Dragon, choose cultural victory to make money

Chapter 241: Drogo Studios is a big failure?

As we all know, although there are no witnesses to the love between Ms. Rowling and Sir Godot, there are so many people watching secretly that it is hard to keep away.

All members of the crew, whether they have tasks today or not, gathered here just to see the scene of "online love meeting in person".

"Make way, make way, give me a seat."

"Your head is too big, lower it a little."

"Don't push, don't push, can't you just watch the filming?"

"What you take a photo of is not as clear as what you see with your own eyes."

"Headphones, can you give me one of these?"

"Stop making noise! ​​I'm recording now. I need to ensure the sound quality. How can I give you headphones?"

"You're talking nonsense. The recording of this scene was cut off after those two lines. There's no guarantee of a good effect now."

"Get out of the way, I know lip reading, give me a good position, I'll tell you what they are saying."

When the crew members heard someone say this, they all made way for a space, which can be called the "supreme position" here.

Everyone was eagerly waiting for the man who claimed to be an expert in lip reading to read out the conversation.

However, he hesitated for a long time and didn't say anything useful.

It soon became apparent that he couldn't lip-read at all.

He was pulled back, and then the supreme position in front immediately became a "battlefield".

Seeing the crew in chaos, Drogo, as the boss, producer and director, stepped forward and said, it's time to end this absurd farce.

"Look at all of you. Do you still look like the excellent magic practitioners of Drogo Studios? They are in love, what are you doing here? Go away, the filming is over, clean up the scene quickly."

Drogo's tone brooked no argument.

The crew members looked at each other, sighed, and stood up to pack up the props.

Seeing that everyone was doing their own thing, Drogo looked around cautiously, and no one paid any attention to him.

So I secretly picked up the monitoring headphones and put them on.

It's not that I can't hear it with my hearing, it's just that the restaurant is too noisy. It sounds chaotic when I listen directly with my ears, and it's not as effective as the directional recording magic.

Drogo eavesdropped and smiled like an auntie.

……

After the filming was completed, the editing work was also done smoothly.

Because the entire film was recorded live, there is no need for post-production dubbing.

As a very realistic subject, there is no need to rely on the redstone system for special effects processing.

Drogo is not a plot that is shot repeatedly several times with various shooting angles and various interpretations, and then the director, who is a film-consuming maniac, finally chooses the one that feels most right.

It took less than a week to complete all the editing, add the music, and seamlessly connect the pre-promotion.

Drogo understands that this film is unlikely to be a box office hit like "The Journey to the Holy Mountain" or "Frozen".

The entertainment value of "The Intouchables" is still lacking.

Having fun is the guarantee of box office success. Of course, having fun is not just about having fun. It can also be a visual spectacle or even giving the audience a good scare.

After all, for most audiences, going to the cinema is for relaxation and entertainment. Even if they know that a certain movie is good and full of content, their willingness to watch it will not be too high.

It is common for a film to be well received but not popular.

This is also why there are always companies investing in bad movies that are incomprehensible to most audiences. Sometimes, this type of movie is criticized a lot, but it still makes money.

The current film market for Feilin is also different from when he was filming "The Hunt". At that time, it was a pure blue ocean and people would watch any type of film.

Now, there are several magic film companies popping up on the mainland. In the Kingdom of Sutton alone, there are dozens of magic film feature films that can be released in theaters every year.

Although it is still far from being a mature magic shadow market, there is some competition.

What's more, the subject matter of "The Intouchables" is a bit sensitive.

It was a promotional film, starring a hated Tiefling.

Even though Morris was once an outstanding student of the Repin Academy, and this identity was announced in the Magic Shadow propaganda, it did not have much effect, as most people still hated him.

Due to the above reasons, the market feedback report that Drogo finally received showed very bleak box office expectations.

Now Drogo Studios has a very rigorous process for publicity and promotion.

There is a group of students from the mathematics department who make various statistical predictions.

The mathematics department in Fehling's university had not yet been divided into majors, such as theoretical research, applied mathematics, statistics, and probability. There was only one mathematics department.

However, not everyone can do theoretical research.

