This director lacks vision.

Chapter 93 Interview with the Sixth Princess

On January 20th, Avatar's total box office revenue surpassed 500 million.

Just like in the previous life, the Film Bureau also held a meeting on this day, with the theme of "protection and exploration of domestic films".

At the meeting, Jiang Yifeng's "Lost in Journey" received special praise.

On the same day, the box office of Lost on Journey also reached 3 million.

Excluding the 100 million yuan box office from the three days of New Year's Day, Lost on Journey and Avatar were released at the same time for half a month.

Avatar grossed 5 million yuan and Lost in Thailand grossed 2 million yuan, which is already a miracle.

Jiang Yifeng's talk of confrontation was not just empty rhetoric; it truly demonstrated the spirit of Chinese films.

Just like in a recent viral video on the Sohu video website, "5 million Chinese yuan against 500 million US dollars, the advantage is mine," it's like a man on a trek using a slingshot to deal machine gun damage.

After being commended by the Film Bureau, Jiang Yifeng felt that the movie "Lost in Thailand" had received official support.

The first to make a move was Huaying.

A package deal including guaranteed screenings, ticket price subsidies, and extension keys was offered directly.

The railway bureau was the next to take action.

On January 21, the railway bureau posted a message on its internal website, calling on all employees to watch the railway bureau's promotional video "Lost in Journey" and support domestic films.

Subsequently, the railway bureau's labor union mobilized to collectively purchase movie tickets for "Lost in Thailand" and organize employees and their families to watch the movie together.

Following the lead of the railway bureau, many central and state-owned enterprises began to follow suit.

The labor unions of these companies always organize activities, and they also distribute some benefits at the end of the year. Movie tickets are one of the most common benefits.

Next to take action were official media outlets such as CCTV.

"Lost in Journey" focuses on the Spring Festival travel rush and tells the stories of Chinese people.

"Praise to every nameless person, let's carry forward the spirit of the Spring Festival travel rush amidst the chaos of travel!"

"Jiang Yifeng appeared at the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal; an unknown person may sing at the Year of the Tiger Spring Festival Gala."

Media outlets such as CCTV began actively promoting "Lost in Thailand," and the Spring Festival Gala production team also contacted Jiang Yifeng, asking him to audition for the song.

Whether or not she will be selected depends on the program's success.

After 20 days of release, the box office performance of "Lost in Thailand" was already not good, and many pirated versions of the film appeared online.

However, with the government's intervention, the box office of "Lost in Thailand" rebounded and returned to the tens of millions level.

Seeing this, some of the nephews broke down again.

He criticized the movie "Lost in Thailand" online, calling it a "red" film that made money from patriotic traffic.

Jiang Yifeng completely ignored these petty scoundrels and steadfastly followed the official line.

On January 22nd, Jiang Yifeng, along with the Sohu Entertainment team, arrived at the Yangshi Building to conduct a live interview.

This live interview was also an officially supported event, and the live program was the flagship program of the movie channel, "China Movie Report".

China Film Report has opened official accounts on Sohu Video and Weibo.

Inviting Jiang Yifeng to do a live interview serves as both official publicity and a way to drive traffic to the China Film Report account.

They were received by Sun Yingna, the production director of the movie channel, and Tu Jinwei, the host.

"Director Jiang, welcome to the movie channel to record a program." Sun Yingna said, "It's still early, let's have some tea in my office first."

After "Lost in Thailand" grossed over 3 million yuan, Jiang Yifeng became a well-known director in the entertainment industry, and his status rose significantly.

Each time they came to record the program, the production manager personally received them.

When everyone arrived at Sun Yingna's office, Tu Jinwei took the initiative to sit at the tea-making station and began to make tea.

This beautiful woman joined CCTV in 2003 and is now a leading lady on the movie channel, with a certain degree of fame.

Her previous romantic rumors with Sa Beining also attracted considerable attention.

While drinking tea, everyone checked the script and procedures.

This live broadcast was conducted simultaneously on the movie channel and Sohu Video Network, with only a 5-minute delay.

Unlike online platforms, television stations are more rigorous and standardized, with everyone repeatedly checking each procedure to avoid errors.

The live interview officially began at 8 p.m.

The live stream was advertised two days in advance, so there were already a lot of viewers in the live stream room as soon as it started.

Upon seeing Tu Jinwei appear, some comments appeared in the live stream.

However, this live stream was more formal and had a delay, so there was no way to interact with the chat.

Tu Jinwei stepped forward and began his opening remarks.

"The film market has been very lively since the beginning of this year. Cameron's Avatar is like an aircraft carrier, sailing around the world and reaping box office revenue in major global markets."

However, in China, there is a low-budget comedy film that can rival Avatar and compete head-on.

The name of this movie is probably familiar to everyone; it's called "Lost in Thailand".

With a production budget of only 540 million, it was able to compete with Avatar, which cost 5 million US dollars. It has to be said that Lost on Journey created a miracle!
Even more amazing than the film itself is its director, Jiang Yifeng.

