After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 660 Taking a Different Approach, Your Name Shocks Asia!
"I don't have time to discuss whether to sell or not. If you want to wait, that's your business. Just sell my share now, immediately, that's it!"

After Li Mingyang finished speaking, he hung up Wang Changtian's phone and returned to the animation department of Your Name, his expression becoming more solemn than ever before.

The creation of your name is far from ideal.

He has already created all the character designs, but in terms of image quality, it may be due to the era or his personal abilities.

The final cut of the animated film "Your Name" is far from ideal.

Compared to the original, it's just a pile of crap...

It's not freehand enough, not realistic enough, not delicate enough, not detailed enough, not rich enough, not complex enough...

In summary, it's not aesthetically pleasing enough!

It's not even comparable to the original film, let alone the live-action version; it's a whole different level below.

Li Mingyang went to Ah Huo's workstation and watched the animation clips that had been made that day.

There has been progress, but not much.

If you grind it slowly, you might be able to get it.

but……

Isn’t this nonsense!

He originally thought he had the original film and could get it done in a month using sheer manpower.

When it came to actually getting started, Li Mingyang discovered that the "Your Name" animation project was riddled with technical and talent barriers.

The animation department has members from China, Japan, and South Korea, but Xiao Rizi is clearly a cut above the rest and is the main force.

However, these people have limited skills and are not top-notch animators.

Once he's out of his control, he won't do it anymore.

He felt that if things continued like this, he would be locked into the animation department.

I originally wanted to save myself trouble, but I didn't expect to end up making things worse.

Li Mingyang spent more than five hours going around the animation department, reviewing and making decisions on everything, big and small.

We were so busy that everyone went to eat.

When Li Mingyang arrived at his workspace, there was a wall covered with hundreds of photos, which were pictures taken by the White Tiger Gang at Xiao Rizi.

Looking at these photos.

Li Mingyang felt he had reached his limit, having thought through every aspect thoroughly, but ultimately encountered technological and talent barriers.

The simplest way to solve these two problems is to outsource to the top animation studios at Xiao Rizi.

However, those studios are already very busy, and if they can only put in 60% of their effort for overseas jobs, that's considered quite conscientious.

And it will also fall into a frenzy of modifications.

Secondly, there is self-iteration.

No pain, no gain; cultivate your own elite animation film department.

The harder it is now, the more rewarding it will be in the future.

As for the third method, Li Mingyang was still thinking about it.

dong dong...

Xiao Ye pushed open the glass door, walked in, and handed a document to Li Mingyang. "Director Li, Sister Zhang asked me to give this to you."

"What is this?" Li Mingyang took the document, placed it on the coffee table, and didn't look at it.

"Box office statistics for Seoul Spring in the most recent week."

"Ah."

Li Mingyang picked up the document listlessly and quickly glanced at it. Half a month had passed, and the daily box office of Seoul Spring had been like a roller coaster, fluctuating wildly. At its peak, it had more than 70,000 viewers, while at its lowest, it had dropped to more than 20,000 viewers.

"Yesterday was terrible, only a little over 10,000 people visited. At this rate, we won't even be able to break 16 million visitors."

Li Mingyang let out a heavy sigh.

This result still added to the popularity of one episode of Running Man and the prestige of being the top director in South Korea.

As for the antagonistic sentiments between the Japanese and Korean people, they weren't stirred up at all.

With no rivals, Lotte pretends to be dead.

Without any works, your name will be difficult to produce.

"If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have gone to a prostitute first..."

"Headache……"

"Director Li, if I may ask, how long did you originally plan to complete the animation of your name?" Xiao Ye suddenly asked.

"One or two months, maybe."

"That's bullshit... According to your requirements, an animated film with your name in it would take at least a year or two to make."

"That's your problem... Go to Little Life and poach a top-notch animation studio."

“Your name is so demanding… even if we poached Studio Ghibli, it wouldn’t make a difference…” Xiao Ye sighed. “Besides, Studio Ghibli is mainly traditional hand-drawn, while Your Name is mainly computer-generated CG. I feel like we went astray from the beginning. Xiao Rizi’s stuff is all hand-drawn, and hand-drawn is cheaper! The same special effects would cost 8000 yuan for hand-drawn, but 80 yuan for CG.”

"Is the difference really that big?"

Xiao Ye originally thought that Li Mingyang knew everything, which was why he was making animated films.

I never expected... it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision.

I know more than you do.

Of course, he didn't dare say anything, because Li Mingyang had a vivid image in his mind, and according to his opinion, it really was awesome.

That is, seeing Li Mingyang's distress, he regretted making animation.

