Hong Kong 1990: From stuntman to King of Kung Fu

Chapter 117 The Parade of Holding Xiantao Digital: A Show That Started Strong but Ended Weakly

The most famous special effects company in Hong Kong is Gan Xiantao Digital.

With the film "The Storm Riders", he burst onto the scene and ushered in the era of digital special effects in Hong Kong films.

The film "Storm Riders" features approximately 550 digital special effects shots, perfectly visualizing the exaggerated moves from the comics such as Cloud Dispelling Palm, Wind God Leg, and Three-Part Return to Origin Qi, completely subverting the audience's imagination of martial arts films and establishing Xiantao Digital's absolute industry position.

Later, they participated in a series of blockbuster films such as "Chinese Hero", "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu", and the reputation of Cento Digital reached its peak, becoming the undisputed number one special effects company in Hong Kong and even the whole of China at that time.

However, the now-famous Citron Digital was just a small, unknown company at that time.

"Mr. Tang, are you sure this advertising company can do movie special effects?"

On the way to Xiantao Digital Company, Tang Jili couldn't suppress his doubts and asked.

"This company is indeed unremarkable, seemingly having nothing to do with film special effects, but the boss of this company is different."

Although the biggest highlight of "Black Mask" is the kung fu, it is still a science fiction film no matter what.

Some shots still require special effects.

But he asked Tang Jili to look into the special effects companies in Hong Kong, and found that most of them were physical effects companies.

The special effects are basically still in the stage of rudimentary production, mainly relying on optical synthesis and model props.

The most famous of them is undoubtedly Xu Ke's New Vision Studio.

He specifically set up this special effects studio to film "The New Legend of Shushan Swordsman", and even invented wire work during the process.

The special effects for subsequent films such as the "A Chinese Ghost Story" series and "Iron Lady Maria" were all completed by New Vision Studio.

Of course, there are computer special effects companies, but there is one that stands alone: ​​Wuji Special Effects.

Founded in 1986, Wuji Special Effects was one of the earliest special effects companies in Hong Kong during the 1980s and 90s.

He participated in the computer animation production of films such as Andy Lau's "Saviour of the Soul" and "Saviour of the Soul".

The opening Iogo animation for Tangde Pictures was also produced by this company, Wuji Special Vision.

However, computer-generated special effects are expensive, and Hong Kong films rarely use them.

Therefore, Wuji Special Vision is on the verge of bankruptcy and can no longer sustain itself.

The most suitable partner for "Black Mask" would of course be Wuji Special Vision, but Tang Long still wanted to go to Xiantao Digital.

Have a look.

Wuji Special Effects went bankrupt in the mid-1990s, while Sinotrans Digital became the representative of special effects in Hong Kong.

Although Xiantao Digital is currently just a GG company, he believes that the company will definitely not only do GG.

Who is the owner of Xiantao Digital?

"His name is Zhu Jiaxin. You'll meet him soon."

Zhu Jiaxin personally greeted Tang Long, a renowned figure, at the company entrance upon his visit.

After exchanging brief greetings, the two entered the boss's office amidst the expectant gazes of many employees at Xiantao Digital.

"Mr. Tang, are you trying to get our company to film a porn movie?"

"No, I want your company to make a movie."

"Making a movie? Mr. Tang is joking."

"No joke, our company is preparing to bring the comic book 'Black Mask' to the big screen, which involves some special effects shots."

I wanted to come and see if Sinotrans Digital had the capability to produce it.

Zhu Jiaxin's eyes lit up immediately, and he asked curiously, "Mr. Tang, I'm a little confused. Why would you choose my company, GG, when you're looking for a special effects company?"

"I've always heard people in the industry say that Mr. Zhu was born into a film family and has a particular fondness for computer special effects."

I figured it couldn't be baseless, so I came to check it out.

"Is it really necessary to have Tang Sheng come in person just to see?"

"Besides coming to check on the situation at Xiantao Digital, I also came to see you, Mr. Zhu."

If you are truly as passionate about computer-generated special effects as the rumors suggest, then perhaps we can collaborate.

Zhu Jiaxin suddenly realized and laughed, "So Tang Sheng came here to assess me."

"Originally, I was going to hand over the special effects work for the new movie to a North American special effects company, but I felt that Hong Kong, as the Hollywood of the East, should not be without a decent special effects company."

Besides, I have many films that will require special effects, and it would be too expensive to use North American companies every time.

Zhu Jiaxin got up and refilled Tang Long's teacup, his tone slightly excited: "Mr. Tang, if you want to understand movie special effects, you've come to the right person."

