Chapter 221
The black and white porcelain bottles glow brilliantly under the light. Wintersweet branches, outlined in gold, are depicted on the soft ceramic surface, creating subtle ridges when touched. This is XS's premium fragrance, launching on May Day. The bottle's texture reveals the meticulous design process.
Zhou Xiao casually touched the bottle cap. Before her was a studio where a photoshoot had just concluded. The golden backdrop shimmered under the lights, its brilliance unobtrusive, lending it a sense of calm and serenity. While the footprints on the backdrop were a bit of an eyesore, it wasn't a problem at all.
XS's campaign this year featured five artists, all of whom were currently on the cutting edge of their field. Zhou Xiao initially assumed the brand had invited her to shoot all of them, but upon arriving at the studio, she realized she'd been overthinking things.
After a moment's silence, Zhou Xiao recalled the two days agreed upon in the contract. He had simply felt rushed, not realizing anything was amiss. Now that he thought about it, he'd learned about the five artists from Shen Lin...
Qin Shi, who was accompanying her, watched Zhou Xiao's expression change and couldn't help but ask curiously. When she realized Zhou Xiao had misunderstood the number of people being photographed, she almost laughed herself to death.
"What are you thinking?" Qin Shi found a chair and laughed so hard that she could only hold her stomach. "You want to take a photo, but the artist doesn't want to!"
Artists in the industry are most wary of wearing the same outfit, makeup, or photography in the same event, especially when it comes to promotional videos for the same brand. Besides avoiding photographers using gimmicks, which can negatively impact the quality of the commercial, comparisons and criticism from netizens are inevitable.
If the photographers are different, the studios can encourage fans to use this as an excuse. But if the photographer and the location are the same, what excuses are there? Besides distrust of the photographers, agents are also well aware of their artists' performance. Those who can outshine others naturally want to compete with each other in the same style, but the domestic entertainment industry often lacks control over their own artists.
Since they were the only two people in the studio, Qin Shi wanted to give Zhou Xiao a brief introduction. She continued, "But if you were the photographer, I'm sure you'd be able to bring out the unique characteristics of each artist!"
Seeing Zhou Xiao's smile across from her, Qin Shi felt a little regretful. The commercial Zhou Xiao had filmed for Dai Linfei had been carefully researched within the company, and the original plan had actually considered having her shoot all the artists. After all, no matter how much the artists objected, could they be more powerful than a luxury brand?
As luck would have it, a while ago, fans of two artists engaged in a heated debate over promotional images for a Valentine's Day blockbuster. This turned the originally trending search for the promotion into a fan war of words, which ultimately led to a scandal. The promotion failed, but the artist ended up in trouble. Considering this, I abandoned my original idea.
"Thank you, Teacher Qin, for your trust!" Zhou Xiao said with a smile, "I will complete the filming well!"
The artist Zhou Xiao photographed was Ji Shao, who was ultimately chosen after internal discussions at XS. Thanks to the excellent results achieved on previous shoots, working with an acquaintance was bound to be much smoother.
…
Inside the dressing room, Chen Lin was sweating profusely. She was responsible for the makeup of five artists all day, but the second artist had a terrible sense of time and arrived almost an hour late. But since he was a popular artist, what else could they say except to speed up their work?
After sending off the artist at explosive speed, she received a reminder from the assistant that the third person had arrived downstairs at the photography base! Looking at the messy dressing table, Shen Lin got a headache. If she had known earlier, she would have brought an extra assistant. Now she had to quickly restore the table to its original state.
According to Chen Lin's past experience, things didn't need to be prepared in advance, but they had to be kept clean and tidy, so the artists wouldn't feel neglected. As she was packing up, she heard her assistant's voice, clearly raised, coming from outside the door, "Teacher Ji Shao, please go slowly, there's no rush!"
Ji Shao? Shen Lin heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing the name. New idols tended to have better tempers, and she had worked with Ji Shao before, so she knew he wasn't that demanding.
Putting down the eyebrow pencil in her hand, Shen Lin turned around and saw Ji Shao wearing a mask and his assistant. This kind of dress is basically the standard for celebrities in the circle. As a makeup artist, she didn't know how many people have seen this kind of dress.
After winking at the assistants behind the two of them, Chen Lin said somewhat embarrassedly, "I just finished the makeup of the last artist. Teacher Ji, could you please sit over here for a while?"
Ji Shao looked down at the time on his watch, exchanged glances with his assistant Chen Shenju, and responded gently, "The scheduled shoot will be in an hour. Sister Shen, please take care of it."
He was just reminding her of the time, but Shen Lin was surprised. She hadn't expected Ji Shao to remember her name, considering they had only worked together once. Furthermore, the agent he had with Ji Shao the last time wasn't the same one he had with him now, so there was no way she could remind him.
