"How should I put it? We can't even talk about personal relationships. Let's put it this way. These people are just like walk-ons in the crew. Their personal abilities are not bad. They just lack an opportunity."
Kunal explained it this way.
"So they are happy to change the environment to facilitate faster development in the future?" Liu Qingshan asked.
"That's pretty much it, or you can sign them very cheaply to help you quickly establish your own special effects technology department."
"Sign them?"
"Master, I suggest there be a contract to bind them. And for now, they are still very cheap. Ten thousand dollars a year is enough. On average, eight hundred dollars a month is enough."
Eight hundred U.S. dollars is equivalent to six thousand five hundred Chinese dollars, and the exchange rate in 2004 was about 8.2.
"Master, although the salary of ordinary actors and actresses in Bollywood is only about US$200 in rubles, the standard of the special effects artist industry is very high. It has its internationally accepted industry standards. The general salary is US$600. Floating left and right.”
Liu Qingshan was rapidly calculating his current funding capacity in his mind. Kunale, who had not received an answer for a long time, hurriedly explained, obviously there was some misunderstanding.
He also knew that what Kunale said was not clear. If these people's annual salary is still six hundred dollars, why would they follow you to a strange place so far away?
"Kunale, I am not questioning their salary, but I am considering the use of all funds. After all, the biggest expense of a special effects studio is equipment, not labor!"
His tone was a bit depressing. If he had known better, he would not have bought a house so early. He probably only had hundreds of thousands of funds on hand at the moment.
"Master, I still have some in hand. If you need it, I will transfer it immediately!"
Hearing Kunale's words, Liu Qingshan secretly smiled bitterly.
He took a deep breath. He knew that this kind of opportunity was very rare. He had to grit his teeth and take it no matter what. The worst he could do was go back to China and find someone to borrow some money from.
The reason for his hesitation is that the specific amount cannot be determined, especially since the initial investment in the studio will be a bottomless pit. With the little money he has, he probably cannot even afford an advanced professional equipment.
The first is the cost of hardware. Special effects for large-scale film and television productions cannot be produced without good hardware support.
Generally, the configuration of the machine is at least dual-channel high-memory, and one machine costs tens of thousands.
Moreover, the loss of equipment is quite large, and it basically needs to be replaced every 3-5 years. Specialized workstations, storage arrays, and huge power consumption are all huge expenses.
Then there is the cost of purchasing production software. Genuine CG software is generally charged annually and is not permanent. A lot of software is used to produce CG.
These software are expensive. For example, Weta Digital's annual usage fee for renderman (a renderer) reaches 180 million Chinese dollars.
This is just the money spent on the renderer, not counting other production software.
There are also labor costs. The success of some Hollywood films is the result of the collaborative cooperation of many special effects companies. There are about 1,500 special effects participants, and even in the later stages, almost the entire rendering room in Los Angeles was used.
Liu Qingshan considered the overall difficulty. The initial investment in the special effects studio would not be too large, and his initial purpose was just to hire a few training teachers.
This is exactly what Chen Long has been talking about not long ago. Otherwise, with his wealth, why not organize his own special effects team instead of hiring a Hollywood special effects team with a high salary?
"Kunal, thank you for your kindness, but I think it's better to solve it myself, although this huge investment does give me a headache!"
Liu Qingshan scratched his head in distress.
Kunal was extremely smart and immediately thought of the other party's suffering, and suddenly laughed: "Master, I know you are at the beginning of your career, but have you ever thought about it? You don't have enough money, but our respected Klam Sir, yes!"
Liu Qingshan was stunned, not quite understanding the meaning of Kunal's words.
"Master, think about it, even in Hollywood there is no wealthy person who has the ability to undertake technology development and design alone. George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic Company is an example!"
Liu Qingshan understands this. Industrial Light and Magic is a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, and it was built by concentrating most of the manpower and material resources of the entire production company.
After the sci-fi masterpiece "War of the Worlds" was produced, many large production companies successively established their own special effects companies.
There were no independent special effects departments in these production companies before. In order to save money, the bosses had already eliminated the special effects departments, and no one was focusing on studying special effects.
Now in Hollywood, choosing a suitable special effects supervisor is as important as choosing a leading actor, because the landscape of the film industry has been completely changed by special effects.
After all, the success of visual effects is not only reflected in technical production, but its conceptual breakthroughs also have a huge role in promoting the film industry.
Therefore, in the past few years when digital technology was quite mature, special effects departments in production companies were established one after another.
