It suddenly started raining in the sky, hitting the ground, splashing fine water.

Under the dim light, all kinds of objects in the room reflect a gentle luster, making people feel warm.

Zhang Ran sat alone in the booth with satility, picked up the cup and took a sip of tea. At this time, his eyes noticed the man walking towards him with an umbrella outside, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Chen Ningyu, this guy, finally came!

Zhang Ran borrowed 20,000 US dollars from IDG through stock pledge. After getting this money, a lot of work in the early stage of the movie can be officially launched. Of course, the special effects issue is the first priority.

Everyone knows that special effects are expensive, but many people don’t know that special effects are expensive in labor. Take the United States as an example. An annual salary of a medium-level special effects staff is about 40,000 US dollars, senior personnel is 60,000 US dollars, and top personnel is 150,000 US dollars. It is normal for a movie with a intensive special effects of more than a thousand people, and Avatar special effects staff is as high as 155. Suppose there are 1,000 special effects personnel in "Six Paths of Allegations" with a construction period of one year. All of these thousand people are considered medium-level technical personnel, which is also 40,000. Of course, these people are likely to do two or three projects at the same time, and the salary is 20,000!

If Zhang Ran had a special effects company himself, the cost of the movie would be much lower. If a thousand people work for a year, the salary would be only 20,000 yuan. It is twice as cheap as the United States. This is the fundamental reason why many Hollywood special effects companies' projects were outsourced to China later.

Of course, Zhang Ran plans to build a special effects company, in addition to cost reasons, more importantly, it is for convenience. His own company can be responsible for the overall framework, and the details are divided to different film companies. If the difficult part is found, he will find a large company and simply find a small company, so that the overall special effects level can be controlled.

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

Chen Ningyu walked to the door of the cafe with an umbrella. He shook the water from the umbrella and walked out of the hall. He looked up and saw Zhang Ran waving to him, so he walked over: "Sorry. It's over!"

Zhang Ran nodded and smiled cheerfully: "Okay, why are you polite to me? Sit down and talk!"

Chen Ningyu and Zhang Ran are old friends, so they are not polite. They sit down in front of Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran is still the same, with a smile on his face, looking faint and casual, but Chen Ningyu knew that Zhang Ran was not a casual person, he was the kind of person with great intentions.

Chen Ningyu knew that Zhang Ran would not ask him to come out for tea for no reason, so there must be something wrong. As for what Zhang Ran asked him to do, there might not be anything other than the special effects. However, he did not point it out and chatted casually.

"Old Chen, how are Huang Zheng and the others now?" After chatting for a few words, Zhang Ran asked. Huang Zheng is Chen Ningyu's student. He participated in the later stage of "Prisoner of Time". His technical level is good, but now they have graduated.

"They are all pretty good. Some have joined animation companies and some have joined game companies. The special effects of "Prisoner of Time" are the most glorious in their resumes. Because they participated in this project, their salary was a little higher than others." Chen Ningyu smiled slightly, "But they were very sorry when they left school, saying that you wouldn't continue to make science fiction films. Otherwise, everyone would just follow you."

In fact, Zhang Ran came back from the Fantasy Film Festival in May. At that time, he had some money and considered forming a special effects company to keep Huang Zheng and the others. But many things were not sure at that time. He gave up: "Call them back. This time we are going to make science fiction films, and it's a blockbuster. I plan to form a special effects company. I won't be able to break up after the project like last time!"

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

Zhang Ran nodded: "Yes. And I want you to be responsible for the special effects company!"

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

At this moment, when Chen Ningyu heard Zhang Ran's words, he excitedly said: "I'm willing, of course I'm willing!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said with a smile: "What we are going to do this time is a science fiction blockbuster, with an estimated cost of 90,000, and there are a lot of special effects. We need to cooperate with foreign teams, so we must set up a special effects company to operate it!"

Chen Ningyu was surprised to hear that he invested 90,000 yuan. This investment is considered a top blockbuster in China. Only Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige dare to invest such a big investment. Unexpectedly, Zhang Ran was playing so big. He was increasingly impressed by Zhang Ran: "90,000 yuan, Feng Xiaogang dared not play like this. He will definitely not be able to recover the cost by relying on China. It is very risky!"

Zhang Ran smiled and reminded: "It's not 90,000 yuan, it's 90,000 US dollars!"

Chen Ningyu shook his hand and poured the tea in the cup on the table. He tidied up in a hurry, and then said in surprise: "Are you kidding? 90,000 US dollars, where did you invest? How can you recover the cost with such a high investment?"

