Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 384 Chasing the Waves of the Times
In the office of China Film Group, Chen Shiping looked at the phone on the desk that kept ringing. He waited for it to ring for more than ten seconds before reaching out to pick it up.

A transatlantic call from Harvey.

Chen Shiping roughly guessed what he wanted to do, but he was not sure what conditions he would put forward.

"Hi, dear Chen, it's nice to talk to you."

Chen Shiping twitched his lips. This voice didn't sound very reliable.

"Hello, Harvey." Chen Shiping asked with a smile, "I heard that you are not happy with Disney recently?"

"This is all because of you. Because of our cooperation, I'm going to be kicked out of Disney." Harvey lied and turned black into white.

Chen Shiping smiled and said, "If you don't leave, no one will chase you away. I think many people also hope to cooperate with you. This may be a good thing."

"Miramax is my life's work and I don't want to lose it."

Harvey continued to argue, "The key is that we can no longer cooperate with you. Without Disney's funding and Miramax's resources, Chinese-language films will have no chance of being released in North American theaters."

Chen Shiping smiled slightly and knew that this old rogue was here to ask for money.

But giving him money doesn't matter, as long as he can continue to be a troublemaker and disgust the six big guys.

"You're right. That's your hard work. I think you must be very sad. As a friend, I'm sorry that I can't visit you, but I will ask someone else to visit you. I hope you can get out of the haze as soon as possible."

"Thank you for your concern. I'm really having a headache right now. Setting up a new company requires at least several million dollars. I'm wondering what to do. Perhaps your friend can give me some advice?"

"Of course, she's a very good business person and should be able to help you."

"That's great. I will definitely cheer up and continue our cooperation so that more Americans can see what a good movie is!"

"Haha, I hope so!"

After Chen Shiping finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

Damn Harvey, how dare you speak up!

Millions of dollars! How shady!

This is not an investment, it is just a simple sponsorship. If things go wrong, it will be a waste of time and effort.

It’s a lot of money, a very lot. Whether it’s five hundred or eight hundred, it’s an astronomical figure.

That's enough money to make a movie.

But it's not bad to be able to train an ambitious person in Hollywood with a few million dollars.

Chen Shiping tapped the table, thinking about whether to give the money or not. The key was how to give the money.

It would be stupid to give it to him directly. Let's exchange it for movies. Give him a little after each movie.

Supporting American independent films actually does not help much for the development of China Film.

But if those independent films are brought back, the effect will be very good.

It's like the three major supporters of domestic art films.

Of course, if American independent films can develop well, it can indeed cause trouble for several Hollywood giants.

Chen Shiping's goal has always been to stabilize the Asian market. If there were figures like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in Hollywood, it would at least slow them down from causing trouble here.

It would be even better if Harvey could shout out the slogan: The Big Six are dead, independence should be the new leader.

After careful consideration, Chen Shiping decided to sponsor Harvey.

If the time is right in the future, we might be able to use Harvey's own stain to uncover the Hollywood scandal!

It's a war of public opinion. When the Statue of Liberty wears suspender stockings, let's see how many people will still regard her as a beacon.

Even if it is regarded as a beacon, it has to be a red light, and beneath the red light there are sex scandals!
Chen Shiping thought for a while and then called Shi Nansheng.

After hearing this, Shi Nansheng couldn't help but say, "Too much, his appetite is a bit big."

"It's okay. Just talk to him. He's not stupid. He won't go too far." Chen Shiping said with a smile, "The fact that he can get to where he is today shows that he is a man who can get along with both sides. He is just using each other. Don't give it all at once."

Shi Nansheng nodded and said, "I see. In the name of investing in movies, right? Then I have an idea."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. As for other independent filmmakers, we should support them as much as possible, but be careful about the scale."

"I understand. We can just learn from Europe and the United States on this matter." Shi Nansheng said with a smile.

"Haha, learn from the foreigners so that you can defeat them." Chen Shiping said a few more words to her and then hung up.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shiping couldn't help stretching. It was a day at work.

It's tiring.

Secretary Li knocked on the door and came in to pour tea, then said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, the time for the cross-strait and Hong Kong film exchange meeting has been confirmed. It will be held in Hong Kong on the first of next month."

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "Okay, let's ask the people from the Directors Association and the Filmmakers Association to select the participants."

