Chapter 150: Skipping a Level

In a bright office, several middle-aged and elderly white men in suits were silently watching a TV next to them.

It's not really a regular home TV, but a modified player that has been modified by school members and connected to a mainframe computer and DVD player - after all, the students who can and dare to apply for the computer major in their school not only have test scores that meet the school's requirements, but also have a certain level of practical skills.

In order to increase their chances of successfully applying for this major, many students will add their own "personal characteristics" such as works they have produced and awards they have won to their transcripts.

Because computer science is still a relatively new field, there are not many authoritative competitions that individuals can participate in. The additional awards that can be won by middle school students are mostly team awards. Therefore, among these additional "personal characteristics", most of them are works produced by oneself or in collaboration with a team.

Compared to the simple verification method of directly viewing the certificate copy with the naked eye, most of these works need to be played out on a player so that relevant professionals can check them together.

After watching countless messy, immature works in the morning, everyone was quite exhausted and listless.

"Next, Resident Evil 2: Nightmare City." Hearing the name of this work, the people present were excited and surprised: No way, she actually used this work as application material?!

Since most of the people in the venue were professionals, naturally everyone knew the name Marie Sue and the production team behind her. After the "Sweet Home" game became a big hit in Japan, they took advantage of the momentum and produced an English version in several months, which entered the North American market together with the FC red and white console launched by Nintendo.

It is also disguised as a "computer learning machine", which not only makes serious game enthusiasts spend huge sums of money to buy it, but also deceives many parents into buying it for their children's learning.

It is undeniable that the Famicom, which has certain learning keyboard key functions and typing practice, has allowed many children to learn computer operation in advance, and the accompanying mini-games are also quite entertaining and educational - however, children's curiosity is never satisfied. Once someone gets a game cartridge that needs to be purchased from somewhere else, the word will spread instantly, and all the children will be immersed in the abyss of the game.

In particular, the most expensive movie, "Sweet Home", sparked a wave of enthusiasm and controversy.

Professors in schools had to keep up with the latest technological trends, so of course they studied the game "Sweet Home". Because this game was so cult and horrific, it soon became banned from sale in most countries, led by Europe and the United States. You can imagine how much of an impact this game had on people who were just beginning to get to know video game consoles at the beginning of that decade.

However, the outcome of such a complete ban on local sales is also a matter of policy and countermeasure.

In addition to many game enthusiasts who do everything they can to ask others to buy games from Japan for them to play, many rental stores that rent out DVDs and games have even formed a special purchasing agency business...

This ending didn't seem to be a surprise to Marie Sue. However, after continuing the development for more than half a year, she made a comeback at the New Year this year with the advanced version of "Sweet Home", "Resident Evil 1: Parasite".

The Japanese and English versions were released simultaneously in major game markets, reaping a huge amount of popularity and money.

"Resident Evil: Parasite" not only deliberately inherited the classic "look back and smile" shot from the happy ending of "Sweet Home" that scared many people, but also put it in advance shortly after the beginning of the plot for a surprise appearance - the bloodthirsty zombie that was gnawing people happily but was controlled by the player was startled, and then turned back and grinned. Even now, many people can shudder when they think of it.

Whether in terms of picture quality or technical quality, it is not impossible for a core member of the team who made "Resident Evil 1: Parasite" to reach such a high level and sales to come to their school to be a professor. This time he just applied to skip a grade and become a student, and even sent in a clip that will be released as a trailer for review - it can be said that this future student respects their school very much.

An old professor looked at the instructions, and when he saw the prompts such as "You can manually select the image quality/resolution/whether or not there is a mosaic effect based on the configuration", he chose the highest resolution and no mosaic effect options without hesitation: As professionals responsible for review and inspection, they must have chosen the best effect for viewing!

So, the professors, who had thought that their fear of the new game would be greatly reduced with the first part of "Resident Evil 1: Parasite" as a foundation, came to the small supermarket in the gas station, the starting point of all "evil", under the seemingly calm leadership of the game's male protagonist Leon.

The picture effects have been greatly improved, the modeling technology is far ahead of the previous generation, and the smoothness is also absolutely first-class.

On the screen, the male protagonist Leon walked forward for a while in the dim light of the flashlight, and found a man dressed as a sheriff struggling with a man.

The sheriff seemed to notice someone behind him, so he turned around and said, "Sir, don't come over. I can handle it alone..."

The next second, the sheriff was thrown to the ground by the man because he was distracted while talking.

