When will I be the queen

Chapter 422 Costumes

Then she said, "No, no, I have heard of you for a long time." Realizing that Leng Biyun didn't recognize her, Cai Cai treated it as their first meeting. It wasn't that she pretended not to know him, but the person really didn't know her. If she insisted on saying that she had seen him before, it would only make him embarrassed.

Leng Biyun laughed, "You have such a heavy accent when speaking Mandarin." Hahahaha.

"." Cai Cai really didn't want a foreigner to tell her that she had a heavy Mandarin accent.

"I'm a fan of yours. I've watched all your interviews. You're really amazing. When you're not acting, you have an accent when you speak that language, but as soon as you start speaking lines, your accent disappears. You really put a lot of effort into your lines. It's super amazing. Some haters said you did the dubbing before, and I scolded them. They really don't have ears!!"

"." Cai Cai blushed a little when she was praised, and kept saying "where, where". But in fact, she felt very happy.

"."Anyone can see that Cai Cai is very happy.

Jarvis protected his child, "Okay, okay, everyone is very professional and great, come on, come on, sit down and talk." He was also speaking Mandarin. But it was far worse than Leng Biyun. He felt awkward after he finished speaking, so he switched back to English, "Everyone is here, let's have a meeting."

Cai Cai came in and saw that several of the main actors were there, including Lily and Sarah Aaron, but there were also several who were not there. This meant that after the fourth season, they would most likely be offline. Then there were the main behind-the-scenes staff such as the screenwriters and cameramen, as well as the casting directors and other staff related to the giant elephant. Everyone was sitting in scattered places. Because the room was large and there were screens around, there didn't seem to be many people at first glance, but there were actually more than 40 people. They were all the main creators of the Empire project, which meant that, barring any unexpected events, they would all be together until the last season or the last episode.

In order to maintain confidentiality, a screen was set up, and there was a circle of security personnel outside the screen, and there were also security personnel outside the room.

As soon as Cai Cai walked in, many people stood up at the same time. This made Cai Cai subconsciously pause, and then she smiled and greeted them.

  Um, I always feel like I have become someone of great status. This feeling was common when she was Cai Guinian, but it was quite rare when she was Cai Cai. It was not uncommon before, but it was never as neat and orderly as this time, with so many people.

Mei Zhang stayed at the door. Seeing this scene, he shouted in his heart and watched Cai Cai sit down before closing the door.

Jarvis pulled a chair for Cai Cai and waited for her to sit down before turning around and sitting down.

On the western side, the best seats are often in the middle. The seats where Jarvis and Cai Cai are sitting now are in the middle.

  "." If Cai Cai didn't know her role, she would think she was the heroine of the entire season of Empire.

This seat must have been arranged in advance. If she stood up and changed seats now, she would not only hit Jarvis in the face, but also her own face. So Cai Cai could only sit down quietly with a shameless face.

But Lily and the others who were sitting behind Cai Cai could still see Cai Cai’s embarrassment. Their jealousy faded a little bit, and they were left with only the amusement of watching the fun.

It is truly a seminar, and it is completely different from the kind of seminar that Cai Cai imagined, where designs and clothing are displayed on a catwalk or design inspirations are talked about.

First, the people from the Mammoth and the finance staff of the Empire project announced the budget for the fourth season's costumes and props, and further divided it into costumes, videos, sets, weapons, etc., which also includes the budget for post-production CG. The majority of the budget is for costumes and post-production, which almost divides the budget into half.

"Is there no way to reduce it? Extend the working hours and reduce the wages." Some people raised objections, thinking that the wages were too expensive.

Everyone has a conference document of the seminar, which lists the approximate labor costs. The labor costs of costumes and props are the most expensive and are the key output of the entire project. Among them, labor costs are indeed the top priority and are calculated based on the actual expenses of the project.

"This is the lowest possible cost. The actual cost may be even higher. If labor costs are reduced, the working hours will increase. We cannot hire new workers for technical jobs." It is naturally more expensive to hire experienced workers. "The cost of clothing is also compressed to the lowest possible level. However, because there is a lot of hand-sewing work, there will actually be more accessories. We can reduce it a bit. We use resin and print it in one piece, which will reduce the cost a bit."

“That won’t work. The dynamics of metal and resin are completely different. If the visual effect is not good, we can only redo it in the later stage, which will push the workload to the later stage again.”

“Isn’t this just a convenient thing to do? We have to do post-production anyway.” Anyway, it is recognized that manpower is not valuable, and this part of the cost should be reduced the most.

Then they started arguing.

Cai Cai silently watched the battle between capital and workers, and then quietly cheered for the workers team, because the capital team would definitely win.

Saving money is equal to making money, this is the logic of capital.

In the end, capital did win by a small margin, reducing labor costs, but the migrant workers accepted it and also won a certain amount of tax compensation. It can be said that everyone is happy.

Jarvis didn't participate either. He just made a few requests about clothing and weapons and then moved on to the next topic.

