Debuted right after graduating from high school

Often, Eastern and Western aesthetic views are not the same.

For example, many supermodels in Victoria's Secret and Hollywood stars are often praised to the skies by European and American media for their looks, and are selected as one of the most beautiful faces in the world.

But in Asia, many people stared at the photo with puzzled expressions, wondering, "That's it? Why?"

Some highly famous A-list Hollywood actresses, with their star aura and numerous classic roles, have become pleasing to the eye over time. Although they are very famous and good-looking, it is difficult for them to truly amaze people.

Ordinary people don't need to consider these things, but Fan Wumian has to pay close attention to them.

After all, if you want your movies to earn more box office revenue, it's hard to completely ignore the differences in aesthetics across major global markets. Under such circumstances, some actresses who fit both Eastern and Western aesthetics naturally come into his view.

The same applies to business in the fashion industry. The reason why Monica Bellucci was chosen as the spokesperson for Valentino was mainly because her sexiness and elegance transcended national borders and were widely praised in Asia, which could enhance Valentino's brand image.

When Valentino signed a three-year contract with Monica Bellucci, the total contract value was 4.5 million euros. She remained Valentino's global ambassador, but in addition, some celebrities were selected to endorse the product individually in different regions.

For example, Zuo Ziyan shot a series of posters carrying a messenger bag. Zhuang Muxi, Liu Yifei, Gao Yuanyuan, Feng Yinger and others have also collaborated with Valentino. In Japan and South Korea, they respectively invited Yui Aragaki and Kim Tae-hee.

During the filming of "The Invisible Guest" last summer, Fan Wumian reached a one-year North American endorsement contract with Jennifer Connelly, but the advertising effect was not very good.

It's not entirely Jennifer Connelly's fault. Major luxury brands are fiercely competing in North America. Valentino didn't have much popularity before, and it takes more time and effort to develop the market. You can't become fat overnight.

The advertising budget that Fan Wumian spent was not even a fraction of what companies like LV and Chanel spent. It would be much more difficult for him to turn the tide and capture the European and American markets than to open up the Asian market.

Later, Britney Spears also helped with promotion, shooting an advertisement that cost tens of millions of dollars and hiring major internet companies to help place it, which allowed Valentino to gradually open up the market among young people.

Now that the contract with Jennifer Connelly has expired, and they need to find a new spokesperson for North America, Fan Wumian believes it is necessary to be cautious, considering the global influence of American culture. While promoting in North America, they also need to consider major markets such as Asia, South America, and Europe. This requires choosing a star who can satisfy all regions.

Arrive in Hollywood by plane.

The time difference between Los Angeles and Rome is nine hours. In the evening local time, Fan Wumian was already sleepy before he could adjust his biological clock. However, the Myth Film Studio had arranged a dinner for him in advance.

Fan Wumian drove straight from the airport to the Beverly Hills Hotel. The people he was going to meet were not some beautiful actress or model, but three tech geeks from Silicon Valley.

The leader, a short, overweight white man with a thick beard and black-rimmed glasses, had a backpack next to him, and his laptop was placed on the dining table.

Another person was a slender Chinese man, also wearing glasses and with a refined appearance. He was wearing a plaid shirt and exuded the air of a top student.

As for the last one, he was a stern-faced young white man, but the moment he saw Fan Wumian, he beamed with joy, stood up, and said with a hint of ingratiation:
"Mr. Fan! We're here!"

All three of them came from a Silicon Valley startup called Realistic Vision, which was completely acquired by Fan Wumian in June of this year for $500,000.

From the start of the acquisition, a project called "Simone" quietly emerged. After investing more than $200 million and working for half a year, it finally yielded some results.

While dozing off, Fan Wumian sat down at the dining table. The fat white man who was leading the group extended his hands and introduced himself to him:
“My name is Mok Adams, and they are Jason Ross and Odin Young. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I really love your songs and movies. I just saw the movie ‘The Counterfeiters: Painters’ last week, and ‘The Invisible Guest’ was also particularly wonderful.”

The movie "Project Gutenberg," starring Andy Lau and Ng Man-tat, was released in early November. Its English title is "Counterfeiter: Painter." With a marketing budget of $11 million, it has already grossed over $1500 million in North America since its release.

