Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 412 How to Shoot Special Effects

The Cube changed its location. The original old and small building could no longer meet the office requirements after the merger with Activision, so Diane simply moved to a more spacious office building.

In the new office area, Diane specially arranged a huge office for Zhang Chen.

"This is yours, Boss~"

He personally opened the glass door for Zhang Chen, and inside was an independent area of ​​nearly 60 square meters, with a sofa, desk, boss chair, TV, and everything else...

There is actually a treadmill near the window.

Zhang Chen sat in the boss chair, turned around, and admired the oil paintings on the wall. He felt very good.

It’s actually similar both at home and abroad.

People in China like to hang paintings of "God rewards hard work", while people abroad like to hang some incomprehensible oil paintings.

The painting in Zhang Chen’s office looks like a painter’s palette, with a bunch of oil paints mixed together in a mess. I wonder what it wants to express?
"Are you satisfied?"

"Of course~"

Seeing the ashtray on the table aroused Zhang Chen's urge to smoke.

He pulled out his cigarettes, took one out, and motioned to Diane.

The latter refused and took out his own cigarette.

There is generally no habit of loose cigarettes abroad.

The two of them lit up, sat down, and started smoking.

After a few seconds, Diane stood up and said, "Wait for me a moment~"

Diane left and went next door. After a moment, she returned with a briefcase in her hand.

"Boss, this is the information you asked me to file~"

Zhang Chen opened it and took a look. It was the relevant document of "Pacific Rim" registered with the Screenwriters Association.

He nodded and resealed the document bag.

Diane said: "Allow me to say something offensive, I am not optimistic about your cooperation with Warner this time..."

After a pause, seeing that Zhang Chen had no resistance, Diane continued, "Hollywood is not friendly to foreign capital. Peter Jackson's lesson is right in front of us. If the Big Six does this kind of thing, it will only be more excessive than New Line..."

Diane took this as a reminder.

He knows too well what kind of people these Hollywood guys are like. To describe them as ruthless and ruthless is an understatement.

If the Boss suffers a loss here, it is likely to affect the cube.

"So I need someone knowledgeable to help me, like you, or those special effects experts you just recruited. I don't want to be treated like a fool..."

Zhang Chen also has this concern.

In fact, he knew more than Diane.

The first time in history that Warner Bros. cheated a young actor in the Harry Potter film was next year.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" cost 1.45 million and sold 9.39 million, not including copyright fees.

The young actors signed a profit-sharing agreement instead of a box office share. According to the above estimate, Warner Bros. earned at least 1.9 million yuan. However, when the share was calculated, the young actors were told that not only did they not make any money, they also lost million yuan.

How can this be justified?

There's no reason to argue. Even the accountant can't find the answer.

Hollywood can even cheat its own people, so why can't it cheat an outsider like Zhang Chen?

Dai An's worries are justified, and Zhang Chen's only support is China Film.

With China Film Group endorsing Zhang Chen, if Warner really dares to cheat him, it would be tantamount to voluntarily giving up the Chinese market. It all depends on what Warner chooses.

Zhang Chen briefly explained the relationship between himself and China Film Group, and only then did Dai An understand where her boss's confidence came from.

"Okay, call a few technical backbones over so we can get to know each other~"

A moment later, three people from Activision arrived at the door. They were actually the original three founders.

Originally there were five founders, but two of them wanted to quit and left after receiving the money. The remaining three wanted to continue working in this industry, so they joined Cube. Diane did not even disrupt their original structure and still let them be in charge.

"This is our boss, Steve Zhang. You can follow suit and call him Boss. Strictly speaking, today should be your second meeting. I brought him to meet you once when we discussed the acquisition..."

"Yes, Boss, I'm Drizzt~"

"Boss, hello, I'm Frank~"

"Boss, I'm Shulman~"

The three of them looked like technical guys and were not good at speaking.

Zhang Chen exchanged a few pleasantries with everyone, just to cheer them up, and then said, "You are all experts in special effects. I just happen to be planning to produce a science fiction movie soon, and I would like you to give me some advice..."

Then he gestured to Diane to hand over the script, storyboard, and several concept design drawings brought from China to the few people.

“This is a film project invested by another company under my name. If nothing unexpected happens, part of the special effects work will fall on you.

But before that, I want to talk to you first. After all, I don’t know much about special effects. I don’t want to be led by the nose by a big company in an unfamiliar field…”

When everyone heard this, they immediately became interested.

They passed the script around, then moved on to storyboards and storyboards.

And those concept drawings, these are the most intuitive for them.

After looking at the concept drawings, I understood the special effects style the director wanted.

