This director is vindictive.

Chapter 333 A Real Man Leaves Only Brilliance, No Trace

Filming for "Sunny Sisters" has wrapped up, but Chen Mo still has to keep an eye on post-production.

Meanwhile, the film's marketing and distribution should also be put on the agenda.

Chen Mo's idea for this film is very simple: to follow what he said at the previous press conference.

He didn't bother with any word-of-mouth promotion; he just treated this film like an "idol" drama, focusing on making the shots as beautiful as possible.

He was already prepared to be criticized.

After all, that's pretty much how he came up with this movie when he was filming it.

The plot itself isn't a big problem; the problem is that the actors are all too good-looking, which doesn't reflect reality at all.

However, Chen Mo was still busy with post-production.

Meanwhile, Yang Mi found the photos taken that day increasingly captivating.

So I couldn't help but show off a little.

She created a nine-grid photo. The first photo was of Chen Mo spinning and catching Liu Yifei's hair amidst the flying snowflakes, followed by a group photo of the three of them "growing old together"!

A candid shot of Yang Mi being hit in the face by a snowball, Chen Mo carrying Yang Mi back from behind, and Liu Yifei's playful expression with snow on her fingertips when she ambushed Chen Mo.

A close-up of Chen Mo and Liu Yifei exhaling white mist as their noses touch, captioned by Yang Mi as a joking "movie for three."

However, Yang Mi made some funny changes to this nine-grid photo collection. Her photos with Liu Yifei were very clear, but Chen Mo was either in a back view or blurred out of the depth of field in all the photos. The clearest photo only showed half of his arm that had been hit by a snowball.

Especially the close-up of Chen Mo and Liu Yifei's noses touching and exhaling white mist, only Chen Mo's nose is visible in the picture!
Yang Mi herself thought the photoshopping was hilarious after seeing it.

Then, the caption read: "The last snow of 2022, 'Sunny Sisters' wraps up filming, but the Legend of Sword and Fairy sisters will never wrap up! Sisters' snowy team-building activity #IfWe'reSnowingTogetherOneDay# (with nine collages)"

The most outrageous one is the last photo, which Yang Mi captioned with a joke: "A movie for three people, but I don't even get a name!"

Yang Mi usually posts on Weibo, but rarely like this.

Moreover, she is a top female celebrity in the entertainment industry, and the news of the wrap-up of "Sunny Sisters" already attracted attention.

As a result, this Weibo post and this nine-grid layout stood out particularly!

Within ten minutes of the Weibo post, the comment section exploded. Netizens burst out laughing after reading it.

"Good heavens, this is incredible! So, in reality, Chen Mo acted out 'Sunny Sisters' using only his nostrils?"

"It really is a three-person movie; Chen Mo doesn't even deserve a name!"

"At first glance, it seems to symbolize growing old together in the snow, but why is there a faceless male character?"

"It's inexplicably funny. What did Chen Mo do to offend Yang Mi?"

"Yang Mi, you're good at ruining photos! That photo of our noses touching and our breaths mingling was so beautiful, but you turned it into a comedy!"

"This wave of sourness has completely filled the nine-square grid!"

However, even Yang Mi herself probably didn't expect that her photo would trigger a series of related effects.

First, Chen Mo received a call from Zhang Yuqi. On the phone, this fierce woman laughed so hard she could hardly breathe, saying, "Hahaha, go check Weibo, everyone's saying you acted out 'Sunny Sisters' with your nostrils!"

Chen Mo was in the editing room editing "Sunny Sisters" with the editor when he received the call. He took out his phone and glanced at it, and was immediately dumbfounded.

At this very moment, the hashtag #ChenMoSnowyInvisibilityTechnique# quickly became a trending topic!
"The fairy-like beauty playing in the snow with glasses is so stunning! But shouldn't the focus be on someone being 'blurred out' the whole time? [doge]"

"Of the nine photos, why do I think the nostrils are the most eye-catching?"

"So, Yang Mi and Yi Fei are the true love? Chen Mo was just an accident?"

"No problem, best friends grow old together, Chen Mo can step aside!"

Since Yang Mi's antics were so entertaining, Chen Mo was naturally happy to play along.

So he thought about it, first liked and shared it, then commented: "No problem, directors work behind the scenes! But next time, could you please Photoshop out the nostrils too?"

Chen Mo's response was like a pebble thrown into a pond, instantly creating even more ripples.

