Gu Cheng's words obviously touched Zhang Yiming deeply.

It wasn't until many years later, when Zhang Yiming had completed the MBO of the professional artificial intelligence push subsidiary of YY Network Technology, that in an interview with the media, he still remembered Gu Cheng's slap in the face of him that day.

The so-called MBO is "management buyouts", that is, the CEO of the company, who takes down the company's large shares from the chairman and the shareholders' meeting, so as to achieve the unity of the company's management rights, control and ownership.

"Media, education, entertainment, all these industries, in the final analysis, are the process of consulting and content, from the human brain of the producer to the human brain of the consumer.

It is necessary to see the essence through the phenomenon, and not be confined to the modes of printing, publishing, and online electronic display. It is necessary to sort out from beginning to end what is the most bottleneck link of the entire industry in a certain historical era, and what is the most scarce link with the highest added value. And what we YY network technology wants to focus on is this most scarce and valuable link. As for other hard work, it can be handed over to upstream suppliers and downstream suppliers.

One day, we won't even have to produce and let the coolies write it. We don't even have to make a movie, let the coolies do it, we just help the best of them out of the garbage heap and get it right in front of the eyes of the consumers who happen to like them. ”

To do this, there is no two or three years, which is not enough to achieve a small success. If you want to achieve great success, it is possible in five or eight years.

Gu Cheng is a resolute character, he said that if he wants to reform, then he must reform. No matter how much vested interest the management and executive level have on the content production side, if they do not agree with Gu Cheng's concept, they will be dealt with thunderously, even if they are forced to the side of competitors.

Tengyun's ChuangS and Du Niang's ZH, and even their respective video websites, have also absorbed many senior backbones in the industry for a while, and as new blood in human resources, they have been added to their own teams.

These people will also take away users for the time being, creating a false prosperity that seems to be sustainable, and it is not surprising that even if the stock price valuation of Tengyun and Du Niang's related subsidiaries is pushed up within a year and a half.

But Gu Cheng was unmoved.

08 years, the year of the financial crisis and the revival of the cultural industry, passed in this temporary uncertainty of the clouds.

The ensuing European debt crisis in the second year was also deviated a lot due to the butterfly effect, so that even Gu Cheng, who knew the history, could not take too much advantage.

But in general, it is still those countries that should collapse. Greece is followed by the four scum of southern Europe, and Ireland is a little less symptomatic – all of which can be seen by looking at the financial statements, not of black swans, but of gray rhinoceros.

The so-called black swan is an unexpected, sudden event that has a major impact on the financial stock and bond market. The gray rhinoceros is everyone who sees that as long as there is no reform, this will happen sooner or later, but they don't know whether it will happen sooner or later, or at what specific point in time.

Although Gu Cheng did not directly speculate and make profits in the financial crisis, he prepared sufficient funds in advance to expand in the European media industry. Several cloud music products that have just emerged in Europe, such as SPONIFY in another time and space, have been closely guarded, acquired, invested, or suppressed by Gu Cheng's investment team, and have really rectified some advantageous resources.

At the same time, Gu Cheng's advantages in the field of instant messaging in China continue to expand, but in the content industry, it is still in an uncertain state with Tengyun and Du Niang.

The mobile version of YY officially replaced the role of WeChat after 2011 in another time and space in this year, optimizing and integrating the convenient functions of all parties, and becoming the first national-level application that everyone can not do without - because of the influence of Gu Cheng, the commercialization process of the domestic 3G network has been advanced by about two years, so the ecological development of mobile Internet APP has also advanced by two years, which is not a strange thing.

What's more, the demand bottleneck of the mobile version of YY or WeChat is only the network speed, not the performance of the mobile phone - mobile game products are the most effective for mobile phones. Therefore, as long as the network quality is optimized two years in advance, even if the hardware is a little worse, these IM software can run smoothly.

……

Of course, the so-called "stalemate competition in the content industry" is just a general trend. refers to those small white games and online dramas that are full of small white online articles, and YY Entertainment's revenue has not opened a gap with its opponents.

However, in terms of quality, YY Entertainment, which has always adhered to small and beautiful and insisted on not compromising with business, still has some high-quality products. In the field of music, new original musicians such as Xu Song have been discovered and signed in China, and many newcomer SOLO creators in Japan and South Korea have defected to YY Cloud Music.

