1st Edition

The Making of The Wandering Earth A Film Production Handbook

Edited By Jiaren Wang, Regina Kanyu Wang (Storycom) Copyright 2022
292 Pages 18 Color & 121 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

292 Pages 18 Color & 121 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

292 Pages 18 Color & 121 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge India

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... Read more

Act 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: The PreViz Dynamic Storyboard

Chapter 7 Photography: A Symphony of Light and Shadow

Chapter 8 “The Four Big Shots”

 

Act II Exceeding 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 & Actors’ Ideals

 

Act III: Trials Along the Way

Chapter 14 Editing: A Second Creation through Simplification

Chapter 15 Visual Effects 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

The Creators’ Favorite Parts

Difficulties and Challenges

If I could do it again…

Expectations for Chinese Science Fiction Films and for The Wandering Earth

Wishes from the Director

 

Appendix

Brief Introduction to the “Worldbuilding” in The Wandering Earth

The Character Traits in The Wandering Earth

The Terms of Scenes in The Wandering Earth

The Terms of Props in The Wandering Earth

The Terms of Natural Phenomenon in The Wandering Earth

Special Terms in The Wandering Earth

Chronicle in The Wandering Earth

CAST

 

Essays

Like a God, Creates a World, Then Describes It” – The Aesthetics of Liu Cixin’s Science Fiction Mingwei Song

 

The Reality and Myth of Science Fiction: Science Fiction Landscape as a Cultural Phenomenon

Yan Feng

 

Editorial Note of the English Version

Biography

Presented by Storycom

Editor-in-chief : Jiaren Wang

Vice editor-in-chief : Yiwen Zhang

Producer : Zhiyan Dong

English version editor and producer : Regina Kanyu Wang

Editing-writing committee members : Changye Chen, Aki Jiang, Jiecai Deng, Xinyue

Zhang, Mengyu Gu, Qianzi Wang

Translator : Guo Qi

Revisor : John Shanahan

Essayists : Mingwei Song, Yan Feng

"Rivaling the best of international productions – both technically and artistically, The Wandering Earth is a film of incredible accomplishment. Having experienced first-hand the brilliance and determination of the film makers in charge of this unprecedented film making endeavour, I feel incredibly fortunate to have enjoyed their vision and talent. A hugely positive landmark in Chinese film making and one that the people of China should be rightfully proud. The book does a great job in documenting the production process of the film."

Richard Taylor

Design and Effects Supervisor/ CEO

Weta Workshop

"The Making of The Wandering Earth: A Film Production Handbook is about far more than just one great novel or one exciting film. It shines light on upon one of the greatest and most promising trends in the history of all human mythic systems -- the rise of Chinese cinematic science fiction."

David Brin, author of EARTH, Kiln People and Existence.