Chapter 207: One Month

The Lyttle Digital Arts Centre is a very famous park-like building in San Francisco. It is famous not only because it is the work of a master, but more importantly because it was here that the first generation of film cg special effects was born, which not only made Star Wars, but also opened up a new direction for movies.

On 1 January 1991, Zhou Ming hurriedly drove here without having time to feel emotional about having returned to life and having another year passed.

After parking in the underground car park, Zhou Ming was just about to walk out when he saw a familiar figure. Zhou Ming called out his name: 'Mr Jobs, I can't believe you've come to pick me up in person.'

Jobs joked in response, 'Of course. You are our biggest investor at Pixar. If I don't take good care of you, and you suddenly withdraw your investment, we'd have to go without food for a whole year. You should know that I've already turned down all the animation production work at the company for Toy Story, and some of them even had to pay liquidated damages.'

'Then it seems that Lucas must be very happy now, because his Industrial Light & Magic company has lost one of its biggest competitors. Even if it's only for a month, he can still grab a lot of orders from you,' Zhou Ming also joked.

Although Ming Zhou and Steve Jobs were joking, Ming Zhou could hear from Steve Jobs' words that after he had his own investment, he was really doing his best for the animated film Toy Story.

After a bit of joking, Jobs also invited Zhou Ming to enter the Pixar Digital Art Centre and come to the Pixar Animation Studio.

The office was very quiet. Dozens of employees were quietly working hard at their computers, and the only sound in the large office was the hum of the computer CPUs and hard drives.

Suddenly there was a crackling sound of planks coming from the next room. Steve Jobs told Zhou Ming, 'It must be that bad guy looking for a feeling again. You know that our protagonist is a cowboy sheriff with planks under his feet, so whenever our painter would go to the next room and stick a wooden board under his feet whenever he ran out of ideas. He would then walk around with a loud cracking sound, making people want to take off his shoes and give him a good slap in the face.'

'It seems that this painter must be very serious, so I'm looking forward to seeing his work,' casually agreed.

'But I hope he doesn't cause me any trouble,' Jobs said. 'But this Toy Story will be very exciting, because it's entirely made with 3D animation. It's not as rigid as other cartoons, but very three-dimensional. According to my requirements, this animation should give the impression that it is happening right in front of you. Only in this way can it bring the audience a sense of beauty.'

Zhou Ming inspecting the Pixar Animation Studios while listening to Steve Jobs' explanations, they arrived at Jobs' office after about a quarter of an hour.

Since leaving Apple, Jobs had been an individual investor and later acquired Pixar Animation Studios, turning it into his own office.

Zhou Ming sat down in the office, and Jobs brewed a cup of coffee for himself and Zhou Ming.

'I think Mr. Mr Zhou Ming, I assume your sudden visit today must be about something very important?' Jobs sat down and asked.

Zhou Ming nodded without any hesitation and said, 'Yes, I came here to ask you when you plan to release this animated film?'

'According to my original plan, it would be at least three years from now. But now, thanks to your investment, I expect the animation to be completed within two to three months. Counting in promotion and distribution, I expect it to be ready for the summer blockbuster season in 1992.' Jobs counted on his fingers very seriously.

'The summer blockbuster season is too far away. Can we speed things up a bit?' asked Zhou Ming. "For example, let the film be released within a month...'

Before Zhou Ming's words had finished, Steve Jobs immediately denied, "This is impossible! Mr. Zhou Ming are you joking with me? Even if the studio works overtime, the most it can do in a month is complete the film production, as well as the film association's review and classification, the film's publicity and distribution, and the scheduling of the cinema line, etc., etc. Is all this work supposed to be squeezed into 24 hours?

'I'm sorry Mr Jobs, I'm not joking. Of course I understand that it is absolutely impossible to complete all this work within a month if the normal film production process is followed.' Zhou Ming then asked, 'But Mr. Jobs, you just said that if Pixar Animation Studios worked overtime, the animation could be completed in a month, right?'

Jobs frowned and, although he was puzzled as to why Zhou Ming was asking, nodded in reply.

'But film creation should be a burst of inspiration. Can you guarantee the timing?' Zhou Ming asked again.

'If starts from scratch, including the script and all the backstories and characterisations of the characters, then I can't guarantee it even if it takes a year or two, but Toy Story is different,' Jobs said 'A detailed script and various storyboard scripts for the entire film had already been prepared, and even many of the sketches for the shots had already been drawn. The work we now had to do was to actually bring these long-conceived ideas to life on the screen.'

'At this point, It's all about the mechanical work of the animators, so the time can be estimated. If we can even collaborate with other animation studios, I believe the time can be shortened even further,' said Jobs.

