Chapter 201 "Peppa Pig"

"Who is the legal representative of their company?"

"His name is Liu Huangshan, he graduated from Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. The company is not big. It became a little famous with this "Big Dog and Two Dogs". The second season of "Big Dog and Two Dogs" was released some time ago, and the broadcast effect is also good."

Liang Yin said, "Why do they mock you? Do you know this person?"

Lin Chudong shook his head, "I don't know him. I have never met him. The only intersection with his company is the last broadcast time of "Bright Sword."

"Before, "Big Dog and Two Dogs" was in the prime time. I should know Director Chen of Channel 8. Later, our "Bright Sword" data was too good. In order to create a record, we were moved to the prime time and "Big Dog and Two Dogs" was moved to another time period."

"Let's see how the cartoon is doing now."

Wang Zhi checked the data online and then said.

"This cartoon was broadcast halfway on Channel 8, and then it was broadcast again on the children's channel."

"Brother Fei, this must have a big impact on them, right?"

Lin Chudong nodded, "It must have a big impact, but this is also their own fault. Cartoons don't broadcast honestly on the children's channel, why go to Channel 8 to join in the fun?"

Liang Yin was a little speechless, "These are the regulations of the TV station, and they have nothing to do with us. Why are they mocking us? I'll go to Weibo to negotiate with them."

Liang Yin picked up her phone, found their official account on Weibo, and sent them a private message using the Liangyin Media account.

"We saw "Da Fei and Xiao Fei" on the children's channel. Our company thinks it has a very bad impact on our artist Da Fei. Please remove it from the shelves and apologize publicly."

After Liang Yin sent it, there was no movement for a long time. She frowned and sent a question mark, but found that she had been blocked.

Liang Yin was so angry that she almost exploded.

"What kind of people are these!"

Liang Yin started to search for their company's affairs online. A few minutes later, he suddenly found that Huangshan Art Company had actually posted a Weibo.

The Weibo contained a screenshot of the chat record Liang Yin sent him.

"Liangyin Media is really funny. They bully others by relying on their fame, right? Have you applied for a patent for the word Dafei? The dog at my doorstep is called Dafei, what's wrong with that?"

As soon as this Weibo was posted, Liang Yin was so angry that his lungs were about to explode.

"Dafei, I'm angry, bite him!"

Lin Chudong was speechless, "You really treat me like a dog, don't you?"

Jia Lu was also very angry, "This company is too much, the pattern is too small, just because we took away their prime time, so they hate us?"

Lin Chudong said, "Don't worry, I'll ask Sister Huang."

Then he called Huang Wei and the two communicated.

Huang Wei was also unaware of this matter, but Huangshan Art Company no longer cooperated with their Channel 8. The two parties terminated the contract and they returned to the children's channel to broadcast.

This incident actually had a certain impact on Huangshan Art Company.

First of all, the termination of the contract rarely happens in CCTV. Since the contract is to be terminated, the money must be returned.

Half of the show has been broadcast on Channel 8. Now the money has been returned. Huangshan Art Company is of course very unhappy.

Although it is nothing for the children to broadcast it again from the beginning, Huangshan Art Company can't swallow this bitter taste.

The money was returned, the prime time was taken down, and it returned to the children's channel from Channel 8. This series of blows was like a great humiliation.

However, Liu Huangshan did not dare to lose his temper with the leaders of CCTV, so he put all his resentment on Dafei.

Directly using the template of Dagou and Ergou, he made a few episodes of spoof cartoons "Dafei and Xiaofei" and released them before "Dagou and Ergou" was rebroadcast.

They also consulted the legal department. As long as some settings were changed, this kind of thing would not be considered defamation and insult. Before doing this, they had a full understanding of Liangyin Media.

The company's legal department is very strong, and Dafei is a lecturer for the legal exam, so they can't leave any handle.

After consulting some legal experts, this cartoon was launched.

First, it is to spoof Dafei to vent his anger, and second, according to Dafei's personality, he will definitely scold them online.

There is nothing wrong with being scolded by Dafei now, the popularity will rise, and it may bring unexpected publicity effects to their cartoon.

This can also recover the loss of their contract termination with the eight sets.

So after receiving the private message from Liangyin Media, they immediately chose to take a screenshot and then posted a Weibo to mock them, in order to provoke a war of words.

Seeing the Weibo they posted, Lin Chudong also guessed their intentions at the first time.

"It's okay, no need to respond, let them take advantage of the popularity."

"But our popularity is not so easy to take advantage of."

Zhou Shifang, who took advantage of Dafei's popularity last time, is still lying in the hospital.

Liang Yin asked, "Da Fei, do you have any plans?"

Lin Chudong said, "Isn't the art team idle recently? We can also make an animation during this gap."

"A Bite of China" has been filmed, but editing may take some time. Recently, only the editing team is busy in the film and television department, and the rest of the people are idle.

It will also take some time to prepare for the next TV series "The Hidden Corner", so during this period, the company has nothing too busy except looking for actors.

