If there are a few PDI studios on the West Coast, it can indeed greatly improve the technical strength of Blue Sky Studios, which is poor. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, Blue Sky Studios really has no bargaining capital now, because even in "history", Blue Sky Studios was funded by Fox for feature animation in the second half of 2000 because of the failure of Fox's 2D animation project "Frozen Planet".

But in the same year, DreamWorks, which began to transform from 2D animation to 3D animation, released a stunning work - "Shrek" in just one year.

It wasn't until two years later, in 2002, that Ice Age was successfully launched.

Launching at the same time, but the finished product is a full year late in DreamWorks, and that's not the worst. What's worse is that the picture effect of the later "Ice Age" is not even as good as "Shrek" a year ago.

The seriousness of the technical shortcomings of Blue Sky Studio can be seen.

As for Pixar, please, is that god of 3D animation comparable to Blue Sky Studios?

Therefore, after Sid set a strategy for the development of 3D animation, he quickly asked Shirley Sandberg to evaluate 3D special effects studios in the United States and around the world to see which ones were suitable for mergers and acquisitions, so as to improve the technical strength of Blue Sky Studios.

And Shirley Sandberg and the top of the list they came up with are PDI Studios in California. Despite the fact that this company is not well known, they have played a very important role in the history of 3D animation in the world.

As mentioned earlier, after DreamWorks began to transform into 3D in 2000, it launched "Shrek" that shocked the market in just one year. But this is not entirely the strength of DreamWorks Animation, you must know that last year (1998) DreamWorks' "The True Story of Ant Brother" was also beaten by Pixar's "Bug Crisis".

In the end, it was the 2D masterpiece "The Prince of Egypt" that regained some face, and the two animations scheduled for next year (2000), "Brave Golden City" and "Chicken Run", one is a 2D animation produced by themselves, and the other is a British clay puppet animation invested and released.

From the perspective of the company's product line, the current DreamWorks has given up on 3D animation at all, and their technical level in "The True Story of Brother Ant" is not very high. So how did they go from being obsessed with 2D antiques to becoming cutting-edge 3D pioneers overnight?

The answer is PDI Pacific Digital Imaging Studio!

It was through the acquisition of PDI Pacific Digital Imaging Studio that DreamWorks Animation grew rapidly in a short period of time, becoming the second largest animation studio after Pixar, with more than 1,000 employees at its peak.

And the number of employees "later" in Blue Sky Studio has always been 200, and this humble staff is not worth mentioning compared with Pixar and DreamWorks.

This also led to the fact that only one "Ice Age" of Blue Sky Studio was on the table for a long time, not to mention compared with Pixar, the king of original classics. Even compared with DreamWorks with a rich line of works ("Shrek", "Madagascar", "Kung Fu Panda", "How to Train Your Dragon") is also far from it.

Therefore, the acquisition of major technology companies to enrich Blue Sky Studio is an unshakable strategic requirement.

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"What!PDI Pacific Digital Imaging Studios has been acquired!?" Sid shouted in surprise, and Shirley Sandberg saw a rare look of surprise on his boss's face.

"Yes, it's DreamWorks!" Shirley Sandberg nodded with a frown, "PDI Pacific Digital Imaging Studios hasn't signed a final deal yet, but according to our insiders, DreamWorks is bidding almost twice as much. ”

"Double?" Sid scratched his hair, "Katzenberg, a madman, has a lot of money and no place to spend it?"

Originally, the acquisition of PDI Pacific Digital Image Studio, Sid was saved, cutting off the transformation path of DreamWorks Animation, and leaving them with no way out. Pixar is now full-fledged, so it would be best to have one less enemy like DreamWorks.

Now it seems that Katzenberg, a bald guy, has been in Hollywood for decades, and he really didn't cover it.

Although I don't know how the other party perceived his true intentions, there is no point in dwelling on these now. Pivot now and look for new acquisition targets is the way to go.

"So let's start a backup plan and buy that French special effects company. Sid said with an unchanged expression.

"MacGuff in France? Okay. Shirley Sandberg nodded, in fact, at the beginning of the investigation, she and Sid had drawn up a list of takeovers in case of contingencies, and now was the time for a backup plan to come in handy.

MacGuff, the French special effects company, now seems to be just one of the countless large and small special effects companies in the world.

But in the world of "later" animation, MacGuff's special effects were no less amazing than those of DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios in the first half of 2000.

If the European and American animation industry in the first half of 2000 was dominated by Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios. Then after 2010, as DreamWorks fell apart, Blue Sky Studio Jiang Lang ran out. It seems that only Pixar is left in the European and American animation industry, and Disney, which is struggling to survive.

