1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 178 I Don’t Know the Gentleman Wan Ziliang

I'll take care of the acid-free paper and you'll take care of the color-changing ink.

Zhai Yuan would never have thought that a line written by Zhuang Wenqiang in "Wushuang" would inspire him at this time.

"Okay, okay, I won't copy yours for Infernal Affairs."

After being inspired by Wu Yusen on the phone, Zhai Yuan immediately called several technicians invited from local chemical factories, including the oldest one, to his side.

“Uncle Ben, I remember that the dyes prepared by your factory are mainly supplied to clothing and furniture companies?”

This group of chemical technicians are all veteran workers who have worked in the dye industry for many years.

Cotton spinning and dyeing, furniture coating, mechanical spray painting... As long as it is related to the industry, Zhai Yuan has recently hired them as outsourced personnel to work on CD coating.

Uncle Ben is one of them. He worked in a dyeing workshop in the 1950s and later switched to become an operator in a chemical plant. He has rich experience in the industry and had already retired at home. This time, he was specially invited by Zhai Yuan to be a technical consultant.

Zhai Yuan asked him: "Have you ever spray-painted a car?"

“Automobile spraying is rarely done because there are no OEM factories in China.”

Uncle Ben took off his gloves. Maybe his reaction was slow due to his age. He thought and said slowly, "But it's not that we haven't done it before. Some car repair shops in Hong Kong are unwilling to import original paint to save money, so they let us mix a similar coating to fool the customers who come to repair their cars."

Zhai Yuan asked: "Is there any difference between car coating and CD coating?"

Uncle Ben thought for a moment and said, "They are all similar dyes."

Zhai Yuan asked: "Why is the car coating not afraid of ultraviolet rays, but the CD coating is not?"

Uncle Ben laughed twice when he heard such an amateur's words. "I understand what you mean. You want to use car paint to make CD coatings. Theoretically, there is no problem, but in reality, you have to consider the cost. Those car coatings use a baking process, and the outside needs to be sealed with a membrane glaze, otherwise it will also fade under the sun. Others make a car and sell it for hundreds of thousands. How much do you sell a CD for?"

"I understand." Zhai Yuan nodded and stated the ultimate goal: "But since everyone's process is similar, can we try to use automotive coating instead? It's better than running around like a headless fly now."

Uncle Ben was stunned, obviously not expecting that he could mix these two completely unrelated industries together.

The automobile industry has been developing for nearly a hundred years, and the accumulated coating technology is obviously far superior to that of optical discs. If similar dyes can be found, even if they cannot be used immediately, at least there is a direction for improvement.

Uncle Ben slapped his thigh, obviously thinking this was a feasible solution: "Yeah! Why didn't I think of it? Young people are really smart."

He paced back and forth excitedly, muttering, "Those car companies must have some hidden technology. We used to make knock-off spray paints, but no matter how we mixed them, we couldn't get the original color. This thing has a way..."

Coating technology is generally the core patent of automobile companies. In order to prevent others from counterfeiting the formula, manufacturers usually add different colorants to it. In this way, even if they get the raw materials, they cannot determine the coating formula based on the color.

Zhai Yuan was very interested in this patent, provided that there was a company whose car coating could be connected to the CD.

After calling other technicians over to discuss the matter again, the workers at the chemical plant all felt that this method was feasible.

Without saying a word, Zhai Yuan called the purchasing department of Jiuyi Entertainment on the spot. Amid the confused questions on the other end of the phone, he asked the purchasing staff to buy several bags of all the car paints on the market and send them to Yuen Long.

However, this matter will not produce results in a short time. Some original paints are only sold overseas, and it takes time to transfer the goods to Hong Kong.

“So far, no new innovation has been created. I hope this coating can help me get a patent.”

What Zhai Yuan lacks most now is this kind of thing.

On the surface, his VCDs and optical discs were developing steadily, but in fact, he only mastered assembly technology. Neither the hardware nor the software were self-developed. He just integrated other people's hardware together.

It is true that subtraction saves trouble, but the biggest disadvantage is that the product life cycle is very short.

Therefore, once VCDs and CDs came out, we had to adopt a blitzkrieg strategy to attract funds as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, if you are a little slow, your shoddy products will soon be driven out of the market by the high-tech machines of big manufacturers.

"We have to put the filming in Japan on the agenda. Let's make a few films about classic themes like aphrodisiac, time stop, and minotaur. When they come out with new regulations, I guess I can make my VCDs and CDs, and then sell them together."

Zhai Yuan prepared for a rainy day, planning for a situation that might not occur until a year or two later.

"Manager Guan, I'm going to be out for a while. I won't be here for the next few days. Please let me know if there is any new progress."

