After Chapter 380
Chen Siqi has become a sensation.
On the one hand, she became popular on social media platforms—her previous popularity stemmed from being Lu Yanhe's girlfriend. People were curious about her and paid attention to her mainly because of this identity, rather than her identity as the editor-in-chief of "Jump Up".
On the other hand, she has become a real sensation in the film and television industry.
Friends has shown the influence of the editors and writers of Jump Up.
"The Seventeenth Floor" revealed the terrifying connections behind Chen Siqi and her astute and targeted publicity strategy.
With "Late Spring," Chen Siqi used the two million yuan she received from Longyan to organize a large-scale event involving hundreds of staff members. Leveraging the event's creativity and popularity, she secured a live video broadcast of the Northern Lights to expand its influence and then added the actors from "Late Spring" to the project. She and her team successfully executed this complex event, involving multiple partners, generating widespread organic publicity.
These promotional methods and ideas are unprecedented in the film and television industry.
All of Chen Siqi's promotional and marketing efforts were based on the advantages of "Jump Up" magazine, combined with currently popular promotional channels and methods, and tailored to the characteristics of the film and television dramas themselves.
"Friends" emphasizes "Support Lu Yanhe", "The Seventeenth Floor" emphasizes "Watch the premiere", and "Late Spring" emphasizes "Youth" and "Regret". These keywords are spread in a brainwashing rhythm to deepen everyone's impression and turn them into real viewers.
In hindsight, everything she did was effective.
In comparison, other film and television dramas currently rely on the same old methods for publicity and marketing: interviews, talks, roadshows, and large-scale advertising.
While the exposure is significant and many people become aware of their existence, whether this translates into a genuine audience remains to be seen.
TV series can be played this way, but movies can't—you have to pay to go to the cinema to watch a movie.
To sell an art film with a production cost of only a few million and a customized publicity budget of only two million for this much is an achievement that has made Chen Siqi a legend.
-
Yu Lang summarized the information about the film and television dramas that had approached him and said to Chen Siqi, "Currently, thirteen film and television dramas have sent us invitations, wanting to customize publicity and marketing plans with us."
Chen Siqi shook her head, "We don't have the resources or the capability to take on these projects right now. Please summarize the situation of these thirteen projects, and I'll take a look. I'll also send it to Lin Yu and the others so that everyone can take a good look. We'll have a video conference tomorrow morning at nine o'clock to discuss which ones to take on."
Yu Lang nodded.
Chen Siqi then said, "Yu Lang, if this business segment takes off, we'll be short-staffed again, and we'll need to hire more people. Have you thought it through? Do you want to continue working with me after graduation?"
Yu Lang is now Chen Siqi's assistant and also her classmate.
The two had a very close relationship. Yu Lang initially became Chen Siqi's assistant because she saw that Chen Siqi was too busy, so she started helping her.
Yu Lang fell silent.
After a few seconds of pause, she said, "My plan is to study for a master's degree abroad. I want to experience different environments, cultures, and lifestyles. If I start working right after graduation, I won't be able to fulfill this wish."
Chen Siqi nodded and said, "Okay, since you've made up your mind, I support you. Could you help me post another job advertisement at the school and find a few candidates for me? You can also help me mentor them this year."
Yu Lang asked, "Don't you want the HR department to help you find one?"
“I can let the business department find people, but I’ll find the people around me myself. We’re all students, and no matter how much they respect me, they’re all much older than us. I don’t want them to sideline me, even if it’s just a risk,” Chen Siqi said. “Especially as you know, I have a lot of things to do every day. If it’s someone from outside the school, it’s inconvenient for them to come and go from the school. It’s better to find classmates from within the school.”
Yu Lang nodded, "Okay, I understand, no problem."
Actually, if possible, Chen Siqi would certainly hope that Yu Lang could continue doing this job.
Yu Lang is a very reliable person. Since they are good friends, Chen Siqi doesn't need to worry about anything else or being betrayed.
But everyone has their own choices, especially since Yu Lang is her friend.
Actually, with Yu Lang's abilities and talents, it would be a waste of his talents to make him her assistant.
She comes from a good family and is very capable in many ways. She became Chen Siqi's assistant because she had a good relationship with Chen Siqi, who was really busy and overwhelmed at the time and needed help. She was also very interested in the job and wanted to know how "Jump Up" magazine succeeded against the tide and what kind of world she could see from this position.
