Chapter 31 What's wrong with Qiang Yidian?
The Federal Central Plaza is located in the commercial heart of the entire main planet, with a daily pedestrian flow exceeding 500,000 people.
There are more than 120 screens of various sizes in the entire square area. Among them, the big screen that fans often talk about is a giant curved screen located at the corner of the central intersection.
It is also known as the "Crossroads of the World". The screen almost completely covers the two facades of the irregular building. The main screen is 42 meters long and 29 meters high.
On the building directly opposite it, there are two small screens of the same height but only half the length, which play matching holographic projections 24 hours a day at the intersection, giving passersby a dreamlike feeling of being covered from all directions.
For a long time, the large screen in Federal Center Square was a symbol of an artist's ascension to stardom.
After all, besides its prestigious reputation, the prices there are also shockingly high.
Even as other plazas downgraded their large screens to offer cheaper advertising packages, Federal Center Plaza maintained its high prices and strict content review mechanism.
Three hours after this question and answer trended at the top of the search results, Giant Entertainment's official account finally posted a belated update, announcing that Jian Yujing's exclusive promotional video would officially be displayed on the plaza screen starting at 9 PM.
Last night, the dinner party lasted until 3 a.m., and Jian Yujing didn't get up until noon. After a quick tidy-up, she rushed to the company to do her makeup and styling for the short film.
He finally had a chance to glance at his personal terminal while Lan Jie was doing his makeup, and was instantly infuriated by the Mihu Q&A that imitated the staff of Giant Entertainment.
He quickly forwarded the Q&A link to Mr. Fang and received a nonchalant and calm reply:
[Yes, I've seen it. If you want to post a clarification, wait until after midnight. Have your post reviewed by my assistant first. I'll give you his contact information so you can contact him if you need anything.]
As expected, everything was under Mr. Fang's control, and Jian Yujing finally felt at ease.
The photographer sent by the company to shoot the exclusive short film was still that thin and young girl. She looked to be less than 1.6 meters tall. She was holding a gimbal and could lift the huge camera with one hand. Her right arm was obviously much stronger than her left arm.
After filming wrapped, Qin Yi quickly edited the footage on the physical computer.
After finishing the cut, she looked at it again and again, extremely satisfied. She couldn't help but pat her chest and mutter to herself:
"I never thought I would be able to edit a video that would be shown on the big screen in the central square. Mom and Dad, I'm so proud of myself."
Jian Yujing was editing the clarification statement to be released that evening when she heard this and couldn't help but chuckle.
Most of the artists at Juyu were struggling before being recruited by Boss Fang. Not to mention the photographer girl, even Jian Yujing herself often had a dreamlike feeling that everything was going too smoothly.
At 9 p.m., when the promotional video finally appeared on the square's big screen, the trending topics had been going on all day, and the ranking had moved up one place, but the audience in the comments section was still quite unconvinced.
[According to that highly-rated answer, does that mean the content has to be taken down by 11 PM?]
[Shh, the fans are absolutely spoiling us. The central square is packed with Beijing fans taking photos, because there won't be any left to take pictures in a little while. How can we not count the last two hours?]
[...The central square screen is currently offering a 15-second loop four times, which costs over 3,000 yuan as a package deal, and that's outside of prime time. Has any of you joined the fan club? Would it be cheaper if it were advertised hourly?]
[An insider revealed that only daily packages offer a discount. A one-day package costs 2.95 million, which translates to a little over 2,000 per minute. This is significantly cheaper than those regular slideshows that only last for a few seconds.]
[How much? I'm a little out of touch with money.]
[Much cheaper = Maybach 5 RMB coupon]
[No wonder Juyu is so stingy. If it's not a daily subscription, it burns through more than 3,000 yuan per minute. Haha, who spends my entire month's salary in a minute? I'm so jealous!]
[Is this about being stingy? It's about the promised rewards not being delivered! They said a month on the big screen, I'm so dizzy!]
The comments on StarNet were in an uproar until after 10 p.m., and some curious passersby even started a live stream in the central square to record exactly when Giant Entertainment would end the advertising campaign.
Time passed slowly, and when the clock struck eleven, the promotional video showed no signs of stopping.
