Chapter 506 I Don’t Know Much About Cartoons

In recent years, the cartoons imported from abroad have indeed been too strong, which has compressed the domestic cartoon space a lot.

Nowadays, children in China are watching cartoons such as "Saint Seiya", "Chibi Maruko-chan", and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The "Slam Dunk" broadcast in some areas last year also received a very good response. This year, more and more people have watched it. It's coming to more and more TV stations and should soon become nationally known.

In addition to these cartoons, children are now most fascinated by Ultraman.

If China still has some room for survival in the field of animation, then in the field of tokusatsu films, China has no experience at all, and the entire market belongs to Ultraman.

Zhou Yan remembered that in the last century, Shanghai Animation Film Studio also initiated reforms in order to seek vitality, and spent a lot of manpower, material resources and time to produce China's fifth feature-length animated film "Lotus Lantern".

The production line-up of "Lotus Lantern" is very strong. The director is Chang Guangxi, the master of animation, and the voice actors include Cui Jie, Lei Kesheng, Ma Jingwu, Ding Jiali, Jiang Wen and others. Many of the post-production personnel are veterans of feature films.

The animation took three or four years to be made, with a cost of 12 million. The final profit was pretty good, with a box office of 25 million.

In fact, this cartoon does not lose money at the box office. After all, in addition to box office, cartoons have many other benefits.

As China’s fifth animated feature, “Baolian Lantern”’s income from TV is definitely quite considerable.

But I'm afraid it can only be said that it is not losing money, and it is not making any money at all.

The current IP operations in China are not commercialized and cannot be monetized at all. In the future, they can basically only rely on TV broadcast income.

It can be said that this cartoon gave hope, but it was not enough. Shangmei Factory was not saved because of this cartoon. In fact, after this battle, the original sigh of relief disappeared.

The reason is also very simple. Shangmei Factory wants to reform, but it is still locked in the system. What they produce cannot adapt to the current animation economic form.

Their reform was aimed at commercialization, but what they produced was not a truly commercial work.

"Lotus Lantern" is indeed a success, but its success is almost impossible to replicate.

If it's because of the name of Shangmei Factory and it's not a gimmick for China's fifth animated feature film, why would famous actors like Jiang Wen, Xu Fan, and Jing Jing come to dub you? There is simply no way for Shanghai Film Studio to pay these actors a salary that matches their fame.

There are also those excellent production personnel that only Shangmei Factory can recruit and pay relatively low wages.

If the producer were to change, I'm afraid the production cost of "Lotus Lantern" would more than double.

This is why "Baolian Lantern" is not a commercial work at all. There is no trace of commercialization in the entire production process.

The real commercialization should be when SMI takes the script to investors, and the investors see the commercial potential of the script and decide to invest.

Then they use the money to find people and give each participant a corresponding remuneration.

After such a process, even if the cartoon does not make any money, it actually doesn't matter. As long as it doesn't lose a lot of money, there is hope.

Because the model is easy to copy, as long as you are willing to continue investing, you are very likely to succeed next time.

The model of "Baolian Lantern" cannot be copied, and it takes a very long time, so it cannot be a good way to save Chinese cartoons.

Others have no way to hire a group of big names like Shangmei Factory without spending a few dollars, and those big names can't always generate electricity for love.

Just one "Baolian Lantern" is enough. If there are other similar projects in the future, if we don't give money, people may not be willing to come.

If you want Chinese cartoons to develop in the long term, you must find an "industrial assembly line" to ensure the continuous production of high-quality cartoons - even if you cannot guarantee high quality, you must ensure that the quality is stable.

Of course, this is just a premise. In addition to ensuring the production of excellent works, we must also ensure that these works can make money. This requires creating a mature commercial chain to support the realization of IP commercial value.

Zhou Yan had no intention of discussing Shangmei's situation and just said with a smile, "I still don't know much about animated movies."

Seeing that Zhou Yan was not very interested in this topic, Xu Feng nodded and stopped talking about the topic. Instead, he asked about the situation of today's party, "What programs are there tonight?"

"It's just singing and dancing."

"Who else is dancing in your studio?" Xu Feng asked unexpectedly.

"I am a student of China National Theater Academy. The studio has a school-enterprise cooperation with their school. They also put on a program at this annual meeting, including dance."

