China's film industrialization is increasingly integrating capabilities from across the film production chain and beyond it, including those from the country's manufacturing and technology sectors. From large-scale set construction and prop fabrication to motion capture and virtual production, these capabilities are increasingly fueling China's film industry. The Chinese anti-war film Once Upon a Time in the Middle East offers a vivid example.

Although the film is mainly set in the Middle East, 95% of its scenes were shot in China. About 70% were filmed on a life-size town set featuring Middle Eastern architecture and streetscapes, built at Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis in Shandong Province. The six-month construction covered 100,000 square meters and included more than 200 buildings.

The film's highly realistic US military tank prop was built by a Chinese company in just 28 days, based on only a few reference drawings.

Digital production technology has also streamlined the filmmaking process. For some key scenes in the film, the production team used a homegrown motion-capture system and virtual cameras for previsualization, allowing them to test camera movements, actor positions and spatial layouts before filming. This helped reduce on-set trial and error and post-production rework.

The film offers a glimpse of how "Made in China" is playing a growing role in the filmmaking process, helping make China's film industry more integrated and efficient.