Chapter 564: The Film Industry is about to change (5400)
Tian Hong didn't show it on the surface, but she was secretly worried.
Originally, she planned to use the same words to introduce her son to Yu Dan. After seeing her son, Yu Dan would definitely say a few polite words.
They said the boy looked really good, was worthy of being the child of Director Chen and Sister Hong, and had excellent genes.
At this time, she could naturally lead the topic to how suitable her son's appearance was for the game, and asked Youguo to add an NPC of her son to the game.
But unexpectedly, the boss of Youguo Games came without any prior notice.
Moreover, he did not play according to her plan at all. Instead, he taught Chen Xiangkong not to play games.
The most important thing is that the other party actually called her auntie!
"Xiangkong studied in high school in the United States and just returned home. He is preparing for the new electrical engineering exam." Tian Hong was a veteran after all. She calmed herself down and forced a smile.
Fang Yu suddenly understood: "He's a son of a general. With Director Chen and Auntie protecting him in this industry, his future is limitless."
Hearing Fang Yu calling her "Auntie" all the time, Tian Hong could only pretend that she didn't mind and continued talking with a smile.
"This kid has always admired his dad since he was little. After returning to China this summer, he took the initiative to intern on his dad's set and started thinking about becoming an actor."
"Xiangkong has been simple since he was young. At first, his father and I didn't want him to enter this circle. After all, it's too complicated."
"But after watching his performances in some roles, Lao Chen and a few friends felt that this kid was talented. We also didn't want to waste his talent, so we agreed to let him go down this path."
Seeing Fang Yu's faint smile, Tian Hong actually stuttered a little nervously.
Seeing Fang Yu just smiling and refusing to respond, Tian Hong didn't know whether he really didn't understand or was doing it on purpose, so she could only smile awkwardly:
"Xiangkong is only 16 now, too young to enter Xindian. We also hope that he can be exposed to more new things before entering school."
"The entertainment industry is changing so rapidly these days, both in terms of technology and audiences. Our game, for example, uses a lot of new technology. It just so happens that Old Chen has some new ideas for the game's plot and needs to add some new characters. One of them is quite suitable for Xiangkong..."
After saying this, Tian Hong felt a little embarrassed.
Over the years, thanks to Director Chen's connections, even if it's a role they want, they have to act as if the film company is begging them to do it.
Many domestic entertainment articles underestimate Director Chen. If one has to choose between Director Chen and Master Zhang as an enemy, almost everyone will choose Master Zhang instead of Director Chen.
It’s not that Director Chen’s status in the world is higher than that of Master Zhang, but because the two have different deterrent powers.
If you offend Master Zhang, the worst that will happen is that you won't be able to work with him in the future, and you'll lose the opportunity to become a top actress.
But if you offend Director Chen, you might really be banned from the industry.
To put it bluntly, Director Chen is more narrow-minded.
As soon as Chen Xiangkong returned to China, his parents had already negotiated three or four films for him.
Not only that, every producer and investor of the film pretended to be surprised and said: "With Xiangkong's appearance and acting skills, it's great that he can play this role. We have to thank Director Chen for giving us this opportunity."
A situation like today where someone directly asks for a role hasn't happened for many years.
Moreover, it seems that Mr. Fang is not easy to deal with. In addition, given his background, if he refuses to give Lao Chen face, not only will he be embarrassed, but Lao Chen will be depressed for several months.
"It's just a small matter of adding an NPC. No problem."
Fang Yu waved his hand calmly.
No problem?
Tian Hong, who had been prepared to be rejected, was surprised, but also felt happy. She didn't even mind that Fang Yu called her aunt again.
Mr. Fang isn't that difficult to talk to.
Could it be that he has feelings for me?
"Boss Fang, the character of Chang Xi is a bit thin, and the connection between him and Yao Ji is a bit weak. Our idea is to add a permanent character named Xuan Xi, Chang Xi's younger brother. It doesn't matter if he has fewer scenes than Chang Xi and Yao Ji. He dissuaded..."
Fang Yu waved his hand: "Let's not talk about this for now."
Then he turned to Yu Dan and said, "Brother Dan, please have someone print out a data copyright agreement for Auntie to see."
