Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 451 New Album

After Baofeng Video announced an investment of 7000 million yuan to produce web series, and even set up a special web series department to support web series.

Domestic companies interested in this field, as well as aspiring directors, have flocked to our door.

A large number of web series scripts of varying quality were submitted to Baofeng Player.

These scripts are all projects that Baofeng hopes to invest in.

After careful selection, the review team at Baofeng Player chose some excellent works and began filming them.

Meanwhile, Storm is making frequent and significant moves.

Other platforms aren't stupid either, and naturally they won't sit idly by and watch Baofeng grow big in the online drama market.

Then, various platforms began to increase their investment in web dramas and started producing their own web dramas.

Wu Zhuo naturally knew that several platforms had started producing web dramas.

He also took some time to watch dramas produced on other platforms.

The quality of dramas produced by Tencent and iQiyi is generally average.

But Youku.

The web series that Youku invested in and participated in producing are very famous.

Unexpectedly.

Yes, it's that web series that revolves around Wang Dachui, a loser in the workplace, a famous doctor, and the dating world. It uses an exaggerated and humorous narrative style to showcase his fantastical life trajectory, incorporating popular elements such as time travel and the workplace, and touching on classic history and contemporary social topics.

Youku may still be worried about the risks of online dramas, so it didn't invest too much, only three million yuan in this project.

"We should pay close attention to this show, 'Unexpectedly,' because I think it might become a hit."

At the meeting, Wu Zhuo instructed the company's staff to pay close attention to this project.

However, despite valuing this project.

But he wasn't worried that Storm would lose.

"Unexpectedly" is at best a short web series.

It is quite different from Baofeng's "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

Whether it's investment budget or the platform's attractiveness.

It is no exaggeration to say that "Candle in the Tomb: The Wrath of Time" can be considered a pioneer of domestically produced web dramas.

The two are not comparable at all.

Indeed, "Unexpectedly" is bound to be a hit.

However, it is a short film, and the nature of short films means that it cannot have a huge impact on the industry like "Candle in the Tomb: The Wrath of Time".

If we follow the course of the previous life.

The first year of self-produced online dramas in China officially began in 2014.

That was influenced by the American TV series "House of Cards".

In this life, Storm began its planning ahead of time, launching a large-scale production from the outset, with standards directly comparable to television dramas.

The resulting devastating impact is self-evident.

……

The TV series "Candle in the Tomb: The Wrath of Time" produced by Baofeng Player caused a great sensation in China.

This is the first time a company has invested so much money in producing a web series that is currently looked down upon.

Some people are praising Baofeng Player's decisiveness and swift action.

Meanwhile, some people privately laughed at Baofeng Player, thinking that Baofeng Player was really foolish to invest so much money in online dramas.

Many people think that Baofeng Video's investment may be wasted.

Of course, Chen Kun, who starred in this drama, also faced a lot of pressure.

Because he went on to film web series, it's a form of upward-to-downward development.

This has somewhat impacted his status.

For this reason, he even approached Wu Zhuo, wanting to quit the role.

Finally, Wu Zhuo felt that it was a bit excessive to have Chen Kun act in a web series at this time, and it felt like he was being coerced by using a favor.

So, in order to keep him on his toes, Wu Zhuo personally promised that as long as the series was completed, Legendary Entertainment would personally create a movie for him.

After selecting from several shortlisted projects within the company.

Chen Kun actually chose "Candle in the Tomb: The Lost City".

Yes, that's right. While producing a web series, they are also planning to create a movie series based on the Ghost Blows Out the Light.

However, due to the ban on ghosts in China.

Of the several scripts submitted by the company, only "The Lost City" was ultimately approved.

And coincidentally, this script was chosen by Chen Kun.

It's all thanks to Legendary Entertainment's good luck.

The censorship of online dramas has been lax in recent years.

Therefore, all the scripts for Ghost Blows Out the Light were approved.

Furthermore, during filming, there's no need to change it into some kind of messy illusion; it can be filmed as a genuine supernatural web series.

This is not surprising at all.

After all, 17 years ago in my previous life, the scope of web series filming was very large.

Films like "The Ferryman" and "The Taoist Priest" both feature ghosts.

Therefore, it's not a problem at all for the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" series to be adapted into a film based on the novel.