That is a field that depends entirely on talent, and you cannot reach the academic forefront by just working hard.

In addition to intellectual talent, the second biggest requirement for academic work is that the family has money, has no worries about food and drink, and can accept a long period of time without results.

In short, what you need are the things you are born with.

Therefore, the Department of Mathematics is also a major department for career changers.

After the Drogo Group publicly recruited students with excellent mathematical abilities, this immediately became the second most popular career change choice for mathematics students, after finance.

This professional team, composed of a group of outstanding mathematics students, gave a forecast that could barely cover the costs and even make a little profit.

This doesn't mean that the market response to "The Intouchables" is okay.

It’s simply because this film was shot so cheaply that the costs are easily covered.

The two leading actors received very low pay. Ms. Rowling only made a friendly guest appearance and was not even charged much for the soundtrack. She is the kind of person who would record a good song without charging any money.

There was no use of an illusionist, the crew was small, and the shooting period was very short.

Theoretically the biggest expense was renting a luxurious manor as the main filming location, which was contributed by Sir Godot. For artistic ideals, the crew used his mansion at no cost.

The crew members' accommodation problem was also solved, and Sir Godot even provided them with food.

Simply put, the money used to make one "The Holy Mountain" can produce 56 "The Intouchables".

To be honest, if it weren't for Sir Godot's physical condition, there would be few roles suitable for him, and Drogo would have wanted him to play in every Shadow of Mordor.

“It will no longer be released simultaneously in theaters across the mainland.”

Drogo tells Elsa about the arrangement of this magic shadow.

"First, test-screen it in a few Magic Cinemas in several major cities and see the response."

Zhuogo’s idea is to rely on positive reviews from a small number of viewers, wait for word of mouth to gradually spread, attract “tap water”, and then expand the number of theaters showing the film after the popularity rises.

This can avoid the embarrassing situation of releasing the film to the public right away and ending up with a lot of empty theaters.

"Reduce the frequency of trailers on Magic Vision and put them in less popular time slots."

The marginal effect of promoting this thing is diminishing.

The bigger the scale of the promotion, the higher the cost of acquiring a consumer.

We have to mention a certain dream star here.

Oh, the scale of that really makes me sigh at how wealthy they are.

So, with such publicity and screening strategies, "The Intouchables" did not seem like a production of Drogo Studios. It had almost no fanfare and was quietly released in a few magic theaters.

If you are not a senior fan who pays close attention to the film, you probably won't notice the existence of such a film.

But this is exactly the effect that Zhuo Ge wants. These senior fans are also the audiences who are most willing to write film reviews and speak out in newspapers, forums or Tieba platforms.

It is the yeast used for fermentation.

However, contrary to Drogo's expectations, the plan to turn things around by relying on word of mouth did not go smoothly.

A week after the film's release, Drogo frowned as he looked at the box office statistics and public opinion reports.

How did that happen?

In the box office statistics, there is a big ten written on it.

The unit is gold coins.

Only ten gold coins.

He doesn't even want to look at the numbers after the decimal point.

In the time it takes Drogo to catch his breath, the turnover of Drogo Group is more than this amount.

The average price of a movie ticket was five copper coins, and within a week only a little over 20,000 people went to the cinema to watch this evil film.

Compared to other Shadow of the Demon films produced by Drogo Studios, the number of viewers in the first week of release was in the millions, and the release lasted for several months, with the final total box office ranging from tens of thousands of gold coins.

Add to that the subsequent broadcast on the Magic Video Machine and the revenue from various peripheral products, and there is still a lot of money left.

Yes, the profit from a Shadow of Demon is at most in the order of 100,000 gold coins. This is why Drogo changed his expression at the speed of light when the Bishop of the Twin Towers spent a million gold coins on a game.

It's too much.

Look at these ten gold coins now.

I can't bear to finish reading it.

The number was so tragic that Drogo couldn't bear to watch it.

Although this may be partly due to the small number of theaters showing "The Intouchables".

But it can’t be that little, right?
Is it worth going through so much trouble for such a small amount of money?
Even if the main goal of this film is not to make a profit.

But, but...

Drogo could not find any reason to convince himself.

