the five-cent special effect that is more destructive than the fifty-cent special effect appeared" (but compared with the rough plot, the special effect is not the biggest problem).
In the pilot episode of Tomb Raiding Notes, a lighter flew by and the car exploded.
The blood of "Little Brother" Zhang Qiling
What is called Lei Ju by the audience now is either because of the exaggeration of the story or because of the special effects. While special effects account for an increasing proportion in TV series, their reputation is getting worse and worse, and even the word "fifty cents special effects" is used to describe the "shoddy" production of TV series. Domestic dramas have used special effects technology for decades, why are they often called "five-hair special effects"? Is it lack of money or technology?
What is film and television special effects?
First of all, give everyone a definition of "film and television special effects" and "CG". The full name of CG is Computer Graphics, which refers to a category of visual design and production by using computer technology. It includes both art and all visual art creation activities at present, such as print design, web design, three-dimensional animation, film and television special effects and so on. Film and television special effects are one of CG.
In 1986, The Journey to the West Central the Monkey King was born.
As early as 1980s, in the six-year-old children’s version of The Journey to the West, the stone monkey was born, and the Monkey King’s "walking on clouds" were all film and television special effects, which was probably the original impression of mainland audiences on this technology.
In 1995, Pixar Animation Studio released Toy Story, the world’s first movie made entirely by computer animation, and the concept of CG really began to be widely recognized. In China, most colleges and universities began to set up related majors such as "post-film and television composite special effects" after 2000.
For actors, the use of special effects is both a good thing and a difficult problem.
The Man-eating Flowers in Hua Qiangu
Rulu, the actor who plays Xia Zixun in Hua Qiangu, once lamented, "The plot that once needed to travel across mountains and rivers to shoot can now be solved by a piece of green cloth and blue cloth." However, without the performance experience of "listening, seeing and feeling", the difficulty of interpreting the role has increased a lot. "The emergence of CG requires actors to perform more, and it is necessary to cultivate stronger imagination and artistic creativity."
The shooting scene of "Four Famous Boys" is set in green cloth.
After post-processing, the green cloth becomes blue sky and white clouds.
However, in the eyes of special effects producers, special effects cannot be a "sub-item" for actors’ performances. Xiao Yang, the director of the film "Youth Class", is the founder of a well-known special effects production company, Tiangong Extraordinary, and has been engaged in post-work for a long time. He doesn’t agree with the actors’ complaints about the production of special effects, and thinks that the "non-physical performance" of actors should be a basic skill as early as school.
"I don’t quite agree with the saying that actors work harder because of the special effects of film and television." Xiao Yang takes the drama of standing on the edge of a cliff as an example. "Now it can be done by post-production. Actors can do it by post-production without standing on the cliff. Does it make you concentrate on your performance to a certain extent and will not have psychological fear?"
Why is the effect only "fifty cents"?
Film and television special effects have been widely used in domestic dramas, and the production of special effects has become an indispensable part of the full-screen legendary martial arts fairy tales. The audience’s focus on watching domestic dramas has also changed from paying attention to actors and plots to picking up dubbing clips and special visual experiences. But what stunned the audience was not how good the special effects were, but how thunderous they were.
The Special Effect Fox in swords of legends
For example, last year’s TV series "swords of legends" was dominated by netizens, who once said that "if special effects are removed, a group of people are crazy". Waterfalls that don’t move and beaches that walk without footprints are even dubbed as "special effects of 30 cents".
Known as the China Heavenly Edition "clash of the titans", the TV series "Stone Dare to Be the Hero of Heaven East" once played a publicity stunt of specially invited special effects production team of NASDAQ-listed IT companies before the broadcast, but after the broadcast, the special effects were hit in the face every minute. Some netizens vomited that "the whole drama exudes a sense of cheapness with thick plastic foam. When the immortals meet in the South Gate of Heaven, if the actors didn’t brush their sense of existence in front of the camera, they would really think they were watching cartoons".
Why the special effects of domestic dramas are scum, funding is a big factor. Generally speaking, the price of TV special effects lens is about 1500 yuan a second, but for most TV dramas that need to use a lot of special effects, no matter how big the production is, the budget is not enough. Although it is not 50 cents a second, the cost can only be a defective product.
It is reported that in 2010, the Zhang Jizhong version of The Journey to the West spent 15 million yuan on the post-production of special effects, and 14 companies participated in the production of 102,000 seconds of special effects shots, which is about 147 yuan per second on average. Zhang Jizhong revealed that compared with the 2003 edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Journey to the West’s post-production funds increased by 10 times, but the number and difficulty increased by 20 to 30 times, and the number of special effects shots accounted for more than half of the total number of shots in the series.
