Chapitre 74: Chapter 74: A Turn of Events
Washimine Shion takes this film project much more seriously than others imagine.
Since taking over the company from her grandfather last year, Shion Washimine has been promoting the implementation of Washimine's entertainment diversification strategy.
Because Shion knew very well that there was no way out if they just made games, and the single product content would only limit Washimine to the field of games.
The failure of JGC has clearly told Washimine what the consequences will be if a project fails for a company with a single product line.
Although the game industry is unlikely to experience a serious industry avalanche like the one in 1983, the growth rate of the game industry has begun to slow down. Especially now that computer configurations are getting higher and higher, PC games are repeatedly impacting the console market that Washimine mainly operates.
In particular, the rapid development of the Internet has made online gaming possible, which has had a certain impact on Washimine's living room queuing game culture.
Although this impact is still acceptable to casual players in Europe and the United States, for deep players, it is obviously more convenient to go online and find a random game instead of waiting for a few friends to play games together.
Although these are just minor problems for Washimine Corporation at present, Washimine Shion does not want to wait until the home console industry is doomed to fail before responding, as that would be too passive.
Especially when seeing that Sony, its old rival next door, is far ahead of itself in market value by relying on mutual support among its other industries, it is impossible not to be jealous.
Electronic products department, games, movies, music, insurance, finance, etc. Although this series of business projects were considered as not doing their job properly by the old men in Washimine, Washimine Shion saw the advantages in them.
With so many business projects, even if one of them suffers an occasional loss, other areas will still have sufficient profit funds to ensure that this department continues to develop in the industry, rather than exiting the market in disgrace.
Look at Sega, which has already suffered a crushing defeat in the console market. Although the exact news has not been announced yet, it is basically certain that Sega will stop producing DC consoles and completely withdraw from the hardware market.
Sega's failure can be said to be a lesson for others, and Washimine Shion does not want Washimine to end up like this in the future. Even though Washimine's foundation is stronger than Sega's, it cannot withstand the failure of game consoles one after another.
Therefore, expanding more business projects can be said to be an inevitable task for Washimine. It's a pity that those conservative old people don't understand Shion's ideas at all. They think that Washimine Shion is messing around. Many people even think that she is too young and is not qualified to be the chairman of Washimine.
If it weren't for the support of Washimine's current president, Satoshi Iwata, Washimine Shion would probably have become a person with only the title of chairman but no real power.
But the support that brother Iwata could give her was limited. As a gaming expert, Iwata lacked sensitivity to businesses other than gaming. In addition, he was currently in charge of the development of a new generation of handheld and console games, so he was already too busy to do anything else.
Shion had no intention of causing any more trouble for her brother who had always taken such good care of her, so she prepared to solve these problems herself.
So ever since she took the position of chairman, Washimine Shion has been trying to find ways to use various means to eliminate those old people who oppose diversified development from Washimine's core of power, so that she can maintain her own voice as much as possible.
However, no matter what the outcome of the fight for equity is, if the entire company cannot produce corresponding performance, then everything will be in vain.
This movie is a key project for Shion Washimine to prove her abilities to the entire company and Washimine's supporters around the world.
So Shion invited almost all directors in Japan who had made achievements in commercial films, hoping that they could provide a suitable project plan.
only--
"Director Kiryu, I have a question." Washimine Shion closed the draft plan in her hand, narrowed her eyes and asked Kiryu Nanaya: "Are you sure you are not teasing me?! Or do you think that our Washimine is only worthy of filming such despicable things?!"
[Really...]
Nanaya sighed in his heart. From the increasingly gloomy expression on Washimine Shion's face, he guessed that the other party would definitely be angry. Nanaya felt that the other party's self-restraint was really good, as he was able to read the entire draft he proposed before getting angry.
"Chairman Washimine, please allow me to explain."
Washimine Shion opened the paper fan in her hand and said in a very serious tone: "You only have three minutes. After that, I will let Iioka kick you out."
"That's right, Chairman Washimine. If it is produced according to normal Western fantasy themes, what do you think the probability of success is for this project? Let's not talk about the fact that game adaptation is a difficult theme in the film market. Just from the perspective of the theme, do you think the "Saints and the Brave" series can be compared with the currently popular "Harry Potter" series and the Western fantasy classic "Lord of the Rings"? "
"...I'm afraid not."
After thinking for a long time, Washimine Shion gave an answer that was a bit disappointing to herself. Although the gaming industry is very profitable, it does not have a large audience compared to the many entertainment projects currently on the market.
Now is still far from the era of universal gaming 20 years later. Gamers in this period are basically core players. Although Washimine has opened the talent point of light players, there are actually not many people in terms of quantity.
The number of fans of the Saint and the Brave series is even smaller. Both the Harry Potter series, which has countless fans, and the Lord of the Rings series, which has proven itself to be a classic in 50 years, are much stronger than the IP in his hands.
Seeing that Washimine Shion's attitude had softened, Nanaya quickly followed up and said, "So, what we need to do is not to find a way to surpass these two series, but to open up a market that these two series cannot reach."
