Chapter 382 Chapter 382
The afternoon sun poured down freely on the relatively safe reefs near the beach. Ms. Zheng folded her scarf and called out cheerfully to her daughter, who was holding a camera in front of her, "Ah Xiao, what do you think of my pose?"
Feeling the dampness and force of the sea breeze, Zhou Xiao tucked the loose hair that had fallen on his face behind his ears. He raised his left hand in a big "OK" sign, then looked down at the camera again.
Because it is Mother's Day, the island is extremely lively today. There are many mothers queuing up next to the reef where Zheng Jinghua is standing.
"Oh my, look, the kids out there are even bringing cameras to take pictures for their parents." An elderly lady who was queuing up to take pictures looked at this scene with a hint of envy in her tone.
Soon, others around her joined in the discussion. As for Ms. Zheng, the center of the discussion, her smile widened considerably. The cool ocean breeze, her daughter taking photos of her, and the admiration of others all combined to make today's overseas photoshoot a perfect experience.
"We've almost finished filming, Xiao, let's go take a break." Putting her scarf away, Zheng Jinghua strode steadily down from the rocks. She had, after all, had a very happy day.
Seeing his mother coming down, Zhou Xiao quickly put down his camera and freed one hand to support Ms. Zheng. After she landed safely, he turned around and squinted ahead, considering which of the two beachfront restaurants to go to.
As she was thinking, she felt someone gently pinch her arm. Zhou Xiao turned around and saw Ms. Zheng, in amazement, pulling her hand away.
"Ah Xiao, you're staying fit as a photographer, right? That's great! Health is the most important thing!" The moment Zheng Jinghua put her arm around her daughter, she felt an immediate sense of security. The firm, steady hand, and sturdy arm beneath the long sleeves, though she had been worried about her daughter, now felt a sense of relief.
Zhou Xiao grinned. The photographer beside her naturally didn't know, but with her regular exercise and an hour in the training room every day, her body had naturally become stronger.
The two walked and talked until they soon arrived at the restaurant. Just as Zhou Xiao was about to ask his mother which restaurant she wanted to eat at, he heard the ding-ding-ding of wind chimes. A customer opened the glass door, and with it, the sound of an old acquaintance singing.
Hearing the familiar voice, Ms. Zheng pulled Zhou Xiao into the restaurant without hesitation, where Di Jiangtong's music was playing. This song happened to be the theme song MV that Zhou Xiao had filmed for him.
Zhou's parents, including Zheng, have been quietly watching their daughter's career from behind the scenes. Even when Zhou Xiao first announced her plans to open a photography studio last year, they immediately pooled their savings to fully support her.
Thinking of the music video, Zheng Jinghua couldn't help but smile. Like most parents, after learning that her daughter participated in the Di Jiangtong music video, she asked Zhou's father to go to the store and buy a copy to show her support.
Just hearing this and looking at the handwritten blessing Di Jiangtong had placed in the photo album, Ms. Zheng knew how much she loved him. Zhou Xiao even joked with Di Jiangtong that he had gained another mother fan.
The restaurant, where the two had been drawn by the song "Lucky," was bustling with activity. After being warmly welcomed by the waiter and seated at a window overlooking the ocean, Zhou Xiao noticed before he could even pick up his menu that Ms. Zheng was already on a video call with Zhou's father.
"Ah Xiao took a lot of photos for me today," Zheng Jinghua said proudly to Zhou's father, who was working overtime today. As for the regret of not being able to show up with the whole family at the beginning, it was already forgotten by now.
Zhou's father's cheerful laughter came from the other side. "Okay, okay, thank you for your daughter's hard work! She looks so beautiful in this outfit, so we should take a few more photos..."
Zhou Xiao listened to the couple's affectionate words and quietly took back the menu he was about to hand to Ms. Zheng and began to order seriously. While waiting for the meal, he would occasionally smile and greet the camera.
Inside the restaurant, Di Jiangtong's singles played on repeat, and the open folding window panes created a sense of artistic conception. As a gentle breeze blew in, Zhou Xiao propped up his head, looking at everything in front of him, and couldn't help but curl his lips.
…
In the Huayao Star Entertainment Building, Lin Qianxia walked out of the conference room and pushed open the glass door. Behind her was the person in charge of the online operations of Blueberry Video and Mao Sifeng, who looked very happy.
After the Blueberry Film Festival concluded, Blueberry Video, the online streaming platform for "The Unparalleled General," had already been in subsequent marketing discussions with Huayao. Today's visit to Huayao was for the final contract signing.
On the 17th of this month, "The Invincible General" will be broadcast first on CCTV's prime time slot, and will be exclusively available online on Blueberry Video the following day. CCTV's broadcast schedule is one day faster than the video platforms.
This cooperation is not that simple. It is also thanks to Xincheng's matchmaking and Blueberry Video's concession that "The Unparalleled General" can be successfully launched this month.
Although Ji Shao is the second male lead, after watching the sample film, almost everyone in the industry is very satisfied with his performance. The industry here does not refer to the so-called industry insiders who are toxic about it online, but the real professionals who review films.
Huayao's foundation in this area was naturally quite weak. Besides its partner, Blueberry Video, Xincheng played an invaluable role. Of course, with Xincheng's staff away, Huayao could naturally direct all its flattery to the head of Blueberry Video.
