Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Chapter 92: Waiting for the heartbroken reed girl to be taken in; the upcoming film "Sewing Machine Band".

"Thank you so much, you even thought of these things."

Li Yitong composed herself, smiled, and nodded her thanks.

Jiang Bai curled the corners of his lips and said in a natural and casual tone, "We're all colleagues from the film crew. We'll be in the rain all afternoon, and it's easy to catch a cold. It's always good to be careful."

After saying that, the two of them went to change into a dry set of school uniforms and dried their hair again. After making sure everything was okay, they prepared to do another one.

While the two were preparing, the crew quickly got to work, refilling the water truck, tidying up the props, and so on.

Wipe the wet filming equipment.

Just as the director predicted.

Even though the two had great chemistry during filming, they spent the entire afternoon shooting rain scenes.

After all, we can't let the rented water truck go to waste, since there are many rainy scenes in the show, and we have to film them all this afternoon.

Fortunately, it's not that easy to catch a cold in the summer.

With the occasional sip of warm ginger tea, neither Jiang Bai nor Li Yitong caught a cold the next day.

The subsequent filming went very smoothly.

Jiang Bai diligently settled down in the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" crew, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the daily filming work.

Every day before dawn, he would arrive at the film set on time for makeup and costume fitting, and thoroughly study the script for the day's scenes in advance.

He would arrive on time whenever the crew scheduled his work hours, and he would accompany and cooperate with the crew throughout the night shoots without complaint.

She will not use her top-tier status to seek special treatment, nor will she put on airs and make things difficult for the crew on set.

She is serious about her work, doesn't act like a big shot, and is approachable and easy to talk to.

The entire crew's impression of him was completely reversed, from initial distrust to complete approval.

The director also spoke highly of Jiang Bai.

Jiang Bai, despite his young age, enjoys top-tier popularity, yet he is neither arrogant nor frivolous. His acting skills are solid, and he doesn't cause much trouble, making it a very pleasant experience to work with him.

Li Yitong and he had a better and better understanding of each other. Sometimes, they only needed a glance to know what the other wanted to express.

This left Li Yitong with even more mixed feelings, unsure whether she had developed a working rapport with Jiang Bai, or—

And just like that, more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Jiang Bai almost completely faded from public view.

Offline, he focuses on filming and has no outings or activities, and there are very few new behind-the-scenes materials leaking online.

Apart from a few big fans who have been following him closely and taking some behind-the-scenes videos and photos when he goes to and from work, no other press releases have appeared on the internet.

The world never revolves around any one person.

Jiang Bai stopped creating trending topics, and the public's attention naturally shifted away from him.

The entertainment industry is never short of controversial figures.

Over the past week, the most talked-about and hottest topics in the entertainment industry have all revolved around Lu Han.

After all, it is a fault top flow.

Although Jiang Bai dominated the entertainment headlines for half a month, Lu Han remains the most watched male celebrity in the entire Chinese entertainment industry.

"Sweet Combat," starring Lu Han and co-starring Guan Xiaotong, launched a large-scale pre-release promotion in the second half of September.

As the official premiere date draws closer, the production team has cleverly adopted the promotional methods of "A Love So Beautiful," arranging for the two lead actors to frequently appear together offline and attend promotional events.

As for traditional promotional methods such as co-producing fashion magazine spreads and recording variety shows together, those are indispensable.

As a result, all sorts of sweet and romantic photos and behind-the-scenes moments have been circulating online.

In no time, topics related to the two appearing together were all over major social media platforms, entertainment forums, and Weibo's trending topics.

In particular, hashtags related to the two as a couple have repeatedly topped the trending search list, maintaining high popularity.

The production team deliberately created an intimate and tacit on-screen couple atmosphere between the two, and vigorously promoted the on-screen couple's popularity.

Jiang Bai noticed this situation during a break from filming and couldn't help but speculate.

This is probably not a publicity stunt by the production company.

It's likely that Lu Han himself instructed this, wanting to give his fans a heads-up.

After all, he and Guan Gege were really in a relationship.

This is a way to test his fans first by creating a CP (couple pairing) dynamic, to give them a heads-up before officially announcing the relationship!

As for the drama "Sweet Combat"?

This is part of the young couple's play.

However, this time Jiang Bai ushered in a new era of drama promotion and CP hype.

