Chapter 25
"The Painter" is scheduled to premiere nationwide on March 26, and its promotion has been carried out in full swing.
This promotion is taken over by the publicity company under Zhilei Network with additional investment. It will gradually spread across all channels covered by Zhilei, and a wave of physical street advertisements will be placed on the eve of the release.
The new promotional posters have changed the original stream-of-consciousness style. All ten of them are replaced with characters as the main subject. Short video trailers and some behind-the-scenes footage are also released in an orderly manner, striving to attract a wave of fans who love beauty with the actors' faces.
The happiest people during this period were arguably the fans of the film. With so much material suddenly available, fans couldn't wait to get in on the action. Even before the film's release, the online chats were already flooded with fan edits and remastered posters of all sorts.
"There will be five preview screenings in five cities between the 18th and 20th. The company has invited friendly media outlets and influential film critics to attend the film. Director Yu and Editor Yu will also use their connections to do some personal promotion. Pre-sale tickets begin on the 23rd. You must fly back to Yancheng on the 25th to attend the premiere at noon on the 26th."
Fang Chen read the arrangements again, looked up and asked, "Any other questions?"
He Tong: "Pre-sale starts on the 23rd. Should we do a livestream to promote it?"
"You can promote it, but pre-sales start at midnight, so your livestream will only be effective if it's live the next day. Otherwise, if you don't offer discounts until the next day, the audience who bought tickets beforehand will flock to the livestream. If you promote it in advance, I'm worried it will affect pre-sales."
"Instead of offering discounts, let's hold a lottery. From the 23rd to the 25th, every night at 9 p.m., we'll draw 100 movie tickets for an hour."
"That's fine." Fang Chen lowered his head and took notes.
He Tong then asked, "Are there any films that are very competitive during this period?"
"There aren't that many films, and those competing for the Qingming Festival slot are mostly romances, with one mainstream film. The imported films include a suspense film and the third installment in a series of animated films. I predict the box office champion for April will be between a mainstream film and an animated series."
"When is Yang Hedong's film coming out?"
"'Eight Years of Separation' opens at midnight on the 27th, half a day later than ours. However, that film opened pre-sales a month in advance, and already has over 40 million at the box office, with an estimated 80-100 million by the premiere. Tickets for that film aren't cheap; the original price is over 60, and pre-sales are 50. That's pretty good box office appeal."
He Tong smiled and said, "He's a top star. The leading actress won the Wanhong Best Newcomer Award two years ago. The comedy he directed last year won the Wanhong Most Popular Audience Award. Several of the supporting actors are also well-known. Add to that the nostalgic feeling of the original work from ten years ago, and it's no surprise that the pre-sale has such a strong appeal."
Fang Chen curled his lips. "But I asked around, and their production cost is close to 300 million. Looking at the overwhelming publicity, 70 or 80 million is a rough estimate. To make a profit, the box office must be over 1 billion."
"Not necessarily," He Tong shrugged. "If the box office isn't good, there's still online streaming, which at least gives us the advantage of traffic. But if the box office is really bad, then we can lower the price when buying the show."
Fang Chen turned to Ye Yuze: "Will Zhilei buy that drama?"
Ye Yuze said indifferently: "It depends on the evaluation of the lower departments. If there is money to be made, then make it. I don't care."
He Tong agreed, "Brother Ye is right. We don't need to give them too much attention. Anyway, our film has already made back its investment with the overseas distribution we've signed so far, so any domestic box office revenue is pure profit. We can just watch others compete with a smile. Besides, our box office isn't necessarily bad either. I have great confidence in Brother Ye and my own reputation."
Fang Chen looked at him speechlessly: "Now you have realized that you have to rely on your looks to make money."
"No, no, no." He Tong shook his finger. "Appearance is just a stepping stone. The audience must feel that the film is worth the money after watching it, so that it can make money in the long run."
"Enough of that." Fang Chen waved his hand and stood up. "It's time to go to the audition. Don't keep Director Liu waiting."
Filming at the studio had been going smoothly for the past ten days. Today, the crew of "Tian Yao" opened the set to media visits, so He Tong and Ye Yuze didn't have to start work. Liu Ke happened to be visiting the studio to check out the location, so they agreed to have a screen test while they were there, saving them the trouble of returning to Yancheng.
The hotel where Liu Ke was staying was nearby, so they didn't drive but walked there directly. As a result, they saw Liu Ke's assistant coming up to them from a distance and asking them to follow him through the side door.
Fang Chen looked at the noisy crowd at the gate and asked, "What happened?"
The assistant smiled and replied, "Nothing serious, Director Liu and Editor Mao simply rented a room here for casting auditions. Originally, they just invited actors they thought would be suitable to come over, but maybe the news got out, and there are so many crews at the studio here, so a lot of people wanted to try their luck. The casting director over there will handle it, it's okay."
The assistant led people to a small meeting room where Liu Ke and Mao Pengxing were waiting.
Everyone exchanged some greetings and sat down.
Mao Pengxing looked at Ye Yuze subtly and said in a friendly tone, "Look, the role we want Xiaoye to audition for is a villain. Honestly, it's not an easy role to play, and it's not the type that the audience would like."
Liu Ke continued, "Editor Mao and I are having a real headache. We're trying to find someone with good acting skills, but none of the people we've spoken to are willing to take on this type of role. Those who are willing don't have the ability to deliver the effect we're looking for. It just so happened that Xiao He asked about it, so I tricked you guys into coming here to discuss it in detail, haha."