Are we going to sign the agreement now? This Xiao Fang is quite straightforward.
While she was delighted, Tian Hong didn't notice the strange look on Yu Dan's face.
After a while, Assistant Yu Dan, who was still wearing a tight suit in the middle of winter, brought a paper agreement.
"Here are the terms of the agreement, Auntie, take a look."
Tian Hong shyly took the agreement pushed to her by Fang Yu. After looking at it for a few seconds, her eyes couldn't help but become serious.
The more she looked, the worse Tian Hong's expression became.
"Mr. Fang, are we mistaken? We just want an NPC character in the game, not a contract to sell ourselves. How come after we finished playing your role, the likeness rights of Xiangkong became Youguo Games'?"
Halfway through reading, Tian Hong couldn't help but raise her head, trying hard to suppress the dissatisfaction in her tone.
In recent years, with the in-depth integration of the entertainment industry and the Internet, everyone has a clear understanding of related rights such as reputation rights, privacy rights, copyrights, performers' rights, trademark rights, audio and video producers' rights, etc.
Despite the entertainment industry's low level of education, everyone is constantly thinking about how to protect their rights and make money. Many people understand the terms better than lawyers.
Fang Yu looked surprised. "Auntie, you misunderstood, didn't you? What we're talking about here is that all the data copyrights of the NPC characters, including their image data, belong to Youguo Technology, not the digital portrait rights of the actors themselves."
Tian Hong frowned and asked tentatively, "Is there any difference?"
Fang Yu said confidently: "Of course it's different. Our filming is not about filming the actors' performances, but about digitizing the actors' images and performances to form a 'digital human' NPC."
Tian Hong was just like Ting Tianshu: "Digital NPC?"
Fang Yu nodded: "Yes, although this 'digital man' has an actor's face, he is not an actor."
"His memory and way of thinking come from our character design, his appearance and voice come from a holographic model generated by AI based on the actor's image, and his habitual movements come from the creation of the director and actor. The actor only helps us to enrich the character, but it does not mean that the character is created by the actor."
"For example, you can understand it as follows: if there really is a world of Man...Wuji, your Manshen is finished, but the Manshen of that world still exists."
"You play the role of Manshen, but she is the real Manshen."
"Therefore, Youguo Games owns all intellectual property rights related to NPC characters and the personality rights that may be granted to digital NPCs in the future."
"So, do you understand?"
Tian Hong was completely confused after hearing this and felt that Xiao Fang was even more vague than her husband.
She had invested in IT companies before and knew that they loved to talk about things like "logic, closed loop, ecology, granularity, alignment, pulling together, sedimentation, profiling, grasping, traction, agility..."
When I first met Mr. Fang, I was thinking, look, he is working in such a big industry, but he doesn’t speak jargon like those Internet scoundrels.
Now it seems that it’s even worse than speaking in slang.
"Also, we can't guarantee how much screen time each NPC will have, because the game world evolves naturally. NPCs have their own behavioral logic, and how they interact with players is up to the NPCs themselves."
Fang Yu added leisurely.
Tian Hong finally understood this sentence.
If you can't guarantee every NPC a role, then what's the point?
"Um... Mr. Fang, this is the first time I've heard of this shooting mode. Uh... let's think about it again."
Tian Hong laughed dryly and pushed the agreement back to Yu Dan.
Fang Yu waved his hand generously: "It's okay, I should give it more thought."
"Honestly speaking, if Da Mimi and Liu Feifei didn't have a small stake in Youguo, we wouldn't have been able to find such a top-tier female star to play a role in the game."
"And the risks for actors are indeed quite high. This game is different from other games. The NPCs' language and behavior in the game are not scripted. Instead, they speak and make decisions based on their own personalities. There are many uncontrollable factors, so we have set so many disclaimers in the agreement."
"Although it's a shame that Xiangkong can't join, I understand. With parents like Director Chen and Auntie, there's no need to take the risk."
After hearing Fang Yu say this, Tian Hong felt a little scared.
