Chapter 45 Interview has been revised
"So the rumors on the Internet are true?"
"Director Jia is indeed a pianist who plays the piano as well as a professional pianist, and he even replaced the original soundtrack with a high-quality piece a month before the movie was released?"
Zhen Shuwang: "That's right, but it's not temporary. We originally planned to release it during the Spring Festival this year, but because we have too many animated films at the same time this year, we adjusted it to the New Year's Eve period when there are no animated films released in order to avoid box office diversion."
"So you can see that our publicity and publicity were very temporary. We are also grateful to the theaters for helping us to temporarily adjust the schedule of this part of the animation."
Host: "But I heard that there are still many netizens complaining about the lack of screenings in cinemas around the country."
"The problem is not actually with the cinema. The main complaint is that we don't have enough screenings on the first day, but everyone is actually applying the scheduling logic of a normal movie."
Zhen Shuwang: "We are an animated film. Even though we never thought of it as a work for children when we were making The Stone, for our current market, most audiences still think that animated films are for children."
"This situation will result in the scheduling logic of animated films not only being mainly concentrated on weekends, but also mostly concentrated in the travel time between 10 am and 4 pm."
"The screening schedule of The Stone is a very normal arrangement in the animation film circle. The reason why everyone feels that the screening schedule is insufficient is actually because many adult audiences who were not planned by the theater chain have chosen our film."
"So we can see that since the beginning of the Chinese New Year last night, The Stone has already temporarily added a lot of screenings. But this time adjustment will take some time."
Host: "So there is no suppression from those so-called small production companies as rumored online?"
Zhen Shuwang: "Yes, of course I admit that there is indeed a lot of competition in scheduling and publicity in this industry, but compared to traditional films, our animated films are actually a very niche and even separate track in China. Our audience does not have a big market overlap with traditional films."
"There are often no competitors of the same type at the same time. Moreover, for theaters, animated films with higher popcorn and cola purchase rates are more profitable options for each screening. So as long as there is enough customer traffic, there is no need for theaters to suppress our schedule when there are no other animated films at the same time."
"As the most popular small and medium-sized animation company, what do you think of the current counterattack of "The Stone" with an expected box office of over 3 billion yuan?"
Zhen Shuwang: "To be honest, I am also surprised by this data, but it also shows that the current prejudice against domestic animated films is being improved."
"It is true that a box office of 3 billion is rare for domestic animated films, but this does not mean that the animation market has no potential in this regard."
"From Disney to Marvel, we have seen too many miracles created by animated films. The success of The Stone is not so much a transcendence of the quality of past domestic animations, but rather a breakthrough in breaking the stereotypes of domestic animated films among moviegoers."
"I believe that any audience who pays attention to the animation industry can feel that in recent years, our domestic animation industry has gradually begun to get rid of the original production concept of simply targeting children, or even completely "children-oriented."
"We at Zhenxin Animation have indeed invested a lot of energy in The Stone, but as the company's first animated film for the general public, The Stone still has a lot of room for improvement,"
Host: "It's a very ambitious ideal, but I'm also curious why you chose a production of this level as "The Story of the Stubborn Stone" as the first publicly released animation work of Zhenxin Animation."
"Of course I'm not saying that what you did is wrong, but choosing a subject that is so expensive and has such a long production cycle right from the start is not too..."
"It's too reckless, isn't it? At the beginning, I didn't think about making such a large-scale investment right away."
"Isn't it a bit too risky to adopt such a large-scale production with a very long production cycle right from the start?"
"The project of "The Stone" came about largely because of my family."
"Your family? Do you mean... Dean Zhen?"
"Yes, the reason why I studied art since I was young was because my grandfather hoped that I could become a cultural relic restorer, but I really didn't have enough talent and interest in this area. So when I applied for university, I chose the animation major that I was most interested in.
Like most animation workers, I also wanted to create my own original animation IP when I entered this industry. But when I took my own plan and wanted to seek investment from my family, my grandfather set a target for me, saying that if I wanted to get investment from my family, I had to use Donghuang traditional culture as the background.'