Now even Fang Chen's curiosity was piqued: "Director Liu, Editor Mao, please stop keeping us in suspense. What kind of character is this?"
Liu Ke smiled and said, "Don't worry, let's talk about it one by one. First of all, Xiaoye is so beautiful that you need to use makeup to make your image blend in with everyone else in the play. Is this acceptable?"
Ye Yuze was slightly stunned, then nodded nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter, as long as it fits the role, the face is not important."
Liu Ke gave a thumbs up: "You are worthy of being the best actor. I like actors like you who have high awareness."
Then, Mao Pengxing gave a brief explanation of the plot.
The film is titled "Bladeless Blade," and the story begins with a young swordsman searching for a renowned swordsman who has vanished since his duel with the leader of a demonic sect three years ago and his death.
As the young man inquired around, a rumor gradually spread among the jianghu: the swordsman had once obtained a treasure map from the leader of the Demonic Cult, which indicated the hiding places of the cult's vast treasures and peerless martial arts secrets. So when the young man followed the news to a small town near the border, countless jianghu people followed him.
The imperial court noticed the unusual movements of the Jianghu people and sent an official to investigate. This official was the protagonist. He came to the town incognito with his staff and two personal guards, infiltrating the Jianghu people. Gradually, he discovered that some of them did not seem to come for treasure or secret books, but to protect a secret. Moreover, these people were very famous in the Jianghu.
Later, everyone was led into an ancient tomb and trapped within. It dawned on them that everything was a conspiracy, and a letter was discovered in the main tomb chamber. The writer, claiming to be the orphan of the Chen family, recounted the tragic massacre of his entire family while passing through the small town of Bianchui. After years of investigation, he confirmed that the murderer was among those who had arrived, but could not pinpoint the specific individual. He requested everyone's help in finding him and pushing him into the mechanism that would unlock the tomb. If they failed to activate the mechanism and leave, the tomb would be blown up in ten days, and everyone would be buried with the unjustly killed Chen family members.
The main plot of the film is that the protagonist official, with the help of some people, restores the situation of the year, finds out all the murderers, and finally leads everyone to escape from the ancient tomb. In the process, the young man discovers that he is the swordsman who has disappeared for three years.
Liu Ke and Mao Pengxing wanted Ye Yuze to play the role of an official's aide, and the culprit who designed this series of events - the orphan of the Chen family.
This character is one of those difficult characters with few main scenes but many background ones. A good performance makes the final reveal impactful and memorable; a poor one reduces him to a generic villain, a foil for the protagonist's grandeur. This kind of obsessive revenge story, involving so many unrelated people, is unappealing, and the better the performance, the more likely the audience will criticize him.
He Tong stroked his chin and said, "How about this? Let's set that character to be in disguise when he first appears, and then reveal his true face at the end. That way, maybe the audience will criticize me less for my face, considering my brother Ye's?"
Liu Ke and Mao Pengxing exchanged a glance, and Mao Pengxing nodded: "That's fine. These days, being beautiful is considered a standard feature of villains."
Liu Ke thought for a moment and added, "In that case, I don't want to reveal Xiao Ye's information until the film is released. The audience will definitely be surprised by the end."
He Tong was a little amused and confused: "Director Liu, don't you still have to audition? Is it confirmed right now?"
Liu Ke laughed heartily. "I still need to ask Xiao Ye's opinion. So, are you willing to take on this role?"
Ye Yuze nodded. "It's challenging. Which clip do you want to try?"
Liu Ke waved his hand. "No need to try with the script. The biggest difficulty with this role isn't 'showing', but 'hiding'. You have to achieve the effect of clearly performing actions in front of the camera, but with little sense of presence. So, all of you walk around this conference table a few times and try to 'hide' yourselves."
Ye Yuze lowered his head and thought for a while, then stood up: "Come on."
So, he walked to a corner of the room with two assistants and four bodyguards, and the seven of them began to walk around the conference table casually.
Fang Chen opened his mouth in surprise as he watched: "This..."
When he walked to the third circle, Fang Chen found that if he didn't deliberately look for Ye Yuze, he would not notice him in the crowd at all.
When they reached the fourth circle, Ye Yuze placed a bottle of water on the table. Hearing the sound of "dong", Fang Chen realized that the bottle of water that was originally on the other side of the table had moved to this side. He didn't even know when Ye Yuze picked up the water.
"Great! Perfect!" Liu Ke slapped his thigh.
Mao Pengxing also applauded: "This solves our big problem. I was almost thinking that we would have to change the script and weaken this character."
He Tong joked, "I told you my brother Ye's acting is impeccable. Director Liu, shouldn't you give me a red envelope?"
Liu Ke raised his hand happily: "Send! Send a big one!"
Since Liu Ke and Mao Pengxing still had to go to the lobby to oversee the casting process, no one stayed long after the decision was made. Fang Chen and Liu Ke agreed on a time to discuss the contract, and then left with He Tong and Ye Yuze.
When the group walked around from the side door of the hotel to the main entrance, they happened to meet Yang Hedong and his agent walking towards them.
Since the two sides met face to face, they greeted each other politely.
After they had distanced themselves from each other, Fang Chen said, "I didn't expect he would come to audition as well. It seems he still hasn't given up on his transformation."
He Tong shrugged: "Given Director Liu's requirements, I don't think he can get the audition unless he is willing to play a supporting role."
At this time, no one cared about encountering Yang Hedong during the audition, but they didn't expect that something would happen a few days later.
The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angel aug for the nutrient solution~~
Thanks to the nutrient solution from Little Angel FC~~
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