My dad's a film producer, and I had a great opportunity to get into the film industry. Do you know why I still started a film production company?

Why?

"To make money."

Computer-generated special effects require high-end equipment, including small computers or even workstations, with each unit costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Not to mention other hardware and software facilities, starting a computer special effects company requires an investment of several million for a standard set of equipment.

This is just the investment in equipment; personnel salaries are also a significant cost.

Although there are more and more people who know computers, there are very few who can master computer effects. Such talent is in high demand everywhere, and to retain them, you have to offer them satisfactory salaries.

"I don't think Wuji Special Vision has such a high cost?" Tang Jili asked doubtfully.

"They are just the lowest-end computer effects company, and the work they do is completely devoid of technical skill."

Zhu Jiaxin expressed considerable disdain when Wuji Special Vision was mentioned.

"So, what stage is Xiantao Digital at in its preparations?"

"I have prepared three million, and I plan to buy some of the equipment next year to start my foray into the special effects field and accumulate experience."

How do you plan to resolve the personnel issue?

"I can do it myself, and I have a few friends who work at Hollywood special effects companies."

"If my company gets going, I'm confident I can bring them back."

Upon hearing this, Tang Long couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that Zhu Jiaxin's preparations were even more thorough than he had imagined.

"Mr. Zhu, would you be interested in partnering with me to start a computer effects company?"

I have the projects, you have the resources, and you don't need to worry about funding.

"Of course I'm interested."

Zhu Jiaxin was exposed to movies from a young age and aspired to enter the film industry.

He was deeply impressed after seeing George Lucas's Star Wars in 1977.

After that, he developed a great interest in movie special effects.

After returning from his studies in Italy and the United States, he founded Citron Digital through his father's connections.

Zhu Jiaxin has been raising funds by making videos of GG (Girls' Love) for six or seven years now.

For the past six or seven years, he has been thinking about starting a special effects company as soon as possible.

However, the market for computer-generated special effects in Hong Kong was very small, and no one was willing to invest, so he could only save money little by little on his own.

Now that he's heard Tang Long is willing to invest, how could he possibly refuse?

"How does Mr. Tang plan to cooperate?"

"How much investment would it take to start your ideal visual effects company?"

"It's around ten million Hong Kong dollars. There's no need to start too big at the beginning. We can expand the scale after we've accumulated enough."

"You seem quite pragmatic. So, are you going to invest money in the company we're going to establish together?"

"I'm willing to invest three million."

Seeing Zhu Jiaxin's unwavering demeanor, Tang Long nodded in approval.

It seems he truly loves special effects and is willing to invest the vast majority of his fortune in them.

In that case, Tang Long felt even more at ease about cooperating with him.

"Then I'll put in seven million, and the shares will be divided according to the proportion of my investment?"

"no problem."

Zhu Jiaxin had no objection. Although he possessed the technology, he could also bring in projects.

Besides, these days only those with money have the power.

"Then you should call back your colleagues and friends in North America as soon as possible and get the company up and running."

If you think it's feasible, you could acquire Wuji Special Effects. A million or two should be enough, since special effects talent is hard to come by.

"I'll contact them tonight. As for Wuji Special Vision, I need to go and investigate it first."

If we only need people, we can just dig them up; it'll save us money.

"You can decide what to do. Since you were able to successfully start a GG company, it means you have management skills."

I'll assign a few people from the finance and human resources departments to the new company; I won't get involved in operations and management, that's your responsibility.

"Don't worry, Mr. Tang, as long as the money is in place, the company will be up and running quickly, and you definitely won't be disappointed."

Zhu Jiaxin was thrilled to hear this; choosing to cooperate with Tang Long was definitely the right decision.

"By the way, Mr. Tang, what's the name of our new company?"

Tang Long was too lazy to come up with a new name, so he casually said, "Let's call it Xiantao Digital."

"Okay, I'll sell GG's business, and then we'll use that company as the main entity for the special effects company."

Since we've started working on special effects, let whoever wants to do it do it.

Tang Jili and Zhu Jiaxin then discussed the special effects shots that needed to be produced for "Black Mask".

After listening, Zhu Jiaxin said directly, "These special effects are not difficult. Once the equipment arrives, I can do them by myself with a little time."

"Then you should set up your special effects company as soon as possible. My film 'Black Mask' is about to start filming."

And if you think it's too easy, then you can remake Tangde Pictures' Iogo animation for me later.

If you still have the energy, you should thoroughly study "The Storm Riders," that's a real big project.

