Auxiliary management system for film and television production

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of film and television production management, and discloses a film and television production-oriented auxiliary management system, which comprises an element modeling unit used for analyzing information such as a script and a film production plan into standardized production atoms and constraints; the manifold construction unit is used for generating a state space manifold containing all production possibilities based on the atoms and constraints; the production robustness analysis unit is used for identifying a key bottleneck of a production process by calculating betweenness centrality of manifold nodes; the production navigation unit is used for applying an A * path-finding algorithm to provide dynamic optimal path planning and real-time adjustment on manifold; and the creative opportunity cost deduction unit is used for quantifying the influence of the creative decision on the production flexibility by comparing the total number of the manifold paths before and after the change. According to the method, abstract film production management is converted into a computable and deducable mathematical model, and the predictability of production, the scientificity of decision making and the risk resistance are remarkably improved.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of film and television production management, in particular to an auxiliary management system for film and television production. BACKGROUND

[0002] Film and television production, especially the production of movies and large-scale series, is a highly complex system engineering. Its management process involves the overall planning and scheduling of multi-dimensional production factors such as creativity, personnel, equipment, funds, scenes, and time. Currently, the project management practice in the industry still largely relies on traditional manual or semi-manual methods, such as using spreadsheet software (such as Excel) for scheduling, budgeting, and resource tracking, and relying on a large number of documents, emails, and instant messaging for communication and coordination. The advancement and risk control of the entire production process are greatly dependent on the personal experience and intuitive judgment of core personnel such as producers, directors, and coordinators.

[0003] However, this traditional management mode has inherent limitations. Due to the lack of a unified, dynamic, and computable global model, production plans often represent a static, linear optimal path preset. Once faced with external environmental changes or internal creative adjustments (e.g., conflicts in key actor schedules, failure to shoot certain scenes due to reasons, director temporarily adding scenes, etc.), managers have difficulty quickly and accurately quantifying the chain reaction of these changes on the subsequent progress of the entire project. Decision-making often lags behind changes, and the "opportunity cost" assessment of a creative adjustment is often based on rough estimates, lacking data support, resulting in a huge gap between creative decision-making and production execution. The entire production process is therefore very fragile and has weak resistance to sudden risks, often falling into the dilemma of passive adjustment, overrunning, and overbudgeting, which has become a key bottleneck restricting the improvement of the industrialization level of the film and television industry. SUMMARY

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present application is that the existing film and television production management tools rely on manual re-planning when dealing with dynamic changes in the production process, resulting in response lag, inconsistent information, and difficulty in assessing the chain of effects, leading to resource mismatch and reduced efficiency.

[0005] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides an auxiliary management system and method for film and television production.

[0006] The first aspect of the present application provides an auxiliary management system for film and television production, which comprises:

[0007] a factor modeling unit configured to perform the following operations:

[0008] receive input information of a film and television production project, such as a script, a storyboard, a scene list, and a resource list;

[0009]

[0009] decomposing the input information into a plurality of structured, minimized production atoms, which are classified into personnel atoms, resource atoms, space-time atoms and content atoms;

[0010] establishing a constraint set acting on the production atoms based on preset production rules, which contains formalized definitions of exclusivity, dependency, order and state continuity constraints.

[0011] a manifold construction unit configured to perform the following operations:

[0012] based on the production atoms and the constraint set output by the element modeling unit, generating a plurality of execution blocks composed of the production atoms and logically consistent with each other by constraint satisfaction problem solving, wherein each execution block corresponds to a shooting task package that can be independently executed;

[0013] taking all generated execution blocks as nodes and feasible state transitions between the execution blocks that satisfy the order and state continuity constraints in the constraint set as directed edges, constructing a state space manifold of directed acyclic graph structure, and the data structure of the state space manifold represents the full set of all feasible shooting plans from the beginning to the end of the project.

[0014] wherein the directed edges are assigned weights containing cost and time, for representing the cost of transitioning from one execution block to the next.

[0015] a production navigation unit configured to perform the following operations:

[0016] receiving real-time progress updates about the film production process from an external terminal, which indicates the currently completed execution block;

[0017] locating to the current progress node corresponding to the completed execution block in the state space manifold;

[0018] based on a preset optimization goal, such as the lowest cost or the shortest time, calculating and outputting one or more subsequent execution blocks from the current progress node in the state space manifold using A* and other pathfinding algorithms for reference by the production team.

[0019] In an optional embodiment, the system further comprises:

[0020] The production robustness analysis unit is configured to perform the following operations: after the state space manifold construction unit completes the construction of the state space manifold, performing graph theory analysis on the state space manifold; specifically, identifying key nodes with high betweenness centrality by calculating the betweenness centrality of each node in the state space manifold. The betweenness centrality C B (v) is calculated by the following formula:

[0021]

[0022] where V is the node set of the state space manifold, s and t are the start and end nodes in the manifold respectively, σ st is the total number of all shortest paths from node s to node t, σ st (v) is the number of paths passing through node v among these shortest paths.

[0023] The production robustness analysis unit is further configured to generate production risk warning information based on the identified key nodes associated with production bottlenecks.

