One of the greatest things Hollywood has done in the past twenty years is upgrading virtual technology into a tool that can reproduce the real world. However, using extre special effects techniques and logical narrative structures to fully present the landscape of human consciousness is still rare.
Inception attempts to present the effect of four layers of dreams within a limited runti, heavily relying on post-editing. The film’s narrative sequence doesn’t follow conventional logic, just like how people can’t clearly organize their dreams after waking up.
In order to simultaneously showcase the situations within different layers of dreams and clearly convey the special ti differences between each layer, Duke once again chose "cross-cutting" and raised the bar even higher.
He asked the colorist to give each scene and dream level a completely different feel to effectively avoid the confusion cross-cutting could potentially cause.
"When transitioning from one place to another, we want so variation in tone," Duke told the colorist and Mike Dawson. "Calgary should feel barren and cold, the corridor should have warm tones, and the van should be neutral. Even when we cut to very small shots, even shots completely isolated from the background, the audience should instantly know where the character is."
This is a storytelling technique and also enhances the film’s accessibility, making it easier for the audience to watch and understand the entire film.
"We will rely heavily on cross-cutting."
Before all work began, Duke specifically instructed Mike Dawson, "If the different scenes look completely distinct, you can relax during editing, but I don’t want the visuals to be overly processed. On the contrary, we need to find the natural tone for each location. I had already decided in the script to set different narrative threads in locations that are naturally and stylistically distinct. I want everyone to observe carefully including the art and sound departnts."
In Inception, the editing between dreams is more about ti and space as defined by the story especially the final four-layered dream. Duke wanted the cross-cutting between these four ti-spaces to create a tense atmosphere, especially in the final "wake-up" sequence, where the characters in each layer try to fall at the sa ti to wake up. Cross-cutting was used here along with close-up shots of each character at the mont of waking to create a layered awakening effect.
The tension created by the cross-cutting also greatly stirs up the audience’s emotions.
Perhaps because she was relatively free recently, Sofia Coppola occasionally visited Warner Bros. Studios and discussed filmmaking ideas with Duke. After watching the rough cut by Duke and Mike Dawson even though most of the special effects hadn’t been added yet she was still a bit moved.
While drinking coffee at the break table, Sofia said to Duke, "You’ve profoundly changed mainstream Hollywood cinema."
"I’m just a participant in the transformation of mainstream Hollywood films in the 21st century."
Lifting his coffee cup, Duke took a sip and continued, "Essentially, those people who say I’m just a superficial director and producer aren’t wrong. Everything I do is simply aid at giving the audience a pleasurable movie-watching experience."
Sofia, however, disagreed with Duke’s statent, gently turning her coffee cup with her right hand. "When it cos to influence on contemporary Hollywood cinema, you’re at least in the top three directors of the past twenty years. Probably only Jas Caron and Quentin Tarantino can compare with you."
Seeing Duke about to say sothing, Sofia who knew him well quickly added, "Don’t ntion my father, George. Or Steven and Martin they’re too old and belong to a different era. I’m referring to influence specifically on the institution of Hollywood cinema, and my judgnt isn’t based on box office."
Duke set down his coffee cup and smiled. "At best, I’m a reforr, not a revolutionary or subversive."
"That I agree with." Sofia nodded before taking a sip of her coffee.
Mainstream comrcial Hollywood films don’t welco subversion they only accept reform. However, in terms of filmmaking, reform isn’t sothing that deserves much praise.
There are many good directors and films that don’t reform at all, and many who make reforms but whose final work gains little attention.
Sofia actually knew well what the academic old n thought of Duke.
They believed his films were a vulgar, popularized form of modernism as if taking techniques long established in serious art and turning them into cheap knockoffs to entertain the masses.
But in Sofia’s view, Duke’s films allow ordinary audiences to comfortably understand and enjoy what were once very avant-garde artistic ideas. However, Duke’s focus on comrcial positioning ans that his films always lack that kind of contemplative depth and philosophical richness that truly fascinates. They’re too much like logic puzzles with only one solution precise and stable, but chanical and formulaic.
