The Wright Center for Digital Arts is a very famous park-like architectural landscape in San Francisco, and he is famous not only because he is a master's work, but more importantly, the first generation of film CG special effects was born here, which not only made Star Wars, but also created a new direction for film.

On January 1, 91, Zhou Ming didn't have time to sigh that another year had passed since he was reborn, so he hurriedly drove here.

Parking the car in the underground parking lot, Zhou Ming and Zhang Lin just walked out of the parking lot, he saw a familiar figure, Zhou Ming opened his mouth and called out his name: "Mr. Jobs, I didn't expect you to pick me up in person." ”

Jobs jokingly said: "Of course, you are the largest investor in our Pixar animation studio, if you don't serve you well, and you suddenly withdraw your investment, then I'm afraid we will have to drink the northwest wind for the whole year, you know, I have pushed off all the company's animation production business for Toy Story, and some even paid liquidated damages." ”

"Lucas must be happy right now, because his Industrial Light & Magic company has one less of its biggest competitors, and even if it's only for a month, he'll be able to steal a lot of orders from you. Zhou Ming also said jokingly.

Although Zhou Ming and Jobs are joking, from Jobs's words, Zhou Ming can hear that he is really doing his best for the animated movie "Toy Story" after he has his own investment.

After some jokes, Jobs also invited Zhou Ming to walk into the Wright Digital Art Center and come to Pixar Animation Studio.

The office is very quiet, dozens of employees are quietly working hard in front of the computer, and the hum of the computer's CPU and hard disk can be heard in the huge office.

Suddenly, there was a crackling sound of wooden boards next door, and Jobs told Zhou Ming: "It must be that bad guy who is looking for feelings again, you know that our protagonist is a cowboy sheriff with a wooden plank under his feet, so whenever our painter is inspired, he will go to the next room to glue the wooden board under his feet and walk with a snap, making people hate to drag his shoes down and slap his face." ”

"It seems that this artist must be very serious, and I am very much looking forward to his work. Zhou Ming casually agreed.

"But I prefer he doesn't cause me trouble. "But this Toy Story will make people look forward to it, because it is completely made of 3D animation, he is not as rigid as other cartoons, but will be very three-dimensional, according to my requirements, this cartoon will feel like it is happening in front of you, only in this way can it bring the audience a kind of beauty enjoyment." ”

Zhou Ming listened to Jobs' explanation while inspecting Pixar's animation studio, and about a quarter of an hour later, they came to Jobs's office.

Jobs has been an individual investor since leaving Apex before buying Pixar Animation Studios and turning it into his office.

Zhou Ming sat down in the office, and Jobs made a cup of coffee for himself and Zhou Ming.

"I think Mr. Zhou Ming, there must be something very important about your sudden visit today, right?" Jobs sat down and asked.

Zhou Ming nodded without hesitation and said, "That's right, I came here to ask when you are going to launch this cartoon?"

"According to my original plan, it will be at least three years later, but now thanks to your investment from Mr. Zhou Ming, I expect the cartoon to be completed in two to three months, and I expect to be able to reach the summer of '92 after that, including publicity and distribution. Jobs counted very carefully, folding his fingers.

"The summer of '92 is too far away, can you speed up the progress?" Zhou Ming asked, "For example, let the movie be released within a month......

Before Zhou Ming's words fell, Jobs immediately denied it: "This is impossible! Mr. Zhou Ming, are you joking with me? In a month's time, even if the studio works overtime, at most it can only complete the production of the film, as well as the censorship and grading of the film association, the publicity and distribution of the film, and the scheduling of the theater chain, etc., etc., should these tasks be completed within 24 hours?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Jobs, I'm not kidding, but I understand that it would be impossible to get this done in a month if we were to follow the normal production process of a film. Zhou Ming then changed his words and asked, "But Mr. Jobs, as you said just now, if this cartoon is to be done overtime by Pitz Animation, then it can be completed within a month, right?"

Jobs frowned, although he was puzzled why Zhou Ming asked this, he still nodded and answered.

"But the creation of a movie should be a burst of inspiration, can you ensure the accuracy of the time?" Zhou Ming asked again.

"If everything starts from scratch, including the script and all the backstories and character settings, I can't guarantee even a year or two, but Toy Story is different. Jobs said, "The detailed script and various storyboard scripts of this whole cartoon have been done a long time ago, and even the sketches of many shots have been drawn a long time ago, and what we are going to do now is to make these things that have been conceived a long time ago into a real picture." ”

"It's all about the mechanical work of the artists, so the time is predictable, and if we can work with other animation studios, I believe it can be shortened. Jobs said.

