After returning to the country, Aoki Haruhi first spent over a week completing the initial draft and outline for The Matrix trilogy, along with some detailed character settings.
He also arranged for the art department to help produce a short animation.
The animation content was simple: it depicted Neo dodging countless bullets fired at him in slow motion in The Matrix.
No coloring was needed, just ordinary line art, and the characters didn't even need to be drawn in too much detail.
As long as the storyboard effects met the requirements, it was fine.
In addition to Neo's bullet dodging, some rather cool and flashy action storyboards were also made.
After finishing these tasks, Aoki Haruhi took a pile of prepared proposals and materials to Moon River Company.
Nao Tsuda was pregnant, so she had already handed over company affairs to Aoki Haruhi and Ichihashi Fumie to handle.
In reality, Nao Tsuda didn't manage much normally; Aoki Haruhi basically called all the shots.
She was also happy to have leisure.
After Ichihashi Fumie finished reading the storyboards and proposals Aoki Haruhi gave her, she was simply amazed.
"Wow! Aoki-san, you are truly a genius."
This proposal for The Matrix not only had a very sophisticated narrative style, but the storyboards were truly breathtaking.
Even without watching the animation video prepared by the art department that Aoki Haruhi brought, the storyboards alone were enough for Ichihashi Fumie to mentally visualize the specific action scenes.
Moreover, the chilling sensation in the movie script, where the entire world transformed from real to unreal from the very beginning, truly made Ichihashi Fumie's mind buzz at that moment.
It felt like her entire worldview had been overturned.
And after reading the entire proposal, Ichihashi Fumie still hadn't recovered from the shock.
She even began to question if this world was real.
Could we also be some kind of virtual beings?
Or, is the real me currently being cultivated like saplings and flowers by robots somewhere?
Just to obtain enough energy from my brain?
Ah!
I can't think about it anymore; I'll go crazy if I do.
Ichihashi Fumie suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with shock.
"This is absolutely the most shocking script I have seen so far."
Aoki Haruhi smiled and shook his head, humbly saying, "Miss Ichihashi, you flatter me. This is just a small idea of mine."
Ichihashi Fumie, however, shook her head firmly. She said seriously, "No, Aoki-san, this is absolutely not just a small idea. Your storyboards and proposals are like treasures fallen from the sky, making my whole body tremble."
She stood up, revealing a section of her arm, "Look, I have goosebumps."
A faint smile appeared on Aoki Haruhi's face. He said softly, "Really? I just hope to bring some new inspiration and creativity to Miss Ichihashi."
He had the same feeling the first time he watched The Matrix.
Amazed, his scalp tingled.
The truth of the world caught people off guard, and after watching it, one would question reality.
Aoki Haruhi deeply understood Ichihashi Fumie's state of mind.
Everyone goes through this.
I am not a genius, nor do I have the ability to create. I am merely a porter from the future.
A glimmer of admiration flashed in Ichihashi Fumie's eyes. She said with emotion, "Aoki-san, you are not only a genius, but also a visionary. Your storyboards and proposals are not just to cater to market demand, but also to explore the boundaries of art."
As she praised, she re-read the documents and storyboards she had just seen, and even on a second read, she still found them incredibly shocking.
Yes, this is simply a work of art.
If it can be filmed, no, it will definitely be filmed.
Once The Matrix is released, the movie trilogy will surely leave a significant mark on global film history.
Moreover, it not only contains profound philosophical thoughts and rich imagination, but also features an exciting story and fast-paced plot, making people's blood boil and filling them with excitement, especially those thrilling fight scenes. Just by looking at the storyboard script Aoki Haruhi provided, she could already imagine how thrilling this movie would be.
No one would want to go to the bathroom midway through, right?
And...
According to Ichihashi Fumie's own assessment, this movie not only has high artistic value but also high commercial value.
Whether in terms of ideological depth, plot construction, or expressive power, it should be a model of commercial action art films.
"So, how do we plan to shoot this movie, oh no, The Matrix trilogy?" Ichihashi Fumie asked.
"My idea is to film it in North America, and first go for the North American box office, and then release it globally."
"Good, good." Ichihashi Fumie nodded, "I think so too."
The proposal actually showed a strong inclination; all the character names in the movie were clearly not Japanese names, but Western names.
This indicated that Aoki Haruhi was targeting the North American market from the beginning.
"Can we really achieve such an effect?" Ichihashi Fumie was a little worried.
"No problem," Aoki Haruhi smiled, "Pokeni's 3D technology has already reached a new stage. At that time, film special effects and rendering technology will just be a byproduct of the game.
You don't have to worry about post-production effects at all."
"Oh, in that case, there's no problem." Ichihashi Fumie smiled happily.
She was even a little excited to be able to witness and lead such a big production.
