Computer Graphics (10)
-Wow! That’s insane! They can render graphics like that in real time?
-Is Surreal Engine 5 really that powerful?
-Then that means we’re going to see games with graphics that look like live action.
-Ooooh! Legend Games!
-If they have something like that, couldn’t one person make a whole movie?
Legend Games’ announcement shook Hollywood even more than Loki’s public unveiling had.
Since the birth of chroma key, Hollywood had spent decades filming actors against green screens and compositing the backgrounds afterward.
That method made it possible to create not only scenes grounded in reality, but ones that would have been impossible in the real world.
Over time, the green screen became the industry standard everyone used.
But green screens were never perfect.
Used well, they produced seamless footage. Used badly, the actors and backgrounds looked like they belonged in different worlds.
That meant reshoots. It meant more CG work. It was a major reason production costs ballooned and schedules dragged on.
And because it was a green screen, the set had to be stripped of green during filming, while skin tones, reflections in the eyes, and any reflective surfaces all had to be painstakingly cleaned up in post.
The biggest problem, though, was how hard it made it for actors to stay in the scene.
The hero fighting machine-men in hand-to-hand combat was, in reality, just flailing alone against a green backdrop. The protagonist gazing out at a majestic universe was really only staring at a green screen with his mouth hanging open.
There was no way their performances could match what they might have delivered on a real set.
So even though everyone knew green screens cut costs, plenty of directors and actors still insisted on shooting on location.
Surreal Screen solved all of those problems.
Light from the background played across skin, eyes, and reflective surfaces, making natural lighting possible without much CG cleanup, and because the background was rendered in real time, the actors could perform with far greater ease and conviction.
Of course, it was still just a screen, so it didn’t completely cross the line into indistinguishable reality. But even so, it gave performances a noticeable lift.
Because the background could be composited from the start and checked immediately, the time needed for reshoots and post-production could be cut dramatically.
Actors who performed on Surreal Screen said the same thing in one voice:
“It feels way more real acting in front of Surreal Screen than on a set.”
“Thanks to Surreal Screen, it really feels like I’m inside a cyberpunk world.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to act against a green screen again.”
Director Benjamin Diamindi summed it up in one sentence.
“From here on out, movies will be divided into those made with Surreal Screen and those that aren’t.”
He was one of the five greatest directors in Hollywood, a genius and a box-office titan.
When a man like that didn’t hold back his praise for Surreal Screen, every other director took notice as well.
Fortunately, anyone could use Surreal Engine and Surreal Screen as long as they paid the licensing fee.
Major Hollywood studios moved immediately to adopt them.
“Contact Legend Games now!”
“We need to bring in Surreal Engine and Surreal Screen too.”
“Call them right away! No, I’m going to Legend Games myself—just set up a meeting for me now.”
* * *
Industrial Magic & Light.
Known as IML for short, it was the oldest and most accomplished visual effects studio in Hollywood.
It had handled the effects for countless famous films and brought to life scenes that people of the time had considered impossible.
Disney had spent a fortune to acquire the company.
IML held overwhelming CG technology and a deep bench of patents, and in both animation and live action it produced CG sequences no rival could match.
That technical edge was one of the reasons Disney’s films and animations were so often judged the best.
After Loki’s unveiling, IML president Carl Chapek said in an interview,
“The performance of Loki is being exaggerated. It isn’t really anything that groundbreaking. In CG work, what matters isn’t just raw technology. What matters more is production know-how.”
IML had patents, technical strength, massive data, and a mountain of accumulated know-how.
He was confident that no matter how impressive Loki was, it couldn’t catch up in the short term.
But the moment Surreal Screen was revealed, that belief shattered.
This can’t be real...
Projecting a background onto an LED screen to capture natural light reflections was already a technique used in filmmaking.
But because the CG cleanup was harder than with green screens, it was only used in extremely limited situations.
This wasn’t that.
They’re rendering the background in real time with a game engine!
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed it.
Surreal Screen was one of Loki’s functions.
You built the 3D background in Loki, displayed it on an LED screen using Surreal Engine, and filmed it that way—in effect, you got footage that looked as if it had been composited with CG from the very beginning.
With reshoots and post-production reduced to a minimum, it was nothing short of a technical revolution.
At a report meeting for Disney executives, Carl Chapek said,
“Disney’s technological edge is over, completely. From here on, the audiovisual content industry will be led by Snow Crash and Legend Games. If we don’t want to fall behind, we need to adopt this technology immediately.”