Zhao Liying posted three behind-the-scenes photos in the repost section: Chen Mo being held down by the makeup artist for touch-ups, squatting behind the monitor eating a boxed lunch, and looking disheveled while dozing off wrapped in a military overcoat. She captioned the photos: "Officially proving the director's 'behind-the-scenes' nature."

Fan Binbin went even further, releasing a nine-shot series of memes featuring Chen Mo's expressions while directing the scene, captioned with: "I suggest applying for intangible cultural heritage status for 'The Director's Thousand Faces of Acting'." One of the screenshots, showing Chen Mo mimicking a shy young girl, was photoshopped with the words "Best Actress in this Film," and it garnered over 100,000 reposts in half an hour.

No one expected that the frenzy sparked by this snow photo would escalate into a nationwide meme extravaganza. Five related topics appeared in the top ten trending topics on Weibo: #ChenMo'sNostrilActingSkills#, #SunnySistersDirectorLaidOffAndRe-employed#, #IfHeFallsInTheSnowWithMeOthersExceptForTheDirector#.
The most outrageous thing is that Snow Beer's verified Weibo account actually jumped on the bandwagon and commented on some hilarious posts.

@SnowflakeBeer: "A real man leaves behind only brilliance, not a trace!"

This has garnered countless likes from netizens, with many suggesting that Snow Beer should give the spokesperson a bonus, as they've capitalized on this trending topic to an extreme degree.

However, no one expected that this was only the beginning.

Soon, the seven sisters of the youth version of "Sunny Sisters" also began to join this trend of "sisterhood is true love".

Seven teenage girlfriends took photos in pairs, and then a group photo. What they all had in common was that they were all in the snow, with their hair covered in snowflakes!

In the photos, everyone is full of youthful energy and has a bright, smiling face!
The caption reads: "Sunny Sisters will never wrap up filming!"

This wasn't actually arranged by Chen Mo, but it has to be said that sometimes, things happen more easily and unintentionally, which can easily cause a sensation.

After the seven teenage sisters posted this photo, the mature seven sisters followed suit and posted a photo from almost the same angle and in the same setting.

The caption reads: "Filming for 'Sunny Sisters' has wrapped up!"

This collaboration between youthful and mature versions of the "girls' friendship" tagline instantly sparked heated discussions among netizens.

"'Never Finishing Filming' is a shonen anime, 'Filming Has Finished' is a nostalgic moment, fans of both are ecstatic!"

"Mature Group: I'm done acting! Youthful Group: We can fight for another five hundred years!"

"It's so poetic. When we were young, we sisters promised to stay together forever, but now many years have passed, just like the caption of a mature version of a best friend group: we haven't been in touch for many years! It turns out, we've already wrapped up filming!"

"My best friend and I are now worlds apart. When I saw the photo, I couldn't help but pick up my phone and find a number in my contacts that I hadn't dialed in years, only to find that it was no longer in service!"

Some netizens even created a dynamic comparison image by piecing together the two versions of the girls' snowy photos. The youthful version is lively and energetic, while the mature version is elegant and embracing. The background music "Where Has the Time Gone" has brought tears to countless eyes.

"Twenty years from now, we will still be ourselves."

"Yes, where has the time gone? My former sisters, how are you all doing?"

"Everyone says that true love is sisters, and men are just accidents, but why is it that after 20 years, I can't find my sisters from back then anymore!"

This wave also triggered a widespread wave of nostalgia.

Soon, netizens began to imitate and create derivative works.

Ordinary netizens have been imitating the "Growing Old Together" photo, with couple versions, best friend versions, and even pet versions (photoshopping snowflakes onto dogs' heads) sweeping across short video platforms, giving rise to the #NeverEndingChallenge#, where the photographer deliberately leaves an "invisible spot" off-camera to tease Chen Mo.

Some bloggers even spliced ​​snow photos from "Sunny" with famous scenes from nostalgic dramas like "Reply 1988" and "Hi, Mom," captioning it "Sisters from different eras, the same promise to grow old together," instantly turning the repost section into a "memory exchange conference of different eras!"
Some people photoshopped Chen Mo, who was blurred in the photo, into a snowman, a mailbox, or even a "guest appearance" sign, and the meme "A director's self-cultivation: Don't steal the spotlight" swept across various social media platforms.

What's even more interesting is that it created an unexpected cultural phenomenon.