No one would be unhappy about having their name remembered, and Shen Lin was no exception. She could now empathize with Zhou Xiao and understand why he picked Ji Shao. She had originally felt a little tired, but now she began to calculate in her mind how to dress Ji Shao up even more beautifully.
As for being accused of discrimination? That's because they have a good foundation!
Having her assistant tidy up the countertops first, Shen Lin called Ji Shao over to select outfits. Two large rows of clothing were neatly hung on the extended clothes rails. She had made every possible preparation for this shoot.
Ji Shao followed behind Shen Lin, looked at the costumes, recalled the storyboards he had received, and put forward his own requirements.
For makeup artists, the biggest fear isn't that you have too many requests, but that you claim you don't have any, yet aren't satisfied with any of them. Hearing Ji Shao's normal and reasonable request, Shen Lin felt light-hearted and quickly offered Ji Shao a few pieces of clothing to choose from.
After the assistant tidied the desk and hung the selected clothes in the ironing area, Shen Lin began to ask Ji Shao to put on makeup. Seeing Ji Shao's hands not ruining her good skin, Shen Lin felt that her skin felt very good while putting on makeup.
"Ding ding!" The alarm clock in the quiet dressing room rang. Chen Shenju quickly snuffed the alarm he had set earlier. He smiled a little embarrassedly. The people in the dressing room were focused on him because of the noise, but when they saw his smile, they all looked away.
Ji Shao was standing in front of the makeup mirror and making the final adjustments. When he heard the alarm clock, he realized that there were still ten minutes left before the agreed shooting time.
"Okay, let's go to the studio and get ready!" Chen Lin looked at Ji Shao with satisfaction. He wore a black V-neck sweater paired with a shiny leather jacket of the same color, and black leather shoes beneath white suit pants. His mature aura blended perfectly with the vibrant white. Especially his hair, which she had carefully tended to, exuded youthful handsomeness.
"Thank you, Teacher Shen!"
"You're welcome, go ahead, go now!"
Shen Lin looked at Ji Shao, who turned around and waved at her before leaving, and couldn't help but radiate a kind light from her body. The assistant beside her couldn't help rubbing her arms when she saw her like this, and felt goose bumps all over her body.
When the assistant looked over again, he heard his boss excitedly speaking to someone, "Xiaoxiao! Have you arrived yet? Hurry up and get ready to receive this handsome guy personally created by your sister Lin..."
Here, Zhou Xiao couldn't help but find it a bit amusing to listen to Shen Lin's cheerful and slightly exaggerated tone on the chat app. Fortunately, she was the only one in the studio at the moment, so Zhou Xiao didn't attract anyone's attention because of the voice chat.
The background cloth in the studio had been replaced, and the scene in the compartment had been set up. Zhou Xiao was sitting in front of the monitor at the moment. After replying to Chen Lin, he started to contact Qin Shi to come over.
Not long after, the studio door, which had been closed with a creak, was opened from the outside. The once quiet space suddenly became noisy. Staff members filed in, accompanied by the sound of chatter. Among the crowd, Zhou Xiao spotted the two people he had met not long ago.
"Let's take the official photo first," Zhou Xiao said to Ji Shao after saying hello, pointing to the spotlight. Chen Shenju, who was standing nearby, spontaneously followed Qin Shi to the computer and began to watch the live filming.
Zhou Xiao raised his camera and pointed it at Ji Shao in the field.
Ji Shao held the black ceramic bottle of perfume in his hand, his index finger lightly resting on the square cap. Under the spotlight, Ji Shao tilted his body to look at the camera, the perfume held at nose level. His eyes, tinged with a smile, seemed to savor the fragrance of the perfume.
As Ji Shao's movements changed on the court, Qin Shi couldn't help but exclaim inwardly, watching the images on the monitor. Ji Shao, head bowed, folded his arms, his hand holding the perfume against his lips, seemingly lost in thought. The outline of his arm muscles and chest muscles could be seen beneath his black sweater, and combined with his handsome appearance, it was simply perfect!
After the official photos were taken, several staff members carried a black leather sofa to the center of the studio. The contrasting blacks, along with the photographer's skill and the expressive subjects, quickly resulted in a series of eye-catching perfume stills.
After changing locations, Ji Shao returned to the set, dressed in a black suit. Zhou Xiao looked at Ji Shao and thought for a moment, then lowered his head and sent a message to Chen Lin. A moment later, Chen Lin, wearing a white shirt, trotted over and told Ji Shao to go change next door.
Seeing Ji Shao standing in front of the fireplace and adjusting his cuffs after changing into his inner wear, Zhou Xiao had an idea and captured the scene at that moment.