But any well-known special effects team or group is established in a large production company with considerable strength.
"You mean I can ask your boss for help?"
Liu Qingshan suddenly understood what Kunale meant.
Kunal on the other end of the phone laughed again: "Master, you have a great opportunity now, for example, to make me the most powerful martial arts superstar in Bollywood!"
His laughter was full of slyness and sincerity.
Liu Qingshan suddenly realized: "It turns out that you are making your own plans! Why, do you really want to become my real disciple?"
Although Kunale kept calling him "master" one by one, in fact Liu Qingshan never thought about teaching all the things left by his ancestors to a foreigner.
However, he had a good idea and knew that even if others did not have the same receptive ability as himself, it would be no problem at least to learn the same thing.
"Disciple, I do have selfish motives, but it is by no means planned in advance. It's not that I don't believe in your sincere teachings. It's just that I haven't been officially accepted by the master, so I feel uneasy!"
"Then tell me, how can you make your boss accept it? And how can we cooperate?"
"Then you agreed to take me in?"
"Are you going to die? First tell me your conditions. Once I'm satisfied, I won't mind accepting my first apprentice!"
"Haha, I'm so smart, I actually thought of this method!"
"..."
Liu Qingshan was a little speechless. He admitted that he had underestimated this stupid guy, who knew how to seduce people. He had grasped the opportunity before he saw it.
"Actually, this matter is simple. Master, you can contact Mr. Chen and Mr. Crumb and sign an agreement, which is to help Treasure Pictures cultivate a whole martial arts design team in exchange for a piece of the Treasure Pictures A small investment.”
"Why do we still need to join forces with Brother Chen Long? Is it because I don't have enough cards?"
"Of course there are reasons for this, and more importantly, with Chen Long having Chen Jiaban under him, our people will also get a systematic and professional learning environment!"
"And you can be freed and follow me normally?"
"Yes, you have to know that the entire martial arts team has a lot of people. It is much larger than what Chen Long promised before. Without the opportunity of Chen Jiaban to stay, training is almost impossible."
"What about Treasure Pictures' investment? Why is it said to be a small investment?"
"Treasure Pictures has its own special effects department. Although it will not be willing to provide you with professional technical personnel in China, it can solve some equipment problems, such as second-hand computers. Although it is old, high precision can be guaranteed in the early stages of film animation production. It is very helpful, even if you spend money to buy it, it is very cost-effective, and it can ensure that your people are as fast as professional.”
"It's better to spend money on buying new ones. The obsolescence rate of that stuff is too high, and the value of outdated equipment itself is not high."
"I'm just giving an example. Besides, we can also sign a strategic cooperation intention with our Treasure Pictures. When the technology is shared, maybe there will be no need to spend money!"
"If they don't give it to me, should I find it myself?"
"In fact, I suggest that we look for it ourselves. Young people who have no foundation are not only cost-effective, but the key is that they have huge room for technological advancement."
"Room for improvement? Are you saying that the skills of those young people are not very reliable?"
"Reliable means worthy of trust and trust, right?"
"Roughly the same!"
"Well, does anyone who is reliable as you say know how much it costs? Whether it is in Hollywood or not, the annual salary of a mid-level special effects person is about $40,000, a senior person is about $60,000, and a top person is It’s around US$150,000. More importantly, unless it’s a big film production company, don’t let them change jobs!”
"In other words, it is extremely difficult to bribe a mid-level special effects person?"
Liu Qingshan can understand what Kunale said. Water flowing to higher places is not just a Chinese tradition.
"It is absolutely true that private factories, especially those in the entry-level stage of new industries, cannot recruit them because we do not have the ability to provide them with the technological conditions they urgently need!"
Kunal's tone sounded firm.
"Us? Aren't you from Treasure Pictures anymore?"
"As long as Master is willing to accept me, my boss is just my superior, and you are my family!"
Feeling the sincerity in the other party's words, Liu Qingshan was a little moved, but he said something else: "Kunal, you have to know that I don't want to determine the relationship between us in exchange for conditions! "
"Master, I understand," Kunal said, looking a little anxious, "but in my heart, my apprentice always believes that master will accept me sooner or later. This is just a coincidence!"
"That's it. I'll wait for Brother Chen Long to come back, and you'll discuss it with Mr. Kram Singh in time!"
"Master, you, did you agree to accept me?"
"As you said, sooner or later it will be fate. I think you will be with me from now on. The Zhen family class in Xiangjiang will be the next place to go, but I think I have very little contact with Big Brother's crew. !”
