Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 326 Whose face to use?

In the office of Factory 358, a fax document was slowly printed out.

In the office, a technician waited for a fax to print out, glancing at the words on it with boredom.

China Film Group, investment, R&D, technology seminar
Many key words instantly attracted his attention!

At this time, Nanjing Film Machinery, Bayi Film Machinery Factory, Tianjin Film Machinery Factory, Shanghai Camera Corporation, Beijing Film Machinery Research Institute, China Film Equipment Corporation and other companies all received the fax from China Film!

At this time, Chen Shiping was in the China Film Office calling Xu Feng.

"Sister, please help me purchase a batch of the most advanced photographic equipment and projection equipment. If you can help me get the motion capture equipment, you will be my real sister!"

Xu Feng laughed out loud and couldn't help but said, "You haven't called me sister for many years. Just for this, I'll help you!"

"Thank you so much!" Chen Shiping said with a smile.

Xu Feng smiled and said, "You're welcome. For the development of Chinese-language films, although Taiwan and the mainland are separated by a strait, we are one family. Please give me some time."

"It's okay, don't worry. When you have time to come to the mainland, I will treat you to a meal," Chen Shiping asked with a smile.

"I'll finish my shopping for you this time, and then I'll go visit you in the mainland."

"Okay, then I can prepare the menu in advance."

Chen Shiping and Xu Feng chatted for a while before hanging up the phone.

Xu Feng's Taiwanese identity makes it easier to get things done. If a Chinese equipment company were to go and purchase, they wouldn't be able to buy the latest models.

The Asian market is now controlled by China Film Group. The quality and output of its films have threatened Hollywood, and they will not give away their technology easily.

China once wanted to develop digital special effects and acquire some Hollywood companies.

Even if the company can’t continue operating and is on the verge of bankruptcy, we won’t give you any shares, let alone technology.

Some software won’t give you the latest version, even if you pay for it.

A very helpless reality.

After Chen Shiping hung up the phone, he looked at the time and started packing to go out as he had other things to do.

The technical seminar will take a few days, and it will take time for so many experts to come.

These factories are all the best film equipment manufacturers in the country.

Factory 358 was once the most powerful. It initially developed and produced military optical instruments, and later developed the Great Wall camera. However, it has been on a downward trend in the past two years.

The same is true for Shanghai Camera Corporation. Seagull cameras were once exported overseas, but now they cannot keep up with the pace of the times.

The once popular Great Wall and Seagull cameras are now on the verge of being obsolete.

Without these best-selling products, they would naturally not be able to survive.

These factories of theirs are not even doing as well as the Baoding Film Machinery Factory. They also used to produce film machinery, but later failed to keep up with the development of the times and decided to change their business.

Focus on one thing to produce: grinding machine!
Although it has nothing to do with movie machinery, it earns millions of dollars in exports every year, and the growth is very stable!

I am not afraid of not having the right major, I just worry about not doing it seriously!

Chen Shiping sometimes feels helpless. This is the case with many industries in China. They are all good at the beginning, but as time goes by they cannot keep up with the development of the times.

It was obviously once a cutting-edge technology, but once it produced some products, it began to stagnate and was eventually eliminated.

The key point is, it’s not because of lack of money. The sales of each product are very good, and they can even export to earn foreign exchange. The performance has gone up, but the technology has declined.

It’s really hard to say what the problem is.

But now Chen Shiping can only rely on them.

What else can he do? Chen Shiping himself doesn’t know how to do it.

Fortunately, there was support from above, and the ministry coordinated with several light industry and mechanical and electrical departments to issue assistance documents to these factories.

Otherwise, given their personality, they might not come.

Chen Shiping sighed as he packed his things.

Originally engaged in the film industry, now they have started to engage in industry and technology. Who the hell can I complain to?
Forget it, let’s go to the Beijing Film Studio first to see the situation.

Work on Frozen has been thoroughly underway.

Hundreds of design drafts have been collected, and we are now screening for suitable designs.

Chen Shiping went there today for this matter.

The design of an animated film is more important than the casting of the film!
Even if the actors in a live-action movie are slightly unsuitable, they still have their fame to back them up. However, if an animated movie doesn’t choose the right character design, it will be difficult for the audience to even look at it for a second.

Soon, Chen Shiping arrived at the Beijing Film Studio.

As soon as I entered the conference room, I was speechless by the design drawings piled everywhere.

The whole room is covered with design drawings, so densely packed that it gives people a headache just looking at them.

