Compared with the two-minute long trailer of "Star Wars (Part 2)", the 30-second trailer of "Rural Teacher" is both short and simple.
The trailer for Star Wars showed all kinds of grand scenes flashing by, the best actors and actresses had their own close-ups, and first- and second-tier stars at least had an appearance. The main plot didn't reveal anything, but it still attracted a lot of attention.
Wei Lan's trailer revealed a certain amount of information.
However, it seems to have nothing to do with the movie title "Rural Teacher". The identity of the heroine has been confirmed, but unfortunately the hero is still a mystery.
The spectators who had been paying attention to Wei Lan saw the trailer first, and the marketing accounts also smelled something and flocked to it.
'Hahaha, aliens also look at faces! I am dying of laughter. I declare that people who love face looks are everywhere in the universe!'
"I thought it was definitely not good, but now it looks... not bad?"
'I had been wondering if Su Yining would play a rural teacher like the title of the movie. Fortunately, the director didn't do that. Su Yining is too pretty. She looks like someone who can make a living by her face. It's not convincing to think that she would be a teacher (I don't mean to say that this profession is bad). It turns out that she is playing an alien. It's a bit interesting.'
'I feel it's surprisingly professional and reasonable. Whether it's the aliens being discovered by the earthlings as soon as they appear, or the analysis of the connotation of civilized society, it's different from the alien movies I've seen before. But if aliens really appear in reality, this is the normal reaction, right? It's stupid to rashly attack and capture aliens when you don't know what they are like.'
'That's right. In previous alien movies, aliens always appeared mysteriously, and when they came to Earth, they were confused about everything and caused a lot of trouble. Sometimes they even killed Earthlings to hide their identities. This is the first time I've seen aliens appear openly like this.'
Before the beginning of the holographic film era, due to the limitations of technology and special effects, there have been very few science fiction works, and related cultural trends emerged very late. Even though there were literary works full of fantasy, they were ultimately not put on the screen due to the lack of technical conditions.
Later, the era of holographic movies arrived. Now, it has just passed the stage of technical exploration and entered a period of vigorous development and growth. The influx of a large amount of capital has gradually led to the current large investment and creative space.
Fantasy themes, whether science fiction or supernatural fantasy, are all investment-consuming beasts. Before there are successful market cases, no investor dares to easily try to invest in this money-eating beast.
Therefore, as the first science fiction holographic movie with a large investment, the success of "Star Wars" is a shot in the arm for the industry, and the positive benefits it has brought to the investor Chengguang are extremely huge, so huge that Chen Yuanhang even got the opportunity to truly jump out of the chessboard and become a chess player.
Of course, in fact, the one who originally tried this was "Star Wars" invested by Wei. However, because of Chen Yuanhang's betrayal, this peach that was about to ripen was picked by Chengguang.
Because there are few types of science fiction themes on the market and the degree of innovation is currently low, the content revealed in the trailer of "Rural Teachers" is completely different from the previous science fiction routines for the audience in this world. It is a very novel and new version that has never been experienced before.
After watching the trailer, marketing accounts also came out to repost and follow the trend. After all, they dug out the melons with their own hands, and they have to follow up even if they don’t get paid. This is a way to accumulate daily traffic.
'The trailer for "Rural Teacher" has been released. Is this movie what you imagined it to be?'
'It continues the funny style of "Sword IV". Martial arts can be funny, and science fiction can also be funny! '
'Aliens also look at faces! Face lovers say: I'm busy with work, please don't cue me.'
Many film critics and film self-media on Weibo who follow this movie also expressed some interest after watching the movie, but they were not optimistic about the box office:
'Comedy is the winning formula for low-budget movies. With the reputation of "Sword IV", if the director can maintain his standard, I think this movie can make a profit.'
"Although the popularity of Star Wars can save on publicity costs, I still think that if the quality of the film is good, it can completely avoid this period and not do such a desperate move."
Chengguang Publicity Department is responsible for the external publicity of "Star Wars" alone, and the team has more than a dozen people.