Zhou Ming was very pleased with answer made Zhou Ming very happy: 'So according to Mr Jobs, is it possible for Toy Story to be released within a month?'

'That's possible!' Jobs blurted out the answer, but then he calmed down a little and asked, 'Before I deny it, I need to hear your reasons, Mr. Ming Zhou, including the reason why you came here today and why you want Toy Story to be released within a month reasons; because if there is no good reason, I will definitely refuse to let a film that is not created through artistic creation, but is completed through a production line with a tight deadline, come out, even if it is your request, Mr. Ming Zhou.'

Zhou Ming was not at all surprised by Steve Steve Jobs' question did not surprise Zhou Ming at all.

'It seems that Mr Jobs really created this Toy Story as art,' Zhou Ming first said teasingly, before getting serious, 'It's because my investment has been targeted, and very seriously targeted at that. If I can't complete an outstanding major project within a month, I'm afraid there will be a very bad result.'

Then Zhou Ming told Jobs about Tang Ran inheriting the Tang family business and then coming to Jieke for an assessment. After listening, Jobs fell into a long silence.

After a while, Jobs finally let out a heavy sigh: 'I never would have guessed that there was such a thing. It seems that I know so little about the world!'

After a self-deprecating a quip, Jobs then said, 'For this reason, I think I would be happy to follow your orders, Mr. Zhou Ming, but sometimes problems don't work the way we want them to. As I said earlier, A month is the shortest production time for an animated film, and it does not include post-production editing and submission to the film association for review, as well as the promotion and distribution of the film, which cannot be completed in one day!'

'So what if the the film is produced and the film is promoted at the same time?' asked Zhou Ming.

'If this method is used, it will be possible in terms of time, but I think you are still ignoring the most important issue, which is the film review by the Film Association.'

Jobs then said to Zhou Ming, 'A film is not allowed to be released in cinemas until it has passed the film association's censorship. Therefore, the process for all films is to pass censorship first, and then start promotion and cinema scheduling, because If the review is not passed, or if the film association's classification result differs from our publicity, it will not only result in a huge waste of resources, but it could even seriously damage the reputation of the film itself.'

At this point, Qiao Jobst paused for a moment, then looked at Ming Zhou and said, 'It is precisely for this reason that to this day I have hardly ever heard of a movie being promoted and released before being submitted for review, because such behaviour is simply incomprehensible.'

'But what if I managed to perfectly avoid all the problems you mentioned, Mr Jobs, and also minimise the cost of publicity? 'Zhou Ming asked in return.

Faced with Zhou Ming's question, Jobs was stunned. He looked into Zhou Ming's eyes full of disbelief.

Jobs was very confident in his was very confident in his eloquence, and because of this, he also believed that he had just explained the hastily raised questions very clearly. More importantly, many of these questions were almost unavoidable.

If he wanted to promote the film without affecting it, unless the name and content of the film are not disclosed and no film clips are shown. But the problem is that the purpose of film promotion is to tell everyone what the film is about and attract the audience to the cinema by showing exciting clips, right? If nothing is said, what is the point of promotion?

Jobs shakes his head . If it had been anyone else, Steve Jobs would have stormed out of the meeting at this point, but with Ming Zhou, he remained patient and said, 'I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou Ming, I think I can understand your wish to release the movie in a month, but unfortunately what you are saying is impossible.'

'But Mr. Jobs I can responsibly tell you that nothing is impossible!' said Ming firmly.

Jobs's eyes lit up at Ming's words: 'So Mr. Ming, you do have a good solution?'

Ming dryly and shook his head, 'No.'

On hearing this answer Jobs was instantly confused. If Jobs hadn't been sure of the serious tone of Zhou Ming's voice, he would have thought that Zhou Ming was joking. Otherwise, how could he have been so sure that there was a solution, and then so easily say that there wasn't? This is not ?

Zhou Ming said with a smile, 'I can understand the incredible feeling you have, Mr. Jobs, but I want to say that I really don't have a solution at the moment. After all, I have to promote the movie without disclosing its name or content, and without promote the film, which completely runs counter to the purpose of publicity. I'm not a genius, so how can I come up with a solution when I think of it?'

Zhou Ming then suddenly changed and finally said, 'But I always believe that there are no unsolvable problems, only minds that are unwilling to think. As long as we think hard, there will definitely be a solution!'

Jobs was shocked by Ming's answer answer was blown away. If it had been anyone else, Steve Jobs would have thought him overconfident, but with Ming Zhou, Steve Jobs had a strong hunch that he would be able to make good on his promise!