2016年年初，PO朝霆两大创始人杨文杰和谢霆锋把公司大部分股份出售给了香港上市公司数字王国集团有限公司（Digital Domain Holdings），中国最大规模的后期制作公司就此成立，更名为数字王国中国公司（Digital Domain China）。
In early 2016, Post Production Office (PO) founders Dennis Yeung and Nicholas Tse sold more than half of the company to Hong Kong-listed firm Digital Domain Holdings, creating one of the largest postproduction companies in China, now known as Digital Domain China (DDC).
此次收购，也是PO朝霆成立14年以来的标志性大事件。市场大环境动荡起落，很多竞争对手纷纷关门歇业，而PO朝霆却可谓是稳步扩张，14年的历史在中国可谓是老公司了。公司不断累计技能，积累资源，致力于将自身打造成一家全面的后期制作公司。
SHP+在上海采访了数字王国中国的COO杨文杰，深入了解新公司还有最初这一年公司所做的三大项目。
The acquisition represents a major landmark in PO’s 14-year history, long by Chinese standards, in which the company has survived a volatile, inhospitable environment and steadily expanded while competitors have fallen away. It also armed it with the expertise and resources needed to pivot toward becoming a more creative post production company.
SHP+ met Yeung, COO of Digital Domain China, in Shanghai to track PO’s journey, learn more about the new incarnation and reflect on three key jobs from Digital Domain China’s first year of operations.
数字王国中国首席运营官：杨文杰 | Dennis Yeung, COO of Digital Domain China
从香港到大陆 | Hong Kong to China
2002年香港艺人谢霆锋决定改变中国电影和音乐录影带后期制作总是要包给澳大利亚或是泰国公司来做的现状。他找到了音效师好友杨文杰。杨文杰加入后，团队由最初的八人逐渐壮大，到2009年公司已经占到了香港后期市场50%的份额。
In 2002, in a bid to pick up feature films and music video postproduction work that had previously been going to Australia and Thailand, actor Nicholas Tse decided to start his own studio in Hong Kong. Tse reached out to friend and Hong Kong sound designer, Dennis Yeung. Yeung came on board and, from an initial team of eight, the expansion began. By 2009, Yeung estimates PO had over 50% of the market share in Hong Kong.
谢霆锋，PO朝霆创始人，香港艺人| Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong actor and founder of PO
香港市场不断发展壮大，但是谢霆锋和杨文杰却预料到市场即将走下坡路，杨文杰说，“我们两个人坐下来边喝咖啡及边想办法，我们觉得该打入大陆市场，整个谈话其实就15分钟。”
2009年，PO朝霆上海工作室成立，最初只有四个人，一个调色和一个粗剪设备，专门制作电视广告后期。
The Hong Kong market was booming, but Tse and Yeung saw a downturn coming. “Nicholas and I had a coffee to decide what to do next”, says Yeung “We just said, let’s go to China. The conversation was like 15 minutes.”
In 2009, PO established a studio on Xinhua Lu, Shanghai, with four people, one grading and one offline suite, focused exclusively on TV commercial postproduction.
他说，“最初的一年很艰辛，上海的客户只问价格，不谈质量。”公司希望趁着后期剪辑的转型期（35mm到数字剪辑）巩固自己在市场的地位。但是客户却战战兢兢，“大家都觉得数字剪辑不好，还是想要35mm。所以我们也是一度受到客户的攻击。”但是公司还是不断壮大，一年之后搬到了上海紅坊艺术区里。
“The first year was very difficult.” says Yeung, “Clients in Shanghai are not asking for quality first, they ask for budget.” PO’s idea had been to capitalise on the industry’s transition from 35mm to digital, but clients were balking at the changes, “People were saying digital was no good, they still wanted 35. We got attacked a lot by clients.” Nonetheless, a year later, PO expanded into a six-room studio in the Red Town Art District.
PO朝霆参与制作：《捉妖记》| Monster Hunt: some invovlment from PO on post
2012年，公司瞄准了北京市场，关注起中国蒸蒸日上的电影产业。每到一个新的地方，总是要有一番周折，学习在所难免，“我们以为挺简单的，但是其实在北京都是靠人脉和关系。”2014年PO朝霆开足马力，“24小时不停”地参与了32部电影后期制作，2015年又参与了60部。现在北京公司已经200多人了。
In 2012, PO set its sights on Beijing and China’s burgeoning movie industry. Again, Yeung says, a new city presented a steep learning curve, “We thought it would be easy, but everything there is about connections and relationships.” Nonetheless, working at “full capacity, 24 hours a day” PO postproduced 32 feature films in 2014, followed by 60 more in 2015. These days, the studio employs over 200 people.
