Chapter 360: Huangquan is online
"Brother Yi, have you seen my senior brother coming?"
Zhu Xudan looked at Yu Yi who had just come to the backstage and asked expectantly.
"I don't think so. Anyway, I didn't see him when I walked over here just now." Yu Yi shook his head.
"Oh, okay."
Zhu Xudan sat back in her seat with some disappointment, and muttered to herself: "He said he would come to the press conference, why hasn't he come yet?"
Today is the launch conference of "Soul Ferry Huangquan". She called Meng Bai two days ago to ask if he would be there, and the answer she got was "definitely there".
But now that the press conference is about to start, there is no sign of him.
She wanted to call and ask, but she was afraid that her senior brother would have something important to do at the moment and would disturb him again.
Otherwise, send a WeChat to ask? This shouldn't have any impact.
Zhu Xudan took out her mobile phone and was thinking about how to edit the message. Bai Lu, who was sitting not far away, suddenly walked to her side and said to her: "The boss said he still has a few minutes and will be here soon."
"Ah?" Zhu Xudan blinked, "How do you know?
" "I just asked him.
" "Ask...how do you ask?
" "Just, ask directly." Bai Lu didn't understand, "How else can I ask?"
"...Ha, that's right..."
Zhu Xudan laughed dryly, then frowned and pursed her lips.
Really, I'm obviously more familiar with my senior brother, why didn't I dare to ask directly? Besides, are you very familiar with your senior brother? Why did you send WeChat directly?
Zhu Xudan, who was a little unhappy, glanced at Bai Lu. When the latter saw her looking at him, she thought she was thanking her for her help, and she grinned.
Zhu Xudan had no choice but to smile back. She couldn't get angry at all.
After waiting for a few minutes, she finally heard a noise coming from outside the lounge door, mixed with a few familiar voices.
A staff member opened the door, and everyone in the room walked out. As expected, they saw Meng Bai, Tong Liya, and a group of people from Qiyi TV.
"Sorry, Mr. Dai, I was delayed by something and came late." Meng Bai said.
Dai Ying on the side smiled and said, "No, no, the press conference will start in a while, Mr. Meng, you came just in time."
As the top IP in the field of "supernatural suspense" in recent years, Qiyi TV still attaches great importance to "Soul Ferry: Huangquan". Although it is just an online movie, the launch conference was personally attended by Dai Ying, the vice president.
"Mr. Meng."
"Senior brother, you are here!"
"Hello, boss."
Bai Shan, Yu Yi and others who had already arrived also walked out of the lounge and gathered around to say hello.
Zhu Xudan looked at Meng Bai with excitement in her eyes. But then, her eyes fell on Tong Liya behind him.
Did this woman come with her senior brother?
With such doubts in her heart, she saw Meng Bai greet everyone and there was some free time around him, so she pretended to lean over naturally and smiled sweetly, "Brother, I thought you were not coming today because of something."
"How could it be? I said I would come." Meng Bai said, "The company had an audition this morning, and I watched for a while, but I was delayed."
Wang Wei's "Secret and Great" is almost ready, and he has started auditioning for the leading role in the past few days.
The male lead was decided early on, Zhang Ruoyun, which saved the crew some trouble, but the rest of the candidates were not so simple.
For example, this morning, the crew was auditioning the female lead "Shen Qinghe".
Although Jin Chen mentioned it last time, Meng Bai asked again. However, just as she said, Tangren directly rejected it on the grounds of "conflicts in the artist's planning."
In a sense, Jin Chen was actually "hidden" during the remaining period of the contract.
Meng Bai didn't care much about this. Anyway, he just had to give an explanation to Li Yitong.
It's not that he didn't give her a chance, but that the company didn't let her. There was nothing he could do.
After excluding Jin Chen, Huguang found his own Zhou Yutong.
It's just that this girl's image is heroic, but in the spy war drama with the background of the Republic of China, there is always an inexplicable sense of disobedience.
Wang Wei changed her looks for several sets of costumes, but he still felt that it was not suitable, so he had to refuse in the end.
