Chapter 550: The Pace of Expansion

Chapter 550: The Pace of Expansion

Chapter 550: The Pace of Expansion

“Mr. Wang, this is our Inspire 2. It supports 4K/60fps video shooting, is equipped with a 1-inch 2000-megapixel sensor, and has a dynamic range of 12 stops. It is the first consumer drone to enter the mainstream production process of Hollywood.”

After the shareholders' meeting, DJI's technical director, accompanied by Wang Hao, introduced their latest products and new models under development in their own exhibition room.

“This is the Phantom 4 that we are selling hotly now. This is also the first time we have tried to integrate computer vision and machine learning technologies and introduce them into consumer products.

It can achieve obstacle perception (detection distance of 5 meters), intelligent following (support dynamic path planning) and point-to-point flight (users can plan the route by clicking on the screen) through the forward-looking binocular vision system.

It is a technological breakthrough, an innovation that combines artificial intelligence with hardware, making consumer drones intelligent for the first time.”

"This is the Matrice 600. It has a modular design and can carry a RED EPIC movie camera. Its flight time can reach 36 minutes (when equipped with a Zenmuse X5 camera). It also supports the Hasselblad medium format camera kit, which has pushed professional aerial photography into the medium format era."

"Not bad!"

Wang Hao listened to the technical director's introduction and looked at the dazzling array of consumer-grade drones in various shapes in front of him. He couldn't help but nodded and praised:

“DJI is developing very well now. Its photography technology is becoming more and more professional and targeted. I heard from the company’s North American branch that several big Hollywood companies have also started to purchase your equipment.”

Facing Wang Hao’s praise, DJI’s technical director remained reserved, but a hint of pride could not be concealed in his eyes.

"This is all thanks to the strong support of the Galaxy Group, Director Wang. Without your help, it would not be so easy for us to establish contact and trust with Hollywood."

"It's mainly because you have solid skills."

Wang Hao said this, but compared to the aerial photography equipment that can enter Hollywood, what Wang Hao values ​​more is actually the Phantom 4 among the three new drones.

Because of its three major functions, obstacle perception, intelligent following and guided flight, it has completely lowered the operating threshold of drones and promoted the transformation of drones from "toys" to "creative tools".

Especially now that Galaxy Group’s Douyin APP is developing rapidly, the creation of short videos and personal videos will inevitably have huge development space and market in the future.

The intelligence and simplification of drones can naturally help with short video creation.

For example, in the past, if you wanted to use aerial photography to produce professional-level film and television works, you might need a helicopter, professional operators, and professional photographers, but now all you need is a DJI drone.

With advanced filming equipment, coupled with the film and television production talents cultivated by Galaxy Group and a large number of film and television schools in recent years, and combined with the current development of Tik Tok short videos and Internet film and television platforms, Wang Hao seems to have seen the coming of a flourishing film and television culture.

Of course, there is still some time before this golden age arrives, and some things are still lacking.

However, Wang Hao believes that the future development trend of China's film and television culture industry is still very promising.

That’s right, although he has the memories of later generations and has witnessed the cold winter of the film and television industry in 24 and 25, Wang Hao still has great confidence in China’s film and television cultural industry.

This confidence does not come from the changes his rebirth has brought to the world. Although the emergence of Galaxy Group has indeed provided great support for the development of China's film and television culture industry, this is not the key.

What is the key to the future of China's film and television cultural industry? It is the development of science and technology, which makes the technology of film and television production more and more simple, popular and cheap.

It’s just like after the popularization of education and the Internet, ordinary people can also write articles on the Internet, express their opinions and share their stories.

When an ordinary person can also produce good film and television works on his own, no matter the work is a short video, a short film, a short drama, a micro-movie or an online movie, it means that the right to speak out through film and television works is decentralized to everyone.

At that time, everyone will be a creator and everyone will be an actor. The so-called celebrity directors will be worthless, and the golden age of film and television culture will arrive.

Wang Hao is extremely optimistic about this.

After all, before he traveled through time, the top internet celebrities on Tik Tok were actually no less popular than the second- and third-tier stars.

Take Liziqi for example. Who can say that the short videos she created are not good and excellent film and television cultural works?

