Huayu has been doing one good deed a day since 2001

Chapter 323 The wonders of the technological world far exceed imagination

It's still Friday the 14th.

Beijing Times Media Building.

Hu Ge arrived at a meeting room on the 5th floor with the sign outside the door that read "(Hui Ming) Project Team". He saw the familiar Liu Yifei and the unfamiliar Li Qin.

Old Hu quickly demonstrated his high emotional intelligence in greeting and small talk.

It's already September 14th, and the large team that started preparing for the (return to Ming) trip in early May.

Production of various costumes, props, and sets; site selection and location scouting; architectural renovation and decoration.

Several of the Huiming photography streets have been built quite well.

Today is the day that Hu Ge and the other key members of the creative team met to discuss the script.

Of course, Wang Jing, one of the assistant directors, was also filming on Hong Kong Island (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

The script will be distributed in a while today, and Zheng Xiaolong will be leading the script reading session.

There's also Wang Fulin, the director of the CCTV version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and screenwriters like Liu Heping.

After all, the online novel "Back to the Ming Dynasty" involves too much imperial power and court struggles, including the suppression of rebellions.

It is a work that fully showcases the male protagonist's ability to govern the world with his pen and to conquer the world on horseback.

This configuration is meant to be maxed out.

After exchanging a few polite words, Hu Ge smiled and said, "Qianqian, we've been friends for several years, but we weren't close before."

"But I'm still a bit shy, so when can you take me to see the face-swapping project?"

"I'm so curious after hearing this recently."

The year 2007, which has been mentioned time and again, was the year of the "Great Beauty" in the first half of the year.

The second half of the year will be a year of great secrets.

The more the news spreads, the greater the curiosity of the onlookers becomes.

Liu Yifei shrugged. "I don't have that kind of influence. Wouldn't it be easier for you to ask Brother Chao or Senior Brother Xiaoming?"

Just thinking about watching it twice (Honey Face Version of Fight Back to School).

It turns out it was Xiao Liu who did the voice acting for the show!
It was even better than when she personally cooperated in doing film and television dubbing.

Liu Yifei was also terrified.

That's high-tech, amazing! Her computer search and organization skills are even better than her own.

Liu Yifei wanted to find a tofu wall to see if she could kill herself by smashing her head against it.

She quickly added with a mischievous grin, "There's nothing I can do about your curiosity. I heard that most regular movies on the Mtime video website are only four or five hundred MB in size in digital format."

"My senior's face-swapping works are in a new format, which is not supported by existing media players."

"A single movie can be tens of gigabytes in size."

This means that uploading and downloading, and rapid dissemination are not easy.

We also need to apply for the installation of new self-developed playback software.

It's not available on the market.

Hu Ge nodded blankly, "One is equivalent to hundreds of the previous ones? The file size of this digital format is outrageous."

"You've seen Li Qin too?"

The quiet, pretty girl smiled politely and said, "I asked Sister Xuan to take me to see it."

Should I tell or not? Li Qin had been Dong Xuan's tenant for a full four years.

Dong Xuan, a beautiful woman, was her landlady and kind older sister for four years.

Dong Xuan has served as Tong Liya's acting teacher and has also occasionally taught her herself.

She may not have the same connections as Gulnazar, but compared to ordinary students with formal training, she's far superior.

After all, she was once mentored by actresses like Brigitte Lin and Joey Wong to improve her acting skills.

Hu Ge slapped his forehead. "Never mind, I didn't ask."

He's not in a hurry to watch the drama anymore.

At worst, Yang Mi could travel back to 1991 and replace Zhang Min to reenact the events of "Fight Back to School 1".

Lao Hu feels that he is far inferior to Jin Dong and Wang Kai in terms of film development.

But in the realm of period drama leading men in the Chinese film and television industry.

He's almost in a league of his own.

From the two installments of the Legend of Sword and Fairy series to The Return of the Condor Heroes.

There's also the hit series "Back to Ming Dynasty," which is similar to "The Big Bang Theory" and has multiple seasons.

He now understands very well that (Return to the Ming Dynasty) has been adapted from a novel into a TV series.

