Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 463: The Weibo post that started ahead of schedule, the production crew's censorship.

In the dead of night in Beijing, the entire Ideal International Building was brightly lit, and people could be seen moving back and forth in the windows from dozens of meters away.

The launch date of Sina Weibo was moved up at the last minute, and the entire building seemed to have entered a state of war.

The technicians were almost all carrying a cup of coffee, moving back and forth with their laptops. Some hadn't even had time to button up their shirts before they hurriedly squatted down to debug the server configuration.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, in Los Angeles...
The crew of Nolan's "Inception" finished filming in Morocco and moved back to Los Angeles, USA.

Outside the film set, the media once again frantically followed the set, and the latest stills, once released, left actresses in the industry in a daze.

In the photo, Liu Yifei is still there, holding a thick stack of scripts, seemingly participating in the core scenes as always.

"Something's wrong with this movie, something's really wrong."

"Is there a problem? Did they cut scenes and reshoot? Otherwise, how could the second female lead's scenes take so long to film?"

"There might be a problem with the production crew!"

"."

Actresses in the industry have gone from initial jealousy to complete numbness.

No one wanted to admit that Liu Yifei had too many scenes; everyone preferred to believe that there was a problem with the production team—this idea at least made them feel a little better.

Meanwhile, Liu Yifei called Wu Chen while washing up.

The phone could still hear the sound of running water while washing up.

"Weibo is launching soon, remember to register an account, help promote it, and post on Weibo!"

"Hehe, I got it."

Liu Yifei spat out a mouthful of toothpaste foam and replied with a smile.

She knew that Wu Chen owned shares in Weibo.

"I'll talk to Director Nolan and the others later to see if we can take a still from the film, which will also help promote 'Inception'."

Liu Yifei is still very sharp-minded, especially when Wu Chen is not around.

After saying that, he immediately took credit for it with a smug look on his face.

"Okay, let's do it that way, smart."

Wu Chen was quick to praise her, giving her a thumbs up. The latter's face lit up with a smile, until Liu Xiaoli's voice came from the living room.

"Sissi, breakfast is ready, hurry up!"

Liu Yifei turned around and called back, "Okay, coming!"

Then, she lowered her voice and said softly, "You should get some rest."

Hearing the laughter on the other end of the phone, Wu Chen's expression softened unconsciously.

August arrived before we knew it.

The summer movie season is entering its final sprint, and all the major films are carrying out their final promotional activities, including "Now You See Me 2".

However, another low-cost dark horse has emerged in the industry.

The film "Night Shop", co-produced by Orange Sky Entertainment, China Film Group and East Shanghai Film & Television, was released in late July and was a pleasant surprise.
The film grossed nearly 8 million yuan in its opening weekend, which is quite an impressive performance for a film with a production budget of around 2 million yuan.

This inevitably brings to mind the movie "Crazy Stone" from back then.

“It has a bit of the flair of your movie,” Wu Chen and Ning Hao chatted jokingly over the phone.

"They were unlucky. If they had increased their marketing and promotion from the beginning, their box office might have had a chance to go even higher. Xu Zheng was just lamenting this to me a couple of days ago."

Ning Hao has experienced it all and sees things very clearly.

It's highly likely that none of the companies initially anticipated the film's success, and their marketing strategies were vastly different from those of "Crazy Stone" back then.

He was lucky, and Wu Chen had good foresight, increasing publicity investment from the very beginning.

"So, have you figured it out yet?"

After saying that, Wu Chen inquired about "No Man's Land".

The film's post-production is almost complete, and Ning Hao needs to make a decision.

“You were right about ‘Stone’ before, and I believe this time will be no exception. Let’s just shelve it; it’ll only be for a year or two,” Ning Hao finally decided.

"Yes, believe me, this is absolutely the wise thing to do."

After hanging up the phone, Ning Hao breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, since he had made the choice, there was no point in hesitating anymore.

On the other hand, after years of silence, Avatar finally made a comeback, with Cameron officially launching "Avatar Day" and declaring: the future is the 3D era, and 2009 is the year of 3D movies.
It wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't shouted it out, but once they did, industry insiders started analyzing it.

"It seems like Hollywood is slowly starting to look towards 3D movies." "Is that really true?"

"Does anyone here work on this? Seriously, is it really that amazing? It seems about the same as other products."

"."

