I’m in Hollywood

Today, the office area in the digital field is very lively. Eric rushed to the scene with Caroline and Mayer, and many senior executives of the group were already waiting here. In a hall inside the digital domain office loft, Stan Winston has begun to introduce the reald dual-camera 3D movie projection system to be shown today to Katzenberg, Frank Wells and others.

After the plan was finalized last fall, the '4200' and 'reald' plans were rapidly advancing within the Firefly Group.

In the past six months, in order to promote the two plans, the company first brought in the Canadian company imax, and accelerated the research and development of dmr technology for converting ordinary 35mm films into imax format films.

Because it was not favored by Hollywood filmmakers for a long time, imax had a very difficult road to commercialization, and was on the verge of bankruptcy many times.

But now, with the unremitting support of Firefly Group, and with years of technical accumulation, imax's R\u0026D team has come up with an excellent DMR conversion solution in only half a year. By the end of this year, all issues will be resolved and imax will be able to commercialize without hindrance.

Secondly, in the digital field, in order to develop a dual-camera 3D movie projection system, the digital field has established a subsidiary called 'reald'.

At the same time, the digital field also shoulders the task of developing 3D transformation software and cultivating 3D transformation teams. In fact, these two things have been gradually carried out as early as a few years ago. It was only from last fall that the two plans were confirmed, and the big strides began. advance.

Speaking of which, today can be regarded as the day for the acceptance of technological achievements in the digital field.

After greeting everyone, Eric picked up a polarized 3D glasses on the workbench and tried them on. Seeing what Stan Winston wanted to say, Eric first said, Stan, don't you understand? , is the fact more convincing than any eloquence, so let's go directly to the screening room.

Haha, of course, Stan Winston nodded, but then picked up a 3D glasses and rubbed it, said: However, these things took us a lot of thought, I still hope that everyone can understand more deeply. Eric, I promise, you'll be surprised later.

Eric smiled and said, I'm looking forward to it.

After a few jokes, the group left the office loft in the digital domain and walked towards the nearby movie theater.

Marissa Mayer and Caroline followed behind a group of bigwigs, listening to Eric and Stan Winston, Katzenberg and others skillfully chat about various technical problems with 3D movies , and noticed that Caroline beside her listened with interest, and secretly decided that she must make up for the relevant knowledge as soon as possible this weekend.

As an assistant, it's too bad if you can't even understand what your boss is saying. She didn't want to really be treated as a vase.

Walking into the screening room, Caroline and Caroline took the 3D glasses handed over by the staff, and found a seat to sit down, and Mayer looked at the 3D glasses in his hand curiously.

The black frame and the lenses are light gray. After wearing it, there is nothing special except that the vision becomes darker.

The big guys in the front row chatted for a while. The lights in the projection hall were dimmed, and it felt dark in front of me. Mayer subconsciously turned to the screen in front of him.

When the hard metal screen in front of him was lit up, Mayer hadn't reacted yet. Accompanied by the excellent sound effects in the auditorium, the Tyrannosaurus rex, with its bloody mouth open, roared and bit him in the face.

what--

Without any psychological preparation, Mayer suddenly leaned back in the chair, completely forgetting the occasion, and took off the 3D eyes with a scream.

Although everyone was startled by Stan Winston's play, everyone in the front row still took off their glasses and turned to look at the girl's screams.

In the darkness, I felt a dozen pairs of eyes focus on myself instantly,

Mayer was too embarrassed to add: Hug, sorry, everyone.

Seeing that she was fine, everyone quickly withdrew their gazes and turned their attention back to the big screen.

In order to test the technical achievements of the team in the digital field, Eric specially selected a scene of several protagonists in Jurassic Park encountering a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the Rainy Night Bridge for 3D transformation.

Night play, rain play, these are the technical difficulties of 3D transformation.

Especially for night scenes, due to the triple brightness attenuation of the projector, screen and glasses, 3D movies have a common problem of dark pictures. Therefore, once the 3D converted night scenes are not done well, it is destined to be dark. a slice.

However, it can be seen from Mayer's reaction just now that the transformation effect of the digital field team is undoubtedly very good.

After watching this ten-minute transcribed clip three times, the staff turned on the lights in the theater.

Eric did not leave with a group of high-level executives, and continued to sit in the auditorium and began to talk.

Eric couldn't find anything to be picky about the 3D picture effects just now, and he directly asked the question he cared about most: Stan, according to the standards we just saw, I want to complete the transformation of a complete film. ,how much time is required?

Stan Winston sat next to Eric, thought for a while, and said, It will take about three months for a two-hour-long movie to be fully remastered.

It takes three months to complete a film conversion, and only four 3D films can be produced in one year. Although Eric's criteria for the early promotion of 3D movies is that the essence is not too expensive, but four movies are not enough to support the whole year's screening, and this number must be at least doubled.

Eric thought for a moment and said, Continue to recruit people and double the size of the transformation team. I need you to complete at least eight films a year.

After listening to Eric and Stan Winston talking, Katzenberg said: So, Eric, now that all technical problems are basically solved, are you sure we want to move forward with the next plan?

Katzenberg's sudden question is not without reason.

Whether it is the dmr conversion technology of imax or the development of the reald projection system, the investment is actually only tens of millions of dollars.

But then, once the actual theater-related plan is officially started, it is definitely not a problem that can be solved by tens of millions of dollars.

The reald projection system developed in the digital field includes two customized film projectors, a metal hard screen, and 3D polarized glasses. Even without considering the profitability of this projection system, the equipment cost has reached 250,000 US dollars, so , If you want to transform the traditional 2D screening hall into a dual-machine 3D screening hall, each screening hall also needs a budget of at least 300,000 US dollars.