Zhang Jizhong version of The Journey to the West stills
However, after this TV series with more than 300 special effects shots in each episode was broadcast, many viewers called the special effects cottage. "The edges of the key image are all serrated, and many scenes of CG animation have not been color-corrected and are crude. Where did the investment go?"
In this regard, Zhang Jizhong’s explanation is that the investment of the play can’t be compared with that of American blockbusters, and the domestic technology can’t reach Hollywood level.
The online drama "Tomb Notes" claims to cost 5 million yuan per episode, with a total investment of more than 80 million yuan. However, after the broadcast, netizens discussed whether the level of special effects is 50 cents or 20 cents, and why the advertising time vision suddenly improved.
The relevant person in charge of the online drama "Never Imagine" said that special effects will only be used unless the plot needs it. "The best special effects team in China is even Xu Ke and Guangying, and many people are reluctant to do special effects for domestic dramas. If they want to do it, they are usually some students practicing their hands and playing."
Xu Jie, the special effects director of the TV series Men on Armored Ships, who has been in business for 15 years, admits that it is not an exaggeration for students to operate the special effects of basic domestic dramas. "The single repetitive special effects work is very simple. I can say that one can be trained in two or three months, but what China lacks is the technical director-style talents."
"The special effects industry itself has not existed for a long time. It is almost changing with each passing day. There is a lack of basic developers in this field in China, so it is difficult to keep up with the pace of large foreign companies." Mr. Q, who has been engaged in the film special effects industry for six years at Base Fx, said.
Mr. Q believes that the biggest bottleneck of film and television special effects is not the technology, but the rendering time is the biggest test if you want to make a detailed and realistic picture. However, at present, the production cycle and development mode of TV series obviously cannot tolerate the working mode of "slow work and fine work".
The picture of "Life of Pi" is beautiful, but its special effects company R&H has declared bankruptcy.
"The special effects industry is not particularly mature in the world, and many problems are still in the discussion stage." Xiao yang, the director of tiangong extraordinary splendour, said. Special effects cost money, but companies that make special effects may not make money. For example, Ang Lee directed "The Fantasy Drifting of Boys and Girls", whose special effects are generally recognized as good, but its special effects company has declared bankruptcy.
Xiao Yang believes that "in China mainland, there is no problem for domestic practitioners to make special effects of a single shot, and the special effects of low still depend on the choice of the producer and whether the producer respects the basic special effects workflow".
"As far as I know, the level of everyone in the market is still similar, just a matter of money and time." Xu Jie, the special effects director of the TV series "Men on Armored Ships", said. For Xu Jie’s point of view, Li Xingwen, a senior film and television critic, also agreed that "on the one hand, it is hard power, the improvement of technology and the cultivation of talents, on the other hand, it is the satisfaction of funds and time."
The special effects shot in Men on the Armored Ship has 3600 seconds. "Now I advocate the concept of’ post-pre-production’. I also brought a group into the group before the drama was filmed. Many props, shapes and scenes later became my responsibility. In fact, these are closely related to special effects." Xu Jie admits that the crew’s respect for special effects work will directly affect the final presentation effect.
Stills of Men on Armored Ships
The criteria for judging the quality of special effects are basically grasped by each crew. Xu Jie said: "At present, we are still in a stage of watching and auditing together. As for the standard of one, two, three, you don’t have it yet, so there will be industry chaos."
Li Jianping, Dean of Animation College of Beijing Film Academy, once analyzed the faltering development of China’s film and television special effects from an educational perspective. He said that most of the current special effects are digital technology, which is close to the training direction of animation major, so many special effects artists in China are from animation major, and it is urgent to subdivide the special effects production major. There are no special effects software with independent brands, no local special effects talent team, the narrow development space of special effects teachers in China and the imperfect education system, which are all bottlenecks in the development of film and television special effects in China.
"The market is still very big," Xiao Yang said, and many talents are still being trained. "The industry is not short of simple implementation, but it lacks real guidance." The era of special effects artists in China may have to wait. "Chinese’s art conceptual design, the contractual spirit of institutional cooperation, the selection of scenes, etc. need to be completed and then formed into a system." Having participated in many film and television works, he fully affirmed the level of China’s special effects industry. "There are many talents in China, and many special effects in Hollywood are also contracted to domestic teams, because the post-producers in China are hard-working, but our shortcomings may be the lack of production system and the design of art concepts."
"The emergence, development and growth of the special effects industry are just to complete a dream. The whole film and television industry is for dreaming, so special effects and actors are all part of it." Xiao Yang believes that the structure of domestic dramas needs to be reorganized. "The performance of actors and whether producers respect the production of special effects are all problems, and the bad results can’t be blamed on the production of special effects."