Chapter 61: Writing a Brand-New Program, Trailer Released

Chapter 61: Developing a Brand New Program, The Trailer is Out

A day later, Qin Feng and Scarlett took a flight back to Los Angeles.

After returning to his apartment and tidying up briefly, he headed to Warner Bros. headquarters to work the next day.

Inside Joseph’s office.

"Qin Feng, you're back. How did the filming go?"

"Manager Joseph, everything went smoothly. All the filming has wrapped up, the actors have all gone home, and now we move on to the post-production phase."

"That's fantastic. One step closer at a time."

"Oh? Manager, how come I haven't seen Director Tim Burton since I got back?"

"His movie has started filming as well. We spent a long time in pre-production, and it's finally rolling now."

"Oh, what movie is it?"

"Alice in Wonderland, a fantasy film."

"Come to think of it, his movie and your The Matrix are the studio's two major tentpole releases this year."

Alice in Wonderland! Doesn't that mean Johnny Depp has already joined the cast?

"What's wrong, Qin Feng?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering, is Mr. Johnny Depp in this film?"

"Yes, he is. You're quite well-informed."

That confirms it then. It seems Depp will need to finish shooting Alice before he can move on to subsequent projects.

In the morning.

In the large conference room, Qin Feng held a project progress meeting with several department heads.

"Everyone, the shooting phase is over, but we need to step up our pace in post-production and strive for an early release."

He looked at the art director, Tom. "Tom, let's get the promotional posters out soon."

Tom replied, "Got it."

He then looked at the visual effects director, Gaeta. "Keep a close eye on the progress at Industrial Light & Magic, and communicate with me if any issues arise."

Gaeta nodded. "Understood."

"Also, we need to put together a trailer quickly to build up some online hype beforehand."

"OK, no problem."

The editing supervisor, Zach, asked, "Director, should I take a first pass at the editing, or shall we do it together?"

Qin Feng thought for a moment. "Let's do it together; it'll be faster. I'll come over to your side this afternoon, and we'll start the rough cut."

"Sounds good."

The sound supervisor, Rizz, said, "Director, the opening and closing themes are done on my end, we just need some background score for specific scenes."

"Good, excellent."

He looked around at everyone again. "In short, we need to move fast while maintaining high quality. I hope to get the posters and the trailer first."

"Once the trailer is out, our team will take over color grading and dubbing, and then we'll launch the promotional campaign."

In the afternoon, Qin Feng went to the editing room with Zach to cut the footage, selecting the best clips from the vast amount of material shot.

They worked until late into the night.

...

Three or four days had passed since returning to Los Angeles.

Qin Feng and Zach finally completed the rough cut.

That afternoon, Bill from Industrial Light & Magic paid a visit.

He and Gaeta came to Qin Feng's office together.

"Oh, Mr. Bill, what brings you to my place today?"

"Director Qin, there's an effect I need to confirm with you."

"Ah, right. Please, have a seat."

The three of them sat down, and Bill opened his laptop, connecting it to the large screen.

"Regarding 'bullet time,' our internal team has been researching it for a long time."

"Our engineers specifically wrote a brand-new program on the FreeBSD system."

"Oh? You even developed a dedicated program?" Qin Feng asked.

"Yes. Without it, achieving that effect would simply be too difficult."

Bill clicked his mouse. "Look, this is the final result."

On the large screen, an action sequence on the rooftop played out.

An agent drew a gun and fired, leaving a visible trail in the air.

Neo leaned backward to dodge the bullet.

The rotating camera activated, circling around him.

Bullets whizzed past through the air.

The entire shot was exceptionally smooth.

From the slow-motion rotation to the trajectory of the bullets, the rendering of the bullet trails, and the seamless compositing of the environment and characters—everything was perfection.

Qin Feng watched it carefully and said, "There are no issues..."

"Though there could be slightly more bullets. Just a couple more rounds should do it."

"OK, no problem."

Bill said, "That shot was the hardest one. There are two other shots, including Trinity's kick with a 360-degree camera rotation, but those will be much simpler."

"Well, Mr. Bill, you've all worked hard. I'm very satisfied with your work."

"Thank you, Director Qin. I'll let you get back to work then. I'm going to discuss something else with Gaeta."

"Alright, take care."

Just as Qin Feng finished seeing the two off, Tom walked in.

"Director, a few initial posters have been made. I just sent them to your email. Take a look."

"Sure." He opened his email.

The first poster featured Neo from a savior's perspective, with the buildings and characters inside composed of green digital code, giving it a strong futuristic vibe.

The second poster was a close-up of the trio of saviors. Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus all wore sunglasses, looking cool as they gazed straight ahead.

The third poster showed promotional character stills of Neo and Trinity holding guns against a backdrop entirely made of green code.

The fourth poster was another full-body shot of the trio posing in different stances.

There were a few more images further down.

Qin Feng reviewed them all. "They're all quite good. Relatively speaking, the earlier ones are stronger. Let's go with those first."

...

Post-production coordination work was tedious, but not nearly as exhausting as being on set.

Time flew by.

Two weeks passed.

The first version of the trailer, having gone through visual effects compositing, color grading, and sound mixing, was finally completed.

Several department heads came to Qin Feng's office, and the computer was hooked up to the large screen.

"Let's begin!" he said.

The trailer started to play:

At night, Neo was slumped over his desk, fast asleep.

A line of text typed out on the screen: Wake up, Neo.

The next second, the office setting appeared.

Morpheus's voiceover played in the background: "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?"

Neo answered the phone, looking tense.

"What if you were unable to wake from that dream?"

He was captured by Agent Smith, and a mechanical bug crawled into his navel.

"How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

Lightning flashed, and Morpheus appeared, turning his head slowly.

A telephone rang.

Neo looked on in shock as his hand turned into a mirror-like glass substance.

Neo: "This is impossible."

Morpheus: "Do you want to know what the Matrix is, Neo?"

"Ah—!" Neo screamed in agony as the glass-like substance instantly surged into his body.

The background music kicked in, lines of code scrolled past, and text cards flashed on screen.

Morpheus opened his hands, revealing a blue pill and a red pill.

The Woman in Red walked past, offering Neo a gentle smile.

In a vast, pure white world, Neo and Trinity stared at each other.

A helicopter flew out, and a skyscraper exploded.

"As long as the Matrix exists, humanity will never be free."

Boom—! An explosion filled the screen!

Followed by more explosions!!

Neo fired dual pistols at full throttle, while agents rapidly dodged the bullets.

The camera began to spin, bullets flew past leaving trails, and Neo leaned his upper body backward.

In a dim, shadowy hallway.

Neo slowly raised his head, revealing a resolute gaze.

"Free your mind."

The shots flashed by rapidly, and the music cut off abruptly.

The movie title appeared: The Matrix.

The trailer, lasting two minutes and eleven seconds, came to an end.

The department heads all turned to look at Qin Feng.