Chapter 391 Chapter 391
Inside the photography building's conference room, a screen occupying half the wall was projecting today's evening news. Originally intended to be used for post-production review and film presentation, the projection equipment was unexpectedly being used on the very first day of opening.
"To be honest, I haven't watched the news for a long time." Xue Xi couldn't help but sigh as he watched the live broadcast on the screen nearing its end.
Especially with the increasing development of the internet, many young people's favorite dramas are mainly broadcast online. The days of squatting in front of the TV every night, waiting for the TV series to start after 7:30 pm, have also become less and less.
Xue Xi's words actually attracted the response of Zhou Xiao, the only person in the room who shared the same feeling as her, because apart from the two of them, everyone else would have some interest in it.
For example, Ms. Zheng and Qi Sisi, who both love watching dramas, may have different tastes in dramas, but they can still chat about several popular dramas online in recent years.
As a 30-second countdown began to appear in the upper right corner of the screen, the atmosphere in the room grew more lively. Qi Sisi, who had previously been chatting with Ms. Zheng, now tightly embraced Zhou Xiao's hand, drawing a sense of security from her.
Ji Shao's first TV series* is like delivering a baby for fans: a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. The closer it gets to airing, the lower my expectations are. It's not a feeling of pessimism, but a genuine desire for success.
From the very beginning, I had great ambitions and hoped that the premiere of "The Unparalleled General" would have a good result. Now I can only pray that the drama can maintain the quality of the first two episodes.
"Xiaoxiao," Qi Sisi whispered to Zhou Xiao, looking at the ten-second countdown. "Shouldn't our show become interesting after the Nth episode?"
The idea that a show will become good after the Nth episode is generally not accepted by casual viewers. And why should they endure the dull, slow pace of the first few episodes? Fans will continue to follow the latest episodes because of the artist, but casual viewers won't indulge this habit.
A high opening and a low closing are always better than a low opening and a high closing. Qi Sisi is worried that the plot might "open low and end high." This would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to Ji Shao's fan circle.
Zhou Xiao pondered for a moment, recalling the group photo clips the production had provided for promotional purposes. She felt confident in the hype surrounding the "big production" that had been circulating. So, she patted Qi Sisi's shoulder and said casually, "I don't think so... Hey, let's begin!"
…
At 7:34 PM, the series officially premiered on CCTV. Unlike fan-oriented TV series, the show's platform and highly anticipated promotional methods attracted a significant number of interested viewers.
In addition to CCTV's original audience and Ji Shao's fans, there are also quite a lot of fans from other shows and passers-by who come to join in the fun. Among them are some fans who think they are rivals of Ji Shao in the future.
However, besides asking their friends to stop watching dramas starring the same male star (Ji Shao) in their friend group, they also wanted to avoid the dramas because of their imaginary enemies and curiosity, but they didn't want to contribute to the ratings. So, of course, that evening, a live stream on a certain website dedicated to watching "The Unparalleled General" was extremely lively.
According to statistics from netizens, the number of viewers in the live broadcast room of a certain station that started tonight was basically no less than 100,000. This was because the live broadcast room was detected by the system and super administrators due to simultaneous broadcasts, and was then blocked and reopened in a cycle.
Just from this data, we can already see the popularity of "The Unparalleled General". Of course, the brands that have a direct stake in the show's broadcast performance are the ones who can feel it most directly.
After Zhou Xiao finished airing two episodes tonight, he opened a certain blog and saw a flood of brand raffles and bonus blogs on the homepage. Their satisfaction with tonight's ratings and discussion only confirmed the effectiveness of the popularity of "The Unparalleled General."
Especially the advertisements inserted after the show, which actually let the actors directly promote their roles. Of course, this is not a highlight for domestic TV series advertising, because many online dramas are mixed with advertisements in this way.
But what makes "The Unparalleled General" special is that the brand directly put its advertisement on CCTV! The seamless connection between the advertisement and the TV series gave the TV audience an incomparable sense of freshness!
The forums have seen a surge of activity and active discussions under hot search topics. While netizens are still curious about how high the ratings of "The Unparalleled General" will be tonight, some sharp-eyed netizens have already seen the trend of the drama becoming a hit from the spontaneous discussions among netizens.
——【Entertainment Forum】——[May 17th evening]
【Main Building】Who would watch this scene tonight and not say that the drama king is coming?
[Main Post] Regardless of whether there is water army marketing or not, the overwhelming discussion in the group tonight is telling one thing - the forum has not been this lively for a long time.
I remember before the show started, some people mocked Ji Shao for being the only talent show artist to debut as a supporting actor in his first TV series. But after tonight, I'm afraid all the talent show stars will be vying for the second male lead role in a big production, right?
