I’m Really a Superstar

The battle began!

Right now, it was the calm before the storm in the animation field!

This was the first time in history that someone was directly challenging Japanese comics in the comics industry. Whether anyone held any hopes for it, it still did not deter the continued attention of everyone!

Who would lose?

And who would win?

Everyone was waiting to find out!

…

Preparations for several of the Japanese animation productions had already begun.

“Has the source footage been delivered?”

“We’ve already sent it over.”

“Hurry up and get everything done. Only the dubbing is a little tricky to handle.”

“We’ve already asked the best voice actors in China to work on our projects.”

“Alright, and don’t save on the promotions either.”

“Understood.”

…

Miracle Animation Studios.

Preparations were also in full swing.

One after another, all kinds of proposals were tossed out.

Sun Xiaobei said, “Teacher Zhang, have a look.”

Zhang Ye said, “This one won’t do.”

“How about this one?”

“This won’t do either.”

All of the proposals were rejected by Zhang Ye.

In the end, Zhang Ye took out one proposal himself and handed it out to them. “Let’s go with this. We’ll do it according to the specifications. If there’s anything that we don’t have the resources for, leave it to me.”

The people of Miracle Animation Studios were dumbfounded.

Chen Xiang said startled, “The investment for this is too much!”

Sun Xiaobei was also shocked. “150 million in funding?”

Zhang Ye added, “This is only the preliminary estimate. If it isn’t enough, we can still add to it. The publicity budget will be a separate figure.”

Sun Xiaobei gasped and said, “If we go ahead with this plan, the production fees could possibly go up to 200 million?”

“That’s right.” Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Since we’re taking on the Japanese cartoon industry, we definitely have to have a bigger budget. If we’re going to do this, we must do it to the best standards in the industry. Like I’ve said, I’m not interested in a low stakes game. We either go big or we go home.”

The people of Miracle Animation Studios broke out into cold sweats!

But this is way too big!

Whatever! Since it’s already like this, we’ll just go ahead and do it!

If we die, we die. Come what may!

At the point the proposal was decided on, a lot of them put on a gallant face as they decided to gamble everything they had on it!

The animation production began!

Miracle Animation Studios started recruiting people to work on it!

Zhang Ye started storyboarding!

But the pressure on Zhang Ye this time was pretty huge. He understood how comics worked, and that was no longer a problem for him. But directing an animation production was different from making a comic. One required him to draw while the other required him to direct. That was already different. Zhang Ye had directed variety shows before, and even the Spring Festival Gala as well, but this was his first time handling an animation production, and it was even a 3D animation to boot! This was clearly something completely new to him. Zhang Ye was crossing over into a different industry again. So all of his decisions would have to be carefully considered, and he also needed the support of others.

For example, like the voice acting.

Voiceover talent was one of the major features in Japanese animation. Many voice actors were even more popular than some of the D- or E-list celebrities around. It had reached the point where voice actors had become an indispensable part of Japanese animation. Since he wanted to challenge the Japanese animation industry, this was something that he had to make up for!

But how could he make up for it?

There wasn’t a proper network of voice actors to recruit from.

But of course, Zhang Ye had his own ideas. He brought out his next trump card!

He made a few calls.

…

Fan Wenli.

“Hello, Zhang’er?”

“Old Fan, I’m looking for you for something.”

“Hur hur, speak if you need help.”

“I’m making a domestic animation.”

“I know that, it’s all over the news. But I won’t be able to help you with this. Your animation will contain only fictional characters, so it’s not like I can guest star in it or something.”

“But you can do the voice acting.”

“Ah? Voice acting?”

“Your voice is very pleasant, and you’re also a professional musician, so how about it?”

“Will I be good enough?”

“You’re definitely good enough.”

…

Xu Meilan.

“Sister Lan, it’s me.”

“Teacher Zhang?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about my new animation. Can you help me to do some voice acting for one of the characters as a guest star?”

“Me?”

“Yes, give your brother some support, won’t you?”

“When?”

“In a fortnight. We can arrange a time based on your schedule.”

“Alright. Since it’s Teacher Zhang asking me, it’s no problem. I still owe you one from the last time you helped me out with the SARFT.”

…

Dong Shanshan.

“Shanshan, can I book you for an event?”

“What is it?”

“Help me do some voice acting for my animation. I’m giving you a good part.”

“As if I know how to voice act.”

“We both majored in broadcasting, so which of us have not learned how to voice act?”

“Alright then.”

“Thanks.”

…

One by one, he made the calls.

Zhang Xia.

Yao Jiancai.

Yu Yingyi.

Xiaodong.

And so on. He made appointments with whoever could help him.

Other than a few friends who couldn’t do it due to scheduling conflicts, Zhang Ye settled things with almost all of them with one phone call. Everyone gave a lot of face to Zhang Ye.

This was the other trump card of his!

Couldn’t recruit enough voice actors?

He would make up for that with celebrities!

A similar model ¹ did not exist in this world yet. But in Zhang Ye’s previous world, this was something of a formula. There were multiple cases of celebrity guests starring in animations, so Zhang Ye was very familiar with it. But as this was unknown to the people here, it was still a very novel idea to them. No one had seen something like that before!

When Zhang Ye brought out this list to show the people of Miracle Animation Studios, he could see that Sun Xiaobei, Chen Xiang, and the others were all dumbfounded!

Chen Xiang was stunned. “What the heck!”

Li Zhi cried out, “Heavens!”

Han Bin said, “This lineup is way too impressive!”

Hu Kebang said in shock, “They’re all at least A- or B-list celebrities? And there’s even a Heavenly Queen amongst them?”

Zhao Chengfei said, “My God!”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “In the past, our domestic animation productions have always had a shortcoming in the area of voice acting. We might not be able to make up for it in the short term, so we have to do it another way. My social relations in the entertainment circle might be a little lacking, but I still have a few friends who I can count on. Don’t worry, this won’t cost much money. They’re all my friends and are more than willing to guest star in the production. Furthermore, there’s no need to worry about their professionalism and standards. They’ll definitely be good enough.”

Everyone looked at one another. For the first time, they were starting to have some confidence.

With this lineup of voiceover talent, it could easily scare anyone to death. There was absolutely no precedent in history!

Xu Meilan!

Fan Wenli!

Dong Shanshan!

How many people could invite these big names to voice act for them?

No one! No one could do it! Even if you were to pay others to act in a movie, they would still have to look at the script and understand the character first. Furthermore, this was for a “role” in which they wouldn’t even be showing their faces? With their status, why would they want to go behind the scenes to voice act! But Zhang Ye managed to convince them to do it?

In Zhang Ye’s previous world, The Legend of Qin did not have such a grand lineup, nor did it have so much funding. But over in this world, Zhang Ye had a lot of resources to play with. Since he could make it better, he absolutely had to make it better. He was never afraid of hyping things up!

Funding?

Voice actors?

Production?

Publicity?

He used only the best for all of them!

He would make it the biggest for all of it!

What he wanted to achieve was to make The Legend of Qin astonish everyone right out of the gates!

Wasn’t everyone pessimistic about a homegrown animation?

Didn’t they all feel that a 3D animation wouldn’t work?

Alright then, I’ll broaden all of your horizons. An animation with our own style can also astonish Asia. It will sweep everything aside!