The more I took a step back, the more angry I became.

Moreover, the number of viewers was so small that in the end, even the goal of improving the image of tieflings could not be achieved.

Which step went wrong?
Zhuo Ge carefully studied the statistics in the box office report. During the first two days of screening, the attendance was quite good, with just over 20,000 people attending, and nearly 15,000 of them were in these two days.

Then attendance started to decline.

The decline in attendance is a very normal phenomenon for a movie like Magic Shadow. If a movie like Magic Shadow is sold out every day, it can only prove one thing: there are not enough screenings.

As long as the theater manager is not a fool, he should know to increase the number of screenings when faced with such a situation.

It’s just that the downward slope of “The Intouchables” is a bit steep.

Judging from the results, it seems that after the fans who were following Mo Ying finished watching it, there were no more new fans.

The fermentation did not take place and it became dead dough.

It shouldn't be.

During this week, Drogo has been paying attention to the reputation of "The Intouchables" in various newspapers, forums, and rating platforms.

Very highly rated.

It is far higher than other movies released at the same time, leading by a huge margin. It stands to reason that when passers-by see such a good review of the movie, they will go to see what's going on out of curiosity.

This is how many movies and TV shows about Drogo looked back then.

That’s how those works with good reputation turned around.

Eh?
Zhuogo suddenly thought, is it possible that the evaluation of passers-by is completely opposite to that of fans?
It is not uncommon for the public opinion inside and outside the circle to be contradictory.

If a work wants to break out of its circle, it has to find a delicate balance between pleasing passers-by and not offending fans.

Drogo, open the Shadow.

There are two places to rate the Phantom now.

First of all, there is the scoring platform launched by the Drogo Group. It is professional and rigorous, but there is a prerequisite. If you want to score, you must have watched the movie and verified your ticket stub before you can score.

The second is the Shadow of Magic bar. A small group of friends here who can cast spells created a scoring spell by hand.

As expected, there are all kinds of friends in the club.

This is a platform where friends can entertain themselves and there is no need to make a profit. They don’t need to have read the original work to rate the work. Anyone can rate the work. There are more active users on this platform than on the Drogo Group’s platform.

You don't have to read the original work, but it removes a major hurdle.

Drogo enters it.

Search for The Intouchables.

The result pops up.

Good job, 2.2 points.

It is the last among all the movies released at the same time, and it is the last by a huge margin.

The second to last one still has 5.4 points.

This gap is larger than Drogo's scoring platform, which puts it ahead of the second place.

Drogo understood. Although the reason was not clear now, the audience hated this movie.

So after watching the movie, fans will not be able to attract passers-by.

I have the intention to kill. I'd better find a reason to ban the Moying Bar.

No, the will to speak out cannot be killed. If we ban the Moying Bar, these people will look for other places.

Maybe I'll hate "The Intouchables" even more because of this.

Zhuogo had no choice but to click on the details reluctantly, ready to study why the audience hated it so much.

"Shit Demon Shadow, suck me!"

"Don't you like to whitewash Tiefling? If you whitewash it again, will you still be able to sell tickets?"

"Risking one's life to secretly take photos of an empty theater."

The picture below shows "The Intouchables" being screened and the empty theater.

"What a death!"

"Just a reminder, the lowest score is 0, not 1, so don't make the mistake."

"I've always felt that there was something wrong with the Drogo Group. How could they be good if they were named after an evil dragon? Now their true colors have been exposed, and they've started to lick the tieflings."

The corner of Drogo's eye twitched. It was obvious that the number of human employees in Drogo Group was five times that of employees of other races.

This situation may not change until the inferior demon laborers arrive.

After flipping through several pages, I finally saw a good review.

"I have watched this film, it is really good and very touching. The friendship between the nurse and the knight is very sincere, the characterization is very three-dimensional, and the actors' performances are extremely good. I didn't know there were such good actors and had never heard of their names. It was as if they were playing themselves. I highly recommend everyone to watch it."

Ah, there are still normal audiences. Drogo felt a little better.

Then I noticed that there were more than 400 replies under this positive review.

Drogo could anticipate what the responses would be, but he clicked on them anyway.