Hollywood is slowly starting to get into 3D, and Universal Pictures is clearly aware of this, especially with several major studios announcing their plans to make 3D films.
David Lyndon was dismissive of it.

Because most of those who claim to be making 3D works are actually doing fake 3D, and they all plan to use crude conversion techniques to convert it into 3D.

Only Cameron's Avatar and Universal's Interstellar, which is currently in development, can be considered truly 3D.
Thinking about this, his confidence in "Interstellar" grew stronger and stronger. He then found a suitable time to call Wu Chen and mentioned the current progress.

"By the way, Wu, what do you think of Cameron's statement?"

"There's a chance, after all, brand-new technology always leads the trend, but unfortunately we're late to the game," Wu Chen sighed slightly.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Cameron started preparing a long time ago, and this kind of first-mover advantage and technological advantage is very difficult to catch up with."

David Lyndon didn't think anything of it.

On the one hand, Cameron invested real money and spent a lot of time on research and development.
Secondly, if Avatar establishes a successful foothold in the 3D film market, Interstellar might be able to capitalize on that success.

Meanwhile, after several days of continuous testing and various pre-launch activities, Weibo finally ushered in the moment of its internal beta launch.

The lobby of Sina's headquarters was packed with people, with almost all the operations, technology, and product managers present.

A large screen displays the number of registered users and the topic interaction curve in real time, with the countdown pointer slowly moving towards zero.

Weibo's beta testing has officially begun!

At Cao Guowei's command, the button in the background was pressed without hesitation.

Almost simultaneously, both Starry Night Pictures' official Weibo account and Wu Chen's account were verified, and they released their first major update during the closed beta test:
[Officially Certified by Starry Sky Pictures]

Nationwide auditions have officially begun! Director Wu Chen's new film "1939" is now seeking actors aged 16-18 across the country!
How to participate: Upload your self-introduction text and picture, plus a link to your performance video, with the hashtag #FindingHuangXiaoshan#.
With various pre-launch promotions, the Weibo hashtag #FindingHuangXiaoshan# saw its reposts and comments skyrocket within just half an hour of its release.

Meanwhile, outside Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles.

Liu Yifei registered a Weibo account immediately after finishing filming.

Her first and second posts were reposts of an official statement from Wu Chen and Xingchen Pictures: "The auditions for director Wu Chen's new film have begun! Good luck to the future young warriors!"

Liu Yifei didn't stop there; she then released a new still from "Inception".

In the photo, Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph and other stars are gathered together, but the most eye-catching one is Liu Yifei next to them. Everyone imitates her gesture and makes an exaggerated peace sign at the camera.

The moment this photo was posted, Weibo exploded.

The number of registered users is steadily increasing, and the fans are very active.

"Hahahaha, director Nolan is actually imitating Liu Yifei by making a peace sign!"

"Leonardo DiCaprio's move was so cute!"

"What an ugly photo, hahaha"

"."

Wu Chen was stunned when he saw the photo, and his phone call was full of teasing: "Who taught them this ugly pose?"

On the other end of the phone, Liu Yifei immediately retorted, "What's ugly about it! What's ugly about it! It's cute, don't you understand aesthetics?!"

Liu Yifei grumbled about Wu Chen all night long, only stopping when Liu Xiaoli called out to her, and then she hung up the phone with a hum.

That day, two topics dominated the Weibo trending charts:
#Searching for Huang Xiaoshan#
#Inception_Cast_of_Scissors#
The media coverage has never stopped:

[Wu Chen's new film auditions go viral on Sina Weibo on its first day!]

[Liu Yifei joins Weibo, group photo with the cast stuns netizens: Even Nolan makes a peace sign!]

[Starry Night Pictures' official Weibo account launched the topic, attracting over 10,000 actors to participate in a single day.]

【.】

Zhang Ziyi sat on the sofa, staring at the photos of Liu Yifei's crew members on Weibo, her eyes filled with envy and complicated emotions.

Since her breakup with Avi Nevo, her resources in Hollywood have almost completely dried up, and her path seems to be completely blocked.

Even Deng Wendi, who had previously been quite friendly to her, reverted to a polite tone, making no mention of the company they co-founded.

"Let's contact Wong Kar-wai. He's taken on 'The Grandmaster'!"

Zhang Ziyi took a deep breath, but ultimately succumbed to reality and shouted at Zhang Zinan.

Hollywood is out of the question for now, but we can't afford to lose our domestic standing.
(End of this chapter)