Xu Feng smiled and said, "It will be convenient for you to choose actors from now on. You can just go and pick them up."

"That's what I think." Zhou Yan nodded and added, "I'm also planning to form a school-enterprise cooperation with Yanjing Film Academy to develop some short film projects every year."

"No wonder China Theater is willing to cooperate with you in school-enterprise cooperation. It seems that you told them about the short film project, right?" Xu Feng immediately understood the crux of the problem.

"The one who knows me is Sister Feng." Zhou Yan laughed, "This short film project is very attractive to them."

"Of course. For these students of the Central Academy of Drama, short films may be more attractive than general feature films. If they can shoot a few short films in their first and second years to practice, it will be very beneficial for them. Moreover, compared with students of the acting department, the directing department is probably more interested. But if you help others train students like this, aren't you afraid that they will not be used by you after training?"

Zhou Yan shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter. I didn't expect to tie students to our company through school-enterprise cooperation. In fact, I don't lack those actors."

This is Zhou Yan's true thoughts. He is cautious about the future stars of the Central Academy of Drama, because he thinks whether an actor can become famous depends not only on their own abilities, but also on opportunities.

As long as the studio can maintain the ability to produce excellent works, actors are the least lacking. Relatively speaking, he wants to collect excellent behind-the-scenes personnel.

In Zhou Yan's concept, no actor is irreplaceable.

"You are quite arrogant." Xu Feng smiled, "But it seems reasonable for you to say this. You certainly don't lack these actors. Instead, these actors all want to act in your movies."

Zhou Yan's several consecutive movies have been box office hits, and his popularity is unparalleled. Not to mention these students who have not yet graduated, even the famous actors, few do not want to participate in Zhou Yan's movies.

Even Gong Li, when she called Zhou Yan before, said that she would have the opportunity to work with Zhou Yan again.

It can be heard that she is not joking, but is talking about this matter very seriously.

After separating from Zhang Yimou, Gong Li now has few directors in China to cooperate with.

After "Raise the Rock, Raise the Grandma Bridge", Gong Li took on two dramas, one is "Feng Yue" and the other is "Chinese Box". The former is directed by Chen Kaige, and the latter is a foreign director.

Under such circumstances, only Zhou Yan and Chen Kaige can cooperate with her in China.

It's not that Gong Li is a snob who only picks big directors, but it's hard for her to work with ordinary directors at her current position.

Let alone the level of ordinary directors, ordinary directors can't get good investment, it's hard to guarantee production, and they can't afford Gong Li.

If she wants to go further, she must continue to work with these directors who have the hope of going abroad.

So apart from these two movies, Gong Li hasn't taken on any other movies yet, and the frequency of filming is very different from before.

In the past few years, she basically had two or three movies filming every year, and she was in the group most of the year.

Among these well-known domestic directors nowadays, Gong Li most hopes to work with Zhou Yan, after all, the two have a good relationship.

Zhou Yan also wants to work with Gong Li again, but there is no good opportunity for the time being.

The two were chatting, and Yu Hua pushed Shi Tiesheng over.

"Hey, Mr. Xu is here." Yu Hua said with a smile.

Because of Zhou Yan, Xu Feng often saw Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng, and they were acquaintances.

"Teacher Yu Hua, Teacher Tie Sheng, do you have any idea to go on stage and contribute a program today?"

Reading the correct version! 6=9+Shu_Bar first published this novel.

Yu Hua chuckled, "I would like to show off, but I don't have any talent."

Shi Tiesheng also laughed, "We discussed before whether we should practice a chest-breaking rock in advance, and go on stage today to cheer everyone up, but after thinking about it, I still feel that it's almost the New Year, and it's not appropriate to let everyone bleed."

Shi Tiesheng usually doesn't like to joke, but today Xu Feng was amused when she heard Shi Tiesheng joking. She asked with a smile, "I wonder who you two planned to let lie down and who to let swing the hammer?"

"It must be me, Tiesheng has difficulty walking."

"Although my legs are inconvenient, it doesn't prevent me from swinging the hammer."

"You can swing the hammer, but how can you put the big stone on my chest?"

"That's fine, you can lie down with the stone in your arms, saving me from moving the stone."

The two of them were bickering with each other, and Xu Feng was very happy listening to them.