A few people murmured for a long time, and then Drizzt spoke up: "Boss, we want to know, what is the budget of this movie?"

After all, talking about implementation without considering the cost is just being a hooligan, and this is something everyone understands.

Zhang Chen stretched out a finger: "One hundred million US dollars~"

Several people gathered together to discuss again. After whispering for a long time, Trist spoke on their behalf: "Boss, we have discussed it. If the budget is $3000 million, the special effects shots can be made more solid. The preliminary estimate is at least . As for the special effects manufacturers and plans, we have a few suggestions:"

He paused, and seeing that the others were not interested in talking, he continued, "First of all, I suggest that you ask Industrial Light & Magic to do the main special effects. They are a well-established special effects company, and their physical special effects and green screen special effects are excellent. They also have specialized software processing in many fields..."

Zhang Chen thought for a moment, "What topic are you talking about?"

"It's the production of monsters and mechas, as well as the battle part. Of course, other companies can do these things, because everyone uses similar tools. Houdini software is used to create special effects of various buildings being destroyed, Arnold is used to render monsters and mechas, and V-ray is used to render the environment. But in addition to these things, Industrial Light & Magic also has many self-developed components that can make the effect better and cheaper, so it is most cost-effective to find them in this regard~"

Zhang Chen nodded: "Continue~"

"If they were an outsider, they would definitely outsource the special effects to them as a whole, but we don't have to. I can help you separate the special effects parts and outsource them to different companies. This way, it will be more cost-effective."

Zhang Chen understood this principle, it was to reduce the profit made by middlemen.

"There's no need to ask them to do anything other than the main part, they're too expensive. For example, for the ocean fluid effects, Pixar has a software called RenderMan, which is better than ILM's and cheaper. We also have our own patented software Flowgen, which is also very good. Although it's not as good as Pixar's RenderMan, it's not much different, and it's faster than theirs, and more cost-effective..."

After Drizzt finished speaking, seeing that Zhang Chen was listening very seriously, he continued: "In fact, we can also use V-ray to do the work. It's not difficult. As long as there is enough time, the effect of anyone's work will be similar. In the end, we just need to use Nuke to synthesize it."

At this moment, Zhang Chen felt that he had gained a lot.

He was not a novice who had never been exposed to special effects before. Both "The Shallows" and "Painted Skin" used a lot of special effects.

However, special effects companies in China and Hong Kong basically buy templates from abroad and apply them directly.

This is the first time that someone like Drizzt has spoken so professionally.

I feel like I've found a treasure.

"You said it very well. Many of your suggestions are very useful. If you have anything else, I will tell you all at once~" Seeing Zhang Chen's encouraging expression, Drizzt simply continued: "Industrial Light & Magic can make the interior of the mecha, including the physical model and so on. They are very good at this, but correspondingly, the price is also the most expensive."

Even Zhang Chen had heard of this. They got their start with Star Wars, in which there were far more physical models than green screen special effects.

"Do you have any good suggestions?"

"There is a French company called Rodeo that can do the same thing, and the price is more affordable. You can try to contact them.

As for other things, such as computer screen display, they are all child's play. We can outsource them to any special effects company, or we can do it ourselves as long as we have enough manpower. "

Trist said a lot, and Zhang Chen felt that he benefited a lot.

If you are not an expert, you will never understand it so clearly.

Sure enough, you still need someone of your own.

"Drizzt, huh?"

"Yes, Boss, my name is Drizzt Underwood, you can just call me Drizzt~"

"Well, I have a suggestion, Drizzt. You will be the technical director of my film, responsible for all matters related to special effects. Of course, I will pay you a salary."

Drizzt glanced at Diane and nodded, "Of course, I'm honored."

"That's great. Take these materials back and have a look. We need to go to Warner tomorrow. I will be in charge of the negotiations. The other business and technical matters will be left to you two..."

"My pleasure~"

Diane and Drizzt said in unison.

Trist's face was full of joy. He knew that he had shown up in front of his new boss today, and it also indirectly proved the value of Activision.

Diane was also very satisfied. The more satisfied Zhang Chen was with Tristana, the more it proved that her decision to acquire Activision was a wise one.

And she was very satisfied with Trist's ability to bring business to the company.

Zhang Chen really wanted to chat with them for a while longer, but when he looked at his watch, time didn't allow it.

In the evening he made an appointment with members of the Huala Gang to discuss things.

It’s still that familiar little cafe.

This group of guys like to get together here, chatting while drinking coffee and exchanging ideas.

If it happened in China, it would most likely be a drinking party.

Zhang Chen pushed the door open and walked in. The visitor bell kept ringing. He saw several people looking at him at a glance.