Liang Yin was stunned for a moment, "Animation? Can you make animation?"

Lin Chudong nodded, "Cartoons and TV series are similar, I know a little bit."

Lin Chudong said this of course modestly, he knows more than just a little bit.

Last time, the treasure chest opened [Advanced Animation Production], this skill has never had the opportunity to use, now finally found the opportunity.

Liang Yin asked, "How much does it cost to make a cartoon?"

Da Fei is about to shoot a TV series, and it is his first screen debut, the first TV series as a male lead, this is the top priority of their company, Liang Yin attaches great importance to this project.

Although this Huangshan Art Company is hateful, if the filming of the TV series is delayed in order to deal with them, it will be a bit of a loss.

Lin Chudong said, "Since I want to do it, I must do it well. The production cost of each minute of the cartoon is estimated to be around 30,000 or 40,000. One episode of five minutes, 200,000."

Liang Yin was dumbfounded, "Is the production cost of cartoons so expensive?"

Five minutes actually cost 200,000!

This cost is almost the same as a big-budget TV series that costs 2 million per episode.

Lin Chudong nodded, "Yes, the production cost of cartoons is very high. Look at their "Big Dog and Two Dogs", which is actually about the same as the cost of our "Bright Sword"."

"But the income brought to us by "Bright Sword" is much higher than that of his "Big Dog and Two Dogs". They made such a spoof cartoon to disgust me out of envy and jealousy."

"But one advantage of cartoons is that they don't have to be finished before broadcasting. We can shoot a few episodes first, and then serialize one episode per week."

Everyone was stunned for a moment. They didn't expect it to be possible.

Some foreign TV series do have this form of serialized shooting. Their purpose is to decide how to shoot the subsequent plot based on the audience's reaction and sales.

Some TV series have poor reviews or too low ratings, so they simply stop updating and stop shooting later.

This can save costs to the maximum extent.

But this TV series model is not suitable for the current domestic shooting market, because most of the income from domestic TV series shooting still comes from sponsors and advertisements.

Even those video platforms, which calculate money based on the number of views, are also a way to convert advertising revenue, so serialized shooting is obviously not suitable.

Although TV series cannot be filmed, cartoons can be.

Liang Yin nodded after listening to Da Fei's idea and looked at Wang Zhi, "What do you think?"

Wang Zhi said, "I have seen Brother Fei's painting skills, and Brother Fei can also direct. It should be possible to make cartoons."

Lin Chudong said, "Anyway, the cost of trial and error is not high. In this case, let's give it a try and ask the art team to come to my office."

A few minutes later, Kangna and others sat in Lin Chudong's office, watching him holding a tablet and drawing.

A pink human-shaped pig appeared in their sight.

"This is the protagonist of our cartoon, and all the characters in the cartoon are also in this style."

Kangna frowned, a little confused.

"Brother Fei, is this style too simple?"

Now technology has made great progress, and the production technology of cartoons is also quite mature.

This style... It's hard to describe.

Children like cool things, and the pig drawn by Da Fei is more inclined to simple drawings.

However, they are just artists, not planners. Their understanding of the market is their own opinions, and they dare not speak out.

Lin Chudong said, "This cartoon is positioned for the low-age market, so it's okay to be childish and simple."

"I will draw the original paintings of all the characters and scenes for you, and the key frame original paintings will be handed over to you next."

"Although our character prototypes are simple, the animation production must not be crude. The actions you draw must be accurate to every frame, and the style must not be changed. It must be done according to my character prototype."

Kanna and the others nodded. This style of painting is very simple. For professional artists like them, it is easy to do, but the workload is relatively large.

Lin Chudong began to paint in front of them, Peppa, George, Mommy Pig, Daddy Pig, Grandpa Pig, Grandma Pig...

The characters were quickly painted one by one.

Lin Chudong consumed a memory search card and engraved all the details in the cartoon "Peppa Pig" in his mind.

Seeing Dafei's superb painting skills, Kanna and the others were also a little shocked.

Although these characters are very simple, when there are more characters, the proportion of characters and scenes will test the artist's skills.

For example, how much is the height difference between Mummy Pig and Peppa Pig? How much is the height difference between Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig? If their body proportions and hand and foot proportions are not coordinated, they will look a bit out of place when put together.

Once this problem occurs, there is no way to make up for it later.

So this original painting must be drawn by Lin Chudong himself, and let these artists see with their own eyes how he started, how to design the proportions of the characters, how to complete the line draft, and how to color it in the end.

In order to let them see clearly, Lin Chudong tried to slow down the speed. Fortunately, these characters are very simple to color. After Lin Chudong finished drawing one, he sent it to them on a tablet.

In about two hours, dozens of pictures were sent to their group.

These are all the characters and approximate scene maps of the first three episodes.

Lin Chudong also drew a few pictures of the characters' movements, but he still had to master the key movements himself.

The rest of the key frame drawing movements were handed over to them.