[0024] In an optional embodiment, the production navigation unit is further configured to perform the following operations:

[0025] receiving a temporary constraint representing a sudden situation in the film and television production process;

[0026] performing real-time pruning on the state space manifold by marking all nodes and edges conflicting with the temporary constraint as unavailable, thereby obtaining a pruned state space manifold;

[0027] recomputing and outputting the subsequent execution block from the current progress node on the pruned state space manifold.

[0028] In an optional embodiment, the system further comprises:

[0029] a creative opportunity cost deduction unit configured to perform the following operations:

[0030] receiving an assumed creative change containing an increase or modification of scene or character relationship input by the main creator;

[0031] transforming the assumed creative change into a set of assumed constraints;

[0032] applying the assumed constraints to perform sandbox deduction based on the state space manifold, thereby obtaining an assumed state space manifold;

[0033] The creative opportunity cost corresponding to the hypothetical creative change is quantified by calculating the change of the total number of feasible paths in the state space manifold before and after the sandbox deduction.

[0034] A hypothetical constraint C hypo The opportunity cost index OCM(C hypo ) is calculated by the following formula:

[0035]

[0036] Wherein, M is the original state space manifold, M hypo is the hypothetical state space manifold after deduction, N path (M) represents the total number of feasible paths in the original state space manifold, N path (M hypo ) represents the total number of feasible paths in the hypothetical state space manifold after deduction.

[0037] The second aspect of the application provides an auxiliary management method for film and television production, which is executed by a computer and includes the following steps:

[0038] a. The script, scene and resource information in the film and television production project are decomposed into structured production atoms, and a constraint set acting on the production atoms is established according to the production rules;

[0039] b. Based on the production atoms and the constraint set, a plurality of self-consistent execution blocks are generated; and a state space manifold representing the entire set of all feasible shooting plans is constructed by taking the execution blocks as nodes and the feasible state transitions between the execution blocks as directed edges;

[0040] c. In response to real-time progress updates in the film and television production process, the current progress node is located in the state space manifold; and based on a preset optimization target, subsequent execution blocks starting from the current progress node are calculated and recommended in the state space manifold; when a temporary constraint corresponding to a sudden situation is received, the state space manifold is pruned for real-time re-planning.

[0041] The application provides an auxiliary management system for film and television production. The system has the following advantages:

[0042] 1. The state space manifold containing all feasible shooting plans is constructed in advance, so that the response to sudden situations is changed from the traditional and time-consuming global re-planning to the rapid real-time pruning and re-routing of the existing manifold. When a temporary constraint occurs, the system does not need to perform global calculation again, but provides new optimal path recommendations on the existing data structure in real time, significantly shortens the decision delay and improves the scheduling efficiency of resources in a dynamic changing environment.

[0043] 2、The present application sets up a production robustness analysis unit, which can globally analyze the topological structure of the constructed state space manifold before shooting starts. By calculating the betweenness centrality of key nodes and other indicators, the execution block with the greatest impact on the overall plan, such as the only shooting window or key props, can be quantitatively identified, thereby exposing potential production bottlenecks and risks to management personnel in advance, allowing them to make targeted resource backups or contingency plans, and changing the passive situation of relying on experience for post hoc remediation.

[0044] 3、The present application sets up a creative opportunity cost deduction unit, which can convert the abstract and hypothetical creative changes proposed by the main creators into specific impacts on the total number of feasible paths in the state space manifold. Through sandbox deduction and calculation of opportunity cost indicators, the system quantifies and visualizes the compression of production flexibility caused by creative decisions, allowing both artistic creation and logistical management to evaluate the consequences of decisions on a unified data model, thereby making more objective and wise trade-offs between artistic effect and production feasibility. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0045] Figure 1 is a functional structure block diagram of an auxiliary management system for film and television production of the present application;

[0046] Figure 2 is an internal processing flowchart of the element modeling unit of an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 3 is a workflow diagram of the manifold construction unit of an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 4 is a workflow diagram of the production robustness analysis unit of an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 5 is a workflow diagram of the production navigation unit of an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 6 is a workflow diagram of the creative opportunity cost deduction unit of an embodiment of the present application.

[0051] Among them, 10, element modeling unit; 20, manifold construction unit; 30, production robustness analysis unit; 40, production navigation unit; 50, creative opportunity cost deduction unit; 60, data storage unit; 70, interactive interface unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the specific embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work belong to the protection scope of the present application.

[0053] Referring to the drawings Figure 1 , Figure 1 is a functional structure diagram of a film and television production-oriented auxiliary management system according to an embodiment of the present application. The system of the present application can be deployed on a server side, for example, deployed on a single server, a server cluster or a cloud computing platform, and communicates with multiple user terminals through a network. The user terminal can be a personal computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone or the like device running a specific client software or a web application.

[0054] In the embodiment, the film and television production-oriented auxiliary management system can include an element modeling unit 10, a manifold construction unit 20, a production robustness analysis unit 30, a production navigation unit 40, a creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50, and a data storage unit 60 and an interactive interface unit 70 supporting these functional units.

[0055] The operation of the system starts with the data processing of the element modeling unit 10. The unit is configured to perform a structured conversion process on the film project basic materials. Specifically, for a script document stored in a specific format (for example,.fdx format), the unit can use a parser based on preset rules to perform extraction operations of scene number, location, character, dialogue and the like; for shooting plans or resource lists and other materials in the form of spreadsheets, direct import processing is realized through a data interface.

