Chapter 161: One Million Investment
"Give domestic science fiction a future."
This is a big statement, but Guo Fan's tone is very calm.
He is not shouting slogans, but believes this from the bottom of his heart.
To be honest, for someone like Meng Bai who is used to making plans before taking action, this calmness is more convincing than passionate words.
"The title of the future of domestic science fiction is too big, I can't bear it." Meng Bai said: "Brother Guo, we are also friends who have fought together. Just tell me directly, what do you want to do for you?"
Guo Fan coughed lightly: "Now, the main thing is that I am short of money."
"How much?"
"About 700,000."
"Well, in fact, it may not be so much." Gongger on the side hurriedly added: "China Film is not in a hurry to start the project, so we still have more time. We can use domestic teams for some work. The efficiency will be a little slower, but the price is cheaper. Calculated... 500,000 is actually about the same."
Guo Fan nodded and continued: "It's okay, Xiao Meng, if you are not interested in this project, it doesn't matter, don't make it difficult. Or if you are worried about the actual project establishment later, this money is considered as a personal loan from me."
If it were Guo Fan two years ago, he would not be willing to say "borrow money". At most, he would mortgage his house and he could always make up the money.
But now it's not possible, because he got married last year.
It doesn't matter when he is alone. If he fails, he can make money by shooting movies that he doesn't like so much. However, he couldn't let his family go with him.
So he had the nerve to contact the "little brother" he had worked with at the beginning to see if he could help.
Meng Bai drank a sip of tea and wiped his mouth with a tissue. Then, under the gaze of the other two, he stood up and said, "Let's go."
"Where to?" Guo Fan asked.
"Brother, whether it's investment cooperation or borrowing money, you have to let me see your preparations first, right?"
Guo Fan and Gongger looked at each other, smiled and stood up, patting Meng Bai on the shoulder: "Let's go, I'll show you our studio."
——Guo
Fan's studio is outside the West Fifth Ring Road, in a somewhat old cultural and creative park.
"Take a look, how about it?" Guo Fan asked.
Meng Bai took a look at the office. The area was not large, only half the size of Arclight Film and Television. In the middle of the room was a three-meter square table, which was filled with piles of documents.
On the opposite corner of the table, several staff members were discussing something, holding a model similar to a gas stove in their hands.
The computers in the office were arranged in a circle around the wall. The corners and aisles were filled with dozens of cardboard boxes of various sizes, all filled with various model props.
"Very good." Meng Bai retracted his gaze and nodded, saying, "It's small but complete, and it has a bit of a sci-fi feel."
After that, he gestured to the model in the hands of the staff member who was discussing it across from him, and asked curiously, "What is that?"
"The Earth Engine in "The Wandering Earth." Guo Fan said, "This is a shape structure we envisioned after discussing it with experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But it's just a preliminary version, and it will definitely be revised later."
"Chinese Academy of Sciences?" Meng Bai said in surprise.
Guo Fan nodded, "China Film Group helped us contact them. If science fiction wants to be 'fantasy', it must first be 'real', so we need these experts to help us provide theoretical basis and data support."
Meng Bai listened, and suddenly felt inexplicably moved.
In the past, when watching Hollywood science fiction masterpieces, you can often hear things like "Nobel Prize professors guided the creation" during the promotion, which makes people feel high-end.
Now, when he suddenly heard the name "Chinese Academy of Sciences", he felt a subtle feeling of both unfamiliarity and familiarity.
After calming down, he looked at the piles of information on the table. Most of the drawings on them were design drawings.
If someone who didn't know saw them, they would probably think that this was an architectural design studio.
"These are some of the concept drawings of the props and scenes we are currently designing." Guo Fan introduced.
Meng Bai glanced at the thickness of the file: "How many sheets are there?"
"Currently more than 300."
"So many?"
"This is just the beginning." Guo Fan patted the thick pile of information and said: "If we calculate it based on the amount of work prepared in the early stage, these are only one-third. If we calculate it based on the entire project, it is estimated that it is less than one-tenth."
Three hundred concept drawings are less than one-tenth, so the total scale must be more than 3,000.
To be honest, more than 90% of movies, let alone concept drawings, may not have this scale even in terms of the script size.
Guo Fan himself shook his head and smiled bitterly. In addition to the size of the project itself, the reason for such a large scale is that they have to start almost completely from scratch.
Hollywood has many years of accumulation, and new projects can directly reuse or compare the materials left by predecessors.
But "The Wandering Earth" can't do that, because they are pioneers themselves and have no reference at all.
As for forcibly imitating Hollywood, the final result will only be a "poor quality" copycat.
To be honest, even just these achievements are enough to impress Meng Bai.
