The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 724 Nine Colored Deer

There are two people in front of the China World Hotel.

They are almost the same height. One is thin, squatting on the ground, with slightly sparse hair on his head, and the other has a square face, standing aside with his arms folded.

The thin man was named Cai Meng. He looked up at the square-faced man and said excitedly, "Old Xu, do you think Mr. Lu has invited us to a new project this time?"

The square-faced man is called Xu Jian, the founder of Mojing Tianhe. At this moment, his eyes are fixed on the direction of the intersection, and he shakes his head uncertainly.

"It shouldn't be that fast. The filming of Burning Sun has just been completed and our work is not done yet."

Cai Meng supported himself on his knees and stood up: "After finishing this job, I have to rest for a long time. The order that Lao Wei negotiated with great difficulty was snatched away by a foreign company. When will domestic directors see that we have our own people and can do those things?"

Xu Jian was silent. He initially helped companies with advertising, and later founded Mojing Tianhe with five people in 5.

Cai Meng was one of the original five employees.

Six years have passed, from TV series to movies, and now the team has grown to 6 people. The number of people is not large, but it is already at an upper-middle level in the country.

He was very grateful to Lu Yuan. Ever since Ning Hao introduced him to him, he had been able to get one or two jobs every year to make ends meet.

But that's about it.

Because these special effects are relatively simple and do not require much technical content.

The price for cutting out a picture or changing the background is not high, but 800,000 for a movie is considered a high price.

This is naturally not Lu Yuan's problem. Domestic crews generally invest very little in special effects, which is in sharp contrast to foreign crews.

When filming "Titanic" in 1997, Digital Domain dared to spend nearly $2 million on special effects.

Seamlessly combining a virtual ocean, thousands of deck attachments, digital actors and a 45-foot fixed model ship.

This is impossible to happen in the country.

Although many movies or TV series nowadays have started to use special effects, and use the amount of money spent on special effects as a marketing point during promotion.

But how much of the special effects investment reported by the director to the media actually ends up in the hands of the special effects company?
That was all said to investors and audiences, but what came out in the end was still cheap special effects.

There's no money in this line of work!
In order to pay employees and to survive, Mojing Tianhe would take on any junk job.

Even so, it is still impossible to avoid being intercepted by foreign and domestic counterparts.

He felt helpless when thinking about this: "Alas, who told them to have overseas background? The investors believed in their 3D technology. Foreign monks can chant sutras."

"What a crap 3D blockbuster." Cai Meng was indignant: "In recent years, apart from Cameron, who else has made a real movie that has won the audience's praise? No, they are all liars, and only companies that don't know the business foolishly believe it."

Xu Jian pursed his lips and expressed his deep agreement.

In the past two years, the concept of 3D movies has become very popular in the country.

But in essence, these are all foreign special effects companies coming to China to hype up concepts and make money.

In 09, "Avatar" amazed moviegoers around the world with its unimaginable 3D special effects.

For a time, special effects companies emerged one after another like mushrooms after a rain.

Just when everyone thought that 3D movies were going to take the world by storm and special effects practitioners were making huge profits, investors soon realized a reality: there is only one Cameron in the world.

3D movies are becoming less popular in the North American market, the market is saturated, and many international special effects companies have collapsed one after another.

In order to survive, those special effects companies shifted their focus and turned their attention to the other side of the ocean, that is, China.

They joined forces to hype the concept of 3D special effects in a premeditated and planned manner.

The Internet is full of beautiful blueprints for China's future 3D market, full of chicken soup, such as China is about to become the world's second largest film market, and its special effects technology is expected to surpass the United States in the future and occupy the world's number one throne.

In fact, it is just to fool Chinese capital into taking over, such as the big fool Pony.

From 09 to 13, as they wished, Chinese special effects ushered in a short and false prosperity, and a series of 3D movies represented by "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate" appeared one after another.

During this process, top foreign special effects companies entered the Chinese market and occupied a high position.

Domestic special effects companies don’t have the best technology, so they compete with each other, comparing price and efficiency. You want 50, but I only want 30. You can finish it in a month, but we can finish it in two weeks.

The end result is that the price has been lowered, but there has been no improvement in core technology.

As a result, China's local film special effects companies are still at the low end of the industry chain and are not making any money.

Why did the four companies merge into one? Because they couldn't survive any longer and wanted to band together for warmth.

Given the general environment, many of Xu Jian’s friends have chosen to change careers. Those who are still persisting in the industry are either gamblers or people who truly hope for the rise of Chinese special effects.

He is the latter!
"coming!"

Cai Meng nudged Xu Jian with his arm, straightened his collar, and smoothed his cold head.

Without his reminder, Xu Jian had already noticed Lu Yuan's license plate number.

With a smile on his face, he bent over and trotted over. After the car stopped, he opened the back door very attentively.

"Mr. Lu!"