"You received the money too, right?"

"Another tiefling licker."

"You are from that crooked-ass rating platform, right? Go back and entertain yourself."

"I'm sorry, I didn't take good care of my dog, and it ran out and made everyone laugh."

……

Sympathize for a second with the person who wrote the good review.

Drogo understood the problem now.

His actions to improve the image of tieflings caused backlash, and the backlash was concentrated on "The Intouchables".

Looking back now, it was indeed a bit hasty.

Most people's aversion to Tieflings is the result of thousands of years of experience.

It's not that Drogo is blaming the victim.

If one ethnic group is hated by another ethnic group, it may be for some reason, but if one ethnic group is hated by all other ethnic groups, then there is basically something wrong with that ethnic group.

The five-colored dragon is regarded as the embodiment of evil.

Because the five-colored dragon is indeed the embodiment of evil.

Although the Drogo Group has issued a reward for the capture of unrepentant Tiefling criminals, recruitment has also begun to provide jobs for the conversion of Tieflings and those who are willing to become good people.

But it will take time for this change to be reflected in public opinion.

The soft article about the good points of tieflings was published before the public opinion changed, which naturally caused people's dissatisfaction.

Whitewash the Tieflings!
In everyone's opinion, this is what the Drogo Group is doing.

Drogo is indeed doing it, but he is not brainless and whitewashing it. Those who should be arrested will be arrested.

However, the people do not care about Drogo's specific starting point.

If the butt is crooked, it is crooked.

Drogo slapped his forehead and thought, this is bad, now my buddy has become IGN.

It is true that he paid for the soft article, but the good reviews for "The Intouchables" were not paid for by him.

How to save it?

"Elsa!"

"exist."

"Regarding the soft articles about tieflings, the frequency of publishing will be temporarily slowed down. We will publish them again later depending on the situation."

"it is good."

"Um……"

Drogo thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you seen The Intouchables?"

"Ah? I've seen it."

"Do you think it's a good movie?"

When asked this, Elsa hesitated for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

She felt that it was not only a good film, but the best film she had ever seen.

When Sir Godot and Ms. Rowling met at the end, although she knew both of them and felt a subtle sense of being out of place as if she was watching familiar people acting, she still burst into tears the moment the music started.

"I think so too."

Drogo decided to trust the quality of The Intouchables.

"How about this? Let's arrange a ticket giveaway event. All new products released recently will be given away with tickets for The Intouchables. Then, we can hold a lottery and give away tickets in the Magic Bar. We can manipulate the backend to give those who curse the most a higher chance of winning."

Drogo plans to sacrifice some future box office revenue to send these cloud audiences to the cinema.

Watching Shadow of Demons is not a cheap expense. The ticket price is five copper coins, which can be saved to cover two days' food expenses.

He believes that most people would still go to the cinema if they could get a ticket for free.

It is a common idea that if you don't take advantage of a good deal, you will lose out.

Drogo believed that as long as these cloud viewers watched this magical film, their views would definitely change.

He believed in the power of the shadow.

"That's it, go ahead and do it."

"it is good."

---------

In the factory area, in a small house that is quite nice in this area, sixteen-year-old Peter is spamming in the chat group.

"Has anyone won the Magic Shadow ticket?"

"I drew it and I've already torn it up. There's no way I'm going to watch that kind of shit."

Peter glanced at the two Magic Shadow tickets on the table and replied guiltily in the group.

"That's right, I got one too. I'll just burn it. There's no way the Drogo Group can brainwash me."

"here you go."

"That's how it should be!"

……

I put down my phone, hesitated for a long time, picked it up again, opened the chat software, and clicked on the pinned special concern.

He took several deep breaths before typing with trembling fingers.

"Grace, I bought two tickets for the movie The Intouchables. Do you have time?"

After sending it, I immediately covered my phone and didn’t dare to look at it.

After waiting for a while, a pleasant reminder sound rang out.

Peter picked it up, but kept his eyes closed.

It took a long time to prepare myself mentally.

"It's okay. It's no big deal even if you refuse. It's normal."

Open your eyes slowly.

"Okay."

"Great!" He jumped up.

(End of this chapter)