[0056] All information extracted and imported by the element modeling unit 10 is parsed into basic data units (i.e., "production atoms") conforming to a uniform data format and stored in the data storage unit 60 for subsequent processing and calling. At the same time, the unit converts industry general production rules and project-specific constraints (such as specific actor schedule restrictions, special prop use constraints, etc.) into computer-executable formal constraint functions, and stores them in association with the corresponding production atom data to form an associated data set containing business rules.

[0057] The manifold construction unit 20 is the core computing module of the system, configured to perform manifold construction operations during the project preparation stage. The unit is configured to read all production atoms and associated constraint functions from the data storage unit 60 and perform the following operations:

[0058] Firstly, the block generation operation is performed, which can be abstracted as a combination optimization problem. Specifically, the manifold construction unit 20 adopts a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) solving algorithm, iteratively combines production atoms through backtracking search and the like, and uses a constraint function to verify the effectiveness of each combination scheme, and finally outputs a self-consistent execution block set that meets the internal constraint conditions.

[0059] Then, the manifold construction unit 20 constructs a state space manifold in the form of a directed acyclic graph using all valid execution blocks as graph structure nodes. The existence condition of a directed edge between two nodes (such as block A and block B) is that when the execution end state of block A is converted to the execution start state of block B, all cross-block continuity constraint conditions are met. The constructed state space manifold is stored in the data storage unit 60, and a special graph database is used for storage management to optimize the efficiency of subsequent data query and graph structure traversal.

[0060] After the state space manifold is constructed, the production robustness analysis unit 30 loads the manifold data from the data storage unit 60 and performs topological structure analysis, the core function of which is to actively identify vulnerable links in the production plan.

[0061] The analysis process specifically includes: full traversal of the nodes in the graph structure, and calculation of the betweenness centrality index of each node. Since the betweenness centrality can quantify the frequency of a node appearing in all shortest paths, a node with high betweenness centrality corresponds to a key bottleneck node in the production process.

[0062] After the analysis is completed, a risk data set containing key nodes and associated production atoms is generated and stored, which can be presented to the user in a visual manner through the interactive interface unit 70.

[0063] The production navigation unit 40 is configured to run continuously during the actual shooting stage of the project, and its core function is to dynamically generate operation suggestions based on real-time progress. The specific process is as follows:

[0064] When the field staff updates the completion status of the execution block through the user terminal, the interactive interface unit 70 transmits the status update information to the production navigation unit 40. The unit first locates the node corresponding to the current completion status in the manifold graph structure stored in the data storage unit 60, to determine the real-time progress coordinate of the project.

[0065] Based on the optimization target (such as minimum cost, shortest duration, etc.) selected by the user in advance, the production navigation unit 40 uses a graph search algorithm such as A* to calculate the optimal path from the current node to the end node. During the execution of the algorithm, the system extracts the subsequent one or several execution blocks on the path as operation suggestions, which are returned to the user in a visual manner through the interactive interface unit 70, providing immediate navigation guidance for field shooting.

[0066] When receiving temporary constraints caused by sudden changes (such as temporary changes in venue permits, adjustments in actor schedules, etc.), the production navigation unit 40 adopts a lightweight constraint processing mechanism:

[0067] Instead of recalculating the entire manifold structure, the system performs a pruning operation on the graph data stored in memory or a database. Specifically, nodes or directed edges that conflict with new constraint conditions are marked as "unavailable" state, and a temporary feasible graph model is quickly constructed. On this basis, the routing algorithm is re-executed based on the updated graph structure to ensure that the optimal path that adapts to the new constraint is generated in a short time. This mechanism avoids the high complexity of full recalculation, significantly improving the response efficiency of the system to sudden changes.

[0068] The creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50 is configured to provide quantitative data support for creative decision-making in the pre-production stage. When the user inputs hypothetical creative changes (such as adding outdoor scenes that require specific weather conditions, adjusting character relationships, etc.) through the interactive interface unit 70, the unit creates a temporary view or memory copy pointing to the original state space manifold, and constructs a sandbox simulation environment that does not affect the original data.

[0069] The system converts the hypothetical changes into new constraint conditions and applies them to the temporary copy. By calculating and comparing the change in the total number of feasible paths in the manifold before and after the changes, the opportunity cost index of the creative changes is quantified. This index is presented to the user in a visual manner through the interactive interface unit 70, providing data support for creative decision-making.

[0070] The data storage unit 60 and the interactive interface unit 70 provide basic support for the various functional units of the system:

[0071] The data storage unit 60 adopts a hybrid storage architecture, including but not limited to: using a relational database to store structured production atomic data and project metadata, using a graph database to store state space manifold data, and using targeted data storage optimization strategies to improve the access performance of different types of data.

[0072] The interactive interface unit 70 is implemented as a set of application program interfaces (APIs) and is configured to handle bidirectional data communication with user terminals, including but not limited to receiving user input instructions, returning system processing results, pushing real-time state updates, etc. The integration capabilities with third-party systems are realized through standardized interfaces.

