chsdbacks Chapter 172 The Industrial Upgrade of Chasing the Light, on the Eve of Season 2 Premiere
Chapter 172 The Industrial Upgrade of Chasing the Light, on the Eve of Season 2 Premiere
In the blink of an eye, the online movie "Star Warriors" has been online for a full week.
After the initial frenzy of ten million views on its first day subsided, the daily box office growth inevitably slowed down over time, but its astonishing long-tail effect silenced the entire domestic film and television industry.
With its impeccable script quality, hardcore fight choreography, and top-notch special effects comparable to Hollywood's industrial standards, "Star Warriors" has been gaining widespread popularity online and has broken into new circles.
In just one week, the cumulative box office revenue from on-demand viewing has officially surpassed 200 million yuan!
Of course, this also includes many unsolicited people who opened multiple accounts in order to "boost box office numbers".
Gu Nan naturally wouldn't have the time or inclination to do such a thing.
He simply sat at his desk, looking at the latest data reports.
He knew very well that in his past world, this 200 million figure was comparable to the opening weekend box office performance of top theatrical blockbusters such as Oppenheimer.
What's more, this is purely online pay-per-view!
Although the revenue sharing from the first week has not yet been officially settled with Bilibili, based on the current figures alone, Gu Nan knows without needing to do detailed financial calculations that the film has not only already recouped its huge production and outsourced special effects costs, but is also about to make a hefty profit.
At this moment, the headquarters of Light Chaser Animation was filled with joy, and everyone had a proud smile on their face.
"Brother Nan! Two hundred million! We've finally secured our position!"
Chen Bo rushed into the office with the report in hand, his chubby face beaming with a wide smile, his voice trembling with excitement.
"Dyna truly is a beacon of miracles! He's created a box office miracle for us!"
Chen Bo was also amazed by the daily updated data!
Gu Nan picked up the coffee cup on the table and took a sip, but his thoughts involuntarily drifted back to a few months ago.
That was during the last two months before the Lunar New Year.
For the entire Light Chaser Animation team, that period could be described as "purgatory."
At that time, the filming of episodes 1 to 26 of the first season of "Ultraman Dyna" had just been completed, and all the original footage was piling up. The entire post-production team was working day and night to catch up on the schedule in order to ensure that the show would be broadcast on time every Friday.
Meanwhile, the filming of the movie "Star Warriors" has entered the most crucial final stage of reshoots and additional filming.
The two storylines run in parallel, and the requirements for special effects and visuals are extremely stringent.
During that period, Gu Nan himself slept less than four hours a day.
The entire team members' energy and physical strength have been pushed to the limit.
The on-site director, the chief cameraman, and the post-production special effects team previously led by Chen Bo and Wang Kai often worked 13 to 14 hours a day without rest.
On several occasions, when Gu Nan went to the post-production control room to check on things, he would see the special effects artists sleeping soundly on the computer keyboards used for rendering, their eyes bloodshot.
Gu Nan asked himself, and he knew he had never shortchanged his employees in terms of treatment.
They provide three meals a day, meat at every late-night snack, generous commuting allowances, and even high housing subsidies for employees from other places who come to Jinghai to work.
As for the salary, it is directly comparable to the top 10% of salaries in the industry.
Even so, money can buy time, but it can't buy a body made of iron.
At most, Light Chaser Animation Studios has about 150 to 160 people, including its core staff and permanent staff.
With this limited manpower, the production capacity has already reached its absolute limit in order to support the simultaneous development of two tokusatsu blockbusters.
Although Light Chaser Animation has already produced top-tier works like "Ultraman Tiga," "Seven," and now "Dyna," which have directly earned them legendary status in the tokusatsu (special effects) industry.
Ultimately, their current structure and size still make them just a small to medium-sized film and television studio.
This kind of "handicraft workshop" style of high-intensity work can be sustained for a short time thanks to everyone's enthusiasm, but its production capacity is far from comparable to those of large listed companies in the industry that have thousands of employees.
If they want to continue developing the "Ultraman Universe" for a long time, they will eventually drag down the existing team.
It was during those two most difficult months that Gu Nan made an extremely decisive decision.
He made the decision immediately, pouring all available working capital from the company's account into the project.
Towards the end of the filming of "Star Warriors" and in the early stages of filming "Dyna" Season 2, Gu Nan drastically expanded the team size by fifty percent!
As soon as the job posting was released, countless industry elites with dreams of special effects films were eager to join.
The total number of people quickly approached three hundred.
In addition to the increase in the number of employees, Gu Nan also created a large number of more specialized positions.
Previously, one person had to take care of both prop maintenance and on-site coordination, but now it has been split into three dedicated people; previously, the special effects team handled everything from model creation to lighting and rendering, but now it has been subdivided into a materials team, a motion capture team, and a particle effects team.
An even more important step was that Gu Nanhua invested heavily in introducing a modern film and television industry "mid-platform scheduling system".
The establishment of this system has completely changed the previous workshop model. All shooting notices, the scheduling of costumes and props, the allocation of special effects computing power, and even the scheduling of extras' meals will be carried out through the central platform system for the most reasonable resource allocation.
The effect is immediate.
With the system in operation and the addition of fresh talent, when the second season of "Dyna" officially entered the preparation and filming stage, the filming process became clearer than ever before, and work efficiency skyrocketed.
……
As Gu Nan pondered the next steps for Light Chaser Animation Studios, he became engrossed in the discussion.
"What are you thinking about, Brother Nan?"
Chen Bo waved his hand in front of Gu Nan's eyes.
Gu Nan snapped out of his reverie and smiled. "I was thinking about how we got through all this time. By the way, has the first batch of behind-the-scenes footage from Dyna Season 2 been released yet?"
