DreamWorks CEO: DreamWorks has turned the corner. World-class quality requires world-class patience

Katzenberg told reporters,"Whether it's Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, it takes four to five years to make a world-class animated film, and this practice has actually existed for a long time."

Original title: Interview with DreamWorks Animation CEO: DreamWorks SKG is not superstitious about big data, only superstitious about patience and good stories

. Founded in 1994, DreamWorks SKG is one of the top independent studios in Hollywood (Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Colombia). The SKG in its company name represents three Hollywood powerful figures: Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Katzenberg is the head of the animation business of this independent company. Before DreamWorks, he was the chairman of Disney Animation Studios.

In 2004, DreamWorks spun off its animation division to form DreamWorks Animation, which was listed on NASDAQ in the same year. After Blue Sky Studios and Pixar "married" into 20th Century Fox and Disney respectively, DreamWorks Animation became almost the only one of Hollywood's major independent animation companies.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Katzenberg

, a Hollywood animation production company that has produced the "Kung Fu Panda" series,"How to Train the Dragon" series,"Madagascar" series, and "Shrek" series, is no stranger to China movie audiences-world-quality animated films produced by DreamWorks Animation can be seen in theaters every year.

In February 2012, DreamWorks Animation (45%) and Chinese Cultural Industry Fund (55%) announced in Los Angeles the establishment of a joint venture between Oriental DreamWorks (Shanghai Oriental DreamWorks Film and Television Technology Co., Ltd., Oriental DreamWorks/ODW). Three years later, on April 18, Oriental DreamWorks, China Film Group and DreamWorks Animation jointly announced the co-production agreement for "Kung Fu Panda 3", which means that the third part of the series officially became the first Sino-US co-production animated film. "We have established a world-class animation company in Shanghai that brings together top creative talents. As their first work," Kung Fu Panda 3 "will showcase their outstanding results." Katzenberg was quite excited about this landmark cooperation at the press conference that day.

Before the press conference, Hu Xian had a face-to-face interview with Katzenberg on the recent crisis of DreamWorks Animation, China's animation industry and China's film industry.

DreamWorks Animation has turned

the corner. In the past year, rumors have been flying around DreamWorks Animation. Since three or four previous films suffered box office failures in North America, its finances have faced a crisis, which has triggered many speculations in the market and many news It is pointed out that it will be sold, following in the footsteps of Blue Sky Animation and Pixar. Katzenberg was blunt about the crisis."I also wish we would succeed and not fail, but all film companies in history have faced the same problem."

Not long ago, Katzenberg broke his arm and took layoffs to alleviate the crisis."I decided to reduce the annual production of our animated films from three films per year to two films per year, but this has nothing to do with some of our projects or work at Oriental DreamWorks." What really got DreamWorks out of the crisis was not these short-term first aid measures, but long-term persistence-making good animated films. "After we made these improvements, our latest release, Crazy Alien, has had a very good box office success ($54 million in its opening weekend in North America), and our financial resources are now very, very good, so we have no problems right now."

The second year after DreamWorks Animation split from DreamWorks (2005), the latter joined Viacom (Paramount's parent company), while DreamWorks Animation has stubbornly continued to be independent and has become one of the most successful entertainment brands in the world. Katzenberg enjoys the challenges and achievements of independence."We have been such an independent film company for the past two decades, and we are probably the only one in Hollywood to this day. We believe that as an independent company, we can continue to grow, we can continue to grow, and achieve great success."

Katzenberg's chicken soup for "learning success" is,"You still need to make good movies."

"Storytelling is a creative process, not science (big data)."

Since Netflix claimed to have relied on big data to produce the world-renowned series "House of Cards", Internet companies in China have been possessed. They have begun to sing about using big data to transform the creation of movies, and let big data tell directors, producers, and screenwriters how to tell a good story that audiences desire and hope for.

Katzenberg completely disagreed with this technological magic two years ago and said that he would never use big data. To this day, the "stubborn" he still has difficulty understanding this."I don't particularly understand the logic. Because storytelling is a creative process, not a science."