[0073] Referring to the accompanying drawings Figure 2 , Figure 2Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the internal processing flow of the element modeling unit 10 according to an embodiment of the present application. The specific function of the element modeling unit 10 is to convert the diverse and scattered raw materials in a film and television production project into a highly structured data model that can be processed by subsequent computing units.

[0074] The process mainly includes three stages: input information processing, production element atomization, and constraint formalization.

[0075] In the input information processing stage, the element modeling unit 10 receives project materials from the user through the interactive interface unit 70. For structured data, such as spreadsheet files in.xlsx or.csv format, such as scene tables, cast lists, prop lists, etc., the unit uses a pre-defined data mapping template. The template explicitly specifies the correspondence between each column of the table and the internal data field of the system, to achieve automatic parsing and importing of data. For unstructured or semi-structured data such as script documents in.txt or.fdx format, the unit uses a parser based on natural language processing technology, which automatically extracts information fragments such as scene titles, scene locations, characters, and important props through pattern matching and entity recognition algorithms.

[0076] In the production element atomization stage, the information fragments processed as described above are further instantiated as "production atoms" with a unified data structure. Each production atom is a data object with a unique identifier (atom_id), a type (atom_type), and a set of attributes, as shown in the following examples:

[0077] An actor is defined as a "person" type atom, with attributes including name, role, and a reference ID to the available schedule;

[0078] A physical prop is defined as a "resource" type atom, with attributes including name, quantity, and a Boolean value indicating whether the resource is exclusive (i.e., can only be used for one shooting activity at the same time);

[0079] A shooting scene is defined as a "content" type atom, with attributes including scene number, estimated page number, and a list of all personnel and resource atom IDs required for the scene;

[0080] A specific date and time period (e.g., "October 1, 20xx, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM") is defined as a "time-space" type atom.

[0081] In the constraint formalization stage, the element modeling unit 10 converts the production logic and rules into Boolean functions executable by a computer, i.e., constraint functions. Each constraint function takes a set of production atoms as input and returns true or false according to the pre-set logic, to judge the validity of the atom combination, as shown in the following examples:

[0082] The exclusivity constraint is formalized as a function c mutex , receiving the set of atoms involved in two scheduled activities in the same time period, returns false if there exists a "person" or "resource" atom that is the same in both sets and has the exclusivity property;

[0083] The sequentiality constraint is formalized as a function c seq , receiving two "content" type atoms (e.g. scene A and scene B), determines whether the execution order of the two is correct according to the script order or specific production requirements (e.g. scene B is set in the state after the destruction of the set of scene A);

[0084] The state continuity constraint is formalized as a function c state , which is used to handle scenes that need to be shot continuously, receives the set of atoms of adjacent execution blocks, and checks whether the state attributes of shared atoms (e.g. actors, costumes) are consistent. For example, it checks whether the hairstyle, makeup, or costume ID of an actor in the two blocks match, and returns false if they do not match and no corresponding preparation time is scheduled.

[0085] To provide the processing of the above stages, the element modeling unit 10 finally outputs a set of complete and structured production atom data and a function library containing multiple executable constraint functions. The above data and functions are uniformly stored in the data storage unit 60, providing an accurate and unambiguous data basis for the work of the subsequent manifold construction unit 20.

[0086] Referring to the accompanying Figure 3 , Figure 3 is a workflow diagram of the manifold construction unit 20 according to an embodiment of the present application. The manifold construction unit 20 starts after the element modeling unit 10 completes data structuring, and its core function is to integrate discrete production elements and rules into a computable global model containing all potential production paths, i.e. a state space manifold. This process includes two main steps: execution block generation and state space manifold construction, as follows:

[0087] In the execution block generation step, the goal of the manifold construction unit 20 is to find all self-consistent combinations of shooting activities. This problem is modeled as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). In this model, the shooting periods or units to be assigned constitute variables, and all unassigned "content" atoms (e.g. scenes) constitute variable domains. The manifold construction unit 20 uses a backtracking search algorithm with forward checking to systematically explore all possible combinations.

[0088] For each attempted combination, the unit calls the relevant constraint functions stored in the data storage unit 60 for verification. For example, when trying to place "scene SC-05" in an "Day-1-Morning" execution block, the system verifies the following constraint conditions:

[0089] Time constraints, availability of all personnel atoms involved in the scene during the time period;

[0090] Resource constraints, availability of required resource atoms during the time period;

[0091] Spatial constraints, matching of the shooting location.

[0092] A valid execution block is only confirmed when the combination passes all the internal related constraints. This process continues until all possible valid execution blocks are identified and stored.

[0093] In the state space manifold construction step, the manifold construction unit 20 takes all the valid execution blocks generated in the previous step as the node set (V) to construct a directed acyclic graph (DAG).

[0094] The process of determining whether there is a directed edge e i between two nodes v j and v ij is done by a state transition function T(v i ,v j ). The function mainly performs the following checks:

[0095] Check if there are any mandatory constraints on the order of scene execution in the script requirements or production specifications, for example, a scene in v j must occur after a scene in v i .

[0096] Check the cross-block state continuity constraints, for example, if actor A appears in both v i and v j , the function will check if the “makeup state” attribute remains consistent between the two blocks.

[0097] Only when all the related order and state continuity constraints are satisfied, the function T(v i ,v j ) returns true, and a directed edge from v i to v j is established.

