"Dude, isn't it the best director? I'm sure you can get it!"

Listening to Natalie on the other side of the phone resolutely speaking, Wang Yang couldn't help laughing, and while continuing to walk on this boulevard, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Thank you, but ...... Don't believe me. I can't, haha. I'm just now learning that after so many years at the Oscars, only three people have been nominated for best director for a sci-fi film, but I'm going to make a sci-fi movie!

He likes to study films, but he doesn't pay much attention to these historical details of the Oscars. He then laughed, "Who are those three people? Stanley Kubrick, wow! 2001: A Space Odyssey! You know the movie, its spaceships, its computers...... What can I say? It's unbelievable, unbelievable! And then George Lucas, oh! Star Wars! Hello, Her Majesty the Beauty Queen of Pad! Unbelievable, unbelievable, I'm talking to Her Majesty on the phone......

"Hah!" Natalie laughed as well, and said with a pretending of seriousness, "But you're not bad, you're the magic Jan!" Pademme tells you that the brave Naboo people don't say, 'I can't,' never!"

Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders and smiled at his phone: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I'm just an ordinary earthling." Both of them laughed a few times, and he slowly calmed down and smiled: "Okay, everyone is encouraging me, so whatever! I eat this box of chocolates, I eat, I eat, there will always be one that will be the best director." ”

Actually, it doesn't matter if you win the Oscar or not, well, I mean in your realm, not mine. Natalie smiled sinisterly in her voice, and then said seriously: "Yang, don't put too much psychological pressure on yourself, you know?" Wang Yang snorted, and just wanted to say thank you, when she heard her say again: "Psychological pressure will make you age early, make you ugly, and even 'really can't do it'." ”

Wang Yang didn't stop walking, and frowned suspiciously. Natalie over there continued, "I wish you had become like that and be abandoned by Jesse. I don't care about appearance, 8-pack abs are good, but 1 doesn't matter, and sex can be optional, maybe it saves a lot of trouble. ”

Wang Yang understood what she meant, couldn't help but roll his eyes, and said with a smile: "Do you know why I treat you as a gay friend?" He paused and said loudly: "That's the reason!" Natalie laughed nonchalantly, and said: "Brother, your voice now makes me very happy, I'm going to use that sentence!" Wang Yang smiled: "Okay, happy birthday! I'm a year older again, be obedient!"

Natalie whistled with a "whoosh" and said excitedly, "One year to go! After a year, I will be able to drink in the nightclub, I drink, I drink, I drink...... Fuck those bitches!"

"Your Majesty, please pay attention to the image!" Wang Yang hurriedly laughed and shouted, and shook his head again, what should I say about her? He smiled: "Don't say it, I have to go to work, thank you for your lame encouragement!" Natalie over there said: "Well, bye-bye, I have time to come to New York to play." Wang Yang refused and smiled: "No, I was detained in New York for a month this year, which is enough, and I will go through the procedures for being released from prison in September." Bye-bye, my friend!"

Although there are many comments about the best director, Wang Yang still has that attitude, doing his job well is the most important thing! And now the imminent work is the acquisition of special effects companies. He dialed a number with his mobile phone, and suddenly frowned again, only to see a paparazzi with a telephoto camera not far in front of him, taking pictures of him.

"Hey Mark, have they arrived?" Wang Yang looked at the paparazzi expressionlessly, listening to Mark Snent's words on the phone, and after a while, he nodded and said, "Well, okay, I'll come now." ”

Finding a special effects company suitable for acquisition and capital injection has been a focus of recent efforts at Flame Films, including releasing words in the industry to attract people, taking the initiative to contact, etc., and then after Wang Yang, Mark Slunt and Blue Sky Studios President Chris Weckey and others selected and investigated, finally set the target on a Canadian company called "image-engine".

In 1995, Greg Holmes and his partner Christopher founded the Graphics Engine in Vancouver, which is currently small in scale, mainly doing visual effects for TV commercials, and on the film and television side, its only work is the TV series "Stargate SG-1". But "Stargate" has received rave reviews since its launch in 1997, and its special effects have also been praised by fans.

Its main synthesis software is Nuke in the digital realm, which is naturally purchased and used back, perhaps not as well as in the digital realm, but its redevelopment and use of Nuke is definitely commendable. In terms of modeling, this is the first step in making 2D drawings into 3D animations, and the image engine also has experience that should not be underestimated.

But in general, it is now only a very small company, and although it is called "image engine", it lacks a powerful 3D vision engine, and there is no generation technology for hair and bones...... Not capable of working on special effects for District 9.

However, this is normal, if you directly acquire a capable special effects company, the price will inevitably increase several times, and others may not be willing to sell. They were interested in the graphics engine company because of its potential, and it now has employees from all over the world, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, China, ...... There are more than a dozen countries with very diverse backgrounds, and they are constantly recruiting talent from all over the world, which shows that the company is open to innovation and exploration.

The company's founder, Greg Holmes, is not a tech maniac, but a man who is very good at running a business, and his years of work have given him a wide range of contacts, including many up-and-comers in the industry, such as Sean Walsh, senior technical director of The Matrix, Peter Wools, head of computer graphics R&D at Motion Graphics, and others. A VFX team that's big enough to handle a film, and a top-notch technical R&D department. But I need funds. ”

With the funding provided by Flame Films, and the sharing of 3D engines, hair and bone generation technology, and Chris Weckey's connections, the two companies could complement each other and form a super R&D department for 3D special effects animation technology.