Lu Yuan said a few words to the driver, then looked at the two of them and said with a smile, "Old Xu, why are you waiting outside? Why are you so polite? Let's go inside and talk!"

"okay!"

The group entered the box, and Lu Yuan first asked about the progress of the production of the special effects clips of "The Sun Also Rises".

"We are currently working on the high-rise chase scene between Xin Xiaofeng and Yi Guchun. It will be completed in a month or so." Xu Jian answered truthfully.

Cai Meng started to flatter: "Mr. Lu, I have to say that the scene where you were injected was simply amazing!"

Lu Yuan smiled and asked, "After this play, which crew did you accept outsourcing?"

"Well, we had originally agreed on the deal, but in the end the order was snatched away by a foreign team. I was going to take a few advertising orders to make a living." Xu Jian took a sip of his wine.

Lu Yuan nodded: "It's like this, I have a new film project here, co-produced with Wanda, China Film, and Guangguang, the investment is about 5 million!"

"Cough, cough, cough." Xu Jian seemed to be choked and started coughing violently.

"Boss Lu!" Cai Meng immediately stood up and said, "I'll toast you on behalf of all the employees in the company. Please feel free to do as you please."

After saying that, he drank the beer in one gulp.

"Boss Cai, why are you in such a hurry? I haven't finished what I'm saying yet."

Lu Yuan had no choice but to accompany him and continued, "The total investment in this film is 5 million yuan. We plan to use 2 million yuan to hire domestic and foreign teams to do the special effects. The 2 million yuan will be spent on special effects without any fraud."

There was silence in the box for a moment, and Xu Jian and Cai Meng were both stunned.

Duo Shao? Spending 200 million on special effects, is that fake?
"Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven", starring Chow Yun-fat, Zhen Zidan and Aaron Kwok, is scheduled to be released at the end of January next year.

When the producer was interviewed by the media, he announced that the investment cost was 4 million yuan, of which 2 million yuan was spent on special effects alone.

A special effects production company, the special effects director from the movie "300" and his Hollywood elite team of 70 people.

With such a big move, netizens are full of expectations.

But as an industry insider, based on the special effects footage released by the other party, it is easy to judge that the special effects in "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" are not worth 2 million yuan at all. Now Lu Yuan is actually going to spend 2 million yuan to make special effects.

They have worked with Lu Yuan on many dramas and know that he is not a boastful person. When it comes to film and television production, he always does what he says, is willing to spend money, and is never vague.

"Mr. Lu!"

Cai Meng excitedly stood up again, banging the table loudly, not caring about the pain in his waist.

"I'm going to toast you again, this time on behalf of all my colleagues in special effects in China. 2 million is a timely relief for the entire industry. I'll drink it, you can do as you please."

Lu Yuan was speechless: "Boss Cai, if you continue like this, I won't continue talking."

"Hey." Cai Meng sat down with a wry smile and nodded repeatedly. He glanced at Xu Jian, only to find that he was frowning and looked like he was worried about something.

He didn't understand. In his opinion, Lu Yuan's appointment with them alone meant that the special effects of this play would be done by Mojing Tianhe.

A huge order of 2 million yuan would be enough to fill the company up even if they only took a small portion of it.

Compared to Cai Meng, Xu Jian was excited but also a little confused. He asked, "Mr. Lu, what is the project? What is the focus of the special effects?"

"It is based on the novel The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin, which is a hard science fiction theme. We plan to make a TV series, an animation, and finally a movie. We will use 3-4 years to build this IP."

Xu Jian's mood gradually calmed down. As the company's largest shareholder, he considered more than Cai Meng.

Hard science fiction!
These three words mean that several leading special effects companies in the country can be partners. Since none of them have experience in science fiction, any one can be chosen.

So, why did Lu Yuan choose Mojing Tianhe?
Because they have worked together a few times?
Stop joking, Xu Jian felt that this reason could not convince himself.

Put yourself in his shoes and let him make the choice.

He might choose Tiangong Yicai, which is a larger company. After all, the company is a merger of four special effects companies, and its number of employees and work efficiency are far higher than Mojing Tianhe.

Why, he asked himself three times in his heart, why did Lu Yuan invite him today.

Xu Jian never thought that apart from biological parents, there would be any unprovoked favoritism in this world.

Lu Yuan must have some request. What does he want and what can I give him?
As soon as he thought of this, he raised his head and met Lu Yuan's half-smile, and suddenly he realized!
He weighed the pros and cons for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, "Boss Lu, Mojing Tianhe naturally wants to take this order. We have cooperated many times and are familiar with each other. It will be much easier to communicate, but the company currently has only about 40 employees, and our production capacity is really limited."

Hearing him say this, Cai Meng became extremely anxious. He kept winking at Xu Jian, wishing he could knock him down with one punch. He also explained to Lu Yuan that the other party was confused and shouldn't take it seriously.

