Chapter 1677
Creating Plot Twists
For a long time afterward, I had to film scenes set in the school.
Zhang Yuan took some time to find a student fan and borrow his meal card to have a free meal at the school cafeteria.
You need to really try to recapture that feeling of being a student.
Of course, he couldn't just eat for free, so he put a thousand yuan on the person's meal card, enough for them to eat for a while.
After trying it, I found it to be pretty good.
Normally, the better the school, the better the quality of the food in the school cafeteria.
The cafeterias at several prestigious universities are all quite good.
But he discovered the only fair thing and person in the world: the school's cafeteria lady.
When I go to a restaurant, the manager or owner usually brings me extra dishes. At the very least, he will have the chef cook them himself and give me extra portions.
Theoretically speaking, even if he goes to the same restaurant, the food he eats will be completely different from what the average diner eats.
But at the school cafeteria, no matter who you are, the aunties can still accurately shake all the eggs out of the scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
Everyone here has Parkinson's disease, and even if he came, he couldn't change it.
He believed in adapting to local customs, and that day he even ate a "Fang Fei Wo" for breakfast, which is the way instant noodles are eaten in Tianjin. The idea is to cook the instant noodles a little firm, add an egg to them, beat it into egg drop soup, and then poach another egg, making sure it's soft-boiled.
The more I ate, the more interesting this place seemed; the people here are adept at finding joy in everyday life.
Filming scenes according to the script.
Meng Xiaojun and Wang Yang argued with their teacher, and after being criticized by other students, a group fight broke out.
The two were no match for the fleeing enemy, while the seemingly foolish Chen Dongqing covered their retreat, using his body to block the classroom door for them.
After realizing what was happening, the two gritted their teeth, turned around, and faced the situation together.
After this scene, the three driving forces of New Dream truly became brothers.
This is a scene depicting a qualitative change in emotions.
This foreshadowed future cooperation and also contrasted with the later split.
"Don't worry when we start doing it later."
"Don't make it fake." Zhang Yuan mentioned this before filming began.
"It's okay if we really fight, I'll dodge."
"It's not a big deal if I get hit a few times."
"Just be careful not to hit the face or head, and don't kick the groin."
"OK?"
He finished explaining to the extras.
I can film action scenes; these are just small-scale ones.
Chen Kexin also praised the male lead, saying he had ambition and everyone should cooperate well.
As soon as filming began, the crowd became agitated, with people throwing books, throwing punches, and overturning tables.
It was utter chaos, a cacophony of voices.
This kind of chaos is exactly what we want, because students become this chaotic when they get carried away.
This is still a college student, but they've already taken a step into the workforce.
So what if they're high school students?
……
That's the kind of reckless, disregard-of-consequence feeling he's after.
They filmed it three times in a row, and he watched the playback with Chen Kexin. The effect was very good.
"Would you like to do it again?"
He took a lot of punches, but having practiced martial arts for years, it was nothing to him.
It didn't hurt much.
"do not want!"
He had barely made the suggestion when two anxious voices of refusal came from behind him.
Deng Chao and Tong Dawei both grinned and waved, indicating that Ya Mei had been caught.
If you're okay, how can the two of us stand it?
You can film action scenes and getting beaten up is nothing to you, but we're both about to die!
Deng Chao was out of breath, and Tong Dawei was in pain all over.
The two thought to themselves that he must have a good physique to be considered a movie star.
"Alright, alright," he said casually.
The two of them were still gagging during lunch.
Is it really necessary?
Zhang Yuan picked at the boxed lunch with a meal price of 100 yuan.
Anyway, that's how the production team decided on the lead actors.
A box of rice, a box of vegetables, including chicken, duck, fish and meat, a box of four kinds of vegetables and fruits, and a drink including a cup of yogurt.
Zhang Yuan had done this before, so he understood it immediately; the gross profit margin was over 7%.
Such a lavish meal, costing 100 yuan, and Chen Kexin and the others said that the three of them had no demands and were easy to please.
Many celebrities dare to set their main meal price at over a thousand yuan per meal.
I only ate a few bites, and then gave the rest to the people around me.
I want that kind of grand spectacle where you eat a whole table of food at once, and you can eat, smell, and look around.
She's acting like Empress Dowager Cixi.
"I have some liniment, the kind I made myself, it's really good stuff. I'll have my assistant get you some in a bit."
"Okay." Deng Chao nodded, guessing he'd be covered in bruises when he looked in the mirror in his room today.
While eating, he was wearing headphones and muttering to himself in a small notebook.
Several characters in this film speak English, and there are long passages of English dialogue.
They are both art students, and they know their own level of education.
Most art schools and majors do not even have the hard requirement of passing the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4).
The two trained intensively for a long time before filming began, but they were still not very confident, especially in front of the camera.
“Ai Ai Mu…” Deng Chao’s English had a slight hometown accent.
Already lacking confidence, he became even more tongue-tied when he glanced sideways and saw Zhang Yuan looking at him.