"The Invisible Guest," released during the summer, has long since finished its theatrical run, grossing a total of $2.87 million worldwide. With a total production and marketing cost of only $3300 million, this is a very good result for a mind-bending suspense film.

Fan Wumian said:
"I know you guys. I looked at your profiles before the acquisition. You all worked at James Cameron's Digital Domain visual effects company, right? The salaries at visual effects companies must be pretty high. Why did you choose to switch jobs and start your own business in Silicon Valley?"

Odin Young, a Chinese American who immigrated to San Francisco from Taiwan with his parents at a young age, explained upon hearing this:
"Director Cameron's personality is too difficult to get along with. He is always dissatisfied with everyone, and we just happened to have a suitable entrepreneurial direction, so we resigned as a group last year to start our own business."

“At that time, the three of us were sharing an apartment. One day, after watching the Hollywood movie ‘Simone’ together, we discussed it and felt that using our technology to incubate several computer-generated special effects stars might have a very large market.”

"Hiring real celebrities as spokespeople is too expensive, and there are many uncontrollable factors involved. They might encounter accidents that damage their image, which in turn affects the brands they endorse."

James Cameron is known as the "tyrant on set." He almost controls everything on set, and sometimes he even takes over any role himself. In some ways, he is similar to Stephen Chow, both being difficult to manage.

Working for a boss like that is definitely not an easy job. You'll have to deal with a lot of pressure from outside of work, which can eventually lead to a mental breakdown.

The 2002 Hollywood film "Simone" tells the story of a director who creates a non-existent virtual female star who becomes a global sensation and is loved by countless people, thus deceiving everyone.

A few months ago, Fan Wumian unexpectedly came across "Realistic Vision" in the materials sent by the venture capital department. At that time, the company had spent more than $200,000 in start-up capital and was about to go bankrupt if it could not get any more funding. He felt that it was interesting, so he took over the company and reserved job opportunities for the three co-founders in front of him.

After listening to Odin Yang's explanation.

Fan Wumian was both amused and exasperated: "I've already burned through more than 200 million US dollars on this project. That's enough to hire some second-tier actresses. There's no way to cut corners."

"The reason I took over is because I felt that the virtual characters you created were quite realistic, and few companies have tried using virtual spokespeople. This gives us the opportunity to attract attention and promote our company's products."

"Let me see it first. We've been looking for a spokesperson for Valentino in North America, but none of them have met my standards. We'll order food later."

Marketing has always been a field that Fan Wumian excels at. When he saw the virtual characters created by this team, he immediately felt that they were full of gimmicks and could unlock a wave of traffic.

However, AI technology is still immature, and the character models don't look very realistic, so he was still a little unsure and worried that the initial investment would be wasted. Team leader Mok Adams nodded, fiddled with the computer for a bit, and muttered:

"As per your requirements, Mr. Fan, she needs to be extremely beautiful, with a hot figure, long legs, and a slim waist. Our team hired 10 graphic designers who spent more than a month searching for pictures of beautiful women as references and creating several beautiful female characters."

"Then we developed the corresponding rendering tools, and after many attempts, we finally produced these sets of images. Do you think they are satisfactory?"

"Please ignore the differences caused by screen pixels. We also printed them out, and the results are slightly better than on the computer. We also interviewed hundreds of strangers in Silicon Valley, and most of them thought they were beautiful."

Fan Wumian took the computer that was pushed in front of him. The virtual girl on the screen was wearing a bikini, with a peach-shaped butt, F-cup breasts, bright eyes, brown hair and wheat-colored skin, and her facial features were almost flawless.

The photos that cost so much money to produce are definitely different; they don't look obviously fake at first glance. There are also pictures of her sitting in a coffee shop, standing by a desert highway, and kneeling on the beach.

Fan Wumian stared at the screen carefully for a moment, then asked, "Was this body model created using a computer? Or were real models used?"

"A real-life model, she's a YouTube influencer who works at a gym in downtown Los Angeles. Her hot body has attracted countless men who want her to be their trainer."

Mok Adams, fearing he would be looked down upon, quickly added after speaking:
“If you flip to the next page, we also designed Nordic, Latina and Asian versions. The Asian beauty version was the most difficult to design, and it took us several weeks to design it.”