Yu Lang said to Chen Siqi, "Here's what we'll do. I'll find three people for you to try out. One will be in charge of the magazine business, one will be in charge of the new media business, and one will be in charge of the publicity and marketing business. It will be a six-month period with a competitive selection process. I'll take them on as mentors for other miscellaneous tasks. It'll be a good opportunity to see who is more meticulous and cautious. They can then take over my work here."
Chen Siqi thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay."
Yu Lang: "How much internship salary do you plan to pay them?"
Chen Siqi said, "The first month is two thousand a month, the next five months are four thousand, and if you can become a full-time employee within six months, you will receive two-thirds of that amount. What do you think?"
Yu Lang said, "I have no objection. I will sign the agreement with them according to this. There is no other way. We are all still college students. We can't sign an employment contract. We can only sign a cooperation agreement, which is not very binding."
“Actually, it’s good for you to study abroad.” Chen Siqi’s eyes lit up and she said, “I’ve always wanted to expand my business overseas.”
Yu Lang looked shocked and said, "Chen Siqi, can you please let me go?!"
Chen Siqi said, "Anyway, you don't have a family business to inherit, so it doesn't matter where you work. Nowhere else can you find such a large space for development like here."
Yu Lang did not question Chen Siqi's statement.
She knew Chen Siqi was telling the truth.
If she hadn't gone abroad to study, by the time she graduated, she would have been Chen Siqi's assistant for almost three years. By then, she would definitely have been promoted and was able to manage a business independently.
Although they are all still college students, these jobs have tempered them and made them shed a lot of their naivety.
Yu Lang said, "Let's talk about it later. You still have two years before graduation, but I really don't have enough time to be your assistant. I'm about to start applying to schools, so even if you don't suggest finding a new assistant, I have to remind you."
Chen Siqi hugged Yu Lang, buried her head in his shoulder, nuzzled him a couple of times, and said, "Sigh, I can't bear to part with you."
Yu Lang: "I just spend less time with you, I'm not dead."
Chen Siqi: "..."
-
During the seven-day National Day holiday, "Late Spring" grossed a total of 340 million yuan, bringing its total box office to over 400 million yuan, shocking the industry.
Major media outlets published their reports without hesitation.
"Late Spring" breaks box office records for art-house films!
With 400 million yuan in box office revenue, and aiming for 600 million! The box office miracle of "Late Spring"!
A marketing queen helps a top actor break box office records, and the young couple shocks the entire entertainment industry!
...
Okay, the last one came from a third-rate tabloid, and the headline was inexplicably exaggerated.
At Longyan Film Industry, Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao sat at a senior management meeting, listening to reports from various departments on their work.
During the National Day holiday, Longyan Film Industry will release two films.
One is the blockbuster "Explosive Experience," and the other is "Late Spring," which was not expected to be a box office hit.
As a result, although "Explosive Experience" earned more than 80 million yuan at the box office on the first day, it began to decline on the second day and finally only earned a little over 300 million yuan.
The actual production cost of this film was over 90 million, and the publicity and distribution cost nearly 50 million, for a total expenditure of 140 million.
Currently, it's not that we're losing money; with other copyright revenue, we can still make a small profit. But compared to expectations, it's a huge gap.
The head of the data analysis department said, "The initial data for 'Explosive Experience' was very good, and it was in a leading position. However, the audience word-of-mouth for the film was too bad. After the first day of its release, a large number of negative reviews appeared online, mainly focusing on the clichés and the boring aspects. This is the main reason for the poor box office performance of 'Explosive Experience'. On the contrary, 'Late Spring' relied on the audience word-of-mouth accumulated during the preview period to extend the film's run and successfully made it to theaters during the National Day holiday. It also generated word-of-mouth and maintained its screenings."
Huang Zhongjing's face was serious as he said, "Why would such a big-budget film like 'Explosive Experience' end up like this? We've all seen the film, and you all know its quality. Is it really as bad as some viewers say? If it's really that bad, why would we invest so much money in its promotion?"
The executive in charge of "Explosive Experience" immediately said: "The biggest problem this film faces is actually the scandal of the second male lead, Huang Qi, and the constant smear campaign against the film by the anti-fans of the female lead, Li Qingyang, which has created a lot of negative public opinion from the very beginning."
"Didn't you anticipate these problems before the film's release? Why didn't you prepare a public relations plan to address these potential issues?"
"At the time, they thought that with an all-star cast, the film wouldn't be affected by these minor scandals," another executive, who seemed uninvolved, chuckled. "Actually, you can't say the film was a flop. It didn't lose money, and movies that don't lose money always end up making money."
