1990: Starting from Baojia Street

SQUARE Company, Development Headquarters Production Department, Takuma Yukinao had just returned from the Art Department, and the head of the Music Department, Nanasaki Shinji, happened to walk to the door of his office.

"Shinji, you're looking for me?"

Nanasaki Shinji nodded, "Yes, I'm looking for you. What's the situation with the theme song of Call of Duty 8?"

SQUARE has a dedicated music department, which is quite large and is fully staffed with composers, sound designers, audio engineers and music editors.

Therefore, the music of their company is basically made by themselves, and the outsourced parts are basically in the backend.

Originally, the music for "Call of Duty 8" was supposed to be done by their music department, but Takuma Yukinao insisted on pursuing internationality and snatched the job away - at least in Shinji Nanasaki's opinion, Takuma Yukinao snatched the job from their music department.

If this matter has been finalized, Nanasaki Shinji can now relax and no longer have to worry about it. However, until now, there is still no definite news about the theme song, and it is unknown whether they can produce it.

There are tunes, but instrumental music is instrumental music, and theme song is theme song, they are two different things.

In this situation, Nanasaki Shinji would definitely take it seriously.

Otherwise, if Takuma Yukichi messes things up later, the work will still fall on them.

Of course he would gloat over it, but they would eventually have to do what fell on their heads.

Takuma Yukino naturally understood Nanasaki Shinji's idea. He smiled and said, "Don't worry. I spoke to Zhou Yanjun yesterday. He has already recorded the demo of the theme song and sent someone to rush it to Tokyo. We will hear it tomorrow at the latest."

Nanasaki Shinji nodded. "In that case, I'll wait a little longer. But I remind you not to think too highly of Zhou Yan. He probably doesn't play games and doesn't know anything about Call of Duty. Although the previous song was really nice, it may not be a good song."

"Yes, I know. Let's wait until the tape arrives."

"I'm going back."

Just as Nanasaki Shinji turned to leave, the front desk brought someone over, "Director Takuma, this gentleman said he wants to see you."

As soon as the receptionist finished speaking, the person next to him said, "Hello, Mr. Takuma, I am an employee of Tomson Company, and I am here to give you this item."

Takuma Yukino saw the box in the man's hand and showed a look of surprise in his eyes, "Is there a tape inside?"

After hearing the tape, Nanasaki Shinji, who had turned around to leave, turned around and stared at the box in the man's hand.

The man pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket, "Yes, there is a video tape inside, please sign it."

Takuma Yukinao quickly took the paper and pen, signed his name, and then took the box from the other party.

"Please help me take this gentleman."

After saying this, Takuma Yukino turned around and went into the office.

Nanasaki Shinji also quickly followed.

Takuma Yukinao moved quickly. After entering the office, he put the tape into the player. Nanasaki Shinji followed behind him and gently closed the door. Then the two of them sat on the sofa, quietly looking at the player, waiting for the music to come out.

After about eight or nine seconds, the song began.

"I will not make the same..."

A soft, clean and ethereal female voice came from the player, but the voice did not seem to be in a hurry to get into the two people's ears. Instead, it floated in the room for a while before falling into their ears, making it impossible to hear where the voice came from.

Nanasaki Shinji couldn't help but look at Takuma Yukinao. He wanted to ask who the female singer singing the demo was, but because he didn't want to interrupt the singing, he held back and didn't ask.

In the main song, the sound feels very unified, and it sounds like it is getting farther and farther away. At first it feels like it is coming from the ceiling, then it feels like it is coming from outside the window, and later it feels like the sound is coming through the clouds following the sunlight.

In terms of hearing, it gives people a feeling of weightlessness.

After entering the chorus, the emotions become intense and the sound produces a huge sense of power.

This sense of power was not like a mountain pressing down on one's head, but rather like huge waves. Shinji Nanasaki felt like a small boat in the raging waves, lifted up by the waves, and finally fell down with the waves, feeling weightless again, but this time the feeling of weightlessness was even more intense.

It wasn't until the first chorus was sung that Nanasaki Shinji focused on the lyrics.

His English is average, but he could roughly understand the lyrics of the song. He could only understand the repeated "because of you", and it was immediately imprinted in his mind.

