This director is vindictive.

Chapter 492 I can connect with the female prisoners, you try connecting with the Anxi army!

This whole thing is just a series of coincidences.

Even Feng Dagang didn't expect that Chen Mo would directly counter documentary with documentary.

And he also knew that this was truly a stroke of luck.

Because Chen Mo's project was a documentary called "The Great Tang Anxi Army," produced in collaboration with CCTV's documentary channel.

Therefore, it couldn't have been a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Netizens were absolutely thrilled.

"Holy crap, this is a real head-to-head battle! You call me soulless, I'll retort that you lack quality, you make a 'Female Prisoner Documentary,' I'll make a 'Great Tang Anxi Army' documentary! Let's fight, let's fight!"

"Good heavens, this isn't movie promotion, it's practically a 'battle of the best' in the documentary world! Director Feng is making a film about female prisoners, Chen Mo is digging up ancient corpses, is it next time Director Zhang will go to Antarctica to film penguins?"

"I suggest Director Feng just livestream his tears behind bars next time, and Chen Mo should just turn the Mobei battlefield ruins into a 4D cinema—you're a realist? I'll give you an archaeological-level immersive experience!"

"Hilarious! Both documentaries are more exciting than the actual films! If the full film of 'Sunflower' is half as authentic as the documentary, and the trailer for 'Tang Dynasty' has even a gram more soul than the documentary, I'll book ten screenings!"

"Director Feng: My movies are full of life! Chen Mo: My movies even have bones dug out! This is a grand performance art competition of 'living vs. dead'!"

"Now the pressure is on the cinemas—I suggest changing the April screening schedule to: showing 'Female Prisoner' with a mournful face in the morning, 'Anxi Army' eating sand in the afternoon, and the full-length movie healing the trauma in the evening, a perfect closed loop!"

"@CCTV Documentary Channel, quickly start a new program called 'Where Are the Directors Going?' The first episode should feature these two teaming up to film 'The Legend of Anxi, the Female Prisoner of the Tang Dynasty' at Qincheng Prison. The ratings will definitely be off the charts!"

"In the past it was 'If you're not convinced, let's have a go,' now it's 'If you're not convinced, let's dig it up.' I suggest adding an archaeology score to movie ratings in the future: Director Feng's movies +1 point for 'focusing on reality,' Chen Mo's movies +10 points for 'unearthing cultural relics.'"

"The worst off is 'Ne Zha 2': You two are fighting, fine, but why is one using my box office as a negative example, and the other using my IP as a shield? So animated films have no rights, huh?" (Image: Ne Zha meme: I'm just a demon pill.jpg)

"A prediction: After the film's release, Director Feng will definitely say 'the audience doesn't understand art,' and Chen Mo will absolutely retort 'the box office speaks for itself.' But the real winner is the watermelon-selling platform—these two directors argue for a day, and watermelon sales will increase by 30%!"

However, since the insults and arguments have started, there must be a continuation of the conflict, since TV series are easier to follow.

As a former "little firecracker," Feng Dagang is well aware of this.

Therefore, in a phone interview that evening, Feng Dagang sarcastically remarked: "Some people treat documentaries like movie trailers; it's essentially commercial speculation."

Chen Mo countered on Weibo: "Thanks for the reminder, Director Feng—after all, the military advisor for 'The Great Tang' is a university history professor, which is more reliable than some 'realists' who work behind closed doors."

However, what happened next left the onlookers completely dumbfounded.

Even Chen Mo was speechless upon seeing this.

Because he was truly checkmated by Feng Dagang!
This guy has absolutely no sense of martial ethics.

Feng Dagang quickly launched another attack on Weibo: "Some directors always like to use 'history' as a fig leaf, but the soul of the Tang Dynasty has long been crushed by you with special effects! True realism is daring to face the scars of the present day—tonight at 8 pm, the live broadcast of 'Female Prisoner Documentary' will connect with the parties involved. @ChenMo, do you dare to let your 'Anxi Army' talk to the audience?"