Master Yang looked at Chen Shiping and said, "Here you are, come and take a look. I am dazzled by what I see."

"I didn't look at it, but my eyes were dazzled too." Chen Shiping said with a wry smile.

But he had to look at them even though his eyes were dizzy, so Chen Shiping put down his bag and started looking at the pictures one by one.

College students have rich imaginations and draw all kinds of characters.

Some of them combine the style of ink painting, some are pure oil painting style, some are wearing princess dresses, and some are wearing crowns like Snow White’s stepmother.

After Chen Shiping quickly glanced at everything, he couldn't help rubbing his temples.

There is not a single one I’m satisfied with, perhaps because I’ve seen the original, so when I look at these designs I always put myself in the shoes of the original characters.

Disney did a really good job in this regard, and the characters they designed are very likable.

Very experienced!
Chen Shiping put down the design drawings and decided to calm down and look at the scene design drawings.

If the character design drawings were still within the scope of understanding, the scene design drawings completely shattered Chen Shiping's cognition.

There are all kinds of weird buildings!
Chen Shiping even saw very dark design drawings that challenged the visual limits.

He silently put the exaggerated picture into his notebook. What a talent!

If you ask him to draw the princess's palace, he can create a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

I'll criticize you first for not examining the question carefully!
Then set aside for later use!
After Chen Shiping finished looking at the scene design drawings, he sat down and drank tea for a long time before starting to select again.

It took Chen Shiping half an hour to select thirty-six designs from more than two hundred and twenty character drawings.

Master Yang and his colleagues were also selecting the ones they were satisfied with. Together with the ones selected by several people, there were more than 70 pieces.

However, none of the designs caught my eye at first sight. All I can say is that each has its own strengths.

After being busy for an hour or two, everyone felt tired and aesthetically fatigued.

Chen Shiping rubbed his eyes and said, "Let's go out for dinner and come back to do it."

Master Yang and others responded one after another, but they had all starved to death.

While eating in the cafeteria, Han Laosan also came over and wanted to talk to Chen Shiping about the digital film base.

Beijing Film Studio must get involved in this!
Chen Shiping didn't give him a chance. He didn't want to talk about this today because he had no clue about the technical research yet.

It will take time for the experts and equipment to arrive, for the research to be broken down, and for us to figure out the clues.

In fact, Seagull was made by a few technicians who took it apart and then copied it one-to-one.

However, although the imitation ability is very strong, the research and development ability did not keep up.

Chen Shiping took a bite of rice, looked at Master Yang and said, "I saw a few good design drawings today. I'll review them later."

"I think so too. Some children do have good imaginations."

Master Yang thought for a moment and said, "Once the draft is finalized, the rest of the work will begin. Can't we borrow someone from Shanghai Animation Studio?" Chen Shiping shook his head and said, "Shanghai Film Group won't let me go. Now that they see that I want to make an animation, they've started to pay attention to Shanghai Animation Studio again."

Master Yang hesitated to speak, and finally sighed and ate in silence.

Han Laosan couldn't help but say a few words, but there was nothing he could do. The other party wouldn't let go and treated him as an opponent. There was nothing he could do.

Shanghai Film Group has now started to raise more funds and hopes to use the Shanghai International Film Festival to expand overseas.

Perhaps he wants to follow Chen Shiping's old path and catch up.

Chen Shiping didn't have any thoughts on this. Competition was a good thing, but the Shanghai Film Studio was too weak for him.

He never regarded Shangying as an opponent or enemy.

Afterwards, Chen Shiping went to the conference room and spent an afternoon with Master Yang reviewing all the design drawings and coming up with a final draft.

With this, Master Yang and his team can start working.

Chen Shiping is also going to start selecting real actors.

Rotoscoping requires real people, and actors with very good body movements!

No facial expressions or acting skills are needed, only body movements!
The body language must be expressive and beautiful enough, otherwise a group of men sitting there fantasizing can only draw a clumsy little country girl.

The next day, Chen Shiping went to the song and dance troupe to watch the performance.

The people in the song and dance troupe were still very enthusiastic about Chen Shiping and directly called all the actors in the troupe over.

Go up and perform one by one!

These dancers are all very excited, Chen Shiping is here to select the actors!

If he was chosen, wouldn't he become a big star instantly?

The actors all performed very hard, showing off all their special talents.

Chen Shiping even forgot to tell them that he was selecting actors behind the scenes of the animation, but that doesn’t seem to be important, let’s just watch the performance first!

After watching it for a whole afternoon, Chen Shiping wanted to make a musical.