"So at first my idea was to make an ancient style animation about immortal heroes. I even thought about whether I could reach a cooperation with the copyright holder of The Legend of Sword and Fairy. But just when I thought I could get the first investment with that plan, my grandmother discussed another issue with me that I had never thought of before."
"That's what I should achieve when I start my own business."
"My initial idea was to play it safe, but according to my grandmother, my family background as an entrepreneur can give me a lot of leverage, which is my advantage. But the problem is that if I really use my early resources to compete with ordinary entrepreneurs of the same period, not to mention how my peers and future investors will look at me, even my family will think that it is shameful for me to compete with ordinary small and medium-sized company entrepreneurs for business."
"It's like you take 5 million to open a store with an average investment of 500,000. When the capital you have completely exceeds the target you want to invest, then the project itself is almost not difficult at all."
Host: "So they set such a high standard for you?"
"Yes, my family was supportive of my animation career, but I had to come up with a work that could be recognized by the public with my start-up capital.
This was the agreement I made with my family. In order to avoid extravagance, I would only get the corresponding investment from my family if the quality and progress of my work were up to standard.
"So our positioning from the beginning was that we would either become a hit or disband. This was something that all of our first employees knew. But at the same time, I didn't act irresponsibly and ask everyone to play along with me."
"I have set aside a sum of emergency funds since the company officially started operations."
"I will provide employees with frontline equipment and production opportunities. At the same time, if our company's projects are cut short because they do not meet standards, I will use the reserved funds as severance pay for the employees."
Host: "May I ask how much you have reserved?"
"About half a year's salary for each person."
Host: "Half a year?"
"Yes, you don't have to make that expression. After all, our company was still in its start-up phase at the time, and we didn't have as many staff as we do now, so I was able to prepare this level of severance pay. As for later, when the work progressed to a certain level, there was basically no risk of the project being cut short."
"But I remember that I also promised at the time that if my project really didn't make any money, I would notify everyone one to two months in advance, and give everyone time to find a suitable next employer while maintaining social security."
"Looking back now, I was able to keep those employees in the company to take this gamble with me, not only because everyone was young and energetic and wanted to create a miracle, but also because in their eyes I was a second-generation rich man with some self-control."
Host: "You don't have to be so modest, because the treatment you give is already very good treatment for a group of fresh graduates or even college students who are still in school."
"But I do have my own wayward ways, like the promotion we did before the release of this movie."
"Many netizens are saying that our film The Stone was not promoted enough in the early stages because of the temporary advance, but in fact, I rejected a very good promotional opportunity even though I knew that the advance would affect the promotion."
"You mean ..."
"That's Director Jia, whom you mentioned earlier. She is my grandfather's last disciple, so since she came to Xian'an, she has taken over my grandfather's review of The Story of the Stubborn Stone."
"From optimizing the details before the release to the design of scene modeling, she really helped us a lot, and even included my name in the design of the national gift porcelain not long ago.
I understand that she was willing to help me because my grandfather gave her the opportunity. So she wanted to repay the favor. But it might also be because of my ridiculous self-esteem. "
"When I realized that he wasn't the type of person who liked to show off in front of everyone, my first reaction was to decline his offer to help further promote the product."
"I never deny my luck. When I started my business, I had a family that was willing and able to support me. After my work came out, I happened to meet someone who was able to help me promote it."
"I have basically encountered no obstacles in starting my own business, but at the same time, it is precisely because of this enviable smooth sailing that I can hardly feel much sense of accomplishment from my efforts."
Zhen Shuwang: "So when many fans praised me for how young and promising I was, I could only feel ashamed. Because I really think that even if someone else was in my position, they would be able to achieve very impressive results."
"So when I decided that my family and friends had helped me enough, I really couldn't let myself be thick-skinned enough to ask for more."
"It's my little stubbornness to prove myself."
"I am very grateful for everyone's support for The Story of the Stubborn Stone. Next, I will work with my staff to respond to everyone's support and love with the next more perfect work as soon as possible."
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