The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 233 Xu Qi's sword dance is aimed at Cheng Yun
The next morning, at the Dongda Gymnasium.

Yang Muye booked the basketball court for the entire day and came early in the morning with Yu Tu, Cao Guang, Zhang Sheng, and others to familiarize themselves with the venue.

Several players were practicing shooting on the court, while a few people were scattered in the stands.

Most of them were from the film crew of the commercial.

A special area was designated in the stands for filming during the official match. Qiao Jingjing would sit in this spot, surrounded by "extras".

After Xu Qifei took over the commercial, he further expanded the script.

In the original script, Qiao Jingjing and the other two women were watching a basketball game live at the stadium.

After receiving Yang Zixi's call for help, they headed to an internet cafe together.

Xu Qifei felt that using only watching ball games to present the theme of college students "calling friends" to play "Dream of Jianghu" was too monotonous.

He changed the plot to have three parallel storylines.

In addition to the main basketball court viewing area, two secondary viewing areas have been added.

One is Meng Yiran reading a book in the library.

One of them shows Bei Weiwei shopping with her friends.

After receiving Yang Zixi's call, the three of them rushed to the internet cafe together.

The content for both subplots was filmed a couple of days ago.

The only part of the entire commercial that hasn't been filmed yet is the main storyline of Qiao Jingjing watching the game.

Qiao Jingjing had just arrived at the scene, and the makeup artist was doing her makeup.

Before the official shoot, we need to go through the process with makeup on.

Xu Qifei was also in the stands.

However, the person sitting next to her was not a member of the film crew, but Cheng Yun, who had also come to watch the game.

During this meeting, the two didn't talk about music, but instead talked about movies.

"Last night I chatted with Mr. Yang on QQ about the gangster movie world built by the 'Young and Dangerous' series, as well as the gambling movie world built by 'God of Gamblers,' 'God of Gamblers II,' and 'God of Gamblers III.' Based on this, Mr. Yang proposed the concept of a cinematic universe."

Xu Qifei looked at Yang Muyi, who had just hit a long-range three-pointer, adjusted his glasses, and continued:
"A cinematic universe is a series of films in which characters and plots share the same world view and form a unified narrative system. It achieves continuity similar to a TV series through the plot linkage between the films."

As a Chinese literature major, Cheng Yun understood the concept of a cinematic universe very well, but at the same time, she had a question.

"What's the difference between a cinematic universe and film series like 'The Lord of the Rings' or 'Harry Potter'?"

Xu Qifei turned to look at Cheng Yun:

“I asked you the same question last night. Mr. Yang used ‘Young and Dangerous’ to explain it to me. If you only look at the main series, ‘Young and Dangerous’ can’t really be called a cinematic universe. It can only be considered a series of films as you just mentioned. Only by including spin-offs like ‘Young and Dangerous 13’ can it barely be considered a prototype of a cinematic universe.”

Cheng Yun seemed to be deep in thought:
"So, a film series is defined by a single protagonist and a single storyline, while a cinematic universe is defined by multiple protagonists and multiple storylines?"

Xu Qifei gave Cheng Yun an appreciative look.

"That's right. Among Hong Kong films, the only one that can truly be called a cinematic universe is the gambling film cinematic universe built by the series of films such as 'God of Gamblers,' 'All for the Winner,' and 'God of Gamblers II.' However, it's a pity that Wong Kam and his group of Hong Kong directors didn't have the awareness of creating a cinematic universe at the time, which is a great regret."

Cheng Yun nodded in agreement.

When she was a child, she watched "God of Gamblers", "All for the Winner" and "God of Gamblers II" and felt very sorry that Stephen Chow's "All for the Winner" and Andy Lau's "God of Gamblers II" were never able to appear on screen together with Chow Yun-fat's "God of Gamblers" in the same movie.

Cheng Yun only learned later that the gambling film universe that Xu Qifei mentioned was actually just a product of the wave of "copying and imitation" in Hong Kong films at the time.

The entire gambling film universe began with Wong Kam's "God of Gamblers," which took the top spot at the Hong Kong box office that year.

Then, seeing how popular gambling films were, another Hong Kong film director, Lau Chun-wai, immediately decided that he would "copy" this film.

So Lau Chun-wai teamed up with Stephen Chow to make "All for the Winner".

Not only did it surpass "God of Gamblers" at the box office, but it also became the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong that year.

Originally, "God of Gamblers" was just a "theme" that followed the trend, but Lau Chun-wai had a bright idea and thought he could ride on the popularity of "God of Gamblers".

So they arranged for the God of Gamblers to make a brief appearance in the film via television footage, skirting the line of what's acceptable.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly clever move led to the birth of a gambling film universe.