Therefore, upon seeing this, countless netizens, both inside and outside the entertainment industry, subconsciously recalled the classic promotional tactic used by Jiang Bai and Tian Xiwei in their previous collaboration on a drama series, where they heavily promoted their on-screen couple status, using the couple topic to sweep across the internet and drive up the show's ratings and online viewership.

Many entertainment marketing accounts took the opportunity to comment, saying that the promotional methods of "Sweet Combat" were a complete replica of the previous promotional hype model of Jiang Bai and Tian Xiwei.

These remarks instantly ignited Lu Han's fandom, sparking a massive battle between CP (couple) fans.

The Lu Han CP fans, also known as "Lu Di fans", had accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction and resentment, which then erupted online.

In the hearts of Lu Han's fans, Lu Han already has a classic and deeply memorable CP partner.

Fans have already decided on their favorite on-screen couples and simply cannot accept Lu Han being forcibly paired with other actresses again for promotional purposes.

Open for business.

They find it even more unacceptable that the production team deliberately created hype and publicity for the sake of viewership and popularity.

Countless fans of the mainland drama flocked to Weibo's main page and comment sections to voice their opposition, expressing strong condemnation of the drama's pairing.

Hype.

Meanwhile, Guan Xiaotong's fans were equally vocal in defending their idol.

They believe that promoting a TV series is a normal industry practice, and it is only natural for the lead actors to cooperate in promotion. They accuse the fans of the Lu Di CP of being too extreme and unreasonable.

The fans of both sides quickly broke off relations and engaged in large-scale verbal battles on various social media platforms, with scenes of mutual tearing apart visible everywhere.

Unfortunately, the Lu Di CP in 2017 was one of the most combative CP fans in the fandom.

Guan Xiaotong is an actress who started as a child star. She has a high level of national recognition, but she doesn't have a large number of fans in the general public.

The fans of the Lu Di CP only made a slight move, and Guan Xiaotong's fans were powerless to fight back and were completely defeated.

Clearly, Lu Han's attempt to achieve the desired "preventative" effect has completely failed.

Instead, it served as a valuable training exercise for the "Lu Di CP" (a popular Chinese CP pairing), making their fans more cohesive and more combative.

Could this be considered a case of overreaching and backfiring, potentially leading to even more severe consequences in the future?

Jiang Bai had no idea, but he was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

They're even counting on their fingers whether Lu Han will ever go public with her relationship again after the National Day holiday.

If he goes public with his relationship, how many heartbroken girls will he get?

He also wanted a bite of the legendary army of 30 reeds!

We can't really leave them all for Kun Ge to recruit next year!

However, before taking in the heartbroken girl, Jiang Bai had another important matter to attend to.

His first film to be officially released in theaters, "City of Rock," has entered the final stage of intensive promotion and distribution.

As early as when the film officially started shooting, the production team had already finalized the release date, setting it for September 30th, when it would officially hit major cinemas across the country.

Later, it was announced that the release date would be moved up to September 29th for a large-scale theatrical release.

From the preparation stage, a complete and meticulous publicity and promotion plan was prepared, and the publicity has been carried out in an orderly manner over the past six months.

On August 20th, "City of Rock" held small-scale advance screenings in the two core cities of Beijing and Wuhan, inviting film critics, senior media professionals, industry bloggers, and some veteran movie fans to watch the film in advance and collect audience feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Five days later, on August 25th, the production company released its first major promotional material—a behind-the-scenes video featuring a special "band feature."

The video fully reveals the fun behind-the-scenes stories of the entire filming process, the joyful daily life of the crew, and the scenes of the main actors getting along, perfectly showcasing the film's lighthearted, hilarious, and passionate overall style.

This film, which gave the public a glimpse into the unique charm of this comedy-rock movie, successfully attracted the attention of its first batch of moviegoers.

After entering September, the film's promotional efforts were once again fully upgraded.

Dapeng officially launched the "Sewing Machine Hilarious Premiere Month" offline roadshow event, covering nearly fifty cities of all sizes across the country.

He led the film's core cast on a tour across the country, holding roadshows and meet-and-greets in cinemas, university campuses, and shopping districts in major cities. They interacted with fans face-to-face, promoted the film up close, and further expanded the film's offline audience and public awareness.