Only then did he dare to speak his mind.

"There's a line in the doujinshi (Japanese animation) that goes like this: I make hand-drawn animations because I don't have the money. A 25-minute episode of a doujinshi TV anime has a budget of about 1000 million yen, and a 2-hour animated film would be lucky to have a budget of 2 million yen..."

“2 million yen, which is about 1400 million, but if you factor in the costs, we’ve already spent nearly 1500 million in the last half month,” Li Mingyang said.

"Your name used up most of the resources for the Pangu special effects... and I don't think they could do it well. It would be better to just hand-draw it. The quality might be a bit worse, but it's faster and cheaper!"

Li Mingyang smiled wryly, "You're right about everything, but in my opinion, there's really no difference; it's all about grinding things down over time..."

"To make a good animated film, you definitely need to spend time working on it. The basic production process is there, and it can't be rushed. Unlike live-action films, which can be shot directly, animated films require a lot of hand-drawn sketches for each shot."

There are also piles of discarded drafts...

Lee Myung-yang put down the dismal box office figures for "Seoul Spring," leaned wearily against the back of the sofa, stared at the ceiling, and pondered whether to change the hostess.

Although there was no original film, there were no technical difficulties or talent barriers. Filming was done on the fly, and everything went smoothly, with filming completed in a month.

"Director Li? Director Li? What do you think of my suggestion?" Xiao Ye said.

"You're daydreaming. What's your suggestion? Tell me again."

"The animated film 'Your Name' definitely can't be finished in a month or two, but piecing together a few trailers shouldn't be a problem. Let's release the trailers first and let everyone know that we've made some really awesome animation. As for when it will be released, we'll talk about that later. This way, it won't interfere with your other work, and it won't put too much pressure on everyone."

Li Mingyang was stunned. This was exactly what game companies often did: delaying releases!
The more I think about it, the better it seems!
It solves the immediate problem and also gets him out of the pit of your name!
"Xiao Ye, I knew I hadn't misjudged you! This is a great idea! Let's do it your way!"

"Alright! I'll go tell everyone now."

"Go ahead, go ahead! Do a good job! Once your name is published, I'll give you a producer position."

Xiao Ye was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, "That's great! I finally have my own work now, and the producer can even go on stage to accept an award, that's awesome!"

……

Compared to the finished product, the trailer is far too simple!

Each person makes a brief appearance, followed by cuts to city and town scenery, and scenes of the male and female protagonists' daily work and studies.

The biggest suspense is revealed by switching between the male and female protagonists' shots—the shooting star.

The screen went black at the end, and then it showed "Your Name!"

Live together!

It was done that very night!
In less than an hour, the trailer with Chinese, Japanese and Korean subtitles spread like wildfire across Asia via FBTV, Weibo, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!
Adapted from the live-action film of the same name by Li Mingyang, Your Name is an animated film!

Officially unveiled!

Exquisite visuals, realistic, romantic, and colorful.

The town's mountains and rivers are unforgettable, with picturesque mountain streams, neat winding paths, simply designed buildings, and a sky full of stars, all set against a warm yellow hue, creating a cozy and pleasant atmosphere.

The bright, symmetrical elements of the metropolis, the ever-blue sky, the radiant sunshine, the towering skyscrapers with their prominent lines, the speeding trains, and the undulating staircases make every corner of Tokyo a wallpaper-worthy sight.

Every snapshot is like a poem or a painting, without any deliberate melancholy or darkness, always bright and beautiful, giving people a clean feeling!
A visually stunning experience that transcends this era!

The sensational effect it caused.

This directly shattered the online barriers between Chinese and South Korean netizens!

Chinese and South Korean netizens are quite curious about how the other side views this animated film that targets the local market.

On Weibo, in the comments section of the trailer for "Your Name" by Enlight Media.

"Why does this animation feel even more explosive than the live-action version of Your Name? It's so beautiful!"

"It has a bit of Makoto Shinkai's style, haha!"

"It even has the flavor of Hayao Miyazaki!"

"If you ask me, it has the feel of Japanese anime. This is an animated film specifically targeting the doujinshi market! I'm really curious to see how well this animated film will perform at the box office in the doujinshi market."

"The live-action version is a bit hard to describe. They still managed to get 16 billion yen. The animation quality should at least break the record set by Red Cliff!"

"You're overthinking it. The author's love for the Three Kingdoms is no less than that for the anime. No matter how badly it's made, people will still buy it."

"Li Mingyang is not short of money, he just loves to show off. He made animated films and didn't take Wu Baige seriously at all. He was aiming for the box office success of 'Little Life'."

