Chapter 1019: Manual Motion Tweaking
In truth, Chen Mo had long harbored the idea of "making a movie," but he had never found the right opportunity.
Of course, Thunderbolt Interactive's main business was making games. Even if the ultimate goal was to develop into an entertainment empire spanning games, film, literature, and other fields, game development would always remain the core focus.
After all, filmmaking wasn't Chen Mo's specialty. Even if he handed it over to some renowned director, it would be hard to guarantee the film could capture the original essence. Moreover, the actors in this parallel world were completely different from those in his previous life, so the final effect couldn't be assured.
It wasn't that it was entirely impossible, but it would certainly suffer significant compromises. For example, if Chen Mo wanted to make "Iron Man," but couldn't find a single actor worldwide who resembled Robert Downey Jr., the resulting Iron Man would inevitably feel off.
However, now that VR game technology had reached its current level, Chen Mo could play a clever game of "taking a detour to save the country."
In other words, he could completely abandon the traditional filmmaking approach and instead use game development methods to create a movie. With the powerful technology of next-generation VR, the resulting "film" could achieve a level of realism indistinguishable from reality.
More importantly, a "film" produced this way would no longer be constrained by flat screens, 3D formats, or camera lens issues. Instead, it could be presented through a highly immersive VR perspective.
Specifically, it meant creating scenes, models, and actions in the same way as making a game, allowing these virtual characters to fully recreate the movie's scenes. Players would "enter" this world just like playing a VR game, using the optimal camera angles and perspectives pre-designed by the creator to watch the entire process.
This principle was similar to many VR movies, but the effect would be far more shocking.
As for the specific differences between 3D movies and VR movies... just download a VR adult film and you'd know.
No one in this world had ever attempted anything like this before. Although the game industry was developing rapidly, games and films remained two completely different art forms. Just like in Chen Mo's previous life, many companies in this parallel world had tried "CG movies," but the results were far from optimistic.
The reasons were complex and didn't need elaboration. For Chen Mo, this new attempt was essentially exploring another possibility for VR movies. It might not be particularly successful, but it was worth a try.
Chen Mo tapped the table lightly. After a moment, he typed a line on his computer.
"Batman: The Dark Knight."
Since he was going to make a movie, he might as well make the best one.
Of course, there were so many classic films that calling "The Dark Knight" the "best" wouldn't be objective, but calling it "one of the best" should be no problem.
As for why he chose this movie.
In Chen Mo's previous life, among the top 250 films on IMDb, the top three were "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Godfather," and "The Godfather Part II," with "The Dark Knight" in fourth place. After that came super classics like "12 Angry Men," "Schindler's List," and "The Lord of the Rings."
IMDb's rating system was very complex. It not only had professional staff scoring films but also allowed ordinary movie fans to rate them. Its scores were relatively objective in reflecting a film's quality. Additionally, based on some domestic film reviews, "The Dark Knight" was undoubtedly a masterpiece. It wasn't just a superhero movie; it was a film that delved into human nature, social order, and the essence of chaos.
However, Chen Mo had to make some modifications.
In the original film, the Joker captured a Chinese accountant named "Lau" in Hong Kong. This plot was actually a satire of the US government, but for Chinese audiences, it might feel a bit awkward. After all, American movies often went wild criticizing even themselves, with the most frequent target being the US government. But for some viewers, it could still be quite uncomfortable.
So Chen Mo decided not to cause himself trouble. He would change Lau's nationality to another country, move the capture location away from Hong Kong, and alter all content related to China. In fact, this plot didn't affect the overall story. What truly made "The Dark Knight" brilliant were the Joker and Batman's schemes, the exploration of antisocial personality and anarchism, and Batman's cool gadgets.
What would the VR version of "The Dark Knight" feel like?
Even Chen Mo himself was very curious.
...
Looking at the hundreds of pages of storyboards Chen Mo had sent over, Qian Kun felt his head was about to explode.
"Boss, you're really a professional at CG for a hundred years. These storyboards are absolutely insane!" Qian Kun flipped through the entire film's storyboards. "Batman? Hmm, is this a superhero theme? Feels a bit abrupt at the start, like there should be some backstory, like how he became Batman in the first place?"
Chen Mo shrugged. "It's fine. Even without explanation, everyone can understand."
Qian Kun asked again, "This Joker... feels like he has a lot of screen time. And why do all the other characters have detailed action and expression descriptions, but he doesn't? Just a rough outline? Although his appearance is described in detail on the first page."
Chen Mo said, "Well, even if I wrote it out, no one could act it."
"Huh?" Qian Kun didn't quite understand what Chen Mo meant.
Chen Mo explained, "For this character, just find a decent actor to play the general part. The key is to get a top-notch voice actor. As for his movements, expressions, demeanor, and other details, I'll manually tweak them."
Qian Kun was stunned. "Manually tweak? Personally adjust his movements?"
Chen Mo nodded. "Yes. For everyone else, use high-precision models plus motion capture. For the Joker, the actor just needs to roughly get the movements right. I'll handle the rest."
Qian Kun sighed in admiration. "Boss, you're really going all out. How do you calculate your work hours? A million dollars an hour? You're probably the most expensive labor in the world right now..."
Chen Mo smiled. "Can't be helped. If you want to make something great, you have to invest. Besides, this is work only I can do."