During the time he was writing the script for Goblin Slayer, Nanaya thought about many things. He found that he had been thinking in the wrong direction in some aspects. He did not have to compete with The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter at the box office. Instead, he had to use the popularity of these two films as much as possible to attract audiences to watch his film.
So how can the audience most intuitively distinguish this movie from the other two?
Using differential grading is obviously a good approach.
"So you want to open up the R-rated movie market? But this is too... too obscene." Washimine Shion blushed slightly. She found it difficult to speak when she thought of the various atrocities of the goblins mentioned in the script by Nanaya.
"And...more importantly, this will damage the reputation of our company. You should know that our company's games have always been for all ages. This will cause the outside world to have a huge misunderstanding of the image of our company's games. You should know that there has always been such a demonization of games."
"So making a movie for all ages won't change the outside world's view of games too much." Nanaya knew that he would not be able to convince this woman by following her way of thinking, so he had to find a way to open her mind.
"But Director Kiryu, you should also know how much energy and money I invested in this project. As a result, you came up with such a shoddy movie plan. This is really hard to accept! Moreover, R-rated movies can only be said to be average in terms of box office data. They all take the offline profit route. This is completely different from the result I hoped to achieve by using high box office to expand the influence!"
Washimine Shion still has deep concerns about Nanaya's proposal for an R-rated movie, but Nanaya has his own ideas.
"Who says R-rated movies are necessarily shoddy?" Nanaya argued for his project, "Although the vast majority of R-rated movies are shoddy, using blood and erotic content to attract audiences. But there are still many well-made movies among them."
"For example, The Matrix, which was released in 1999, earned $460 million in global box office as an R-rated movie, a result that many movies of all ages cannot achieve. Therefore, the potential of the R-rated movie market is not as small as Chairman Washimine imagined, but it just needs the right movies to explore it. What we need to do is to tap into this usually inconspicuous market."
In fact, The Matrix is not the best example. After all, this movie does not have many iconic elements of R-rated movies, otherwise it would not have been approved for public release in China. So if you don't consciously understand it, many people will subconsciously classify this science fiction movie as PG-13.
It's a pity that the only R-rated movie that has a good box office is "The Matrix". It's not that there are no good R-rated movies, but the box office results are generally average. Even Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" only had a box office result of $107.9 million.
Compared to "The Matrix", an R-rated superhero movie is actually more convincing and representative, but "Deadpool", which has grossed $760 million worldwide, will not be released until 2016.
In fact, it was precisely because of "Deadpool", a movie that still achieved super high box office despite being sandwiched between two heavyweight superhero movies of the same type, "Captain America 3: Civil War" and "Batman v. Superman", that gave Nanaya the inspiration to choose "Goblin Slayer".
In fact, if this project was put in 2005, it might be much better, because in 2004, there was an R-rated movie called "The Passion of the Christ" which earned 610 million US dollars in the global box office. Because that movie was related to the crucifixion of Jesus, it had more R-rated elements and was more convincing.
Washimine Shion understood Nanaya's idea to some extent: "So you plan to make a movie in the "Saints and Brave Warriors" series based on the standards of "The Matrix"?"
Nanaya said very seriously: "Yes, I will try my best to match the special effects level of The Matrix. Although the final result still depends on the special effects team, I hope I can make this movie as perfect as possible. Of course, unlike The Matrix, which is a science fiction film, Goblin Slayer will have more R-rated elements, especially the protagonist's various methods of killing goblins, which will be the main selling point of the film."
Although there are many pornographic atrocities committed by goblins in the original novel, Nanaya does not intend to dwell too much on this aspect. He plans to describe more about goblins killing people and how goblin slayers kill goblins in various ways.
Looking at all the R-rated movies that have been a big hit at the box office, Nanaya knows very well that if an R-rated movie wants to sell well, blood and violence are fine, but it is best to keep the pornography to a moderate level.
Whether it's "Deadpool", "Logan" or "The Passion of the Christ", they didn't put R-rated elements in the color shots, at most they just showed it once or twice and that was it.
One reason for this is that, in part, too many colors can easily lead to a NG-17 rating. In addition, compared with colors, plasma films have a wider audience in Europe and the United States.
"So what about the plot? I noticed that you didn't use any of the main plot lines from the Saint and the Brave series. You only vaguely mentioned in the last battle that the priestess might be the reincarnation of the saint."
Nanaya replied as a matter of course: "Because the main plot of the original novel is too long. If we use the original main plot to tell the story, it simply cannot be told in one movie."
"Instead of thinking about how to compress the plot, it would be better to just start from scratch. Anyway, according to the world view of the "Saints and Brave" series, each generation of Saints and Braves is not the same person."
Nanaya felt that the blood of the predecessors should not be shed in vain, and this pit must be avoided. Facts have proved that the game-adapted movies made according to the original plot are basically dead, the only difference is how they die.
"Then why did you choose goblins as the theme? There are so many monsters in the game."