"That's right, that's right! I look forward to your name dominating the battlefield and teaching the Japanese devils a lesson!"

"It's just a trailer. What's the content? Is it the original plot? Or will there be some changes? Oh, Mitsuha is so cute! I really want to watch it!"

"Hurry up! I want to see it!"

"By the way, is it possible that it won't be able to be released in China?"

"It doesn't matter whether it's released in theaters or not, we'll just watch pirated copies." "People from Dongda University have no sense of copyright at all, they watch pirated copies so righteously."

"The person upstairs is Korean! I am Jeon Doo-kwang! Kneel down immediately!"

"loyalty!"

"loyalty!"

……

NAVER Movie Forum.

"Wow, is this the animation of Your Name? It's so beautiful! Do you have any high-resolution wallpapers?"

"Damn, this animated movie is finished? It was finished in just half a month? Is animation production really that fast?"

"An animation department with over a hundred people, and Pangu special effects team with several hundred people—no company can afford such a lineup; only Li Mingyang has the money to burn."

"The plot is probably exactly the same, and the storyboard is probably similar too, so it will be done very quickly."

"I feel like it's going too slowly, I've been waiting for so long."

"Mingyang oppa is so amazing. He seems to know everything and is so good at everything. This is the first time I've ever seen such good picture quality."

"The image quality can only be described as unique, somewhat unlike hand-drawn animation. It's not particularly outstanding, but it's certainly novel. I recommend watching Miyazaki Hayao's films; the visuals are softer and more natural than this."

"His mastery of light and shadow is truly remarkable. I've discovered that Li Mingyang has a particular fondness for working with light and shadow."

"Now our director can rest easy, the big devil is going to wreak havoc on the lives of ordinary people, haha!"

"Does anyone know the production cost and break-even point of this movie?"

"The atmosphere in China hasn't been very good lately. They keep making dark films. It's been a long time since I've seen a light and refreshing film. I like this style. I'll definitely buy a ticket when it's released."

"I can't wait, I'll watch Seoul Spring first."

"Do Koreans run out of movies? Seoul Spring is so awful, how come so many people watched it? It must be fake."

"Hello, netizens from Dongda University, at least we don't steal box office revenue here."

"Ghost screenings are hilarious, the ticket theft is hilarious, the handwritten ticket stubs are hilarious, Lost in Thailand is so hilarious!"

"Dongda Film School is really awesome. They stole the box office revenue from Lost in Thailand and even deleted posts and banned accounts."

"I hope Lost in Thailand can break 2 billion yuan and let us witness history. How did a thief break 2 billion yuan and reach the top?"

"Thief, you're in trouble in Thailand!"

"What a pathetic film school at Dongda University!"

"You pathetic Korean, shut up! Eat your kimchi!"

"What hope is there for a country ruled by tycoons and cults? Haha, where's the Italian cannon from the strongest post-80s generation next door? Fire!"

"Ha ha!"

……

Chinese and South Korean netizens are exchanging barbs and revealing each other's secrets online!

The social media presence of "Your Name" in Japan is relatively calm, and its influence in Japan is not as great as Chinese and South Korean media believe.

However, the high-quality visuals of "Your Name" truly amazed netizens.

Due to stagnation in innovation and diversification of entertainment, the Xiao Ri Zi animation market has shrunk rapidly, resulting in declining animation production costs and increasingly lower quality, which has been criticized by Xiao Ri Zi netizens for several years.

The art style of your name is beautiful, clean and transparent, with delicate light and shadow...

Although it is a 2D animation, it is very different from the anime in doujinshi.

Many people fell in love with the art style of Your Name at first sight.

I look forward to your name appearing on my little day soon.

As more and more netizens left comments on Twitter, Inlink started holding a large internal meeting.

As a leader in the shonen film industry, ordinary people may not understand why they like the art style of your name.

These people understand this all too well.

Because Li Mingyang's so-called 3D layout method is precisely an innovation in the doujinshi animation industry, a fusion of 3D CG and traditional hand-drawn animation.

This method is costly and can only be done by large companies, making it difficult to popularize.

Spending exorbitant amounts of money yields inconsistent results, lacking the advantages of a mass-produced, finished product.

It demands extremely high skill from both 3D3 and hand-drawn animators, and also requires strong coordination to combine the two.

While everyone else was still figuring it out, Li Mingyang had already made it happen.

It left a group of people speechless.

"Isn't the University of Tokyo working on 3D animation? How did they manage to do it?"

"He has money and can produce without regard to cost. His animation department has more people than my company."

"I have a feeling this is just a trailer, it probably hasn't been released yet."