After that, Zhai Yuan said hello to Guan Weiming and walked out of the factory.

He had been staying in the factory all this time and had little idea of the situation outside. If Wu Yusen hadn't called him, Zhai Yuan would not have known that "Wushuang" had already started filming.

"'God of Gamblers' is probably also being filmed in the same studio, but I don't know how Xu Qi is doing in America."

Zhai Yuan drove to the set of "Wushuang", switched from being an industry rookie back to being an entertainment boss, and went over the company's business in his mind.

But he could not help but turn his thoughts to the factory. This was his first time to get involved in the industrial sector, and besides being curious, he was mostly filled with emotion.

The development of technology is amazing. The storage capacity of CDs, which are only a few hundred MB now, may develop into hundreds of GB in a few years. High-tech VCDs will become electronic waste in just a dozen years. On the contrary, computers, which the public thinks are useless, will become a necessity for every household in the future.

If the factory develops smoothly this time, Zhai Yuan wants to spend more time on the industry, and it would be best if he could lower the price to 4090 in the future.

Tsk! It would be even better if it was made in China.

With wild ideas in his mind, Zhai Yuan drove into the New Territories and found the shooting address provided by Wu Yusen.

Wang Lung Street Sports Court, Tsuen Wan.

"Director Wu, long time no see!"

The stadium had been abandoned for many years and was overgrown with weeds. Zhai Yuan waded through the grass and saw a group of filming crew members led by Wu Yusen in front of an old factory building.

Filming is in progress.

When Wu Yusen heard Zhai Yuan's voice, he turned around and looked at him in surprise, then gestured to him to wait until he finished filming the scene before talking to him.

Zhai Yuan waved his hand to let him go ahead and stood outside the crew, folding his shoulders to observe the scene being filmed.

This scene is about the fake painter Wu Fusheng, played by Wan Ziliang, who shot and killed team member Xin Shu because he broke the rules by using fake US dollars.

The actor who Zhai Yuan recommended to Wu Yusen to play the role of Uncle Xin was Liao Qizhizi, the original actor, who is also a very sharp veteran actor in his mind.

But the one kneeling in front of Wan Ziliang begging for mercy was not Uncle Liao.

But it was another familiar face, Qin Yi.

Liang Jiahui was also present.

After the filming of this scene officially started, Wan Ziliang walked out of the factory with a threatening look on his face, and Qin Yi knelt down in front of him.

Qin Yi: "Cut off my hand and I will give it to you."

Wan Ziliang slowly squatted down and said, "Cut off your hands? What does the industry rules say?"

"Cut!"

Wu Yusen shouted into a megaphone, and all the actors stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"Wan Zi, what are you doing? You are now playing the role of the leader of a counterfeit money group, not Xiao Ma Ge, or the boss of a society."

Wu Yusen walked forward, frowned and lectured Wan Ziliang, saying: "It's not that just showing half of your teeth with your mouth wide open is called acting tough. The character of Wu Fusheng is a gentleman. Do you know what a gentleman is? His emotions are not so outward. He wants to give the audience a sense of oppression in terms of momentum. It's not as simple as being brave and aggressive..."

At the shooting site, Qin Yi stood up from the ground with a smile on his face, and the scene suddenly turned into Wan Ziliang bowing his head and getting scolded.

Wan Ziliang scratched his head awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Director, let's reshoot it and give me another chance."

"You've already reshot this scene three times."

This attitude of actively admitting mistakes calmed Wu Yusen down a little.

He reluctantly suggested to Wan Ziliang: "Forget it, I will shoot Li Wen's scenes first, and you can stop here for now. You don't have to do anything else when you go back today. Stay in your room and watch The Godfather to get a feel for it."

"Is it an American movie?" Wan Ziliang asked.

"Yes... I'll throw you in the towel! You're a movie shopper and you haven't even watched this movie?"

Wu Yusen, who was a director, stared at him in disbelief, as if it was a heinous crime not to watch this movie if he was working in this field.

"My English level is not good enough, and I rarely watch Western movies."

Wan Ziliang's honest answer is completely different from the image of the big boss he appears in the movie.

Zhai Yuan also walked forward at this time. He greeted a few familiar faces and then looked at the speechless Wu Yusen with a smile.

"Don't worry, Director. I have great confidence in Brother Wan Zi."

After saying that, he turned to look at Wan Ziliang and said earnestly: "Brother Wan Ziliang, actually you don't even need to watch The Godfather. You just need to remember that your character is a good guy, and then act in a good way."

Look at your Jiang Tianyang, isn’t he acting like a gentleman?

(I have something to do today, so I can only update once with 2,700 words. I will make up for the remaining words tomorrow)
(End of this chapter)