Young couples began taking photos together in the snow, leading to a surge in marriage registrations at civil affairs bureaus. Staff complained, "Today it's all couples pledging their love and vows."

A marriage registration office in a certain area decorated its certificate-issuing platform with a snow scene and launched a "Growing Old Together" marriage certificate photo service with the slogan: "Tomorrow we'll be drenched in snow together, today we'll receive our certificates with sweetness!" It was praised as "the official office that knows best how to capitalize on trending topics."

Many netizens commented, "This is the power of celebrities! 'If we are together in the snow one day, we will grow old together in this life.' This line of poetry is actually familiar to everyone, but why has it only sparked such widespread imitation this time?"

Male netizens, witnessing the overwhelming "sharing the snow" trend on social media, felt a mix of emotions. In a gaming group, a user with the ID "Steel Straight Man" posted a photo of his group of friends with their arms around each other in the snow, captioned: "Can we say we've grown old together now?"

Three seconds later, dozens of voice messages burst out of the group chat:
"Holy crap, I have to delete it! My girlfriend just asked me if I'm out of the closet!"

"This snow looks like dandruff."

"I suggest changing it to 'Water Margin: A Snowy Night Ascent to Liangshan'!"

The most poignant comment came from a female netizen: "Sisters growing old together is a sign of peaceful times, brothers growing old together is like a gangster deal, freezing cold."

A Baidu Tieba user named "Dugu Qiubai" was not convinced and launched the #RealMenGrowOldTogetherChallenge#, posting a photo of himself building a snowman in an attempt to "grow old together". However, the snowman collapsed halfway through, leaving only half a snow pile and a disheveled photo, with the caption "He died halfway through his life before he could grow old together".

A male netizen was scolded by his wife for "having a cold and not expecting me to take care of him." In the photo, he was covered in snow but wrapped in a scarf and shivering. The comments section joked: "Growing old together? No, it's getting beaten up together."

It was just a series of mishaps!

A popular comment on Zhihu succinctly summarizes: "Women's expression of emotions is 'delicate,' and when men imitate them, it becomes 'performance art'—essentially a stigmatization of male intimate relationships within a cultural narrative."

The worst case was a male dormitory at a certain university. Four guys sneaked up to the rooftop at 3 a.m. to film "Growing Old Together." When the dormitory supervisor caught them with a flashlight, the four shirtless hunks were pouring flour on their heads in the snow, while playing "Yi Jian Mei" on their phones.

The next day, the school newspaper's headline read: "Shocking! Students from the School of Biochemistry Develop Snow Cream Overnight."
In the end, the male netizens reached a consensus: No wonder Chen Mo only showed his nostrils the whole time, he was really prescient!

Next time, it's safer to just like your girlfriend's snow photos and leave a comment like "You take care of the romance, and I'll take care of keeping your hands warm."

This unexpected surge in popularity surprised Chen Mo.

Because he hadn't even started promoting "Sunny Sisters" yet, Yang Mi's casual Weibo post unexpectedly generated a lot of buzz for the show!

Interestingly, this trend of "sisters growing old together" has even spread overseas.

After South Korean netizens shared the photos, they launched the "Our 1998" snow challenge, and the hashtag #ChineseRomance# appeared on Japanese Twitter trends.

Western media have described this as a "viral spread of Eastern understated aesthetics."

Faced with this sudden wave of "snowy nostalgia", a Weibo influencer sighed and summarized: "This 'nostalgia' that started with playing in the snow has eventually evolved into an emotional resonance that transcends generations and national borders - when old objects meet new ideas, when sisterhood collides with a sense of nostalgia, the so-called classic is nothing more than a youth that never ends."

Chen Mo naturally wouldn't let this wave of popularity go to waste.

A simplified trailer was quickly edited.

The trailer doesn't show much of a plot; it's just a comparison between two scenes.

The first segment features a youthful version of the Sunny Girls, dancing a vibrant and energetic street dance together.

The second segment is a more mature version of the Sunny Girls, except that the first segment had seven girlfriends, while the second segment only has four!

The trailer ends with: "See you in 20 years!"

Given the previous buzz surrounding the "sisters growing old together" theme, this trailer seamlessly capitalized on that previous wave of attention.

As a result, the comparison trailer edited by Chen Mo quickly became a phenomenon on social media after it was released.

