This director lacks vision.

Chapter 346 Marco Polo VS Hunting 2
During the filming of "The Witch," the happiest people were undoubtedly Qin Lan and Li Yitong.

Qin Lan plays the villainous doctor in The Witch. Although she is not very strong, she is vicious and intelligent, and she has a trusted accomplice played by Xie Miao.

She used religious indoctrination to gain influence over both the legal and illegal sides of the city, becoming its de facto ruler.

Jiang Yifeng's script for "The Witch" borrowed some elements from "Zhou Chu Eliminating the Three Evils" and included a lot of plot and scenes involving religious brainwashing, in order to create stronger plot tension.

This is also part of the Pacific Rim setting.

After the appearance of the strange beasts, society experienced a period of turmoil, and many humans worshipped these beasts and established various religions based on them.

As for Li Yitong, she plays the witch's older sister, who is also the person the witch cares about most.

In the movie, the witch and her sister depend on each other for survival, have a deep bond, and share some subtle, forbidden feelings.

This idea came from Jiang Yifeng's inspiration of the Tongxinweimin duo.

This also serves as a reason for the witch to go berserk and seek revenge.

It was the death of her sister that allowed the witch to emerge in her complete form, and she began a killing spree, violently overthrowing the entire evil religion.

Qin Lan and Li Yitong were happy because during filming, they had the opportunity to get close to Jiang Yifeng and find ways to learn from him.

The two women were on the periphery of the harem and didn't have many opportunities to learn from the emperor.

I was very happy to have this opportunity to film a movie.

In comparison, Tian Qianwei's situation is much worse.

Her role was the most demanding, and the filming workload was enormous, making it extremely arduous.

Moreover, Tian Qianwei was isolated.

Tian Qianwei's portrayal of the witch had already aroused a lot of jealousy, and this jealousy intensified after her sword-kicking became a hit.

In addition, there are rumors within the company that Jiang Yifeng will choose Tian Qianwei to play Biyao.

Now Tian Qianwei has truly become the target of public criticism.

She was only fifteen or sixteen years old when she starred in two films directed by Jiang Yifeng.

This is absolutely a unique treatment among the young actresses at Fengxing Media.

Naza, Liu Yifei, and others became wary, sensing that Jiang Yifeng's feelings for Tian Qianwei were unusual, and they didn't want anyone added to the core group of the harem.

Wang Churen, Cheng Xiao, and others also harbored resentment, feeling unhappy that Tian Qianwei was too glamorous.

Even her best friend Meng Ziyi became wary of Tian Qianwei.

Meng Ziyi is gathering a group of young actresses with the intention of "usurping power" under the guise of being her cousin, gradually undermining or even replacing Nazha's position.

She didn't want to be overtaken by Tian Qianwei.

So during this period, Tian Qianwei clearly felt that she had fewer friends and that the relationships between them were not as harmonious as before.

Fortunately, there is still Li Yitong.

Li Yitong doesn't have such big ambitions. She just wants to make some money, learn some skills, and live a peaceful life as a celebrity.

So her attitude towards Tian Qianwei remained unchanged; she continued to care for and look after her as always.

This deeply moved Tian Qianwei, and Tong Xinwei's relationship with her became even stronger.

This state is also reflected in filmmaking.

When Tian Qianwei and Li Yitong acted out their scenes together, their emotions felt real and natural.

The two women's subtle expressions and tacit interactions were perfectly executed, conveying both the sweetness of sisterly affection and the feeling of a forbidden love.

Jiang Yifeng was very satisfied after reviewing it.

The movie "The Witch" was very well prepared, and the crew had experience filming fast-paced chase movies, so the filming progressed quickly.

By October 18th, filming was more than halfway complete.

At 8:30 p.m., Jiang Yifeng shouted "Cut!" and the filming for the day was over.

Tian Qianwei breathed a sigh of relief and dragged her tired body to remove her makeup.

After more than half a month of filming, Tian Qianwei has lost the excitement she had when she first started filming and is now in a period of burnout, relying entirely on her previous training to keep going.

Jiang Yifeng ignored her, and simply took a bouquet of flowers from the staff and gave it to Li Yitong.

"Congratulations on wrapping up filming. You did a great job this time. Looking forward to seeing you as Tian Ling'er."

