"Calm? Apart from this, what other requirements are there?" Wei Shaoyan asked.

"Look more handsome."

"What else?"

"Emmm, the acting has to be good, because in the early stages we need to use electronic imaging capture technology, which is equivalent to one face having to satisfy all the emotions, so..."

"Oh my god, electronic image capture? That's expensive, Qin Sheng!" Wei Shaoyan was stunned. "Can't they just let the actors put on old-age makeup and act like this?"

It's true that using makeup to make a character look old is cheaper, but there are always trade-offs. Qin Sheng couldn't accept the visual impact of that, especially since he had watched the original drama...

"It's okay. A little more investment is fine. At most, we can just bring in a few more investors. And haven't you noticed? This story is actually very flat and bland. It unfolds in a memoir style, so the climax is only near the end. If the early foreshadowing or the scenes weren't deep enough, it would easily bore the audience."

"So you can spend a little more money on photography and post-production. You can first ask those special effects companies about their technical prices."

"Is this... really decided? Can't we discuss it further?" Wei Shaoyan said guiltily. He had finally figured out that Qin Sheng was a bottomless pit. Bright Moon Studio had just made some money, and this special effect alone would cost tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions...

Oh, this is just the beginning.

Although I also want to save money, this is not the way to save money!

Qin Sheng complained in his heart. In fact, the money spent by the crew of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on special effects was much cheaper than that of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", which also used similar electronic capture technology. The special effects time of the former was about 30 minutes, while the latter used it throughout the whole film.

Moreover, the capture technology used by the former and the latter is still very different...

Simply put, "Benjamin Button" uses electronic face capture, which means putting one person's face on another person, which is a bit like PS, while "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" requires completely synchronizing a person's expression to the face of a virtual ape. The two are completely different in terms of difficulty and cost.

"How about this, let's temporarily set a budget of 100 million for special effects. If we exceed this amount, we can go and seek investment."

Qin Sheng made his decision, very insistent, without any retreat at all. Wei Shaoyan's face immediately turned black, and he clutched his belly in pain.

Oh my god,

It took him more than half a year to earn 100 million, but Qin Sheng, the prodigal son, was about to squander it all in the blink of an eye.

I'm so angry that my liver hurts...

"Qin Sheng, you're spending so much money, isn't your liver shaking?"

"Fuck."

Qin Sheng laughed and scolded, "Even if you know how to make money, you also have to know how to spend it. Movies are always expensive..."

"cut--"

Wei Shaoyan scoffed, "You're the only one so brave. If it were an ordinary person, how could he have the courage to use special effects like this..."

Then he straightened his clothes and stood up calmly, "Then I'll go out and look for someone. There are quite a few special effects companies in Kyoto..."

"Wait." Qin Sheng suddenly called out to him.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Wei Shaoyan turned his head and asked.

"Let's look for NOVSO. I saw that the previous movie 'Black Blood' was a collaboration with them. They used special effects technology and the results were pretty good."

What about NOVSO?

Wei Shaoyan secretly wrote down the name and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll go check it out later."

"By the way, remember not to leave the actors behind..." Qin Sheng carefully instructed like a kind old father. Wei Shaoyan put on his baseball cap and waved at him.

"knew."

…

In the evening, Wei Shaoyan called back. Qin Sheng was busy writing at the time. Seeing that it was Wei Shaoyan calling, he immediately picked up the phone.

"Hello? How's it going?"

"Ahem... Qin Sheng... this..." Wei Shaoyan's tone was a little difficult. He took a deep breath and said depressedly, "This price seems to be quite different from what you expected..."

Is the discrepancy too big?

This is troublesome...

Qin Sheng has actually never filmed a special effects film, so his understanding of special effects production is not very clear.

There's nothing we can do about it. After all, in the Chinese market back then, everyone had 50-cent special effects. Who would be so stupid as to compete with others to see whose special effects were better?

The production costs for post-production special effects of those awesome foreign movies generally account for one-third of the budget, and for movies like "Transformers" and "Iron Man", it accounts for more than 80%.

But in China, most films with special effects have a budget of around 10-15%. This is because domestic film and television production profits are often suppressed by pre-production costs. After all, those stars and young actors eat up a large portion of the budget in the early stages. This leads to a wide range of special effects that cost only a few cents. Some crews are so poor that they even have post-production companies force-fit them. There's even a scene where the male and female protagonists fall off a cliff using the Flaming Mountain background from the 1980s film "Journey to the West"...

Qin Sheng doesn't want his works to have too many flaws, so he is willing to spend money.

But there's a limit to how much you can spend. If you really can't afford it, you can only recruit others to join the group, although you don't know if anyone is willing to do that...

"Can you tell me the approximate estimate?" Qin Sheng asked seriously with a frown.

"Let me put it this way. The head of NOVSO told me that the special effects for just fifteen minutes of Black Mesa cost fifty million. And your script also includes special effects like ships, gun battles, and helicopters..."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!