However, as a film and television worker who started out as a screenwriter, he still habitually asked about the script.
"The script..."
When mentioning this part, Guo Fan's expression became vaguely strange, but soon returned to normal.
"Because it is still in the construction stage, there is only a framework concept, and there is no specific plot arrangement."
Guo Fan took a remote control and turned on the curtain and projector in the hall. Then he turned around and tapped a few times on the computer next to him and clicked on a file.
"This is the 'background plot chronicle' of "The Wandering Earth" that we have preliminarily completed based on the original work."
Guo Fan said, and a framework diagram appeared on the screen.
[In 1977, after Chinese astronomer Fu Jianming counted the solar activity in the last thousand years and detailed records for nearly 50 years, he put forward the argument that the acceleration of solar core fusion will produce a fatal helium flash, so that the sun will die and expand rapidly to engulf the earth. This argument did not resonate internationally.
In 1980, NASA expert Terrence Brook organized a team to study related topics after reading Fu Jianming's paper. In 1990
, "Voyager 1" took a photo of the earth.
...
In 2018, Liu Xin, a former expert in the helium flash research team, launched the "Wandering Earth" model and first proposed the concept of a planetary engine. 】
This framework diagram is similar to a timeline outline, but it is not completely linear, but divided into several different branches, which are independent of each other and influence each other. Various
texts, boxes, signs and arrows are intertwined to build a complex "fantasy world".
After looking at it for a long time, Meng Bai nodded: "Is this the entire background framework? It is indeed very detailed."
"Ah?" Guo Fan was stunned: "No, this is just a part of the framework, this is the complete one."
After speaking, he pressed the remote control.
In an instant, the framework diagram on the screen quickly shrank, and then along the arrows, more than a dozen similar framework diagrams extended out.
Until finally, a long strip, like a spider web, appeared in front of Meng Bai.
【In 1977, Chinese astronomer Fu Jianming proposed the argument that the acceleration of the core fusion of the sun will produce a fatal helium flash, which will cause the sun to die and expand rapidly to engulf the earth.
...
On January 2, 1999, Liu Peiqiang's father-in-law, Han Ziang, was born.
In March 2000, the Solar Helium Flash Response Strategy Research Foundation published the "Feasibility Report on the Proxima Colonization Plan".
...
In January 2028, Liu Xin and others submitted a plan to launch the "Wandering Earth", and the United Nations Helium Flash Response Team split into the spaceship faction and the planet faction.
In October 2029, hackers obtained the US government's research plan and announced it to the public. The plan stated that people with assets of more than 30 million US dollars have the opportunity to participate in the ticket lottery. A large-scale riot broke out in the United States, and the government was forced to abandon the spaceship colonization plan.
...
On February 3, 2023, Liu Peiqiang was born.
On March 12, 2044, the space elevator was destroyed and the Ark No. 1 space station was blown up. The United Earth Government (UEG) decided to propose three major response plans: "Mountain Moving Plan", "Ark Plan" and "Moon Plan".
...
On February 19, 2075, the earth broke away from the sun's orbit, and mankind entered the era of escape.
On April 24, 2075, Jupiter Crisis. 】
"1977 to 2075..." Meng Bai let out a long breath: "One hundred years."
There is no need for any images or pictures, just looking at this "hundred-year chronicle" like a history book, the vastness of the universe and the weight of time have already spread out before your eyes.
It was not until this time that Meng Bai finally understood what Guo Fan said.
"Give domestic science fiction a future."
After a long silence, Meng Bai frowned and asked: "So, your plot has to be filmed for the whole hundred years? This span is too big. Even a three-hour movie is probably not enough."
Meng Bai is a liberal arts student. He doesn't know much about science fiction, but he has a keen intuition about scripts and stories.
If you really shoot according to this hundred-year history, the biggest possibility is that it will become a "science fiction documentary" with a running account.
"Of course it's impossible to shoot all of it." Guo Fan smiled: "In fact, we only want to shoot this section."
As he said, he turned the "chronicle" to the last page and pointed his finger at the last line of words - "Jupiter Crisis".
"So, the previous ones are just background settings." Meng Bai said.
"Yes." Guo Fan said, "Of course, if the project can really succeed in the end, maybe it can be used to shoot a prequel or something like that, haha."
Meng Bai followed with a faint smile, then looked at the "spider web map" on the screen and the heavy information on the entire table. After a moment of silence, he said, "Just now, how much money do you still need?"
"Five... seven hundred thousand." Guo Fan glanced at the expression of his little brother and decisively called out the original price.
Meng Bai didn't care, and said directly, "Well, Brother Guo, let's not deal with these small amounts. We will pay one million to buy 10% of your studio's shares, just as a financing investment, what do you think?"
(End of this chapter)
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