The Making of The Wandering Earth: A Film Production Handbook

Description

This handbook takes us through the making of The Wandering Earth, one of the highest grossing non-English films of all time. It is a rare, in-depth, behind-the-scenes study of the making of a masterpiece, taking the reader through the entire production process of a landmark Chinese science fiction film. The book brings to life how The Wandering Earth was created, from words to images, by a young and innovative professional team assembled by director Frant Gwo. It discusses specialised details of the filmmaking process and the collaborative work of the crew and the cast involved to present an intuitive feeling of the film’s production. A step by step guide on the making of a radical large-scale film, this handbook critically examines its various stages such as, its development and production stages ― the planning, preparing, recruiting, setting up departments and processes; writing the screenplay; creating a visual style and the production design; and the principal photography; its challenging post-production stages ― the editing, visual effects production, colour mixing; dubbing, sound editing; publicity, etc.; Further, the chapters in volume also explore how Chinese science fiction films disrupt the Western narrative context and provide the larger discourse on Chinese science fiction. Richly illustrated with exclusive first-hand visuals from the making of the film, this handbook, part of the Studies in Global Genre Fiction series, will be an essential read for professionals, scholars, researchers, and students of film and media production, film studies, popular culture, cultural studies, Chinese studies, world literature, and science fiction. It will also be of interest to the general reader interested in filmmaking. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Series Editor’s Preface List of Contributors Foreword Editor’s Preface Action I Calling for Adventures Chapter 1 Summoning the Heroes Chapter 2 “Worldbuilding”: Creating the Blueprint for a World Chapter 3 Screenplay: Not Simply Science Fiction, But Character Creation Chapter 4 Aesthetics: A Taste of Soviet Industrial Style Chapter 5 Conceptual Design: More than Concepts Chapter 6 Previewing Science Fiction: The PreViz Dynamic Storyboard Chapter 7 Photography: A Symphony of Light and Shadow Chapter 8 The “Four Big Shots” Action II Going Beyond Limits Chapter 9 Director Panel: Growing Wildly Chapter 10 Camera Crew: Striving for Texture Chapter 11 Art Department: Realizing the Imagination with Chinese Characteristics Chapter 12 The Challenge of Industrialization, Science Fiction’s Calling Chapter 13 Ideal Actors and Actors’ Ideals Action III Trials Along The Way Chapter 14 Editing: A Second Creation through Simplification Chapter 15 Visual Effect in Post-Production: Technology and Beauty Chapter 16 Sound Effects: An Acoustic Feast to Arouse Chinese Memory Chapter 17 Post-Production: The Life and Death Choices of a VFX-Heavy Film Conclusion: Voices from Film Crew Members Appendices Appendix 1: Brief Introduction to the “Worldbuilding” in The Wandering Earth Appendix 2: Character Traits in The Wandering Earth Appendix 3: Index of Scenes in The Wandering Earth Appendix 4: Props in The Wandering Earth Appendix 5: Natural Phenomena in The Wandering Earth Appendix 6: Special Terms in The Wandering Earth Appendix 7: Chronicle of The Wandering Earth Appendix 8: Cast Essays Essay 1: “Like a God, Creates a World, Then Describes It”: The Aesthetics of Liu Cixin’s Science Fiction Essay 2: The Reality and Myth of Science Fiction: Science Fiction Landscape as a Cultural Phenomenon Editorial Note of the English Version