This is 2 million yuan. Even if Mojing Tianhe is only responsible for a part of it, if it can win, how much equipment can be purchased, how many employees can be hired, and how much its technology and industry competitiveness can be greatly improved is unimaginable.

Xu Jian, you fucking
Xu Jian continued, "The current scale of the company is too small, so could Mr. Lu invest some money so that I can recruit some technical experts with outstanding business capabilities to join us?"

"In fact, China is not short of film special effects talent. As far as I know, world-class film special effects companies such as Industrial Light & Magic recruit special effects personnel in China every year. Last year's winner of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Hugo, had a considerable number of shots completed entirely by a Chinese team in China."

"Boss Lu, the special effects industry is not big, and everyone is an acquaintance. As long as the salary is right, I can recruit big names from home and abroad!"

Cai Meng looked at him in surprise.

Yes, you are such a little genius, no wonder you are the head of the company.

Lu Yuan put down his chopsticks. It was obvious that Xu Jian was a smart man. It would be much easier to deal with smart people.

He held up two fingers and said, "Boss Xu, I will give you 80 million. I will take 20% of the company's shares, and you can distribute the remaining % ​​as you wish. You can invest in employees' technology or other things. I will not interfere. You will still be fully responsible for the subsequent operation of the company."

"I only have one request, I hope the staff size can be expanded to at least 300 people, so that when the filming of The Wandering Earth begins, Mojing Tianhe can take over!"

"Okay!" Xu Jian thought for a moment and agreed. 2000 million was higher than he expected.

"Boss Lu, I'll toast you a glass and promise to complete the task!"

“No, I toast to you. The Wandering Earth will not only be released in China. Four years later, whether Chinese special effects can make a big splash depends on you!”

After finalizing the matter of investing in Sunglass Realm Tianhe, Lu Yuan returned to the community.

From a distance, I saw a Maserati and a Ferrari parked downstairs, and Liu Shishi and Lu Jing each got out of the car with a kid.

Lu Yuan leaned in and asked, "Where did you two go?"

"Xiaojing heard that the manor has been booked and was very curious. I took her to have a look inside." Liu Shishi responded, as if he had thought of something, and took out a few round fruits from his pocket.

"Now, let's eat it for you."

"What is this?" Lu Yuan glanced at it.

"Plums. I didn't notice last time that there are a few plum trees in the manor. Come and try some. They are so sweet."

"Uncle, sua um." Yaoyao covered Qiqi's mouth and urged: "It's so sweet, uncle, eat it quickly!"

Lu Yuan was even more suspicious, but he couldn't resist Liu Shishi's gaze, so he ate one, squinted his eyes slightly, and smiled: "Not bad, it's really sweet. It seems that I won't be short of plums to eat after moving over."

Liu Shishi widened her eyes. It was true that there were plum trees in the manor, but they were transplanted there as ornamental fruit trees. They were not edible and were very astringent.

"Uncle is lying!" Yaoyao stood up and said, "It's so sour. My aunt tricked me into eating two."

"I ate three!" Qiqi was a little proud.

Lu Yuan said seriously: "Aunt is lying to you, but uncle won't lie to you. As for the red leaf plum, I've already seen that it's quite sweet. Uncle often ate it when he was a child. Choose the round ones. If you don't like it, ask your aunt."

Lu Jing blinked and said seriously: "Yes, we must have made the wrong choice just now."

"Really?" Yaoyao hesitated and took out a handful of bright red plums from her pocket. She planned to let her parents taste them and take some to school tomorrow.

Unfortunately, she didn't see it. When she bent down to pick out the plums, Lu Yuan's expression began to distort.

"This one is good, sweet." Lu Yuan suppressed his sourness and pointed at one.

Yaoyao was half-believing and half-doubting. She picked one up and was about to show it off to her mouth. Then she looked at her smiling uncle again. Perhaps she was afraid of being cheated, so she had an idea.

"Qiqi, this is for you. It's not sour."

“Okay!” Qiqi opened her mouth obediently, smacked her lips expectantly, and immediately put on a mask of pain, as if her whole body was exerting force: “Hiss, so sour, so sour, sister, you don’t know how to choose, let uncle choose.”

Seeing this, Yaoyao glanced at her uncle with disdain.

Lu Yuan stopped pretending, spit out the plum and laughed.

The group went upstairs, and Lu Jing asked, "Brother, PPS has accepted all of the 200 or so talents in animation, modeling, rendering, etc. recommended by Tian Xiaopeng, and established two studios for them."

"Oh, what's your name?"

"One is called the Nine-Colored Deer, and the other is called the Golden-Haired Lion."

Lu Yuan paused: "No, who came up with this name? Aren't they technical staff? Why are they playing this game?"

"Who knows? They're probably both the reserved type. I also heard that they conducted an internal vote, and that the two names came from the same person."

"Who?"

"Yang Yu!"

"Okay, I'll remember him."

(End of this chapter)