"I cried. Our six best friends in the dorm are now only left in the group chat, occasionally they come back to life."

"Unconsciously, friendships undergo natural selection over time. Without realizing it, they just drift apart! Waaah!"

"Seven and four, oh, I suddenly had the urge to gather my old sisters for a reunion, only to find out that one of them had already passed away. I burst into tears instantly! Time! It takes away not only sisterhood, but also life itself!"

Another netizen started a poll on Weibo: "How many of your girlfriends are left?"
More than 10 people participated within 24 hours, and the results showed that 78% of the participants had lost contact with more than half of their friends.

One film critic offered a sharp comment: "Chen Mo uses the clamor of street dance to contrast the silence of middle age. Those three people who disappeared may be ourselves, being devoured by life."

However, this publicity campaign has also sparked some controversy.

Some viewers questioned the "overly romanticized portrayal of friendship": "In reality, 40-year-old sisters would have already fallen out over school district housing!"

But this was immediately countered: "It is precisely because reality is cruel that we need movies to create dreams."

Some people also questioned the "over-marketing of nostalgia," arguing that the dance segment avoided the main points and failed to showcase the depth of the storyline.

But fans quickly retorted: "This is a love letter to youth, why make it so bitter and resentful?"

At the same time, this popularity has also led many netizens to dig up Chen Mo's previous remarks at the press conference, such as "I do not recommend watching it," which was seen as a sign of his laissez-faire attitude.

Although some people commented that Chen Mo's approach was subversive marketing.

But after all, Chen Mo really did say that.

But now, "Sunny Sisters" has stirred up a new wave of popularity, with its popularity skyrocketing.

"'Not recommended to watch' = 'Come and watch now!' Director Chen's feigned indifference is brilliant!"

"Case solved! The press conference hinted that the director would 'disappear'—someone who acts with their nostrils certainly doesn't deserve viewing advice [doge]"

"Translate Director Chen's quote: 'If the photos are too beautiful, you might feel inferior, so don't look at them.' #VersaillesUltimateForm#"

"Sisters, we can vouch for you! The director said it was an 'idol drama' all along. Anyone criticizing the looks isn't paying attention!"

From "Not recommended for viewing" to a nationwide meme, how did Chen Mo turn his "give up" declaration into a top-tier publicity campaign?

"I suggest everyone in the industry quickly copy this strategy—first lie down, then let the top influencers carry you with their nostrils [eating melon emoji]"

The other companies in the industry were dumbfounded.

Damn it, Chen Mo originally said things like "I don't recommend watching" and "the plot is just a bonus," which was supposed to be a showdown and a way to just give up, although some people said it was reverse marketing.

However, as we all know, fan-oriented films have long been proven to have limited potential.

Therefore, people didn't really consider this movie to be a particularly strong competitor.

Even though Chen Mo's words did indeed spark considerable discussion back then, filming had only just begun.

Moreover, there are precedents for this.

Looking at those movies that pile up stars, apart from patriotic films, almost all of them are labeled as "bad movies," proving that movies cannot rely solely on stars.

Chen Mo's "Sunny Sisters" directly brings together more than a dozen female celebrities in the entertainment industry, which, combined with the theme of the film, already makes it "unrealistic".

However, they were dumbfounded.

why?
It's obvious that netizens no longer care whether it's an "idol drama" or not.

They were even triggered by "sisterhood" and "20-year promise" to have a "memory kill"!
You can tell or imagine it just by looking at the topics trending this time.

Sunny will definitely be the top choice for female viewers, especially for "sisters watching movies"!
Because this movie has even become a symbol, a symbol of sisters reuniting and sisters getting together again!

When a movie becomes a symbol, you can imagine that the plot and such become less important to them.

Because all they needed was this opportunity, this occasion!
What's even more outrageous is that this kind of subject matter is actually very unfriendly to male viewers, since it tells the story of women.

The theme itself naturally excludes male audiences; brotherhood and sisterhood are completely different things, right?
But the problem is that "Sunny Sisters" is a collection of the top female stars in the Chinese entertainment industry!

For male viewers, even if it's just to see beautiful women, it's worth buying a ticket!
Even downplaying the "plot" has become an advantage.

If Chen Mo's trailer is meant to promote the plot, it's safe to say it holds absolutely no appeal for male viewers.

But the trailer features a bunch of stunningly beautiful girls dancing hot. What man could resist that?

(End of this chapter)