Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 902 Dandelion Project

Chen Mo not only contributed money but also effort.

Through his connections, the production team also received strong support from XCMG Machinery, which directly participated in the design and production of core scenes and props such as the "planetary engine".

The film has now been completed and is in post-production.

Guo Fan, who had never fought such a "rich battle" before, assembled a team that included top visual effects personnel from home and abroad, including dozens of companies such as Mojing Tianhe (invested by Beyond), Orange Vision, PIXOMONDO (Germany), and Dexter Studios (South Korea), with a total of nearly 10,000 people.

The soundtrack was composed by A-Kun, and the sci-fi epic feel and artistic conception presented in the demo are highly consistent with Guo Fan's vision.

It can be said that "The Wandering Earth" is a landmark film industry practice that was jointly completed by a top Chinese company, integrating high-quality resources from countries such as South Korea and Germany, under the coordination of a strong local special effects supervisor and director, and bringing together a team of master-level sound, music, editing and color grading professionals.

Guo Fan put into practice Chen Mo's philosophy of "either don't do it, or do it the best" that he had said before!

4. Innovative Businesses and Cutting-Edge Technologies
This is the most exciting area we achieved in 2017, where long-term investment is beginning to yield strategic results:
Artificial intelligence platform:

Algorithm Breakthroughs: AI Lab has achieved several breakthroughs in the fields of deep learning framework optimization, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision (CV).

The intelligent recommendation algorithm has increased click-through rates and user dwell time by over 15% and is widely used in WeChat, games, and content platforms.

Productization: The "Little AI" voice Q&A assistant has been initially integrated and enabled third-party developers to conduct corresponding training through the open platform.

AI-enabled: AI capabilities have been opened to enterprise customers through Beyond Cloud, providing a one-stop solution from facial recognition and image verification to intelligent customer service.

Intelligent driving layout:

Since 16, we have established an independent "Beyond Intelligent Driving" laboratory, focusing on the research and development of L2/L3 level autonomous driving solutions (Baidu's department focuses on the research and development of L4 level).

Last year, we completed the road test data collection for the autonomous driving prototype vehicle and made initial progress in basic technologies such as high-precision maps and sensor fusion algorithms.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure: The security lab has successfully developed and deployed a new generation of DDoS protection system and business risk control system, defending against over 10 billion attacks daily, while also providing enterprise-level security services to Beyond Cloud customers.
"Tiangong" game engine: After four years of research and development and iteration, the self-developed engine "Tiangong" has become increasingly mature. It rivals or even surpasses top overseas engines in physical simulation, lighting effects and large-scale scene rendering, and has been deeply optimized for multiplayer online and e-sports scenarios.

The first batch of AAA mobile game projects powered by the "Tiangong" engine has been approved, which will greatly consolidate our leading advantage in game technology over the next decade and reduce our reliance on third-party engines.

"Ink Particle" Special Effects System: This is a landmark achievement in the field of computer graphics, a result of joint efforts between Beyond Pictures and the Research Institute.

This system is not a simple material mapping, but a complete physical algorithm engine. It simulates the dynamic physical process of ink spreading, blurring, condensing, and dripping in water, and treats each drop of ink as a living "particle", so that it can move and be rendered in 3D space in accordance with both fluid dynamics and the aesthetic principles of traditional Chinese painting.

Current projects underway: special effects and skins for some characters in the game "Glory World", and the SSR-level fighting game "Glory Conquest";
Animation: October Digital Animation's "Glory World" Season 3, Liudao Wuyu Animation Studio's "Fog Hill of Five Elements" Season 1, Ruosen Animation's "Bad Guys" Season 3.

The new technologies developed by the other side with hundreds of billions of yuan invested in scientific research every year will be tested in actual projects and go through a cycle of "feedback-optimization/iteration-re-verification".

This mechanism not only continuously improves the maturity of technology, but also enables the project itself to continuously benefit, truly achieving continuous improvement.

After all, technology that is only theoretical and lacks practice is just a castle in the air and cannot withstand the test of reality.

Taking "ink particle" technology as an example, Chen Mo first saw its effects in person a few months ago when he was on a business trip to the Chengdu branch.