"If that's your thinking, then Longyan Film Industry shouldn't continue to develop," Huang Zhongjing said angrily. "The movie 'Late Spring,' with a total investment of no more than 20 million yuan, has already grossed 400 million yuan at the box office. If it weren't for this movie, Longyan would have made a huge fool of itself during the National Day holiday and would have lost all face."
"The box office miracle of 'Late Spring' also had many coincidences. If it weren't for the marketing done by Chen Siqi and her team, the movie wouldn't have achieved such box office success."
"Is this a marketing problem?" Huang Zhongjing said angrily. "What's the use of marketing if the film quality isn't good enough? 'Late Spring' only grossed 60 million on the first day of the National Day holiday, while 'Explosive Experience' grossed over 80 million! Why is one film performing better than the other? Don't you have any self-awareness?"
I saw that Huang Zhongjing really got angry.
The meeting room was eerily silent.
Huang Zhongjing: "So-called big directors, big stars, big movies, the projects you're making now are increasingly playing the safe card. When 'Late Spring' was first approved, you even blocked it. Aren't you ashamed now? I'm ashamed for you. You've lost your keen eye! If all you know is to play the safe card, what am I doing having you sitting here!"
Everyone silently lowered their heads and stopped talking.
-
After the reshoots for "The Silent River" were completed, Lu Yanhe immediately returned to school to attend classes.
While the film "Late Spring" was showing, he was unexpectedly blocked by a large group of people at the school gate.
They were all movie fans who had seen "Late Spring" and really wanted to meet Lu Yanhe at the entrance of Zhenhua School.
Having aired so many dramas, this was the first time Lu Yanhe had ever encountered such a grand occasion.
In terms of popularity, "Friends" and "The Seventeenth Floor" were much more popular than "Late Spring," but Lu Yanhe was never besieged by so many fans and moviegoers.
Lu Yanhe had no idea what was going on.
Fortunately, Zhenhua's security department noticed the large number of fans gathered at the entrance and had made preparations in advance. More than a dozen security guards were ready to take their positions. As soon as Lu Yanhe got out of the car and was blocked, they quickly pushed through the crowd and escorted Lu Yanhe into the school gate.
In just half a minute, Lu Yanhe saw an unprecedented number of people frantically calling his name, wanting to shake his hand, and asking for his autograph. He also saw an unprecedented number of people excitedly saying they loved him.
At this moment, Lu Yanhe finally realized that the welcome he had received before was different from the truly enthusiastic popularity he had received.
In "Late Spring," Lu Yanhe is handsome, melancholic, and bursts forth with the most intense youthful emotions—an image that Lu Yanhe has never shown before.
In the words of one film critic, this character is more sexually compelling than his previous ones.
Reality has now proven that the film critic was right.
-
How much an actor is loved by movie fans always depends on the charm of the characters they portray.
This is why many actors, despite their superb acting skills and recognition from the audience, are not truly loved by the audience, because they have never had a role that the audience remembers.
An actor without a representative role, no matter how good their acting skills are, is just a sword that has never been sharpened. People may be amazed by its craftsmanship, but it will never become a legend like Gan Jiang and Mo Xie.
Lu Yanhe suddenly gained a lot of fans.
The number of fans who genuinely like him as a person, admire him like an idol, and want to pay attention to his every word and action suddenly surged.
Not only Lu Yanhe, but also the other young actors in "Late Spring" became popular.
These days, not only have they been constantly exposed, but news related to them has frequently topped the trending searches.
This was a sign that the film had truly become a hit; a newcomer who was previously unknown suddenly became the focus of media and public attention.
Yan Lingyu, Kong Fan, He Qingqing, Wang Jing... these young people, who were still students at a performing arts school, experienced what it means to become famous overnight.
Of course, they didn't have much time to process this at that point.
They are still following Liu Bige on his roadshow tours.
For a film, the main creators going on promotional tours is the most laborious but also the most effective way to achieve results.
Running roadshows is not just about getting more screenings. At each roadshow, there are plenty of materials that the film company can use for follow-up promotion, maintain the film's popularity, and boost box office revenue.
Liu Bige really put in a lot of hard work, visiting one city a day.
After running around the track, Lu Yanhe watched the latest roadshow video and noticed that Liu Bige had lost a lot of weight.
Liu Bige was already thin, but he's lost even more weight, looking like he's been on a long training exercise.
But it's probably because he was in high spirits during a happy occasion; he wasn't tired at all, but rather seemed excited as if he'd been injected with adrenaline.
His two eyes were shining brightly.
Although Lu Yanhe did not participate in the later roadshows, he kept in touch with everyone in the main cast group every day and listened to their interesting stories about the roadshows.