* * *
I called Tom Scott.
“The phones are ringing off the hook. Disney says they want to adopt the technology too.”
“This will become the industry standard.”
“Incredible. Honestly, sir, you come up with things no one else would even think of.”
“Not really. Anyone could have come up with it.”
As always, it hadn’t been my idea in the first place; it was a technology that had been used in the first timeline too.
Once it became widespread, films were shot using nothing but Surreal Screen, and later it evolved again into a method that projected holograms instead of screens.
In the past, photography and video had been the domain of professionals.
But thanks to smartphones and Linstagram, anyone could take and upload photos, and thanks to platforms like ATube and Toktic, as well as editing programs like Pro Premium, anyone could make videos.
And now, thanks to Loki and Surreal Engine, the path had opened for anyone to make movies.
Just as Block Valley Studio had led to an explosion of solo game developers, Legend Games would lead to an explosion of solo filmmakers.
After I ended the call, Dongho-sunbae, who had been spinning around in his chair beside me, said, “Wow! I never imagined a game engine would be used for films. I bet Director Tak Dongsik would sign the contract the second he saw this.”
“Now he can pull off whatever scene he wants without any limitations.”
“Arum’s probably figuring out how to use it for commercials and fashion shows. And the entertainment people seem to want to make music videos with it.”
Surreal Screen could be used freely not only for movies and dramas, but also for music videos, commercials, TV shows, and more.
Among all video content, music videos probably used the most CG relative to their length.
After all, in the three minutes of a song, the background might change dozens of times.
Lately, music videos had only grown more extravagant. They weren’t just building dozens of sets anymore; they were even shooting on overseas locations.
Spending a billion won on a single music video was no longer even headline-worthy.
The reason production companies poured so much money into music videos was simple: they had a huge impact on popularity.
The age of visual music began with MTV. Then ATube and Toktic arrived, and visual music got wings.
Once everyone could watch videos on their phones, visuals, stage costumes, choreography, and performance became just as important as the song itself, and the biggest beneficiary was K-pop.
That was closely tied to K-pop’s global rise as well.
The period when K-pop began to catch on worldwide lined up almost exactly with the rise of ATube and Toktic.
Dongho-sunbae nodded. “If you’re talking visuals, then yeah, it’s K-pop. When you see girl idols singing while doing those razor-sharp synchronized dances, you can’t help but applaud. And if you think about how much practice it took to get that good, it kind of tugs at your heart.”
“Then what about boy idols?”
“Huh? What about them?”
“...”
I wished he’d spare a thought for sons the way he did for daughters.
“Send the Loki and Surreal Screen materials to the entertainment companies.”
Continue Capital now held overwhelming influence in the audiovisual content market.
“Bumseok’s already putting the materials together.”
Now any scene you wanted could be created inside a single space. No set, no location shoot—production costs and schedules would drop to less than a tenth of what they had been.
“But Darian Heralson really came back from the brink, didn’t he? I never expected him to end up with something like a green-screen phobia after the lawsuit.”
“Mm.”
Acting against a green screen depends entirely on the actor’s imagination. Who would have guessed that the face of his ex-wife would be what filled that empty space?
And come to think of it, this wasn’t something that had happened in the first timeline.
Before the trial even began, he had already been suffering from alcoholism, depression, and panic disorder. Those only got worse during the case.
Normally, the trial would have dragged on for at least another year, and his return wouldn’t have come until long after it ended.
Liberty’s lead actor wasn’t originally him, either.
But this time, the trial had ended early, and it seemed he’d returned before his treatment was complete.
...
Could this, then, be because of me?
If he’d quit drinking faster and replaced his legal team sooner because of my advice, compared to the first timeline?
Either way, I was glad Surreal Screen had solved the problem.
Did I end up hurting him and then prescribing the medicine afterward?
“You said you met Darian, right?”
“I told you, I met him in Barbados.”
“I’m a fan too. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve gone with you back then.”
“Well, you can always stop by the set when I’m in LA later.”
“Really? I can do that?”
“Why not?”
Continue Capital had now become an important partner in the making of Liberty. There was nothing strange about dropping by under the pretense of work, was there?
“So what happens to Anita now? Poseidon’s still about to open, isn’t it? That film cost over a hundred million dollars to make—can she really get it released properly?”
I gave a faint snort.
“Who knows. Who’s even going to pay attention to her now?”