公司屹立不倒的秘诀 | The Key To Longevity
众所周知，中国后期制作市场出了名的难做，尤其是2009年那一阵市场混乱又缺乏监管，但是PO朝霆却挺过来了。对于那些国外后期公司竞争对手，他们也毫不畏惧。Smoke & Mirrors, Digital District，Pixomondo 上海，这些外国公司来了又去，而PO朝霆依然屹立不倒。
Mainland China’s postproduction industry is a notoriously difficult environment, yet PO has endured. When foreign competition arrived, PO held its own. Smoke & Mirrors, Digital District and Pixomondo Shanghai came and went. More recently, the company has fended off potent competition from major players like MPC and Fin.
数字王国中国作品：百事迪士尼篇 | Digital Domain China: Pepsi Disney
杨文杰说，公司之所以能屹立不倒，主要在于三方面：服务、品质、能力。“PO朝霆跟其他公司不同，我们会建立自己的核心全职团队，提供必需的资源。”比如去年七月份，“一个含有21部TVC的项目占用了我们所有设备，只有我们有这样的全套设备，客户也很满意，在我们这里可以享受一站式服务。”
Yeung says PO’s longevity is attributable to three factors: service, quality and capacity. “You need to have full service if you want to compare to us. You need editing, grading, everything. Others don’t have that.” He adds that unlike his competition, PO’s team has always been built around a core of full time staff, providing the resources to meet demand. Last July was a case in point. “We had a project that has 21 TVCs at the same time that used up our whole facility”, he says “We were the only ones who could handle that. The client was happy because they could do everything in one shop.”
杨文杰还说，作为中国公司，PO朝霆更加了解中国客户，也可以根据客户的预期，改变自己的工作来进行配合。
Yeung also believes that, as Chinese, PO is culturally more relatable for many clients, and amenable to working the longer hours that they expect.
付款延期后续会导致现金流问题，这对很多公司都是致命打击，那PO朝霆是怎么应对的呢？杨文杰说，“我们规矩很多，也很严格执行。追账的话，你可真得有一套，我们会收集证据，保留记录。因为在中国没有合同这件事。”
What about the delayed payments and subsequent cash flow problems that have proven fatal for so many other companies? “We have a lot of rules and we are very strict about them”, says Yeung, “You need to have a very good system of chasing payment, getting evidence, keeping records. There are no contracts in China.”
数字王国中国作品：奔驰130周年 | Digital Domain China: Mercedes Benz 130th
“我们友善欢迎所有客户；但是我们也不惧怕任何心怀敌意的人” ——杨文杰
“If you want to work with PO as a friend, you’re always welcome. But if you want to be enemies, you’re welcome as well. In case of an issue, just know that we’re not afraid to take it to court.” –Dennis Yeung
数字王国 | Digital Domain
1996年，James Cameron，Scott Ross和Stan Winston联合创立了数字王国。早期公司如日中天的时候，曾拿下七项奥斯卡特效奖，好莱坞大片《泰坦尼克号》的制作，还有自己的专利软件，还有几十项广告奖。然而十年之后，公司变卖，开始了一段动荡时期。直到2013年香港上市公司Sun Innovation收购了数字王国大部分股份，并任命Daniel Seah担任CEO后公司才逐渐开始稳定，。
Digital Domain was co-founded in 1996 by James Cameron, Scott Ross and Stan Winston. In its heyday, the company won seven Academy Awards for VFX work on blockbuster movies like Titanic and its own proprietary software, and scooped dozens of advertising accolades. However, the sale of the company a decade later marked the beginning of a turbulent seven-year ordeal. The ship began to steady in summer 2013 when Hong Kong listed public company Sun Innovation purchased majority ownership in Digital Domain Holdings (DDH) and appointed Daniel Seah as CEO.
数字王国中国参与制作：《西游伏妖篇》| Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back: some invovlment from Dgital Domain China
早在2012年，PO朝霆与数字王国就有所接触，当时是杨文杰前往洛杉矶拓展业务。四年之后，数字王国逐渐稳定下来，想要打入中国市场，以1.35亿港币买入了PO朝霆控股公司Lucrative Skill 85%的股份。
PO’s acquaintance with Digital Domain had begun in 2012 when Yeung went to LA on a business development mission. Four years later, looking for a route in to the Chinese market, a stabilised DDH purchased 85% of Lucrative Skill, PO’s holding company, for HK$135 million.
倘若没有此次收购，杨文杰会不会担心公司的未来前景呢？“我唯一担心的就是收购会打破整个后期市场的秩序——如果我们还是一直只是提供后期制作服务，我觉得公司三五年就会消失。所以我知道我们得做出改变。”
Was Yeung worried about the future before the sale? “The only thing I was worried about was that prices were too low, that they would destroy the whole postproduction market”, he says. “If we continued to only do service work, I think the company would have died in three to five years. I knew we needed to change.”