If his own actors are not suitable, he can only look at other actors. Meng Bai discussed with Wang Wei for a long time at noon, until Hua Yan reminded him that there was a press conference for the new film in the afternoon, and then he hurried over.
As for Tong Liya, he also specially invited her to support the scene, so she arrived a little late.
After staying in the backstage for a while, the staff of Qiyi TV came over to say that the time was almost up, and everyone went to the press conference site.
"Soul Ferry: Huangquan" is an online movie, not a theater, so the press conference did not find any theaters or conference centers, but was held in the headquarters building of Qiyi TV.
In addition to the main actors and actresses of the crew, there were also reporters from the film and television entertainment media, as well as some fans and audiences who were drawn.
The process was also very simple. The main creators of the crew came on stage to introduce the plot content and character settings, share some behind-the-scenes stories, and finally answer some questions from the audience.
"... Thank you to all the main creators for sharing these interesting behind-the-scenes stories with us just now. Next, we will enter the question-and-answer session. Dear media and audience friends at the scene, if you are interested in the relevant content of the film, you can raise your hands to ask questions."
The host of Qiyi TV cueed the process, then turned around and whispered to Meng Bai and others: "Dear teachers, this part was said to be free questions before, and the candidates will be selected by us."
After saying that, he handed the microphone in his hand to Bai Shan, who was closest to him.
"You come or I?" Bai Shan looked at Meng Bai beside him and asked.
"It's all the same, just you come."
Since that's the case, Bai Shan didn't refuse. He glanced at the scene and randomly picked a girl in the back row.
The fan girl who was chosen stood up excitedly, and the staff in the audience hurriedly handed her the microphone.
"I want to ask Mr. Meng Bai, when you introduced the main characters of the film just now, there is Zhao Li but no Dong Qing and Xiao Ya. Does that mean there will be no scenes of the 'trio' in this film?"
Meng Bai didn't expect that he would be the first one to be asked, but he didn't refuse and took the microphone: "It's like this. I said before that one of the two main plots of this film is the origin story of Zhao Li. According to the plot setting, the time takes place hundreds of years before the main film. At that time, there was no Dong Qing, so naturally there was no role for them."
"Oh, is that so? That's quite a pity." The fan girl said a little disappointed.
Seeing this, Meng Bai smiled and continued, "However, we have set up some Easter eggs in the film. If you are interested, you can dig them out. Maybe there will be surprises."
The fan girl's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Meng Bai, can you reveal it?"
"As for Easter eggs, it's a surprise only when you discover them yourself. It's boring if you spoil them in advance."
"Well, okay."
Although she didn't hear the answer, the fan girl still sat back happily.
The questions on the spot continued, but Meng Bai didn't expect that more than half of the questions were directed at him, but the leading actors were watching the fun.
"I say, all our fans, don't stare at me all the time."
Meng Bai said half-jokingly, "Director Bai Shan and several actors have been resting for a long time. We can't let them just watch the show without working."
There was a burst of laughter from the audience.
But it's not the fans' fault. Most of those who can come to the scene are senior fans of the "Pendulum" web drama series. And what attracts them to this series is the plot and the three leading actors.
Now that Yu Yi is the only one left in the "protagonist group", there are not many questions to ask, and the rest is naturally the plot. No one can say this part as conveniently and directly as the screenwriter Meng Bai himself.
The host on one side of the stage reminded the audience that the time for the press conference was almost up. Seeing this, Meng Bai directly said that he would find the last audience member.
"The girl in the front row here."
A petite girl stood up and said cautiously: "Well, actually I also want to ask you, Mr. Meng Bai, can I?"
Everyone on and off the stage laughed. Meng Bai also laughed and said: "Of course you can, just ask."
"Uh, I want to ask, the web drama has already told the ending, and this movie has ended the prequel. Does that mean that there will be no new stories in the "Soul Ferry" series in the future?"
The girl's question obviously expressed the thoughts of many fans, and the scene immediately became quiet.
Meng Bai actually expected that a fan would ask this question. After thinking for a moment, he said: "If you look at it from the perspective of the main story of the entire "Pendulum World", then this series is indeed over. There may be some spin-offs later, but they have nothing to do with the main story."