The unit price of a complete set of equipment is not worth mentioning to Firefly, but the cost of transforming 4,000 3D screening halls around the world immediately reached 1.2 billion US dollars, which is definitely a very conservative estimate.

Combined with the planned 200 imax theaters, at an average build price of $2 million, this is another $400 million expenditure.

With a total project budget of 1.6 billion US dollars, for the Firefly Group, which is a big business, even if it loses completely, it will not hurt. However, the completion of the renovation of 4,000 3D screening halls and the construction of 200 imax screening halls are actually just the beginning of everything.

The whole plan is actually to create a brand new 3D film and television industry chain. Once successful, the strength of the Firefly Group will definitely undergo another transformation. But if it fails, the consequences are definitely not as simple as losing $1.6 billion.

After the Firefly Group made such a huge industrial layout, if the movie audience did not buy it, the project failed, not to mention the huge investment wasted, just the follow-up treatment of these 4,000 3D screening halls is enough to get Firefly into a wreck. , not to mention a series of technical teams specially created by Firefly Group to promote this plan.

Therefore, if it is stopped now, Firefly will not lose anything, and the technical achievements exchanged for the previous investment are definitely worth the money. Even if it is the acquired imax company, if it wants to get rid of the burden, the group can sell it again.

However, once the plan moves to the next stage, there is no turning back.

Either be the leader of a whole new revolution in the movie industry, or be the object of ridicule by everyone in Hollywood and leave behind a mess that could create a domino effect.

There was a brief silence in the screening room. To be honest, Eric also had a brief hesitation in his heart. However, after glancing at the group executives around him, he quickly smiled easily and said to Kasenberg. Grid said: Jeffrey, let's talk about the results of your contact with several major theater chains.

Knowing that Eric had made up his mind, Katzenberg stopped doing unnecessary things, and said, I have talked to the management of several major theater chains in North America during this period, and in general, they are all concerned about us. The plan is very interesting, but at the same time feels too risky.”

Eric pointed to the hard metal screen in front of the projection hall and said, Perhaps, next, you can bring them here and persuade them.

Of course, I thought the same just now, Katzenberg nodded with a smile, However, even if they recognize the effect of this demo, it is still difficult for us to find too much initiative in future cooperation. My idea is that we set up a subsidiary company and cooperate with several major cinema chains. We invest in the renovation of 3D projection halls, and the risk is borne by us. Then, we take a certain percentage of the box office share from the box office of these projection halls. The cost may take a long time, but as long as it is successful, it will become a very considerable sustainable income. As for the 200 imax theaters, the initiative is naturally entirely on our own side, and we don’t need to think too much.”

The biggest difficulty in transforming 3D screening halls is that the major cinema chains in North America are basically multiplex cinemas, which is why Firefly is completely unable to do it alone. After all, even if it forcibly acquired a cinema chain, it is impossible for Firefly to transform a cinema with five, six or even more than ten screening halls into 3D mode. Coupled with the fact that different regions of North America have different divisions of theater power, it is difficult for Firefly to cover the entire North America just by acquiring one or cooperating with one of them.

Therefore, Katzenberg's proposal is undoubtedly the most feasible. The former imax adopted this similar model in the process of commercialization.

However, in this way, Firefly's control over these batches of 3D projection halls is very limited.

Fortunately, Eric's main purpose is not to get involved in the cinema industry, but to promote 3D movies.

Of course, the control over the terminal theater is limited. In order to ensure the initiative of Firefly in the process of 3D movie promotion, it is necessary to become a standard setter.

After discussion, Eric decided to develop a two-factor authentication system. One is the certification of the auditorium installed with the reald projection system, and the other is the certification of the film using the 3D transformation technology in the digital field.

As long as it can create a concept among the audience that only 3D movies certified in the digital domain are played in the reald auditorium, the most authentic 3D movie concept, then, even if the 3D movie market is chaotic again in the future, at least, the Firefly system has already done 3D movies out of the brand will not be affected too much.

Moreover, after the chaos, other companies, willing or not, will gradually move closer to Firefly's standards for commercial reasons.

Everyone talked in the screening room all morning and had dinner together before everyone returned to their jobs and started busy.

Eric returned to his office in the studio, so he had time to chat with his new female assistant.

So, how do you feel now? Leaning lazily on the back of the chair, Eric turned over a document just sent by the secretary in his hand and asked Marissa Mayer, who was sitting on the opposite sofa with a cup of coffee. you.

Mayer put down the coffee in his hand and nodded: It's okay, but suddenly I feel that I still have a lot to learn.

Eric nodded and praised: It's best if you can feel this way. Too many people always feel that they don't need to study anymore.

Mayer just smiled and didn't talk to him.

Eric also paused for a while before saying, I should tell you, Kelly must have told you.

Mayer naturally understood what Eric was referring to and said, Yes.

Carly is a very good girl, you will definitely be very happy to get along with her in the future, Eric said, seeing Mayer's ignorant appearance, he thought about it, and said, You can talk to me when you have time. Talk to Melanie, she can help you adjust to the job as quickly as possible.

Mayer reacted this time. Caroline was in the office next door. If it was for work, it would be more convenient to ask her, and there was no need to contact Melanie Gleason, who was in San Francisco.

I see, Eric. Mayer didn't ask, but answered earnestly.

Eric didn't say much, and said, That's it, you go back to work first.

Watching Mayer leave the office, Eric took his eyes back. The information in his hand happened to be the work evaluation report that Kelly gave Mayer.

Unlike the original interview report, this report is more detailed.

Kelly's evaluation of Mayer is still very high, but Eric saw the shadow of another guy from a series of evaluations such as 'perfectionist', 'detail control', and 'strong desire to control'. . Eric is sure not to let Mayer run Yahoo again as he once did. However, it was an excellent idea to have her alone in charge of developing a product.