He had seen news reports of Zhang Yuan being interviewed by foreign media; his English was incredibly fluent, with virtually no accent.
"Don't panic, I won't look at you." Zhang Yuan turned his head away.
Tong Dawei glanced at Deng Chao.
I thought to myself that Chao is usually crazy, energetic, and naturally incredibly confident.
But when he encountered someone like Zhang Yuan, his confidence faltered.
“I remember you mentioned a Hollywood blockbuster a few days ago, and I think I saw someone talking about it online.”
While eating and chatting, Tong Dawei suddenly remembered this matter.
"Really?" Zhang Yuan focused his attention upon hearing this: "How do you feel?"
"It's quite lively," the other person commented.
Tong Dawei is not young, and he's not particularly trendy, so he can only watch the show.
"I think it's more than just a spectacle." Deng Chao shook his head. "I heard you're going to spend 200 million on publicity for this show?"
Zhang Yuan: ...
Why is it doubled again?
"Three men can make a tiger; falsehoods are spread by word of mouth," he replied.
"I knew it was unlikely." Chao breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's less than a hundred million," Zhang Yuan replied.
Deng Chao was speechless, and Tong Dawei also opened his mouth but couldn't give a comment.
They couldn't give their own evaluation, but many of their peers have already done so.
Moreover, the evaluations are very consistent.
This guy's gone mad!
Major companies, including Huayi, and even Xiao Ma and Fiber Optics, who were on good terms with him, thought he was crazy.
However, it's possible that Zhang Yuan has gone mad, but it's also somewhat unlikely that Zhang Yuan has gone mad.
He had done things out of line more than once or twice, and while everyone was surprised, they had also become somewhat accustomed to it.
At this moment, an article has gone viral on the Chinese internet.
They're saying, "What's happening in North America can't be kept secret any longer!"
Zhang Yuan defined Jia Shikai's approach as "viral marketing." The underlying logic of this marketing method is "person-to-person transmission."
In fact, Xiaomi's initial marketing strategy was "viral".
Through word-of-mouth among tech enthusiasts on forums and online communities, Xiaomi gained hundreds of thousands of loyal fans without spending any money on advertising or producing any actual products.
It's no exaggeration to say that Jun'er is a marketing genius.
The most famous example of "viral marketing" in film is undoubtedly "The Blair Witch Project".
It cost over $6 to produce but sold for tens of millions of dollars – an incredible value for money.
But what most people don't know is that the film's scale was achieved because after it was bought, the distributor spent millions of dollars promoting it on the North American internet.
It's impossible to do it without spending money.
The Blair Witch Project's strategy was to promote the film as a true story. In North America, where various religions coexist, this immediately attracted countless people to participate in the discussion, and many people actually took it seriously.
Zhang Yuan used a similar method, but it was not the same.
Viral marketing must first utilize the masses to spread it.
The prerequisite for mass communication is that it can hit their points of excitement.
What's exciting for Chinese audiences right now?
The grass is always greener on the other side!
Especially in North America, their science and technology must be more advanced than ours.
Our civilian products rely on imitations, while military products are both tacky and ugly.
This is the current trend.
In addition, the Strategic Deception Bureau, headed by the Director, was also spreading rumors, which not only convinced the domestic public but also foreigners.
Until the J-20 took to the skies...
In fact, the J-20 made its maiden flight in 11, but it was carried out secretly at night.
Nobody believes that China can independently develop a fourth-generation fighter jet.
The Americans were so confident that they took the initiative to dismantle the F-22 production line.
Want to resume operations after dismantling the production line?
impossible!
Even if the equipment is still there, countless skilled workers have already fallen below the cutoff line.
Some aspects of high-end industrial production are actually not high-end at all; they rely on manual skills and instruction.
Even if you are given the complete set of blueprints, you won't be able to operate it properly without an experienced craftsman.
However, ordinary people, especially those in China, are unaware of these undercurrents and the quietly changing landscape beneath the surface.
They still believe that North America is incredibly powerful and that China will never be as good as them.
Just like Meng Xiaojun and Wang Yang during their student days in the movie, there are also a large number of Chinese who have immigrated overseas.
After these people left, seven or eight out of ten of them would spend their days hoping for the collapse of China, so as to prove that their choice was absolutely correct.
Given this prevailing public opinion, Zhang Yuan decided to grant their request!
The so-called "things in North America can no longer be kept secret" refers to the rumors circulating on forums and online communities that North America is building the next generation of weapons, namely the Hunter Jaegers from Pacific Rim.
Regardless of how outrageous it is, plenty of people will believe it!
The more outrageous it is, the more people believe it.
Because they believe North America is omnipotent, they take it seriously.
Some people believed in the 2012 doomsday prophecy, and the movie still made hundreds of millions of yuan in mainland China, raking in a fortune.
He bought traffic on Weibo, Tieba, Hupu, Tianya, Baidu... all internet platforms.
They also hired a bunch of video bloggers to create dubious content and posted it on several major video platforms.
The purpose is to confuse the public and pass off falsehoods as truth.