Jobs's answer made Zhou Ming very happy: "So according to what you said Mr. Jobs, there is a possibility that Toy Story will be released within a month, right?"

"This can't be!" Jobs blurted out the answer, but then he eased his emotions before asking, "I think before I deny it, I need to hear Mr. Zhou Ming's reasons, including the reason why you are here today, and why you want Toy Story to be released within a month, because if there is no good reason, I will definitely refuse to let an assembly line movie that is not created through art, but completed by rushing the deadline, even if Mr. Zhou Ming is not your request." ”

Regarding Jobs's question, Zhou Ming was not surprised at all.

"It seems that Mr. Jobs really created this Toy Story as if it were art. Zhou Ming teased casually first, and then said seriously, "It's because my investment has been targeted, and it's a very serious target, if I can't complete an excellent big project within a month, I'm afraid there will be a very bad result." ”

Then Zhou Ming told Jobs about Tang Ran's inheritance of the Tang family industry and then coming to Jieke's company for assessment, and Jobs fell into silence for a long time after listening.

After a long while, Jobs finally sighed heavily: "I can't imagine that there is such a thing, it seems that I know too little about the world!"

After laughing at himself, Jobs said: "For this reason, I think I will be happy to obey your orders, Mr. Zhou Ming, but sometimes the problem is not what we want, as I just said, one month is only the minimum production time for an animated film, not including the post-editing and sending to the film association for review, as well as the promotion and distribution of the film, which cannot be completed in one day!"

"So what if the production of the film and the promotion of the film were carried out at the same time?" Zhou Ming asked.

"If this is the case, it will be in time, but I think Mr. Zhou Ming, you still ignore one of the most important issues, that is, the censorship of films by the Film Association. ”

Jobs then said to Zhou Ming: "A film is not allowed to be released in theaters before it passes the review of the Film Association, so the process of all films is to review and pass first, and then start publicity and theater scheduling, because if the review is not passed, or the classification results of the Film Association are different from what we promote, it will not only cause a lot of waste of resources, but also seriously endanger the reputation of the film itself." ”

Speaking of this, Jobston paused, and then he looked at Zhou Ming and said: "It is precisely for this reason that to this day, I have hardly heard of that movie being promoted and released before it was sent for review, because that kind of behavior is simply unreasonable." ”

"But what if I had a way to perfectly avoid all these problems that Mr. Jobs said, and still minimize the cost of publicity?" Zhou Ming asked rhetorically.

Faced with Zhou Ming's rhetorical question, Jobs was stunned at that time, and his eyes when he looked at Zhou Ming were full of incredulity.

Jobs was very confident in his eloquence, and because of this, he also believed that he had just made the problem of rushing to release very clearly, and more importantly, many of these problems were almost unavoidable.

If you want to promote a movie before censorship, it won't have an impact unless you don't reveal the name of the movie and don't show any movie clips, but the problem is that the promotion of the movie is not to tell everyone what story my movie is telling, and to attract the audience to the cinema through wonderful clips?

Jobs shook his head, if it were anyone else, Jobs would have left the table angrily at this time, but to Zhou Ming, Jobs still said patiently: "I'm sorry Mr. Zhou Ming, I think I can understand that you want the movie to be released within a month, but it's a pity that what you said is impossible to achieve." ”

"But Mr. Jobs, I can tell you very responsibly, nothing is impossible!" Zhou Ming said firmly.

Zhou Ming's words made Jobs's eyes suddenly light up: "So, Mr. Zhou Ming, what do you have to do?"

Zhou Ming shook his head very dryly and replied, "No." ”

Hearing this answer, Jobs was messy on the spot, if it weren't for Jobs being sure of Zhou Ming's serious tone, he would have thought that Zhou Ming was joking, otherwise how could he be so firm that there was a way, and then answer so easily that there was no way? Isn't this a neurosis?

Zhou Ming smiled at this and said: "I can understand Mr. Jobs, you feel incredible, but what I want to say is that I really don't have much to do now, after all, I want to promote the movie without revealing the name and content of the movie, and it will not have any negative impact on the follow-up movie promotion, which is completely contrary to the word publicity, and I am not a genius, how can I think of a way?"

Zhou Ming then suddenly changed the conversation and finally said: "But I always believe that there is no problem that cannot be solved, only the brain that is unwilling to use, as long as we think hard, there will definitely be a way!"

Jobs was shocked by Zhou Ming's answer, if it were someone else, Jobs would definitely think that he was too blind and conceited, but Zhou Ming, Jobs had a very strong premonition: he could fulfill his promise!