In this context, the rise of the emerging Sony Animation and Illumination Entertainment can be regarded as saving a wave of the animation market. In particular, the latter's "Despicable Me" and "Minions" have set an astonishing box office record of breaking $1 billion.

The predecessor of Illumination Entertainment is the French MacGuff special effects company!

"I'm going to send someone to France right away to talk to MacGuff VFX, so do we need to move them to California as well?" asked Shirley Sandberg.

Sid thought for a moment, then shook his head: "No, that's too troublesome." But let MacGuff send technicians related to 3D animation to California to train the people at Blue Sky Studios. Then I also asked Blue Sky Studios to teach MacGuff special effects some of their previous film special effects techniques, especially their unique 'ray tracing technology'. ”

"Then the talent that Blue Sky Studio needed was recruited from California. "Sid waved his hand, and in extraordinary times, we need to use extraordinary methods," especially the core technical staff of Pixar and PDI Pacific Digital Image Studio, we can spend a moderate amount of high salaries to dig some of them. ”

"Uh, okay. Shirley Sandberg didn't expect Sid to even use such a "despicable" means of poaching, and couldn't help but be stunned, "However, I'm afraid it won't have much effect." ”

"Well, it's just to confuse the auditions and make them think we're still looking at California. I don't want someone to come out and ruin the acquisition of MacGuff effects this time. Sid said disapprehantly.

"Confusing the public? I see, I'll let some people appreciate it. Shirley Sandberg immediately understood what he meant, and smiled slightly.

"Alright, let's do that for now. Sid smiled and nodded, then hung up the satellite video call.

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After temporarily solving the problems in the animation department, Sid returned to the filming of "Earth Thunder".

Although there were several old versions of "Earth Thunder" decades ago, the story of this girl's revenge, in the original novel, was written from the perspective of a little girl.

But in the sixties and seventies, that patriarchal era, it was undoubtedly adapted into a story structure with two cowboy gunmen as the main line. It has a bit of the flavor of "Seven Samurai" and "Seven Dragons".

So Sid this time, it's not so much an adaptation as a "reproduction of the original".

The perspective of the whole film will be dominated by the little girl "Maddie" played by Lindsay, and the story of this "Old West" will be told from her perspective.

The first few scenes of the film are all scenes between Lindsay's "Maddie" and the coffin shop owner, sheriff and shop owner. They are used to show the autonomy, independence and intelligence of the heroine.

Although she is young, her courage and intelligence are not inferior to those of adults.

It's just right for Lindsay to play such a role. The only thing to watch out for is "tough".

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"I'm Maddie Rose. ”

The shopkeeper, who was sitting at his desk working on papers, stopped his pen.

"Frank Ross's daughter. "Maddie" said.

"Oh, what a pathetic. The shopkeeper put down his pen and said, "I want to say that your father impressed me. He has a good character, he is a businessman, but he is indeed a gentleman. ”

"My proposal is to sell back to you the foal that my father bought. "Maddie" threw out the words coldly.

"I don't think so. The shopkeeper immediately refused, "I promise to deliver the horse to you immediately, and as soon as possible." ”

"We don't want, and we don't need foals. ”

"I guess it has nothing to do with me. The shopkeeper put his hand in his pocket and said with a smile, "Your father bought it and paid for it." We're clear, and I've got a receipt. ”

"I also need a subsidy of 300 yuan. Unmoved, Maddie continued to make her demands, "Because my father's horse was stolen in your stable." ”

The shopkeeper's smiling face froze for a moment, then shook his head stiffly, "You should find the horse thief to settle the score." ”

"Tom Cheney (also the murderer of the heroine's father) stole the horse that you should be responsible for, and you are responsible for it. "Maddie" had a slight smile, but her posture was not relaxed.

The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "Hehehehe, I admire your tireless efforts, but you should know that I am irresponsible for this." ”

"You're the custodian. If you are a bank owner and you are robbed, you can't tell the depositors to go with the flow. "Maddie" said with a sneer on the corner of her mouth, with a hint of threat.

"Don't compare me to me, this world is annoying enough. The shopkeeper's face also sank, and it seemed that this little ghost was not so easy to deal with, he thought to himself. He kept saying, "Secondly, you are overvaluing the horse. You're overestimating at least $200. How old are you?"

"Maddie" leaned forward, the faint smile on her face disappearing, "I'm telling you, my estimate is definitely low. Judy is a quality racehorse stallion. I saw that she could carry a heavy rider over the eighth-level fence. ”

"I'm 14 years old. "Maddie" added at the end.