Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 135 Slow-burning hits and bold ideas

Faced with this situation, the wall-hanger must rely on its own abilities to solve it.

So after Zhou Jianhui finished speaking and left, Lu Jiang locked himself in his office and activated his cheat code.

Open the original version of "You Are Beautiful".

Lu Jiang felt quite fortunate.

Fortunately, they followed the original music video. In the music video, James Blunt did a high dive, and Lu Jiang also did a high dive. They didn't use a stream-of-consciousness music video to get by.

The post-production of the music video largely followed the original version, including details such as color grading.

Therefore, the resulting music video was almost identical to the original, meeting the conditions for insurance coverage.

Next, let's look at the treasure chest reserves.

You need a golden box to get insurance.

The good news is that thanks to Baoqiang's contribution, Lu Jiang now has a sufficient number of gold boxes, a total of three!
So now I don't feel bad about using one at all.

What if we get high-quality submissions?

As I said before, there are plenty of good works, and there are more than just these three gold chests; we can combine more later.

Therefore, there is no need to be timid and hesitant, or to worry about gains and losses.

Lu Jiang then immediately chose Baoqiang's golden box.

Without hesitation, I opened it.

A flash of golden light, and after a careful look, Lu Jiang smiled.

"Beauty," a short film by Taiwanese director Chen Chun-lin, was released in 2006 and won the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the 06 Berlin International Film Festival.

The results were good, but this is a short film.

This is equivalent to getting an epic-level item in the game, but it's pretty useless.

What I used to fear most was accumulating short videos from high-level treasure chests.

Now, just when we were hoping for something mediocre, it actually happened.

Now that Lu Jiang has made a name for himself, there's really no point in making more short films.

So if it weren't for the "you" thing, and Lu Jiang had just opened the treasure chest and gotten this, he would probably have gone crazy.

This is all the golden treasure chest you gave me?

Fortunately, he is now focused on the box itself; the less useful the work, the less he loses.

Not bad!

Of course, this short film is not entirely without value.

This film is set in a Taipei night market. The male and female protagonists are a boy working at a noodle stall and the owner's daughter, "Mei," who longs to study in New York. The story revolves around the unspoken, bittersweet love between the two young people.

In short, it's like a subtle tug-of-war in the night market: one person wants to leave, the other wants to stay, a push and pull that's both unspoken and inviting.

It won the Silver Bear Award because of the introverted and subtle way of expressing emotions in the East.

This is what Europeans and Americans are most curious about.

People in the East express their emotions outwardly, while people in the East do the opposite.
If it weren't for the explanation provided by the golden finger, Lu Jiang really wouldn't have understood it much on his first viewing, and he was even more puzzled as to how this kind of film could win an award.

But no matter what, this is still a Silver Bear Award-winning work.

So if he has time, Lu Jiang thinks he can shoot it for fun. The original film was shot in just 5 days, and the cost was extremely low, so it wasn't too much trouble.

Then send it to one of the three major European countries; if it wins the lottery like in the original timeline, they can also reap some benefits.

anyway.

Since the golden chest yielded the result that best suited my wishes.

Now Lu Jiang can completely relax and start the insurance process.

Then Lu Jiang looked directly at the work in his hand.

The music video for "You" is purple because it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Video.

To synthesize the gold version, you need to create another purple version.

Lu Jiang currently has several unopened purple boxes.

However, Lu Jiang does not plan to open blind boxes, but instead uses existing purple works to synthesize them.

The works that have already been released are:
Gao Yuanyuan's contribution: a green version of "The Rogue"

The blue-toned "Red Dust Inn" by Jay Chou

Tianzhen's Purple "Blue and White Porcelain"

And the purple version of "Happy Death Anniversary" created by combining them.

Without hesitation, I chose "Blue and White Porcelain".

The lyrics and music of this song have already been copied, and Jay Chou's singing skills are not needed, so it is most suitable for synthesis.

Similarly, "Red Dust Inn" can also be used as a "sacrifice" because this song will be a collaboration with Tian Zhen, and Jay Chou's singing skills will not be needed.

However, this does not mean that all works can be "reused" at will.

Because only works created through creative means belong to Lu Jiang. If a work disappears or is never created, there will be copyright issues. For example, "Blue and White Porcelain" is about to disappear. After it disappears, Jay Chou will, just like in the original timeline, have this inspiration emerge a few years later.

Therefore, those who want to "reuse" the works created by the cheat system should be more cautious and not act recklessly.

This time, "Blue and White Porcelain" can be boldly synthesized because Lu Jiang has already discussed this idea with Jay Chou, and Jay Chou has already said it's awesome.
After combining them, Lu Jiang put the golden "you" into the treasure chest.