If you spend the right amount of money, you can make a fake look real!
Just like Yongzheng usurped the throne, altered the will of his fourth and fourteenth sons, practiced evil magic to curse Kangxi to death, and established the Blood Droplets army.
Most of this content was deliberately spread by the followers of the Eighth and Ninth Princes along the way when they were demoted and exiled from the capital.
They even spent money to hire people, such as storytellers and singers of the "Rat Comes to Live" folk song, to promote the event everywhere.
In reality, there was no alteration to the will, because Emperor Kangxi died suddenly, and the will was written by Emperor Yongzheng and Zhang Tingyu.
But people are happy to listen to these fictionalized stories and are even more willing to take them seriously.
The same thing is happening now; North America is going to build mechs!
So realistic!
Look at their level of technology.
Adding deliberately blurred photos of the mecha production process, which were already present in the film, makes it even more authentic.
With a wave of his hand and the support of a financial bomb, Jia Shikai mobilized all the online trolls he knew like a mad dog unleashed.
Let these online trolls distribute more flyers, and mobilize second- and third-level online trolls to work together.
What we need is an overwhelming, all-encompassing campaign!
We need to make sure that everyone online in China knows about this.
The title is very important.
He chose the title "Things in North America Can't Be Hidden Anymore" rather than referring to North America manufacturing advanced weapons, because the internet had changed by then.
We've entered the era of memes!
Every year, a large number of internet slang terms emerge, from "diaosi" (loser) and "caonima" (grass mud horse) to "henhuanghenbaoshi" (very yellow and very violent), and this year's "tuhao ge wei jiao pengyou ba" (Let's be friends, rich guy) and "wohe wo de xiaomeng du jing tai" (My friends and I were stunned).
Those old colleagues of Deng don't understand what young people like.
You have to create memes for them to spread them.
In addition, he had Jia Shikai buy traffic on various platforms, which fueled the trend.
So in less than a week, the phrase "What's going on in North America can't be kept secret any longer" became a newly popular meme on the Chinese internet.
At this point, whether it's true or not, whether you believe it or not, is no longer important.
Everyone became a source of amusement, spreading the word even if they didn't believe it.
Thus, the virus began to spread widely.
The internet has begun to permeate into daily life.
Many parents and middle-aged and elderly people know about this because they hear their children saying this all the time.
Even before the movie was released, those mecha designs were already incredibly popular online.
This is not enough!
You don't need to spend that much money.
There are a few more steps to take. First, the company needs to start film scheduling negotiations with Wanda and other cinema chains with which it has a good relationship.
Let the network data speak for itself!
Our play is so popular, you should schedule more screenings, right?
They manipulate theaters' decisions by staging their own performances to gain an advantage in scheduling screenings.
Once the theaters see the situation, they realize it's a hot seller, so who else would they put in theaters if not you?
Besides major cinema chains, there are also smaller cinema chains.
The operations are different, and the scheduling of films for smaller cinemas also needs to be negotiated, but it's relatively easy to negotiate.
There's another thing about finding small cinemas that can't be said publicly; it's considered an industry unspoken rule.
That is what everyone later knew as the "ghost field"!
To put it bluntly, it's "box office fraud".
It's not just bad movies that need to do this; almost all movies do it, it's become a standard procedure.
Zhang Yuan was no exception; otherwise, he would be squeezed out by his peers.
The reason I chose smaller theater chains is because they are cheaper.
Ghost shows require booking the entire venue, usually in the morning or late at night, as these shows are usually empty anyway.
Especially in the private cinemas in small towns, you can book a ghost screening for only 100 yuan!
Even more worn-out ones are available for 50 yuan.
Moreover, these small cinemas are not connected to the internet, so there's no way to check ticket stubs.
As long as all the screenings are counted as my show, the box office figures will be reported.
Whether theaters are actually showing films in empty theaters or even showing other movies behind the scenes goes unchecked.
These are all industry practices.
Zhang Yuan provided a budget of 2000 million yuan, allowing the company to pre-purchase 2 million yuan worth of box office tickets.
No one would dare to do that, especially buying so much.
How much does an ordinary movie gross? If it's inflated by 200 million, it's like the egg drop soup in the cafeteria, where one egg is mixed with ten liters of water.
He dares to do it!
Can't I give Zhang Duoduo a subsidy of 10 billion yuan?
This is to take care of smaller cinemas and promote the development of the industry... at least that's how he understood it.
He also contacted Maoyan Ticketing. Although he owns shares in Meituan, he still had to spend money to buy tickets and pre-sales to be featured at the top of the list, as well as optimize the data.
Data optimization, in this context, means that the platform helps you modify the data to ensure it looks the best in its timeframe.
They've used every trick in the book—online, in theaters, overt, and covert—to sell even trash as gold these days.
Moreover, Pacific Rim isn't trash; it's actually quite good, it just doesn't cater to a specific audience.
Even after completing this one installment, which was already an overwhelming force, Zhang Yuan still did not stop.
not enough!
He still has more tricks up his sleeve... (End of Chapter)