How popular it will be with male viewers.

After all, the "Back to Ming Dynasty" series had been running for nearly a year, and it truly stirred up a "Back to Ming Dynasty" storm that swept across the entire internet.

This September marks the fifth consecutive month that Huiming has dominated the monthly ticket rankings on the online platform.

Starting in early May, Time+ and Tencent invested in the project, which was directed by Wang Jing, Zheng Xiaolong, and Wang Fulin.

Once the news spread, it became an adaptation of an online novel?

This is big news for the entire online community.

Previously, people adapted Jin Yong and Gu Long's martial arts works and then other martial arts novels.

Adapting Li Wenyu's novels, which he updates repeatedly, is this a foray into the online literature world?
The online buzz generated by the TV series adaptation of "Back to the Ming Dynasty" has made the original author the most influential figure in the industry, bar none.

Other online novels also have fan bases.

Instead, historical novels like "Back to the Ming Dynasty" are easier to adapt, regardless of whether they are literary or action scenes.

Other popular fantasy and xianxia (Chinese fantasy) works? The special effects are difficult to create and too expensive.

Therefore, Huiming Novels dominated the monthly ticket rankings on Dianping several months in advance.

Moreover, the popularity of the historical section almost overshadowed all other categories such as urban fantasy and martial arts.

The film and television rights fees that Time (the company) pays to the original authors are quite substantial.

This has led to a surge of authors turning to historical fiction.

Hu Ge herself accepted the lead role and also went to study the original novel.

Then, to Lao Hu's dismay, he also became a fan of the (Return to the Ming Dynasty) online novel.

As a man, it's hard not to like the male protagonist of "Back to the Ming Dynasty" who travels back to ancient times and uses his modern knowledge to rise from a down-on-his-luck, impoverished scholar.

The main storyline follows the protagonist's rise to power, eventually becoming a prince, and expanding his harem.

This is the ultimate daydream that 99% of men can't resist.

The princes and nobles of the Ming Dynasty had such a good relationship with the emperor.

The future blueprint may well lead the way in the age of firearms by leveraging 21st-century knowledge.

Leading the Age of Exploration and Dominating the Global Village.

With this kind of feel-good story formula, how many people could resist it in 2007?

Therefore, Lao Hu felt that his film resources were inferior to those of the four popular young actors.

Among male stars of similar caliber to the "Eight Beauties" in the company, he is almost the worst.

But if he plays the role well in "Return to Ming," he'll probably be the number one actor in period dramas.

He was still suppressing his gossipy nature when he heard some somewhat familiar voices outside. Old Hu turned around to look.

He quickly went to pick up the person with a big smile.

These are Chen Baoguo, Chen Dingming, Li Jianyi, and others; they are all veteran figures in the industry.

I won't say anything more about the two Teacher Chens.

Li Jianyi became famous using the meme "The Eastern Depot needs talents like you".

It went viral, becoming a popular meme among netizens.

Liu Yifei and Li Qin also hurriedly went out to greet them.

Regardless of whether they are senior figures in the industry or not, and regardless of who is more or less famous.

The entertainment industry, which has been deeply influenced by Lao Li's butterfly effect for six years, is now in a state of flux.

On the surface, many things seem fine.

…………

President's Office, Media Headquarters

Old Li hung up the phone with Liu Shishi.

After putting down his phone, he pressed a button on his desk, which signaled to the secretariat that he could bring people in.

Soon, Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Cheung Kwok-wing, Andy Lau and their entourage entered.

After greeting everyone, Brother Rong went to the wine cabinet to open a drink and acted as a bulk drinker.

After a few polite words, Jackie Chan exclaimed in astonishment, "Mr. Li, is your technology really going to lead the world? I've heard about computer face-swapping performances..."

On September 8th, Lao Li demonstrated the finished product technology to Tong Liya, Gulnazar, and others for the first time.

These people didn't come to the office together until the 14th, which wasn't particularly fast or slow.

Without going into too much detail, Zhang Guorong was also one of the four mentors (in the second season of The Voice of China).

Brother Hua is the same.