Before he finished listening to the song, he sighed slightly. Nobuo Uematsu had lost all hope.

If the instrumental music they heard before could score 8 points, then the song they heard today could at least score 9.5 points.

The singing, lyrics, and arrangement are all perfect, much better than previous instrumental music.

After the song finished playing, the office was quiet for a while.

About ten seconds later, Nanasaki Shinji spoke first, "I think we can start discussing the details of the cooperation with Zhou Yanjun."

Takuma nodded, "Indeed, there is no way we can let this song go."

With such a perfect song in front of them, it would be really unfair if they let it slip away.

What they have to do now is to try their best to reach a cooperation with Zhou Yan and make this song the theme song of "Final Fantasy 8".

"I'm going to the president's office." Nanasaki Shinji stood up and said.

"Let's take the tape together." Takuma Yukinoya stood up.

"it is good."

……

Ten minutes later, Hironobu Sakaguchi slapped the table and said, "Even if we can't outsource all the music for Final Fantasy 8 to Zhou Yan, we must get this song."

After just one listen, Hironobu Sakaguchi was conquered by this song, just like Takuma Yukino and others.

After being made into a song, it is much more amazing than the previous pure music.

If they want their theme song to enter the international market, it must reach this level.

"I will contact Zhou Yan as soon as possible." said Nanasaki Shinji.

"Okay, if you encounter any problems, you can ask Yukino to help you. He has had contact with Zhou Yan and knows more about him." Sakaguchi Hironobu tapped the table with his fingers and asked, "Oh, by the way, who is the singer who sang this demo song?"

Takuma Yuki shook his head, "I don't know, Zhou Yanjun didn't tell me."

Zhou Yan simply told Takuma Yukichi that he would send him a demo of the theme song.

Before Takuma Yukina got the tape, he thought it was just an ordinary demo, but after listening to it just now, he realized that it was not a demo at all, it was the official version, without any flaws at all.

It must have taken a lot of effort to record this demo.

"This singer sang very well, but..." Sakaguchi Hironobu only said half of his sentence, but Takuma Yukinao and Nanasaki Shinji both knew what he wanted to say next.

This time they wanted to make the theme song more international, so naturally they hoped to find a more famous singer. Even if they didn't invite singers of the level of Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston, it was impossible for them to find an ordinary unknown singer.

Zhou Yan said this is a demo, will they find an ordinary singer?
If so, it's a shame because there's no way they would use this singer.

"How about contacting Zhou Yanjun and asking him?" Nanasaki Shinji suggested.

"Should we contact him directly? Should we find a translator?"

"It's too troublesome to find a translator. Let's try to communicate through music. Zhou Yan's English should be no problem."

Sakaguchi Hironobu nodded, "Okay."

Then they didn't move and called Zhou Yan directly in Sakaguchi Hironobu's office.

After the call was connected, Nanasaki Shinji greeted Zhou Yanxian in English, and then asked the questions they wanted to ask.

Nanasaki Shinji's spoken English was average, but he spoke very slowly and Zhou Yan basically understood it all.

"The singer who sang the demo is Faye Wong. I plan to let her sing this song."

"Is it Faye Wong?" Nanasaki Shinji asked in surprise.

"Yes, that's right, it's her."

Nanasaki Shinji pursed his lips, thinking that he didn't recognize it was Faye's voice just now.

But this is good news for them. Nanasaki Shinji smiled and said, "I understand, Zhou Yanjun. We are completely satisfied with her and this song. We hope we can achieve this cooperation."

"As for the specific cooperation, I can just talk to Sang Tian. He can represent me."

"Okay, we will communicate with Kuwata-kun and won't bother you anymore."

Nanasaki Shinji hung up the phone, and Takuma Yuki asked directly, "Who is Faye Wong?"

"Don't you know Faye Wong?" Nanasaki Shinji laughed. "Last year, Faye Wong was ranked first in the most popular Chinese female singers in Japan, and her popularity was far ahead of other female singers, even more popular than the second-ranked male singer Zhang Guorong."

Takuma Yukina couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He didn't know Faye Wong, but he knew Zhang Guorong.