Unfortunately, Jiang Bai, who made a special appearance in the film and played the role of the core rock drummer "Dynamite", was unable to attend this large-scale nationwide offline roadshow due to scheduling conflicts.

He had originally arranged with Dapeng to participate in the important second half of the roadshow when he went to Beijing.

But plans can't keep up with changes; his overseas trip was clearly more important than the film promotion activities.

After returning to China, he was unable to ask the production team for leave again and had to regretfully cancel his promotional tour.

However, even though Jiang Bai cannot attend the offline roadshow in person, the publicity team of "Sewing Machine Band" has no intention of giving up on taking advantage of Jiang Bai's popularity as a top star.

Don't treat each other with admiration for three days.

Jiang Bai now is no longer the newcomer he was when he filmed this movie!

He is now one of the new four top celebrities!

If his popularity and influence can be used properly, it will surely bring unimaginable publicity and box office boost to the film!

With such excellent traffic boost, the production company naturally wouldn't let it pass by easily.

Therefore, starting from early September, the production team precisely controlled the publicity pace, releasing a series of heavyweight promotional posters and trailers featuring Jiang Bai as the core highlight.

This maximized his exposure and firmly captured the attention of a massive number of young viewers.

On September 8th, the official poster for the film "Sewing Machine Band" was released, featuring all the main actors.

Jiang Bai's character, the rock drummer "Dynamite," stands out prominently in the poster with his striking appearance, making him stand out among the main cast and immediately capturing the audience's attention.

There's no way around it; he's the most outstanding among the male leads, and his image would be too eye-catching on the poster.

If we don't watch him, are we supposed to watch Da Peng or Qiao Shan?

A week later, on September 15th, the production team released another bombshell, unveiling six images of "dark-themed male gods" with a unified style.

Individual character posters.

The six posters have a cool and edgy style, exuding a strong rock and roll vibe.

The poster specially designed for Jiang Bai instantly went viral online upon its release, sparking a significant wave of popularity.

The Jiang Bai in the poster is a far cry from the clean-cut and refreshing young man image that the public has always had, completely subverting his previous screen image.

He was dressed in a trendy and individualistic heavy metal rock style, exuding a powerful aura. His eyebrows and eyes were adorned with exquisite and rich smoky makeup, making him look both cold and flamboyant.

He sat regally and calmly behind the drum set, one hand resting on the drumhead, his eyes arrogant and cold, exuding a powerful aura that kept strangers at bay.

A single static poster perfectly captures the unrestrained and rebellious nature of a passionate rock youth.

This solo poster, with its strikingly different style, instantly generated a huge response online upon its official release.

Countless netizens were amazed by Jiang Bai's strong ability to portray characters, and her ability to easily handle two completely different screen styles.

Most importantly, this contrast is exactly what Jiang Bai's female fans love.

Everyone says they like Jiang Chen, that refreshing campus heartthrob.

But behind the scenes, who wouldn't want to be fiercely attacked by a rebellious rock 'n' roll kid like "Dynamite"?

Ideally, you should be so excited that you see stars, feeling as happy as if you were on a cloud!

Just one poster was enough to excite Jiang Bai's group of female fans, who were clamoring to go to the cinema to see the movie!

Following closely behind, the film's promotional pace continued to accelerate.

On September 19, the film's producers officially released the final full trailer.

The trailer features numerous scenes of "explosives" making an appearance, showcasing cool drumming shots and energetic performances on stage.

On September 21, the official music video for the movie's promotional song, "Choose C," sung by director Dapeng, was officially released on all platforms.

In this popular music video, Jiang Bai still has a lot of screen time.

To put it bluntly, both versions of the video are "trailer deceptions".

Even if Da Peng takes into account Jiang Bai's soaring popularity later on, he might retain more of Jiang Bai's scenes and his story with "Lili" in the editing.

However, Jiang Bai didn't shoot much footage at all when he was filming.

Zhou Dongyu, who plays "Lili", only made a guest appearance for one day.

Even if all the footage he shot is kept, he won't have many scenes.

After all, the main characters in this story are Dapeng and Qiao Shan.

However, a barrage of promotional materials was released in quick succession.

Jiang Bai's role, character, and screen presence in the film were fully showcased.

He was naturally chosen by the "Sewing Machine Band" publicity team as one of the key figures in the film's promotion.