Taihuang Mountain and Sea Realm is very popular now. She really wants to use Taihuang Mountain and Sea Realm to let Chen Xiangkong show his face, gild himself, and get some endorsements. Especially, he can act with Liu Feifei and Da Mimi, which will also be good for her son's future status.
But now it sounds like the NPC plot in this game is not produced by the game company, but the behavior of the NPC himself?
Is this true? I've never played the game, but it sounds so sci-fi.
But if it is true, what if this NPC goes crazy one day and says something stupid or does something stupid in front of my son in the game, affecting his image?
That would be totally not worth it.
"Mr. Fang is really thoughtful." Tian Hong smiled awkwardly, "Okay, Mr. Fang, Mr. Yu, you guys go ahead and get busy. Old Chen's getting mad again. I'll go over and take a look."
After saying that, Tian Hong winked at her son, took his arm, and hurried to Director Chen who was a few dozen meters away.
Director Chen was sitting in the director's chair, frowning and scolding a handsome young man.
"What the hell is your brain for?! Within ten steps, there's bound to be fragrant grass. I'm not asking you to walk ten steps and find it all on the ground! I'm asking you to show an expected surprise, understand? I want an expected surprise!"
Judging from his expression, the young hunk was stunned by the scolding.
What's a surprise if it's expected?
"Director Chen, I'm sorry, I..."
The young man was about to apologize stutteringly when Director Chen saw his wife approaching with their son, looking depressed, and waved at him impatiently.
"I'll give you five minutes to think it over carefully. Then come back and shoot in five minutes!"
Seeing the young man retreating to the side in panic, Director Chen did not immediately ask his wife what was wrong. He frowned and glanced at his second son, his tone still majestic:
"Walk with your head held high! Why are you so timid? Aren't you a script supervisor? Why didn't you inform the director before you left your post?"
The second son was obviously used to being scolded. He straightened his chest and raised his head, secretly glancing at his mother.
"Calm down, you're already so old. I just saw Yu Dan coming, so I took my son to talk to him about Xuan Xi."
Tian Hong gently comforted her husband who was already in his sixties.
Upon hearing this, Director Chen shifted his attention away from his son. Seeing his wife looking depressed, he couldn't help but touch his chin.
"Failed to reach an agreement? Didn't you understand the point?"
"Don't mention it, Fang Yu is here." Tian Hong nodded in Fang Yu's direction and signaled to Director Chen with her eyes which one was Fang Yu.
"Fang Yu disagrees?" Director Chen immediately stood up from his director's chair with a serious expression.
"It's not that I disagree."
Tian Hong looked very awkward. "We just need to sign a digital copyright agreement with them. I took a look at the terms, and they're pretty excessive."
Director Chen frowned. "What digital copyright agreement? Explain clearly."
Although Tian Hong didn't quite understand what Fang Yu said, Chen Xiangkong was by her side after all. Sixteen-year-old children are at the age when they are most receptive to new things and have the strongest understanding ability. What his mother didn't remember, he remembered very clearly.
After listening to his wife and son's stories one after another, Director Chen finally understood what had happened.
"They say NPCs are AI, with their own behavioral logic, and even they themselves cannot control the specific behavior or role of the character."
"It's uncertain how the NPC Xuan Xi will develop; they can't guarantee whether he will do anything that will affect Xiangkong's image."
"I thought about it and felt the risk was too great, so I didn't sign it."
Tian Hong pouted.
“No sign!?”
Director Chen became anxious when he heard this and jumped up from the director's chair. He was in his sixties but still quite agile.
"You, you, you...are confused!"
Director Chen pointed at his wife with great sorrow.
Seeing this, Tian Hong was stunned and her face turned pale.
She has always been obedient and virtuous in front of Director Chen. Although Director Chen has a bad temper, he rarely speaks harshly to her.
"Hubby, please sit down and have a drink of water."
Tian Hong hurriedly took out a thermos from her bag, unscrewed the lid, and handed it to Director Chen.
Crystal tears can be vaguely seen in the eye sockets.
Director Chen, seeing this, although still beating his chest and stamping his feet, his attitude softened: "Tian Hong, Tian Hong, really, what can I say! Do you know... Alas!"