In addition to "The Voice of China", "K-POP-STAR" AND "AKB48", the YY audio-visual department has supported and funded several niche and special music auditions and seminar programs under the management of Liu Hui, Lin Zhiling and Gao Dasong.

Compared with "The Voice of China", these new programs either focus on rock, or folk, or hip-hop POP, all in all, they are all market segment pioneers who specialize in only one style.

In the first year of these shows, and even in the second year, there is no doubt that they have to lose some money for Gu Cheng. After all, a country's national music appreciation literacy is not so easy to cultivate. In '09, where do Chinese people care what genre and style of music they listen to? At least 10 billion Chinese people just need to listen to music that is pleasing to their ears.

Historically, rock, folk, hip-hop, these market segments have been narrowly cultivated and intensively cultivated, and it took 2013 to emerge and cultivate a market audience willing to pay after 2015. Nowadays, even if Gu Cheng is committed to improving the quality of national appreciation, it is normal to lose money and earn money for three years.

Fortunately, looking at China now, Gu Cheng can afford to pay for this annual expenditure of more than one billion yuan.

There are no gentlemen, no artists. Even Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Michelangelo, needed the patronage of a wealthy man like Lorenzo Medici to be immortal.

Gu Cheng is already the richest man in Asia, and spending a little money will be remembered by later generations as the "chief designer of the Second Renaissance", which seems to be a good choice.

In addition to music and games, in the film industry, where Gu Cheng started, he also invested in several emotional works.

At the end of 2008, Gu Cheng found the first brother of the Chinese-speaking director who had won the Oscar for Best Director the previous year, and director Li Yu of Wanwan, and took out a book bought from Hollywood that was changed by his own high-level demons, and discussed cooperation with Li Huan.

Maybe it's because Gu Cheng himself also came up with "Sunset in Three Chomes", which has won many awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival, including the Golden Kirin Award, and even the Fuso Film Academy Award.

He has also proved his vision, value and standard in the film industry, and will no longer be regarded by artists as a layman with only money.

Therefore, even Li Yu, who has already won the Oscar for Best Director and is also in the middle of the day, did not dare to put on a show anymore and push Cai Ming out to fool around like last time.

Li Yu personally flew to Qiantang to meet Gu Cheng and read the book called "Artist".

"This is a silent film, and what we want to do is to highlight the comparative advantages of 'in the era when sound films have just appeared, sound movies still cannot completely replace the artistic effects of silent films, such as only using simultaneous sound, poor sound recording, and reduced actors' expression rendering ability, ...... these comparative advantages. In this film, try to resurface the limitations of the early sound movies 100% moisturizing things silently.

Hollywood's older judges love this kind of nostalgic art film that pays tribute to the 'last shining point of the heroes of the end'. And what we have to do is not only this, but also use this film to satirize the past and the present. Let those who are still at a loss because of the decline of traditional media and the rise of Internet media see which art forms are characterized by the Internet, which are the bones and gods left after the arrival of the mobile Internet.

Let's stand in the perspective of an Internet person, use a self-deprecating tone, open a loudspeaker and a magnifying glass for the Internet to do things that can't be done well, and let people from traditional media come here to find confidence and find a way. In the end, it came to the truth of 'why transform, as long as it grows naturally and finds its own value' - of course, the reasoning should not be too hard, and the story should be mellow. If you have any thoughts about the book,You can communicate with me.。 ”

At the first meeting between Gu Cheng and director Li Yan, he openly and honestly revealed all his thoughts and thoughts. Li Yu, a great director who likes to explore the negative side of the normal view of history and the value of annihilation, was really instantly attracted by Gu Cheng's ideas, and he must work together on the spot.

Li Yan immediately put forward his own opinion: "Since we want to make silent films, let's go back to the film era and shoot them on black and white film! If we don't need all new technical means, we will go back to Hollywood technology shooting 80 years ago and in the 1930s! I will find a way to get those old and valuable antique equipment, but the budget may be ......."

Gu Cheng immediately said: "Don't think about money. ”

Brother, a person with a guaranteed valuation of $50 or 60 billion in assets, does he still care about how much budget a movie of his own feelings spends?

The film "The Artist" should have been made by the great French director Michael Hazanavicius in another time and space, starring Jean Dujardin and Bergenes Beccius. In 2012, it won five awards at the 84th Academy Awards, including Best Picture of the year.