Old Li smiled and nodded, "There are people everywhere in and outside the industry who are curious about this. I'm not hiding it; it's a technical issue."

"The current technology is only in its early stages."

"But the future is very promising. Brother Long, you are 53 years old now. You can return to 30 years old without the help of medical aesthetic resources. You can also use computer face transplantation."

"Returning to 30 years old on the big screen."

"Then, we tackled the legal and ethical issues, and collected and organized Lin Zhengying's material library to remake Mr. Zombie."

"This involves the legal provisions of countless countries."

Since they were already there, Lao Li didn't mind having many male stars watch the movie. He handled multiple copies, including installing the playback software.

You can go to the 13th floor or other places to watch the movie.

Stephen Chow was also shocked, saying, "Computer face swapping allows people in their forties and fifties to appear on screen with their younger faces? This is a bit too amazing."

The wonders of the technological world.

Sometimes it far exceeds the imagination of those working in the industry.

Old Li laughed and said, "That material was collected from the films and television shows you were young, mainly focusing on your faces, expressions, acting skills, and so on."

"If it's a real shoot, we'll find a stunt double to perform."

"After filming wrapped, we used your facial materials from when you were young to cover up the stand-ins' performances."

The more material one has accumulated in their youth, the richer their collection becomes.

The better the face-swapping technology, the better the results.

Of course, this technology is something he can achieve even with supercomputing power.

It perfectly matches the face swap in Captain America 1.

There is still a lot of room for optimization and improvement over time.

…………

after an hour.

A screening room with over a hundred people on the 13th floor of Time Media.

This place attracts a large number of people who have come from far and wide, some of whom have been eagerly waiting for a long time.

The 1991 version of Fight Back to School appeared on the big screen.

Stephen Chow awkwardly got up and ran away.

The opening scene of Fight Back to School 1 features Stephen Chow looking cool and leading the Flying Tigers to rescue hostages.

It has made countless viewers laugh.

But when groups of industry professionals are watching here, there are almost no normal viewers.

Old Zhou was embarrassed, so he decided to go out and have a few cigarettes first.

I'll come back to watch the movie when Yang Mi appears.

In the screening room, groups of people quickly burst into laughter.

As the sensational movie screening ended and the large crowd left the theater...

Everyone was discussing it heatedly, talking about the latest developments.

The face swap involving Yang Mi in this movie was successful.

It makes one wonder if one of the eight beauties traveled back to 1991 and stole Zhang Min's role.

The technical flaws were purely due to Zhang Min's acting skills not being as good.

The film made the audience laugh five or six times, pulling them out of the movie.

This is just a case of a pretty face not performing well.

But they're all minor things!
In Hollywood (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) in 2008.

(Captain America 1) before it bombed the world in 2011.

CGI and AI face-swapping suddenly burst onto the scene like this.

How could he perform so well in such a successful masterpiece?

It shattered the worldviews of countless practitioners.

It's something extraordinary, something you don't understand but find impressive.

Many people feel like they're about to develop a brain, as this seems to involve a vast amount of industrial technology and money.

But most people, after much thought, are still unsure which aspects are involved.

A few days later again.

On September 19, Liu Shishi worked overtime to advance the post-production of (the search).

She has a constitution that makes her very resilient and she's not afraid of staying up late.

Old Li appeared in the president's office at nine o'clock in the morning. When he saw Tong Liya walking in with a GZ-HD7 digital camera, he looked excited and said, "Senior brother, I helped Yang Mi reshoot some scenes."

"It's because there wasn't enough material for her acting in the face-swapped version of Fight Back to School, which led to those scenes where she laughed."

"She performed in front of the camera again, and it feels like she can act just as well as Zhang Min now."

"Use these as face-swapping material to complete the movie??"

"Once it's all done, there won't be any awkward moments or laughter throughout the entire process, and it will be even more useful for (search engine) promotion."

When Lao Li was filming popular idol dramas like "My Love from the Star".

To ensure that movie fans can enjoy a high-definition viewing mode even more than a decade later.

Those popular idol dramas were all shot with film cameras.

Making it now doesn't need to be so complicated.

The GZ-HD7 digital camcorder released by JVC this year is the first to support 1080p Full HD mode.