This completely stunned everyone.

"Holy crap, Little Cannon's imagination is amazing! This is a checkmate! How is Chen Mo going to get the Anxi army to talk to the audience? Even the unearthed artifacts can't speak!"

"Awesome PLUS! Director Feng's move is a complete game-changer! Chen Mo can't possibly borrow the archaeological team's Luoyang shovel to do a live stream, can he? (doge)"

"I suggest Chen Mo contact the production team of a tomb raiding web series overnight and borrow two talking terracotta warriors to bolster the show!"

"I can't believe it! Director Feng has a Tang Dynasty veteran come back to life and do a live stream? This is even more fantastical than the Demon Orb in 'Ne Zha 2'!"

Feng Dagang: I'm interviewing a female prisoner. Chen Mo: I...I'll have a Tang Dynasty terracotta warrior from a museum recite a menu?

"What the hell is this 'talking to the audience'?! Director Feng is forcing the 'Tang Dynasty' crew into a battle of psychic abilities! (Leans back tactically)"

"Best Mind-Blowing Idea of ​​the Year: A Realist Director Forces a Fantasy Director to Play with the Supernatural—Should They Challenge Each Other to a Showdown on the Set of 'Approaching Science'?"

"Chen Mo now only has three paths: 1. Admit defeat; 2. Invent a time machine; 3. Put Feng Dagang into the Dunhuang murals to 'converse with the ancients' (with a photoshopped image of Director Feng in a flying apsara pose)."

The official Weibo account of "The Great Tang Dynasty" changed its signature overnight: "We are contacting the King of Hell to grant access to the underworld livestream room. Stay tuned!"

"Feng Dagang's move is on another level! No matter how much research Chen Mo's documentary has, it can't withstand the other side's direct confrontation, 'You want a dead man to speak?!'"

Of course, even Chen Mo had to admire it. Who said the little cannon was old?

With such a wild imagination, why bother making films about realistic themes?

Chen Mo responded quickly, and this time he directly named someone.

"@Director Feng, do you want to listen to what you're saying?"
[Picking nose] Connecting the Anxi army from over a thousand years ago with the audience?
This idea is even more fantastical than the script for "Sunflower"!
Why don't you rephrase your statement—for example, first explain how different the real-life counterpart of the 'female prisoner' character in your film is by leaps and bounds? [doge]
Additionally, I suggest that next time you do a live stream, don't just connect with the person involved, but directly connect with the King of Hell (the god of death) and let him judge whether "Sunflower" is realism or magical realism. Chen Mo also used AI to create an accompanying image: Feng Dagang, dressed in archaeological clothing, is holding a megaphone and shouting at a skeleton: "Comrade Anxi Army, the audience is asking how many grams your soul weighs?"

A speech bubble above a skull reads: "Two ounces more than the box office of your favorite film."

Netizens immediately chimed in with sarcastic remarks: "Director Feng: I want depth! Chen Mo: You want a direct route to the underworld!"

"I suggest that Director Feng make a film called 'Approaching Science: The Anxi Army's Resurrection' next. The ratings will definitely crush 'Female Prisoner'!"

"Hilarious! Chen Mo's move is like using magic to defeat magic—you want me to dig up artifacts to talk to you? I'll just send you down to fight in a real battle!"

This exchange of insults left not only netizens bewildered, but also people in the entertainment industry completely baffled.

Good heavens, absolutely good heavens.

One dared to speak, and the other truly dared to accept it.

As Feng Dagang's "live-streaming connection with female prisoners" went viral, the publicity team of "Sunflower" released a data report overnight: the documentary's premiere viewership exceeded 10 million, related topics garnered over 1000 billion views, and #femaleprisonerdocumentarylivestream# topped the trending search list.

Chen Mo's counterattack was even more cunning—the documentary "The Great Tang Anxi Army" premiered on CCTV's documentary channel in the early hours of the next day, with a viewership rating that broke 3%, setting a new annual record for the channel.