The story of the film tells the story of George Valentine, a popular Hollywood silent film superstar in 1927, who is talented and knows everyone, and meets a female movie fan Peggy Miller by chance. Peggy loves acting and aspires to become popular in the entertainment industry, but no one supports her. After George accidentally pulled the female newcomer, Peggy seized the opportunity to become popular, and after a few years, her reputation was not far from George's.

But George himself is an old-fashioned, silent actor. With the rise of sound films in the 1930s, Peggy caught up with the times in time and continued to become popular. George, on the other hand, has been reflecting on the shortcomings of sound films. Finally, after many trials and tribulations at the end of the film, George began to appear in sound movies after understanding the fusion of old and new arts, and continued to accompany Peggy on business.

Jean Dujardan's version of "The Artist", although it also has some meaning of "passing on the fire", but in terms of lofty intentions, it is definitely not as good as the version after Gu Chengmo's reform. This is also the shortcoming of old-school artists, because they do not understand new things, and it is difficult to analyze the question of "the comparative advantage of the remnants of old art forms under the impact of new things".

It is on this basis that Gu Cheng is once again promoted, and the purpose is also to go for the Oscars.

He also didn't have any requirements for the casting of actors, just euphemistically said that if he could give Kwon Bo-ah a role, it would be the best.

Li Yu was naturally reluctant to do this at first. After all, although Quan Baoya has acted in a movie and a TV series, her qualifications are too shallow, and her academic qualifications are not enough to be professional. Later, although I went to a music and performing arts university for three years, the system made up for it, but there are still few outstanding students in famous film schools these years? And how can this kind of movie that is going to hit the Oscars be supported by small roles.

However, after some careful consideration, Li Yu also had to admit that the design of the film "Artist" is really suitable for giving Quan Baoya a role.

First of all, this is a silent film, and now it is almost the 2010s, and the last professional actors in the world to act in silent films, at least more than 70 years ago, have long since died of old age.

Therefore, on this earth, no one is professional in acting in silent films, and all famous actors have to watch and learn from old films repeatedly, and gnaw on the works of their predecessors. In other words, everyone has been pulled back to the same starting line in this regard, and at this time, the actress in the form of a blank sheet of paper obviously has some advantages.

Secondly, because there are no lines, silent films need the actors' expressions to be as exaggerated as possible, and use facial expressions and body language to convey artistic effects - if you haven't seen a silent movie and have no concept, you can probably recall the old cartoon "Cat and Mouse" in the United States, on that thing, Tom and Jerry's scenes almost have no lines, only the soundtrack, which can be regarded as a silent film (the play of the deputy sheriff of the big dog doesn't count, that one has lines)

And the Chinese people, and even the artists of Mi and Fusang, the biggest criticism of Dongyi actors is "exaggerated expressions and contrived performances" - this is actually related to the fact that there are too many homophones and dissenting words in Dongyi itself, and the lack of language ideographic concentration, so Dongyi people usually have to speak in an exaggerated tone like taking a sip of hot water and being scalded to death at any time. So much so that when it came time to act in a movie, the bad habits accumulated over the decades could not be changed.

However, once you reach the silent film mode, the expression and body language are exaggerated and contrived, and it turns from a disadvantage to an advantage - the ideographic concentration of Yiyu is scum, but it is better than the silent film without language.

In the end, the heroine of the film, Peggy, was just a dancing girl in a down-and-out state at first, but because she was good at dancing, she was accidentally discovered by George and started playing a supporting actress. And Kwon Bo-ya's dancing skills have long been at the level of Asian divas, and this aspect is simply tailor-made.

Quan Baoya, who had no chance, but because no one had ever made a silent film, everyone was a blank slate, and the silent film needed Dongyi-style exaggerated expressions, body language, and even the heroine must be able to sing and dance...... The combination of these three factors seems to be quite compatible.

Li Yu finally chose to accept Gu Cheng's recommendation.

It is purely from the perspective of art, not because of the oppression of investors.

The film finally started filming in early 09 and was finished that year. Because it is a silent film shot on black and white film, there is no cumbersome post-production, and it can be released with a little editing, and there is no need for complex dubbing work, just a soundtrack of background music from beginning to end.