"Brother Liu, among the movies released in the same period, the one that has received the most attention is the low-budget science fiction film "Rural Teachers". It is quite popular now. After comprehensive evaluation, it has reached our expectation level of 8.4%." said Zhang Jing, an assistant who is responsible for observing the expectations for movies released in the same period.
"So high?" The person in charge of the team, Brother Liu, raised his eyebrows after hearing this. He thought for a moment and said, "Submit this data when we do today's daily report later."
Yes, even though Wei Lan took advantage of the popularity of "Star Wars" with "Actors Go Forward", in fact, the publicity invested in the two is completely different. The publicity cost of Star Wars alone is tens of millions.
The promotional resources invested in Star Wars are not only online, but also in various offline channels. From bus stop signs to cola drink covers, Star Wars peripheral promotions can be seen everywhere, which cannot be compared with the Internet alone.
Moreover, even in online groups, not everyone is interested in new movie trends, and not all people who love watching variety shows have watched "Actors".
A movie that can ride on the popularity and get an attention rate of 8.4% is already enough to attract the attention of the publicity team leader. There are also three other types of movies being released at the same time, but their attention rates are only a pitiful 1.1% or even a few tenths of a percent.
"Okay." Zhang Jing agreed after hearing this, and in the afternoon, the daily newspaper was delivered to Chen Yuanhang.
Chen Yuanhang and producer Ding Yangrong read the daily newspaper together.
Ding Yangrong is the head of Chengguang’s production department. The cumulative total value of the successful projects he has handled has exceeded 5 billion. He is one of the industry’s gold medal producers with extensive connections.
"I heard that the production cost of this movie was only eight million..." When he said this, a look of disdain flashed across his face. The myth of a miracle with a low box office is equivalent to winning the lottery in the industry. It is completely related to luck. If you stand at the right vent, even a pig can fly.
If you really want to make money in the investment field, you still have to rely on your strength and consider all factors comprehensively. Steady and victorious approach is the long-term way.
Ding Yangrong continued, "The male lead is unknown and has no fame. The female lead, Su Yining, just won the Golden Raspberry Award, so there is nothing to worry about. The only thing worth noting is that this film found Nie Chengan to do the soundtrack."
"Nie Chengan..." Chen Yuanhang frowned, feeling a little unhappy about being humiliated. "When we approached him, he rejected me outright. Now he's composing music for this movie... Does this old guy still remember our friendship with Wei Yingbo?"
"Forget it. After all this time of jumping up and down, she only has 8.4% of our attention. Let her take advantage of it." Chen Yuanhang put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray, and the movement of crushing the cigarette butt was like crushing an ant. "When the real movie is released, she will know what the gap is."
…
Time flies, and another week has passed.
March 10th, Saturday, is the official release date of "Star Wars (Part 2)". Although there are movies released at the same time, they are either advanced or postponed by a week. The only movie that dares to be released on the same day as Star Wars is Wei Lan's "Rural Teacher".
You should know that the release period of a movie in theaters is usually one month. If a movie's box office performance is too poor and the attendance rate is terrible during this normal month, the theater chain will reduce the number of screenings.
Movies are different from other entertainment works in that they have a crowding-out effect during the same period.
Because of time and money issues, people usually only choose to watch one movie at a time when they go to the cinema. Few people will watch one movie and then spend two hours watching another one.
Every year, there are many low-budget movies with no background or strength that only have a one-week or even three-day run in theaters.
Therefore, many people in the industry say that although Wei Lan has taken advantage of the popularity, he has truly entered the stage of market competition and his release dates are directly clashing, which means it is a real fight. Comparing the scale of the two parties, it is not an exaggeration to say that Wei Lan is like a gnat trying to shake a tree.
Fortunately, with the distribution channels provided by Wei and relying on public relations, "Rural Teachers" was able to secure a full-day screening schedule in one theater in a major theater chain, which is very critical.
Even for viewers who plan to watch "Rural Teachers", if they go to the cinema to watch a movie sometimes and find that the local cinema has no screenings of this movie, they will be helpless.
This is just like the previous "Sword IV". If there is no recommendation from Morning Star and no exposure, even good wine will not be well known if it is not well known.
Wei Mingjie knew this very well, which was why he proposed to use Wei's distribution channels at the meeting even though he had already invested in Wei Lan's film with his own personal money.