Public opinion finally began to shift slightly, with a few people starting to question the authenticity of Mi Hu's initial response. Other so-called insiders also revealed that Juyu Entertainment saw the tide turning against them and temporarily increased the broadcast to a full day.
Jian Yujing has been keeping an eye on the comments on StarNet ever since she finished filming the short film.
He had already written the clarification post, but it hadn't been time for his boss to say when it could be released yet, and he was extremely anxious.
Around midnight, as the trending topic gradually climbed to third place, the official WeChat account of the Federal Central Plaza suddenly posted a screenshot of an internal schedule and a post several hundred words long:
We have noticed that the scheduling issue for the No. 1 screen at the Central Crossroads has recently attracted widespread attention. Therefore, we hereby declare that the promotional video released by Giant Entertainment Group will be played on a loop on screen No. 001 for one month.
The broadcast will begin at 9 PM on August 10th and end at 9 PM on September 10th.
Less than three minutes after this post was published, Jian Yujing's personal account also posted a picture and text.
He posted more than ten pictures, including photos of last night's dinner party and a 12m x 8m floor plan.
The boss sent me an electronic version of the lounge layout and told me to just tell the designer what kind of style I liked.
I really don't know much about this, could you guys help me with the interior design and decor?
The moment the post was published, his comment section exploded.
[Waaaaah, is it really necessary for our competition champion to be so brutally cruel in Versailles?]
[What? Your lounge is over 90 square meters? QAQ, do you mean your lounge is the same size as my three-bedroom apartment? That's so enviable!]
[Aaaaaaah, Juyu Entertainment, you actually bought the giant screen in Federal Central Square for a month?! Haters, keep yelling! I don't believe all these negative comments today are from random people.]
I'm really at my wit's end; nobody has guessed just how rich Brother Fang is.
[Wait, are there really companies that can book an entire month's worth of screen time? Has anyone compiled statistics on how long the longest celebrities have appeared on the big screen?]
[Report, it should have been Sang Shangting before... Ever since he became a top star, his fans have booked a week's worth of billboards in the central square for his birthday every year, totaling more than twenty days over four years.]
[Does anyone have a link to a recording of a previous group broadcast by Juyu? I'm thinking of investing in Jian Yujing owo]
With this kind of reckless spending to promote him, it seems he'll eventually rise to prominence.
[It feels like Fang Ge has spent all the money he earned from the group broadcasts on big screens and stadium venues. We've been digging into his family background for over a month, and still no one has found out? You guys are the worst group of netizens I've ever encountered.]
[Here's a link to the forum; the restaurant where they had their dinner has been identified. It's a fusion restaurant in the city center, and excluding drinks, it costs over 4,000 yuan per person. Judging from the photos, there were at least 70 or 80 people there. A simple meal at Juyu could burn through ten years' worth of my stingy company's event budget...]
[Nobody's praising this promotional video? I'd love to know which stylist studio Juyu uses; their skill level blows away those mediocre stylists at Xingyu.]
[@FangZhuoFANG @FangZhuoFANG, bro! Please reveal your stylist!! Give me lots of votes!]
Fang Zhuo never replied to these online mentions; he was currently editing the terrain above the asteroid the system had sent him yesterday.
First, he placed the residential, office, and commercial buildings on a plain near the docking point. Then, he placed the photography studio module in the hilly area with the best natural scenery.
There are low hills and lakes here, and the team can come out at any time to take outdoor shots after shooting the interior scenes in the studio.
After completing the building location and terrain planning for Star 399, he returned to his office, called Deng Jiaqiang, and then clicked on the file named [Short Drama Script] in the quantum computer. In the "Suitable Artists" column, he checked the names of the top six in this group broadcast competition.
[Short drama script matching in progress...]
A suitable script has been found for you.
[“I’ve been making cards for years, so what if it’s a strong billion?”]
This script sounds much more normal. Judging from the title, it's the kind of coming-of-age adventure story featuring a resilient and unyielding female lead and a deeply affectionate and gentle male lead.
Fang Zhuo first sent a copy of the script to Deng Jiaqiang, and then briefly flipped through the first few chapters himself.
