Chapter 161 Million-dollar Investment
"Give domestic science fiction a future."

This is a big statement, but Guo Fan's tone is calm.

He was not just shouting slogans, but believed this from the bottom of his heart.

To be honest, for someone like Meng Bai who is used to planning before taking action, this kind of calmness is more convincing than passionate words.

"The title of the future of domestic science fiction is too big, I can't bear it." Meng Bai said: "Brother Guo, we are also friends who have fought together. Just tell me directly, what do you want to do for you?"

Guo Fan coughed lightly: "Right now, the main problem is the lack of money."

"How much?"

"Around 70 million."

"Well, actually, it may not be necessary to do so much." Gongger on the side quickly added: "China Film Group is not in a hurry to start the project, so we still have ample time. We can use domestic teams for some work. The efficiency will be slightly slower, but the price is cheaper. In the end... 50 is about right."

Guo Fan nodded and continued, "It's okay, Xiao Meng, if you are not interested in this project, it's okay, don't make it difficult. Or if you are worried about problems with the actual project establishment later, this money is considered a personal loan from me."

If it were Guo Fan two years ago, he would not be willing to say "borrow money". At most, he would mortgage his house and he would always be able to raise the money.

But not now, because he got married last year.

It doesn't matter when he's alone. If he fails, he can just go back to filming movies that he doesn't like as much and make the money back. But he can't let his family go with him.

That's why he had the "thickness" to contact the "little brothers" he had worked with in the past to see if they could help.

Meng Bai drank a sip of tea and wiped his mouth with a tissue. Then, under the gaze of the other two, he stood up and said, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Guo Fan asked.

"Brother, whether it's investment cooperation or borrowing money, you have to let me see your preparations first, right?"

Guo Fan and Gongger looked at each other, smiled, stood up, and patted Meng Bai on the shoulder: "Come on, I'll show you our studio."
-
Guo Fan’s studio is located outside the West Fifth Ring Road, in a somewhat old cultural and creative park.

"Let's take a look. How is it?" Guo Fan asked.

Meng Bai took a look at the office. It was not very big, only half the size of Arclight Studios. In the middle of the room stood a three-meter square table, which was filled with piles of documents.

At the opposite corner of the table, several staff members were discussing something, holding a model similar to a gas stove in their hands.

The computers in the office were arranged in a circle around the walls, and the corners and aisles were filled with dozens of cardboard boxes of various sizes, filled with various model props.

"Very good." Meng Bai retracted his gaze and nodded, saying, "Although the sparrow is small, it has all the organs. It has a bit of a sci-fi feel."

After that, he pointed to the model in the hands of the staff member who was discussing the issue and asked curiously, "What is that?"

"The Earth Engine in The Wandering Earth." Guo Fan said, "This is a shape and structure that we conceived after discussing with experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But it is only a preliminary version and will definitely be revised later."

"Chinese Academy of Sciences?" Meng Bai asked in surprise.

Guo Fan nodded: "China Film Group helped us get in touch. If science fiction wants to be 'fantasy', it must first be 'real', so we need these experts to help us provide theoretical basis and data support."

As Meng Bai listened, he suddenly felt inexplicably moved.

When I watched Hollywood science fiction blockbusters in the past, I often heard phrases like "Nobel Prize-winning professor guided the creation" in the promotions, which gave people a sense of high-endness.

Nowadays, when I suddenly hear the name "Chinese Academy of Sciences", I have a subtle feeling of both strangeness and familiarity.

After calming down, he looked at the piles of information on the table. Most of the drawings on them were design drawings.

If someone who doesn’t know this sees this, they would probably think it’s an architectural design studio or something like that.

"These are the concept drawings of some of the props and scenes we are currently designing," Guo Fan introduced.

Meng Bai glanced at the thickness of the document: "How many pages are there?"

"There are more than 300 of them at the moment."

"so much?"

"This is just the beginning." Guo Fan patted a thick stack of information and said, "If we calculate based on the amount of work prepared in the early stages, this is only one-third. If we calculate based on the entire project, it is estimated to be less than one-tenth."

Three hundred concept drawings are less than one-tenth of the total, so the total scale must be more than three thousand.

To be honest, more than 90% of movies may not even have this scale in terms of concept drawings or script size.

Guo Fan himself shook his head and smiled bitterly. The reason for such a large scale was not only because of the size of the project itself, but more because they had to start almost entirely from scratch.

Hollywood has many years of accumulation, and new projects can directly reuse or compare the materials left by predecessors.

But "The Wandering Earth" can't do that, because they are pioneers themselves and have no reference at all.

As for forcibly imitating Hollywood, the end result will only be a "low-quality" copycat film.

To be honest, even just these achievements are enough to impress Meng Bai.