The filming mode, which is not afraid of wasting film, showcases Yang Mi's acting skills, which are 75+.

The supplementary material library is more useful than the big data collection and organization that Lao Li used before.

He said happily, "That works too. There aren't many flawed or laugh-out-loud moments. I'll edit it and then do some more processing and optimization before uploading it to Time Video. Monthly and annual VIP members can watch the movie with ads."

"This, when combined with the 8D era, will have a significant impact."

Originally, there weren't many big gimmicks; it was just a regular viral marketing campaign.

The maximum box office for the film (search) starring Yang Mi and Wang Kai in mainland China is 200 to 300 million.

In addition, the number of 8D models running roadshows may break the 4s.

However, there is an online viewing and interactive version of the classic mystery film (Fight Back to School).

This can still lead to even greater achievements.

After all, it's full of high-tech gimmicks!
This is killing two birds with one stone, and the voice acting is done by Liu Yifei.

Meanwhile, copies of the film (Nightclub/Supermarket) starring Liu Yifei have been sent to theaters across the country, just waiting for the Golden Week holiday.

The Eight Beauties ate the largest pieces of meat, while the Five Dragon Girls could drink their fill of soup.

He took the digital camera to review Yang Mi's reshoots.

My mindset is also a little complicated.

This is even more pioneering than Hollywood in driving the global application of face-swapping technology.

Da Meiyuan walked over with a smile, "The fourth week of Fengsheng's performance was also good, with a cumulative total of 2.78 million in mainland China and a national total of over 3 million. Huayi Brothers would like to invite you to a large celebration banquet."

"With two weeks until National Day, I feel there's a good chance the number of cases nationwide will exceed 400 million."

Time Studios is no slouch when it comes to big-budget films.

But this is truly rare for Huayi Brothers and people like Li Bingbing.

Currently ranked in the top 20 of the Chinese mainland box office charts.

Only the twentieth film, Legend of the White Snake, was primarily invested in by Huayi Brothers, grossing 3.68 million RMB in mainland China, surpassing the national average.

The nineteenth is Hero 2 with new graphics.

The films ranked first through eighteenth were all produced by Mtime Media through sole investment or joint ventures.

These joint ventures were mostly between Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Columbia Pictures, and Warner Bros.

Is that another big celebration following the 2 million yuan victory?

The Message has a much higher reputation and rating than Legend of the White Snake.

If time is the driving force, it's basically a celebratory event in the cafeteria.

With Huayi Brothers taking the lead, it's practically Jack Ma and Lao Wang's home turf.

Old Li shook his head, "I'm not going. Let Li Xiaolu take a few of her girlfriends and play the whole game."

Qin Hao didn't even have time; he had already flown to the peninsula to film (Never Ending).

Da Meiyuan nodded, "Today's top trending topic is when will the Time WeChat be officially released? Many netizens are eagerly waiting for it."

"Adding friends on WeChat perfectly replaces the functions of SMS and phone calls on a mobile phone when connected to Wi-Fi."

"Moreover, there is no restriction that mobile users cannot send messages to China Unicom users via Fetion."

"This topic is getting more and more popular."

To date, Apple has sold fewer than 30 units in mainland China.

But this group of people combined is not a small number.

Occasionally, celebrities will show off their 2G smartphone experience with WiFi.

That can cause a trend.

As for who's putting on a show?

Many less famous people are actively vying for attention on Weibo, showcasing their fun experiences on mobile apps like Time and Weibo, Renren, and video apps.

This is just patting Old Li on the back for being afraid of farts.

Which celebrity could resist?

The fact that "Time" trended at number one on WeChat's hot search list shows that it wasn't just one person flattering him.

Old Li sighed as he put down his digital camera, "I'll have to find a few more CEOs to host dinner parties again."

Did he use a dinner party to handle the pressure from the three major operators?
The influence of the richest Chinese tycoon is far less than that of the scientist.

Those who own military-industrial enterprises have a lot of influence.

They're several levels apart.

China Mobile is still a trillion-dollar behemoth in the Hong Kong stock market!

(End of this chapter)