Kwon Bo-ah's style was retouched, and through makeup, it looked like a mixed race of Fuso N-generation who immigrated to the United States in the Meiji era, so as to fit the American society in the 1930s - that era has not even passed the Chinese exclusion, and the Chinese and Dongyi people in the United States have no status at all, so they will integrate into the mixed-race descendants of Fusang immigrants who have more generations, so it is possible to mix into the white Hollywood circle.

Because Gu Cheng didn't want to play a foreigner, he didn't participate in the end, and only finished the film as a screenwriter. Most of the work was handled by Li Yu, and he didn't put much effort into it.

After filming, he adjusted the release date to ensure that it was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival that year, so as to meet the spiritual cleanliness requirements of the three major European film festivals. Then he went to the Oscars in February 2010.

……

After filming "The Artist", Gu Cheng, who had accumulated enough film experience, was finally ready to spend some spare time to make the only "self-written, directed, and acted" movie in his life.

The script he chose was "In the Clouds" bought from Hollywood. The script of this film was written very early, if it wasn't bought by Gu Cheng, it would have been filmed by Paramount in 09. Now because of Gu Cheng's cutoff, it has been delayed.

This is a movie about the impact of social networks on interpersonal communication and human resources work - in the United States, there were originally many specialized human resources companies, similar to domestic headhunting companies, which were responsible for helping large enterprises provide recruitment and speculation outsourcing business - the only difference with domestic headhunting is that the human resources companies in the United States not only recruit people, but also help fire people.

Because the country has a strong labor rights protection bill and a strong labor union, it is difficult to fire people in a company in the country. In China, because the capital side is much stronger and it is much more convenient to speculate people, headhunters do not have this business.

In the history of parallel time and space, the protagonist of the film should have been played by Hollywood veteran George Clooney. If the original development trajectory is followed, the film can also be nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and successfully won the "Best Screenplay Award" link.

Ryan, the protagonist played by George Clooney in the film, is a "dismissal specialist" who specializes in helping human resources companies fire squid for customers, and he knows how to comfort people very skillfully, and he flies around the country every year as a trapeze artist and flies around to fire people.

Later, with the rise of social networks and video chats, the management of HR companies felt that it was too much work and too expensive to have employees fly around on business trips and listen to the psychological demands of the fired people face-to-face. As a result, I listened to the advice of Natalie, an enterprising female newcomer with "new economy" and "Internet thinking", and changed it to "help customers fire employees in video chats".

The protagonist Ryan feels that this kind of work is too inhumane, and the dismissal job requires listening to the other party's heart face-to-face, perceiving the other party's body language and small movements, and resolutely opposing video dismissal. The management did not listen due to cost considerations, and insisted that Ryan take Natalie and practice video dismissal.

In the end, Natalie committed suicide by jumping off a building because of the improper wording in a video dismissal and not perceiving the suicidal tendencies of the dismissed, and found that "the fragmented social networking of the Internet has its own shortcomings and shortcomings that cannot replace face-to-face real communication".

Undoubtedly, this is also a film that reflects on the big proposition of "the Internet and new media, there are still things that cannot be done in the new era". It is very much in line with the process of Gu Cheng's "Torture the New Era and the Trilogy of Combining Old Technologies".

In the film "The Artist", Gu Cheng, who had been practicing and studying with Li Yu for several months, improved his director's ability to control himself, so he finally decided to personally take charge of all the outlines in the last part of the trilogy.

Self-written, self-directed and self-acted.

He personally starred in the main character, Ryan.

Let Kwon Bo-ah, who has been trained in "The Artist" and has made great progress in her acting skills, play his assistant Natalie.

The idea of the film continues to run wild on the big proposition of torturing technological progress and human needs.

Filming started in the second half of '09, coupled with excellent post-editing and soundtracks, it can finally be guaranteed to be released in 2010 and participate in the Oscars in 2011.

Gu Cheng knew that it was his last work in the film and television music industry.

He has been the richest man in Asia since 08.

When he finished filming this film and participated in the Oscars, it was all in 2011.

At that time, he will have to be a strong contender for the richest man in the world, if he really becomes the richest man in the world and continues to make movies by himself, it will be somewhat shocking.

Let this "In the Clouds", carrying his concept of guiding the direction of mankind, become the finale of the trilogy.