Chapter 176: Rebranding
Translated by me, edited by drpetro.
For any movie, there was always a limit to their budget.
Right from the inception of the movie, directors needed to look for investors from all around and make estimates. However, this estimate needed to be reasonable, otherwise wasn’t everyone in the sh*tters when the movie only rakes in 400 million on a 500 million budget?
This movie had a budget of 200 million, with 50 million going towards special effects. This was already the limit of what Ding Yin could squeeze out.
Xue Ninggong, being second in the list of major shareholders, of course knew exactly how much budget they had left.
Now with Ye Qing providing them with a perfectly recreated spaceship, they could save a lot on the effects side.
It was just how much was the two ship in front of them worth……
Honestly speaking, there wasn’t anything in the world that was worthless. As long as you met the right buyer, even a pieces of rotten wood could be worth a fortune.
These two ships were clearly worth an abysmal amount just by their appearance. The perfection in its every detail had reached the utmost limit on what they thought a spaceship should look like. It was to the point where even the most picky viewer wouldn’t be able to say anything about it.
This wasn’t just the outside. The inside’s level of detail was just as on par, from the cockpit to the drive chamber, it all followed the detailed plan of the original design.
Hence no matter if it was Xue Ninggong or Ding Yin, they all felt that these two ships cost at least 30 – 40 million to make.
These two ships, to say the ugly truth, needed to be bought no matter the cost.
The original estimate of 20ish million for spaceship effects now seemed like it needed at least 50 million.
Thus under these tight budget restrictions, Xue Ninggong suddenly thought of the perfect answer.
To let Ye Qing invest through product branding, such that no matter if it was the suit she was wearing or these two shock and awe ships, they would all have the Monster Heavy Industry logo clearly engraved.
Originally, this futuristic fantasy movie was already hard to find investors for. Many large companies, as soon as they hear aliens and spaceships, would be immediately shaking their heads like no tomorrow.
Even with the reputation of Ding Yin and Xue Ninggong, it still couldn’t face the harsh reality of the domestic movie scene.
But now it was all different. With the confidence Xue Ninggong had in the movie, Oscars might be a long shot, but domestic movie awards, like the hardest to get fantasy movie award, would just be too easy.
And all this confidence was gifted completely by Ye Qing.
Xue Ninggong’s idea was also soon thought of by Ding Yin.
This movie doesn’t just need a spaceship, but due to being a fully fledged fantasy movie, there were also a bunch of other scenes involving fantasy mechanics. Hence, with Ye Qing in the mix, then where was the need to worry later on?
“Brother Ye ~ let’s talk inside.” Xue Ninggong looked at Ye Qing with mysterious eyes.
Oh? Wait what?! ‘Physical payment’?
While Ye Qing was thinking of all kinds of things, the moment he lifted up his foot, the whitening Ding Yin also butted in.
While inside the crew’s guest trailer, Ye Qing sat down on the soft sofa and listened to Xue Ninggong’s ‘perfect’ idea with a somewhat blank expression.
As she was actually inviting Ye Qing to invest in the movie through technical skills, the movie would dedicate a major portion of scene time to include advertisements for [Monster Heavy Industry] in return.
The movie had a total budget of 200 million and Xue Ninggong and Ding Yin both estimated the two ships to be around 50 million total. Wanting to use advertising opportunities to exchange for high quality mechanics and other mechanical components was still quite off the mark.
Which was why apart from the advertising chances, when the movie premiered, Ye Qing would also receive a portion of the box office equal to his investments.
Of course, all the other fantasy mechanics needed for the film must be provided free of charge by Ye Qing.
[The Extraterrestrial Her] had great hope for box office success, and Ye Qing with just 10 million in production costs, would actually be able to have a great chance to advertise the company, and even receive a cut of the box office.
Which was why Ye Qing had absolutely no reason to reject this offer, no company in their right mind would reject this offer.
“This…… This is truly a perfect idea for both parties.” Ye Qing stated a bit helplessly: “Then it’s settled, I’ll provide you with all your mechanical needs.”
“But my company’s logo right now is too simple; only carved letters of [Monster Heavy Industry], so I need to redesign it for a better impression.”
“No problem, the prettier the better.” Hearing Ye Qing accept the terms, Xue Ninggong’s face practically said it all: the rice is cooked.
These kind of terms were also great for the film crew. No only did they get the technical support of a major industrial corporation, they also didn’t have to worry about exceeding the budget and potentially not even breaking even.
“For the final details, I’ll leave it to my lawyers.” Ye Qing stood up and commented to his two new business partners: “Since we’re all on the same boat now, give me a list of all mechanical pieces and machines you’re going to need, and I’ll get someone to make it all.”
“No worries, I’ll have someone get the list asap.” Ding Yin’s laughter could clearly be heard as he thought of just how much of a milestone this movie would be with the Monster Heavy Industry in the mix.
“Then it’s settled, I’ll stop interrupting your filming schedules.”
When Ye Qing said goodbye to the two and arrived back at the Dragon Creek Beach, he had already received an email with details on all the mechanical components and machines the movie was going to need.
Not a lot, but they all had their challenges to make.
For example, in the later parts of the movie, the female lead would help the male lead in farming by using the ship explorer to plant the seeds and utilize the ship’s defence system to spray silver iodide into the sky for man-made rain.
Ye Qing, having finished his detailed examination, pulled out some pen and paper, and began to create some sketches according to his needs and wants.
He wasn’t drawing the explorer, rather it was the logo of Monster Heavy Industry; the new face of the company.
The logo of any company was a statement of their brand. It was also what customers used to separate it from the rest.
Currently the logo of the company was all Chinese characters, very normal and very basic. However, now that they were going to be on screen big time, the current logo possessed no chance in neither appearance or as an interest raiser.
Which was why Ye Qing needed to redesign the logo to be more impressing.
Take the logos of Apple or Microsoft for example, even if it were people who had never used them, they would still be able to tell who was who.
Redesigning the logo wasn’t a big problem. All that was needed was to fill in the necessary paperwork and give it to a professional trademark agency to correct before filing the request with the trademark office.
Many tech companies loved to change their logo every so often, now it was Ye Qing’s turn to do it.
For the Monster Heavy Industry, the new logo needed to clearly show off two thing about the company: the Monster, and the Heavy Industry.
Thinking up to there, Ye Qing, with only the piece of paper in front of him, sketched out a rough profile of his envisions.
