If he lined up all the big stars in Hollywood and gave Shen Chong a pistol with only one bullet and asked him to kill one of them, he would choose George Lucas without hesitation.

It’s not that he disrespects this movie master, but that he is so much like a time traveler…

Lucas' ideal in his youth was to be a racer and he was not very interested in movies. However, a few days before graduating from high school, he had a car accident. He was seriously injured but magically survived. (Note 1)

After the car accident, Lucas no longer loved racing and movies. He was admitted to the film department of the University of Southern California. He made a big splash in his first film class. He then went to Warner Bros. Film Company during the holiday and met Francis Coppola, a major director who later became famous around the world for "The Godfather".

At that time, Coppola was already well-known in Hollywood. Not only did he recruit Lucas into his own film crew, but he also found a work to write scripts. After Lucas wrote the script, he became a director himself and made it into a movie. Although it had no box office, it had a good reputation.

After a few years of farming, Lucas founded Lucas Film Company named after himself, and then spent $780,000 and 57 days to shoot "American Style Painting". The film won five Oscar nominations and $115 million in box office revenue, as well as the rent of videotapes of up to $55.88 million, making it the highest return on investment in film history. (Note 2)

This movie made him a millionaire before he was 30 years old.

As early as 1973, while filming "American Style Painting", Lucas successfully tricked the boss of Twentieth Century Fox to give him $160,000 to write the script for "Star Wars".

It took Lucas three years to write the script, and then continued to fool the 20th Century Fox, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, and finally asked them to invest $8.25 million in the filming process, adding another $3 million.

Before filming, Lucas gave up the high director's salary, but instead asked for $175,000 plus 40% of the profits of the movie's peripheral products plus the copyright of the sequel...

Then he became a billionaire.

Even if we take apart the magical and visionary Industrial Light & Magic, based on our current resume, Lucas is also a typical urban entertainment protagonist.

How can two time travelers be tolerated in one world?

Lucas must die...

Should I bring a gun?

Shen Chong was browsing the scenery outside the car window while thinking about it.

"Allen, Allen?"

Chen Chong came to his senses and turned to ask, "What's the matter, Michael?"

"It's nothing. You've been distracted. Didn't you sleep well last night?"

"No, I'm sleeping well." Chen Chong shook his head and said, "I'm just a little nervous."

Orwitz laughed and said, "Allen, I thought you were a person who wouldn't be nervous."

"We are going to meet, but a Hollywood legend." Chen Chong curled his lips and said with a smile: "I am a fan of Star Wars."

"Who isn't?" Orwitz pointed to himself and said, "When Star Wars premiered, I stood in line at the entrance of the Chinese Theater for 6 hours. After watching it, I immediately lined up again and watched it again. That whole day was spent queuing."

Chen Chong shook his head and said, "It's so crazy."

"It's crazy, but worth it." Orwitz said with a satisfied expression: "It's a blessing to be one of the first viewers in the world to see Star Wars."

Even a person who is determined and determined like Orwitz is not immune to the vulgarity. Americans are really fanatical about Star Wars.

"Have you ever met Lucas?"

"I've seen it once at the Beverly Hills Hotel," Orwitz said with some conscience; "I'm sorry, he doesn't know me yet."

"It's nothing." Chen Chong comforted: "Maybe you will become his agent in the future."

"Maybe." Orwitz picked up the wine glass and drank it all, saying, "I can do anything, as long as I can become his agent."

Chen Chong was not interested in the culture that foreigners could drink at all times. He picked up a bottle of juice and asked curiously, "How did you contact Lucas this time?"

"He hasn't been going well lately," Orwitz said with a smile, "Galley Hendler told me that Lucas is short of money, and I happened to know that his Industrial Light Magic has what you need."

"George Lucas will also be short of money?" Chen Chong laughed and said, "Star Wars can make him live a comfortable life."

"If you want to blame, you can only blame him for having too much appetite." Orwitz laughed and explained the whole story.

In 1977, "Star Wars" was released and caused a sensation around the world. The huge profits it earned doubled the stock price of 20th Century Fox Films. The salted fish turned over and successfully escaped the fate of bankruptcy. Lucas felt that since "Star Wars" is so profitable, it is better to do it yourself, and the wealth is not enough to go to outsiders.

So he broke the Hollywood routine, invested and served as a producer himself, and then found Irving Kshner, a teacher who was studying at the University of Southern California, as a director, and started filming "Star Wars 2: The Empire Strikes Against".

Unexpectedly, the shooting was not going smoothly. In March, I went to Norway to take pictures of the outdoor scene. I encountered a blizzard once in 50 years. The snow was 50 or 6 meters deep. The cast and crew were unable to leave the hotel for a while. After finally finishing the outdoor scene, I returned to London, and another fire broke out. A studio was burned, and the budget rose sharply. Lucas was in a panic and was in a very embarrassing state. (Note 3)

"So, Star Wars 2's funding gap is huge?"

"It should be." Orwitz said, shaking his glass, "or else he should be in a London studio at this moment, rather than returning to Los Angeles to attend all kinds of boring cocktails."

