Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 298 Seven-Layer Space
After promoting the film for a while, by the time they returned to Beijing, more than ten days had passed since the film's release.

These days, Cao Yang finally understands what a "movie craze" is. The market performance of "Inception" is amazing, and its word-of-mouth is even better.

Whether in traditional media or online, the topic is almost entirely about "Inception".

Since the rise of the internet and portal websites, film critics are no longer limited to print media and television programs as they used to be.

Savvy film critics have begun to move online, either collaborating with portal websites to create columns or posting directly on community websites, "lowering" their status and connecting with netizens.

Some film critics have also followed the trend and started blogs to publish film reviews.

Blogs entered China in 2000, but their performance was mediocre and they remained lukewarm until the Mu Zimei incident in 2004 made the Chinese public aware of and use blogs, which further promoted the popularization of blogs.

To say that blogs truly became popular, it was only last year, in 2005, that portal websites with large user bases such as Sina and Sohu began to join the blogging arena, which led to the rise of blogs.

Currently, there are three relatively distinctive blog platforms in China.

First, they invested heavily, attracting numerous entertainment stars, intellectuals, relationship writers, and grassroots bloggers to join the groom's blog.

Secondly, it provides users with online tools for personal expression and communication. Users can record their personal thoughts and opinions through various means such as logs and photos, and can also share online collections, fully showcasing themselves on NetEase Blog.

Another one is Tianya Blog, which relies on the most popular community website in China and is characterized by its openness, inclusiveness, and humanistic care.

By the way, because Tianya was one of the earliest community websites, the people who used Tianya were a diverse and mixed bunch, so Tianya produced many "geniuses", and Tianya blogs also had many "geniuses".

But when it comes to writing film reviews and sharing viewing experiences, the groom's blog is definitely the first to come to mind.

The popularity of "Inception" gave Singer Entertainment an opportunity. They invited a large number of film critics and celebrities to write film reviews and share their viewing experiences, which also boosted the popularity of Singer's Blog.

In particular, there is a female celebrity named Lü Yi who became popular last year. She wrote a movie review of "Inception" on her groom's blog. Actually, it can't be called a movie review, but it's more like a post-viewing reflection.

She wrote: I think the theory of Inception is open-ended. Some people say there are seven layers in the film. I only saw five layers. My friend saw six layers. Maybe some people can see seven layers.

However, seeing a certain number of layers will not affect our individual thinking. Everyone can gain their own understanding from it. You can view it as very philosophical, or you can view it as very easy and simple.

In fact, her review was just that—a review, a casual essay. She's a very straightforward person; she didn't spout any grand theories or try to "educate" the public from a superior position.

Logically speaking, such a "common" essay of about a hundred words shouldn't have gone viral, but it was precisely these few words of reflection that made it so popular, with the subsequent comments alone reaching hundreds of thousands.

The specific reason is that a guy named Cao Yang wrote in her comment: "Seven layers of space? That many?"
This comment caused Lü Yi's blog to suddenly go viral, becoming inexplicably popular.

No one knows whether the user named "Cao Yang" is the real Cao Yang or just has the name Cao Yang. In any case, a large portion of the netizens who come here to comment are there because of "Cao Yang" and his comments.

The comments were all in the form of questions, such as:

"Good heavens, seven layers of space? Am I too stupid? I only saw five layers. I guess Cao Yang himself doesn't even know there are seven layers of space, otherwise he wouldn't have any questions."

"I just finished watching Inception. My first thought was that Cao Yang is really amazing. He can make you think after watching the movie and then you can't wait to find someone to discuss it with... But, are there really seven layers of space?"

"Haha, that's hilarious! Cao Yang doesn't know his movie has seven layers of space."

"I watched it a second time and saw more small details, such as the ring. It's really amazing. I didn't notice such small details the first time. However, I only saw the sixth level on my second watch and didn't see the seventh level."

"Brothers, let's do a third run! We must find the seventh level of space and outsmart Cao Yang, who doesn't even know there's a seventh level of space, haha..."

……

Of course, there must be a reason why Lü Yi's blog post became so popular out of nowhere.

Xinlang.com is very good at promotion, otherwise it would not have become the king of Weibo. The market value of Xinlang Weibo was once three times that of its parent company, Xinlang.com, which is a huge advantage.

It is known as the most powerful subsidiary in China.

The team responsible for running the blog had a clear vision for the groom's blog: to avoid being too numerous and varied, and instead focus on general "entertainment."

Therefore, after Inception became a huge hit these days, they kept an eye on the blog posts of film critics and celebrities, hoping to find one that could break into the mainstream and attract a wave of traffic to their blogs.

Then, someone saw Lü Yi's short review, mainly because there was a comment from someone named "Cao Yang". Could we take advantage of that?
As everyone knows, Lü Yi became famous because of Cao Yang's "Black Swan". Although she did not reach the height of Dong Xuan and became the fifth of the four leading actresses, she can be considered a near-first-tier actress.

