Eric tapped the table lightly with his hand and thought for a moment, then asked: "Among these people, what is the ratio of model special effects to CG special effects artists?"
Stan Winston was stunned for a moment, and said, "I haven't asked anyone to count this yet."
"Then count immediately," Eric finished, watching Stan Winston turn his head and order his assistant to do it immediately, and then looked at Ed Kamol: "What about your side?"
Ed Kamal said: "The situation here is not bad. Our opponents are not very interested in the ordinary programmers of the team. They are mainly in contact with the middle and senior project leaders of the team. If you resign forcibly, you will not be able to engage in related work within one year, but I think the commercial prospects shown by "Jurassic Park" are enough for our opponents to challenge legal risks."
After Eric finished listening, he looked at John Lasseter again.
John Lasseter shrugged: "I think everyone here has seen the finished film of "A Bug's Life". This 3D animation movie is not inferior to "Toy Story" two years ago, so I think , with the experience in the digital field ahead, Pixar should take some precautionary measures to avoid a large number of employees leaving.”
After the three of them finished speaking, Eric just...∞, looked at the executives present: "Is there anything else to add?"
Michael Lynn said: "Eric, Rhett has collected some information, let him talk about it."
Eric nodded to a chubby white man in his forties, and the man said, "Mr. Williams, according to some information we have collected. A week ago. Michael Ace from Universal Pictures Na, George Lucas of Lucasfilm, and Carol Bartz, chairman and CEO of the famous graphics software company Autodesk, had a meeting in San Rafael, where Autodesk's headquarters is located. Then Autodesk announced that Autodesk will cooperate with Industrial Light and Magic and Universal Pictures to enter the film and television special effects software market, but the announcement did not mention specific details. In addition, several medium-sized special effects companies in Hollywood have recently They’ve all received massive capital injections and are recruiting heavily.”
After the executive named Rhett finished speaking, the assistant who had just received Stan Winston's order opened the door again and walked into the meeting room. A copy of the compiled data was placed in front of Stan Winston.
"Eric, the statistics are out. Among the 169 people who submitted applications for resignation, 112 were model special effects artists, and 57 were CG special effects artists." When he said this data, Stan Winston breathed a sigh of relief, although He started his career by making model special effects, but Stan Winston is definitely not a conservative person, he heard Eric say more than once. CG special effects will be the mainstream special effects trend in Hollywood in the future, and the success of CG special effects blockbusters such as "Terminator 2", "Tornado" and "Jurassic Park" has also proved this point. Among the resigned employees, model special effects artists accounted for nearly two-thirds, while CG special effects artists only accounted for one-third. If this is the case, things are not as bad as he imagined.
Everyone present seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Eric had already guessed this possibility. Now that the guess has been proven, the last trace of worry in his heart has dissipated a lot. The reason why the CG special effects artists in the digital field did not leave a large number is mainly because the CG special effects artists use the special effects software combination developed by the digital field. At present, these software are not sold in the digital field. Without the tools and software in the digital field, These skilled CG special effects artists can only re-learn the immature third-rate special effects software on the market. If the poaching company has not offered a salary that is hard to refuse, these people will never take the risk of leaving.
After sorting out the thoughts conceived in London and on the plane yesterday, Eric clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, and said, "Okay, now let's talk about how to solve such a thing. First of all, we I considered cooperating with Autodesk to develop Maya, but that cooperation was not successful. Since I was unwilling to join at the beginning, now Autodesk has taken a fancy to the cake of special effects software and wants to join in, but it is too late. How could he If it jumps in, we will kick it out.”
There were a few chuckles in the conference room, but no one meant to underestimate Autodesk. Autodesk has basically monopolized the industrial drawing software market by relying on its flagship autocad industrial design software. The software has many similarities. It is not too difficult for Autodesk to develop the corresponding film and television special effects software, and the cycle is much shorter than the development of tool software such as Maya in the digital field. Opportunity entered the market ahead of time, and Autodesk also monopolized the film and television special effects software.