[You can ask Snail (the author of Goblin Slayer) about this question. How would I know? ]
Although he answered like this in his heart, Nanaya still took the initiative to tell his own reasons: "There are mainly two reasons. One reason is that goblins are the most common and lowest-level monsters in the game. Although they give everyone the subjective impression that they are very weak, there are actually many players who have been killed by goblins in the game and turned the tables. Designing goblins as the main enemies will give game fans a sense of familiarity, and for passers-by, the goblins that they originally had a very weak impression of are actually very difficult enemies. This difference will bring them a sense of freshness."
Nanaya was not lying. When he played Breath of the Wild in his previous life, he died most often at the hands of those Pokbulins (a monster race similar to goblins in Zelda). In the early stage, he couldn't defeat them because of his poor equipment. In the later stage, because the game difficulty increased, he would always be killed by the silver Pokbulins in a few knives.
Especially since these guys always appear in groups and always cause a lot of trouble to Nanaya. In this respect, they are similar to the goblins in the world of "Goblin Slayer".
"What's the second reason?" asked Washimine Shion hurriedly.
"The cost of making goblins is cheaper than other monsters. Most monsters can be dealt with by just makeup, so there is more money left for making special effects."
"..."
Nanaya's answer was so straightforward that Shion Washimine didn't know what to say, but Shion had to admit that this sentence did make sense.
After all, no matter how rich Washimine is, it is impossible for him to invest unlimited funds in the production of a movie. Nanaya's answer was obviously considering himself as the investor.
"One last question. I see the time stamp here says the release date is preferably mid-2002 or mid-2003. Why is that?"
Shion was somewhat curious about Nanaya's specially marked release time.
Nanaya quickly continued to explain, "We need to stagger the film with those two heavyweight series, because my market positioning for this film is to deeply tap into the audiences who are attracted by the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series and pay attention to Western fantasy themes, and fill the gap while they are waiting for the sequels of these two series. Therefore, there needs to be a little time interval between these two films, so as to keep up with the popularity of these two competitors but not get too close to them."
"I understand. Please leave your draft with me first. I need to discuss it with other senior executives of Washimine before making a decision."
When Washimine Shion said this, it meant that the interview was over.
"I understand, Chairman Washimine. I will look forward to your reply."
Nanaya realized that it was time for him to leave, so he tactfully left the office.
"Iioka, what do you think?"
After Nanaya left, Washimine Shion looked at the plan on the table and asked her assistant.
Iioka, who was standing behind Shion, said sternly, "Chairman, at least Director Kiryu takes this project much more seriously than the other candidates."
Although Iioka did not think that the R-rated movie idea proposed by Nanaya would be a good idea, at least the reasons and ideas given by the other party were very complete, which was very different from other directors participating in the bidding.
Those directors either ignore the laws of the market and want to make a movie they want to make, or they just do it perfunctorily with mediocre and boring movie scripts.
While a good script doesn't necessarily make a good movie, a bad script won't necessarily make a bad movie.
However, Iioka could see from this that these people had a nonchalant attitude towards this project. From this point of view alone, Nanaya left a much better impression on him than others.
After all, apart from the issue of film ratings, Nanaya is the only one who has considered everything carefully and put forward a feasible proposal. It is much better than those guys who don't even have clear information about the release of "The Lord of the Rings".
"It's not like we haven't approached other Hollywood or Japanese directors before," Iioka said matter-of-factly. "But most of the proposals they came up with couldn't meet our requirements. They either followed the traditional approach or followed their own logic and didn't come up with proposals based on our actual situation. Although the plan that Director Kiryu came up with went beyond the general scope, it was the most comprehensive one."
"Yeah." Washimine Shion's tone became a little sad. She said with a helpless and regretful tone, "To be honest, if this movie was not an adaptation of the game "Saints and Brave Men", I think it would be a very good movie project. Unfortunately, we don't have any plans to shoot extra movies now."
Iioka asked calmly, "So, what are you going to do? Reject this project?"
The unhappy expression on Washimine Shion's face disappeared. After a long silence, she shrugged and said, "Let's save it first. If there is really no other suitable choice, then this project may be our last choice. However, Director Kiryu mentioned about the interest of European and American audiences in the R-rated market... Iioka, you should make a report on the interest of European and American players in R-rated games, and then give it to Brother Iwata. This may be a pleasant surprise."
Iioka nodded and said, "I understand."
Then, Washimine Shion threw the Nanaya Plan into the drawer. She even felt that she might never see this handwritten plan again in her life.
However, the development of reality is always unexpected.
Two weeks later, just when Nanaya thought he had been eliminated and had forgotten about the "Goblin Slayer" project, he received a call from Washimine Shion herself.
"I'm so sorry, Director Kiryu." Washimine Shion said in a helpless and frantic tone, "Regarding the Goblin Slayer project you mentioned before, can you tell us the details? We are ready to cooperate with you."
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Onigiri
Onigiri pS: Actually, there is another reason why those R-rated movies don’t use color. That is, the movie can be edited and then released in certain countries with strict censorship.
Yes, Mi-chan is talking about Germany.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
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