Chen Chong raised the juice, greeted Orwitz, and said with a smile: "If this business is almost certain, I will not be stingy with the agency fees after the matter is completed."

“It is my honor to serve you.”

...

However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

When George Lucas introduced his "nonlinear movie editing system", Chen Chong's disappointment was beyond words.

During the post-production of "Crazy Joe", he deeply understood the inefficiency and inconvenience of linear editing systems, and thus realized the importance and necessity of developing nonlinear editing systems - this is a killer that can subvert the rules of film production.

After getting to know Orwitz, the first thing Shen Chong entrusted him was to inquire about Hollywood's nonlinear editing system. Anyway, as long as there is a commission, you can earn it. Even if Shen Chong is a pig, the broker company will do its best to serve it.

Yesterday, Orwitz called to inform me that Industrial Light and Magic had developed a nonlinear editing system and that George Lucas was interested in selling it. Industrial Light and Magic was well-known, so Shen Chong flew to Los Angeles overnight.

Unfortunately, he overestimated his current technological level. Even if he was as cruel and sharp as Industrial Light and Magic, he could not surpass the times and developed the digital nonlinear editing system that he had imagined.

The first thing that digital editing system needs to solve is the problem of large-capacity storage. Currently, the largest hard drive on the market is the IBM 3340 14-inch hard drive, weighing dozens of kilograms, with a capacity of only 60M, and is surprisingly expensive.

60M is a drop in the bucket for the data that a movie needs to store, and it is not enough to watch it at all. If multiple hard drives are connected, the price will be amazing.

So Industrial Light Magic made a stupid trick. They copied the original film material of the filmed to more than 20 video recorders at one time, and then wrote a computer control program. This program can find the corresponding lenses from different video recorders according to the preset playback table, and then play them out in order for editors to refer to. If you re-edit, you can change the playback table, and you don’t need to re-change the original material like linear editing. (Note 4)

This editing system is based on tape and cannot be accessed randomly. Although it has some characteristics of nonlinear editing, its efficiency is limited, there is no room for further development, and it is expensive.

Orwitz didn't know much about film technology. When he saw Chen Chong remained silent, he felt something bad in his heart, so he asked, "Allen, what do you think?"

"This system is very troublesome to use." Chen Chong no longer had the intention to buy this system, so he said it without any scruples. "And the cost is too high to be promoted on a large scale, and the market value is very low."

"This was designed for Star Wars 2 after several months in Industrial Light and Magic." George Lucas was not angry when he heard this, and said in his unique accent: "Under the current technological level, it can only be done like this. In fact, I am not satisfied with it. This is not what I want."

"You want a editing system where you can choose the material at will and you can combine them any combination." Chen Chong smiled and said, "Right, Mr. Lucas?"

"Yes." Lucas felt a close friend when he heard this and said, "You are right, this is what I want."

"It's what I want, too." Chen Chong touched his hair and tentatively said: "Mr. Lucas, how about we work together to develop a brand new movie editing system?"

"cooperate?"

"Yes." Chen Chong said: "It has been almost a hundred years since the invention of the movie. The content, form, shooting techniques, etc. of the movie have been very mature, but the basic technology of film production has not improved. I think this is the key to restricting the further development of the movie."

"What kind of cooperation do you want, Mr. Shen?" Lucas was very interested.

"We can set up a joint venture." After thinking about it, Chen Chong decided not to invest in Industrial Light and Magic, but to start a new business. "I have the funds, and Mr. Lucas has talents engaged in research in this area, which can complement each other."

"Mr. Chen, I'm very interested in this. But at present, whether I am or Industrial Light and Magic, I'm working hard to produce "Star Wars 2", and I don't have the time and energy to take care of other things." Lucas pondered for a moment and said in a little embarrassed manner: "Can we discuss the cooperation to develop the editing system after the production of "Star Wars 2" is completed?"

"No problem." Chen Chong knew that as long as the computer hardware did not develop leapfrog, the digital nonlinear editing system would be a mirror and could not be rushed. He changed the topic and said, "I heard that there was something wrong with Mr. Lucas's "Star Wars 2" budget. I wonder if I can help?"

"It would be great if I could meet Mr. Chen a week ago." Lucas said with a smile: "But the problem of crew funds has been solved, and there is no problem at all."

What a pity!

If you can leave your name on the legendary movie "Star Wars" series and use the system to view its production process in the future, there will be a huge discount.

It seems that this trip to Los Angeles has been a complete loss of seldom...

Chen Chong lamented in his heart.

At this moment, Lucas said: "If Mr. Shen is interested in investing in movies, I can recommend someone to you who is shooting a great movie."

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Note 1: It is said on Baidu that his lung was smashed to pieces... It's a bit too exaggerated.

Note 2: The shooting budget of "American Style Painting" is US$777,777, paid in one go, the publicity fee is US$500,000, and the box office is 92 times the investment. The so-called "summer season" concept started from this movie.

Note 3: The studio was burned when the Shining was filmed in January 1979, and the crew of "Star Wars 2" needs to be rebuilt.
Chapter completed!