[0098] Meanwhile, for each successfully established directed edge e ij , the manifold construction unit 20 assigns a multi-dimensional weight vector W(e ij ) to it. The vector is calculated as follows:

[0099] Time weight w time : This weight represents the total duration required to complete the target block v j . It is calculated by summing up the vj The estimated shooting duration of all "content" atoms (such as a scene) contained in the block, plus the fixed preparation and ending time related to the block (for example, the erection time of a specific device).

[0100] Cost weight w cost : The weight represents the direct financial cost generated by completing the target block v j .

[0101] w cost =∑(rate perxonnel ×w time )+∑(rate equipment ×w time )+fee location ;

[0102] That is, the unit time cost of all participants and equipment multiplied by the time weight, plus the one-time fees that may be generated, such as site rental.

[0103] After traversing all node pairs to complete edge determination and weight calculation, a complete, weighted state space manifold is constructed.

[0104] To facilitate global path calculation and analysis, after all execution block nodes and directed edges are constructed, the manifold construction unit 20 further adds a virtual "global start node" S start and a virtual "global end node" S end to the graph.

[0105] This unit establishes directed edges from S start to all execution block nodes with no in-degree (i.e., all possible shooting start nodes); and establishes directed edges from all execution block nodes with no out-degree (i.e., all possible shooting end nodes) to S end .

[0106] This ensures that the entire state space manifold forms a single-source single-sink DAG structure, providing clear calculation boundaries for subsequent path analysis. The final constructed weighted directed acyclic graph data structure is stored in the data storage unit 60, which can use a graph database to optimize path query and analysis operations.

[0107] Referring to the accompanying Figure 4 , Figure 4 is a workflow schematic diagram of the production robustness analysis unit 30 according to an embodiment of the present application. The production robustness analysis unit 30 is started after the manifold construction unit 20 completes the construction of the state space manifold, and its main purpose is to perform structural risk assessment on the generated global production plan, to pre-identify potential production bottlenecks before actual shooting begins.

[0108] The production robustness analysis unit 30 first loads the complete weighted state space manifold data from the data storage unit 60. The core technical means is to apply the centrality analysis algorithm in graph theory. Specifically, the embodiment uses the Betweenness Centrality to quantify the importance of each execution block node in the entire production process network.

[0109] The Betweenness Centrality C of a node v B (v) is calculated by the following formula:

[0110]

[0111] Where V is the set of all execution block nodes in the state space manifold; s and t represent the starting node and the terminal node in the manifold respectively; σ st refers to the total number of all shortest paths from the starting node s to the terminal node t. The shortest path here can be defined according to the preset optimization goal, for example, the time weight w time The cumulative value is the minimum standard; σ st (v) represents the number of paths that must pass through node v among these shortest paths.

[0112] The technical meaning of this formula is that if the Betweenness Centrality value of an execution block node v is high, it means that a large part of all the most efficient (for example, the shortest time-consuming) production plans must rely on the smooth completion of this execution block.

[0113] Therefore, this execution block constitutes a structural "bottleneck", and any accident related to it (such as resource conflict, personnel absence) will cause damage to a large number of optimal production paths, thereby significantly reducing the fault tolerance of the entire production process. In order to efficiently calculate this index, this unit can use known fast algorithms such as Brandes algorithm to process large-scale graph data.

[0114] After completing the centrality calculation of all nodes, the production robustness analysis unit 30 generates a detailed production risk report. The report selects the key nodes with high Betweenness Centrality scores (such as the top 5%) and analyzes each key node in detail:

[0115] For each listed key node, the report further analyzes the internal core elements that constitute the execution block:

[0116] Bottleneck cause positioning: based on the production atom attributes and constraint relationships, generate natural language description text to explain the technical reasons why the node becomes a bottleneck.

[0117] For example: "The execution block EB-247 has a betweenness centrality score of 0.85, and the technical cause is that this block is the only execution unit that satisfies all three constraints: 'Special prop A available', 'Location B permit', and 'Lead actor C present'."

[0118] The report adopts a structured data format (such as a JSON object) and contains the following technical fields:

[0119] Key node ID (primary key);

[0120] Betweenness centrality score;

[0121] Detailed information of all production atoms constituting the node (including atom_id, atom_type, and attribute list);

[0122] Bottleneck reason description text generated by the system automatically.

[0123] The generated production risk report is stored in the data storage unit 60 and is provided to the production manager through the interactive interface unit 70 for visual presentation. The visualization forms include but are not limited to charts or lists, supporting customized program processing or user interface display. This technical solution enables the management team to develop technical countermeasures in advance based on data-driven analysis results, such as configuring backups for key resources and reserving buffer time for shooting periods corresponding to bottleneck nodes.

[0124] The above technical solution realizes risk quantification evaluation of the film and television production process through graph theory algorithm and structured data analysis, providing technical basis for subsequent production scheduling.

[0125] Referring to the accompanying drawings Figure 5 , Figure 5 is a workflow schematic diagram of the production navigation unit 40 according to an embodiment of the present application. The production navigation unit 40 is the core decision support module of the system in the shooting execution stage, and provides dynamic path navigation and emergency response functions based on the pre-constructed state space manifold. The functions of this unit are mainly realized through two sub-processes: real-time navigation and real-time re-planning.