This idea is objectively very difficult to implement.
Its background is card-based competitive gaming, filled with interactions between the main characters and card summons. Even if the virtual effects are made realistic, they can easily appear low-quality. It would be best if all the summons were physical items.
The plot is even harder to judge than the background setting. It is completely different from what Fang Zhuo imagined. The plot of the new script is even more exaggerated than that of the Great Ancestor's grandmother.
Will anyone actually watch it if it's filmed?
Deng Jiaqiang glanced through the first three chapters and the ending, then suddenly slapped his thigh:
"The plot and pacing are absolutely amazing! The male lead's mindset keeps shifting, and this kind of love with a touch of pain is the most captivating. If we just filmed it normally, we would definitely attract a huge number of fans!"
"Sigh... but the problem is still the budget. How about we find an outsourced screenwriter to change the background of the cards to ancient or modern times? That should save a lot of money."
Fang Zhuo waved his hand: "That's not a problem."
The Star Federation does have quite a few anime or novels with card game backgrounds, but due to production costs, no production company has ever released a TV series in this area. They are the perfect company to be the first to try this out.
After discussing the filming plan with Deng Jiaqiang, Fang Zhuo sent a message to Jiang Yu, asking him to compile a list of third-party prop teams for Xingyu Entertainment.
Normally, the props team of an A-list TV series usually consists of about five or six people. They are included in the art department. Generally, no company will hire a separate props team. Therefore, there are very few teams that specialize in this business, and those with excellent skills are even rarer.
Fang Zhuo glanced through the list and looked at the existing works of these teams, his gaze finally settling on an account name.
The account "[Cosmic Props Master]" has accumulated over a million followers on the largest long-form video platform in the Star Federation. As creators in a niche field, they have broken out of the mainstream thanks to their amazing technical skills.
Their signature video recreated the weapon held by the protagonist in the popular novel "Dragon King". The original novel describes the umbrella in over a thousand words, designing five basic forms for the umbrella. [Cosmic Props Master] perfectly replicated the weapon in just three days, and became an instant hit on the platform.
Most of their team members are college students who have plenty of free time and love to create fun content. After that, they released hundreds of videos that recreated props from novels and anime, each of which had at least hundreds of thousands of views.
At 2:30 p.m., Cao Mao, who had stayed up all night playing games, woke up from his sleep. He opened his account backend and planned to check how the data of the video he had just posted yesterday was going.
Suddenly seeing a familiar ID in his private message list, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, wondering if he was still half asleep.
[Hello, I am Fang Zhuo, Executive Director of Giant Interactive Group. I would like to ask if you have time to discuss cooperation at 9:00 AM?]
Perhaps because they hadn't received a reply, the other party politely sent another message two hours later:
[I apologize for taking up your time. I can pay you a consultation fee of 10,000 yuan in advance.]
Cao Mao was so shocked that he jumped out of bed with a creak and immediately sent the screenshot to the team's daily operations group.
Those guys immediately couldn't sit still anymore, and bombarded him with questions as if they'd been hit by a rock—
[@CaoCaoCaoCao, I order you to reply to General Manager Fang right now, or you will be shot on the spot]
[The first idiot in history to miss out on a get-rich-quick opportunity because he slept in—son, I've been spoiling you too much.]
[@CaoCaoCaoCao, reply quickly! The brothers' ability to make money depends entirely on you! Who the hell dragged you into playing the game last night? Get out here and apologize right now!]
I repent. I shouldn't have dragged Cao Mao to play games at 10 PM on August 10th. I hope my family can forgive me.
Cao Mao didn't dare waste a moment and replied to General Manager Fang very promptly:
[Hi boss, should I come directly to your company? I'm in the second men's dormitory at the Federal Institute of Technology. You can come find me there if it's convenient for you.]
To avoid sounding too stiff, he even added a kitten spinning emoji at the end.
Mr. Fang's reply was concise: "[I'll pick you up at the east gate of your school in ten minutes.]"
Cao Mao jumped out of bed like a carp leaping out of water, quickly put on a T-shirt, but then felt it wasn't formal enough, so he borrowed a wrinkled shirt from his roommate.