As soon as he said this, a whisper sounded from the audience.
Although many viewers had guessed this result before, they were still a little surprised to hear the creator admit it in person.
After all, it is not easy to produce an influential IP in the film and television industry these days, so many creators will not stop until they can catch a wave of popularity and squeeze out all the potential of fans in the entire series.
In comparison, the "Soul Ferry" series obviously still has many fans supporting it, and it is a pity to announce the end.
But on the other hand, many fans actually think this is pretty good.
Since the story is over, it should end. If you have to continue it, and finally make the whole story smelly and long, and the character images are very different from the beginning, it will make people feel that the things they like are ruined.
So although many viewers feel a little pity, they think this is not bad.
What's more, Meng Bai said that there may be some legends. Although it is not in the main storyline, as long as the story is exciting, it is completely fine to support it.
After the press conference, the audience and the media took the commemorative peripheral gift packs of the crew and began to leave.
"Huh..."
Meng Bai let out a long breath: "Okay, we've finished what we need to do. Next, we just have to wait for the official premiere tomorrow at noon."
"Yeah, it's over." Bai Shan at the side also sighed.
"Soul Ferry" is the first project he and Meng Bai worked on together, and it is also the first official work.
From the first start of filming to today, it has been nearly five years, and now it is finally time to say goodbye to this series.
The only question left now is to see how much the box office results can reach.
"Brother, what do you think the box office of our movie can reach?" Zhu Xudan at the side asked for Bai Shan: "Can it exceed 100 million?"
"What are you thinking, do you think this is a theater movie?"
Meng Bai said: "According to our unit price of income, the box office share must exceed 100 million, at least 50 million viewers. If converted into theater box office, it is at least 2 billion."
Zhu Xudan pursed her lips when she heard this. A box office of 2 billion, she would never dare to dream of such a big goal.
Dai Ying, who was on the other side, heard the conversation of several people and came over to introduce: "According to the current audience market of online movies, it is indeed difficult to get a 100 million box office share within a 180-day sharing period."
Unlike the one-month release period of theater movies, the sharing period of online movies has been extended a lot due to the different platforms and viewing methods, and is basically about half a year.
In other words, from the date of broadcast for half a year, as long as there are new audiences watching, the producer can always share the money.
As for after the half-year sharing period, most online movies will be sold directly to the website. The platform will determine the price based on the performance in the past six months.
This model prolongs the collection time, but in fact, there is not much difference compared with theater movies. After all, after various audits from theaters to theaters, the collection period is actually that long.
"Among several domestic video platforms, the one that has developed relatively well in the field of online movies is mainly Youku."
Dai Ying introduced: "The current box office record for online movies is also Youku. One is "The Soul Master" which was launched at the end of last year, and the other is "The Monkey King: City of Monsters" which was launched at the beginning of this year. The final box office share is around 37 million."
Meng Bai calculated in his mind that the box office share of 37 million is roughly equivalent to the box office of over 100 million in the cinema.
In this "blockbuster era" with a box office of 200 to 300 million, box office of over 100 million may not seem very impressive. But compared with the production cost of only a few million, the return rate immediately becomes very prominent.
After all, the "Pendulum" series is a big IP with a fan base and popularity bonus, so Qiyi TV also has a high positioning for "Soul Ferry: Huangquan", hoping to surpass Youku's record.
Now that everything is ready, it all depends on the actual results after the show starts airing.
…
The press conference for "Soul Ferry: Huangquan" was held on Friday, and the show started the next day, which happened to be Saturday. In addition, it was summer vacation, so many viewers slept until noon, ordered takeout, and then watched the show firsthand.
The audience was lying comfortably in bed watching the show, but the staff of Qiyi TV started their overtime.
From about 11:30 in the morning, the traffic on the website began to increase significantly, and the number of people online also continued to increase. Although there is still some distance from the warning line, the technical department is still preparing seriously.
After twelve o'clock, the server traffic of the website reached its peak, and it lasted until two or three o'clock in the afternoon.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!
(End of this chapter)
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