And there is the cross-dressing Zhu Tiexiong. In terms of storytelling and special effects, how much worse are the short videos he created than those movies that only had a one-day tour in theaters?
Even the AI-generated "Luan Biao", isn't it more interesting than a diet pill?

Of course, it’s only 2016, so it’s a little early to consider this.

After all, TikTok is still in the development stage. More convenient and faster special effects software, editing software, dubbing software, as well as more advanced video AI and script AI, still only exist in laboratories.

However, with a longer-term vision, Wang Hao and Galaxy Group can better determine their future plans.

Just like the technical cooperation between Galaxy Group and DJI, they are currently mainly working in the direction of AI to make the control and shooting of drones more intelligent.

And they have achieved a lot.

In 2016, DJI applied for more than 1500 patents worldwide and was granted more than 400 patents. Its core technologies cover flight control, image transmission, gimbal and other fields, and its R&D investment accounts for more than 15% of its revenue.

As for Galaxy Group, although they are a film, television, cultural and entertainment company, they applied for more than 2015 patents worldwide in 1000 and authorized more than 100 patents. Their core technologies cover the entire process of film and television production, including virtual production, special effects algorithms, motion capture, film and television equipment, etc.

Moreover, Galaxy Group does not only engage in independent research and development. After attending the shareholders' meetings of OPPO and DJI, Wang Hao also took time out to visit several companies and met with many of the main leaders of the enterprises.

The first of these is Orange Sky Golden Harvest, a group company located in Shanghai Jingcheng District that is engaged in film production, financing, distribution and cinema operations.

The predecessor of this group company is actually Hong Kong's Golden Harvest, which was co-founded in 1970 by Asian film tycoons Raymond Chow, Ho Kuan-chang and Liang Feng.

In 2007, Wu Kebo became the largest shareholder of Golden Harvest through Orange Sky Entertainment Group (International) Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Orange Sky").

In August 2009, after Wu Kebo and Huiyou Capital launched a comprehensive acquisition, the group was renamed Orange Sky Golden Harvest and became one of the most influential Chinese-language film and entertainment groups.

Although it is still not as good as Galaxy Group, it is not much different from Huayi, which is in the process of decline.

"Welcome, Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang is really a promising young man!" After Wang Hao arrived at his company, Orange Sky Golden Harvest's CEO Wu Kebo did not choose to wait in the conference room, but chose to greet him at the company's gate.

Wang Hao was not surprised by the hospitality of this senior in the industry. Since he chose to visit, he naturally learned all the information the company had collected about Cheng Tian's family and their current situation before coming.

In recent years, although China's film and television cultural industry has been developing rapidly, not all old-fashioned film and television companies can keep up with the pace of the times like Galaxy Group.

Under the impact of the capital wave and a large amount of Internet hot money, there is more than one film and television entertainment company like Huayi that has blindly developed, rushed to go public, or declined after its peak.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest is also facing many problems nowadays.

According to information collected by Galaxy Group, Orange Sky Golden Harvest's domestic cinema business revenue in 2016 fell 12% year-on-year to only HK$9.2 million. It has been in a loss-making state for three consecutive years, and its full-year net loss has expanded to HK$2.3 million.

In addition, when Orange Sky acquired Golden Harvest, this old Hong Kong film and television entertainment company was already in a state of operational difficulties and heavily in debt.

Now that Orange Sky has taken over, it has not been operating very well, so that the debt snowball has continued to grow. The scale of long-term debt has reached HK$12.7 billion, and the annual interest expenditure accounts for 18% of the revenue, so that Orange Sky Golden Harvest's operating cash flow has been negative for 21 consecutive months.

It would be a lie to say that Wu Kebo is not anxious in this situation.

So when facing the God of Wealth who came to his door, he behaved very enthusiastically. He took Wang Hao to visit the company and introduced him carefully before leading him into the meeting room.

However, no matter how enthusiastic Wu Kebo was, Wang Hao was not here to do charity. As the saying goes, business is business. Not long after sitting down, Wu Kebo was already sweating profusely.