Tian Hong wiped away her tears and said, "I really don't know why you're angry. I asked you before why you insisted on me discussing the role with Xiangkong, but you didn't tell me."
When Director Chen saw his wife's expression, his heart softened. He reached out and patted Tian Hong's hand, then pondered for a moment.
"Tian Hong, we've been filming for seven or eight days now. Let me ask you, do you know what that thing is?"
After saying that, Director Chen pointed to a strange-looking instrument at the edge of the venue.
There are seven or eight similar instruments in this data collection center, and several of them are located on the criss-crossing rails on the ceiling.
Tian Hong took a look and shook her head.
"This is a 3D full ray tracing camera developed by Youzi Technology." Director Chen did not keep the secret, and his expression was quite sad.
Is this a camera? Tian Hong looked at this strange machine that resembled a siren and a robot vacuum cleaner with a hint of surprise.
Although she is not interested in electronic products, she has been an actor and producer for so many years and is very familiar with cameras.
It doesn't even have a lens, how can this thing look like a camera?
“To be precise, it’s not a camera in the traditional sense.”
Director Chen looked at the machine with a complicated expression: "Because it's not filming, it's collecting."
"This machine has built-in laser radar, millimeter wave sensors, and eight 100-megapixel cameras. It can accurately scan images of objects within a 30-meter range and then transmit all the data to Youguo Games' data center."
"This type of data acquisition is different from digital cameras that simply convert image information into data. It captures continuous motion rather than images, without the concept of 'frame count'."
"I know Li An is experimenting with 120-frame movies, but unfortunately, with the advent of this machine, all the concepts of 90 and 120 frames will become meaningless."
"What's even more terrifying is that it's not just one machine fighting, but they can be connected in series."
Director Chen folded his folding fan and gestured around: "There are so many full-ray tracing cameras, all of which can be connected in series."
"The data they collect will be automatically combined into panoramic data information and uploaded to their servers."
“No matter how high-definition a regular camera is, it only captures two-dimensional images.”
"But this camera can restore a three-dimensional person."
"Every actor's 360-degree performance can be captured and used to generate digital humans for the Youguo game. Do you know what this means?"
Director Chen stared at Tian Hong's slightly confused face, speaking word by word.
What does it mean?
Are you trying to say that this means another major change in the film and television industry?
Tian Hong was secretly complaining in her heart.
"I haven't figured out what this means for the film and television industry yet, but I do know that for Yuzi Technology, as long as they can develop sufficiently advanced AR glasses in the future, these NPCs with actors' faces will appear to gamers like real people!"
Hearing this, Tian Hong's body trembled involuntarily.
"How much benefit do you think these digital people with actors' faces, who can accompany players as closely as real people, will bring to the actors by then?"
"Also, the film industry is about to change."
"The will of heaven is difficult to question, and human nature is easy to be sad when old."
"We may really be the last generation to 'make' movies."
Director Chen sighed deeply, looking into the distance with a gloomy expression.
Hearing this, Tian Hong breathed a sigh of relief. Her husband was still the same husband, and he still had to recite poetry in the end.
But then she became nervous.
Regardless of whether it is an exaggeration, as the nominally most beautiful woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty twenty years ago, Tian Hong certainly knows how shocking it is for ordinary people when a truly beautiful actress appears in front of them.
A considerable number of fans of celebrities were originally passers-by. By chance, after seeing the celebrities in person, they instantly became true fans.
This is true for both male and female actors.
If Youzi Technology really develops this technology, then these "digital people" that use celebrity appearance data are destined to become the most important channel for celebrities to expand and retain fans!
In comparison, the risk of any inappropriate behavior is not worth mentioning at all!
"Brother, what should we do?" In a hurry, Tian Hong used the nickname for Director Chen. "I didn't completely refuse just now. Otherwise, I'll go again..."
"Don't go yet." Director Chen's expression was calm, and he thought for a moment, "Don't you see? Fang Yu is politely declining."
After saying that, Director Chen glanced around the venue and his gaze stopped on Liu Feifei and Da Mimi who were practicing their moves.
"Well, go find these two women and ask them to help you broker this deal."
"Tell them that if they help, they will be the heroines in my next two plays!"
(End of this chapter)
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