Jiang Yifeng is a law student at Yenching Normal University. He had no prior experience with directing and only switched to screenwriting and directing in February of this year. After that, he started making videos and short dramas online.

In just six months since entering the industry, he has produced masterpieces such as Lost on Journey.

Judging solely by box office numbers, Jiang Yifeng has already joined the ranks of mainland Chinese directors, and is even moving towards the top spot. Today, we have specially invited Jiang Yifeng to do a live interview with us.

Let's get to know this director who created a miracle, and the behind-the-scenes story of "Lost in Thailand."

After finishing his opening remarks, Jiang Yifeng walked into the live broadcast room.

The live stream chat room started flooded with comments.

"Holy crap, I didn't realize Director Jiang was this amazing."

"After the host said that, I got a little excited. Jiang Yifeng's experience is like he's been given a cheat code!"

"Lost in Thailand's box office is still rising. Could it really surpass The Founding of a Republic to become the number one domestic film?"

"Director Jiang, who switched careers midway through his career, is so amazing. What should other big directors think?"

Lu Chuan: Guess what I'm thinking? It's all because you viewers have no taste!

……

Tu Jinwei sat down facing Jiang Yifeng and then began asking questions: "After the box office of 'Lost in Thailand' surpassed 3 million, what were your thoughts? Has your life changed?"

"I am very calm. The publicity plan for Lost in Journey was something I had planned a long time ago. We implemented it step by step and successfully achieved our goals. The box office of 3 million yuan was a natural result."

I am not surprised by this result, but I am not complacent either.

3 million in box office revenue is just a small goal.

As for my personal life, nothing has changed. I still go to work on time, just like before.

This answer caused a surge in comments.

"3 million is just a small goal! Director Jiang, you're such a damn good show-off!"

"Lu Chuan, Zhang Yimou, Cheng Kaige, and others have left the live stream..."

"If I were one of those directors, I would have broken down in my defenses after hearing Jiang Yifeng's words. What the hell is a small goal of 3 million?"

“Jiang Yifeng is right. The other party planned very carefully and achieved the box office success step by step. Isn’t that achieving the goal?”

"Director Jiang has a good attitude. He's still working even though his movie grossed 3 million yuan. If it were me, I would have taken off and been traveling everywhere."

"It's just a small goal, how can I not have a good attitude? What's there to get excited about?"

……

Unfortunately, Jiang Yifeng couldn't interact with the audience during this live stream, which deprived him of a lot of fun.

Tu Jinwei then asked, "Speaking of publicity, everyone says you're a genius in film marketing, having developed a completely new film publicity model. What's your opinion on that?"

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "There are too many geniuses in marketing. I'm just a beginner."

I'm just familiar with the internet, I enjoy surfing it, and I'm willing to promote my movie through the internet.

"But many people say that the success of 'Lost in Thailand' was entirely due to marketing. Was this movie overhyped?"

"Of course not. My work philosophy has never changed, which is to respect the audience."

While there is marketing involved in "Lost in Thailand," it doesn't involve excessive exaggeration or falsehood.

Take box office data, for example.

When the box office figures for the first day came out, it was 3100 million. Someone told me that we could announce 4000 million or even 5000 million.

Using exaggerated figures to demonstrate the success of "Lost in Thailand" attracts audiences to the cinema.

In fact, this is a very common advertising tactic.

Last year, Enlight Media released "Astro Boy," which inflated its box office revenue from 1000 million to 4000 million, sparking controversy over inflated figures. You should still remember this incident.

However, I rejected this approach and only posted real data.

If the audience can feel my sincerity, they will naturally be willing to support my film; it's a process of mutual respect.

The sequel, "Lost in Thailand," which battled against Avatar, grossed 2 million yuan at the box office, and no one questioned whether this was fake data.

Some people only see the successful aspects of my promotion, but not the principles and limitations I set for promotion, which leads to misunderstandings.

Tu Jinwei said, "So you think the secret to your success is taking the audience seriously."

Jiang Yifeng nodded and said, "That's right, I just make things that the audience likes to watch."

When I gave lectures before, I told many bloggers on Sohu Video that compared to those successful and famous directors, our biggest advantage is that we are close to real life.

"Now that you've succeeded, you'll definitely be sought after. How can you ensure you won't end up like those big directors?"

"This is the difference in creative concepts."

Some directors, once they achieve success, consider themselves big shots, high-class individuals, and begin to pursue a lot of artistic expression, setting limits for themselves. They think they can't film this or don't want to film that, insisting on pursuing art, even if it's a commercial film.

I have a very low-key personality, so I don't have this kind of worry.

Even if "Lost in Thailand" grosses 1 billion yuan at the box office, my next project will still be a web series that no one in the industry would look down on.

I don't feel like I'm losing my value because of this; as long as the audience likes my work, that's enough.

As I said before, the highest praise for artists is "people's artist".

My aspirations are not high enough to reach the level of a people's artist, but I will try my best to move in that direction.

(End of this chapter)