Saturday happens to be the day when people are in the most relaxing mood. After a week of study or work, there is still Sunday between Monday and Saturday, which is suitable for some leisure activities. This day is usually also the time when cinemas in major shopping malls have the most traffic.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the ticket window of Juxing Cinema was crowded with students, white-collar workers, old people and children. "Star Wars (Part 1)", as the first science fiction work with a large investment, has a very high national popularity. For many families, they don't even care much about the reputation of the movie. Just to experience the grand scenes in the holographic environment is enough to make the ticket worthwhile.
This type of audience is actually the most solid box office force of "Star Wars" because without being specifically recommended, they will never spend money to watch other movies that do not hit their purchasing pain points.
The publicity team of "Star Wars" is well aware of this. They have the most and largest posters in the theater. In the center of the theater, they also generously place a simulated spaceship model sculpture, which is the vehicle used by the protagonist in Star Wars.
After lunch, it was the peak time for everyone to watch movies, and there was a long line at the ticket hall.
“A copy of Star Wars.”
"I want three tickets to Star Wars."
“Two copies of Star Wars.”
"I want the latest show of "Rural Teacher"."
Hearing a different voice, the conductor girl looked up and saw a tall and thin young man wearing a black sweatshirt.
The young man is not very handsome, but he has a gentle temperament. With Bluetooth headphones hanging around his neck, he looks fashionable and artistic, and is the type that girls can easily attract.
The female conductor was slightly stunned, then came back to her senses and said, "Okay, please choose your seat."
The large tablet on her desk displayed the seating arrangement in the theater.
In the entire theater, only seven or eight seats were red, indicating they had been sold out, and the rest of the more than eighty seats were all blank dotted lines.
In fact, in the holographic movie mode, it makes no difference where you sit when watching a movie. However, because the theaters are all converted from former screen theaters, the previous seat selection method is still used.
"Here." The young man casually pointed to a spot on the edge where there was no one else.
"Okay, please pay here." The ticket seller quickly selected the seat, waited for the young man to pay, and handed him the printed movie ticket.
The time was almost up, so the young man took the movie ticket and walked aside. He took out his mobile phone and took a picture of the movie ticket stub, then opened Weibo and clicked to post a new Weibo.
Canghaixiaov: 'I got up late. It's too hard to buy tickets for Star Wars today. Let's watch Rural Teacher first.'
The reply came out quickly:
'Eat food?'
The young man frowned and typed: "It is my freedom to choose which movie to watch."
Soon, his fans who supported him also responded to this reply: "You are so good at arguing, the construction site needs you. Canghai had already praised this director in the video of "Sword IV" before. It is normal to watch her movie now? What's wrong with you?"
The tall and thin young man was the big film and television self-media blogger 'Cang Hai Xiao'. He didn't expect that he would be criticized. He shook his head helplessly, but became more determined to watch this movie. After browsing other comments twice, he put away his phone and walked into the ticket gate.
At the same time, in another city, in another cinema.
A sweet-looking girl walked to the ticket machine with a cup of milk tea, scanned the code, and printed out a movie ticket for "Rural Teacher".
Jing Xiaoxuan is a fan of Su Yining, and was also one of the onlookers who watched Wei Lan's popularity controversy online. Because of this, she planned to watch both movies, but she forgot to buy tickets in advance yesterday, and all the tickets for "Star Wars" were sold out in her nearest cinema. Seeing that there were still seats available for "The Rural Teacher", she chose to watch that one first.
Guo Qian in another cinema encountered the same situation as Jing Xiaoxuan.
"Handsome guy, I'm sorry, all the shows of Star Wars before 9 o'clock today are sold out. You can purchase the show after 9 o'clock in the evening."
"Ah? Nine o'clock..." The show at nine would end at eleven o'clock, plus it would take half an hour to drive back to school, so the door of their dormitory would be closed at eleven o'clock. Although he was already a senior and had almost no classes, the dormitory closing time did not matter what year you were in.
I definitely won’t be able to watch “Star Wars”, but... he’s here anyway.
Guo Qian asked: "Are there any other movies showing nearby?"