[0126] When the production is progressing as planned, the real-time navigation sub-process is activated:

[0127] When an execution block completes shooting, the on-site personnel submit the completion status of the block through the interactive interface unit 70, for example, submit the ID of the completed execution block. After receiving this information, the production navigation unit 40 performs the following operations:

[0128] In the state space manifold graph structure of the data storage unit 60, the current progress pointer is updated to the corresponding node, which becomes the "current node".

[0129] An A* pathfinding algorithm is executed to determine the optimal path from the current node to the termination node of the flowform, with the cost function f(n) of the A* pathfinding algorithm defined as:

[0130] f(n) = g(n) + h(n);

[0131] where n is the node of the execution block to be evaluated. g(n) is the actual cumulative cost of reaching node n from the current node along the path, whose value is derived by accumulating the weights (e.g. time weights w time ) of all edges on the path. h(n) is the estimated cost of reaching the termination node of the flowform from node n, i.e. the heuristic function. To ensure the optimality and efficiency of the algorithm, the value of h(n) is pre-computed during the construction of the flowform by running Dijkstra's algorithm in reverse on the graph from all termination nodes, and stored as an attribute of the node. In this way, h(n) represents the theoretical minimum cost of reaching the end point from node n. By minimizing the value of f(n), the A* algorithm can efficiently determine a globally optimal subsequent path.

[0132] Upon completion of the computation, the next or several execution blocks following the current node on the path will be returned to the user as the recommended shooting plan through the interactive interface unit 70.

[0133] The real-time re-planning sub-process is used to handle unexpected contingencies:

[0134] When a temporary constraint is received (e.g. "Actor A is unavailable for the entire day on D"), the production navigation unit 40 performs the following operations:

[0135] The natural language description of the constraint is parsed into a graph data manipulation instruction (e.g. "mark all nodes with date attribute D and personnel atom list containing Actor A as unavailable").

[0136] Instead of rebuilding the entire flowform, this unit performs a "pruning" operation directly on the graph data in the data storage unit 60:

[0137] All nodes are traversed, and the "is_available" attribute of nodes that satisfy the above condition are set to "false".

[0138] During path computation, the A* algorithm is configured to automatically ignore nodes with "is_available" attribute set to "false".

[0139] After the pruning operation is completed, the production navigation unit 40 re-runs the A* pathfinding algorithm described above on the modified graph structure, starting from the current progress node.

[0140] The technical scheme realizes efficient dynamic adjustment of the shooting plan by pre-computing the heuristic function and local graph structure modification, greatly shortens the re-planning response time, provides data-driven decision support for the on-site team, and effectively responds to the influence of unexpected events on the shooting progress.

[0141] Referring to the drawings Figure 6 , Figure 6 is a workflow schematic diagram of the creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50 according to an embodiment of the present application. The creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50 provides a systematic impact evaluation function of creative changes for a film and television production team, and supports the decision-making process through quantitative analysis. Its core function is to simulate a hypothetical change and calculate the impact of the change on the flexibility of the entire production process.

[0142] The workflow of the unit is triggered by a user inputting a hypothetical creative change request through the interactive interface unit 70.

[0143] For example, a request can be "add a night rain scene chase scene". The unit first converts this request into a set of specific formalized constraints. For the above example, this includes:

[0144] Add a new "content" atom (new scene) and define that it must be associated with a specific "person" atom (actor), "resource" atom (such as track, jib, rain-making equipment), and "spacetime" atom that satisfies the "night" condition.

[0145] After receiving the hypothetical constraints, the unit does not modify the original state space manifold stored in the data storage unit 60, but creates a temporary copy or isolated view of the manifold in memory, i.e., builds a "sandbox" deduction environment.

[0146] Subsequently, the set of new hypothetical constraints is applied to the temporary copy. The application process specifically represents a modification to the copy graph structure, for example, traversing and removing all nodes or edges that conflict with the new constraints.

[0147] In the above example, all execution blocks that do not contain the required rain-making equipment, or all execution blocks that occur during the day, if they are necessary prerequisites for the new scene in the path, the relevant paths will be cut off. After this operation, a modified hypothetical state space manifold M hypo .

[0148] Next, the unit calculates the opportunity cost indicator OCM(C hypo ) corresponding to the hypothetical constraint C hypo ) through the following formula:

[0149]

[0150] where M is the original state space manifold, M hypo is the hypothetical state space manifold after deduction. N path (M) and N path (M hypo ) represent the total number of valid paths from the start node to the end node in the respective manifolds. The value of this indicator ranges from 0 to 1, directly reflecting the proportion of the total number of feasible production plans that is reduced due to the introduction of the new idea.

[0151] To efficiently calculate the total number of paths N path , the unit takes advantage of the characteristic that the state space manifold is a directed acyclic graph. The calculation can be performed using a dynamic programming algorithm based on topological sorting, specifically:

[0152] First, topologically sort all nodes in the graph, then starting from the start node, calculate the number of paths to each node in topological order.

[0153] For any node u, the total number of paths is the sum of the total number of paths of all its direct predecessor nodes.

[0154] By traversing once, the total number of paths from the start node to all other nodes can be obtained, and the required N path value is finally obtained.