Then they talked about "The Ferryman".

This project is currently in the planning stages of Baofeng Player.

It wasn't Wu Zhuo who suggested this; rather, Ju Xingmao approached Baofeng Yingyin with the project after seeing the company invest heavily in producing web series.

However, the script for this project is not yet complete, so it is still in preparation.

If all goes well, filming should begin in the second half of the year.

……

The online discussion surrounding the idea of ​​adapting "Ghost Blows Out the Light" into a web series is alarmingly high.

While peers are questioning the claims, netizens are eagerly anticipating them.

Many people think this series would be great if it were made into a TV series, so they are really looking forward to it.

While the online debate raged on, Wu Zhuo himself began preparing for his new album this year.

After a long selection process, Wu Zhuo has finalized ten songs for his new album.

Five English songs "Something Just Like This", "We Don't Talk Anymore", "There For You", "Please Don't Go", "See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth)"

Five Chinese songs: "Love That Will Never Be Lost", "Dust in the Fireworks", "The Only One", "The Answer", and "Silence".

Of the ten songs, "The Answer" is a collaboration with Cyndi Wang.

This was a song the two agreed to collaborate on after meeting last year, so Wu Zhuo specially prepared this song.

Besides the fans being happy that Wu Zhuo is preparing a new album,

Sony was the happiest of all.

Upon learning that he was preparing a new album, the head of Sony Music China immediately came over.

They said they came to visit the set.

But Wu Zhuo knew that Sony was there to supervise and to find out the quality of his new album.

Wu Zhuo is becoming increasingly well-known in the investment field.

Last year, he was among the top ten young investors in China.

The more money he has and the more successful his career becomes, the more worried Sony is that he will neglect his new album.

They were afraid that Wu Zhuo was just going through the motions.

So when Wu Zhuo was making it, he made a special trip over to find out what was going on.

"I couldn't help but transform into a stubborn fish."

"Swimming alone against the ocean current to the very end"

"The vows I made sincerely in my youth"

"Silently sinking into the deep sea"

……

After finishing recording "Silence", Wu Zhuo walked out of the recording studio and saw Yoshida from Sony as soon as he stepped outside.

He couldn't help but laugh and ask:

"Mr. Yoshida, what do you think of this song?"

Yoshida paused for a moment, then gave a thumbs up.

“Wu Zhuojun, listening to your music is a real treat. I can already imagine how crazy your fans will be after this album is released.”

As he spoke, he showed a regretful expression, "It's a pity that there aren't any Japanese songs on your album. Japanese fans will definitely be very sad." In fact, not only Japanese fans, but Korean fans must also be very sad.

Because Wu Zhuo's new album doesn't have any Korean or Japanese songs.

Of the ten songs, five are in Chinese and five are in English.

This will likely be a blow to Wu Zhuo's fans.

"I had no choice. Multilingual albums are not a solution. I've already been severely criticized by the media."

Everyone says my album has a confusing mix of languages.

Given my current limited time and energy, I've only prepared for these two languages.

However, Mr. Yoshida has listened to the songs and should know that the songs on this album will only be better than the previous one.

Indeed, the quality of your album is no worse than your last one.

Moreover, with the increase in English songs, I think this album will definitely sell even better in overseas markets.

Yoshida nodded. Even he, a picky person, had to admit that Wu Zhuo's album was of very high quality.

“I’m relieved that Mr. Yoshida thinks that way. However, I hope your company can help with public relations in Japan and South Korea. I hope that no fans will hate me because I haven’t released songs in Japanese or Korean.”

Wu Zhuo's statement actually makes some sense.

His previous albums all included Japanese and Korean songs.

This sudden absence could very well trigger a rebellious reaction.

In addition, the news of her marriage had previously caused a certain amount of public discussion in both Japan and South Korea.

To a certain extent, Wu Zhuo must have lost many fans over there.

And Wu Zhuo has produced a new album.

Naturally, he wouldn't want the album sales to plummet.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it."

Wu Zhuojun, you can focus on producing the album; we'll handle the public relations for the fans.

Yoshida readily agreed.

He left Legendary Entertainment satisfied.

His purpose in coming was to see if Wu Zhuo's new album was just a perfunctory effort.

Now that he knows the album is of very high quality, his task is naturally complete.