After discussing business and realizing they were about to become family, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

"Mr. Tang, did your celebrity parade a few days ago have any effect?"

As a marginal figure in the entertainment industry, he had naturally heard about the harm that triads inflicted on the entertainment circle.

In fact, it's not just in the entertainment industry; in the past two years, triads have become increasingly arrogant and domineering.

As for the reason, everyone knows the answer.

Those foreigners were full of bad intentions; before they left, they left a mess for the people who took over.

"What effect can it have? At most, it can only make those thugs behave themselves for a while, but they'll be back to their old ways in a month or two."

A week ago, under the leadership of Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong entertainment industry launched a protest against violence in the film industry that shocked both Hong Kong and the world.

More than 600 people from the entertainment industry participated in the march.

Jackie Chan, Tang Lung, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat, Cheung Kwok-wing, Anita Mui, Cheung Man-yuk, Andy Lau and other top stars were all present.

During the march, the celebrities, in interviews with the media, denounced the infiltration and threats posed by organized crime to the entertainment industry.

Cheng Lung sharply satirized: "Hong Kong triads are not as powerful as the Yamaguchi-gumi, nor as powerful as the Mafia. They can also make movies, but they are very fair."

"They always say the price is the right price, and they follow the rules of the game, but these people don't."

Tang Long directly criticized: "I have seen celebrities being beaten in public for refusing to accept gigs;

When an actor tried to turn down a role, the other party threatened the safety of his family.

Some people even broke into the company at gunpoint and forced popular actors to accept roles.

All of this shows a complete disregard for human dignity, treating us artists as human beings.

Chow Yun-fat emphasized that there should be rules: "I don't object to triads participating in films, but filmmaking must be done in accordance with film rules."

Chan Yan-kin, a former superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, stood on a high place with a megaphone and denounced the Hong Kong police for their inaction: "The police told us that we cannot take action unless you file a report." We asked in return, "If we file a report, will you provide full protection for us?" But they said that they did not have enough manpower and could not protect them in the long term.

I can't help but wonder, with all the taxes we pay every year, plus a 10% entertainment tax on box office revenue, where does all that money go?

The anti-gang protests did generate a lot of buzz, but no official figure of authority came out to give a direct response.

Now a week has passed, the hype has gradually dissipated, and it seems that everything will soon return to normal.

Perhaps the only achievement was the establishment of the Hong Kong Performing Artists Association, which aims to protect the rights and interests of the performing arts industry and uphold the dignity of artists.

Historically, the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild has been the most influential of all industry associations in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

The first president was Xu Guanwen, and the president before Tang Long's time travel was Gu Tianle.

Louis Koo has truly done a lot for Hong Kong artists.

"There's no way around it, mainly because Hong Kong movies are so popular that they attract all sorts of weirdos and scoundrels."

If it weren't for his unwavering dream of creating special effects, Zhu Jiaxin would have been tempted to invest in films.

"Alright, Mr. Zhu, I won't bother you any longer."

Someone will be coming tomorrow to discuss and sign an investment contract with you. Get the special effects company up and running as soon as possible.

On the way back, Tang Jili hesitated for a moment and said, "Ah Long, the preparation for 'Black Mask' may have to be postponed for a while. 'Police Story 3' is about to be released, and I need to go with it for promotion."

After the huge success of "Sha Po Lang", Tang Jili was no longer an unknown.

Becoming a star director overnight also requires a certain box office appeal.

"Go ahead, it'll take some time for Xiantao Digital to be set up anyway."

Previously, when Cui Baozhu went to Golden Harvest to discuss borrowing Tang Jili, He Guanchang directly refused, saying that unless Golden Harvest was involved in Tangde Film Industry's new projects.

Cui Baozhu naturally refused outright and then launched a plan to poach talent.

Tang Jili was immediately interested in Tangde Film Industry's invitation.

It wasn't that he was rebellious, but rather that filming "Police Story 3" made him appreciate even more how pleasant it was to work with Tang Lung on "SPL: Sha Po Lang".

Although Tangde Film & Television is not as prestigious as Golden Harvest, it is still a well-known film company in the industry with considerable strength.

Later, Tang Long personally intervened and finally convinced Tang Jili to join Tangde Film Industry.

Although Cheng Long was reluctant, seeing that Tang Jili was determined, he did not try to stop him.

To him, Tang Jili was talented, but his movies could do without anyone else; as long as he was the male lead, the box office would definitely be a hit.

On the contrary, Jiahe was furious when she heard that Tang Jili had left.

>