Chapter 1055: Covert Control

[Chapter 1055: Covert Control]

In a convoy, Jodie Foster sat next to Eric Williams in a Land Rover SUV, a thick stack of Gravity storyboards resting on her lap. With filming nearing its end, she had finally acquired the complete set of hand-drawn storyboards from Eric, intending to keep them as part of her collection.

Her gaze drifted from the two helicopters flying outside the window back to Eric, who was wearing headphones and watching a video on his laptop. "Eric, with such a showy display, aren't you worried we'll be swarmed tomorrow?"

Eric paused the video and removed his headphones, looking puzzled. "What?"

Jodie rolled her eyes slightly and repeated her earlier comment. "Last time we filmed a scene for Contact in New Mexico, Robert was completely frazzled trying to prevent the reporters from getting any behind-the-scenes shots. I imagine the North American press is even hungrier for news about Gravity now, right?"

Since Gravity had been announced, the only official information had come from Firefly Group. The media had received almost no other information regarding the film. With Eric's status as a billionaire and his track record of two back-to-back billion-dollar blockbusters, North American media outlets were eager to dig up more news about Gravity. Unfortunately, most of the film had been shot in a heavily guarded studio, leaving paparazzi with no leads to follow.

At this moment, with the entire Gravity crew on the move, it was easy to predict that a swarm of journalists would soon be descending upon them.

In fact, several media vehicles had already started following the convoy. Although they were close to wrapping up filming, the movie wouldn't hit theaters for another year. To maintain interest, it wasn't the right time to release too much news about the film. Having been in the industry for some time, Jodie understood this quite well, hence her earlier concern.

"Don't worry; they won't get anything," Eric said with a relaxed smile.

Jodie's eyes flickered as she recalled the convoy's destination and some hints Eric had dropped earlier. Suddenly, she asked, "You mean we're not actually going to the real shooting location?"

"Sort of, but not really," Eric explained with a chuckle. "For the overhead shot of the capsule descending from space, I hope to use footage of Pleasant Lake in North Phoenix. However, we'll be shooting the landing scenes in the northern Colorado River basin."

Winking at Jodie, he added, "Keep it under wraps -- not many people know this yet."

"I'm the leading actress, and you're just now telling me!" Jodie shot Eric a playful glare. She then glanced at the laptop screen resting on his knee, curiosity piqued. "What are you watching? Is that Michael Eisner?"

Eric removed the headphones and resumed the video, Michael Eisner's voice emanating from the laptop.

...

"...While dedicating efforts to the development of CG visual effects software and technology, Shadowlight Studios will also invest in the research of new 3D movie projection technology. 3D movies have been around for nearly a century, and although the relevant technology has developed slowly, with the advent of the effects era in film, we have reason to believe that 3D movies could become another new trend in film industry development, following sound and color films. Universal, Warner Bros., and Paramount all have high expectations for the future of 3D films..."

After leaning over to watch the second half of the video with Eric, Jodie remarked, "Is this a press conference?"

Eric nodded. "It's a news conference for a film effects company formed by Universal, Warner Bros., and Paramount, which I just mentioned -- Shadowlight Studios."

"Looks like there's finally some competition to Digital Domain. And now they want to catch up with 3D films too," Jodie replied.

"Maybe," Eric grinned. "But competition leads to progress. I've always thought that neither people nor companies can thrive without rivals."

...

Despite his words, the newly formed Shadowlight Studios didn't pose much of a threat to Eric. He understood this situation was simply a reaction from those companies to Firefly's recent acquisition of Columbia Pictures.

It wasn't arrogance; developing an effects company required strong film projects. Eric could confidently say the film projects in the hands of those three companies were nowhere near sufficient to support their ambitions to compete with Digital Domain.

Moreover, typically, a film needed to outline various visual effects requirements before the effects company would begin targeted technological development. However, in the years prior, Eric had been pushing Digital Domain to establish archives of various effects technology for reuse, yielding impressive results.

For common CG effects like storms, explosions, motion capture, and large-scale battle scenes, Digital Domain already had mature technological solutions. Although Digital Domain had taken on very few projects outside of Firefly's array in recent years, they had been very open about licensing these universal solutions.

Under this unique business strategy employed by Digital Domain, Hollywood had witnessed an explosion of small effects studios springing up in recent years. These smaller studios or companies typically lacked independent technological development departments and would purchase finished effects software and solutions from Digital Domain instead.

For instance, rather than spending months to develop a storm effect from scratch, studios could simply buy a fully developed solution for just a few thousand dollars from Digital Domain. This was far more cost-effective, saving time and yielding better effects compared to in-house development. It was a no-brainer: everyone understood what choice they needed to make.

On the other hand, the projects these effects studios received were usually outsourced shots from the 'Big Seven' studios in Hollywood, and most of them came from Firefly itself.

By controlling the project outsourcing direction, Firefly could indirectly influence, even control, the development of these small effects studios, effectively turning them into extensions of Digital Domain. While these smaller studios could survive comfortably, they would never pose a genuine threat to Digital Domain.