At this time, wanting to prevent Autodesk from entering the field of film and television special effects software is not only for the benefit of software sales, but more importantly, it is to ensure the leading position of the digital field in the film and television special effects industry. If any company only invests but does not generate profits, it will sooner or later be unable to escape the road of closing down. This is the case with the technical team led by Ed Kamal. Under the rapid development of the digital field, there are no disadvantages. In the future, film and television special effects companies will enter the era of crowd-struggling, and this huge unprofitable technical team will become a drag on the company.
After Eric finished speaking, everyone in the conference room began to put forward their own suggestions.
After three days of intensive meetings, Digital Realm held a press conference at the headquarters of Firefly Studios.
At this time, the box office data for the second week of "Jurassic Park" was released, with a box office of more than 71 million U.S. dollars, and the total box office reached 185 million U.S. dollars. Although it was a press conference in the digital field, after learning that Eric would attend the conference, many reporters who received the invitation were gearing up to prepare a lot of sequels about "Jurassic Park".
However, the information revealed at the press conference did not disappoint the reporters present.
Ed Kamal, who originally held the position of chief technology officer of Pixar animation, announced to the outside world that Firefly would integrate the technical support teams of Pixar and the digital field, and establish a separate Firefly Software Company. Firefly Software mainly provides target customers with special effects software and related Video special effects solutions.
After Ed Kamol finished speaking, more than a hundred reporters in the press conference hall immediately buzzed with discussions. Some journalists who are not well-informed can't understand why the digital field is at the height of its power, why they made such a move to tear down the fence, while other journalists who are very keen on industry news realize that this is Firefly's understanding of this period. A counterattack to the poaching experienced by the time digital field.
At first glance, this seems illogical, but even if the news of Autodesk's cooperation with Industrial Light and Magic and Universal has not been disclosed, some smart people can understand that doing so is actually equivalent to a disguised expansion of the digital field. Although the special effects software in the digital field has not been outflowed yet, the technical level shown in films such as "Jurassic Park" has surpassed those small and medium-sized special effects companies in Hollywood by a few blocks. Therefore, once the tool software in the digital field starts to be sold, not only special effects artists who have left the digital field will give priority to using it, but other special effects companies will also join the camp of software tool users in the digital field.
Moreover, there is another very important sentence in Ed Kammer's speech. In addition to special effects software, Firefly Software will also provide customers with specific solutions for film and television special effects. This measure not only increases the profitability of Firefly Software, but also in disguise It restricts the development of those special effects companies who are greedy for convenience through solution authorization. After all, if you can buy a set of special effects lens production solutions at a lower price, most people will not waste time and money on technology research and development and accumulation. The solution provided by Firefly software must rely on Firefly's own software, which again limits the use of other special effects software by small and medium-sized special effects companies.
After Ed Kamol announced the news, the press conference entered the free question time, and the audience raised a large number of arms in unison.
The host looked down the platform and randomly ordered a very temperamental female reporter.
Unexpectedly, after the female reporter got the microphone, she turned directly to Eric who hadn't spoken just now: "Mr. Williams, I'm a reporter from the Los Angeles Times. The North American box office of "Jurassic Park" has accumulated a total of 185 million US dollars." , movie fans are very concerned about the follow-up story of Dinosaur Island, but your original novel did not disclose relevant information, will Firefly develop a sequel?"
"First of all, I want to say, lady, your question has nothing to do with this press conference. If someone asks a similar question in the future, I will not answer it. But now I can tell you that there will definitely be a sequel .”
Just as Eric was about to hand over the microphone, the female reporter said immediately: "Then, Mr. Williams, will Firefly Software treat special effects companies outside the digital field differently?"
"I don't know what kind of differential treatment you are talking about. Firefly Software and the digital field are one. If it is technical support, Firefly Software will definitely spare no effort in the digital field. This is indisputable. But , In other aspects, such as the special effects software owned by Firefly Software Company, both internal and external are treated equally. After the spin-off is completed, even if the digital field wants to use the latest software of Firefly Software Company, it needs to pay according to the process. "
The microphone in the audience quickly passed to another reporter, but the other reporter's question was still directed at Eric: "Mr. Williams, I am a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle. Will Firefly Software go public?" ?”
"There is no plan to go public yet, but there will definitely be in the future."
The reporter immediately followed suit and asked a question that the whole Wall Street was very concerned about: "Will Firefly Pictures go public?" (To be continued...)