Li Yitong's role wasn't very big, and filming wrapped up today.

She took the bouquet, her eyes crinkling with a smile, and said, "Is filming wrapped up so quickly? Happy times always seem to pass too soon!"

I really want to fast-forward to the filming of Jade Dynasty!

Jiang Yifeng's "Zhu Xian" was filmed in seasons.

The first season tells the story of Zhang Xiaofan joining the Qingyun Sect and the Seven Sects Martial Arts Tournament. Biyao only appears briefly at the end.

The female leads with the most screen time in the first season were Lu Xueqi and Tian Ling'er.

Judging from the content of the first season alone, Tian Ling'er is one of the two female leads.

Jiang Yifeng discussed this point with Li Yitong during the filming of The Witch.

Li Yitong was, of course, extremely excited.

Jiang Yifeng said with a smile, "Tonight I'll introduce you to a new friend."

Qin Lan got her period, so she's taking a break tonight.

Jiang Yifeng planned to take Li Yitong to meet Bai Mengyan, to see who was more interesting when they laughed, and what their expressions were when they cried.

Furthermore, Bai Mengyan also has a role in the witch movie; she plays an assassin whom Qin Lan deliberately hired.

The plan was to use the fact that the assassin looked like the witch's older sister to confuse the witch and kill her.

This character is also one of the plot points that leads into the second part of the Witcher series.

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's words, Li Yitong was overjoyed. She said, "Then I'll go remove my makeup. Boss, wait for me a moment, I'll be right there~"

After saying that, Li Yitong jogged to the dressing room.

Jiang Yifeng, having nothing to do, picked up his phone to go online and saw a news article pushed to him by Toutiao.

"Cheng Kaige's new Netflix series Marco Polo is about to air, and Tencent Video has acquired the exclusive domestic broadcasting rights for tens of millions of dollars!"

Jiang Yifeng was instantly drawn in and clicked on the news page.

"To counter Game of Thrones, Netflix invested $6000 million to produce the epic film Marco Polo. This story takes place during the Yuan Dynasty in China, and to perfectly recreate the epic feel of the Eastern dynasty, Netflix invited Cheng Kaige to direct."

This drama has taken a year to complete and is finally ready to be officially released.

The first season of Marco Polo will premiere on Netflix on October 28th.
The exclusive domestic broadcasting rights have been acquired by Tencent Video, and the show will be broadcast simultaneously with Netflix.

It is reported that the total purchase price was ten million US dollars, with each episode costing as much as one million US dollars.

Tencent Video President Sun Zhonghuai said that Marco Polo has exquisite visuals and excellent production, fully demonstrating director Cheng Kaige's master-level skills.

This series combines artistic merit with commercial appeal, and its overall quality is higher than that of Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.

Tencent Video has high hopes for this series and will vigorously promote it. Using Marco Polo as a starting point, they aim to encourage collaboration between domestic directors and international platforms to produce more high-quality works that blend Eastern and Western cultures, thus promoting multilateral cultural exchange…

Below this news article was a poll: Would you watch Marco Polo when it airs?
Jiang Yifeng glanced at the news; it had been released an hour ago, and now the number of voters had exceeded 10,000, with 87% of viewers saying they would watch the show.

This is a very high percentage of votes.

After all, American TV series have a pretty good reputation in China, and Marco Polo is a super big IP.

This series had a budget of $6000 million, was produced by Netflix, was directed by Chinese actor Cheng Kaige, and starred Chinese actress Zhu Zhu.

With all these factors combined, audiences naturally have high expectations for Marco Polo.

Not to mention ordinary netizens, even Jiang Yifeng is looking forward to seeing what kind of effect Cheng Kaige's Marco Polo will have.

Although Cheng Kaige has many flaws, his films are absolutely world-class in terms of visual quality.

In this collaboration with Netflix, Cheng Kaige is in a weaker position; he can't even arbitrarily change the script.

Under these circumstances, Cheng Kaige might actually be able to produce a masterpiece.

Jiang Yifeng read a few more related news articles.

Cheng Kaige: Marco Polo was a great success, and my collaboration with Netflix will continue.

"Zhu Zhu: It is an honor to participate in Marco Polo. There has always been a legend about director Jiang Yifeng in the crew."