[0155] The unit executes the above path counting algorithm on the original manifold M and the hypothetical manifold M hypo respectively, and substitutes the two counting values into the formula to calculate the final opportunity cost indicator.

[0156] This quantitative and objective indicator is then presented to the user through the interactive interface unit 70, enabling the creative team to clearly understand the specific impact of their creative choices on the complexity and flexibility of the entire production process before making a final decision.

[0157] To assist user decision-making, the system can also preset application thresholds for the opportunity cost indicator. For example:

[0158] When the OCM value is below 0.2, the system marks it as low impact, which the user can configure.

[0159] When the OCM value is between 0.2 and 0.6, it is marked as medium impact, prompting careful evaluation.

[0160] When the OCM value is higher than 0.6, it is marked as high impact, and a strong warning is issued.

[0161] This grading mechanism converts abstract numerical values into intuitive and operationally guiding decision signals.

[0162] In order to make the technical solution, implementation process and technical effects of the present invention clearer, specific application examples will be used to illustrate the present invention.

[0163] Example 1:

[0164] This embodiment provides a specific application process on the auxiliary management system for film and television production described in the present invention.

[0165] 1. Project initialization and model establishment

[0166] A film crew project titled "xxxx" has been launched. The producer uploads the script document, a scene breakdown table (in Excel format) containing 45 scenes, the schedules of lead actors A and B, and a rental agreement for key equipment (such as a Steadicam and a drone) to the system via the interactive interface unit 70.

[0167] The element modeling unit 10 receives the above information. First, it parses the scene decomposition table, creates a "content" type production atom for each scene, and records its required attributes such as location, number of pages, day / night scenes, etc. At the same time, it parses the actor schedule table, creates "personnel" atoms for actor A and actor B respectively, and marks the unavailable dates in their schedules (for example, actor B is unavailable on Thursday and Friday of the first week) as constraints. Next, the implicit sequential requirements in the script, such as "Scene 32 (character running in the rain) must be filmed before Scene 35 (character entering the house soaking wet)", are converted into a formalized sequential constraint function.

[0168] The manifold construction unit 20 uses half a day (morning / afternoon / evening) as a basic time unit, combines all production atoms and constraint functions, and begins generating valid execution blocks. For example, an execution block attempting to schedule scene 32 for Thursday morning of the first week would be deemed invalid due to a conflict with actor B's schedule constraints. After calculation, the system generates hundreds of internally self-consistent, valid execution blocks. Then, using these blocks as nodes, the system constructs directed edges between them based on cross-block constraints such as scene sequential constraints and actor state continuity. Ultimately, a state space manifold containing all feasible shooting plans is formed and stored in the data storage unit 60.

[0169] 2. Production risk warning

[0170] Before filming officially began, the production robustness analysis unit 30 analyzed the constructed state space manifold. The unit's calculations revealed that the betweenness centrality score of an execution block containing "Scene 40 (the rooftop confrontation scene)" was significantly higher than that of other nodes. Tracing the block's constituent atoms, the system discovered the bottleneck: the "rooftop" location, upon which "Scene 40" relied, was only open to the crew on Wednesday nights of the second week.

[0171] The system generates a risk report and alerts the production team: "Block 'S40-Tue-Night' is a critical bottleneck node. Any factor that causes this block to be delayed (e.g. bad weather, lead actor illness) will cause a non-recoverable shooting schedule for the rest of the week, resulting in significant project delay risk." Based on this report, the producer proactively negotiates with the venue owner to reserve a backup shooting window for Wednesday night of the third week, significantly enhancing the robustness of the schedule.

[0172] 3. Dynamic navigation and real-time replanning

[0173] The project enters the shooting execution phase. In the morning, the crew completes "Scene 05" using the optimal path recommended by the production navigation unit 40 using the A* algorithm. The assistant director marks this block as "completed" via the terminal device.

[0174] In the afternoon, "Scene 12" is scheduled to be shot, which requires the use of the Stanicon. However, the device malfunctions during the transition and is estimated to take 4 hours to repair. The assistant director immediately inputs this unexpected situation into the system: "Stanicon resource unavailable for the next 4 hours."

[0175] Upon receiving this temporary constraint, the production navigation unit 40 performs a pruning operation on the graph data in memory, temporarily marking all execution block nodes that require the Stanicon within the next 4 hours as "unreachable." Then, on the pruned graph, the A* algorithm is re-run from the current progress node ("Scene 05" completed). After a few seconds, the system provides a new optimal path recommendation: "Immediately transition to the backup interior set and shoot "Scene 18" and "Scene 19," which are not affected by the device, for an estimated 3.5 hours. After completion, the Stanicon device is expected to be repaired and available." The crew seamlessly switches to the alternative plan based on this suggestion, avoiding the entire afternoon's downtime and minimizing the damage caused by the unexpected event.

[0176] Example 2:

[0177] This example is based on the initial settings of Example 1, and the application of the creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50 is added in the early stage of the project.

[0178] After the state space manifold has been initially constructed, the director proposes a creative change while reviewing the script: he wants to add a scene of a night solo performance "Scene 21A" in the same office after "Scene 21," which is originally only a day scene of an office. He requires that these two scenes must be completed within the same shooting day to take advantage of the existing set.

