My Animation Era

 Jiangchuan, Strawberry Kindergarten.

This is not the first time for Gu Miao to come here, but every time she comes, she comes and goes in a hurry and has not carefully observed the situation of this kindergarten.

 It coincides with parent-child activities. The kindergarten invites parents of children to visit the kindergarten and play parent-child games. He has to take time to come here.

I can only say that he is too busy.

Similar parent-child activities have been held several times before, but she missed them every time because she was too busy with work. Basically, Keke went to participate.

With Keke becoming pregnant, she was unable to participate in such parent-child activities, so the task naturally fell on Gu Miao.

 “Yo? What a coincidence!”

 Gu Miao didn't expect that when she came to the kindergarten to participate in her son's parent-child activities, she would meet an old acquaintance, Lao Wang, the former director of Honghe Cartoon TV, who had just retired this year.

After Lao Wang was transferred to Beijing as director, he was unable to be promoted because of his age. He officially went through the retirement process in March this year and returned to Jiangchuan for retirement.

Coincidentally, his granddaughter also attends Strawberry Kindergarten and is Xiao Sensen’s classmate.

This was the first time Gu Miao heard the news and couldn't help but sigh: "You also have a granddaughter. Why haven't I heard you mention it before?"

 “Don’t mention it…”

It seems that something happened. Lao Wang was not happy to talk about these things and said vaguely: "Young people are not sensible. They get divorced when they say divorce, and there is no one to take care of the children."

“I thought that I would have nothing to do after retirement, so I might as well take over the children and take care of them.”

Situations like this, where grandparents take care of children, are still quite common nowadays.

Taking the parent-child activity held by Strawberry Kindergarten as an example, at least seven out of ten parents who came to participate in the activity were elderly.

On the contrary, parents of the younger generation like Gu Miao are relatively rare.

 “How are you after retirement?”

 They are old friends after all. Gu Miao is very concerned about Lao Wang's retirement life and takes the initiative to ask him how he is doing recently and whether he needs help.

Lao Wang told Gu Miao that he was living a good life after retirement.

 Because his position before retirement was good, his retirement salary is higher than ordinary people imagine. With this generous retirement salary, there will be no problem whether he travels or plays cards for entertainment.

　　It’s just that the children don’t live up to expectations.

 Lao Wang has a daughter and a son. After graduation, the eldest son went to Pengcheng to work on electronic products and opened a small factory.

 A few years ago, when the business was still going well, life was indeed going well. However, in the past two years, because the digital world has become too busy, it has become increasingly difficult to run the factory business run by his son.

 His daughter didn’t let him worry either.

Her son-in-law was originally a very honest person, but she was forced to file for divorce. After the divorce, she cried all day long, but she missed her husband who was always submissive.

"Every family has its cupboard."

Gu Miao advised Lao Wang to be more open-minded. Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. He is already his age, so he should not worry about his children's affairs and just live his own life.

 Lao Wang is indeed quite old.

 At this age, the most important thing is good health and a peaceful mind. The more things you worry about, the faster you will grow old in the end.

“It’s easy to say, but how can you not worry about being a parent?”

Lao Wang shook his head, and then seemed to have thought of something. He couldn't help but frown and said, "By the way! Gu Sen is your son, right?"

"Yes what's the matter?"

 “You have the nerve to ask what’s wrong!”

Lao Wang was furious: "It's that brat of yours who plays tricks on my granddaughter in the kindergarten all day long, right?"

ah? Is there such a thing?

Gu Miao was shocked.

He knew that Xiao Sensen was very naughty. After all, he often received calls from the kindergarten teacher. He knew that this guy was dishonest in the kindergarten and was like a demon king.

 But he really didn’t expect that he would bully his classmates at such a young age!

  What a bastard!

Upon hearing this, Gu Miao quickly called her son who was playing on the slide and asked him if this happened.

"I did not do it on purpose…"

Xiao Sensen said aggrievedly: "I just want to make friends with her, so I often talk to her, and I don't bully anyone!"

 Who taught you this?

 Making friends is all you need to do, why do you still make this little girl cry? Is this how you make friends?

In front of Lao Wang, Gu Miao felt a little embarrassed. Xiao Sensen, a brat, needed to be dealt with properly.

 Hit him when you get back!

 After Lao Wang called his granddaughter, Gu Miao gently patted his son on the head and asked him to apologize to the little girl.