The Nordic version is ethereal and fairy-like, resembling an elf beauty; the Latina version is sexy and hot; while the Asian version of the virtual beauty looks the most fake, not even as good as Dilraba Dilmurat and Gulnazar at their peak.

Upon closer inspection, it doesn't quite meet Fan Wumian's requirements, but given the limitations of the technology, it's already quite good.

I used to not understand why European and American girls were so keen on sunbathing and getting tanned, insisting on turning their skin into a wheat color. Later, after traveling around Europe, I realized that the fair skin of many white girls was quite different from the cool white skin of Chinese people. It was more like a deathly pale complexion, rather than a healthy white with a rosy glow.

After reviewing it several times, Fan Wumian stated:

"Let's choose the first one. The image is more realistic and the figure is more attractive. The fact that you put her at the front shows that you subconsciously feel that this is the work that you are most satisfied with. In my opinion, it is more inclined to Western aesthetics, but from the perspective of Eastern aesthetics, she is quite pretty."

Another white employee, Jason Ross, began to explain:

“We paid for a survey, and the character named ‘Matilda F’ received over 77% of the votes. The survey participants were racially diverse and had a relatively balanced gender ratio, including 30% white, 30% Asian, and other races such as Black, Latino, Jewish, and South Asian.”

In his daily life, Fan Wumian encountered far too many beautiful women, and over time his taste became discerning, no longer entirely in line with the aesthetic standards of most people.

Since the goal is to use virtual characters as spokespeople, it is natural to cater to the aesthetics of most people. Even if real celebrities are chosen, it is impossible to satisfy the public 100%, so it is reasonable for some flaws to exist.

Reaching out to take the printed brochure, Fan Wumian flipped through the pages, admiring the virtual spokesperson's appearance. Compared to what she saw on the computer screen, it was indeed much more realistic. At first glance, it looked as if such a beautiful woman truly existed in real life. After carefully examining it, Fan Wumian remarked:
"Okay, are these all the advertising renderings designed for Valentino? Let's leave it at that for now, release them and see how they go. We need to keep it a secret, and make sure nothing gets out."

Team leader Mok Adams said:

"Everyone in the company has signed a confidentiality agreement. No one wants to suddenly lose their job. Only if this virtual avatar succeeds can they keep their jobs. I believe no one would do anything stupid."

Fan Wumian nodded and said with a smile:
"I want to assemble a marketing team specifically to promote her, spend a lot of money to report on her extensively, and once we've piqued the curiosity of reporters, we'll clarify that she's a virtual spokesperson. So, you can't easily spot any signs of fakery in the pictures. Can you achieve the same effect by enlarging the poster?"

Mok Adams said:
"Yes, we've tested it. Other celebrities' advertising photos are also heavily retouched, and during the investigation, no one could tell that Matilda F. was a computer-generated composite. If we add some other photos, she'll look even more real."

I took a few pictures back to the hotel.

The suite was dimly lit. Alexandra Daddario had arrived early to wait for him, wearing only a sexy, form-fitting outfit, paired with black stockings and high heels, and was posing on the sofa.

Fan Wumian swallowed hard after looking at it, walked to the sofa, handed her the picture, and tentatively said:
"We just interviewed a new candidate. Do you think she's pretty?"

This was not the scene D'Addario wanted to see, forcing a smile as he said:

"You went out to dinner with her tonight? Wow, she's very sexy. No wonder you're so late."

Fan Wumian then said to her, "I want her to be Valentino's spokesperson in North America. Take a closer look."

A surge of jealousy welled up within D'Addario, and after carefully reading through the text, he asked curiously:

"What's her name? I don't think I know her. You're going to give such an important endorsement to an unknown newcomer?"

I understood D'Addario's unspoken meaning: "You might as well hire me as the spokesperson."

Seeing that she had no suspicions whatsoever, Fan Wumian felt even more confident that he could fool everyone and design a glamorous marketing campaign for Valentino.

Jealous and annoyed, D'Addario couldn't wait to start showing off.

He had originally intended to tell her the whole story, but seeing D'Addario suddenly kneeling before him, Fan Wumian swallowed back all the words he was about to say, only saying:
“The situation is a bit special; Matilda is quite special to me.”

As it turns out, one should never underestimate the jealousy of girls; he soon experienced what true exhilaration felt like. (End of Chapter)