2016年6月，一家名为Flip的全新广告后期制作公司落户上海。为了一探究竟，SHP+来到位于淮海西路的红坊，在崭新的工作室里，采访了几位创始人。
The latest addition to Shanghai’s commercial postproduction landscape, Flip, opened its doors in June 2016. SHP+ tracked the company down and headed to its freshly kitted-out new studio near Xuhui’s Red Town to meet the founders.
六位创始人中有两位来自于香港后期制作公司，他们为Flip带来了核心经验，这两个人就是Kat Leung （总经理兼调色总监）和Gavin Tam （副总经理兼特效总监）。他们此前在香港的Digit Digit工作了10年，在PO朝霆工作了9年（其中有5年是在上海），他们把这20年积累的经验带到了上海。另外一位创始人叫Henry Li，负责特效方面，他之前在PO朝霆也工作了10多年。还有一位创始人是IT总监Kam，他也是Tam和Leung的好朋友。
The experienced core of the company comes in the form of Hong Kong postproduction veterans Kat Leung (GM & DI Supervisor) and Gavin Tam (Vice GM & VFX Supervisor). Both pack 20 years of industry experience, including ten with Digit Digit in Hong Kong and nine with Post Production Office (PO), with five of those spent in Shanghai. The third founder on the VFX side is Henry Li, another former PO artist with more than ten years experience. Then there is IT Director Kam, an old friend of Tam and Leung’s from Hong Kong.
Flip总经理兼GI总监Kat Leung | Kat Leung, GM and DI Supervisor of Flip
另外两位创始人都来自中国国内。市场总监兼特效师张钟之前在PO朝霆工作了两年，担任特效师，而另一位是韦权峰，他刚刚留美归来，学的是心理学。
The other two founders, both Chinese, are more unusual. Marketing Director & VFX artist Andy Zhang is a former PO artist with two years of visual effects experience while Financial Director Freddy Wei is a young psychology graduate fresh from studying in the US.
我们在采访Kat、Gavin、张钟和韦权峰时，韦权峰介绍说，他在北京的片场时认识了张钟。当时张钟就有了与Gavin和Kat开公司的想法。
Wei does most of the talking when we sit down with him, Leung, Tam and Zhang in Flip’s cafeteria area. He explains he met Zhang while interning on a shoot set in Beijing in 2015, where Zhang told him about his idea to start a new company with the experienced Hong Kong artists.
市场总监兼特效师张钟与金融总监韦权峰 | Marketing Director & VFX artist Andy Zhang and Financial Director Freddy Wei
韦权峰说，“Gavin和Kat两年前就有了开公司的想法，只不过一直没机会。”
那么什么时候机会降临了呢？Gavin笑着说道，“当我们见到韦权峰的时候”。他说，之所以决定跟广告行业的新手合伙，是因为“他们有一腔热情。”
“[Tam and Leung] had the idea two years ago, but they didn’t have an opportunity to really do it,” explains Freddy.
So what was the opportunity now? “When we met Freddy”, laughs Tam. He says the decision to partner with relative industry newcomers was because “they have passion.”
Flip的制作环境、设备一流，工作区域面积达500平米，拥有两个线上和线下工作室各两个，还有两个多媒体室和一个TC房间，所有设备都是崭新的。公司主要以行内资深人员和年轻一代制作人员组成。
Flip’s state-of-the-art studio, with 500m² working area, two online and two offline rooms, two general multimedia rooms and a grading suite, all decked out with brand new equipment, was funded entirely by the six founders, with no outside investment. Currently there is a staff of 20, made up of experts and young recruits.
Tam says Digital Domain’s buy out of PO earlier this year was not the catalyst to start the company. “We wanted to start our own company for a long time. The timing was just exactly the same”, he explains.
Flip目前主要专注于电视广告方面，现在的客户包括肯德基、百事、宝马、奥迪、福特、腾讯、三星等。也有一些纪录片和虚拟现实项目的调色项目。
Flip is, for now at least, focused on TV commercials. So far the company has completed jobs for clients including KFC, Pepsi, BMW, Audi, Ford, Tencent and Samsung, as well as grading work for documentary films and a VR project.
从谈话一开始，几位创始人都表示他们希望最终能打破传统的电视广告模式，韦权峰表示，“我们不希望别人把Flip定位成一家单纯的后期制作公司，后期制作只是我们的第一步，之后Flip会尝试更多不同的领域，希望把最新、最时尚的视觉科技效果带入到生活当中。”
From the outset of the conversation, the founders all express desire to eventually break the usual TVC mould, but Wei reins it in, “First, we want to make sure we can survive, to make enough money to run the company. From there we want to build in multiple areas. We are not sure which will make the most profit.”