"Take care, we'll get the fans to cooperate." Mao Sifeng finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing off the Blueberry Video people. This wasn't the first drama to be aired by an artist under Huayao, but the entire company was on edge.
The main reason is that the drama "The Unparalleled General" is too important and it is urgently needed to restore Huayao's reputation in the film and television industry to normal. In the previous dramas released, Huayao was always ridiculed by netizens for importing "low-quality actors" into the film and television industry.
The film "General" has also been prepared for collaboration. In addition to the interaction on Weibo, on the day when "General" is broadcast, the video platform will also give a ticket to watch "General" to every member who clicks on the trailer.
"Sister Mao, have you reviewed all the materials provided by "The Unparalleled General"? " Although Lin Qianxia was not responsible for this aspect of the business, she was still very concerned about the discussion in the meeting that had just ended.
"Don't worry, I'm working overtime to go over every detail word by word." This is true. For Mao Sifeng, all the things during this period have to be scheduled after the show is broadcast.
As one of the first to respond to the incentive model of the Blueberry Video platform (mainly because Huayao and Blueberry Video are one company), the broadcast effect of "The Unparalleled General" will affect the subsequent dividends of Ji Shao, that is, Huayao and Xincheng.
Ji Shao agreed without hesitation to the idea of paying actors based on the performance of their work after receiving the notice. Although with Ji Shao's popularity, his value would undoubtedly be sky-high if he participated in a TV series, the inclusion of the incentive model meant that his salary would depend on the market acceptance of the series.
Hua Yao naturally hoped that Ji Shao would agree. Besides showing goodwill to Blueberry Video, the remuneration was originally just a transfer from one hand to the other.
For New Town, since Ji Shao had the courage, they were willing to give him a chance. After all, Ji Shao was still at Huayao, and this was his first drama. A hit would be great, but even if it wasn't a big hit, there was still some guaranteed traffic.
At the same time, based on Ji Shao's consent, if the drama becomes a hit, not only will he get a larger share, but the income of the two economic companies behind him will also be proportional.
"I'll have someone notify the fans right away," Mao Sifeng said, greeting Lin Qianxia, and then started calling people online. For the fans, this news was like a bombshell.
…
When Digital received the private message from her counterpart, she was completely stunned. After repeatedly reviewing the chat history, she finally confirmed one thing:
CCTV is really the real mother!
You have to know that the pressure on costume dramas over the past two years has been immense! Just recently, "Flower Journey" secured its distribution license and was already the envy of the industry. Since then, the ones that have aired have generally been the ones that had been shelved for three or four years.
Ji Shao fans didn't even dare to think about it, or even push for it. Firstly, the post-production for "The Unparalleled General" was incredibly large, and everyone hoped that Ji Shao's first film would be a solid success. Secondly, it was going to be broadcast on CCTV!
After barely calming himself down and replying that fans would fully cooperate with the upcoming promotions, Digital immediately shared the good news in the fan club group!
Suddenly, the group chat, usually quiet at this time of day, erupted in excitement. Amidst the flurry of excitement, everyone finally made a rough plan for what to do next. Internal promotional efforts needed to be in place, and external publicity and marketing also needed to keep pace!
"...Xiaoxiao, when the time comes, just post on Weibo to promote it," Zhu Jian said to Zhou Xiao on the phone.
"No problem, I'll set the alarm," Zhou Xiao agreed readily. Although she was still at home retouching photos for Ms. Zheng, she had already set the alarm quickly.
Zhu Jian and Zhou Xiao were discussing the fan-to-fan promotional campaign for "The Unparalleled General" on its premiere. It wasn't really a promotional effort, but more of a morale-boosting exercise.
After discussion within the fan club, the best candidate to lead the charge was undoubtedly @Flipped's own fan page, 悸然心动·纪韶. Even in the anonymous group voting, the name ranked first at zero o'clock as the leader was always 悸然心动.
Although Zhou Xiao didn't know that the fan club would go to such great lengths to select the order, after accepting the commission, he began to think about how to contribute his own efforts.
"Broadcast on Channel 17, broadcast online on the 18th..." Zhou Xiao murmured, and suddenly, the long-lost system prompt sounded -
[System Task: Support Ji Shao's First TV Drama (0/1)]
Zhou Xiao casually clicked to receive the gift. At this moment, he was already thinking about how he would support Ji Shao's new drama. Since it was about to air, it naturally needed to be promoted first to be effective.
However, there was still a big problem. Zhou Xiao propped up his chin and found Chen Shenju on the chat app, asking him if it would be convenient to tell her the cities where "The Unparalleled General" was expected to be screened.
Regarding the TV series' promotion, Zhou Xiao believes most of the show's sponsors are already prepared. To better utilize the big screen, she'll naturally avoid cities where the show has already launched.
For this kind of matter which does not involve confidentiality or privacy, Chen Shenju, who was watching the filming on the set at the time, quickly sent Zhou Xiao the PDF of the large-screen projection totals that Mao Sifeng had sent him two days ago after seeing the information.
Meanwhile, Zhou Xiao, sitting at her computer desk*, opened a PDF file and casually asked Chen Shenju if she could send it to the fan club. After receiving a positive response, she forwarded the file to Zhu Jian.
The big screens that the sponsors of "The Unparalleled General" were putting up were generally concentrated in first- and second-tier cities in a few provinces. After seeing this, Zhou Xiao had an idea. Of course, this still needed to be discussed with the fan club.
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