The next second, a new skill was acquired.

Unfortunately, since this work was already filmed, it's only been temporarily upgraded and put into the treasure chest, so the skills aren't very powerful.

It's just a mere "fifteen years of London accent English".

Lu Jiang felt it was a bit of a pity. If the upgrade had been done before filming started, wouldn't it have required full fluency in all languages?

But it's not bad as it is now; at least the problem of spoken English has been solved.

After fifteen years, I'm not much different from the locals anymore.

"Interesting!"

Next, look at the newly appeared information, which is the work's relevant achievements.

After digesting the information, Lu Jiang realized that the situation in the original timeline of "you" was very similar to the situation he was facing now.

In 04, "you" was first published in the UK, but the response was lukewarm.

The reason is that this song was originally released as a non-single track on James Blunt's album and did not initially attract much attention in the UK.

Secondly, James Blunt was a newcomer at the time, and the record company did not promote the song much.

It was later released in the US market in 05, but it initially received little attention and had very low radio airplay.

But a turning point soon appeared.

In late 05, a DJ on an American radio station called "KISS-FM" accidentally played this song, and the listeners responded extremely enthusiastically, with a surge in requests for it.

Other radio stations followed suit, ultimately propelling it to number 2 on the North American Billboard Hot 100 that year.

After reaching number two on the Billboard charts, the song's popularity was further boosted by the viral spread of its music video and cover versions online, propelling it to the top of the Billboard charts.

From this point on, "you" began to gain global popularity.

After becoming a hit in the United States, the song regained attention in markets such as the UK, eventually reaching the top of the UK singles chart.

It subsequently became a number one single in many countries around the world, such as Canada and Ireland. Fueled by its immense popularity, the song quickly garnered four Grammy nominations in February 2006, further solidifying its classic status.

Sales were phenomenal, achieving two platinum status in North America alone, which is two million copies sold that year.

After that, the piece became a cultural phenomenon.

The lyrics tell the story of the regret of "missing out on a true love," simple and straightforward yet touching, becoming an emotional outlet for countless people when they are heartbroken, lonely, or nostalgic.

The song has also been frequently used in film and television dramas, such as "House", "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Devil Wears Prada", to render tragic or heartwarming scenes, further solidifying its label as "the aesthetics of sadness".

Later, the song appeared in various advertisements and variety shows, from car commercials to covers on talent shows such as "American Idol," and eventually it was hailed by the media as "a sad anthem of the times," becoming a "divine song" for a generation.

I was shocked when I saw the detailed information.

Is this supposed to be a classic song for a generation in Europe and America?!

I thought it was just a Billboard number one single.

Furthermore, after reviewing the detailed information, Lu Jiang discovered that the original version of "You" became popular not entirely due to the quality of the song itself, but rather due to a combination of various accidental events, which can be described as a product of opportune circumstances.

Without a cheat code, this would be really difficult to handle.

But the good thing is that Lu Jiang has a cheat code, which solves the problem of "luck".

Lu Jiang suddenly felt that this insurance was even more worthwhile!

However, this insurance policy is a little different from the one during the "Meteor Garden" era; there is an additional condition for triggering the event.

The original "Meteor Garden" was mainly broadcast by television stations, so after insurance was taken out, "Meteor Garden" only needed to be broadcast on television stations, regardless of the station or time slot, to trigger the top ratings.

The original version of "you" achieved its success through the combined support of radio and the internet.

Therefore, similarly, the current "you" also needs both radio and the internet.

Fortunately, the game only indicated "network" instead of specifying "YouTube" as the website, otherwise we would be completely lost in 01.

If that's the case, things will be much easier.

Zhou Jianhui has only secured radio resources so far, so all he needs to do now is invest more in online resources. And since many music websites in the US are currently free, they haven't faced copyright disputes and been shut down like they did later.

So things became very simple.

Lu Jiang immediately made this suggestion to Zhou Jianhui.

Zhou Jianhui didn't understand at first, of course.

Lu Jiang convinced him with one reason: "Since we're not counting on sales anyway, let's just try anything, what if a miracle happens?"

Zhou Jianhui did not believe that a miracle would happen.

But the current situation left him no choice but to accept it.

Resources are already pitifully scarce, so we should have as many roads as possible, even if they are narrow, winding paths.

The matter was settled, and Lu Jiang breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step is to see how, after September 29th, the work, like in the original timeline, uses various coincidences to gradually build up its popularity and eventually become a "phenomenon".

Having settled the insurance matter, Lu Jiang turned his attention to the preparations for "The World's Number One".

This is Dawn Films' focus for the second half of this year.

The project started preparations in the first half of the year, and now it's basically all set, with only the final script to be finalized.