"Also," Nanasaki Shinji continued, "Faye Wong was on the cover of Time magazine last year."

Hironobu Sakaguchi couldn't help but nodded. It seemed that Faye Wong was the kind of singer they wanted.

"Zhou Yanjun has solved a big problem for us," said Hironobu Sakaguchi.

"But at the same time, we have one more reason to get this song." Nanasaki Shinji said with a smile.

Takuma Yukichi clenched his fist and said, "So, let's work hard to get it."

"I will definitely work hard." Nanasaki Shinji also clenched his fists.

"Then I'll wait for your good news." Sakaguchi Hironobu smiled and said, "By the way, Zhou Yanjun's new movie has been doing well at the box office recently. I haven't seen it yet. How about this, after get off work tomorrow, I'll invite everyone to go to the cinema to watch a movie together."

Nanasaki Shinji smiled and said, "In fact, many people in our music club have already seen this movie."

People in their music department have been paying close attention to this movie, so many people went to the cinema to watch it as soon as it was released.

Takuma Yukinoya smiled and said, "Actually, I've seen it too."

Sakaguchi Hironobu shrugged and said, "Then let's book a hall first, and then whoever wants to go can go, and those who don't want to go are free to do as they please."

"In that case, I will definitely go to see it a second time." Takuma Yukino immediately said, "This movie is worth going to the cinema to see again, especially the music in it, it's so beautiful."

Nanasaki Shinji also nodded and said, "I believe that people in our department are also willing to go again."

"Okay, that's settled. I'll have someone book a hall for tomorrow night."

Nanasaki Shinji reminded with a smile, "If it's after get off work, I'm afraid we can't pack it now, unless we postpone it for a few more days."

After hearing what Nanasaki Shinji said, Sakaguchi Hironobu probably knew why. He smiled and said, "In that case, let's get off work a little earlier tomorrow and watch the show in the afternoon."

It just so happens that the company's work is not very tight this week, so we can relax. But after this week, the company will enter a long period of busyness.

Hironobu Sakaguchi invited his employees to watch a movie at this time, also wanting them to relax before entering the high-intensity work period.

And with this move, it will be easier to get involved when discussing cooperation with Zhou Yan later.

"The afternoon session should be fine."

Generally speaking, during non-prime time periods, many cinemas have vacant theaters. If someone pays to watch the movie, the vacant theaters can be used.

But it won't work during prime time, because during prime time, the theater will definitely not be idle. If it is not showing "Time Travelers", it will be showing other movies. As long as someone has bought a ticket for a certain show, even if it is only one ticket, there is no way to book the theater.

As for tomorrow's prime-time show of "Time Travelers", some tickets should have been sold already, so it's not possible to book the entire theater.

As for other movie showtimes… in fact, most cinemas don’t show many other movies now.

"Sleeper", which was released on the same day as "Time Travelers", is now seeing a rapid decline in its screening share, from over 40% to 15%, and is still falling.

Cinemas also need to make money. Knowing that showing "Time Traveler" can make money, they will definitely schedule more screenings for it.

……

The screening share of "Sleeper" continues to decline, and what's outrageous is that the attendance rate is also declining.

The screening ratio and attendance rate fell simultaneously, so the speed of the box office decline was naturally unexpectedly fast.

Two weeks later, the screening schedule of "Sleeper" had dropped to 1.5%, with an average of 0.6 people per show and an attendance rate of 0.5%. The daily box office revenue was almost negligible.

In this case, “The Sleeper” was painted directly under the neon.

Just like that, a movie that earned nearly 200 million Japanese coins in its first weekend was taken off the screen after only two weeks. This situation is not common.

Originally, in everyone's eyes, "Time Traveler" and "Sleeper" were two evenly matched opponents, but after these two opponents came on stage, one was quickly knocked out by the other, which was naturally jaw-dropping.

At this time, some people joked that it was fortunate that "Sleeper" and "Time Traveler" were released on the same day. If it was two days later, they might not even get the 200 million yuan in allocation income.

Of course, this is all hindsight. If the producers and distributors of Sleeper knew this would happen, they would definitely avoid colliding with Time Traveler. (End of this chapter)