 “Yes...I’m sorry!”

Although Xiao Sensen is a bit of a devil, his father is the plus version of the devil. Under the suppression of the big devil, the little devil can only bow his head and admit his mistake.

“I’ll beat him when I get back. Don’t worry, Lao Wang, this kid is not bad in nature, he’s just a little naughty...”

 “Okay, why are you beating the child?”

Lao Wang waved his hand and said: "I just said it casually, do you take it seriously? My granddaughter is good at everything, she is just a little weak and shy, she is fine."

Weak and shy?

Looking at the little girl hiding behind Lao Wang and holding on to his sleeve, Gu Miao quite agreed with this assessment.

 This little girl seems to be very shy and shy probably because of her family. It is no wonder that she was scared to tears by Xiao Sensen. After all, her son's "Social Awesomeness" is not something that ordinary people can deal with.

　　It’s quite embarrassing to say.

 In front of him, Xiao Sensen could only tremble and pretend to be pitiful.

As soon as the results came out, he was a real social expert, and he didn't know who this brat learned from. He could make a few sentences with everyone.

 It’s not Ma Kui, right?

Gu Miao, who once again blamed Ma Kui, found that Lao Wang's granddaughter was a little out of place in the kindergarten, so she told Xiao Sensen to take more care of this classmate.

 He and Lao Wang have been friends for many years.

 Lao Wang's granddaughter couldn't find a playmate in school because of her personality. Naturally, Xiao Sensen had to shoulder the heavy responsibility and use She Niu's talents to change this little girl.

 “Don’t tell me, this is really a good idea!”

 Lao Wang is happy to see this happen.

He also discovered that Xiao Sensen is indeed a social cow. If his granddaughter can interact more with such a social cow, she might become more cheerful and talkative.

certainly!

 Children of this age will not ask too much.

It's a good thing to make friends, but it doesn't matter if you don't. It won't affect the friendship between parents or parents.

 Parent-child activities are boring.

 At least in Gu Miao's eyes, it was boring. It was nothing more than parents taking their children to play various emotional games in accordance with the teacher's instructions and arrangements.

 What's the use of this?

 His relationship with Xiao Sensen still needs to be cultivated? He gets angry when he sees his son, and his itchy hands can't help but want to beat him. This kind of feeling doesn't need to be cultivated anymore, right?

Continue to cultivate, he was afraid that Xiao Sen Sen couldn't bear the thick father's love like Dashan.

 “Do you have time? Let’s talk?”

 After the parent-child activity in the kindergarten, Gu Miao took the initiative to invite Lao Wang and his granddaughter to his home for dinner and talk about Lao Wang's affairs. Before Lao Wang retired, he was the leader responsible for the domestic animation industry.

 Although he has retired, his connections and understanding are still there.

 The most important thing is that he knows the domestic review standards for animation works and can clearly give review opinions.

 This is very important to Wanbao Animation!

 So, Gu Miao wanted to hire him as a special reviewer of Wanbao Animation. You don’t need to do anything else, you just need to put forward some targeted modification suggestions before the new work comes out.

 “Isn’t this bad?”

 Lao Wang enjoys his current retirement life and does not want to continue to worry about too many things.

However, Gu Miao later said that he would open multiple animation IP licenses to Lao Wang’s son’s electronics factory to produce so-called joint products, and Lao Wang gave in.

 Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings?

 That's bullshit!

 Even if you are old, who would refuse if you can help your children and grandchildren?

 Besides, this matter is not difficult, and it does not violate the so-called disciplinary regulations.

 He only serves as a special consultant to help Wanbao Animation's new works and provide revision and review opinions.

Gu Miao also said it.

 For ordinary works, he will not bother Lao Wang, but there are some animations with special nature or special themes that may require the help of Lao Wang, a professional.

 For example "Hell Girl 2"!

 The opinions given by Lao Wang may not be entirely correct, but after all, he is a retired old man in the system, and his evaluation standards in this regard are basically consistent with the current standards.

In other words, animations that he thinks can pass the review will probably pass, and animations that he thinks will not pass the review will probably not pass.

After hiring Lao Wang as a special review consultant, Gu Miao also took a look at the "Three Thousand Questions of the Naughty Blue Cat" project to him and asked whether this type of popular science animation could obtain certain subsidies and support.

"OK."

Lao Wang made a judgment and said: "The official has always had subsidies and support policies for animations that popularize science knowledge. You just need to apply."