When Wong Kam-yi saw that "All for the Winner" had surpassed "God of Gamblers" at the box office, he immediately launched a counterattack, bringing in Stephen Chow and Andy Lau to quickly produce "God of Gamblers II".

"God of Gamblers II" directly brought in the original cast and crew of "God of Gamblers III," and the plot is also completely connected to "God of Gamblers III."

The main idea is that you ride my coattails, and I ride your coattails.

Finally, "God of Gamblers II" was released, but lost to "All for the Winner" by a narrow margin of less than one million in box office revenue, ranking second for the year.

Moreover, "God of Gamblers II" featured Stephen Chow and Andy Lau as co-stars, yet it still couldn't beat "All for the Winner," which starred Stephen Chow alone.

In this round of the battle, Wang Jin actually lost.

But when Liu Zhenwei saw that he had only slightly "paid homage" to "God of Gamblers" in "All for the Winner," Wang Jin, that fat bastard, actually stole his crystal.

Unconvinced, Lau Chun-wai immediately started filming "God of Gamblers 2: The Gambler's King".

The movie title alone reveals just how strong Lau Chun-wai's desire to "uphold orthodoxy" is.

The original plan was to cast Stephen Chow as the lead actor, but he was too popular in those two years and simply didn't have the time.

Ultimately, they had to replace Carol Cheng and Mui Yan-fong as the leads.

Even so, Stephen Chow still made a cameo appearance at the beginning out of loyalty.

Unfortunately, the movie only grossed a little over 1500 million yuan at the box office.

Liu Zhenwei lost this game completely.

However, Wang Jin refused to give up, feeling that "God of Gamblers II" followed the trend of "God of Gamblers III" and won the annual box office champion, while "God of Gamblers II" followed the trend of "God of Gamblers II" and only won the runner-up.

This shows that my copying was not up to par.

So, right after that, Wong Kam made another film, "God of Gamblers II: The Beach God of Gamblers," this time casting Stephen Chow as the lead and playing a time-travel element.

The film ultimately grossed 30 million at the box office.

The two "God of Gamblers" films together grossed over 70 million at the box office, finally surpassing "God of Gamblers II" and "God of Gamblers III".

Two years later, Wong Kam directed "God of Gamblers 2," which grossed HK$5200 million and once again topped the Hong Kong box office for the year.

The following year, Wong Kam continued with "God of Gamblers 2: Street Gambler", casting newcomer Ge Minghui in an attempt to discover a second Stephen Chow, but the project failed.

In 1999, Wang Jin and Andy Lau filmed "God of Gamblers II: Las Vegas".

In 2000, Wong Kam-fai directed "God of Gamblers 3: The Nameless Kid" with Nick Cheung.

Unfortunately, the subsequent films were disconnected from the storyline of the gambling universe, and their box office performance was not satisfactory.

"Coincidentally, Hollywood has also begun to try to build a cinematic universe this year. Marvel Studios' two movies, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, have clearly shown signs of developing in this direction."

At this point, Xu Qifei sighed with regret. With the decline of Hong Kong films and the lack of momentum in mainland Chinese films, Chinese-language cinema has fallen far behind Hollywood in this regard.

Cheng Yun strongly agreed with Xu Qifei's point of view, but she couldn't understand why Xu Qifei was telling her all this.
Xu Qifei laughed after hearing this, "You forgot, I'm also a director."

So you also want to emulate Wang Jinhe and the current Marvel Studios to build a cinematic universe belonging to China?

Cheng Yun looked at Xu Qifei with admiration.

Xu Qifei couldn't help but joke, "You know what? Your expression right now is probably exactly the same as Sancho Panza's when he saw Don Quixote rushing towards the windmills."

Cheng Yun immediately shook her head: "No, no, I think you have a lot of ideas. To paraphrase a line from Stephen Chow's 'Shaolin Soccer,' what's the difference between a person without dreams and a salted fish?"

Xu Qifei shrugged noncommittally.

When someone says such encouraging words, they've already assumed you're daydreaming.

"Just kidding. Although I am a director, I have only made some commercials. I have never made a decent feature film. The grand plan of a cinematic universe is too far away for me."

Xu Qifei's display of self-awareness only made Cheng Yun more puzzled.

Seeing Cheng Yun's confusion, Xu Qifei took the initiative to explain:
"The reason I'm talking to you so much about cinematic universes is because Mr. Yang is using the idea of ​​creating a cinematic universe to build the online influencers under the Starry Sea brand. He calls this the College Student Online Influencer Universe."

Cheng Yun stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

A universe of college student internet celebrities?
Xu Qifei further explained, "You should have noticed that the internet celebrities incubated by Xingchen Dahai have one thing in common: they are all students of Yenching University of Economics and Business."

