Entertainment: A whirlwind marriage with a fairy-like mother at the start!

The air in Burbank was slightly cool in the early morning.

Yu Le pushed open the door and got out of the car, his leather shoes stepping on the slightly rough asphalt road.

Luo Xiang, carrying his briefcase, followed behind like a shadow.

The two walked straight into the office building where the Light and Shadow Lab was located.

The office area on the third floor has been completely transformed.

The once empty space is now crammed full of all kinds of top-of-the-line servers and equipment.

The central air conditioning was turned on at maximum power.

Even so, it still couldn't control the heat generated by dozens of graphics workstations running simultaneously.

Mark greeted him with his messy hair.

He was holding an oversized cup of black coffee, and his eyes were surrounded by dark circles from staying up all night.

"Boss," Mark greeted him, placing his coffee on the cluttered table.

Yu Le nodded, took off his coat, and handed it to Luo Xiang.

"How's the progress?" Yu Le walked into the innermost motion capture room.

Kevin was sitting in front of several huge monitors, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

Several newly recruited technicians were standing around.

Hearing the sound, Kevin turned his head.

He pushed up his thick-rimmed glasses.

"Mr. Yu, the underlying logic of the system has been reconstructed." Kevin pointed to one of the screens.

The previous crude blue model was no longer on the screen.

Instead, a Na'vi head model with extremely detailed textures was created.

In the center of the motion capture room stood a test actor wearing a black bodysuit.

The actor's face was covered with tiny green reflective dots.

As the test actors made various exaggerated facial expressions, the Na'vi models on the screen synchronized in real time.

Yu Le pulled over a folding chair and sat down.

He stared at the screen for a full five minutes.

The test actors laughed, frowned, pursed their lips, and even made extremely subtle twitching movements.

The model's feedback speed is several times faster than before.

The delay is almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Mark stood to the side, rubbing his hands together.

"We increased the number of facial capture nodes to two hundred, and we also optimized the algorithm," Mark explained, pointing to the screen.

"Now we can not only capture large muscle movements, but also calculate the subtle twitching at the corners of the eyes."

The technicians around him all wore smug expressions.

They believe this system is already at a world-leading level.

Yu Le remained silent.

He stood up, walked to the screen, and pointed his finger at the cheek of the Na'vi model.

"This won't work." Yu Le pointed to the area below the model's cheekbone.

Kevin was taken aback.

Yu Le turned around and looked at this group of tech enthusiasts.

"When an actor makes a sad expression, the muscles here will twitch slightly; that's a physiological reaction that humans can't control."

"Your model only achieved a superficial resemblance; it failed to capture these subtle muscle spasms."

"And eyes." Yu Le tapped the screen.

"The sclera looks too fake, and the eye movements don't look natural enough."

"If you put something like this on the big screen, the audience will be able to tell at a glance that it's a computer-generated mannequin."

Mark's face turned bright red.

He scratched his head, looking somewhat helpless.

"Boss, to achieve the level of precision you mentioned, the number of nodes needs to be increased to at least five hundred."

"Our current server computing power simply cannot support such massive real-time rendering."

"It takes an extremely long time to run even one frame."

Yu Le turned to look at Luo Xiang.

Luo Xiang immediately opened his briefcase and took out a checkbook.

"Buy it," Yu Le said, uttering only one word.

He walked back to the folding chair and sat down.

"If you lack computing power, buy the best servers; if you lack technology, poach the top people in the industry."

Mark's breathing became heavy.

"Okay, with your words of encouragement, we can proceed with confidence and boldness."

Yu Le stood up and patted Mark on the shoulder.

After handing over the work of the Light and Shadow Lab, Yu Le and Luo Xiang left Burbank.

The car drove all the way to Century City.

This is where major Hollywood studios and talent agencies gather.

Luo Xiang rented an entire floor of office space here yesterday as a temporary office for Salty Fish Entertainment's North American branch.

The elevator stopped on the sixteenth floor.

The glass door already has the English logo of Salted Fish Entertainment affixed to it.

There were only a handful of people in the office area setting up computers and networks.

Yu Le walked into the spacious general manager's office.

A white man in his sixties was sitting on the leather sofa.

The old man was wearing a well-tailored three-piece suit and held a cigar in his hand, which he did not light.

When Yu Le came in, the old man stood up.

"Mr. Yu, I've long admired your name." The old man spoke in slightly hoarse English.

Luo Xiang explained from the side.

"Boss, this is Mr. Mike Davis."

"He spent forty years in Hollywood, and served as a senior executive in the distribution departments of Paramount and Universal."

Yu Le reached out and shook hands with Old Mike.

The old man had a strong grip, and his palms were covered in calluses, making him look nothing like an office executive.

Yu Le walked behind the desk and sat down.

"Mr. Mike, Luo Xiang has shown me your resume."

"I'm leaving the branch office to you; I only care about the results."

Old Mike placed his cigar on the coffee table, pulled out a chair, and sat down opposite Yu Le.

"Mr. Yu is a straightforward person."

"Since I'm receiving your high salary, I naturally have to solve your problems."

"Fox was involved in 'The Devil Wears Prada,' and we went through their distribution channels. Everything went smoothly."

"But what you mentioned earlier, that you plan to fully fund and independently produce and release the film here, is going to cause a lot of trouble."

Yu Le leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his stomach, and looked like he was listening attentively.

Tell me about it.

Old Mike leaned forward and lowered his voice.

"Hollywood is not a free market."

"It is a closed circle that is firmly controlled by several major labor unions and theater chains."

"The reason why the six major film studios can act so arrogantly is because they are the ones who set the rules."

"You're an outsider, not affiliated with any of the six major film studios, and you think you can get your film into theaters on your own? They have a hundred ways to make you lose everything."

"For example, extremely low screening rates, ghost screenings, or unions using excuses to investigate your taxes and employment contracts."

Yu Le picked up the now-cold tea on the table and took a sip.

"How do we solve this?"

Old Mike stretched out his finger and tapped it twice on the table.

"In your Chinese terms, it's called 'paying respects to the powerful and influential.'"

Old Mike smiled.

"Of course, in the United States, this is called a political donation or a charitable donation."

"Los Angeles has several specific industry development foundations."

"Behind these foundations stand the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild, and the owners of the three largest theater chains in North America."

Old Mike announced a number.

Two million US dollars.

"Pay this money and you'll get a senior membership in the foundation."

"They will treat you as one of their own, and at least they won't openly trip you up."