[0179] The producer inputs this hypothetical creative change into the system. The creative opportunity cost deduction unit 50 receives the request and creates a sandboxed copy of the original state space manifold M in memory.

[0180] The unit translates the director's request into a new strong constraint: "the 'content' atoms SC21 and SC21A must be contained in the same 'date' attribute's two execution blocks". It applies this constraint to the sandboxed copy, filtering and modifying the graph structure, all paths that do not satisfy this constraint are broken, thus generating a new hypothetical state space manifold M hypo .

[0181] Subsequently, the unit launches the path count algorithm. It is calculated that in the original manifold M the total number of valid paths from the start node to the end node is N path (M) = 8740. In the hypothetical manifold M hypo , to which the new constraint has been applied, the total number of valid paths drops dramatically to N path (M hypo ) = 950.

[0182] Finally, the unit calculates the opportunity cost indicator: OCM = 1 - (950 / 8740) = 0.89. The system presents the result to the director and the producer through the interactive interface unit 70: "the opportunity cost of this creative change is 89%. This means that in order to ensure that the two scenes are shot on the same day, nearly nine-tenths of the project's shooting flexibility will be lost, and the alternative solutions to any unexpected events (such as weather changes, actor overtime) will become extremely few."

[0183] Faced with this clear and quantified data, the director and the producer reassess the decision. They realize that, although the creative itself is valuable, the enormous rigidity risk it poses to the production process is unacceptable. The creative is finally modified, changing "scene 21A" to be shot in another interior, thus minimizing the impact of this creative change on the overall plan.

[0184] Although embodiments of the present application have been shown and described, it is to be understood that various modifications, substitutions, replacements and changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present application, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An auxiliary management system for film and television production, characterized in that: include: An element modeling unit, which is used to decompose the information in a film and television production project into multiple structured production atoms and establish a set of constraints acting on the production atoms according to production rules; a manifold construction unit for generating, based on the production atoms and the constraint set, a plurality of self-consistent execution blocks composed of the production atoms, and constructing a state space manifold representing the full set of all feasible shooting plans, using the execution blocks as nodes and converting feasible states between the execution blocks into directed edges; The production navigation unit is used to respond to real-time progress updates during the film and television production process, locate the current progress node in the state space manifold, and calculate and recommend subsequent execution blocks starting from the current progress node in the state space manifold based on preset optimization goals.

2. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The state space manifold is a directed acyclic graph, wherein the node represents an independently executable shooting task package, and the directed edge is assigned a weight including cost and time, which is used to represent the cost of switching from one execution block to the next execution block.

3. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system further comprises: A production robustness analysis unit is used to identify key nodes with high betweenness centrality in the state space manifold through a graph theory analysis algorithm after the state space manifold is constructed, and to generate a production risk warning based on the key nodes.

4. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 3, characterized in that: The key node is an execution block that multiple feasible shooting plan paths rely on. The key node is associated with a production atom that serves as a production bottleneck. The production atom includes a specific actor, location, or license.

5. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The production navigation unit is also used for: When receiving temporary constraints corresponding to emergencies in the film and television production process, the nodes and edges that conflict with the temporary constraints are marked in real time in the state space manifold as unavailable for pruning, and the subsequent execution blocks are recalculated and recommended on the pruned state space manifold starting from the current progress node to achieve real-time replanning.

6. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system further comprises: The creative opportunity cost deduction unit is used to respond to hypothetical creative changes proposed by the main creative personnel, perform sandbox deduction on the state space manifold based on the hypothetical creative changes, and quantify the creative opportunity cost corresponding to the hypothetical creative changes by calculating the change in the total number of feasible paths in the state space manifold before and after the sandbox deduction.

7. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 6, characterized in that: The hypothetical creative changes mentioned above are adding or modifying scenes, lines or character relationships; The creative opportunity cost is used to measure the impact of the hypothetical creative change on the flexibility of the production plan.

8. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The element modeling unit is specifically used for: The script, storyboard, scene list and resource list are decomposed into production atoms containing personnel, props, time, space and content, and the production rules are formalized as exclusivity, dependency, sequence and state continuity constraints acting on the production atoms.

9. The auxiliary management system for film and television production according to claim 1, characterized in that: The subsequent execution blocks recommended by the production navigation unit are subsequent nodes on one or more optimal paths from the current progress node to the termination node on the state space manifold, and the optimal paths are calculated based on the optimization goals of minimum cost, shortest time or resource load balance.

10. An auxiliary management method for film and television production, based on the system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Decompose the scripts, scenes, and resource information in a film and television production project into structured production atoms, and establish a set of constraints acting on the production atoms based on production rules; Based on the production atoms and the constraint set, a plurality of self-consistent execution blocks are generated; and a state space manifold representing the complete set of all feasible shooting plans is constructed by using the execution blocks as nodes and converting the feasible states between the execution blocks into directed edges; In response to real-time progress updates during film and television production, the current progress node is located in the state space manifold; and based on a preset optimization goal, subsequent execution blocks starting from the current progress node are calculated and recommended in the state space manifold; when temporary constraints corresponding to unexpected situations are received, real-time replanning is performed by pruning the state space manifold.

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