Chinese entertainment, from radio love songs to superstars

Chapter 151, Nothing to fear [ words for monthly votes]

Shen Lang specially called them over, introduced them in front of the media, and asked them to talk about their roles.

This move touched several people. Exposure is the second life of a star, which is directly related to popularity and influence, and in turn affects commercial value and social status. Who would give it up?

Shen Lang is naturally considering the overall situation. He and Gao Yuanyuan alone cannot support the entire drama. Everyone's role is very important, and their performance determines the quality of the drama.

Moreover, this level of exposure is just a drop in the bucket for him now and is dispensable.

After the press conference, all the crew members went to Yanxi Lake Resort Villa in Huairou County to hold the opening ceremony.

After everything is ready, the shooting officially begins.

The first scene was with Liu Yifei.

Her hairstyle is curly and her face still has some baby fat.

As a rookie, she was just like Bai Xiuzhu, the rich girl described by Zhang Henshui, with her every move and gesture revealing the arrogance of being spoiled.

Among the entire crew, Liu Guoquan was most worried about Liu Yifei.

At the age of 15, and having lived in the United States for some time, how could I express the charm of a lady from the 30s?
The contrast between the character and her is too great.

Now it seems that there is absolutely no problem with her temperament.

At this time, Liu Yifei saw that the ground at the shooting site was covered with a tangled network of electric wires, and there were many staff members. Facing the strange world, they were full of fear, their eyes were evasive, and they didn't know where to stand.

The assistant director came over with the script and said to her, "Get ready. The first scene is your crying scene."

Liu Yifei nodded subconsciously, but she was already extremely nervous.

“It felt like she was about to cry.”

"Who's about to cry?"

Gao Yuanyuan pointed at Liu Yifei in the middle of the set and said, "It's just like my first time filming. I was at a loss and didn't know what to do."

Shen Lang looked over and saw that Liu Yifei did not look very well. He said, "She is too nervous. Go and help her."

Gao Yuanyuan stood up, walked towards Liu Yifei, held her hand, and talked for a while. It could be seen that Liu Yifei relaxed a lot.

“First scene, first shot, first line, Action!”

Under the camera, Liu Yifei burst into tears without any preparation.

Shen Lang watched as she seemed to be venting her tension and fear.

He is still too young. Although he is said to be 15 years old, he will actually not be fully until his birthday in August.

Her mother is not young at all, at 43 she is still in the prime of her life.

Liu Xiaoli's care for Liu Yifei can be said to be meticulous and she always responds to her requests.

Not only did he sit by her side and discuss scripts with her, he was also very considerate in her daily life.

After Liu Yifei finished her crying scene, Liu Xiaoli handed her tissues and took out her favorite snacks from her bag, such as plums, biscuits, fruits, etc. She even tore open the bag herself and put the plums into her mouth.

The mother-daughter relationship is envied by others.

"She is just a little nervous because it is her first time filming and her first time on the set. She is not familiar with the process. She will be fine after a few days of adapting." Gao Yuanyuan came back and sat next to Shen Lang.

"With a caring elder sister like you around, she will definitely benefit a lot after filming this movie." Shen Lang got up from the mat, patted his butt, straightened his clothes, and prepared to go on stage.

Previously, when Fang Wanhua and Qian Guosheng talked about the drama "The Story of a Noble Family", they joked that he should be more restrained when playing the role of Jin Yanxi.

Because the script has been changed a lot compared to the original novel, Jin Yanxi in the original novel was a "big scumbag".

Scumbags usually create a persona for themselves. Jin Yanxi used his identity, status and money to create an image of himself as a man who loves talent, is romantic, respects women and is loyal and devoted.

Bai Xiuzhu and Jin Yanxi have always been regarded as a perfect match, and Jin Yanxi never rejected anyone who came to Bai Xiuzhu. But when it came to the time to talk about marriage, Jin Yanxi started to make plans in his mind. He felt that Bai Xiuzhu had a strong personality and was a rich girl. She often lost her temper and was difficult to control. She would even control him. So, he could not have Bai Xiuzhu, and Leng Qingqiu was better.

But after getting married and getting Leng Qingqiu, everything changed. Leng Qingqiu's coldness and arrogance turned into a deliberate high-handedness, her literary talent became artificial, the white moonlight eventually turned into a white rice grain, and the cinnabar mole turned into mosquito blood.

The women around him were basically used, without any feelings or respect. Leng Qingqiu was his puppet, Bai Xiuzhu was his stepping stone to Germany, and the actress sisters were his lavish entertainment.