"It's been out for ages! It's all over Bilibili right now!" Chen Bo chuckled.
Right now, in Lao Tang's live stream room.
Although the movie has been released for a week, the enthusiasm for discussion remains undiminished. Old Tang had just finished a game and switched back to the webpage.
"Brothers, we're tired of fighting. Let's check out the behind-the-scenes footage of Dyna Season 2 that Light Chaser Animation just released!"
Old Tang skillfully opened the video, the title of which was: [Super Victory Team On-Set Daily Life: Those Unknown Joyful Moments].
As soon as the video started playing, the comments section was flooded with messages.
[It's here! Take a breath of fresh Dyna!]
[After a week of emptiness following the movie, finally some new content!]
[Hurry up and bring on season two! Even the donkeys in the production team can't rest like this!]
[Urgent! I want to see Asuka get beaten up again!]
The footage doesn't feature the cold, serious filter found in the main film; instead, it's an extremely clear and bright behind-the-scenes shot.
The location is a familiar Mars base setting.
"Action!"
As the clapperboard fell, Zhang Ye, who played Shin Asiniao, emerged from behind a sand dune bunker with a serious expression, holding a laser gun, and performed an extremely cool tactical roll.
This was originally supposed to be a very cool long shot of the hero's entrance.
As a result, the moment Zhang Ye stood up, his foot slipped, and with a "plop," he fell face down straight into a pit filled with red prop sand.
"Ouch!"
A muffled scream came from the screen.
When Zhang Ye looked up, his entire face was covered in red sand, and he was spitting sand out of his mouth, looking exactly like a terracotta warrior just dug out of the ground.
"Card!"
Off-camera, Gu Nan's exasperated voice came through a megaphone: "Zhang Ye, did you slip away unnoticed?"
The crew members on set burst into laughter.
The actress playing Gong Liang laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight, pointing at Zhang Ye and mocking, "Asuka, which monster did you learn that tactical roll from? Is this what you call a face landing?"
Zhang Ye spat out a mouthful of sand, shamelessly giving a thumbs-up to the camera: "Oops, that was a stunt double! I'm invincible!"
Old Tang burst out laughing in front of the screen, slapping his thigh and laughing wildly.
[Hahaha! Zhang Ye's goofy side is totally on full display!]
[Asuka: Don't I have any pride?]
[That's what you call being cool for only three seconds! He's definitely that same hot-blooded idiot!]
[Senior Liang is laughing so loudly, hahaha, the atmosphere in the team is really great.]
To be fair, the red sand looks quite fine; the lighting team clearly put a lot of effort into the props and set design.
[It's actually a real Martian set! The spotlighting must have been expensive!]
……
Then came some routine scenes of filming dialogue scenes.
In the latter half of the behind-the-scenes footage, the scene finally shifts to the tokusatsu costume filming location that everyone has been eagerly anticipating.
This is a motion test of the brand new monster suit for Season 2.
In front of a giant green screen, a strangely shaped monster covered in spikes is attempting to demonstrate its movements.
The monster's suit is extremely thick and heavy, and it looks like it weighs several tens of kilograms.
The costumed actors were sweating profusely inside, and every step they took seemed extremely difficult.
"Get ready for the wire work! Try out the Dyna over-the-shoulder throw!" the action director shouted from the side.
Several thick steel wires were slowly tightened.
"rise!"
The monster was pulled into the air, but at that moment, due to a misalignment of the wire's center of gravity, the monster began to spin wildly in place uncontrollably like a giant top.
"Stop! Put me down, I'm going to throw up!" The actor in the suit screamed in a muffled voice from inside.
The surrounding staff hurriedly lowered the wire, and the moment the hood was removed, the actor, covered in sweat, collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
Gu Nan appeared at the edge of the frame. He immediately walked over, handed the actor a bottle of water, and patted him on the shoulder: "You've worked hard, go take a rest. Props team, adjust the wire anchors; the weight on your back is uneven!"
[The work of suit actors is truly admirable; we salute them!]
[Monster: I got spun around by my own teammates before the fight even started!]
[It's so tedious just watching them! Without their hard work, we wouldn't see these miracles on screen!]
The crew of "Chasing the Light" is truly professional; they immediately addressed any problems they discovered, unlike some crews that just sloppyly do things.
The final segment is a discussion of Dyna's action choreography.
An actor wearing a red, muscular leather suit is rehearsing moves with the martial arts instructor.
"A powerful punch, be careful!"
Gu Nan gestured to demonstrate, "Make the movements bigger, and with every landing, you should make the ground tremble!"
The suit actor nodded seriously, took a deep breath, suddenly squatted down, and then threw an extremely powerful uppercut, accompanied by a rough battle roar.
Even in the original footage without any post-production effects, the raw, visceral power of the punches is still palpable.
"Great! That's the feeling! Keep one!"
The video ended with Gu Nan's satisfied shout.
The screen gradually went black, and a line of text appeared:
"The second season of Ultraman Dyna is currently in production and filming is in full swing. Please look forward to it!"
"call--"
Old Tang leaned back in his chair, smacking his lips as if he hadn't had enough.
"Brothers, Gu Laozei is still the same meticulous Gu Laozei. This team is running incredibly well!"
The chat room was filled with harmonious anticipation.
Seeing how organized they were in filming, I felt relieved.
[Hurry up, hurry up! I can't wait to see Asuka continue to grow!]
[This work atmosphere is great! Director Gu, get some rest. Looking forward to the visual feast of Season 2!]
At this moment, Gu Nan, sitting in the office of Chasing Light Pictures, took a deep breath as he looked at the anticipation of netizens on his computer.
With the support of a brand-new industrial system, the second season of "Ultraman Dyna" will surely shine even brighter.