A tall, straight-backed young man in a casual suit was adjusting his cuffs. Behind him was a blazing black French-style electric fireplace, and a bottle of XS perfume in a porcelain bottle sat on a countertop with distinct lines.
"Huh?" Ji Shao raised his head when he heard the shutter sound and looked at Zhou Xiao with some confusion. When he realized that he was being photographed by the other party, he couldn't help but smile and cooperate.
This set of photos, taken by Zhou Xiao on a whim, was later officially designated as one of the randomly given postcards. The photos, while highly relaxed, were somewhat out of character for the series, but precisely because of this, no one wanted to discard them, so they were treated as a limited edition postcard. However, what no one anticipated was that the market demand for these postcards was so high that resellers subsequently drove up their prices.
The filming officially began, with the storyboards prepared by XS. Although it was a commercial, it was only two or three seconds long, as the five artists' videos would be edited together later, a testament to both the camera operator's skill and the artists' expressiveness.
After "Action", Zhou Xiao's expression instantly became serious.
The camera zoomed in, revealing a tea specimen resting on an open book. Slender fingers then lifted it to the tip of Ji Shao's nose. He closed his eyes and sniffed, savoring the tea's fragrance. When he opened his eyes, the specimen had been replaced with a porcelain bottle of perfume.
A gentle press of the spray nozzle releases a delicate spray of perfume that sparkles in the sunlight. A sniff reveals a gentle blend of tea and fruit, followed by a light musk base.
The book in his left hand snapped shut. Ji Shao looked toward the camera, smiled faintly, and placed the porcelain bottle in his right hand on the coffee table in front of him. The camera naturally shifted from the person to the perfume, which was placed at a perfect angle, with the XS logo facing the camera.
Watching Ji Shao's performance in the video, Qin Shi nodded. This shoot made her feel unusually relaxed and pleasantly surprised. Furthermore, he was a spokesperson with a strong camera sense. It wasn't difficult for him to interpret a new product, but it was rare to find someone as well-suited to the brand as Ji Shao. But rather than talking about new products, it was more about his personal fit with the XS brand.
Chen Shenju, who was sitting in the back, was trying to watch the brand manager's expression. Seeing her nod secretly, he felt relieved. Seeing the neighbor who had finished work through the monitor, he leaned over and whispered to Qin Shi, "Sister Qin, are we going to change to the second set of looks now?"
"Yes!" Qin Shi turned his head, then took out his mobile phone and called Zhou Xiao, "Teacher Zhou, you can go to the next studio." According to the previous shooting plan, the previous group of shooting had been completed.
"Okay," Zhou Xiao received Qin Shi's instructions and headed to the next filming location. As for Ji Shao, the moment after the filming ended, Shen Lin took him to the dressing room to change his look.
"B2-3" Zhou Xiao read the code on the door and confirmed it was correct before pushing it open. Unexpectedly, when she pushed it open, she saw the scene being filmed inside.
"What's going on? Can't you see we're being filmed?" A skinny man behind the camera raised his head and saw the door suddenly open. His brows were furrowed and his tone was quite rude.
The artist lying on the bed made a "tsk" sound and then pulled the pure white quilt over his head, obviously showing an attitude of complete indifference or even giving up.
When Zhou Xiao, who was standing at the door, saw the perfume bottle on the bedside table, he realized that this was the last set of photos that had not been completed.
Seeing a large man with a stern face preparing to walk towards her, she suddenly had an idea and spoke in a staff-like manner, "Why haven't you finished filming yet? The next group is coming over to shoot!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the photographer shrank back behind the camera, looking sickly. The large man, who had originally had a sullen expression, immediately smiled. "Sis, we can't finish this anytime soon. Why don't you coordinate with the next group?"
Zhou Xiao was just thinking about how to respond when her phone vibrated. Seeing it was Qin Shi calling, she casually answered, closed the door, and then answered the call.
"Hey, have you been there? If not, don't go in yet. It seems that something happened with the previous group and they haven't finished filming." Qin Shi was a little helpless. Who would have thought that just after he asked Zhou Xiao to go over, his colleague called to explain the situation.
"We've already encountered it," Zhou Xiao said succinctly. "You can rent another one." Even with just a glance, Zhou Xiao was already acutely aware of the incongruity. Considering what the person in the room had said, could this situation be filmed successfully in such a short time? She felt it would be quite difficult.
Chen Shenju, standing beside them, was getting a little anxious. He wanted to ask Qin Shi who the artist in front of them was, but he knew it was inappropriate for him to ask. He could only look at Qin Shi in front of him, waiting to see how she would handle the situation.
Qin Shi pondered for a moment. She had already understood something from Zhou Xiao's tone. Ignoring her colleague's reply of "Just wait a few minutes," she decisively said, "Okay! Wait for me to handle it!"
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