"Guys, you guys are here early~"

"Haha, when we heard you were coming, everyone put down what they were doing..."

Zhang Chen hugged each member of the Huala Gang one by one.

"Guys, long time no see~"

After everyone finished hugging, the waiter came over with coffee. Zhang Chen grabbed the coffee without caring whether it was his or not. "Guys, I toast to everyone. The box office of "Hold Your Breath" is 4700 million, all thanks to your support~"

Everyone smiled and raised their glasses. It was clearly coffee, but it tasted like alcohol.

Cheers~
Zhang Chen then said to the bewildered waiter: "Sorry, I'm really too excited. No matter whose coffee this is, I'll pay for it today~"

Looking at the dozens of dollars on the tray, the waiter left satisfied.

Zhang Chen then turned his attention back to the crowd: "Thank you again, Daji. I really didn't expect the box office of "Hold Your Breath" to reach this level..."

James Wan smiled and said, "Don't mind, in fact, we have discussed this matter privately and have reached a consensus.

In the future, when everyone has a new work released, the organizer will organize an advance screening, and when the media interviews, everyone will only speak their true thoughts and will not be morally blackmailed just because of good relationships..."

Zhang Chen exclaimed: "amazing, this suggestion is great~"

He looked at everyone one by one, and everyone nodded. It was obvious that this resolution was voted on by everyone by raising their hands.

Deep down, Zhang Chen felt that this was a good way.

Everyone only looks at the work, regardless of whether the relationship is good or not, everything is based on strength.

Although there is a high probability that you will be morally kidnapped in the end, at least it will be relatively objective at the beginning.

He never felt that this approach could be carried out consistently.

Humans are emotional animals. Even if they stick to their original intentions at the beginning, their hearts will change over time.

“When are you going to see I Saw the Devil?”

Even though he wrote the script, Zhang Chen was curious about Alexander's version.

New Line never called him to complain about Alexander, which at least shows that this version, which was under great pressure, was recognized by everyone at New Line.

"Tomorrow~, I have already made an agreement with New Line, tomorrow~"

Alexander said with a smile that he was still struggling with whether to adopt this form, but New Line saw the success of "Hold Your Breath" and urged him to hold an internal preview.

"Okay, I can't wait~" someone said supportively.

Zhang Chen said at this time: "Since Alexander's movie is tomorrow, I have two scripts here. You can take a look. Who is interested?"

As he spoke, Zhang Chen took out the script of "Crocodile Storm" and the script of "Dead Silence".

A thriller, a horror film.

Zhang Chen did not say anything immediately, but waited for everyone to read it before saying:
"Guys, don't accuse me of favoritism. I wrote both scripts. I know you definitely prefer "Dead Silence", but I can only say that the two scripts are tied together. If you want to shoot "Dead Silence", you must help me shoot "Crocodile Storm"~"

"Oh, come on, how could you do this?"

Apparently someone really liked the script of "Dead Silence", but was stopped in his tracks by Zhang Chen's words.

Zhang Chen spread his hands and shrugged: "Guys, I know you all must like "Dead Silence", but I can't help it.

"Crocodile Storm" is a movie I promised to someone else. Not only must I shoot it, but I must also shoot it well. "Dead Silence" is the reward I paid.

I originally wanted to take the photos myself, but now I have no choice but to give them up.

See if anyone is interested in helping me make "Crocodile Storm" and "Dead Silence" will be directed by him..."

Most of those present here are horror film directors, and they actually have limited interest in so-called thrillers.

But "Dead Silence" is really amazing.

"I can't figure out how your brain works. You can come up with a story like "Crocodile Storm" and another story like "Dead Silence"..."

Zhang Chen shrugged and made a helpless expression.

Everyone, look at me, I look at you~
"I'm very interested, but I'm afraid I don't have time. I'm busy promoting "I Saw the Devil"~"

“I Saw the Devil” is different from “Don’t Hold Your Breath.”

"Hold Your Breath" is a standard low-budget film, with only 1700 theaters opening. The actors are all unknown guys, and there is basically no publicity. The box office performance depends purely on God's will.

But "I Saw the Devil" is different. New Line has high expectations for it and decided to open it directly in 2360 theaters, which is already a medium-sized opening scale and cannot afford to make any mistakes.

James Wan was itching to watch it, he really liked the plot of "Dead Silence", it seemed like it was tailor-made for him.

Unable to bear the inner torment, James Wan finally said, "Let me do it. I really like this story."

Zhang Chen said: "Deal, the preparations for "Crocodile Storm" have been completed and we can start shooting at any time, but it needs to be shot in China. After the shooting is completed, the Cube will approve the project "Dead Silence", and you are the only candidate for director..."

(End of this chapter)