He rushed to the east gate of the campus, where he indeed saw a pure white spaceship waiting for him.
The moment he stepped into the spaceship, he still felt that his outfit was a bit too shabby.
His eyes darted around with a keen sense of stealth, spotting Mr. Fang skillfully maneuvering the spaceship to hover in mid-air where no one was watching, and even personally grinding a cup of coffee for him.
Mr. Fang sent him a long list of props needed. Cao Mao studied it for a while, but after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out.
"Mr. Fang, I'm sorry, your list is a bit brief. Are you looking to customize film-quality props? If you have a script, would it be convenient for me to take a look?"
This is only the initial pricing stage; the other party has only sent the script for the first ten episodes.
Cao Mao skimmed through the document for twenty minutes, carefully noting down the prop requirements while referring to the original text.
Aside from the props, he inevitably read about the plot. Cao Mao's reading speed slowed down, and his expression gradually became engrossed.
It's hardened; its fists have hardened.
The script is titled "I've Been Making Cards for Years, So What If I'm a Little Stronger?" and the female lead is indeed quite strong, but the preceding plot is inexplicably frustrating.
As a genius card maker from the largest card-making family in the interstellar world, the female protagonist Xu Ci's birth has attracted much attention. However, she was unexpectedly cursed by her opponent's card during a duel.
According to the curse, she must change her identity and appearance and do one hundred things for her most hated nemesis, Yi Xingjue, in order to regain her original identity and summoning ability.
During this time, Xu Ci used his own blood to make cards for his mortal enemy, served him with gritted teeth, and peeled shrimp and drank for him at a family banquet.
The female villain, who was once trampled underfoot and had little ability, saw her like this and stood with her arms crossed, mocking her for being so lowly, while the heroine silently endured it all.
She fawned over the male lead, Yi Xingjue, for a full six months. Everyone thought she was head over heels in love with him and was a complete love-struck fool.
Until one day, the female supporting character asked Xu Ci to put her hand into the card summoning furnace, so that the pain of being burned would help her furnace card upgrade.
"It's not up to you." Xu Ci calmly retorted to the female supporting character, then turned and stared intently at Yi Xingjue: "Is this what you want me to do?"
Yi Xingjue's expression softened, his eyes filled with painful forbearance, and a surge of restraint and suppression welled up within them.
After a long pause, he finally managed to utter the word: "Yes."
"Alright, Yi Xingjue, remember this is the last thing I'll do for you."
Before the male protagonist could ask why, Xu Ci reached into the furnace and watched as the last layer of imprint in her sea of consciousness disappeared. Without any mercy, she turned and left.
Xu Ci arrived alone at the top of the arena, waiting for the curse to be broken, as layers of golden light enveloped her completely—
Cao Mao was completely engrossed in reading it, quickly turning to the next page.
It's gone? How could it just disappear like that?
Is that all there is to the first ten episodes? Why is it so sudden? He hasn't even seen the female lead regain her identity and abilities to slap him in the face yet. Who allowed the script to stop here?
Cao Mao then snapped out of his reverie and saw President Fang across from him smiling with his arms crossed.
He scratched his head awkwardly and quoted a price from the record in his personal terminal:
"President Fang, you need a lot of props. I'm not trying to rip you off, but there are seven or eight very complex props in just the first ten chapters."
"We charge 60,000 yuan for complex props, and only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan for simpler ones."
He pulled out Fang Zhuo's long list: "According to this list, the initial labor cost quote is 3.8 million. Our team can complete it in about four days."
"The material costs can be settled after the project is completed. If we use the modeling and printing workflow for the whole project, the materials will cost at least a million yuan."
After quoting this terrifyingly high price, he himself was a little embarrassed.
Cao Mao looked at the list again and again, but found that he really couldn't save a single penny. He could only sit on the sofa of the spaceship and anxiously rub his fingers together.
Their team consisted entirely of Black college students, and their labor costs were already very low. This time, the client's requirements list was simply too long.
Cao Mao thought for a moment and came up with a good idea to save the client money:
"Boss, how about you lower your standards a bit and make all the props simpler?"
“We have artists on our team. If we only draw and texture without modeling, we should be able to reduce all costs to less than two million.”
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