Netizens discovered that Chen Mo had hidden a "divine operation" in the end credits: the archaeological team used AI technology to restore the facial model of the veteran of Anxi Army. When the virtual image said "We have guarded this land for forty years and have never failed the Tang Dynasty" in front of the desert ruins, the barrage was instantly filled with "tears".

This "dialogue between ancient and modern times" clip was extracted and disseminated separately, and its views on Douyin exceeded 100 million within 2 hours.

The publicity effect was so good that it left countless people in the industry speechless.

Because neither company actually spent much money on publicity, the verbal battle between the two directors alone sparked a frenzy of gossip.

This successfully boosted the popularity of both films.

This "flame war marketing" campaign is a classic example.

A well-known Weibo influencer wrote a long analysis specifically about the marketing campaign surrounding the verbal battle between the two.

Analyst Perspective: Deconstructing the Success Logic of "Anti-Nezha" Marketing and the Director's Feud

"This 'flame war marketing' in March can be considered a classic case of film promotion."

First, the team accurately captured emotions and tied them to the topic. Initially, Feng Dagang's team leveraged top-tier traffic: using the phenomenal popularity of "Ne Zha 2" with its 150 billion yuan box office as a springboard, they forcibly linked the niche art film "Sunflower" with a national IP, thus achieving a breakthrough in public awareness.

Data shows that during the online feud, the Baidu Index for "Sunflower" surged by 782%, and the Weibo hashtag garnered over 5 million views.

Secondly, it creates a binary opposition, using the false dichotomy of "commercial thriller vs. realism" to activate public participation.

Psychological research has shown that strongly held controversies can quickly divide people into camps, prompting netizens to spontaneously take sides and debate. Third-party monitoring shows that user interaction rates on related topics are 17 times higher than usual.

Furthermore, the dramatic reconstruction of character conflicts!
Feng Dagang has restarted his attack mode, perfectly replicating his public image of "challenging everyone and everything" from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.

Public opinion analysis shows that 78% of the discussions mentioned "My youth is back," and the sentimental appeal effectively neutralized the negative perception of the alleged opportunistic marketing.

Meanwhile, by portraying Chen Mo as a "new darling of the traffic era," the campaign effectively triggered intergenerational conflicts. Analysis of trending terms on social media platforms shows a surge in the frequency of tags such as "veteran artist" and "capital puppet," proving the successful framing.

Finally, the discussion evolved from film comparisons (product level) to director debates (personality level) to documentary battles (cultural level), continuously upgrading the topic's dimensions. Monitoring showed that the lifespan of each stage of the topic was controlled within 48 hours, forming a relay-style wave of popularity.

They deliberately project polarized viewpoints onto KOLs from different circles. For example, they feed the argument of "monopolizing film screenings" to film and television industry bloggers, and use the "soul theory" to trigger resonance among art and literature youth.

Big data shows that the overlap between the arguments of professional film critics and ordinary netizens is less than 12%, proving that the effect of stratified dissemination is significant.

The most exciting part was Feng Dagang's imaginative connection.

Although it seems magical, it has grasped the secret to traffic generation.

What's interesting about this war of words is the tacit cooperation between the two directors.

The back-and-forth battles, documentary showdowns, and online battles provided netizens with a fascinating and entertaining spectacle.

What's remarkable is that this time, both sides maintained the appearance of a "dispute over film concepts" and did not resort to personal attacks.

From an industry perspective, this controllable conflict leaves room for a "happy reunion" later on, avoiding a dead end.

This online feud is essentially an upgraded internet version of classic conflict marketing. Its success stems from a precise understanding of the underlying logic of the attention economy—in an era of information overload, being criticized is sometimes more likely to break through the dissemination threshold than being praised. However, we must be wary of the diminishing marginal returns of such strategies; overuse could lead the industry into a vicious cycle of "bad money driving out good."

(End of this chapter)