"Yes." The ticket seller said, "There is also a show called "Rural Teachers". It will start at 2:30. It will start soon."
"I haven't heard of it..." Guo Qian has been busy with his thesis recently and has not paid much attention to entertainment news. Looking at the movie poster whose content he could not tell, he was a little hesitant.
Seeing his expression, the ticket seller added, "This movie is having a Teacher's Day promotion. If you show your teacher's certificate, you can get a 35% discount on your ticket."
One of the current situations of contemporary college students is to take certificates. The ticket seller sees a lot of this. Many people who look like college students can produce their teacher's certificate.
Unexpectedly, Guo Qian was one of them. After hearing this, his eyes lit up and he took out his newly obtained teacher's certificate from his backpack and put it on the counter.
"Then take one."
…
The holographic equipment in the cinema is different from the holographic equipment at home. On the soft and comfortable chair, there is a helmet similar to a cantilever bracket.
Canghai Xiao is a frequent visitor to the cinema. After sitting in the chair, he skillfully adjusted a comfortable posture, moved the cantilever helmet next to his head, removed two consciousness link patches from it, wiped them with alcohol cotton, and then stuck them on his temples.
Although he used his home hologram to export the film and television commentary videos, movies are different from TV series. Only online movies will be directly released on the platform, and audiences can buy them and watch them at home with a home hologram. However, movies that are released still need to be watched in theaters. There is a one-month protection period, and during this period, the only way to watch a movie is to go to the theater. After a month, the film source will be compressed and converted, and put on various online platforms for pay-on-demand viewing at a price lower than that of movie tickets.
After the promotional advertisement, at 14:30, the audience in the cinema saw a black screen and then a bright screen.
As the distributor, Wei's logo, which has been used for many years, came into the audience's eyes.
In the quiet solar system, a deep blue planet appeared in front of all the viewers.
Next to this planet, there is a smaller grayish-white planet.
That is the moon that is extremely familiar to Earthlings and can be seen by looking up most nights.
"Beep, beep, beep... The landing device is activated. There are still ten seconds before the parking device touches the ground. Ten, nine... three, two, one!"
As the female voice came from the communication device, the director's perspective switched to a desolate moon.
Subtitles that do not affect the viewing experience appear in the audience's perspective.
Director/Screenwriter: Wei Lan
Starring: Su Yining, Yang Xingyuan.
Here, a white manned spacecraft had just landed, and its spider-tentacle-like parking device had collided with the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. Through the way the dust had risen, one could see a transparent impact force, spreading like ripples in the vacuum.
But there was no sound at this time.
Canghai Xiao, who was watching the movie, was a little surprised and for a moment he wondered if there was something wrong with the equipment.
But soon, the female voice with a little electric sound continued to ring in my ears: "Landing is successful, the current gravity deviation is less than 0.05 from the estimated value, the air pressure is stable, the temperature is normal, and the nearest storm area is 60 kilometers away... The astronauts are ready and will leave the cabin after 30 seconds of repeated testing without abnormalities."
Canghai Xiao reacted immediately and realized that there was no sound because there was no air on the moon, which was like a vacuum environment. There would be vibrations here, but sound waves could not propagate.
Gravity, vacuum environment... Compared with the planetary environment in "Star Wars" which is basically the same as that of the Earth, Canghai Xiao suddenly felt that although this movie had a small investment, the background setting was still exquisite. At least the director lived up to the reputation of a science fiction theme.
"I'm out of the cabin and feeling fine."
The spacecraft opened and astronauts in heavy spacesuits walked out of the hatch.
He took a step forward, stepped on the ground, and left the first human footprint on the surface of the moon.
As the astronauts' footsteps caused slight vibrations on the lunar surface, the director's perspective suddenly switched rapidly.
It was as if the slight vibration caused by stepping on the moon was transmitted rapidly to the other side of the moon that was not illuminated by the sun.
In the darkness, a red light suddenly lit up.
Countless radio-wave-like information strips suddenly appeared in the perspectives of all the audience, like a waterfall composed of numbers, with strings of numbers and unrecognizable text running across it, and finally merged into a long and thin mysterious signal representing information, which was purposefully cast towards the other side of the space.
