Chapter 12 Cheap Labor

The method Nanaya thought of was very simple, and could even be said to be a radical method - he planned to use partial models to shoot semi-finished products for all the shots involving spirits - especially leaving only the part from the head to the neck.

Then, after the filming is completed, Nanaya plans to have someone paint directly on the film to complete the remaining parts of the spirit girl.

Although this method is very cumbersome and complicated, it is the best solution Nanaya can think of at the moment.

Drawing special effects on film is not an uncommon technique, and it can even be said to be one of the earliest methods of film special effects.

As early as the black-and-white film era, Hollywood used this technique to express some shots that were difficult to achieve with real people at the time.

Tsuburaya also used this technique in the 1960s and 1970s. The lighting effects in the Showa-series Ultraman dramas they shot were all drawn by the staff on the film.

Of course, in Nanaya's memory, the most exquisite example of this technique is the animated film"The Adventures of the Sloppy King" produced by China in the 1980s.

The opening song of this animation also uses a similar technique. In the face of a shortage of funds and a lack of digital technology, the bosses of the Shanghai Animation Studio drew animations directly on the recorded real-life film, thus achieving the effect of real people and animations interacting in the same frame. In order to keep the original film for each episode, they even had the little girl sing the opening song 13 times in front of a white screen, and drew it 13 times exactly on the film, and then spliced it into the front of each episode of the animation.

Thanks to the efforts of those big guys, the effects they produced are even better than some of the current green screen computer special effects pictures.

In fact, computer special effects technology is not unavailable at this time, and it has been used in many special effects dramas, but most of them are applications of light skills of heroes and monsters.

This level is far from the ethereal feeling of the "spirit" that Nanaya hopes for. Of course, there is a more important point - it is too expensive, and Nanaya can't afford it.

"But if you paint on film, the labor cost will be quite high, right?"

After hearing Nanaya's solution, Ori asked curiously.

Nanaya denied Ori's guess: "No, if it is outsourced to an animation company, the cost is actually not as much as you think."

Japanese animation companies are notorious for exploiting labor. Although their prices are not as low as the current 30 yuan per original drawing and 2 yuan per intermediate drawing in China (RMB), the cost of an original drawing does not exceed 5,000 yen.

"So if we hand it over to them, we should be able to get it for around 6,000 yen per frame. As long as we can control the number of frames where the spirit appears within a certain range, there shouldn't be too many problems."

"This is too cheap."

After hearing Nanaya's offer, Ori silently lit a stick of incense on behalf of the animation staff.

Nanaya shrugged and said, "Yeah, you know, the monthly salary of an animation director is less than 100,000 yen. God knows how they survive."

Although he has deep sympathy for Japanese animation workers, it is precisely because of this that they can complete their films within the budget, so Nanaya is more or less grateful in his heart.

Shonan responded to Nanaya's words: "Come to think of it, I also thought about being an animation sound designer, but I gave up because the pay was too low~? I really sympathize with those original artists, so let me go and comfort them~?"

"Don't get horny over there!" Nanaya threw an empty mineral water bottle at Shonan Rantaro's head. "I'll use your other camera to take a close-up shot later. Is that okay?"

"Don't worry, I will definitely take a picture of Ms. Adachi's most perfect posture~?"

Shonan said as she flicked her hair at the heroine, only to receive a snort in return.

"What a shy woman~?" Shonan consoled herself.

[No, she just doesn't like your perversion.] *N

Everyone thought silently in their hearts at the same time.

Whether Nanaya's idea can be realized depends on the work of the animation original artists, but from the perspective of on-site shooting, it is indeed a lot easier.

Without the interference of the white sheets, the "ghost girls" were much more relaxed on the tightrope. The shooting task for the extras also became very easy, after all, they only needed to put on some indifferent expressions in front of the camera.

Although as ghosts, these actresses cannot show their acting skills in front of the camera, nor can they show off their figures (although most of them have very sorry figures), and they don't even have lines, so they can only make people laugh.

However, being able to appear in front of the camera with their full faces is already a big improvement for these girls who could only serve as background boards before.

The only ones who had a hard time were the heroine Ms. Adachi and the actor who played the villain Fujou Kirie.

The main difficulty in filming Fujou Kirie was that she had to be suspended in the air with a wire. Although the crew had done sufficient safety protection, the girl who had only played a minor role felt very nervous to be suspended like this. As a result, many of the previous shots could not show the kind of madness that Nanaya wanted, but were mostly scared.

As for the scenes of Ryougi Shiki...

In the first battle between Ryougi Shiki and Fujou Kirie, she suffered a great loss because she was not aware of the opponent's suggestion ability. In this battle, Ryougi Shiki was always at a disadvantage.

Under the suggestion of Fujou, Ryougi Shiki's body was out of control, and the visual manifestation was -

"Ms. Adachi, your expression should become more ferocious. And your actions, be more ruthless to yourself! Don't be afraid of getting dirty, just drag it on the ground."

Nanaya's words made Adachi look obviously unhappy.

In this scene, Ryougi Shiki needs to beat herself under the guidance of Fujou, especially at the end she needs to drag herself on the ground.

This was a bit difficult for Adachi. On the one hand, Adachi's expression was too weak, and the struggling expression was obviously not strong enough.

On the other hand, the entire action scene was basically dominated by Ryougi Shiki beating herself, and this kind of performance against the air made Adachi feel very awkward. Adachi, who had no experience in green screen performance, looked awkward in front of the camera.

"How stupid."

This was Adachi Satomi's first reaction when Nanaya talked about the play.

"So it's still about the era..."

If it was after 2010, Nanaya believes that most actors must have had experience performing in the air or in front of a green screen, but now that even the green screen is a new thing, most actors will be very uncomfortable with it.

However, this scene is an important scene in the movie, and it cannot be cancelled by a minor change in the script. So Nanaya could only teach Adachi how to handle this scene and what kind of effect it should produce.

It took several days of stumbling and struggling before Nanaya finally finished filming the first action scene in the movie.

"Cut, passed."

After Adachi drew a line at the sky with a fierce look on his face, Nanaya let out a long breath and made an OK gesture to the staff.

"Thank you for your hard work, big brother!"

Illya immediately took the initiative to hand Nanaya a towel and water. She had become very skilled at this over the past few days.

Originally serving as Nanaya's assistant, Ori was really overwhelmed. Not only was he responsible for props and costumes on the set, he also had to visit animation companies one by one and negotiate with them about the special effects painting of the film for the movie "Skate".

Because this matter is so important, Nanaya can't rest assured to hand it over to others, so he can only ask Ori to take care of it.

This has greatly increased Ori's workload. In fact, Ori has recently assigned part of the work on set props to Katsura Mamako.

Illya, who was observing on the set, once discovered that Nanaya didn't even have a towel to wipe his sweat during a break and could only wipe it with his hands. The little girl then took the initiative to take on the job of assistant director.

Sera was very dissatisfied with this matter, but under Illya's insistence she could only hold back.

"Thank you, Illya."

Under the powerful gaze of a maid, Nanaya did not dare to delay at all. He used up the towel and water bottle in 10 seconds to avoid letting Illya serve for too long and causing Sera to get angry.

"So, big brother, which scene are you going to shoot next?" Illya picked up the script sheet. When she saw the words on it, she was stunned for a moment, "Um... jumping off the building?"