"Okay, they're already working on it. I'll send it to you when the list is ready."

Secretary Xiao Li poured the tea and left.

Chen Shiping took a sip of tea and glanced at the calendar. Uncharted 2 and Frozen would be released in North America in a week.

I don’t know what kind of results I will get by then.

After staying in the office until the end of the working day, Chen Shiping packed up and left work.

We are going to the Huairou Digital Film Base in the evening.

The research team called and said that they had developed the first domestically produced digital camera.

Go to Huairou to see the research results and visit the Kung Fu Panda crew.

Kung Fu Panda has been in the works for almost a year, and it will probably be finished by the end of the year, and will not be released until next summer.

The production cycle of animated films is very long and the cost is very high, so even in Hollywood, not many companies are willing to make them.

From a capital perspective, animated films have high risks and low returns.

The investment is too large, the production cycle is too long, the payback time is too long, and the box office is not guaranteed.

These are all drawbacks of animated films.

With the same amount of money, you can make two live-action movies, with big-name actors, a certain box office guarantee, and a fast capital return cycle.

Therefore, the most important thing in shooting an animated film is to ensure the audience base.

The development of fairy tales is based on such considerations.

Even if it has nothing to do with the fairy tale, you have to find a way to connect it.

Kung Fu Panda does not have its own story prototype IP, but no one doubts that the movie will fail.

This is Kung Fu! This is the biggest IP!

And there's the panda! This is the real killer move, who can resist Po's charm!
It was a little after seven in the evening when Chen Shiping arrived at the Huairou Digital Base. The lights at the research institute were still on.

When Chen Shiping went over, he saw many researchers gathered together taking pictures.

"Why haven't you gotten off work yet so late?" Chen Shiping asked with a smile.

The researchers who had gathered together all turned their heads to look over.

The researcher holding the camera smiled and raised the camera to take a picture of Chen Shiping.

"Mr. Chen, it was just made today, and we are testing it. Everyone is quite excited."

Chen Shiping smiled and nodded, "Test it, how do you feel?"

"Not bad, I haven't found any problems yet. I'll know after I export the photos after shooting."

The researcher said with a smile, no worry in his voice, obviously this was not his first time doing the test.

Chen Shiping walked over, took the camera from him, looked at it for a while, and asked, "It looks like a Sony."

"It's made according to Sony's model, but 90 percent of the components are our own."

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "Not bad, it feels good in the hand, and the body is not heavy. How many pixels does it have?"

"One million and five hundred thousand." "Not bad, the gap is not that big. Try hard and reach three hundred next year." Chen Shiping encouraged with a smile.

The researcher smiled and said, "Three hundred is already at the standard of a top-notch SLR camera."

"That's the standard now, and it will get higher and higher in the future."

Chen Shiping patted his shoulder and said, "Technology is evolving very quickly. We are still lagging behind. We must catch up as soon as possible, otherwise the gap will get bigger as time goes by."

Chen Shiping and several researchers entered the office together. After learning about the camera in detail, he frowned and asked, "How much does it cost?"

"About nine thousand or so." The researcher couldn't help but say.

Chen Shiping frowned immediately. This price was not cheap.

"At $1, it's totally not cost-effective and can't beat the Nikon D."

The researcher was stunned for a moment and quickly said, "It's not the US dollar, it's the RMB!"

"RMB?!" Chen Shiping couldn't help but pick it up and take another look at it and couldn't help but ask, "This thing is only 9,000 RMB?"

"Oh, do you think it's expensive or cheap?"

"Cheap! So damn cheap!"

Chen Shiping was happy for a while and then asked curiously, "Is this the cost after mass production?"

"Yeah, the estimated price won't be too different anyway."

Chen Shiping couldn't help but sigh and said, "Nikon is so damn shady. All leading products are priced sky-high. This is how they live their daily lives."

The researcher couldn't help but laugh, there was indeed something wrong with what he said.

Chen Shiping fiddled with the camera for a while, took a few photos and then said, "Although it is inferior to the Nikon D1 in all aspects, ours is cheaper, so we don't have to worry about sales."

"Sure!" The researcher also laughed.

Chen Shiping is really happy. If this thing can be made, it will have a huge market in the future.

Only breakthroughs in cameras can lead to breakthroughs in video cameras.