A TV series is not a novel. If it makes the audience uncomfortable, the ratings will drop.

Therefore, the screenwriter beautified Jin Yanxi and also beautified his relationship with Leng Qingqiu and Bai Xiuzhu.

Shen Lang doesn't think he is a scumbag, he is just relatively philanthropic.

The top ten characteristics of modern scumbags summarized by netizens: having their eyes on the pot while having their cake and eating it too, never saying I love you, dumping the man after having fun, PUA, irresponsible, secretive, self-harming and self-abusing to scare you, double standards, hypocrisy, and bad conduct.

Compared to Jin Yanxi, he is far worse. He only has two or three of these so-called scumbag characteristics at most.

When the performance actually starts, Shen Lang sometimes gives some suggestions.

High emotional intelligence: giving suggestions.

Low EQ: Change the script.

He holds several positions and undoubtedly has the greatest power in the crew.

Even though Liu Guoquan is both the director and the screenwriter, when it comes to making decisions, everyone has to listen to him.

Of course, Shen Lang is not a "drama tyrant" who can do whatever he wants.

He respects everyone in the crew and all his suggestions are reasonable, because he knows what the audience complains about in this drama. His purpose is of course to improve the quality of the entire drama.

Liu Guoquan is not a stubborn person. He will gladly accept any good changes.

"Second scene, first shot, first line, Action!"

Shen Lang was wearing a white suit and had a 3:7 split hair style, looking so handsome. Facing Liu Yifei, he said, "Oh, you are angry. If you are angry, I will leave."

Liu Yifei turned around and looked at him, angrily saying: "Who told you to say that my brother and I are vulgar people!"

Shen Lang turned around and looked at her, smiling and saying, "Who said that, huh?"

Liu Yifei became even more angry and asked, "You lied with your eyes open, and you're not admitting it right after you said it?"

"Cut, Liu Yifei, look at the camera, don't look at Shen Lang."

Liu Guoquan's voice rang out.

In the drama "The Story of a Noble Family", Liu Yifei has a lot of rival scenes with Shen Lang, where she has to cry, make a fuss, and even be hysterical.

For someone with almost no acting experience, this is undoubtedly a huge challenge.

At first, she didn't even know how to stand and look at the camera.

"In the script, you are looking at me, but when it comes to the performance on the screen, I am not on camera, so you are looking at the camera, making the audience think that you are looking at me, instead of really looking at me." Shen Lang taught her.

"Only when both people are in the camera can they look at each other directly?" Liu Yifei asked.

"Yes, you can understand it that way." Shen Lang nodded.

"Okay, let's do it again." Seeing that Shen Lang had told Liu Yifei, Liu Guoquan didn't have to teach her himself.

The filming slowly progressed under this situation.

------

------

At the end of March, Shen Lang received good news.

IDG is willing to sell its 7.2% stake in Penguin, but for US$650 million.

He did not choose to negotiate with them and just paid for it directly. The price was within his acceptable range and in line with the market price.

The two financing introducers also intend to sell, but not all, just 1% each.

Shen Lang did not think it was too little and sold the deal for US$85 each.

At this point, he owned 9.2% of Penguin.

He is the second largest individual shareholder, second only to Pony Ma.

In terms of total shareholdings, it ranks third, behind South African Press and Pony Ma.

He wasn't prepared to invest any more money.

As April approaches, the Chinese music scene becomes lively.

First, Stefanie Sun’s cover album “Start” was released, bringing a brand new listening experience to fans.

Next, Cai Yilin released his first album after joining Xinsuo Records, "Look at My 72 Changes".

This album invited almost all the "big names" that could be invited at that time, such as Shen Lang, who was at the peak of his career, the Haier Brothers who were used by Stefanie Sun, and the four lyric writing masters Fang Wenshan + Li Zhuoxiong + Chen Zhenchuan + Yi Jiayang.

Each of them has tailored an unexpectedly diverse album for Cai Yilin, but the theme of the album remains unchanged, still focusing on Shen Lang's "Look at My 72 Changes".

Cai Yilin is also lucky, as inviting so many big names was not in vain.

The 11 songs in this album are of very high average quality, and each song has both inherited and independent styles, becoming a splendid landscape in the Chinese music scene.

Then came Jay Chou’s third solo album, “Octave Space”, which was released ahead of schedule and was also his first album after being sold.

A total of 10 songs are included, including "Orcs", "Peninsula Iron Box", and "The Last Battle".