The second topic was something Tsai Tsai had not thought of at all. She could have thought of the first topic, which was about the budget, but she really could not have thought of the second one.

"More than 30 kinds of fabrics are used here. This is how they look under different lights and lenses. There are also their weights and production costs." This time it was Leng Biyun who spoke up. "This is my initial selection. The costumes are ready." She waved and had 15 sets of costumes brought up, several of which were the same style. "The actors can touch them or try them on to feel their texture and weight. Pay attention to the feeling when performing the movements and give me feedback."

“.” Cai Cai wasn’t so meticulous when she was in school.

Jarvis stood up and took Cai Cai to look at the clothes. "The cost of clothing is not easy to compress. Otherwise, if you want to achieve the desired effect, you will rely on post-production." Just like on the screen, many skirts, capes, and flags, if you want to have a flowing and light visual effect, you will rely on post-production. There are also those who only rely on the physical object itself to achieve the effect, but the cost is very high.

Cai Cai's family is in the textile business. Even if she doesn't get involved in the family business, she still knows something about it through observation and exposure.

Lily and the others didn't understand, so they asked a few questions. Cai Cai explained, "The simplest thing is that the capes and skirts in many videos are very wide, but in fact the width of the fabric is basically fixed, because the width of the weaving machine is fixed. If you want a wider width, you need a wide enough machine, and the cost of manufacturing the machine involves many patents, raw materials, technologies, and production workshops, etc. This cost is difficult to estimate. No film or television project will approve this kind of expense. At most, it is the cost of using an antique."

The cost of manufacturing is the cost that film and television projects are most reluctant to involve. Building a photography city or even a road can all be approved, but the bottomless manufacturing costs are something that investors will not do.

"And how are those wide skirts, which are not sewn together, but seamless, made?" asked Sara.

"Manual, hand-woven." Cai Cai answered. How simple. So, labor is valuable but cheap. "Society does not need wide cloth. Textile technology is very mature now. It is very clear how to design and manufacture machines to create the greatest profit. There are very few areas for improvement. Unless there are further breakthroughs in technology, it is not a problem for the current machines to maintain operation for ten years. Besides, in many cases, there is no proportional relationship between profit and improvement. Each producer has its own profit law, which is also one of the important factors in maintaining social harmony."

Cai Cai can also talk about business, "Because if everyone makes improvements at the same time, the first thing that will appear will be monopoly. Your economy is prone to fall into a monopoly cycle, and many times it goes to extremes." Talking back to the present, she pulled up her skirt, "Compared to making a machine with high cost and low economic value, the cost of training a craftsman is much lower. Because people are alive, they can learn, teach, improve, and even monopolize. Technology cannot achieve absolute monopoly, but human resources can."

  Although Cai Cai has a gentle voice, soft tone, and careful words, most of the people present are in the entertainment industry. They are unfamiliar with what Cai Cai said, but because Cai Cai said it carefully, they understood it. But because I understood it, I felt a chill on my back.

Lily swallowed subconsciously, "You are a little scary." As expected, she was born in a business empire family. With just a few words, she revealed the dark

Sarah patted Cai Cai and said, "If you don't become an actor, you will be successful in anything you do." It's really amazing.

Jarvis laughed and looked at Cai Cai with relief and pride, "Good girl, you are so kind." He sees the hard work of human beings, but does not have the cynical impulse or prejudice.

Cai Cai dodged Aaron’s hand and said, “Stop taking pictures of me. You were scratching your hair just now.” “If I weren’t an actor, I would do nothing.” This is the truth.

Leng Biyun was very surprised that Cai Cai knew these things. He was influenced by Cai Cai's many interviews and other people's descriptions and rumors. In his heart, Cai Cai was a smart, brave, simple, kind-hearted child who was naive to the world. Now he knew that although he was right and Cai Cai was like this, it was also one-sided. Too one-sided.

  Yes, a person who is like crystal from the inside out is naturally perfect and has no flaws.

Leng Biyun suddenly felt a little regretful. If he had met her when he was young, he would have strived to be her dressmaker and made the most beautiful clothes in the world for her. But, he thought again, when he was young, he was sensitive, withdrawn and stubborn, and would never dare to get close to Cai Cai. Now he is the most suitable. But, he still doesn't dare.

In his design circle, many masters are thinking about working with Cai Cai. It's hard to say how many of them really want to design clothes for Cai Cai. But there is no doubt that Cai Cai is their target. Leng Biyun can't compete with those people, and he doesn't want Cai Cai to be criticized by others because she agreed to a certain designer. The competition for fame and fortune in the design circle is even more fierce, and many times, it's just a war of words, belittling other people's aesthetics.

  Once Cai Cai really cooperates with a designer, there will definitely be a lot of designers like flies around, and they will also belittle Cai Cai. In this way, their reputation will increase because they can belittle Cai Cai and Cai Cai's aesthetics.

Therefore, Cai Cai resolutely refuses to cooperate with any designer and avoid being involved, which is the best. Even he cannot do that.