He made a special trip to a remote mountain valley in Sichuan to visit the almost "isolated" Liudao Wuyu Studio—where the team was working behind closed doors.

At this time, Liu Dao Wu Yu's core creative team had grown to more than 100 people, and director Lin Hun no longer had to take on multiple roles and struggle to keep up.

Chen Mo still vividly remembers the effect of seeing the traditional Chinese ink painting particles in the animation for the first time: the fight scenes were as smooth as flowing water, the special effects and move designs were rich in layers and full of the charm of martial arts films, and every move was extremely well thought out.

Black and white, red and blue, purple and gold—the clash of colors and the collision of visual effects are dazzling.

Even though he had already seen "Fog Hill of Five Elements," he was still deeply impressed by the effect of this "Plus version" of the fusion of traditional Chinese painting techniques and modern animation. Almost every frame was so exquisite that it could be used as a desktop wallpaper.

After watching a few minutes of the director's cut of the high-octane action sequences from "Fog Hill of Five Elements," Chen Mo had only one thought: the money was well spent. In fact, he felt the investment was minimal—only about 1800 million yuan was provided to Lin Hun's team.

The key stems from Lin Hun leading a team of members united by their passion and pursuit of art, who voluntarily moved to a remote area to create art behind closed doors, greatly saving on office space and management and operating costs.

Lin Hun remains the same Lin Hun, and has not lost himself despite creating the hit game "Glory World".

The same was true for director Jiaozi later on—after the huge success of "Ne Zha," he quickly faded from the public eye and devoted himself to the creation of "Ne Zha 2."

Chen Mo discovered that whether it was Lin Hun, Guo Fan, or Jiaozi, they all possessed the purest quality of filmmakers: perseverance driven by passion.

For them, fame and fortune were merely byproducts of their creative process.

In fact, Chen Mo himself was no different.

Money is just an external thing; enough is enough. What's more important is being able to do what you want to do.

However, what they pursued was "reaching the pinnacle" in a certain field, while what Chen Mo wanted was to reach the "ultimate".

In short, it's about being "addicted" to what you're pursuing.

As they were about to part, seeing that the other person seemed hesitant, Chen Mo asked with a smile, "Is there anything you're embarrassed to say?"

Lin Hun's concern was about the plot censorship: at the end of the story, the male protagonist protects the village from demons, but discovers that the little Qilin has been imprisoned by the village chief and other core groups, who use its blood to refine so-called "elixirs," triggering the "greed, anger, and ignorance" in human nature—which corresponds to the name of the attacking monster, making humans even more evil than demons.

This setting metaphorically represents a systematic, elaborately packaged, and even actively participated-in process of "alienation": it promises power but actually drains life; it promises identity but actually makes people lose themselves.

This process of "promising the moon and brainwashing" is remarkably similar to certain systems that are currently in operation and widely practiced in reality.

Chen Mo smiled and said, "Creative work shouldn't be like dancing in shackles. Just focus on creating, and leave the rest to me."

For some reason, Lin Hun believed Chen Mo's words without a doubt—as if there was no problem in the world that this man couldn't solve.

In fact, Chen Mo had said the same thing to another person, Guo Fan.

There's a rather sensitive plot point in "The Wandering Earth"—the lottery for entering the underground city.

In "The Wandering Earth," there is a scene where entering the underground city requires a "lottery," which is only briefly mentioned in the original work.

This film reveals a little more: it's not entirely based on luck; some people actually have priority access.

As for who enjoys this privilege, the film leaves that for the audience to ponder.

These are all issues of scale that Chen Mo needs to coordinate and resolve. He thinks that the leaders at Guangdian should be willing to give him this much face.

For the other side, making a profit through these projects is a goal, but not the whole story.

If the "Strengthening the Body" plan is a physical attack, it starts from the surface and gradually unfolds and promotes itself.

These films and television works serve as a spiritual baptism, conveying a spirit and an emotion through this medium.

Like dandelion seeds, carried by the wind from the other side, they have entered the hearts of countless viewers.

This is the Dandelion Program, which corresponds to the Cultivation Program.

(End of this chapter)