The man bit off a piece of flesh from his neck fiercely, and holding the flesh and blood in his mouth, he looked up at the front of the screen. His cloudy and lifeless eyes clearly showed that these were not the pupils that a normal person should have.

Afterwards, the bloody mouth that had just bitten a person opened strangely, as if because it saw a new prey...

After "Brother Who Looks Back and Smiles", "Brother Who Always Smiles" has also become a classic horror shadow of an era.

However, in order to appreciate the technological innovation, this group of no zuo no die old professors also switched the perspective of the heroine Claire according to the instructions of the game, and once again appreciated a round of horror feast...

It stands to reason that someone like Su Yun, who is involved in film and television post-production and game production, should choose a more targeted major such as film and television post-production or digital media. As for why she chose computer science and technology, in addition to the fact that there are not many schools offering those more targeted majors in this era, the hardware that film and television post-production and game production rely most on is computers and computer technology.

Only when computer production technology and computer technology are updated quickly can she, to the greatest extent possible, update the production of post-production special effects and game production accordingly.

The old professors finally recovered from the horrifying scene and carefully read all of Su Yun's application materials. They probably guessed why Su Yun chose this major.

"Her skills are good enough to qualify as a professor..."

"Her grades even met the standard for a full scholarship..."

"She is also a philanthropist. She once personally went to the disaster area of ​​Tangcheng to provide disaster relief, which even led to setbacks in her career..."

"She donated half of her film revenue in mainland China to charity..."

"She was one of the core members of the post-production special effects production team for films such as The Exorcist and Star Wars..."

"At present, diversity is the new requirement that universities have been advocating. In summary, in addition to academic level and test scores, her extracurricular activities are also very exciting..."

After discussing various relevant materials and demonstrating the strength of the works, the old principal finally put down the documents in his hand and said lightly: "Okay - Mary Sue, St. Clair welcomes you."

Letters from overseas arrived day and night. As the summer heat became more intense, Su Yun finally received an acceptance letter from St. Clair University.

Perhaps all the hard work finally began to bear fruit at this moment, and what followed was the statistics of movie broadcasting revenue in mainland China.

"The Perfect Match" 88 million, "Artificial Intelligence" 80 million, "Memoirs of a Geisha" 72 million, "The Sixth Sense" 70 million, "Léon: The Professional" 93 million and "Perfect Match" 109 million!

All together, these six movies grossed over 500 million!

It is only slightly lower than the total box office statistics in the North American market. With the current high exchange rate of the Chinese Yuan, the revenue of Su Yun's movies in the mainland exceeds the combined box office of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia!

Although only one-third of the profits were shared, and Su Yun voluntarily donated half of the profits to Tang City for post-disaster reconstruction, so the actual amount that could be received in the end might be less than 100 million yuan; but this box office data, in small places with lax supervision, there are still many factors such as in-kind payment and ticket evasion... Strictly speaking, Su Yun's box office revenue in the mainland market can already beat any region except the North American market.

How is that possible?!

How could such eye-popping box office figures be achieved with ticket prices of only a dime or a few cents? !

Although the population in mainland China is very large, the ticket price is so low; although the movie is shown for a long time in mainland China, the ticket price is so low; mainland China is so poor, but the ticket price is still so low...

It is the combination of small profits but quick turnover, an extremely long release period, the reputation that Su Yun had previously accumulated in mainland China, and the fact that many people think that "watching Su Yun's movies is to show some love to the disaster-stricken areas of Tangcheng" that have enabled her movies to achieve such high box office figures!

After coming to this conclusion, the confidence of many people who were waiting for Su Yun to send all the movies back to the mainland for screening and then be slapped in the face by the dismal box office data suddenly wilted.

Now it is even difficult to follow the trend: not to mention that the tastes of mainland audiences have been shaped by the six films sent by Su Yun and the subsequent translations and productions of European and American films. If they send their own self-made films to mainland China, how can they get the same good policy treatment and release schedule treatment as Su Yun?

Only the first person to take the risk and try something new can get the most delicious reward.

But even if the profit is small, it is still profit!

There are so many people in mainland China, and our company has produced so many movies. We should be able to select a few movies that suit the tastes of the audience there and send them over to make some money, right?

It would be best if it was a relatively new film that had just reaped the box office in Taiwan and Southeast Asia and whose video sales were not that great. This way, it would not easily offend Taiwan and at the same time, it could earn money from the mainland...

Not only those small and medium-sized film companies, but even large companies like Zhao are beginning to get restless.