It is a real pleasure to watch these professional dancers dance.

Chen Shiping looked down at the notebook in his hand, which had the names of seven or eight people written on it. After thinking for a while, he selected two men and two women.

The selected actors all jumped up happily and asked Chen Shiping directly what kind of movie he was going to make.

Only then did Chen Shiping smile awkwardly and say, "Animated movie."

"Ah? An animation?" The actors were stunned, unable to understand why animations needed actors.

We can't ask them to do dubbing, right?

Chen Shiping coughed lightly and said, "Before the animation can be drawn, the actors need to perform it first."

"So it's not photogenic?"

"Correct."

"."

A girl suddenly raised her hand and said, "Mr. Chen, I have an important performance later and may not be able to go."

Chen Shiping nodded without surprise and asked, "Who else doesn't have time to go?"

The remaining three actors hesitated, and after a while another boy raised his hand and said he didn't want to go.

Chen Shiping lowered his head and looked at the names on the list and called out two more. After asking four people in a row, he finally gathered the people together again.

After gathering them, Chen Shiping put away his notebook and said to them, "Everyone, please report to the Beijing Film Studio at nine o'clock tomorrow."

Chen Shiping left after he finished speaking, and the four people who were chosen were surrounded in an instant.

"Are you guys stupid? Why do you want to go? It's almost the end of the year and there are so many performances to do. You're not filming a movie. Why would you go there just to be a model?"

A little girl couldn't help but say, "What if Mr. Chen thinks I'm doing well and asks me to act in a movie in the future?"

"You also know it's just a one-time event. Aren't you stupid?"

"What if they make a live-action movie? Maybe I will be chosen. Mulan will be made into a live-action movie!"

".dream!"

After Chen Shiping finished selecting the adults, he went on to select the children.

The children were not so pretentious and were very positive. They were very happy even though they knew they were models behind the scenes.

The parents are also quite supportive. As children, they just want to go out and see the world.

The next day, all the actors arrived. Chen Shiping looked at them and said:

"It will be hard in the future, and you may have to act it out many times. If the script is overturned, you will have to come back and make up for it. However, if a live-action movie is shot in the future, you will be the first choice."

The pie still needs to be drawn, and for a live-action movie, choosing newcomers is a good choice.

If we use well-known actors, it would actually feel incongruous, unless their looks are particularly suitable!
After chatting with these actors, Master Yang also ran over, stared at their faces for a long time, and then turned and left.

The faces of animated characters are sometimes based on real people, especially good-looking ones.

Disney's Mulan image was actually based on Lucy Liu.

Lucy Liu's appearance is very oriental in the eyes of Europeans and Americans!

Chen Shiping really didn’t know what to say. Do all Oriental people look like this?
Lucy Liu is quite pretty, but her appearance is not typical of Chinese people.

People with this kind of appearance are just very unique, so they can be remembered by foreigners.

Other Chinese people will not be remembered because their facial features are not so distinctive.

Even if you are good-looking, but you don't have distinct facial features, they generally can't remember you.

There's no way to explain this; this is basically how Chinese people view foreigners.

Chen Shiping has seen many beautiful foreign girls, but he can only remember the appearance of few of them.

Chen Shiping actually has a stereotype of foreigners: hooked noses, big bellies, and red necks.
If Chen Shiping were to cast a white character in his own movie, he would probably do the same.

Everyone is blackmailing each other!

At this time, Master Yang looked at the blank face in the drawing, pondered for a long time, and then found the photos of the actors in the factory.

When Chen Shiping came over, Master Yang had already drawn more than a dozen pairs of eyes, seven or eight noses and mouths on the paper.

They are being arranged one by one.

Chen Shiping also went over and demonstrated a few groups, but they didn't look good together.

Each of the facial features looks good individually, but it is difficult to make them look harmonious, natural and distinctive when combined together.

This takes a little bit of trying!
After working for several hours, Chen Shiping pieced together a set of facial features that looked very pleasing to the eye.

But it just looks very familiar!
Chen Shiping couldn't help but show it to Master Yang.

"Master Yang, why does this look so familiar to you?"

Master Yang squinted his eyes and looked at it for a while and said, "Isn't this a combination of Tao Huimin and you?"

"Hey, it's true!" Chen Shiping immediately took out Xiao Xiulin's photo from his wallet and compared it with the photo. They really did look a bit similar!

Master Yang took a look at the photo and said, "The protagonist used this face when he was a child. Is that okay?"

"Haha, of course not! I'll go brag to my daughter later!"

(End of this chapter)