".I'm asking you?" Someone patted Leng Biyun, interrupting his thoughts.

It turns out that the actors need to try them on, but they always have to ask Leng Biyun.

Leng Biyun pointed directly at one piece and said, "You can do any action, and it doesn't matter if it gets damaged. I don't know much about filming, so I'll try my best to take into account all possible accidents on the set, regarding costumes, and other needs and details. You don't have to worry about the clothes."

Only male actors can try on clothes here. But Lily also asked to try it on, "Female actors have more requirements for costumes due to physiological and hygiene needs. I am wearing a tights inside, so I can try it on."

Leng Biyun quickly glanced at Cai Cai, regretting her negligence, and quickly agreed, "I didn't think about it, I'm sorry."

Jarvis could see that he was afraid of being blamed by Cai Cai. Not to mention that Cai Cai would not care about such things at all, but his cautiousness was also quite interesting. "No need to apologize. You have never made costumes. It's normal. Besides, the design of the fashion industry has never considered women, hahahaha."

"." Leng Biyun felt even more regretful.

“.”You are really good at comforting people.

Everyone looked at Jarvis like an idiot. If you can't speak, then don't say anything. Someone interrupted and talked about the costumes, telling Leng Biyun.

The requirements of the project for the costumes are that they are durable and easy to clean. Unless it is a project that has money and needs to make money from costumes, the costumes of other projects are basically shared. The result of sharing is that the costumes cannot be washed, at least not washed heavily. Clothes will be damaged by washing, and this is a consensus all over the world. Another reason why they cannot be washed is to maintain the shape and color of the costumes. Some costumes are even painted and changed on the spot by the props teacher, and some are temporarily glued on with paper.

"Some projects will sell costumes to companies that specialize in costume business. Such companies specialize in renting or selling costumes to crews. Those crews with good ratings or popular actors will hold an exhibition and auction off the costumes." The man asked Cai Cai, "The Empire has changed its costumes this time, and the previous costumes will be exhibited and auctioned. If you want to buy your costumes back, you can let us know in advance and I will give you the cost price." This is very considerate of Cai Cai.

Cai Cai waved her hand and refused, "Do whatever you want with it, that's Ophira's clothes, not mine." If a contract is signed, the actor can get a share of the auction proceeds of the costumes. Generally, there will be dividends, after all, the actor's image is used for publicity. But if all the copyrights of the characters are sold, it's another matter.

Nowadays, the contracts for film and television dramas are divided into very detailed categories. The copyright of actors to their roles is equivalent to the copyright of singers to their own songs. This prevents some bad editing and the extension of the bad phenomenon from the role to the actor himself. However, the actor's own behavior and morality will also be constrained by the role. If during the contract period, the actor does something that affects the role, the actor will also have to pay double the money. In essence, it is also a professional requirement for actors. But this will also become a means for the agency and the crew to control the actors and embezzle the actors' property.

Some companies use the copyright of actors' roles to sell games, peripherals, picture books, and even materials. Of course, there are also many companies that use the copyright without paying. If you don't pursue it, you will be fine. If you pursue it, you will lose money.

However, character copyrights are generally reserved for superheroes or well-known characters in long-running TV series such as Empire. Other general characters are rarely subdivided into character copyrights. Except for real-life characters in comics and animations, the rest are characters designed specifically for actors, and these all have direct character copyrights.

  All I can say is that as laws and regulations become more complete and contracts become more complex, it represents progress, but it also means that there are more and more pitfalls that predecessors have stepped on.

All the main actors in Empire have the copyright of their characters, because they were originally designed according to the actors, and they are well-known characters. It would be strange if they didn't have the copyright. Now they are working on the project of figures. They should create classic scenes in the play and sell them online together with the character figures. Because if the style is changed later, the style of the first three seasons will become the first generation, and it will be out of print. These are all good marketing methods.

You can imagine how lucrative the income will be.

Cai Cai has already negotiated the contract for the character figures, including Black Line, Misty Mist and Kunlun. Originally, her family was very opposed to the figures in her image, and Cai Cai did not resist, but when the contract was negotiated, no one agreed. Nonsense, how can we not make figures!! You don’t want to make money, but the project wants to make money!! In the end, the Tang family’s legal team had to step in, issue a contract, and negotiate for a long time before everything was settled. The figures can be made, but the facial adjustments must be made, and they cannot look like the characters themselves. Then there are the details of the modeling and the appearance of the figures. Anyway, there cannot be any possibility of vulgarity.

For example, the skirt must be solid, and you cannot change the head or the clothes. However, there are so many technical experts that changing the head and clothes of the action figures is not easy, but it is almost easy. This can only involve compensation for the private profit part in the future. That is to say, you can change the head and clothes and keep them for yourself, but if you resell them, you will be held accountable.

In fact, many celebrities have mentioned this requirement. Cai Cai just made it more detailed. In terms of the contract, Hei Xian had the most difficulty, while the other projects went smoothly. But Hei Xian has rich experience in making things happen, so the deal was successfully reached in the end.