Although it is not as stunning and extreme as the previous "Fantasy" in terms of innovation, its overall level is still on the same level as "Fantasy".

So even though the melody lines may seem familiar, the creativity is still remarkable and it can be considered a high-quality work.

Of course, there is also Na Ying, the queen of the mainland music scene.

It was not a new song or album, but a concert. She successfully held the "I'm Not an Angel" large-scale concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, becoming the first mainland singer to hold a solo concert in Hong Kong.

In this regard, Na Ying is one step faster than Shen Lang.

However, the impact of the concert is very different.

There was no official media comment, nor was there any public talk about it afterwards.

Moreover, the media are too lazy to compare her with Shen Lang because they are not on the same level.

Although Shen Lang disappeared from the Chinese music scene after three concerts, the two new songs he released on stage, "Our Song" and "Yanjing Yanjing", have been on major music charts.

Of course, he was not idle. Apart from filming, he wrote the theme song and ending song for "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber".

The theme song is still the original "Drunk in the Spring Breeze", which suits the TV series very well, but he did not sing it himself because some styles of songs are not suitable for him, such as this one, so he asked Han Lei to sing it.

The original ending song was "Falling in Love with Zhang Wuji" sung by Mao Amin, but he didn't remember it. He thought it was not a good song, otherwise he would not have forgotten it. So he copied one himself. The song he chose was "Xiao Yao", the theme song of Chen Qiaoen's version of "Swordsman", which is one of the "good songs from bad movies since ancient times".

"Brother Lang, Sister Yuanyuan, eat some fruit."

After a month of getting along, Liu Yifei became familiar with Shen Lang and Gao Yuanyuan, calling them brother and sister all the time.

The main thing is that the two of them are really teaching her things, as is Zhang Songwen.

Zhang Songwen played a supporting role in this drama.

Liu Yifei also studied hard, but she often asked some simple questions that made no sense.

However, this child is really smart and learns very quickly.

"Xixi, was it your father who drove to pick you up yesterday?" Gao Yuanyuan asked casually.

"He's not my father, he's my godfather. My mother and father divorced a long time ago." Liu Yifei replied.

Shen Lang knew this person, the main driving force behind her acting career, Chen Feifei.

After Liu Xiaoli divorced, she took her 6-year-old daughter Liu Yifei to the United States and got a second husband.

Chen Feifei happened to have a close relationship with Liu Yifei's stepfather. After they met, he adopted Liu Yifei as his goddaughter.

Liu Yifei has dreamed of becoming a star since she was a child. She longs to become a big star like Audrey Hepburn.

Although she inherited excellent genes from her mother, it was indeed challenging for her to enter this field due to her lack of fame and educational background.

However, Chen Feifei had just opened an investment bank in the United States at that time, so this was not a problem for him at all. He had sufficient funds to operate both at home and abroad.

So in early 2002, Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli returned to China and auditioned for "The Story of a Noble Family" under the introduction of Chen Feifei.

Originally he was planning to invest in this drama and then directly give a role to Liu Yifei, but unexpectedly Shen Lang got there first.

What a pity for Liu Xiaoli.

Shen Lang has already planned to sign Liu Yifei to Julang Film and Television.

Chen Feifei?
Not enough to be afraid of.

"Why don't you sign Xixi? I ​​think she has great potential and will definitely become very popular in the future."

"what?"

Gao Yuanyuan rolled her eyes at Shen Lang and said, "What? I'm not kidding you."

Shen Lang made a long "uh" sound. He didn't expect her to make this suggestion. He said, "Okay, since the boss lady has spoken, then sign it. But you have to talk to her about it."

Julang focuses on film and television production rather than artist management, which means it does not make money by exploiting artists.

Although Liu Yifei is young, there are many roles that are suitable for her, such as her three representative roles: Wang Yuyan, Xiaolongnu, and Zhao Linger.

He has also sent people to Taiwan Province to purchase the film and television adaptation rights of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy". He will definitely make money from this.

Gao Yuanyuan raised her chin and said, "I'll go if I want to. Didn't I negotiate with Zi Han as well?"

Shen Lang smiled and said, "Waiting for your good news."

Having said that, he was not optimistic that Gao Yuanyuan could be negotiated.

Following Liu Yifei are Liu Xiaoli and Chen Feifei.

If you don't use some tricks, it is likely that you will not be able to get it.

------

------

"Qiong Yao is really persistent. This is the second time I've come to you."