"Hastins still can't forget Jiang Yifeng, and Cheng Kaige threw a tantrum on the Marco Polo set."

"Marco Polo VS Hunting 2: A head-to-head showdown between Chen Kaige and Jiang Yifeng."

Hastings: Cheng Kaige is a good director, but I would most like to work with Jiang Yifeng.

Many of these press releases are simply trying to capitalize on Jiang Yifeng's popularity.

It has to be said that Tencent knows how to stir things up; they know what the audience likes to watch.

Two top directors versus two TV series – that's the kind of excitement audiences love to watch.

These news items, promoted through Tencent's platforms, generated a great deal of buzz.

Sohu Video and Fengxing Media also joined in, hyping up Marco Polo VS Hunting 2 along with Tencent.

After all, Hunting 2 will air on November 2nd, and it needs promotion and buzz.

This mutual hype is beneficial to both sides.

With such a large market and so many viewers, producing two shows simultaneously is no problem at all.

Moreover, Fengxing Media and Netflix have a cooperative relationship, and Netflix is ​​the overseas streaming platform for Hunt 2.

The wise choice is for both parties to work together on promotion to maximize their benefits.

With the collaboration between Sohu and Tencent, the topic of Marco Polo VS Hunting 2 has become increasingly popular in China.

This even attracted follow-up reports from many overseas media outlets.

Japan's NHK and the United States' Netflix found this publicity strategy to be very effective and both issued related reports and press releases.

In the Pan-Asian region, Hunting 2 has a greater influence and a wider audience base, and Marco Polo is riding on the coattails of Hunting 2's popularity.
In Europe and America, Marco Polo is more well-known, and Netflix did more promotion in the early stages. Hunting 2 capitalized on Marco Polo's popularity.

Both dramas thus gained a great deal of attention, achieving a win-win situation.

Amidst much anticipation, Marco Polo finally premiered on October 28th.

Jiang Yifeng watched the show as soon as it was released.

It must be said that Cheng Kaige did manage to capture a sense of epic scale in his film.

The magnificent palace, the neatly arranged soldiers, the gorgeous and exquisite costumes, and the decent background music create the majestic atmosphere of an Eastern dynasty.

Marco Polo encountered a war on his first trip to China.

Cheng Kaige also filmed the war scenes very well, showcasing the formidable fighting power of the Mongol light cavalry.

The first 20 minutes of the Marco Polo movie are so compelling that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they could rival Game of Thrones.

But after Marco Polo entered the palace, the plot took a sharp turn, and suddenly a lot of inexplicable sex scenes appeared.

In just the last thirty minutes of the first episode, there are four very abrupt sex scenes.

The impression it gives is that one moment it's epic and magnificent, and the next it's a beast wearing a crown, which looks very ridiculous.

Jiang Yifeng watched the overseas version, so he could still enjoy the show. However, domestic audiences watched the censored version from Tencent, where the scenes seemed even more lackluster.

After episode 2, the plot became increasingly boring, just going around in the palace the whole time.

After seeing it, Jiang Yifeng could only say it was a pity.

The poor quality of this Marco Polo film is not Cheng Kaige's fault; the Netflix production team is the culprit.

Netflix places great emphasis on collecting playback data and analyzing audience preferences, but this is a double-edged sword.

Sometimes data is useful, and sometimes it's misleading.

Clearly, Netflix tried to incorporate both Eastern and Western elements in the Marco Polo series, but the result was a poor blend, creating something that was neither fish nor fowl.

Marco Polo immediately sparked widespread criticism after its broadcast.

The more hype there was before, the more intense the criticism from the audience is now.

For many viewers, they don't care about the truth of the matter; since Cheng Kaige is the director of Marco Polo, he has become the first person to take the blame.

A barrage of insults and doubts ensued, leaving Cheng Kaige feeling utterly humiliated and unable to express his grievances.

Marco Polo's streaming numbers on Tencent Video were unsatisfactory, and its subscription numbers on Netflix were also poor.
The show flopped spectacularly, causing Netflix's stock price to drop by 17%, and Tencent's president, Sun Zhonghuai, even issued a public apology.

In this context, The Hunt 2, Marco Polo's rival, was finally released online.

(End of this chapter)