It’s clear that long-term they see Flip as a production company as well. “‘Fix it in post’ is the biggest misconception around”, says Wei. “Our goal is to take TVCs to the next level, to make it more efficient, easier, elevate it. We are trying to put everything together in a big picture.”
如果现在让几位创始人来说，除了电视广告他们最可能探索哪个领域，还为时过早。韦权峰说：“我们不会把自己的眼光局限于某个领域，而是希望以一种敞开的方式来接受新的技术。”
It is too early for the founders to say which area they are most likely to explore next, though Wei rules out movie work, “You never get rich by catching a shark, you get rich by catching shrimps. [Zhang] believes that small is beautiful”.
成立公司的另一个因素，是为了更贴近中国客户，更敏锐地抓住中国客户的需求，提供独一无二的服务。Flip的理念是通过中国化的管理和方式，来满足中国客户对他们文化理念的需求。同时，引进西方技术来提高中国客户对后期制作的要求。韦权峰：“Flip跟客户之间更像是对待朋友，更像是一种依恋。 只要我们能做到，只要做的有意义，我们就会竭尽所能。”
Part of the motivation to strike out on their own was to offer a service that is more sensitive to the unique characteristics of Chinese clients. “Our concept is more Chinese management, a more Chinese way. I believe if you open a company in China, you can’t bring in the western culture. It doesn’t work,” says Wei.
He elaborates, “Here [at Flip] it is more like friendship, more of an attachment to the client. We try to do everything for you, as long as it’s in our job and it makes sense.”
一些客户之前就认识Gavin和Kat，现在他们成了Flip的客户。Gavin说：“我们来上海已经有五年了，在这期间认识了很多圈内的知己好友，他们看到我和Kat一起出来开公司，很为我们感到高兴，他们一直都很支持我们，很支持Flip ”。
韦权峰也说：“我们非常地感谢新、老客户给Flip做出正面的评价与肯定，这也是我们维持高标准工作的动力。希望更多地人可以认识Flip，认同Flip。”
Some of Flip’s clients have stuck with Tam and Leung from previous, existing relationships. “We have been based in Shanghai for five years, so we had our own clients”, says Tam, “I think they are happy that me and Kat came out and formed a new company”.
Wei interjects, “It’s not that we brought the clients over, it’s that the clients found us here. They saw that we started a company, so they followed. We didn’t tell them to come.”
创立公司，寻求发展，不只局限在电视广告领域，在这个过程中，他们遇到了哪些挑战呢？“Flip作为一家刚成立不久的创业公司，时常会遇到来自各方面的问题和困难。在面对和解决这些困难的过程中，会不断地去思索、尝试、改变和创新。我们会被逼着去改变自己去创新更多，这就是困难的本身。”
What do they see as the challenges, both in establishing themselves and as they look to expand beyond TVCs? “Price”, laughs Leung. “The clients sometimes don’t care about the quality, they care about money. They just want to finish the job, not necessarily do it well. Flip is a newly established company. We obviously face a lot of challenges. These challenges force us to adapt and to be more creative.”
他们也专门指出这样一个问题：很多没有注册非正规的自由职业团队，他们会用一些破解版软件接一些工作，把价格压的很低，但他们的品质却并不那么尽如人意，制作流程也并非那么规范。对于这种现象的出现，韦权峰表示还是很乐观的，觉得这种情况今后会有所改善。“要让客户明白什么是正确的后期制作，还是要花点时间的，但是最近我觉得已经有所改观，大家开始慢慢更多地关注质量，更重视知识产权。”
They cite as a particular problem the prevalence of unregistered, unofficial teams of bedroom freelancers doing jobs for cash using cracked software, undercutting prices. Wei is optimistic that this will change. “It takes time for [clients] to get a sense of the right way to do postproduction”, he says. “[Previously] China made their money on selling fake products, selling quantity… but recently I see changes, people focusing on the quality.”
跟中国很多后期公司一样，Flip也同样面临着如何才能招到合适的人的问题。韦权峰说，这其实并不关乎于天赋问题，而是现在的年轻人没什么耐心，等不到晋升的那一刻，钱当然也是一个重要的因素。但对于我们来说，我们希望能寻找到一群对影视有态度，有热情，有梦想，真正热爱这个行业的年轻人。而Flip要找的是那些态度好的人，从头栽培他们。现在，他们会招聘一些实习生，Gavin和Kat会手把手地教他们，学习如何正确的面对后期这份工作。
As with many local post houses, Flip has had issues finding appropriate people to join the team. However, it’s not a question of talent, says Wei, it’s because young artists that are too impatient to reach top positions. “They want to make money right away”, he says. Instead, Flip is holding out for people with the right attitude, to train and develop from scratch. So far they have been taking on individual interns that sit in with Tam and Leung and learn on the job.
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