"There's no point in being persistent. I can't act in her drama."

Du Ting did not ask Shen Lang for the specific reason. She thought that Shen Lang should take the boutique route now, control the number, and take on more big dramas.

"Return of the Condor Heroes 3" is a big drama, but since Shen Lang doesn't like it, it's okay if he doesn't take it.

This is not the only drama, and the main actors have been completely replaced, so the outside world is generally not optimistic about the third part.

Du Ting took out her notebook and reported: "Mr. Fang has found a few dramas and asked us if we want to invest. They are the TV series "Jade Guanyin" and "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", and the movies "The Mouse Loves the Cat" and "My Father and I."

Shen Lang asked first: "What kind of movie is "Me and Dad"?

Du Ting introduced: "It is a drama film written, directed and acted by Xu Jinglei, starring Ye Daying, Jiang Wen and Zhang Yuan. It tells an alternative story of a little girl who lost her mother and grew up with her father. The total budget is 1000 million, and more than half of it is still needed."

Xu Jinglei, one of the four little beauties.

In 93, at the age of 19, she was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy and became classmates with Liu Lin, Liu Mei, and Alyssa Chia.

When she was a sophomore, she met Wang Shuo, a man who completely changed the course of her life. With her pure, innocent and harmless Lolita face, she made the bigwigs in the Beijing circle deeply fascinated and unable to control themselves.

Driven by the so-called love, Xu Jinglei got the resources and starred in "You Are the One Sitting Next to Me", "A Romantic Affair" and "Love to the End", becoming the most popular newcomer at the time.

She bought a mobile phone and a house before she graduated, but the literary young woman was certainly not satisfied with that. She set her sights on being a director. Wang Shuo brought in a bunch of friends to make guest appearances, including Jiang Wen and Zhang Yuan. In the film "Me and Dad", she served as the producer, screenwriter, director and female lead.

But Xu Jinglei's ability is all exaggerated, and the films he directed have not been very good in terms of reputation and box office.

In particular, he asked Jiang Wen to collaborate on "Letter from a Stranger", which cost 2000 million yuan and only made 800 million yuan at the box office, a huge loss.

Shen Lang didn't think about it for too long and said, "You can invest in the two TV series, but forget about the two movies. You should also tell my sister-in-law."

"The Mouse Loves the Cat" is directed by Chen Jiahe and stars Andy Lau and Cecilia Cheung.

He forgot how much box office revenue he made, but this movie is really bad, with a Douban score of only 5.6.

It is assumed that you are not making money.

Du Ting nodded and said, "Okay."

------

------

At the end of April, with 30 days left before the opening of the Korea-Japan World Cup, the official released the MVs of three theme songs.

The MV uses a mixed cut, combining MV images submitted by the singers with exciting images of the 32 teams in the world competition and images shot by world-class stars.

Shen Lang's "Hall of Fame" MV features Figo of Portugal, Klose of Germany and Buffon of Italy.

"And the world's gonna know your name
the whole world will know your name

Cause you burn with the brightest flame
Because you are the brightest flame

And the world's gonna know your name
Your name will be remembered by the world
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame
Engraved on the wall of the Hall of Fame

Be a champion
Become a champion..."

The song has been released for several months, but it has not made any splash.

But this time, it truly entered the vision of football lovers all over the world.

The smooth melody, inspiring lyrics, and the piano notes against the rock background give people a warm and encouraging feeling.

Coupled with the new MV, it seems to be conveying a belief to people: God is fair to us as long as we live with our heart, everyone can be a celebrity!

(English)
"This World Cup theme song has one instrumental song, one I don't understand, but this one is pretty good!"

“An inspiring song!”

“The surging rhythm and inspiring lyrics give me a refreshing feeling.”

"When I first heard this song, I felt my blood boiling. I wanted to fight for honor and become a member of the Hall of Fame."

"This is a song that tortured me terribly, but the lyrics always stick in my mind and motivate me to keep going."

"We are the champions, Brazil, eternal legends!"

……

Riding on the wave of the World Cup, the song quickly spread around the world and began to top the music charts in various countries.

Among them, the most authoritative are the British pop music chart NME and the American Billboard singles chart Billboard Hot 100.

The songs selected by the two lists are never ambiguous, and those without influence will never be selected. They are considered to be the most authoritative singles rankings in the European and American pop music scene.

And in just one week, it had already entered the top ten.

It seems that this song has a chance to replicate the success of its original two-week winning streak.

(End of this chapter)