Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 152: Methodical

Post-production was completed in mid-June. Sound mixing, color grading, and special effects compositing were completed within their respective time windows, and technical acceptance was passed. The complete archive of 2001: A Space Odyssey was uploaded to the main storage device, and a standard screening format copy was also made for subsequent screenings and reviews.

The project team submitted their application in early July. After receiving the materials, the other party replied with a confirmation email, informing them that the film had entered the judging process and that further updates would be provided gradually before the fall screenings. Luo Jinnian did not reply to the email. The project entered the pre-screening stage, and no further work was required.

In early August, the confirmation arrived. The film had been selected for the main competition and was scheduled for the evening screening on the second day of the program, with the length matching the screening standards. After reading the notification, Luo Jinnian forwarded the schedule to Director Qin and noted the screening date and venue address in his memo.

On the day of the screening, the session was scheduled for 7:30 PM. Luo Jinnian arrived twenty minutes early, entering the screening room through a side door instead of the main aisle. He sat in a back row near the edge, and after the lights dimmed, he neither took notes nor checked the time or moved during the film. When the film ended and the lights came on, there was applause, which lasted within the normal range. He didn't linger, didn't talk to anyone, and left the screening room directly through the side door.

The judging results were sent via email three days after the screening. The film won the Grand Prize in this section. The judges' comments highlighted two points: first, the application of technology in specific scenarios was a valuable reference for similar works; second, the judges considered the balance between preserving and compressing the original narrative structure during the adaptation to be handled appropriately. The judging comments were jointly signed by three judges; no quantitative score was given, and the film was not compared or ranked with other entries.

After compiling the review comments and award information, Luo Jinnian sent them to the relevant members of the project team and updated the status of the corresponding items in the internal workflow. The company conducted an internal project summary, focusing on reviewing the technical path and decision-making milestones from project initiation to completion, and compiled production process records for several scenarios as reference archives for future projects. No external publicity plans were arranged, and no articles were published or interviews were given.

Regarding external media, an industry report briefly mentioned the award, focusing on factual descriptions without subjective interpretation, and did not spark widespread discussion. Several similar short messages circulated online, with largely identical content, but their reach was limited and they failed to generate sustained discussion. Data also showed no significant changes; website traffic fluctuations were within expectations, and social media engagement increased slightly, but not significantly, and without sustained growth.

Luo Jinnian did not take any action in response to this phenomenon. He did not post any related content on social media platforms, nor did he respond to any comments or reposts.

A week after the review results were announced, he noticed he had received a work inquiry from a science fiction project whose specific format was yet to be determined, asking if he was interested in providing advice on the technical aspects. Luo Jinnian did not respond to the inquiry at the moment, nor did he include it in his current work schedule.

The week after the screening, the work consultation email resurfaced. The sender was a newly established production company; the project's direction hadn't been publicly announced, but the email briefly mentioned they were developing a science fiction project about memory storage and identity reconstruction. They had seen the quality of *2001: A Space Odyssey* at the screening and felt that Luo Jinnian's balance between science fiction narrative and technological implementation aligned with their project's needs. A meeting invitation was attached at the end of the email, scheduled for late August.

Luo Jinnian replied to the email, confirming the meeting time without adding any preconditions in his reply.

The meeting was held in the conference room of Early Spring Culture. Three people attended: the producer and two screenwriters. When introducing the project direction, they mentioned that the story is set in the near future, with the core concept involving the extraction and re-implantation of memory data, upon which a discussion of identity continuity unfolds. They had completed the story outline and the first draft of the script, but were stuck on the connection between narrative logic and technological settings—they wanted the technological settings to be believable enough to support the story's premise, while simultaneously not wanting technical details to encroach on the space for expressing the characters' emotions. This was precisely the "balancing act" problem that Luo Jinnian had mentioned at the exhibition and in subsequent updates, and it presented a real challenge in the specific project.

Luo Jinnian reviewed the story outline they brought and found that its core setting was logically consistent, but there were a few aspects of the execution that needed to be defined, mainly focusing on how the technical settings were presented in the narrative. He did not give specific opinions on the spot, but instead recorded the project background and the bottlenecks encountered during the meeting, indicating that he would provide a reference plan after returning.

A week after the meeting, he sent back a text document outlining several key aspects of their technical setup and offering timeline suggestions on when and how these elements should be incorporated into the narrative and how the audience should perceive them. He didn't alter the story's framework, only adjusting the timing and manner of the technical information's appearance. Upon receiving the document, they confirmed the feasibility of the suggestions and inquired about their willingness to participate in subsequent development as a co-producer. Luo Jinnian stated that a decision needed to be postponed, as there was still unfinished editing work and overseas company affairs to handle.

In early September, the overseas distributor of *2001: A Space Odyssey* sent a report containing feedback data from preview screenings in Europe and North America in the weeks following the film's initial release. The feedback data, collected from audiences, primarily concerned their acceptance of the film's pacing and narrative progression. The data fell into two categories: one group of viewers felt the film maintained the unique narrative rhythm of the original novel, considering it a positive assessment; the other group felt the pacing was slightly slow in the contemporary media environment. The proportions of these two opinion lines were similar, but the overall trend leaned towards positive.

In the email, Lin Yiming mentioned that some distributors have doubts about the current market positioning of this type of traditionally paced science fiction work, but they recognize the technical perfection of the work and plan to include it in regional promotion channels after its fall screening.

Luo Jinnian read the entire report but offered no suggestions for adjustment. He did not intend to adjust the film's production plan or release version to suit the expectations of audiences in different regions, nor did he intend to make further adjustments to the film's pacing and narrative structure. The completed work required no further modification, and any alterations would not change its established positioning.

The stance on "achieving both soft and hard power" has been discussed repeatedly since the exhibition speech at the beginning of the year. Now, through the completion and exhibition of an actual work, a relatively complete reference case has been formed.

As for his next step, he needs to decide whether to work on the story about "sound" first, or to move forward with the project that is still in its early stages.

The paths diverge, like two forked tracks waiting to be chosen. He doesn't need to rush; he just needs to confirm their respective destinations on the map, and then, when he's ready, take a step in one of them.