The audience watching the movie felt a tightness in their hearts, as this thing was obviously not a product of the Earth and should be related to aliens.
At this time, the director's perspective turned back again. The door of the manned spacecraft had been closed again, ready to set sail back to Earth. The perspective was focused on the footprint left by the astronaut, capturing it as a fixed picture.
This scene was finally played on the big screen of the Earth Command Center, which was filled with scientists, senior officials and various studios.
"Woohoo!" "Great!"
Amid cheers and applause, people hugged each other excitedly.
The scene changed again, and a dignified female news anchor stood at the news desk, announcing with tears in her eyes the successful first moon landing by humans:
“…We have finally waited for this day. Humankind’s footprints have reached beyond the sky. This is a big step for mankind and a big step for history!”
The original picture of the live broadcast gradually became unclear, and was covered with snow due to poor signal.
The view goes back and an old-fashioned TV is broadcasting the news.
A man with a rough, chalk-dusted hand tapped the TV twice, making the stuck image clear again.
Accompanied by the voice of the female anchor.
A clear child's voice asked in Mandarin with a dialect: "Teacher, are there aliens on the moon?"
In the dilapidated mud classroom, seven dirty and ragged children looked over with curious eyes.
The teacher they were questioning appeared in front of the audience.
He was wearing a jacket that was neither gray nor black. His face was not good-looking. There were many white hairs mixed in with his black hair, and there was some chalk dust on his head, making him look even older.
Hearing the child's question, the teacher smiled. He was not good-looking, but when he treated the child, his smile had a strange affinity. He replied: "The moon is a vacuum, there is no air, under normal circumstances, there should be no aliens."
"What about beyond the moon? Are there aliens on the sun?"
The teacher shook his head and said, "Neither is the sun. It's too hot. The surface alone is several thousand degrees hot. Boiling water at only 100 degrees can burn us to pieces. No living thing can survive at several thousand degrees."
At this time, a man's head popped out from the low classroom door frame. He glanced at the people in the room and said in a bad tone: "Teacher Li, is the TV out of service? Everyone in the village is waiting to watch the big show on TV."
"Hey! You've finished reading it. How about I move it to you?" Teacher Li, played by Yang Xingyuan, quickly and politely agreed.
“No need.” The man walked in directly, ignoring the reluctant looks of the children, unplugged the old-fashioned TV, and walked out carrying it, muttering angrily as he walked: “It’s already five o’clock, and the show has only been on for three minutes. There is only this one TV in the village. If you hadn’t gone to see the village chief, you wouldn’t have wasted everyone’s time…”
Teacher Li listened to the scolding and just smiled without refutation.
The TV was moved away, but the children's enthusiasm was still there, and they kept asking, "Are there aliens in the world?"
Teacher Li thought for a moment and replied, "Maybe, but that is very, very far away from us..."
As he looked out, the scene changed and he arrived in the deep and boundless space.
Canghaixiao couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth when he saw this. His interest had been aroused.
I couldn't help but think: Sure enough, it's still the familiar taste.
The director used these transitions very beautifully and cleverly. Since "Sword IV", Canghai Xiao knew that this director named Wei Lan was particularly good and clever in handling transitions. This was something he had never seen in other directors. It can be said to be one of her personal styles.
Stars twinkle in the void of the solar system.
Suddenly, beyond the solar system, farther away, a blue light flashed.
This brief flash was clearly not an ordinary star, but a man-made creation.
Then, it flashed twice more.
After five flashes, a teardrop-shaped object, which was unclear whether it was a spaceship or a probe, appeared out of thin air in the solar system.
The 'water drop' is suspended above the moon and the earth, facing the blue earth from afar.
Then, the mercury-like luster on the water droplet flowed, and just like before, mysterious, countless incomprehensible information bands expressed in the form of long strips appeared above the luster of the water droplet and flowed quickly over it.
It seems like I have collected some information.
After a few seconds, the water drop found the right direction and dived straight towards the earth.
It is just like its appearance, like a raindrop from the sky, falling to the earth without any friction with the atmosphere and without any fireworks.
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