However, as a film and television worker who started out as a screenwriter, he still habitually asked about the script.

"The script..."

When talking about this part, Guo Fan's expression became slightly strange, but soon returned to normal. "Because it is still in the construction stage, there is only a framework concept, and there is no specific plot arrangement yet."

Guo Fan took a remote control and turned on the screen and projector in the hall. Then he turned around and tapped a few times on the computer beside him, opening a file.

"This is the 'background story chronicle' of The Wandering Earth that we have preliminarily completed based on the original novel."

As Guo Fan spoke, a framework diagram appeared on the screen.

In 1977, after Chinese astronomer Fu Jianming had counted the solar activity over the last 50 years and recorded it in detail over the past years, he proposed that the acceleration of fusion in the solar core would produce a fatal helium flash, leading to the death of the sun and its rapid expansion to engulf the earth. This argument did not resonate internationally.

In 1980, after reading Fu Jianming's paper, NASA expert Terrence Brook organized a team to begin studying related topics.

In 1990, Voyager took a photo of the Earth.

……

In 2018, Liu Xin, a former expert of the Helium Flash Research Group, launched the "Wandering Earth" model and proposed the concept of a planetary engine for the first time.

This framework diagram is similar to a timeline outline, but it is not completely linear. Instead, it is divided into several different branches, which are independent of each other but influence each other.

Various texts, boxes, signs and arrows are intertwined with each other to construct a complex "fantasy world".

After looking at it for a while, Meng Bai nodded: "Is this the entire background framework? It is indeed quite detailed."

"Ah?" Guo Fan was stunned: "No, this is just a part of the framework, this is the complete one."

After saying that, he pressed the remote control.

In an instant, the frame image on the screen shrank rapidly, and then along the arrows, a dozen similar frame images extended out.

Until finally, a long, complete "history" like a spider web appeared in front of Meng Bai.

[In 1977, Chinese astronomer Fu Jianming proposed the argument that the acceleration of fusion in the core of the sun would produce a deadly helium flash, leading to the death of the sun and rapid expansion to engulf the earth.

……

On January 1999, 1, Liu Peiqiang's father-in-law, Han Ziang, was born.

In March 2000, the Solar Helium Flash Response Strategy Research Foundation published the "Feasibility Report on the Proxima Centauri Colonization Project."

……

In January 2028, Liu Xin and others submitted a plan to launch "The Wandering Earth", and the United Nations Helium Flash Response Team split into the spacecraft faction and the planet faction.

In October 2029, hackers obtained the US government's research plan and announced it to the public. The plan stated that people with assets of more than 10 million US dollars would have the opportunity to participate in the lottery for ship tickets. A large-scale riot broke out in the United States, and the government was forced to abandon the spacecraft colonization plan.

……

Liu Peiqiang was born on February 2023, 2.

On March 2044, 3, the space elevator was destroyed and the Ark 12 space station was blown up. The United Earth Government (UEG) decided to propose three major response plans: "Mountain Moving Plan", "Ark Plan" and "Moon By Moon Plan".

……

On February 2075, 2, the Earth will break away from the sun's orbit and humanity will enter the era of escape.

April 2075, 4, Jupiter Crisis. 】

"1977 to 2075..." Meng Bai took a long breath: "One hundred years."

There is no need for any images or pictures, just looking at this "Century Chronicle" which is like a history book, the vastness of the universe and the weight of time are already spread out before your eyes.

It was not until this time that Meng Bai finally understood what Guo Fan said.

"Give domestic science fiction a future."

After a long silence, Meng Bai frowned and asked, "So, you want to finish filming the story for a hundred years? This span is too long. Even if a movie is three hours long, it probably won't be enough."

Meng Bai is a liberal arts student and doesn't know much about science fiction, but he has a keen intuition about scripts and stories.

If it is really filmed according to this hundred-year history, the biggest possibility is that it will become a diary-like "science fiction documentary".

"Of course it's impossible to film all of them." Guo Fan smiled: "In fact, we only want to film this part."

As he spoke, he turned the "Chronicle" to the last page and pointed his finger at the last line of words - "Jupiter Crisis".

"So, those things before are just background settings." Meng Bai said.

"Yes." Guo Fan said: "Of course, if the project is really successful in the end, maybe we can use it to shoot a prequel or something like that, haha."

Meng Bai smiled and looked at the "spider web diagram" on the screen and the heavy documents on the table. After a moment of silence, he said, "How much money did you guys still need?"

"Five...seven hundred thousand." Guo Fan glanced at the expression of his younger brother and decisively shouted out the original price.

Meng Bai didn't care and said directly: "How about this, Brother Guo, let's not bother with these small amounts. We will pay one million yuan to buy 10% of the shares of your studio, and that will be considered as financing and investment. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)

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