Sofia Coppola’s philosophy is worlds apart from Duke’s which is also why Duke has never used her in any significant role in a comrcial film.
Still, Sofia acknowledged Duke’s accomplishnts in reforming Hollywood cinema. "For example, superhero films you brought a completely different kind of superhero movie. You introduced real political and social issues into them. In the past, these were not topics anyone discussed."
"If Superman has such imnse power, what’s the point of catching thieves every day? He could completely change how the world works and truly benefit humanity."
After saying that, Duke spread his hands. "Hollywood wouldn’t shoot it that way, because superhero films are essentially fairy tales. Even though The Dark Knight touches on so conflicts that have real-life parallels, it’s still a fairy tale."
Letting Batman deal with real social issues rather than the fake problems Superman faces does seem profound, but it’s still a comrcial tactic. By choosing many hot-button topics and placing them into the narrative, the audience naturally finds things they care about, which boosts the film’s appeal.
While Duke was busy with the post-production of Inception, sothing else happened in Hollywood that shocked the world the twelve-year-old box office record held by Titanic was broken by none other than Jas Caron himself.
No film can maintain a peak performance forever. Even Avatar, which defies the usual patterns of the film market, is no exception. After its fifth weekend of unbelievable reverse growth, its North Arican box office finally started to show a normal downward trend but even then, the weekend declines were exceptionally slow.
Avatar never had a weekend in North Arica grossing over $100 million, but its terrifying strength lay in its consistent performance. Now, after more than eleven weeks in theaters, it was still pulling in $13.65 million over the weekend!
That alone is alarming.
And in just eleven weeks, the film’s North Arican box office surpassed $700 million reaching as high as $720.6 million.
This set a new North Arican box office record!
And not just in North Arica in the global market, the film’s montum was also terrifyingly steady. The global box office easily surpassed the benchmark set by Titanic, setting a new world record with a total of $2.41885 billion.
More importantly, Avatar also brought about a transformation in the film market, pushing the 3D and IMAX craze, originally sparked by Transforrs, to an unprecedented peak. Theater companies around the world were not only swept up in a wave of opening IMAX halls, even the once-neglected 3D glasses beca hot-selling items.
On the other hand, the success of Avatar also reignited the market’s thirst for 3D films. Even a pseudo-3D film like Alice in Wonderland, which was converted in post-production, managed to achieve crazy sales by riding the wave of Avatar’s montum.
Likewise, Duke who had prepared in advance beca one of the winners of this trend.
The 3D remastered version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in over 1,000 theaters across North Arica and more than 60 markets overseas, with all three films screened back-to-back. In less than a month, it earned over $70 million at the North Arican box office and nearly $250 million globally.
This not only brought in considerable profits but also served as promotional groundwork for the upcoming Hobbit trilogy.
The 3D wave also swept deep into every corner of mainstream Hollywood. Major production companies rushed to formulate plans for shooting films in 3D even projects already in production were being converted into 3D films through post-production.
"Fast & Furious 5 must be a 3D film!"
Inside Universal Pictures’ office, after a long negotiation to finalize the partnership, David Ellison, Universal executives, and Vin Diesel gathered together. David Ellison stood up and specifically emphasized, "Fast & Furious 5 must also be a 3D film!"
"I have no objection!" Vin Diesel agreed with David Ellison’s statent.
Naturally, Universal’s executives had no objection either. Anyone could see that making a film in 3D would definitely bring in more box office revenue.
"Justin Lin has already agreed to return as the director for Fast & Furious 5," said one Universal executive. "The main cast from the first film has basically agreed to return..."
He paused briefly, then said to David Ellison and Vin Diesel, "But we haven’t found Jessica Alba."
Since getting out of prison, Jessica Alba had completely vanished from Hollywood. In fact, she could no longer find a foothold in the industry.
Vin Diesel thought for a mont, then said, "Just leave her out."
The brief eting ended. Vin Diesel and David Ellison walked out of the office together. As they entered the elevator, David Ellison suddenly lowered his voice and said, "My people found Jessica Alba."
...
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