The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 490 Controlling the Desire to Express Oneself

These were all dug out from Xu Jiuyang's memories. There are definitely some errors in the details, but this should be the general process.

In short, after the collective memory emerged, everyone wanted a piece of the pie, with some creating comics, some stage plays, and others TV series.

Unfortunately, filming didn't begin until 16, by which time the trend of youth films had passed, the script was terrible, and it was still the same old formula. In the end, it was a complete mess and failed to translate collective memory into box office success.

Now, with a reference point, Xu Jiuyang could easily mobilize his online army in advance, shortening the fermentation process.

In fact, that's exactly what he did. After filming "Li Lei and Han Meimei" started, he had already communicated with Sister Xiaoli and asked online trolls to post on Tianya to create hype.

Generally speaking, a year should be enough for the film to ferment, meaning the movie will not be released until next summer after filming is completed.

However, it doesn't matter. The plot itself is a summer adventure—I prefer mountains to flatlands. If the story is completely confined to the school campus, the conflict won't be intense enough, and it won't be as interesting.

So while I was copying the Harry Potter trio, I also copied part of their adventures, with Hermione in charge of deduction and Harry and Ron in charge of recklessness.

The story is simple. The first 20 minutes are about campus life, mainly to show the personalities of the trio of Li Lei, Han Meimei, and Jim. There are plenty of Chinese-style jokes about boys calling each other "godfather" or "dad," as well as the serious and strict personality of the top student Han Meimei—which happens to be Liu Qianqian's 600-point score this year, so it can be used as a gimmick for publicity.

Then the trio discovers that scammers are using study materials to cheat students. Based on the clues, they suspect that someone is working in the same direction and lead the investigation to Miss. Gao, the character played by Chen Shu.

Han Meimei tried to dissuade them, but the two young people were too caught up in the moment. It was summer vacation, and they thought that being a fraudster wasn't a big deal, so they started making a scene. Han Meimei had no choice but to follow suit.

Then, naturally, some trouble ensued. Fortunately, the police were called in time, and the officers arrived promptly, preventing any major incidents. It was then revealed that Miss.Gao's twin sister was a police officer, and Miss.Gao was implicated because she was asked by her sister to lure the culprit out.

"Overall, it should still be a light comedy. Even if you want to add some scary scenes, you have to be careful not to overdo it," Xu Jiuyang advised Guo Zhenni.

The reason for this was that he had previously thought about adding some scenes related to anime and games to the movie. For example, although Han Meimei has a Hermione-like character design, she also plays games in private. So one day she fantasizes that she is Zhao Ling'er and then fights several battles with demons and monsters. The scene then changes, and she is found to be cleaning. Everyone looks at her with surprise and doubt.

It combines sentimentality with hype.

However, after thinking for a while, Xu Jiuyang gave up on the idea. After all, the movie was called "Li Lei and Han Meimei," and people were there to see the ambiguous relationship between them that was not quite lovers. Adding these ingredients was not impossible, but if he added too much, the whole dish might be ruined.

A certain director surnamed Han from a past life has already set an example in this regard—not the one who drives, but Han Yan, who likes to add fantasy elements to his works. His representative works, such as "Go Away Mr. Tumor" and "Animal World," both feature sudden fantasy elements full of special effects.

The latter, in particular, had a bizarre title that already deterred some viewers. In addition, the inserted fantasy plots disrupted the pacing. Even with great special effects, they overshadowed the main plot and made viewers uncomfortable. So, despite having the potential to gross 10 billion, the film ultimately only grossed 5 million.

Therefore, those who achieve success in the arts all know how to restrain their desire to express themselves.

Xu Jiuyang was confident that he could control the situation, but Guo Zhenni was directing for the first time and had no prior experience. It would be bad if she messed it up.

After all, Sister Xiaoli clearly wanted to use the role of Han Meimei to further enhance Liu Qianqian's image.

In her past life, she was already hooked on Wang Yuyan, Zhao Ling'er, and Xiaolongnu for 20 years. If Han Meimei were to create a shared memory and be associated with her, her popularity would probably be comparable to Xiao Yanzi's.

"Don't worry, Ms. Xu. With your and Ms. Gao's guidance, I will be careful enough. Besides, Aunt Liu and the others are watching too," Guo Zhenni said confidently.

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang frowned. What do you mean by "with my guidance and Teacher Gao's guidance"? It's perfectly normal for me to give you some advice here, but Sister Yuanyuan has no idea about the specifics, so how can she give you advice? Sister Xiaoli is the same way, and who are they referring to?
In short, this sounds strange.

But he was quickly led astray when Guo Zhenni lowered her voice and asked, "Can I come over tonight to ask Teacher Xu some questions?"

"Well..." Xu Jiuyang chuckled, "No rush, no rush..."

Well, the main reason is that I had already promised Chen Shu and Liu Weiwei that I had spent too much time with Li Hong lately.

However, Guo Zhenni did not give up: "Are there other people who also want to ask Teacher Xu for advice? I can join them, even if I don't have a chance to speak."

When she said that, her bright eyes almost overflowed with tears.

Faced with such a request, what could Xu Jiuyang say?

Putting that aside, time quickly came to the end of July, and the filming of "Li Lei and Han Meimei" came to a close. Guo Zhenni performed quite well.

However, the following scenes are more troublesome because they need to be filmed in a school. Chen Xiao and Sui Kai are out of the question as they are still relatively unknown, but Liu Qianqian has become quite popular since the broadcast of "Chinese Paladin".

The school is quite cooperative, but I'm worried someone might leak the plot online, so even if everyone signs a contract with high compensation, it won't work.

If the students really start talking big online, can the production team actually sue them? I'm afraid that public opinion, which was initially sympathetic to the production team, will immediately turn 180 degrees.

Moreover, Liu Qianqian still hoped that Xu Jiuyang would be watching from the side, but someone else was more popular than her, and even if she could put on makeup and dress up, there was still a risk of being recognized.

"Oh, if all else fails, you could make a big news story to divert their attention," Liu Qianqian complained.

Xu Jiuyang didn't say anything, but just rolled his eyes at her. "You're making a big deal out of this? We're standing together, one a lead actor and the other a producer, that's already big news, isn't it?"

However, at this time, a big news story broke in the mainland entertainment industry: Fan Xiaoyanzi made the headlines, but not in the entertainment section, but in the financial section.

As we all know, before a company goes public, it also has a roadshow, just like a movie release. However, movies are aimed at the general public, while companies are aimed at various investors.

A movie's roadshow takes place when it's released, while a company's roadshow takes place before it goes public. A movie's roadshow aims to get as many viewers as possible to go to the cinema, while a company's roadshow aims to get as many investors as possible to spend money and boost the stock price.

The time required for roadshows varies depending on the listing location. A-shares are the simplest, as they are aimed at domestic investors and generally take 2 to 5 days, plus finishing touches, it takes no more than a week.

Hong Kong stocks and US stocks are open to global investors and require a relatively long time frame. However, the former mainly targets global financial centers such as London, New York, and Singapore, so the time frame is not too long, generally 3 to 7 days, plus the final steps, it takes about 10 days.

The latter is a real event facing global investors, with a formal roadshow taking 10 days, plus at least two weeks for follow-up.

Therefore, Fan Bingbing's participation in Baidu's roadshow was exposed early on.

(End of this chapter)