Chapter 587

"After talking about the actor cost, let's take a look at the cost of various sundry props. I noticed that among the $30 million props, 15 million is the cost of making fixed buildings such as studios. We won't discuss this for the time being. The key to our problem is the remaining 15 million props."

"These props are as small as a wine glass and sell for only 30 cents outside, but they cost 30 dollars here. As big as a huge crystal chandelier of 300000 dollars, don't Mr. Jon think these things are a little too expensive?"

"There are also these luxury decorations. Although most of the luxury goods are counterfeit, all of them, such as fur and backpacks, are required to be the same genuine goods in that year. The total cost of these luxury goods is as high as $8 million. Is this a little too high?" boss Jia asked, pointing to the items on the list.

"Well... There's no way. If the film is to be made really, it must have these things, because it was in 1912, so all the furnishings should conform to the style and characteristics of 1912!"

"But now it has been more than 80 years since 1912. No one is producing these old objects. All props need to be specially customized and then made by hand. These are things that can not be produced by assembly line. They can only rely on labor!"

"In the United States, labor and assembly line are two different prices. For the same thing, the assembly line costs only one dollar, and labor may cost 100 dollars. There is no way to pay such a high price!" Jon thought boss Jia was a Chinese and didn't know the national conditions of the United States, so he patiently explained.

"Mr. Jon doesn't have to explain. I don't have any questions about the price of this list. In fact, I'm very sure that these things are really worth the price in the United States!" boss Jia said with a smile, and Jon didn't understand.

Since boss Jia knows the truth, why do you have to talk nonsense?

"But as Mr. Jon said just now, the reason why these things are expensive is that they all need to be made by hand, and the materials themselves are not outstanding, right?" boss Jia asked with a smile.

"Hmm!" Jon nodded.

"Then let's find a place where workers' wages are cheap to buy these things!" boss Jia narrowed his eyes and said.

"What do you mean, Mr. Jia?" Jon was stunned.

"I mean, why do we have to buy these props in the United States? We can buy them in China!" boss Jia snapped his fingers and the Secretary behind sent a thick report.

Then boss Jia said, "in fact, I have inquired about these props. We can make them in China, and the price is very cheap!"

"Huaxia?" Jon was stunned for a moment, then instinctively showed a skeptical expression and said, "Mr. Jia, it's not that I have any prejudice against Huaxia, but Huaxia seems to be a little backward in technology. Can they really make these things?"

"Ha ha!" boss Jia couldn't help laughing "Mr. Jon, if we want to make modern films, I may also worry about the level of scientific and technological production. But our film is a film describing 1912, which is 80 years away from now. Even if China's scientific and technological level lags behind the world for 50 years, it is enough to make old things in 1912!"

"That's true..." Jon nodded.

"And I've seen that many of these things need some old traditional equipment to be produced. These equipment have been eliminated in the United States. It's also very convenient to see that there are still many in China!"

"Believe me, I have done a very detailed survey. In this list, there are indeed about 10% of the old objects that cannot be made in China and can still be made in the United States. However, the remaining 90% can be guaranteed to be made in China without any problems!"

"So..." Jon hesitated. "But American and Chinese are two styles, and these old objects have many details. Chinese people are different from American people, so they may not be able to perfectly restore these things!"

"Don't worry about it! As long as you can provide us with pictures and drawings, there won't be much difference. Boss Jia waved his hand." Mr. Jon, do you still remember 1912? "

"I was born in 1932..." Jon was stunned. "How could he have seen something in 1912!"

"That's right. How many people in the United States can still remember the events of 1912 and so many furnishings and objects in 1912. They don't have a real memory. How do they know whether these things are perfect in detail? As long as the overall atmosphere is there, they won't question it!" boss Jia said faintly.

Things in 1912 are similar to ancient costume films. No one really cares about many details. Besides, boss Jia has tried to be perfect, but there will never be perfect in the world.

"But..." Jon Landau hesitated.

"Five million dollars!" boss Jia suddenly said, "it's only five million dollars to do these 15 million things in China. And if there's a problem, I'll be responsible for everything!"

"That's no problem!" Jon closed his mouth, saving another $10 million. Compared with $10 million, some details are really nothing.

Besides, to be honest, things produced in China are not necessarily worse than those produced by Americans!

"In this way, we can save $20 million!" boss Jia smiled, then pointed to the special effects and said, "in addition, in terms of special effects, I think we can save at least half, that is, $20 million!"

"20 million dollars? It's impossible. Cameron will never compromise. It's the cost of special effects!" Jon immediately fried the pot and said immediately.

"Don't reduce the level of special effects. Don't worry, we won't reduce the level of special effects! There must be some special effects, even better than the original plan!" boss Jia said with a smile.

"That's even more impossible! Mr. Jia, you don't want to give the special effects to your Chinese people!" Jon was worried "Mr. Jia, with all due respect, you Chinese people may be able to do other things, but in terms of special effects, only we Americans can do them all over the world. You Chinese don't even have a special effects studio, so you can't do the special effects needed by the Titanic, which will destroy the film!"

"We have invested more than $100 million, but we can't save $20 million in special effects!"

"Calm down! Mr. Jon, calm down!!" boss Jia patted Jon on the shoulder and smiled. "Mr. Jon, I mean to reduce the number of special effects, not the quality of special effects. Similarly, all special effects are still done by you Americans. As you said, we Chinese can't do special effects of this level at present!"

"Isn't that the same truth? What's the difference between reducing the number of special effects and destroying special effects?" Jon's face flushed.

"Listen to me, the so-called special effect is to shoot scenes that can't be shot in reality, right?" boss Jia asked with a smile.

"Well, there's no mistake..."

"That's right. Some lenses really can't be shot in reality, so we have to do special effects. But some special effects lenses can also be shot in reality. Just because of the cost, we have to use special effects lenses!"

"But how about the perfect special effect lens? Can the picture taken from the real scene be perfect?"

"Mr. Jia, what on earth do you want to say?" Jon was confused by boss Jia.

"I mean it's very simple!" boss Jia laughed. "In fact, I think director Cameron's initial idea is quite good. We might as well build a titanic and let him sink to the bottom of the sea. How perfect and real the picture must be!"