After two hours of painting, Kangna and the others had a deeper respect for Lin Chudong. It was actually very difficult to draw such a simple character so vividly.

The most important thing was that Fei Ge's creativity was too strong. These characters obviously had a lot of similarities, but just one feature, a difference in color, could make people know who each character was.

For example, Daddy Pig's glasses, Grandpa Pig's beard, and Grandma Pig's hat.

Their faces and bodies were extremely similar, but just the difference in color and a certain prop could fully reflect the identity of the characters.

They couldn't help but wonder, is the director industry really a one-size-fits-all industry? If you know TV dramas, you can make cartoons?

But when they were in school, there was also an animation director major, and there seemed to be a big difference between animation directors and film and television directors.

Why does Fei Ge know everything?

Lin Chudong had already drawn all the original paintings and several important keyframe actions for them, and the remaining details needed them to produce a lot.

After receiving the task, Kangna and others immediately went back and started to work.

Lin Chudong contacted Wang Danian, "Uncle, do you know any animation production masters?"

"I need about five or six people."

Lin Chudong was full of confidence in the cartoon "Peppa Pig", so he spared no expense when investing in production.

Anyway, there is still a lot of money in the account now. Excluding the 30 million yuan from Digging Tian Yingxiong, there are nearly 100 million funds.

For the filming of "The Hidden Corner", it is estimated that 30 million should be enough, and part of it is his personal salary.

So the art group simply expanded into the art group, and this cartoon was regarded as an important project of their company.

"Five or six people are no problem, I'll find a few people first, you can take a look."

...

Half an hour later, several young men about the same age as Lin Chudong stood in front of him, and they were very excited to see Dafei.

"Hello, Brother Fei."

After greeting them, Lin Chudong asked about their academic qualifications. They all graduated from animation colleges and worked in game companies as CG artists.

"You all have sufficient academic qualifications. I will simply do an interview."

"I have three original paintings. You can make a running and jumping animation."

Lin Chudong did not give them the original paintings of "Peppa Pig", but gave them two characters from "Audition". This animation could not be leaked.

The six young men immediately sat in front of the computer and started to operate. Everyone was very proficient in the operation of the software.

And Lin Chudong only required flat animation, so they were very fast.

The workload of making an episode of animation is actually very large.

Even if Lin Chudong's art team recruited more than a dozen people, there would still be a lot of work to hire original artists in the future.

Animation is created out of nothing, especially two-dimensional animation. Every frame is drawn. There are 24 frames in one second, which requires at least 24 paintings, and the more the better.

But the effect of 2D animation is indeed much better than those generated by 3D modeling.

I looked at the production process of several people. They are experienced and the effect is quite good.

With these few pictures, they can make such animation in such a short time. If they are given enough original paintings, they should be able to make high-quality animation.

"Okay, you guys take a look at the salary and benefits. If there is no problem, you can join the company."

"Before joining the art team, remember to sign a confidentiality agreement. Uncle, I leave them to you."

"The art team will help me recruit a few more people, no more than 20."

Wang Danian also heard about Lin Chudong's plan to make an animation on the phone just now, but when he heard that he wanted to recruit 20 people, he was a little surprised.

The number of people in an art team is almost the same as that of the film and television department?

The cost of this animation is a bit high, right?

Aren't you going to make three episodes first?

Don't you wait until the broadcast to see the effect?

If so many people are recruited rashly, if the broadcast effect is not good, they will have to lay off more people, which will have a great impact on the company's reputation.

Although Wang Danian had many questions in his mind, he did not speak them out. He was only the head of the film and television department.

He was not a member of the leadership team and had no say in the company's decisions. He just had to be responsible for executing the boss's tasks.

Back at the company, Kang Na and the others had already drawn a lot of key frame original paintings in one day.

With these pictures, Liang Yin went to the animation company that had previously done CG for Audition to discuss cooperation.

Normally, the price of an original painting on the market is about 800 yuan.

If you only draw the background, one picture is about 400 yuan, and one dynamic character is also 400 yuan.

The two parties have cooperated a lot before, so this time they also gave the lowest price.

In addition, all the characters in Peppa Pig are relatively easy to draw, so the other party quoted a price of 200 yuan for both the scene and the characters.

That is, all the backgrounds that appear in a picture only cost 200 yuan.

As for the characters, whether it is one character or multiple characters, they are all calculated at a price of 200 yuan.

This price is still affordable. If Lin Chudong's art department recruits more original painters, the cost can be reduced.

If calculated in this way, the cost of the first three episodes is estimated to be about 500,000.

Seeing Lin Chudong busying around, it took less than two days from project establishment to production.

Even before Liang Yin's release permit was applied for, production had already begun.

Da Fei is really resolute in his work.

Huangshan Art Company's "Big Dog and Second Dog" has a good ratings. Does Da Fei think that he can beat them with three episodes of animation made in a few days?

Looking at the protagonist drawn by Da Fei with a brain like a hair dryer, Liang Yin is a little bit unconfident this time.