Lu Yanhe thought they would be tired after running for so long, but to his surprise, they not only didn't feel tired, but they were all as energetic as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Perhaps because it was their first time doing a roadshow, they still had a lot of novelty to it.
"Late Spring" is not the highest-grossing film; strictly speaking, it never even topped the daily box office charts.
However, it has generated a great deal of discussion, especially among various self-media platforms and bloggers, who are basically discussing the movie and sharing their feelings and understanding.
For a full two weeks, many people waited at the gates of Zhenhua School just to catch a glimpse of Lu Yanhe.
This is a situation that has never occurred before.
This has drawn criticism from some people.
Lu Yanhe felt sorry about this, but there was nothing he could do.
He could only appeal on his social media, asking people not to linger at the school gate and obstruct others' travel. He also emphasized that he had no work scheduled and would basically not leave the school, so people shouldn't wait, as it would be pointless.
Despite this, a large number of fans and moviegoers are still waiting here.
Lu Yanhe then realized the power of "Late Spring".
In many people's minds, art films are synonymous with being unwatchable and boring.
However, for many top-tier art films, while their box office revenue may not be that high at the moment, their number of fans is absolutely not to be underestimated. In fact, the longer they are released, the more fans they attract.
For some classic art films, their sacred status to moviegoers is no less than the fervent status of idols in the hearts of their fans.
"Late Spring" brought Lu Yanhe a role that captivated a large audience and evoked "sexual tension" for the first time. This was an effect that his previous roles had not achieved or had not been effective enough.
-
Chen Ziyan arrived at Zhenhua to find Lu Yanhe, carrying a thick stack of scripts.
“You’ve been staying at school these past few days, why don’t you take a look at these scripts?” Chen Ziyan said. “These are all scripts that have been sent over recently. After reading them, I think there are some that are worthwhile. Take a look.”
This stack of scripts is nearly half a meter high.
Lu Yanhe was terrified.
"Holy crap? How come there are so many?"
Chen Ziyan said, "Almost every movie script on the market that features your age group as the main character has been sent to us. 'Late Spring' is so popular that everyone wants to cast you."
Lu Yanhe: "With so many scripts, how long will it take me to finish reading them all?"
Chen Ziyan said, "That depends on your fate with them. You do have few film scripts left. 'The Silent River' has already finished filming, and you only have 'The Road to Glory' to film after that. You don't have any other films. You can look for new projects. Or have you written your own scripts?"
Lu Yanhe shook his head.
"No."
He added, "By the way, when will the short film for 'Rouge' be shot this month?"
"The 22nd, Saturday," Chen Ziyan said. "Two days, exactly one weekend. But if they really can't find another male actor in the end, are you really planning to film this?"
Lu Yanhe: "We can't just stop filming because there aren't any suitable male actors available."
Chen Ziyan nodded and said, "It's not that we won't film it because there isn't a suitable male actor. Your movie doesn't have a high budget, so it doesn't put much pressure on the investors. Besides, although you call it a commercial movie, to outsiders, with director Wang Zhong and Chen Bige as the lead actor, it looks like an art film. The investors aren't here to make a lot of money; they're here to maintain a good working relationship with you, Director Wang, and Chen Bige. So, even if you can't find a suitable male lead and can't start filming, they're not in a hurry. They think it's normal for art films to have high standards and a pursuit of art."
Lu Yanhe asked, "What about other movies in general?"
"To be honest, if it's a commercial film, it's meant to make money at the box office. They would never allow a film to be shelved for such a long time. There would be a plan for when to start filming and when to release it," Chen Ziyan said. "Otherwise, there wouldn't be a film crew that's about to start filming, but has to replace actors at the last minute because of scheduling conflicts. If they can wait, why not wait until everyone has time?"
Lu Yanhe suddenly understood and nodded.
Chen Ziyan said, "You can act in the movie 'Rouge' or you can not. I read the script and to be honest, the focus of the film is on Ru Hua. The character of Thirteen Shao is too cold-hearted and too scummy. Whoever plays him will not be likable."
Lu Yanhe did not expect Chen Ziyan to say the same thing.
Looking back, it's true that if Leslie Cheung hadn't played the role, the Thirteenth Master might never have become a classic that fans remember.
The actor playing this role is incredibly talented.
If Lu Yanhe were to take the role, he would very likely end up playing a supporting character.
Chen Ziyan said, "You need to act in a commercial film, and it has to be a big-budget commercial film. You can't always act in these low-budget films that produce miracles. Otherwise, over time, people's perception of you will be fixed."
(End of this chapter)
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