数字王国中国作品：雷克萨斯ES | Digital Domain China: Lexus ES
杨文杰说，虽然很多制作公司和后期公司都想做创意，但是多数都做不成，因为“缺资金，缺人才，缺技术”。但是数字王国中国的情况就不同，有了软银和中信银行的支持，数字王国中国能给中国大陆提供创意服务——VR、360度全景录像、虚拟人，还有电视、广告、音乐会、体育活动等新媒体类都能做。
Though many production and postproduction companies aspire to do creative work, Yeung says for most that is impossible due to a lack of “funding, talent and technical ability”. For Digital Domain China, that is no longer the case. Bolstered by investment from Softbank and Citic Bank, the company is offering creative services for virtual reality, 360° panorama video recording and digital human rendering services for mainland Chinese cinema, TV, advertising, concerts and sports events.
数字王国中国作品：穿越火线DF | Digital Domain China: CrossFire DF
服务工作是公司的主要收入来源。最初被数字王国收购时，确实经历了动荡不安，很多PO朝霆的客户都去找别人做，但是现在又都回来找他们了，还有很多很久之前的客户也回来了。公司继续服务中国客户，同时还要处理洛杉矶工作室多余的工作量。高级调色师Nikola Stefanovic和Ben Conkey不仅服务北京上海客户，负责广告片和电影，还要远程服务数字王国洛杉矶等海外客户。
Service work remains the bread and butter. The initial uncertainty after DDH’s purchase saw some PO clients try new vendors but Yeung says they are all coming back, along with others that had long since departed. The company continues to serve its China clients and handle surplus shots for the L.A office. Senior Colorists, Nikola Stefanovic and Ben Conkey serve commercial and feature film clients in Shanghai and Beijing, and work remotely for DDH clients in L.A and overseas.
公司人员众多，有大约200个特效师，上海有6个Flame技术人员，北京还有2个，同时还有7个剪辑师，7个调色师，10个创意总监。公司也在积极寻找新的创意人才加入。
The company boasts a formidable workforce with around 200 VFX artists, six Flame artists in Shanghai and two in Beijing, seven in-house editors and seven colourists. The company is actively seeking to add to its existing roster of ten creative directors.
虽然现在公司看起来一切顺利，但是杨文杰说他还是像以前一样干劲十足，他家在香港，时常奔波于北京、上海、台湾、还有印度海外工作室各地之间。他说，“哪需要我，我就去哪，昨天本来我该去北京的，但是快登机的时候，有人电话通知我，要去上海做一个采访。简直忙死了，从没像现在这么忙过”。
Despite the relative comfort that the company now enjoys, Yeung says he is as motivated as ever, traveling between his Hong Kong home and the Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan and India offices, where he oversees operations. “I’ll be wherever I need to be”, he explains. “Yesterday I was supposed to go to Beijing, but as I was about to check in at the airport, I got a call saying I needed to come to Shanghai to do an interview. My schedule is crazy. I’ve never worked harder”.
2016数字王国中国三大项目 | 2016 Digital Domain China’s 3infocus
王菲“幻乐一场2016”演唱会全场VR直播 | Virtual Reality Broadcast for “Faye’s Moments – Live 2016”
2016年12月30日，王菲在上海梅赛德斯奔驰文化中心开唱，8000粉丝齐聚一堂。
On December 30th 2016, Chinese singer Faye Wong gave a concert at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai for 8000 adoring fans.
王菲“幻乐一场2016”演唱会 | Faye’s Moments – Live 2016
数字王国中国制作团队负责设计打造了多个歌曲现场演唱的视觉画面，包括《烟》、《流年》、《美错》等歌曲，还有《Hope》、《Awakening》 和《色诫》等歌曲的过渡特效。
Digital Domain China’s production team designed and produced special effects for in-show visuals for the songs “Smoke”, “That Fleeing Year” and “Beautiful Mistake”, and the transition effects for “Hope”, “Awakening” and “Indulgence”.
另外，360度全景摄像头Kronos技术也让全国10万多粉丝可以通过手机在微鲸VR直播平台和腾讯视频上看到线上直播。此次活动据说是中国目前VR观众人数最多的一次。
Meanwhile, thanks to the latest 360° camera, Kronos, over 100,000 fans across China were able to watch the show online via their mobile phones, on both Whaley’s live VR platform and Tencent Video. It is believed to be the largest ever VR audience for an event in China.