"It's a matter of time."

"He was actually using the movie as a pretext to bring FBTV into our market."

“Streaming media is not the main issue. The most important thing is that this kid wants to monopolize it. He bypassed our system and refused to let us operate the IP.”

“SoftBank sent someone to communicate with me and asked me to schedule screenings and promotions for your name.”

“He also communicated with me, but I didn’t agree. He has the resources to independently produce animated films, which has a huge impact on us. If he were to submit a script, it would be a disaster.”

“I don’t think streaming is a big problem. Netflix wants to get in too, right? Letting Li Mingyang and Netflix fight each other is more in our interest. But movies… I disagree.”

“We need the animation market of Dongda University, but we can’t let Dongda University block our way... Li Mingyang is Li Mingyang, and Dongda University is Dongda University. As long as China Film Group doesn’t help him, I think we can let him in.”

"If China Film Group helps him, we have no other choice!"

"Now that we're in, we're still in charge. That idiot is easy to deal with, but the most difficult one is Li Mingyang. SoftBank has high hopes for him."

"So, everyone, let's vote on whether or not to include your name. I'm against it!"

"I support."

"be opposed to."

……

After one round of voting, more than half of the voters opposed the idea.

The people present had many reasons for opposing, but the reason for supporting was simple: self-interest.

The battle between FBTV and Netflix can bring tons of benefits to everyone.

Japan is an entertainment kingdom with an extremely developed entertainment industry, but it has few external enemies who can gain an advantage over it.

The six major Hollywood studios aren't working, Netflix isn't working, and Amazon and Apple are even less likely to succeed.

In the Asian market, Netflix's earliest focus was clearly on doujinshi (Japanese adult films), but doujinshi never fell into Netflix's "sugar-coated" trap.

The core issue in the doujinshi market is copyright.

As is well known, the "hard currency" of the Japanese film and television industry worldwide is not live-action dramas, but animation.

Netflix is ​​not stupid, of course, and the funds invested in its own live-action series are very limited.

Even the action-themed Japanese drama "Jeonroku no Toshiro" which swept the internet had a budget that was less than half that of the top Korean drama "Kingdom".

Netflix may not be stupid, but it only saw the surface.

Upon closer examination, it became clear that the copyright of this work was severely fragmented, a fragmentation acknowledged by law, conglomerates, and ideologies alike.

Furthermore, traditional Japanese television stations were not later than Netflix in their foray into streaming media.

The "Mango TV" business model emerged very early on.

This has spawned several profitable "Little Mango" streaming media platforms.

Therefore, the Japanese streaming market was fragmented and self-sufficient, leaving little room for Netflix to intervene.

After its success in South Korea, Netflix had money and turned to the doujinshi (Japanese adult animation) market. It bypassed the production committee model that had long dominated the Japanese animation industry and directly partnered with animation companies and creators, playing the role of a "white knight" willing to pay for and support original works.

They took all the unfinished, high-risk, and experimental projects in the Japanese animation industry into their fold.

However, these projects have a low rate of commercial success.

Apart from the opening series "Devilman" which garnered some attention, the other Netflix series that were acquired flopped quietly.

Netflix's original animation productions in Japan have entered a vicious cycle.

Why doesn't Netflix collaborate with best-selling, commercially valuable animated IPs?

Because the Japanese wouldn't let them get a share of the spoils.

Unlike Korean dramas, Japanese IP animation doesn't need to wait for "Squid Game" to break the deadlock and validate the IP's future value.

The revenue from IP rights has always been the lifeblood of Japanese animation, with many traditional conglomerates enjoying "eternal prosperity" thanks to a single, enduring IP.

Nintendo and the Pokémon Company have earned more than $1000 billion from the Pokémon IP.

Sanrio has earned over $800 billion thanks to Hello Kitty.

It's way more awesome than Disney's Mickey Mouse.

Having already tasted the benefits of IP, Japanese animation is unlikely to abandon subsequent IP copyright revenue due to high production costs, unlike Korean dramas, and thus will not become a mere content processing factory for Netflix.

Unable to acquire major IPs for original animation, Netflix has had to turn to purchasing the rights to classic Japanese manga IPs for 3D and live-action series.

However, this path has already been proven by the Japanese film and television industry, and its success rate is extremely low.

Netflix has conquered the world, even penetrating deep into the heart of India, the most unfortunate country in the world.

But in Japan, you can only wander around outside.

Therefore, Li Mingyang wanted to avoid the production committee model from the very beginning.

Even if it means losing money to do it myself, I can't fall into the huge pitfall of the production committee model.

……

(End of this chapter)