"Mr. Wu, the equipment in your cinema chain is very old. Among the 52 cinemas in the country, 37 are still using xenon lamp projectors. The average annual maintenance cost of a single screen is as high as 28.

Wanda and Dadi have already completed the upgrade of laser equipment. The output of a single screen is 42 yuan/year, while yours is only 25 yuan/year. After deducting the maintenance costs, your profit is completely negative!"

"Boss Wu, the average age of your cinema's screens is 6.8 years, which is 2.3 years longer than the industry average. I'm afraid you'll have to face a large-scale equipment upgrade in the future, right?"

"Boss Wu, although your cinema chain occupies 52 cinemas in the core business districts of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, the rental costs of these locations account for 22% of revenue, far exceeding the industry's warning line of 15%."

"Boss Wu, your Orange Sky Golden Harvest's own ticketing system has a market share of less than 1%. It mainly relies on our Tao Piao.com. We have all the data."

"Mr. Wu, the annual activity rate of your 2300 million members has dropped to 38%, and the box office contribution rate of members has dropped from 45% to 27%, which is much lower than Wanda's 72%."

"Mr. Wu..."

"alright, alright!"

Wang Hao waved his hand, interrupted the speeches of several people in his team, and blushed.

"Mr. Wu must know more about the operation of his own company than we do, so I won't talk about this."

Wu Kebo's face became extremely ugly due to the questioning, but he had to force a smile and nodded in agreement.

Although many companies have taken a fancy to Orange Sky Golden Harvest's cinema chain in recent times, there are actually not many that are truly reliable.

Therefore, facing the Galaxy Group's acquisition intention, he had to be cautious.

"Director Wang, although our Orange Sky Golden Harvest cinema chain does have some problems, its size is still there. If the price is too high, we will have a hard time explaining it to our shareholders and investors. We can only find another way."

Wang Hao nodded but did not comment.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest is now facing operational difficulties, and its cinema chain is even a negative asset. It is impossible for them to hold on to this hot potato for long.

And according to his memories of his previous life, next year, that is, in April 2017, Dadi Cinema Group will acquire Orange Sky Golden Harvest China Cinema business for 4 billion yuan, which also shows that they have an urgent intention to sell.

Although Galaxy Group can wait for Wanda to encounter problems before taking a piece of the pie, Wanda Cinemas is a high-quality asset and the competition will be more intense by then.

Therefore, while there is an opportunity now, it would be better to take over Orange Sky Golden Harvest’s cinema business first, which can be regarded as a backup.

As for the equipment obsolescence and operational problems faced by Orange Sky Golden Harvest's cinema business, those are problems for Orange Sky Golden Harvest, but not for Galaxy Group.

"Boss Wu, you don't have to worry. Since I came here in person this time, I must be here with sincerity.

You are also a senior in the industry, having worked in the industry for many years, and we are all in Beijing, so you must have heard about the way our Galaxy Group does things. "

Seeing Wang Hao's sincere words, Wu Kebo's expression improved a lot. He had indeed heard of Wang Hao's name and was also familiar with the business situation of the Galaxy Group. He knew that this company had a good reputation in the circle.

“We all know the current development status of Orange Sky Golden Harvest.

Galaxy Group does not want to be a company that monopolizes China's entertainment and cultural industries, nor is it possible for it to become such a company.

Our business philosophy has always been to hope that the domestic film and television industry can develop better and better, and that we can work together to make this cake bigger.

So this time we came here with plenty of goodwill.”

Wang Hao calmed Wu Kebo's resistance in this way, and at the same time, he made an in-depth and easy-to-understand analysis of Orange Sky Golden Harvest's current operating conditions. He also pointed out the current industry trends to him so that he could recognize the reality.

"The domestic film and television industry is developing at a rapid pace, and it is completely understandable that we cannot keep up with the progress.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest has actually done very well, but that's the market situation.

Especially with the entry of Internet capital, the ecosystem within the circle will only become more and more centralized and capitalized in the future, which requires a lot of money. Is Orange Sky Golden Harvest ready for this?
So in my opinion, Mr. Wu, instead of continuing to struggle on this asset-heavy path, you might as well take advantage of the current market conditions to actively seek transformation and choose to go light."

(End of this chapter)