His presence is indispensable in almost every round of publicity and promotion.

Jiang Bai's massive fan base, known as "White Rice," has become the most solid and core force supporting the film's promotional momentum.

Unfortunately, Da Peng's reputation as a director is currently very bad.

Qiao Shan is a comedian, but not a particularly prominent one, so he doesn't receive much attention.

Nazamei is beautiful, but her acting skills have always been criticized. Any drama or movie she stars in is basically considered a flop...

In this way, Jiang Bai became the only point of breakthrough for the entire film's publicity.

Coincidentally, for all fans who like to follow Jiang Bai, the theatrical film "Sewing Machine Band" has a completely different and extraordinary significance.

This is Jiang Bai's first film to be released in theaters.

This is his first representative work, marking his official transition from leading roles in web dramas and television series to the big screen.

It symbolizes a new breakthrough and upgrade in his acting career, and he holds an important place in the hearts of all his fans.

Prior to this, "A Love So Beautiful" had achieved both high popularity and critical acclaim, gaining a huge following and audience base.

But this is just a web series; it didn't even make it onto a major television network.

It's not yet the era of web dramas being all the rage. In 2017, web dramas were still at the very bottom of the social hierarchy.

Other top stars either have a track record of appearing in prime-time TV dramas or are returning superstars.

Jiang Bai's fans are eager for him to produce even more impressive results so that they can have more confidence in praising their idol!

The appearance of "Sewing Machine Band" filled the gap in Jiang Bai's film career and was an important milestone for him to move to a higher level in his acting career.

Just then, "A Love So Beautiful" had already finished its run in the country.

Jiang Bai's million fans were instantly left "homeless".

At this opportune moment, "Sewing Machine Band" launched a comprehensive and intensive promotional campaign, perfectly capitalizing on this large group of fans who had been idle for a long time.

This naturally became the new focus of attention for all fans.

In an instant, Jiang Bai's million fans quickly shifted their attention, seamlessly joining the film's promotional campaign and pouring all their enthusiasm and anticipation into Jiang Bai's debut film.

Various spontaneously organized support activities and data-driven promotional campaigns within the fan community are in full swing.

A large number of his fans flooded the official Weibo and Douyin accounts of "Sewing Machine Band".

Yes, the Douyin videos that Jiang Bai filmed with Da Peng have been gradually released on the official Douyin account of "Sewing Machine Band".

Most of them are short videos of ten or twenty seconds, mainly relying on good looks and showing off to attract the attention of Douyin users.

And to promote the movie "City of Rock".

Jiang Bai was the first celebrity to post a video on Douyin that sparked a phenomenon of imitation.

Therefore, his personal Douyin account currently has more than 5 million followers, making him the first celebrity in the entertainment industry to surpass 5 million Douyin followers, earning him the title of "Douyin Emperor".

He now possesses unparalleled influence and a large following on the Douyin platform.

Although the video for "Sewing Machine Band" was posted on their official Douyin account, the staff responsible for the daily operation of the Jiangbai account also left comments in the comment section to attract traffic.

These videos also became top trending topics on Douyin, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes and further boosting the promotion of "Sewing Machine Band".

Many ordinary passersby who were just casually scrolling through short videos had no knowledge of "Sewing Machine Band" and didn't even know Da Peng.

However, just because I came across a short video clip featuring Jiang Bai, I was instantly recommended this movie and took the initiative to search for information about it.

Become a potential audience for the film.

Leveraging the traffic advantage of short video platforms, the film successfully achieved widespread dissemination, with promotional effects far exceeding the film's initial expectations.

Seeing how well Jiang Bai's participation in promoting the movie had gone, Da Peng naturally pleaded with Xu Xu repeatedly not to let Jiang Bai miss the movie premiere.

Actually, Dapeng is overthinking it.

No matter how busy the film crew is, Jiang Bai will still attend the premiere of "Sewing Machine Band".

This drama has leveraged so much of his popularity and influence in its promotion.

The box office performance of this movie at that time should also be counted as his achievements!

Jiang Bai must be there to support this movie, so that he can use its box office success to negotiate better film contracts in the future!

On the evening of September 24, after the film crew finished work, Jiang Bai and his pre-arranged management team headed directly to the airport and flew to Beijing.

Tomorrow, the premiere of "City of Rock" will be held in Beijing!