It's not that Chia-ho doesn't want to get a piece of the pie, but unfortunately, firstly, they haven't produced many movies, and secondly, they've already produced a banned Su Yun. Even if Su Yun leaves on her own, she will still be closely watched by Taiwan, and it would be difficult to mix things from the mainland with her... So Chia-ho's boss Zou Yun-hua thought about it again and again, and finally decided to put the zombie movie series that Su Yun had left for him on the agenda.

Although Su Yun cannot show up in person, she can still help with post-production under a pseudonym, just like she did when she was filming "Dream of the Red Chamber" - considering Jiahe's friendship with Su Yun, it should still be possible to work it out.

While the major film companies were preparing to make trouble, Jiayi, one of the three major television stations, suddenly started to make efforts and created a large-scale poaching storm, poaching many front- and back-stage staff from TBB and Liying with tempting conditions of high prices and improved treatment.

TBB and Liying were poached a large piece of meat at once, and now they have no time to focus on making money in the mainland. They have started to fight with Jiayi, an old TV station that only has one Chinese channel and dares to challenge the other two old Chinese and English channels.

Facing the combined attack from TBB and Li Ying, Jia Yi showed an unfazed attitude: on the one hand, he was carrying out a large-scale publicity campaign for the upcoming investment in the production of several major dramas. Not only did he spend a lot of money to publish full-page advertisements in several famous newspapers for many consecutive days, he also distributed tapes in busy areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui Pier to promote new programs.

That lavish and generous way of attracting traffic quickly attracted the attention of all Hong Kong people for Jiayi, as if it really had the ability to shake up the two major old TV stations. This was known in history as the "July Offensive".

Even Guan Quqing, who met the Mei sisters at a nightclub performance and was signed as a temporary artist on TBB's "Happy Tonight", and the two Mei sisters were asked by Jiayi's people who were stationed there when they were performing at Liyuan about their intention to switch channels and sign contracts.

Su Yun was a little speechless when she heard this: Jiayi is doing this...she really wants both big fish and shrimps?

To recruit so many people at once, and to offer them salaries far exceeding those in the industry and treatment commensurate with their level, while also investing heavily in producing a major TV series to compete with TBB and Liying, can the funding chain really hold up?

The ending is obvious, it can't be sustained.

It was only mid-August 1978, and before TBB and Lai Ying could fully launch their counterattack, Jia Yi, which had suffered heavy losses, suddenly issued a statement, announcing that Jia Yi Television would cease operations due to financial difficulties and would stop broadcasting all programs from that day on.

Soon after, a notice of suspension of broadcasting was posted outside the headquarters of Jiayi, and the company applied to the court for liquidation.

In just over a month, Hong Kong's television industry has undergone tremendous changes.

Those staff members who did not switch jobs because of the July Offensive all felt like they had survived a disaster, while the staff of Jiayi went to the Governor's House to petition three times but all failed. Soon, the temporary liquidator who took over Jiayi's assets arrived - at this moment, Jiayi's bankruptcy was a foregone conclusion.

If a powerful person were to swoop in and acquire the company, it would not be impossible for Jia Yi to be reborn.

However, Jiayi's educational programs, which occupy prime time slots, remain on schedule, and will be a bottomless pit that can make a lot of money in the early stages. It will take at least ten or twenty years to wait for the day when it can turn losses into profits. There is no hope at all.

Moreover, wanting to snatch the meat from TBB and Liying, which control a large amount of inertial ratings - given the power that Su Yun currently possesses, it is obviously impossible to do so.

She once stole the cake of other film companies with the movie "The Perfect Match". If it weren't for the fact that Jiahe was also a big boss and she had not expanded the market overseas in time, she would have been collectively targeted by the Hong Kong film industry (although it is not much better now). If she dares to reach out for the meat in the television industry now, she will definitely become a thorn in the eyes of the big bosses in the film and television industry who will be eager to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Jia Yi, who overestimated his own capabilities and offended most of the powerful forces in the film and television industry, is the best example.

Therefore, although Su Yun was tempted, she also knew that it was impossible to take over Jiayi and start her own business: Jiayi’s previous two bosses were both well-known figures in the business and political circles and they couldn’t hold on, let alone her who was just a "nouveau riche".

What's more, TBB and Liying are eagerly waiting for Jiayi to go bankrupt, and then they will take revenge on it for the old accounts they had lost.

Therefore, at a time when the Hong Kong film and television circles were at their most intense, Su Yun carried her suitcase and embarked on the path of skipping grades to study.