Regarding the script, there were a few minor issues.

Fictionalized history was necessary; this was something Lu Jiang had decided long ago.

As for the "minor issues," they stemmed from problems with certain individuals.

On the 15th, Deng Chao finally finished filming "The Emperor of Han Dynasty" and returned home.

He returned to the company immediately, where Yu Bo and others were already present. Filming for "Xiao Shiyi Lang" had wrapped up a week prior.

F3 reunited, and then Lu Jiang gathered the three of them together to discuss the script with them individually.

"Chao'er, are you sure you want to play this kind of young emperor?"

Lu Jiang first asked Deng Chao.

Back in June at the CCTV-MTV awards ceremony, Deng Chao had already raised the issue of deepening the character of the young emperor.

During this period, he and the company's scriptwriting team had been communicating and finally came up with a somewhat unconventional little emperor.

The young emperor in the original "The World's Finest" was a cameo role, but director and screenwriter Wong Jing gave the character a more fleshed-out personality.

On the surface, the young emperor ascended the throne at a young age, and the court was long controlled by the powerful and ruthless Marquis Zhu Wushi. His power was more symbolic than real, and he was a puppet in the center of the power vortex, seemingly weak and incompetent.

In reality, they secretly observe all the forces at play, actively participate in the game, and even secretly drive key plot twists.

He can be considered a "positive character," but his methods are cold-blooded, and his character has a profound gray area.

Because it was a cameo role, there wasn't much focus on his cold-bloodedness.

Deng Chao now wants to play the young emperor, so he added some scenes to make the character more cold-blooded.

For example, some behind-the-scenes scenes were added to the plot of the Empress Dowager's capture.

The original script described how Princess Toshihide, an envoy from Izumo, and her entourage were ambushed and killed on their way to the Central Plains. The princess and her entourage that the emperor saw were all imposters. The martial arts used by the imposters who wanted to assassinate the emperor were those of the Yagyu school of Japanese martial arts. This led to the revelation of Duan Tianya's past and the collusion between Shenhou and the Yagyu school of Japanese martial arts.

After the changes, it was all made to appear as if the young emperor had directed and acted in it all himself.

This even involved altering the story to recruit Yagyu Hyouse ahead of time, making her a double agent who appeared to be a member of the Yagyu faction but was actually working for the young emperor.

With her around, the young emperor was able to control the overall situation more smoothly, and the plot could be brought back to a smooth conclusion.

Of course, this hasn't been approved yet; we need to determine Deng Chao's role first.

The changes made by the young emperor have transformed him from a victim who was initially on the defensive and cautiously seeking a chance to turn the tables under Zhu Wushi's pressure into a schemer from the very beginning.

After guiding the four secret agents into various storylines, you will achieve the goal of eliminating Zhu Wushi, and then, once the birds are gone, the good bow will be put away, making you the "Emperor of All Time".

In the end, Zhu Wushi died because of his affection, while the young emperor ultimately succeeded because of his ruthlessness.

This also made the young emperor's character more cold-blooded and closer to what an emperor should be like.

This kind of character image would actually have been more appealing to audiences in 2010 or 2015.

At that time, the audience's tastes were no longer solely focused on the ideal, perfect, and virtuous qualities of the characters.

There are many reasons for this. For example, real-world conflicts are becoming increasingly acute, housing prices are rising, money is playing an increasingly important role, and audiences are gradually adapting to society and becoming more realistic. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for audiences to empathize with perfect, idealized characters in film and television dramas.

Villains with their own selfish desires are more likely to resonate with the audience.

For example, Hou Liangping, the male protagonist in "In the Name of the People," is less popular than Qi Tongwei, one of the villains.

Later, in more and more TV series and movies, villains became more popular than protagonists, and second male or female leads were more liked by the audience than protagonists. This is a major trend.

For example, Gao Qiqiang in "The Storm".

But now it's 2001, and the perfect, virtuous, and beautiful character is still the most popular.

Therefore, it was quite risky for Deng Chao to want to play such a role.

However, the original plan to play Cheng Shifei was completely different.

Inheriting the lively character of "Ximen", although he may not be particularly outstanding, he has enough screen time and can be considered the male lead, which is quite solid.

Deng Chao's attitude toward this was quite firm: "I want to push myself a little further."

As he spoke, a purple treasure chest appeared above Deng Chao's head:
After his experience with "The Emperor of Han Dynasty," Deng Chao no longer wanted to be an idol star; he wanted to become a real actor.

What happened? Did Chen Daoming slap you in the face?
Without further thought, Qiao Zhenyu raised his hand: "Brother, I actually have a bold idea too."

(End of this chapter)