Suddenly it rained in the sky, crashing on the ground and splashing with thin splashes.

Under the dim light, all kinds of objects in the room reflect a gentle luster, and the hearts of those who look at it are warm.

Zhang Ran sat leisurely in the booth alone, picked up the cup, and took a sip of tea. At this time, his eyes noticed the man outside who was walking towards this side with an umbrella, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but smile.

Chen Ningyu, this guy is finally here!

Zhang Ran borrowed $20 million from IDG through stock pledge. With this money, a lot of work in the early stage of the film can be officially launched, and the first thing is of course the special effects.

We all know that special effects are expensive, but many people don't know that special effects are expensive in labor. In the United States, for example, a mid-level special effects personnel earns about $40,000 a year, senior personnel earn $60,000, and top personnel earn $150,000. It is normal for a movie with intensive special effects to have more than 1,000 people, and the Avatar special effects crew is as high as 1,855. Assuming that there are 1,000 special effects personnel in "Six Beings", and the construction period is one year, these 1,000 people are counted as medium technicians, which is also 40 million. Of course, it is very likely that these people will do two or three projects at the same time, halved or halved, and the salary will be 20 million!

If Zhang Ran had his own special effects company, the cost of the movie would be much lower. 1,000 people do it for a year, and the salary is only 20 million yuan. It is 8 times cheaper compared to the United States. This is the fundamental reason why many Hollywood special effects companies later outsourced their projects to China.

Of course, Zhang Ran plans to build a special effects company, except for cost reasons. The more important point is for convenience. Your own company can be responsible for the overall framework, and the details will be handled by different film companies. The difficult part is to find a large company, and the easy part is to find a small company. In this way, the overall level of special effects can be controlled.

Having a special effects company can also allow the company to develop according to its own needs and create the effects it needs, which is also the fundamental reason why many Hollywood directors set up special effects studios.

Chen Ningyu walked to the door of the café with an umbrella, shook the water on the umbrella, and walked out of the hall. He raised his eyes and glanced at him, and saw that Zhang Ran was waving at him, so he walked over: "I'm sorry, it's over!"

Zhang Ran nodded and smiled heartily: "Okay." Be polite to me, sit down and talk!"

Chen Ningyu and Zhang Ran are also old friends, so they were not polite and sat down in front of Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran is still the same, always with a smile on his face, looking faint, as if he is very casual, but Chen Ningyu knows that Zhang Ran is not a random person, he is the kind of person who has a lot of ideas.

Chen Ningyu knew that Zhang Ran would not ask himself to come out for tea for no reason. There must be something. As for what Zhang Ran is looking for him to do, I'm afraid there will be nothing else except special effects. But he didn't break it, and chatted casually.

"Lao Chen, how are Huang Zheng and them now?" chatted a few words. Zhang Ran asked. Huang Zheng is a student of Chen Ningyu, and he participated in the later stage of "Time Prisoner", and his technical level is good. But now they've graduated.

"They're all very good, and some of them went to animation companies. Some went into game companies. The special effects for "Time Prisoner" are the most glorious on their resumes because of their involvement in this project. They are all paid a little higher than the others. Chen Ningyu smiled slightly, "But when they left school, they were very regretful, saying that it was a pity that you didn't continue to make science fiction movies, otherwise everyone would follow you." ”

In fact, Zhang Ran came back from the Fantasy Film Festival in May, and at that time he had a little money in his hand, and he considered setting up a special effects company and leaving Huang Zheng and them behind. It's just that many things were still uncertain at that time, and he gave up: "Call them back, this time we are going to make a science fiction film, and it is a blockbuster." I'm going to set up a special effects company, and I won't be like last time, and everyone will break up after finishing the project!"

Chen Ningyu was stunned, and an excited light appeared in his eyes: "Are you planning to open a special effects company?"

Zhang Ran nodded: "Yes, and I want to ask you to be in charge of the special effects company!"

Chen Ningyu looked at Zhang Ran with blazing eyes, and a fire-like light shot out of his eyes. After finishing "Time Prisoner", he paid attention to the development of special effects at home and abroad. He realized that film special effects must be popular and become the mainstream of film development.

At this time, hearing Zhang Ran's words, Chen Ningyu said excitedly: "Yes, of course I do!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said with a smile: "This time we are going to make a sci-fi blockbuster, the estimated cost is 90 million, there are a large number of special effects, and we need to cooperate with foreign teams, so we must set up a special effects company to operate!"

Chen Ningyu was taken aback when he heard that he had invested 90 million, this investment is a top blockbuster in China, and those who dare to play such a big investment are Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, but I didn't expect Zhang Ran to play so big. He admired Zhang Ran more and more: "90 million, Feng Xiaogang doesn't dare to play like this, he will definitely not be able to recover the cost by relying on China, and the risk is very high!"

Zhang Ran reminded with a smile: "It's not 90 million yuan, it's 90 million US dollars!"

Chen Ningyu's hand shook, and the tea in the cup spilled on the table. He hurriedly cleaned up, and then said in surprise: "You're not kidding, are you? 90 million US dollars, where did you pull the investment, and how will such a high investment recover the cost when the time comes?"