The camera was exactly what Chen Shiping needed, but he just took a long detour.

It feels like making a meal of dumplings just for a mouthful of vinegar.

As for the camera, we have only disassembled and assembled it for imitation before, and it is still a long way from production.

Now that cameras have made breakthroughs, video cameras won’t be far behind.

Chen Shiping was very happy. He chatted with the researchers for a long time. They went to the cafeteria to have a meal together until everyone was hungry.

After eating, everyone dispersed and Chen Shiping walked towards the accommodation area, where a room was reserved for him.

But I've never been there.

I followed the administrator Chen Shiping to the top floor, opened the door and went in, and my eyes suddenly lit up.

The house is very nice and the decoration is also very nice.

The administrator smiled and said, "All the toiletries are ready for you. They are all new."

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "You've worked hard. Go to bed early."

"Okay, call me if you need anything."

After the administrator left, Chen Shiping took off his tie and walked around inside, finally sitting on the sofa and taking a long breath.

This day, I was exhausted.

I have to go to the digital effects lab tomorrow morning to check on the progress of Kung Fu Panda.

Go to bed early.

Chen Shiping took a shower and went to bed.

But the sleep was not very good, the bed was a bit hard.

When he went downstairs in the morning, the apartment manager saw him twisting his neck, took note of it, and changed the bed and other items in the upstairs room at around ten o'clock.

He is the leader of the group. If I am noticed, I might be promoted.

At this time, Chen Shiping was watching Kung Fu Panda in the digital special effects laboratory.

The crude modeling looks very strange, just like a spoof video from later generations.

After studying animation for four years, I produced a bunch of abstract papers.

This is just a joke, the modeling is still very beautiful, it’s just not rendered.

However, such scenes awakened many forgotten memories of Chen Shiping.

I almost forgot the memories that originally belonged to me.

That familiar era is approaching.

Chen Shiping felt very happy after reading it. In a dozen years, our mother will stand on top of the world again.

Kung Fu Panda is doing well, but the progress is a little slow. I will send it for rendering next month and see if I can catch up with the progress.

This animation cost a ton of money, over 150 million, and the box office must reach at least 400 million to break even.

However, box office is only one of the factors; surrounding development is the key.

The children's factory can start making feature-length animations.

Of course, the most important thing is the development of surrounding cultural and creative products.

There are so many products that Panda can develop.

The group has already started looking for people to design it, and when the movie is released, all kinds of peripheral products will be launched on the market.

Current animation development is still slow. If we want to quickly form an IP matrix, technology must keep up.

There are still not enough people in the laboratory, so we need to add more.

It's impossible to make an animation in one and a half years or even two years.

One film a year, or even two films a year, would meet Chen Shiping's needs.

Chen Shiping held a short meeting in the laboratory and then left.

The manager of the apartment waited anxiously until the evening but Chen Shiping still did not show up.

I was extremely disappointed and started wondering if there would be any chance for Chen Shiping to come over again.

At least I have to experience the new bed and mattress he prepared, which cost more than a thousand yuan!
It’s so difficult to curry favor with the leader!

Hey, with all my skills, I shouldn’t be in a property management company, I should be in a real estate branch!
What a pity, why did Mr. Chen run away!
Chen Shiping, who had fled, was at Cheng Kaige's house at this time.

The old guy insisted on treating him to a meal, saying that he wanted to talk about the script again.

Chen Shiping hadn't paid much attention to his private life in recent years. When he arrived at his house and saw that he was alone, he felt a little strange.

Where's the wife?
I helped you get rid of Xu Qing back then, but we didn't get divorced.

Where is that amazing woman Hong Huang? When the old man left last time, wasn't Hong Huang still there?

Chen Shiping sat down at the table, clinked glasses with him, and then asked curiously, "Are you divorced?"

"Well, two years." Cheng Kaige said lightly.

Chen Shiping was shocked and couldn't help asking, "No, why haven't I heard of it?"

"Who would go around complaining about this?" Cheng Kaige said with a smile, "It's good to be alone."

Chen Shiping said "oh", took a sip of wine, and glanced at a photo on the coffee table next to him.

Above is a photo of Cheng Kaige and a man.

Chen Shiping touched his nose subconsciously. Is he really being himself again?

Is it his true nature or did I misunderstand?
(End of this chapter)