In Katzenberg's film outlook, good movies and good stories come from the mind, which is beyond measurement by science. "I think the most important point in storytelling is whether we do it with our heart, whether it can make people laugh, whether it can move people's hearts, and whether it can have real value. This is the most critical thing. Just like technology, we can have the most advanced technology and the best special effects, but if the story is not good, all this is meaningless."

"You might be able to ask the audience and they will answer, but I don't think their answers will be of great significance." Katzenberg doesn't believe it makes sense what the audience can clearly express what they want.

From creativity to release, an animated film can take as short as four or five years, and as long as seven or eight years. How can the audience predict their own "needs" in five years or even eight years?

World-class quality requires world-class patience

. In April 2013, when Katzenberg came to Huawei's "Crazy Primitives" platform to promote, he bluntly pointed out,"What China animation lacks now is patience. I learned that many China colleagues need to see the results in a day. To do a good job in animation, you must have good creativity and patience."

What kind of patience does it take? For DreamWorks Animation, with the world's top technology and talents, why does it take four to five years or even longer to produce an animated film, instead of two years or even one year like its counterparts in China (many big animated films during the Lunar New Year are produced every year)?

"Does it mean that someone can spend two to three years working on such a project instead of four to five years? The answer is yes and possible. So, is it possible for these films that took two to three years to achieve the same level of success as other films? The answer is no."

Katzenberg told reporters that most companies in the industry (Hollywood) are the same for an animated film that needs to reach world-class production standards."Whether it's Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, it takes four to five years to make a world-class animated film, and this practice has actually been around for a long time. For example, for Disney, it has been doing this for the past 80 years."

To what extent will this craftsmanship be "slow"? Katzenberg introduced in an interview in April 2013,"The movie" Crazy Primitives "has been prepared for eight years, and it takes a lot of time to adjust the story. Time and post-production is also improving. No matter how great a master uses the best equipment, he can only do it for three seconds a week."

Katzenberg doesn't believe that world-class quality can be achieved in two to three years without luck,"but for us, we don't rely on luck."

DreamWorks Animation is injecting this patience and the technology, talents and concepts that support it into Oriental DreamWorks. There is reason to believe that a world-class animation studio like Glendale in Los Angeles is being incubated in Xuhui Binjiang, Shanghai (home of Oriental DreamWorks Animation).

"About a year and a half ago, we started the first original film project of Oriental DreamWorks. In less than three years, everyone will be able to see this movie in theaters. "This is a world-class animated film original in China and produced by China that will take four and a half years to produce." One thing we must ensure is that the film not only has to be successful in China, but also has to be very competitive on a global scale and be able to succeed on a global scale."

Applause for other animation production companies in China

. In addition to Oriental DreamWorks, local film companies and independent animation production companies in China with world-class goals are also quietly emerging. Katzenberg also noted that compared to four years ago,"many companies have obviously shown greater interest in the animation industry, especially the production of animated films, and have invested more money."

Katzenberg also believes: "This is a very good thing, coupled with good competition, it is a very beneficial and valuable phenomenon for the entire industry. In particular, more and more people are enthusiastic and willing to make high-quality animated films, which is a very gratifying phenomenon for the entire industry."

Light Chasing Animation, a China independent animation film production company founded by Wang Wei, recently released the trailer for "Little Door God". Katzenberg praised this."I think it was done very well. I hope they can succeed. I am very happy to see their success. The founder of Chasing Light Company (Wang Wei) is also a very good entrepreneur with entrepreneurial spirit. He showed great enthusiasm for this project. I think it is very good and applaud him."

Katzenberg noticed strong competitors of Oriental DreamWorks, including Light Chasing Animation and Light Media,"These companies are making more and more investments in the animation field and are also starting many good animation projects. I hope that any of them will soon have a movie that can reach 1 billion yuan (box office)."

Of course, he, who came here this time to sign the contract for "Kung Fu Panda 3", did not forget to add the last sentence,"I would rather have a score of 1 billion RMB."

Editor: vian