Simply being labeled a "Cao Girl" is a natural boost to one's status, just like most "Zhang Yimou Girls".

The status of "Cao Girl" is higher than that of "Zhang Yimou Girl" in the industry. After all, in terms of achievements, four of the five "Four Great Actresses" can be considered to have come from the "Cao Girl" background, and one from the "Zhang Yimou Girl" background.

So, the groom's blog team started driving traffic to Lü Yi's blog, making Lü Yi's blog post go viral and become a hot topic.

As for whether the person named "Cao Yang" in the comments section is the real Cao Yang, the groom's blog management team doesn't care. Whether it's real or fake is irrelevant; the key is the buzz. "Cao Yang's" response will definitely generate a huge amount of discussion. As for whether this will offend Cao Yang, of course not.

This is a win-win situation: the groom's blog gains traffic and customers, which in turn helps promote "Inception".

However, Singer.com is quite tactful. After all, they mainly promote general "entertainment," and Cao Yang is their biggest "star," so of course they wouldn't offend him.

They even contacted Cao Yang specifically to provide an explanation.

I casually wrote a few lines on my blog, and it inexplicably went viral. To be honest, I was also confused for a long time.

She also noticed the person named "Cao Yang" in the comments section. Looking at the various comments, they all seemed to be related to "Cao Yang's" remarks.

A thought suddenly struck her: wasn't this a perfect opportunity?
Although Lü Yi is a straightforward girl, being straightforward doesn't mean being stupid.

She had Cao Yang's private cell phone number, but Cao Yang was too busy to call him frequently, so she always had to find an excuse. And now she had another excuse.

"Director Cao, is there really seven layers of space in Inception?"

She had already prepared a draft in her mind, outlining what to say and how to talk to Cao Yang, but as soon as the call connected, Lü Yi instantly forgot her plan and asked her question as her first words.

Upon hearing this, she almost slapped herself.

My damn personality! I'm not a straightforward girl at all!
I'll definitely change it next time.

Cao Yang was also a little confused. Of all the people he had met, only Lü Yi was known for being straightforward but not the kind of person who lacked emotional intelligence and was a "big mouth".

Creating a "persona" isn't popular now, but in the future, "persona" will become a label for celebrities, and many female celebrities will adopt the persona of being "straightforward".

But anyone who knows a little will know that most "straightforward" celebrities are actually just low in emotional intelligence and big mouths, or to put it bluntly, they're just clueless. Their management companies have no choice but to rely on their "straightforwardness".

Lü Yi's "straightforwardness" refers to her straightforward and honest personality, but she is also meticulous and attentive in her work, and has very high emotional intelligence. She is not a simpleton or a blabbermouth.

She is completely different from those who try to cultivate a "straightforward" persona.

"It's impressive that you can see five floors."

Cao Yang did not give a direct answer. To be honest, he was a little incredulous when he learned that someone interpreted Inception as having seven layers of space.

In the original setting, even including the Lost Realm, how many layers are there in total? How come there are seven layers of space?

It seems that directors are merely tools for making films, and it's perfectly normal for them not to understand the core of the film or its interpretation.

Yeah, it's a movie that the director knows absolutely nothing about.

"I'm not stupid. If you watch the movie carefully, you'll definitely know that there are five layers of dreams."

Lü Yi laughed and asked again, "Am I too stupid? I can only see five layers of space and haven't even found the sixth. Is there really a seventh layer?"

After a pause, she said "frankly" again, "Director Cao, how about I come to see you tonight and we can discuss which seven levels of space there are? I'm really curious."

Cao Yang laughed. "Are you trying to discuss movies with me, or are you just lusting after my body? Do you think I don't understand your little scheme?"
"You might not believe it, but the media reported that I returned to Beijing after promoting the movie. Actually, I came to Shanghai to take care of some personal matters, so we can't discuss the movie tonight."

Cao Yang replied with a smile.

Lu Yi was silent for a moment, then asked, "What if I said I'm also in Shanghai?"

Haha, what a joke! If you were in Shanghai, and the media reported that I had returned to Beijing, how could you possibly say that you wanted to discuss the plot with me at night?

"If you were also in Shanghai, I'd like to treat you to dinner tonight."

Cao Yang joked.

Lü Yi's heart began to pound rapidly, and she tried her best to make her tone of voice sound calm.

"It's a deal?"

"It's a word."

After hanging up the phone, Lü Yi sent Cao Yang a hotel address via text message, saying, "I'm here now. Director Cao, you have to keep your word. Send me the address, and I'll come find you."

Then, she called her assistant in and instructed, "Go and cancel my plane ticket back to Beijing. I'm not leaving today!"

(End of this chapter)