王菲“幻乐一场2016”演唱会：《烟》VR版本| VR version: Faye’s Moment – Live 2016: Smoke
数字王国制作了虚拟现实版本的特效，包括歌曲《流星》中的星云和彗星的虚拟场景。“我们很巧妙地用这种技术把音乐厅顶部装饰里，打造了360度的空间。”执行制片Loris Paillier如是说。《分裂》这首歌的话，团队用了抽象的几何图形效果，体现歌名中的“分裂”的意思。
Digital Domain China created visual effects for the virtual reality version including a virtual environment adorned with nebulas and comets for the song “Meteor”. “We cleverly used this technique to cover the top portion of the concert venue and deliver a 360-degree space”, says EP Loris Paillier. For “Divide”, the team applied abstract geometric effects to create a visual representation of the song’s title.
戴尔《街头霸王》| Dell – “Streetfighter”
广告公司VML的文案提出，他们要给戴尔全新游戏本的电子游戏《街头霸王》打造春丽和隆打斗的场面。
The brief from agency VML was to animate a fight between characters Chun-Li and Ryu from the famous video game Street Fighter to promote Dell’s new gaming laptop.
戴尔《游匣热血魂》| Dell Streetfighter
这次的项目数字王国中国只有不到两个月时间，却要完成一个73秒、90%由动画组成的广告。杨文杰说，“我们出色的完成了这个工作。”
Digital Domain China was less than 2 month to execute a 73-second, 90% animated spot. “No-one else in Beijing dared to take it. But we did an excellent job.”, says Yeung.
想要完成这个项目，也是挑战重重。卡普空株式会社不给他们提供人物集，也就是说数字王国中国要自己要根据20页的手稿从头打造人物。卡普空也是一丝不苟的追求细节，要求他们的人物要忠实于原版，不论是角色打造，还是下雨的场面，还是动画都要保证真实度。
Working with such iconic IP brought challenges. Game company Capcom refused to provide the character assets, meaning Digital Domain China had to build them from scratch based on 20-page guideline manuals. Capcom were meticulous in every last detail to ensure the results stayed true to the brand, from the character build, to the rainfall effect, to the animation.
数字王国中国又通过动作捕捉和面部捕捉技术，进一步深化角色表演。为了做得更加完美，有一些动作又增加了手绘动画。
The studio employed motion and facial capture technology to bring another dimension to the character performance. To take things yet further, some of the action was retimed or overlaid with hand animation.
“这么短的时间能做出这样的作品，我很为我们的团队感到自豪”，杨文杰说道。
“For the time we had, this spot is pretty impressive. I’m very proud of what a great job the team did.”, says Yeung.
制作团队
- 客户：戴尔
- 广告公司：VML
- 制作：Draft & Real
- 导演：李海龙
- 后期：数字王国中国
Credits
- Client: Dell
- Agency: VML
- Production: Draft & Real
- Director: Li Hailong
- Post: Digital Domain China
老板电器 – “太空厨房” | Robam – “Space Kitchen”
外太空现如今也是中国广告业追捧的主题。2016年9月，维拉沃姆广告公司找到数字王国中国，要为老板电器（厨房电器）打在一个有失重效果的广告。
Outer space is currently a popular setting for Chinese advertising. In September 2016, Digital Domain China was briefed by agency Verawom to create a realistic zero gravity effect for an online spot for kitchen appliance makers Robam.
老板《太空厨房》| Robam Space Kitchen
数字王国中国跟广告公司合作，提前设置了渲染、灯光和音效，又在片场待了整整两天两夜，以确保拍摄效果，便于后期剪辑顺畅。
Digital Domain China worked with the agency to make rendering, lighting and sound decisions in advance and had a presence on set for two full days and nights to ensure the shoot lent itself to a smooth postproduction process.
之后，他们有一个月的时间做后期，包含了上百个元素，有漂浮的食材，还有人，所有这些镜头都是单独在蓝屏前拍摄的。户外很高的天花板还有水的效果都是电脑生成的。
The studio then had a month to execute the post, which included combining hundred of elements like the floating ingredients and people, all of which were shot separately on wires in front of a blue screen. The high ceilings in the opening and the water would have to be computer generated.
后期制作时遇上不少麻烦，但是制片人Alexis Que解释说，“我们的团队很强大，也很专业，最终还提前完成了任务，客户也很开心。”
The post process hit a number of bumps along the way but producer Alexis Que explains, “Our team is strong and professional. So much so that we finished the spot before it was due. The client was very happy.”
制作团队
- 客户：老板电器
- 广告公司：维拉沃姆
- 后期制作：Greenspot上海
- 后期：数字王国中国
- 配乐：Sync Music
Credits
- Client: Robam
- Agency: Verawom
- Production: Greenspot Shanghai
- Post: Digital Domain China
- Score: Sync Music
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