Zhang Ran didn't explain much. This involved too many things that operate in Hollywood, including insurance, pre-sales, film guarantees, etc., and couldn't explain it clearly in one sentence or two. He smiled and said, "Don't worry about the budget. I have already got 20,000 yuan. The rest will be operated through Hollywood methods, and there will be no problem! As for the recovery of costs, it is of course impossible to recover the costs in China. Therefore, our movie is in English and we will invite Hollywood first-line stars to take charge. The current candidate for the male lead is Keanu Reeves. Even if he is not the one who was finally decided, he will be of the same level. Most of the other actors are from Hollywood. You can read the script first!"

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

Chen Ningyu held the mouse and slowly flipped through the storyboard. The first half of the script was full of suspense, and the whole story was in a fog. The second half was more rhythmic and the conflict was more intense. When the final ending came, the hero crucified the villain and stood in the air and screamed at the sky, his whole body felt his blood boiling!

The story's routine is a bit Hollywood, but it's not just a popcorn movie!

After watching the script, Chen Ningyu's throat squirmed: "No wonder he had to invest 90,000 yuan. The last battle was so interesting. He fought from the ground to the natural world. He fought from one world to another, and then the third and fourth worlds. This would definitely be a very exciting science fiction action movie, not inferior to "The Matrix"! But such a big project, we can definitely not do it with such a few people!"

Zhang Ran nodded: "This movie has thousands of special effects shots. We have to complete the later stage. I don't know the next year and the next month. What's more important is that we lack experience. I think so, the special effects are divided into three parts. The city scenery is made by our own special effects team. We will hire a foreign company to handle fighting, car chase and two battles. In addition, the wire removal, synthesis, graphics, signboards, sky replacement, environment and speed changes will be invited to another company. The entire project will be completed by the three companies! In addition, I will invite several special effects teachers from abroad to join our company, serve as artistic director and executive officer, and will also temporarily hire a group of special effects staff from abroad to join our team to assist us in the production of special effects!"

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

Zhang Ran smiled bitterly and said, "You must have a high salary, otherwise they won't come either, and it will be difficult to hire a truly top talent! But there is no way, take it slowly!"

After hearing Zhang Ran's words, Chen Ningyu smiled and said, "It's me, we are poor and have no fame, so it's good to be able to come!" Then he thought about it and said, "I still have one more question. There are very few domestic movies that use special effects. What should the company do after the filming of this movie?"

Special effects are not a high-profit industry. Although Hollywood blockbusters currently have special effects shots, the final profit of the special effects department is only about 5%.

Special effects companies and movies often sign package agreements. The project cost is determined from the beginning. However, there are many subjective components in the production, and there are inevitably repeated modifications in the production, but the ultimate reward is only the price specified in the contract, and the cost of each modification is borne by the special effects company. The more modifications are, the higher the cost, and many special effects companies go bankrupt like this!

It is quite difficult for special effects companies to survive!

Zhang Ran is confident about this. In his previous life, he saw the growth of many domestic special effects companies and knew what the right direction was: "When Vita was founded, there were only a few people. After being tempered by "Lord of the Rings", he is now a world-famous special effects company and is not worried about not having any projects. As long as we do this movie well and show our abilities, even if we can't receive Hollywood projects, it will be no problem to take on some outsourcing. We have a cost advantage! More importantly, with the development of our country's economy, more and more people will enter the cinema, the film will become more and more refined, and the special effects will become more and more. This is the general trend!"

Hearing Zhang Ran’s words, Chen Ningyu clapped his hands and smiled, "You are right. Special effects are the trend! But to be honest, domestic filmmakers do not pay enough attention to this aspect, and they can even say they do not have the awareness of this aspect. Not to mention anything else, the teachers in our school’s director department do not have the awareness of this aspect, and now they are still teaching students the same thing as New Wave. France itself cannot defend its position and was captured by Hollywood. They are still teaching France’s things from decades ago!"

Hearing Chen Ningyu's words, Zhang Ran sighed softly. In his previous life, domestic film and television dramas were often criticized for being 50 cents. In fact, the software commonly used by special effects artists can be bought. Many American crews use some special equipment, such as motion capture, which can also be purchased. These can be purchased after short-term training. Technically speaking, the gap between China and Hollywood is not as big as expected. The real difference lies in the director!

Zhang Ran didn't want to mention these unpleasant things, and said with a smile: "In this way, I will give out 10,000 yuan, not US dollars, as the operating capital. If you manage this special effects company for me, I will give you 15% of the shares. How about it?"

Chen Ningyu naturally would not refuse: "I always think you are a person who does big things, and now I am more convinced of this. Then I thank you first, and I will make a charter later and start to organize this matter 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: "Tiangong's heavy color!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!