"This is quite an interesting life, they even came all the way here to check your homework."

Watching Yoshida leave, Shi Rencheng spoke with amusement.

Wu Zhuo's album didn't need any new lyrics, but he still served as the producer.

Help Wu Zhuo with post-production.

"It's normal. I've re-signed with Sony, and there are still two out of three albums that haven't been released yet."

They've invested so much money, of course they're worried I'll just throw in some bad songs to fob them off.

Wu Zhuo wasn't surprised by Sony's idea.

Sony paid a huge price to sign him.

At the same time, countless sums of money have been spent globally to promote him.

Wu Zhuo is now their face.

They were naturally worried that Wu Zhuo's new album wouldn't be good enough, causing their money to go down the drain.

In fact, Sony has already shown Wu Zhuo respect and trust him.

If you don't give him face, or if you don't believe him.

Sony is fully entitled to demand that Wu Zhuo not sing his own songs, but instead sing songs prepared by their company.

This is actually a standard practice for large companies when signing top artists.

Singers' own songs all need to be submitted to the company for review.

If there's even the slightest problem, the company will cover it up and then use songs from the top songwriters they've hired.

On this point, Sony does show some respect for Wu Zhuo.

They never mentioned reviewing his songs; they just sent people over to inspect them.

Moreover, the inspection was disguised as a visit to the set.

"I heard that Sony is really promoting that kid named Justin Bieber, and quite heavily. Will this affect you?"

Shih Jen-cheng mentioned Sony's actions over the past two years.

Justin Bieber became famous online in 09 for his cover of Wu Zhuo's "Baby".

Because of her good voice and outstanding appearance.

He successfully caught the attention of Sony.

So the child was signed by Sony.

Subsequently, Sony obtained the rights to "Baby" from Wu Zhuo and created some new songs for him, thus launching Justin Bieber into the market.

The young and adorable Justin Bieber quickly gained market recognition and became one of the most popular singers in the past two years.

"We can't stop people from training new talent! Besides, Bieber is still a long way from reaching my level!"
But that guy named Bruno Mars, I think he might become the next superstar.

Without "Baby," Bieber is like a tiger without teeth.

His current popularity is far less than it was in his previous life.

On the contrary, Bruno Mars of Warner Music, who is being heavily promoted by Warner, is gaining momentum.

However, he is far inferior to Wu Zhuo.

Wu Zhuo releases albums slowly.

But every song on each album is a hit.

After Michael Jackson's death, he was already showing signs of becoming the world's number one superstar.

"That Bruno Mars song is really interesting. I've heard his 'When I Was Your Man,' and it's really good."

Shi Rencheng nodded.

They agreed with Wu Zhuo's statement.

"Let's get started! Let's finish recording as soon as possible, I have other work to do afterwards."

After resting for a while, Wu Zhuo got up and continued recording.

After the album is recorded, he will also participate in the promotion of "John Wick".

This film is different from his previous films; it will not only be released simultaneously across Asia, but will also be released directly in North America.

At that time, Wu Zhuo will undoubtedly have to participate in the promotion in Europe and America.

This promotional campaign will involve traveling almost all over the world, so he'll be very busy.

……

Recording songs is now a regular occurrence for Wu Zhuo.

He can now record a song in just half a day.

Throughout the day, Wu Zhuo recorded "Silence" and "Love That Never Loses Contact".

After recording the song, Wu Zhuo said goodbye to the recording engineer and went downstairs to leave.

"what……"

In the lobby, Wu Zhuo was about to leave when he suddenly noticed someone sitting on the sofa who looked very familiar.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an acquaintance, Xue Zhiqian.

Hey! What are you doing sitting here?

Wu Zhuo walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Mr. Wu!"

Xue Zhiqian stood up, looking somewhat restrained.

"Mr. Wu, he said he came to submit a song."

At this moment, the receptionist came over to explain.

"Don't you have my phone number? Why don't you just call me?"

Wu Zhuo looked at Xue Zhiqian with a puzzled expression.

He and Xue Zhiqian used to get along quite well.

But gradually we lost contact.

But Xue Zhiqian does have his phone number.

"Um, I'm a little sorry..."

Seemingly realizing that Wu Zhuo was still the same as before, Xue Zhiqian gave an awkward smile.

(End of this chapter)