Zhang Ran didn't explain much, this involves too many Hollywood operations, insurance, pre-sale, completion guarantee, etc., one or two sentences are not clear at all, and said with a smile: "The budget, don't worry, I have already got 20 million, and the rest will be operated through Hollywood, there will be no problem!" As for recovering the cost, of course, it is impossible to recover the cost by relying on China, so our movie is all in English, and we will invite Hollywood A-list stars to play the role, and the current candidate for the actor is Keanu Reeves, even if he is not the one who is finalized, it will be at the same level, and most of the other actors are from Hollywood. Let's take a look at the script first!"

After speaking, Zhang Ran turned on the computer and pushed the storyboard in front of Chen Ningyu. He came to talk to Chen Ningyu about special effects, and he must let the subject have a general understanding of the script.

Chen Ningyu took the mouse and slowly flipped through the storyboard. The first half of the script is full of suspense, and the whole story is in a kind of fog. The second half is more paced. The conflict intensified. When the final ending comes, the male protagonist crucifies the villain. When standing in the air and looking up to the sky and roaring, the whole person only felt that his blood was boiling!

The story is a bit Hollywood. But it's not just a popcorn movie!

After reading the script, Chen Ningyu's throat squirmed: "No wonder you have to invest 90 million, this last battle is really interesting." Fight from the earth to the born, from one world to another, then the third, the fourth. This is sure to be a wonderful sci-fi action movie, not losing to "The Matrix"! But such a big project will definitely not be possible with a few of us!"

Zhang Ran nodded: "This movie has thousands of special effects shots, and we don't know the year after tomorrow when we have to complete the post-production, and more importantly, we lack experience." That's what I thought. The special effects are divided into three parts, the cityscape is produced by our own special effects team, and a foreign company will be hired to handle the fights, car chases, and two battles, in addition, the wire removal, compositing, graphics, signage, sky replacement, environment and speed changes will be done by another company, and the whole project will be completed by three companies! In addition, I will invite several special effects artists from abroad to join our company as art directors and executives. In addition, we will temporarily hire a group of special effects staff from abroad to join our team to assist us in completing the special effects production!"

Chen Ningyu knew that Zhang Ran was studying in the United States, and it was not a big problem for him to invite people, so he nodded and said, "Since there are companies and personnel from the United States to join." That's not a big deal. Then he asked, "It must cost a lot of money to hire Hollywood special effects personnel to join our company, right?"

Zhang Ran smiled bitterly: "You must have a high salary, otherwise people will not come." And it's hard to get really top talent!But no way, take your time!"

Chen Ningyu listened to Zhang Ran's words. smiled and said, "It's me, we're poor." It's not famous, it's good to come!" Then he thought for a while and said, "I have another question, there are very few special effects in domestic films, what will the company do after the film is finished?"

Special effects is not a highly profitable industry, and although almost all Hollywood blockbusters currently have special effects shots, the special effects department only ends up making about 5% of the profits.

Special effects companies and movies often sign a packaging agreement, and the cost of the project is determined at the beginning. However, there are many subjective elements in the production of special effects, and there are inevitably repeated revisions in the production, but the final remuneration is only the price stipulated in the contract, and the cost of each modification is borne by the special effects company. The more you change, the higher the cost, and that's how many special effects companies go out of business!

It's going to be tough for a special effects company to survive!

Zhang Ran is confident in this, in his last life, he saw the growth of many domestic special effects companies, and knew what the right direction was: "When Weta was founded, there were only a few people, and after the tempering of "The Lord of the Rings", it is now a world-famous special effects company, and there is no worry about no projects at all. As long as we do a good job of this film and show our capabilities, even if we can't get Hollywood projects, it won't be a problem to take on some outsourcing. More importantly, with the economic development of our country, more and more people will enter the cinema, the movies will become more and more exquisite, and there will be more and more special effects, which is the general trend!"

Hearing Zhang Ran's words, Chen Ningyu clapped his hands and said with a smile: "You are right, special effects are the trend of the times! But to be honest, domestic filmmakers do not pay enough attention to this aspect now, and it can even be said that they have no awareness of this aspect." Not to mention anything else, even the teachers in the directing department of our school are not aware of this, and it is still the New Wave that teaches students now. France itself can't hold its ground, it's been taken over by Hollywood, and they're still teaching France what it was decades ago!"

Hearing Chen Ningyu's words, Zhang Ran sighed softly, domestic film and television dramas in the previous life were often scolded for five-cent special effects. In fact, the software commonly used by special effects artists, such as Houdini and Maya, can be bought. Many American crews use some special equipment for filming, such as motion capture, which can also be purchased. These can be used after short-term training, technically speaking, the gap between China and Hollywood is not as big as imagined, the real gap is actually in the director!

Zhang Ran didn't want to mention these unpleasant things, and said with a smile: "In this way, I will take 10 million out, which is RMB, not US dollars, as the capital for operation." You take care of this special effects company for me, and I will give you 15% of the shares. How?"

Chen Ningyu naturally did not refuse: "I have always felt that you are a person who does great things, and now I am even more convinced of this." Then I'll thank you first, I'll make a charter in a while, and I'll start this tomorrow! You have to have a name to set up a company, I don't know what our company is called?"

Zhang Ran took a light breath and spit out a word: "Heavenly Craftsmanship!" (To be continued.) )