"Under this unified 'worldview,' whether it's the Plastic Brothers parodying Old Boys' songs or Old Boys performing 'Little Apple' with Sisters Who Make Waves, their collaboration seems very natural."

"As Mr. Yang went to the University of Tokyo as an exchange student, this internet celebrity universe has further expanded to the University of Tokyo. The campus beauties alliance composed of the five female protagonists in my advertisement is the best proof of this."

"President Yang's goal is to build a large-scale cultural and entertainment industry chain based on the universe of college student internet celebrities."

"Currently, the main members of the college student internet celebrity universe are focusing their efforts on online music, and using it as a springboard to develop towards online film and television dramas."

"As far as I know, Old Boys is currently filming a web short film, while Plastic Brothers also has a web series waiting to be filmed."

"To build a comprehensive entertainment industry, the current universe of college student internet celebrities is missing two important sectors: novels and sports."

"Mr. Yang told me that he is preparing to establish an online novel reading website, but the website is currently lacking female authors."

When Cheng Yun heard this, she still didn't realize the real intention behind Xu Qifei's words.

Seeing that Xu Qifei didn't continue, Cheng Yun asked, somewhat naively:
"and then?"

Xu Qifei was unsure whether Cheng Yun was feigning ignorance or genuinely hadn't understood, so he had no choice but to reveal the truth:
"At Mr. Yang's invitation, I agreed last night to join Starry Sea MCN and serve as the chief director of the college student influencer universe."

Cheng Yun's eyes lit up.

"Mr. Xu, congratulations!"

"Cheng Yun, I—"

Before Xu Qifei could finish speaking, Cheng Yun suddenly stood up from her seat and waved vigorously toward the entrance.

"Dizhi, over here!"

Song Dizhi, dressed in a denim skirt and white T-shirt, ran towards Cheng Yun as soon as she saw her.

The two girls met and excitedly held hands.

Cheng Yun pulled Song Dizhi and brought him to Xu Qifei.

“Mr. Xu, this is Song Dizhi, whom I grew up with.”

Song Dizhi greeted Xu Qifei with a smile.

"Director Xu, hello, we met at the bar last time."

When Xu Qifei saw Song Dizhi smile, his eyes looked like two crescent moons, and he finally remembered.

"You're a waiter at that bar."

Song Di nodded vigorously.

"Yep."

Cheng Yun spoke up at the opportune moment: "Mr. Xu, Dizhi's dream since childhood has been to be an actress, but recently she told me that she doesn't want to be an actress and wants to be an internet celebrity. Do you think she has a chance?"

Under Song Dizhi's expectant gaze, Xu Qifei carefully examined Song Dizhi.

She is about 1.7 meters tall and has a very good body proportion.

She is strikingly beautiful with a bright and captivating smile.

Becoming a print model would likely be a very promising career path.

Of course, in the entertainment industry, minor success depends on hard work, while major success depends on fate.

The modeling industry is even more murky than the entertainment industry. For a girl like Song Dizhi with no connections, the chances of making it big are about the same as winning the lottery.

Xu Qifei looked serious:
Do you want to hear the truth?

"Of course!"

Cheng Yun answered for Song Dizhi first.

"To be honest, you are very beautiful and have a great appearance."

At this point in Xu Qifei's speech, Song Dizhi could no longer contain his excitement.

Xu Qifei suddenly changed the subject:
"But if you want to become an internet celebrity, to be honest, you don't have much of an advantage. If you want to become popular online, you either need to satisfy people's curiosity, like the first generation of internet celebrities such as Back Dorm Boys and Sister Furong."

"Or like Oldboy, they become famous overnight thanks to a specific news event."

"Of course, there is a third way now: join the college student influencer universe I just mentioned. This is the simplest and easiest way to succeed."

Just like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in later years, after the first phase was a huge success, the newly added superheroes were easily accepted and loved by the audience.

Even superheroes like Ant-Man and Granny Marvel, whose performances were less than stellar, were able to achieve impressive box office results with their standalone films.

The current universe of college student internet celebrities is also like this.

After the initial framework was established by the successive popularity of Old Boys, Plastic Brothers, and Sisters Who Make Waves, newcomers could enjoy the benefits of the entire "system" and quickly accumulate a group of fans.

However, there are thresholds and restrictions for joining the college student influencer universe.

Previously, you had to be a student of Yanjingmao.

The entry requirements have now been lowered to include students from the University of Tokyo.

Currently, Song Dizhi has only one way to join the universe of college student internet celebrities: using Cheng Yun as a "bridge".

　I need to take another half-day off, so there will only be one update today. I'm very sorry!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)