Moreover, should the effects industry face hard times, tightening the outsourcing strategy could easily sacrifice these subordinate studios, helping Digital Domain mitigate risks.

As for the just-formed Shadowlight Studios, they might initially invest money into R&D. However, once they realized that the costs of developing technology for most effects shots far outweighed those incurred by smaller effects studios, and that the human resources needed for subsequent CG rendering were similarly high, they would struggle to generate additional revenue through software and technical solutions like Digital Domain.

Eventually, after a few years, the higher-ups of those three companies would likely abandon their full support for Shadowlight Studios, continuing to fall under the covert control of Digital Domain. Shadowlight would eventually become a redundant venture, especially as they failed to improve basic effects technology, making any further advancement in the specialized effects domain impossible.

Historically, the most advanced effects technology had consistently been in the hands of only a few companies, like Industrial Light & Magic. The best special effects films had always come from these giants, whereas the newly emerging effects companies, regardless of their size, frequently needed to develop completely new solutions based on foundational industry software, facing client-specific demands.

This repetition of resources not only greatly increased operational costs across the industry but also left smaller studios without any dependency on the giants like Digital Domain. When the winter of the effects industry arrived, all effects companies would suffer, leading many to continuously relocate to rebate areas to cut costs and engage in price wars, effectively worsening the situation in a vicious cycle.

The mention of developing 3D film technology by Michael Eisner during the video also raised Eric's alarm. If the industry were to face two completely different 3D projection standards in the future, it could spell trouble.

However, these things couldn't be resolved overnight, and Eric could only wait and see what unfolded.

...

Jodie could think of publicity issues, and of course, the seasoned Gravity production team had already considered them too.

Thus, despite the convoy arriving in Phoenix, Arizona, with great fanfare, once in the city, the crew quickly drove into a secluded private resort in the north. A throng of journalists, barred from entering the resort, watched the convoy disappear, jumping up and down in disappointment as they snapped unrelated photos of the retreating vehicles. As for the core crew members they had hoped to see, they didn't catch even a glimpse.

The six to seven-hour drive from Los Angeles to Phoenix left everyone exhausted; naturally, there wasn't much work planned for that day.

After settling everyone in, Eric returned to his accommodations, took a shower, and emerged from the bathroom at five o'clock in the afternoon.

...

When a knock sounded on the door, Eric went over and opened it.

Caroline saw Eric in his bathrobe and blushed slightly. "Eric, Mr. Stewart has returned from Lake Powell."

Lake Powell was chosen as a filming location for several landing scenes, situated on the northern Colorado River, approximately two hundred kilometers from Phoenix.

As for Pleasant Lake, about ten kilometers north of Phoenix, it served as the city's drinking water reservoir. Eric chose not to film the landing sequences there, both to throw the media off their trail and because the city of Phoenix, due to environmental concerns, didn't approve the Gravity crew's filming permit.

As the producer for Gravity, William Stewart had gone back three days earlier with a few assistants to scout the Lake Powell location, ensuring that filming would proceed smoothly in the coming days.

"It's almost dinner time. Let's send William to the restaurant; I'll join him shortly," Eric nodded. Looking at Caroline's shy demeanor, he added, "You should come along too."

"Okay, I'll notify Mr. Stewart," Caroline responded, her cheeks tinged with red as she hurried away.

...

The presence of the Gravity crew had attracted journalists from across North America, with many local Arizona TV stations running reports about the event.

Consequently, every move the crew made was impossible to conceal under the scrutiny of numerous eyes. However, it seemed the Gravity crew didn't mind being followed. After a night of rest, the next day, the crew boldly departed the resort and headed towards Pleasant Lake.

Though the journalists were kept outside the crew's encampment, they finally caught sight of Eric Williams, Jodie, and other creative team members out in the unshielded outdoors.

However, after half a day passed, many people realized that other than the conspicuous VH-60 helicopter taking off and landing several times -- sometimes flying over a kilometer high -- they hadn't received much useful information related to the film's content.

Of course, it wasn't a complete loss. At least Eric Williams and the crew's cinematographer, Nicole Frank, boarded the helicopter, seemingly capturing aerial footage. However, these simple aerial shots provided little insight into the actual film content.

Fortunately, the reporters were patient. Since the entire Gravity crew had come all the way there, they surely had more than just a few simple aerial shots planned. Otherwise, Eric Williams wouldn't have needed to be present. Clearly, there were substantive scenes set to be filmed in the coming days.

With anticipation brewing, the following morning, just as dawn broke, journalists received tips from pre-arranged resort staff members and rallied energetically.

Yet, when they witnessed two helicopters take off from the resort, flying over Pleasant Lake without any intention of landing, continuing instead at speeds over two hundred kilometers towards the northern mountains, everyone was left dumbstruck.

Some reporters reluctantly got into vehicles to chase after the helicopters, but they all understood that car wheels could never catch up to helicopters, especially not in the mountains where helicopters could fly directly while cars needed to navigate winding roads.

Fortunately, one of the helicopters bore a large item suspended beneath it, resembling a tent. News-savvy reporters quickly identified it as a spacecraft return capsule after snapping some photos.

*****

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