1L
Although I was cheering for this drama before, I was more of a watching-for-fun mentality. After tonight, all I could think of was the young and tender General Xie [crying]
69L
I feel like my eyes, poisoned by the crappy dramas of the past few years, have finally been saved! It's great to be rich! Everything in this drama is so sophisticated. I heard there's going to be a new technology feature when it goes on Blueberry Video tomorrow! Isn't this just trying to entice people to watch it again?!
144L
Ji Shao really single-handedly changed my stereotype of Xiu Ren's acting. Especially when you think he might have a big fall, when he faces the old actor, his acting skills and aura are online in real time, it's so refreshing to be a fan!
297L
The ratings are in! "The Unparalleled General" has become the top-rated premiere in the past five years. Just a reminder, the reason it didn't break the 2020 record was because it coincided with the height of the Olympic table tennis gold medal match on the next channel.
488L
I've already been watching the previews for tomorrow's two episodes. Can you please release the advance video now? I beg you [please]
…
The industry is also following the online discussions in real time. While initially optimistic, you can still take it easy. However, if you want to get a piece of the action, you must contact us now.
Inside Zheng Cheng's studio.
Although director Zheng Cheng had a plan in mind from the beginning for "The Unparalleled General" to achieve such good results, he was still a little dazed after seeing the launch report on the table.
The ratings for a premiere have truly broken five years. Some of the more shaky directors would have already opened the champagne to celebrate. But the entertainment industry is a mysterious place, and opening the champagne midway through the show isn't very meaningful.
As soon as the ratings came out, Zheng Cheng's assistant, himself, and even the staff at his studio were bombarded with calls. His own messaging apps and messages were now flooded with congratulations and requests for collaboration.
Although there were no face-slapping plots, and because of Ji Shao, the post-production of "The Unparalleled General" was also very rich, which is rare in domestic TV series shooting. But for Zheng Cheng at this moment, his sense of satisfaction was no less than what he said above.
The first two episodes have already sparked such a passionate response, so what about after that? Thinking of the crew's contributions to every shot, Zheng Cheng couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
Riding on the popularity of the film "General," Zheng Cheng's quick signing of Ji Shao proved to be one of his best moves. Even before the script read, Zheng Cheng had already planned to give Ji Shao a supporting role. However, Ji Shao's performance later on gave Xie Zhengyun the storyline that should have belonged to him.
Thinking of this, he took out another mobile phone from the drawer as if he knew the way. This mobile phone number also received a congratulatory message, but compared to the movement of Zheng Cheng's other phone, it was child's play.
After a few clicks, Zheng Cheng saw a phone number labeled "Teacher Fan Wenjuan" on the screen. Before the show started, he tapped the table to calm his still-excited emotions before dialing the number.
“Beep…”
After waiting for a while, the call was finally answered by an older woman with a serious yet slightly calm tone, "Hello? Xiao Cheng..."
In the eyes of outsiders, Zheng Cheng, who seemed to be in high spirits and could be called a middle-aged talent, now acted like a junior and spoke very sincerely to the woman on the phone.
Fan Wenjuan is the Chairperson of the Huacai Golden Drama Awards Selection Committee. As one of the "Four Major Awards for Chinese TV Dramas," the Huacai Golden Drama Awards is not only a benchmark for mainstream performance, but also a representative of authority.
Zheng Cheng made this call to submit "The Unparalleled General" for the award. Although the TV series had just aired, it was expected to finish airing just in time for the end of the Huacai Awards registration period this year.
As for the accompanying personnel at that time, thoughts were turning in his mind, and when he touched the large promotional screen outside the studio window, he already had the answer.
While netizens were pleasantly surprised by the drama's content and were still actively discussing it, Zheng Cheng was already thinking about the grand prize a few months later. Meanwhile, the one who coincidentally "connected" with him at this moment was Ji Shao's fans who were clamoring for the original voices of all the cast members.
The original lines are a big challenge for today's actors. For those who have little acting experience or are not professionally trained, they are often ridiculed by netizens.
Netizens hadn't realized it yet. Or perhaps even those who did realize it were reluctant to promote Ji Shao. Most people thought Ji Shao was a perfect fit for the character, and his voice was a perfect match! He felt perfectly at home in a serious drama.
The most crucial point is that for domestic TV drama awards, a basic requirement for an actor's role to be nominated is to use his original voice. It's not difficult, but it does prevent quite a few people from doing so.
Although it is very likely that fans of actors will be ridiculed by netizens if they praise their own artists using their original voices, because the lines themselves are part of the performance, and if they single out this point, they will easily be ridiculed and accused of being afraid that they have nothing to praise.
But for Ji Shao fans, they don't care about that! Besides praising the original lines, they also praise his acting skills, and even more so his face! If you're not happy, pull your real boss over here and let's have a head-to-head comparison!
As the saying goes, Ji Shao’s excellence is Tiao Si’s confidence!
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