Aoki Haruhi paused, "You need to quickly have someone refine the script and then submit it to the corresponding agencies in the United States for review and registration, the sooner the better."
"Okay." Ichihashi Fumie nodded.
The two discussed the details further and were mostly in agreement.
The subsequent matters were left to Ichihashi to handle; her serving as the film's general producer would not be a problem.
"By the way, Aoki-san, do you have any requirements for the director and casting of the film?" Ichihashi Fumie asked before the meeting ended.
"Hmm..."
Aoki Haruhi pondered for a moment. In his previous life, the director and screenwriter of The Matrix were from Warner Bros. It wasn't realistic to ask the original team to film it now.
"I only have one requirement: the male protagonist must be Keanu Reeves. You can handle the rest."
"Okay." Ichihashi Fumie nodded in agreement.
Keanu Reeves was already somewhat famous at this point in time; his starring role in'Speed' in 1994 was highly acclaimed, and Keanu Reeves successfully became an excellent action star. Moreover, the elegant and mysterious aura he exuded was quite rare and liked by many people.
Comparing him to Neo in the script, Ichihashi immediately realized—
This script was practically tailor-made for Keanu Reeves.
However, she couldn't guarantee that she could get Keanu Reeves.
After all, casting is subject to a lot of interference and luck.
Just like the upcoming 'titanic' this year, Cameron initially wanted to cast Johnnie Depp as the male protagonist, and he always thought Little Li wasn't handsome enough, a bit too effeminate and thin. But in the end, by a strange twist of fate, he chose Little Li to play the lead.
Who can say how these things will turn out?
"Oh, there's one more thing," Ichihashi Fumie frowned, "Regarding the budget..."
"You're the producer, you can calculate it," Aoki Haruhi smiled, "Let's set it at 100 million dollars for now, and we'll add more later if it's not enough."
"Okay." Ichihashi Fumie beamed.
Aoki Haruhi and Nao Tsuda were indeed wealthy.
However, to invest in such a movie, one or two hundred million dollars would indeed not be enough.
As a producer, Ichihashi Fumie expressed great enthusiasm and felt she needed to work hard.
"By the way,"
Before ending the meeting, Aoki Haruhi called out to Ichihashi Fumie again.
"Hmm?" Ichihashi was already preparing to pack up and get to work, but she turned back when she heard Aoki Haruhi's voice.
"One more thing," Aoki Haruhi said seriously, "For the martial arts choreography, please make sure to use a Chinese martial arts choreographer from Hong Kong, preferably Yuan Heping."
The success of The Matrix, besides the actors' performances, the brilliant script, and special effects, also had another crucial point—
That was the use of Yuan Heping, also known as Ba Ye, a Chinese man hailed as the top martial arts choreographer in Hong Kong, as the chief martial arts director. This made the fight scenes in the movie both fluid and spectacular, leaving audiences thoroughly entertained, while also possessing considerable aesthetic appeal.
Not only did it showcase the extraordinary combat prowess of the characters in The Matrix, but it also allowed audiences worldwide to experience the charm of Chinese martial arts.
Making it look good was one thing, but making it elegant and artistic—aside from Chinese martial arts choreographers—no one else could achieve that at this time.
Ichihashi Fumie moved quickly. After the company's in-house screenwriter refined the script, she immediately drafted a proposal and flew to the United States.
About a week later, Aoki Haruhi received good news from Ichihashi Fumie in the United States.
The project had passed review and was registered and filed with the Screenwriters Guild, the Copyright Office, and other relevant institutions.
This is actually a complete process for film production.
After you file it first, you won't have disputes later due to script duplication. For example, if you want to make a movie and have a good idea and story, you usually have to file and check for duplication with the relevant departments before filming.
If there is already similar material, and there's a risk of plagiarism, then filming cannot proceed.
In such cases, you need to buy the other party's copyright before you can make it into a movie.
What seems like a complicated process is actually a form of property rights protection.
Since Moon River successfully registered, it means there were no highly similar script filings before.
Upon hearing this news, Aoki Haruhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This meant that The Matrix was already within his grasp.
However, this was only the first step. The next crucial step was selecting good directors and actors and making the film well. Although Aoki Haruhi stated there were no issues on the technical side, he still worried about the final product.
Film is an art that requires human performance, and many things are uncontrollable.
What Moon River can do is simply put the most suitable people together and increase the probability of success.
As for Pokeni, what it can control is only the post-production special effects.
"What?! Bullet Time?"
Akanishi Ken's mind was about to explode when he heard this proposal.
What in the world is Bullet Time?
"To slow down time throughout the entire game, with only the male protagonist's time remaining normal. Ah, this… this is very difficult to implement."
Program Director Akanishi Ken slumped in his chair, arms crossed, head drooping, and his features scrunched up as if they were about to wring out water.