Zhou Yan also smiled, it was rare to see Tiesheng so happy.

In the past two years, Tiesheng's mood has improved a lot, and his health has also improved a lot. Yu Hua often takes him to the studio to walk around, which makes him feel much more relaxed.

As the few people chatted, more and more people came into the factory. The teachers from the Central Academy of Drama also came, and Zhou Yan was busy entertaining them.

Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng saw that Zhou Yan was busy, so they didn't disturb him anymore. Yu Hua pushed Shi Tiesheng towards the audience. He wanted to see in advance where he would sit when the performance started.

Shi Tiesheng sat in a wheelchair, so it was convenient to go up, so he must sit in the first row, but he couldn't sit in the first row. Many times he would find an open space in the aisle to park his wheelchair.

However, when Yu Hua walked to the side of the audience, his eyes lit up, and he pointed to a gap in the middle of the first row and said, "Hey, there happens to be a gap here, you can park your wheelchair."

Shi Tiesheng looked in the direction of Yu Hua's finger, and there was a gap in the first row on the left side of the middle of the audience. It was about the size of a seat. This position was indeed very suitable for parking a wheelchair.

Before Shi Tiesheng could speak, Yu Hua pushed the wheelchair over.

When they reached the gap, Yu Hua turned the wheelchair upside down and pushed it directly into the gap.

After the wheelchair was parked, there was about ten centimeters of space on each side, which was a perfect fit.

On the left side of the gap, there were two seats. Yu Hua walked directly to the side and sat down. From the back, it looked like they were both sitting on the seats.

Seeing that he was wrapped in the first row of gaps, Shi Tiesheng looked in the direction of Zhou Yan, with a strange look in his eyes.

Of course he had already guessed that this gap was specially left by Zhou Yan for him to make it easier for him to come to the show.

Of course Yu Hua also guessed it, but he didn't say it out loud.

This is the cleverness of Yu Hua. He usually never avoids topics related to Shi Tiesheng's legs. Just like when they were arguing just now, he could very naturally say that Shi Tiesheng's legs were not good.

It was precisely because of his lack of shyness that Shi Tiesheng felt at ease and comfortable when he was with him. On the contrary, it was the caution with which others around him looked at him that made him feel uncomfortable.

However, Yu Hua knew that he could talk about Shi Tiesheng's legs without hesitation, but there was no need for him to remind Shi Tiesheng that Zhou Yan had paid for Shi Tiesheng. This would not only put pressure on Shi Tiesheng, but also put pressure on Zhou Yan.

Just keep the relationship between them in mind.

At this time, Yu Hua just said with a smile, "When we come to watch the show again in the future, Zhou Yan and I can be your guardians."

Shi Tiesheng smiled and said, "I don't know how often I can come here in the future."

The band usually rehearses in the practice room or recording studio, and probably won't come here specially. Therefore, in Shi Tiesheng's opinion, except for such big days, they probably won't see any performances.

"You are totally wrong. I heard that they have a school-enterprise cooperation project with the Chinese Theater Company. In the future, students from the Chinese Theater Company may come here to perform in dramas and other programs. There is also an orchestra, sometimes There is more than one program being rehearsed, and the orchestra and folk band are separate, so someone will definitely come here to rehearse.”

Shi Tiesheng felt that what Yu Hua said made sense, so he nodded: "Yes, that's right."

"Of course, that's right. Don't you know Zhou Yan? Although he is rich, he is not a person who wastes money. Since he spent money to build this small theater, there will definitely be many opportunities to use it later, maybe in addition to rehearsals. , there will also be formal performances.”

If Zhou Yan heard what Yu Hua said, he would definitely give him a thumbs up, because that's what Zhou Yan thought.

The small theater has been built, and there are hundreds of seats in it. If it stays like this all year round, Zhou Yan is not willing to do it.

So Zhou Yan planned to hold some activities in the future, such as a music club for new recruits signed by companies like Wang Lihong, and regular concerts.

Hearing what Yu Hua said, Shi Tiesheng was also very happy. His legs and feet were inconvenient and he couldn't travel far away. Nowadays, besides reading books and newspapers, his favorite thing is to hang out in Zhou Yan's studio.

Here, he can not only read books, but also listen to music. It will naturally be more comfortable if he can often see other performances in the future. (End of chapter)