“But your Wanbao shouldn’t be short of this subsidy, right?”

 Smaller animation companies can just cheat on subsidies by producing animations. Why do big companies like Wanbao still focus on those subsidies?

 “Mosquito legs are also meat.”

Gu Miaole said happily: "Besides, the number of episodes in the "Blue Cat Three Thousand Questions" series is quite large. Even if the subsidy is a little smaller, the total is not low."

 Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes!

 In the current domestic animation industry, thanks to the leading effect of Wanbao, most companies do not attach much importance to subsidies and support.

 But after all, there are a lot of episodes of "Three Thousand Questions of Naughty Blue Cat". If there is a subsidy, it would be quite good...

By the way.

 As the glorious beginning of Wanbao Animation and the origin of everything, the "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" series that initially received subsidies are still subsidized.

no way!

Who keeps this series going? If you don’t do it one day, the subsidy may stop being distributed!

 …

 In the blink of an eye, Lao Wang retired.

Thinking back to the scene when they first collaborated, Gu Miao still clearly remembers that time when Lao Wang’s hair had not turned gray yet.

 But now it is half white.

　　Not only is Lao Wang's hair turning gray, Master Cao, who joined Wanbao in his early years and did not want a salary but only wanted to see domestic animation go global, has also turned gray.

 “Almost ten years!”

Lao Zhang was a little curious, so he asked: "Next year it will be the tenth anniversary of Wanbao Animation. Should we hold an event to celebrate it?"

 “Let’s talk about next year’s affairs next year.”

Gu Miao shook her head and said immediately: "And next year, "Journey to the West 3D" should be almost ready. By then, this animation will be used as the tenth anniversary commemorative work."

 This year is only halfway through.

 It would be too anxious to think about next year now.

And to be honest, Gu Miao didn’t have many special thoughts about the tenth anniversary of Wanbao Animation.

Although ten years have passed by in a flash and it feels like a long time has passed, in Gu Miao's view, not much has changed in the past few years.

 After all, he is still the same.

Except for being about to turn four years old and the wolfberries in the thermos, everything else is the same as before. He doesn't feel that there is any difference between now and a few years ago.

 If I must say it, my mentality has changed.

 A few years ago, he was always worried about whether the new work would hit the streets and whether the ratings would be sluggish. Worried about this and that, he always felt that Wanbao would not survive the second year.

 But now he is not worried.

With Wanbao’s current foundation and the team of producers such as Huang Kun, Hou Bin, and Guo Hongwei, the survival problem has been solved.

 The next thing to consider is more about making some animations that you like, rather than making money for the sake of making money.

  He has passed the stage of making money purely for the sake of making money, and now he is still insisting on producing new works, mostly because of his love.

For example, "Three Thousand Questions of Naughty Blue Cat".

This series is profitable, but it is not as profitable as Dragon Riders. Gu Miao simply liked it, so she made this series.

 He looks a lot like Dave now.

Dave from the North American branch has received too many achievements and honors, and now he takes all fame and fortune lightly. Making animation is all based on love and interest.

 The new season TV animation of "Tom and Jerry" perfectly reflects this point.

　　　"New Tom and Jerry" was launched shortly after the completion of the first season of the Superman animation, and its main focus is to renew the schedule.

As the orthodox sequel to the world-famous IP "Tom and Jerry", the story of Tom and Jerry this season is simply unconstrained and imaginative.

 Anything can be stuffed in it.

 The key point is that the audience who saw these elements did not find it problematic at all, but found it very interesting.

 The original Tom and Jerry were more like animals than people.

 But in the new season of "Tom and Jerry," Dave gives Tom and Jerry human thoughts and gestures.

Tom played the piano, drove a car, and even skated and skied. Every move he made was no different from a real person.

Same for Jerry.

  Audiences who have an impression still remember that Jerry was a "greedy" mouse at the beginning, and most of the stories revolved around "stealing".

 But now Jerry has got rid of his identity as a mouse and has become like a human being.

The fights or chases between him and Tom are no longer about stealing food or making trouble, but are similar to "dramatic" conflicts...

 In the past, Jerry was the culprit of naughty disturbances. If he did not steal food or cause trouble, Tom would not trouble him, let alone trigger a series of subsequent incidents.

 But now, even if Jerry does nothing and sleeps in the cave, Tom will come to him and trouble him, thus creating a series of interesting confrontations.