It was clear how much he resisted such an unreasonable, shameless, and terrifying demand in his heart.
If the person sitting opposite him wasn't the President, he would only want to curse right now.
"Why don't we move the program development for The Matrix game to North America as well?" Akanishi Ken asked with some confusion, "The game project will eventually be handed over there anyway."
Aoki Haruhi had already confirmed this with Brevik. The reason for transferring it to the North American subsidiary for production was simple—
The movie was to be released in North America, and with the foundation of 'Frontier' already in place, and a basis for the shooting mechanics, it was more appropriate to have the game developed there.
"However, the engine must be developed here," Aoki Haruhi said, "The engine should be shared internally within the company. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. And having you develop this feature naturally has its purpose.
It can also be applied to other games in the future; it's not just for The Matrix."
A game engine, as the name suggests, is like a car's engine—it's the core part of the game. More precisely, it's a development tool.
As long as the engine here in Japan can continue to update and iterate, generating new changes based on hardware, and always maintain world leadership…
Then Pokeni will be invincible.
Developing two different engines with different programming methods would be a bit wasteful.
Aoki Haruhi also based on this purpose, handed the engine development to Akanishi Ken.
"You can set up a new engine project team, specifically for engine development. Our company's first PC game engine will be called—
Emmmm…"
Aoki Haruhi thought for a moment, "Trailblazer will do. The meaning is to be a Trailblazer in the world of game, keeping our technology in a world-leading position.
Exploring for the games of all humanity.
We should always move forward, constantly exploring new areas."
Akanishi Ken was almost in tears.
I don't want to be a Trailblazer; I just want to finish my work honestly.
President, day after day, you just keep increasing the difficulty for us, without considering whether the kids can keep up with their studies.
Is this really okay?
Akanishi Ken felt like his head was going to explode these past few years.
Every now and then, he'd be put through the wringer. He'd barely catch his breath, and he'd been thinking that now that the company's 3D games were on track, there shouldn't be such qualitative changes needed, and they could slowly iterate and evolve, right?
He hadn't expected that he still underestimated Aoki Haruhi's creativity.
However, under pressure from the President, Akanishi Ken couldn't refuse directly. Instead, he nodded, "Okay, I'll bring Ozawa in to form a new engine project team. It's specifically for developing a dedicated PC engine, right?"
"It's best to package them together. The engine should not only support PC game development but also smoothly support PS game development, packaged in different formats."
Ah, this…
Akanishi Ken regretted it a little; he shouldn't have asked that extra question just now.
"We'll try our best."
Different underlying compilation modes make transcription and porting quite difficult, and who knows if Sony will update in the future?
Returning to The Matrix, Akanishi Ken carefully studied the proposal given by the President.
And Aoki Haruhi even played the video directly on the TV.
After watching the slow-motion scene of the men in black dodging bullets in the game, Akanishi Ken was completely stunned.
"No way? Do we have to achieve this level?"
"The camera work isn't necessary, but the game mechanics must be able to achieve this point. When the male protagonist uses the Bullet Time skill, all surrounding time must slow down. This speed of time should be configurable for planners to adjust.
The male protagonist's actions just need to be normal."
Hiss…
Akanishi Ken took a sharp breath.
The President made it sound easy, but in reality, it was completely different to implement.
"This can't be done…"
Akanishi Ken sat there, arms crossed, deep in thought, "Currently, there's only one main process in the game. Making time changes isn't difficult; you just need to make the original playback frequency and game clock faster.
But the problem is, it's impossible to make local changes.
Either everything speeds up together, or everything slows down together.
It's quite difficult to split it up."
Aoki Haruhi smiled triumphantly. He had long known that Akanishi Ken would use this as an excuse.
"This problem is easy to solve, Akanishi-san. Didn't you just explain the solution?
The reason it can't be done is because our current game only has one main process, and using the same clock for management and counting is, of course, problematic.
You don't need to split the content within the game individually; you just need to create different process channels.
Support multi-process coordinated processing. There can be a master clock controlling the overall system, but different clocks must also be provided for separate management.
Once these contents are done, Bullet Time in the game can be achieved.
The remaining parts can be left to the planners and the programmers over there; there's absolutely no problem.
Splitting different process channels has the advantage that it can enable asynchronous behavior within the game in the future.
And this thing can have many, many variations in the future, Akanishi-san. This feature must be done."
Aoki Haruhi said emphatically.
Asynchronous behavior in games, most notably, can lead to Breath of the Wild in the future. Link Time is very famous.
And it can also create other games with 'time' as the core gameplay.
If such games have no major flaws in their plot, the first one to appear usually becomes a classic.
"Okay, President."
Akanishi Ken gritted his teeth. President, you are truly a genius!!!
Damn it!!!
Why is the President so amazing?
There will be another chapter in the afternoon.
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