So Wang Yang decided to buy the graphics engine company, inject capital into it, recruit and build a top team, buy existing software technology, and expand into a thriving new special effects company.

Naturally, Greg Holmes is very happy that he can carry out his long-planned development plans as long as he has the funds. Originally, in his plan, the graphics engine would need to accumulate smoothly for at least another five years before it had a chance to develop slowly. But now Flame Films' well-funded, ambitious acquisitions have directly advanced the graphics engine by five or even ten years.

He also traveled with his team from Vancouver to Los Angeles to discuss specific acquisition and capital injection plans. In fact, there is no need to talk much about capital injection, when Flame Film has become the largest shareholder of the image engine, it is impossible to ignore it and violate its own acquisition purpose; the key is the details of the acquisition, including the proportion of equity and the purchase price, whether the office location should be transferred, salary and benefits in the future, and whether there will be adjustments to layoffs.

The plan given by Flame Film is that after the acquisition, the image engine will be an independent subsidiary, operating independently, and the salary and benefits will be increased accordingly, and there will be no layoffs; As for the location of the office, it is still good in Vancouver, anyway, the studio that has just started construction is built in this cold city, where there are also a bunch of post-production studios for post-editing, soundtracks, etc., plus the special effects production of the image engine, just don't have to run at both ends.

However, the technology research and development department, or a new joint venture (Blue Sky and Image Engine), will be set up in New York.

Greg Holmes and others are very happy with this plan, so the focus on the negotiation table now is the issue of the purchase price. The goal of Flame Film is to get 85% of the shares within 6 million, and it also bears the diluted partnership shares when recruiting talents, but it will not exceed 25%; 6 million does not seem to be much, but it is already very fair for the current graphics engine, and the real place to spend money is the capital injection expansion after the acquisition, and the shares of the shareholders of the original graphics engine will naturally be more valuable.

Although the price is fair, it still takes time to complete the whole negotiation, not in a day or two, because the contract details need to be finalized slowly, and because of a normal performance: "reserved".

"Hey, Robert!" In the study, Wang Yang stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass, looking at the dark night outside, and smiled at the microphone in his hand: "How are you thinking about it? I'm talking about the acquisition with a company 'Image Engine', are you interested in joining? We need a big man to take charge." It was Robert Zemeckis on the other side of the call, and he had once again enlisted the best director to join the special effects company.

"Haha!" Robert Zemeckis laughed heartily and said, "Young, I've thought about it seriously, but I don't think so." Wang Yang suddenly sighed in disappointment, and Robert said with a smile: "My life is very good now, and people don't want to change much when they get old." Haha, boy, you know I want to take some time off and spend time with my family and think about my next movie plans. ”

Speaking of this, his tone became a little excited: "I told you that I was going to make a 3D film that was shot entirely on IMAX film, and now I have a new idea to use motion capture technology to shoot the actors' performances, and then completely use CGI animation technology to convert them into 3D animation......! Boy!" He sighed before laughing, "That's pretty cool!"

Wang Yang nodded in agreement: "Well, obviously yes." "The first 3D animation film with full IMAX film + live capture, which is really cool, this is the so-called "play technology". Robert doesn't need to prove anything to the world now, he just needs to enjoy the movie.

Robert Zemeckis over there smiled and said: "I have told people from Warner Bros. in the past few days that they are very interested in my plan and are willing to invest within 200 million. But I don't know what story to shoot yet!" he laughed for a while, and then added, "I think it's going to be a children's story?" but don't worry, I have to enjoy my vacation now. If your special effects company needs it, I can introduce you to some people who are all authorities in the industry. ”

"Of course! That's great. Wang Yang couldn't help but smile gratefully, if Robert joins the company, it is obvious that there are many benefits, and his connections will directly benefit the company; "My company needs so many things, especially in the field of emoticon capture," he laughs, "......

The two chatted for a while before ending the call. Wang Yang checked the special effects information in the computer for a while, and saw that the time was not early, so he left the study and came to the living room, where rhythmic hip-hop music was playing, and I saw Jessica practicing hip-hop dance seriously with the music, the weather was hot and exercised, so she was wearing a cool white top and checkered shorts at this time, looking very sexy.

"Hey, Jesse!" Wang Yang greeted with a smile, clapped his hands a few times, and said, "Great dance!" Jessica turned her head and smiled at him, continuing to follow the rhythm of the music, shaking her hair and twisting her curvy waist. Wang Yang stopped and looked at it with a smile, and his heart suddenly moved, remembering Natalie's words in the morning, no?

He rolled his eyes, walked over, and said in a pretended profound: "Beauty, judging from me, the king of dance, you can dance better in these movements! ”

"When did you become the king of the dance?" Jessica gasped and paused, looking at him with a puzzled look. Wang Yang had a shocked expression on his face, and he swayed a few times casually, and said, "It has always been! Don't you know? I had a title of 'Prom Prince' in high school!"

She glared back at him and smiled, "Get out of the way!" Don't bother me, I'm going to practice for another half hour today! Go away, don't let me lose to Scarlett, we've got a game tomorrow." ”

Seeing that she was serious, Wang Yang gritted his teeth helplessly, kissed her fiercely, and then went back to the study, pointed at her, and said with a smile: "You wait for me, I'll be back in half an hour!" Jessica gave him a flying kiss, smiled and shook her hand, "Bye!" After that, she continued to dance.

(To be continued)