Have you ever been a celebrity? Why are you writing about entertainment?

[Countdown to the Spring Festival Gala for the novel: 10 days.]

Lock my account on New Year's Eve.
As the episodes were filmed and sent to the editing team, Yu Wei finally felt confident enough to place an order. For a professional post-production team, ten days was more than enough time.

At that time, the novel's Spring Festival Gala will be released directly as a long video, pre-recorded and broadcast on time, rather than being broadcast live.

Although Yu Wei was quite confident in the quality of the novel's Spring Festival Gala program, it was still too far-fetched to think that he could put on a live broadcast and compete with the Spring Festival Gala.

Putting everything else aside, the Spring Festival Gala's streaming mechanism alone will attract a large number of netizens to continuously click into the official live broadcast room.

In this respect, our amateur production team can't compare to others. They get priority coverage on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala broadcast and are also given special attention by major video platforms.

On New Year's Eve, the Spring Festival Gala can attract more than 70% of the audience. Many netizens will subconsciously click to watch it even if they don't watch the Spring Festival Gala.

If you want to compete, you should start with your own strengths. The advantage of the Spring Festival Gala is that every program is of high quality and there are no shoddy works.

Works that focus on small, exquisite pieces are clearly not suitable for the fast pace of live streaming.

On New Year's Eve, everyone is still quite busy. A little bit of work takes place, a couple of red envelopes are exchanged, a chat is held, and two events are over...

This fast pace is a loss for both the audience and the program. Releasing the gala as a video directly would give the audience more options.

If something comes up, pause and continue watching when you're done. Only by posting live can you make the most of every minute of the gala and avoid wasting resources.

On the other hand, there's the issue of retention. Although CCTV's Spring Festival Gala has a large live stream viewership, viewers won't stay in the live stream room forever.

When a program becomes boring or awkward, viewers will naturally leave and find something else to watch, and that's when his novels will take center stage.

Yu Wei sees his Spring Festival Gala not as a choice between two extreme options for the audience, but as a warm and welcoming haven.

When you think the Spring Festival Gala is unwatchable, come watch our program! Our program is there, waiting for you to watch. It doesn't matter if you come late, you won't miss anything.

There are many benefits to doing this, the most obvious being that it avoids internal friction.

Yu Wei and his team also have performances on the Spring Festival Gala. If they were to do a live broadcast, it would be a thankless task for them to compete against themselves, as it would be a loss for either side.

However, if the novel is broadcast directly on the Spring Festival Gala, the problem is easily solved. When their program starts, netizens can pause to watch it, and then come back to continue.

Ideally, their programs on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala would be incredibly popular, while other programs would be completely ignored, with everyone flocking to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

To reiterate, he's not trying to compete with the Spring Festival Gala itself, but rather with the Gala's low-quality programs. If the programs aren't good, the audience will naturally look away.

Yu Wei claimed that he was thinking of the audience, so he naturally had to choose a way that would make the audience feel comfortable. During the Chinese New Year, there was no need to force the audience to make a decision.

Trying to compete with the Spring Festival Gala for real-time viewership through live streaming is putting the cart before the horse; netizens will just look around and remember nothing...

Not competing is competing, and competing is not competing. Only by not competing can one be invincible. His choice to express himself directly without competing or grabbing is the most popular one.

Everything was ready, and all that was left was for Cheng Xu's team to edit the final cut. Yu Wei would naturally continue to follow up during this time, as this kind of thing couldn't be outsourced entirely.

On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Beijing was already filled with the festive atmosphere of the New Year. Yu Wei was in a small room temporarily set up by the CCTV props team, filming the final part of a public service advertisement.

The final scene of "Come Home Often" shows an elderly woman sitting alone on the sofa, looking sadly at the television set with no signal.

"Lighting team, adjust the side backlighting to create a twilight lighting effect," Yu Wei instructed over the walkie-talkie.

The photographers moved their cameras in perfect unison, choosing a 45-degree side angle to ensure that they could capture the actors' facial expressions while also including the cold food on the table in the background.

After a period of cooperation, the advertising department has fully accepted this newly appointed visual director.

Yu Wei's professional skills are ridiculously strong. During filming, every decision he made seemed to be the optimal solution, which is quite frightening.

It was as if he already knew every step of the advertising process by heart, and was just missing a chance to put it into practice.

The staff felt that even without them, Yu Wei could have produced the advertisement exactly as it was.

Yu Wei's presence made their existence seem awkward; comparisons are odious, and they quit their jobs after filming this movie...

Grandma Liu, an amateur actress, was already in place. She sat quietly on the edge of the sofa, her hands folded on her knees, staring blankly at the television screen in front of her, which was displaying static.

This shot needs to convey a sense of unspoken loneliness, allowing the audience to directly experience the inner world of elderly people living alone.

The script supervisor clapped his clapperboard: "Scene 27 of 'Come Home Often,' third take, action!"

The set fell into dead silence, with only the faint sound of the cameras running.

Grandma's performance was very realistic. She didn't have any exaggerated expressions; she just sat quietly, gently stroking the edge of the sofa with her hands, her gaze slowly shifting from the static-filled TV screen to the family photo next to it.

"Push the camera in and shift the focus to the family photo," Yu Wei instructed softly.

The photographer smoothly zoomed in, the focus slowly shifting from the old man's face to the family portrait marked by the passage of time.

In the photo, the family is all smiles, a stark contrast to the desolate living room in reality.

"Okay, hold... now slowly zoom back to the panoramic view."

The camera slowly pulled back, and the lonely old man became the entirety of the scene. Yu Weiqiang suppressed his excitement; this scene would definitely be a swan song.

"Cut!" The director's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement. "I hereby declare that filming for 'Come Home Often' has officially wrapped!"

Cheers erupted on set, but Grandma Liu remained seated on the sofa, seemingly still immersed in her role.

Feng Yang stepped forward and gently took her hand: "Aunt Liu, your performance was so moving."

No one expected that Yu Wei's suggestion to find an amateur to play the role would have such a good effect.

The old woman wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes: "No, it's because this advertisement is too real. My children are all so busy..."

Everyone present fell silent. This advertisement was not just a work of art, but a mirror, reflecting the reality of countless families.

Yu Wei's ability to capture material is evident. Many people have tried this subject, but this is the first one to achieve such a high level of completion.

You have to say Teacher Yu is a genius. She has an eye for finding materials and the ability to transform them into works of art. This is a perfect combination.

No wonder Yu Weiwen's entertainment novels are so bad; the real entertainment industry is a complete mess, providing him with a ton of material. It's no wonder he can't write anything good. It's not the general's fault...

"Congratulations, Coach Yu."

Feng Yang took the initiative to tease Yu Wei a couple of times. Yu Wei deserves a lot of credit for this advertising project; without him, the department would probably still be worrying about what to shoot.

"Can it be released before the New Year?"

Yu Wei can handle a two-hour-plus gala without any problem, so a 56-second public service announcement should be a piece of cake.

It is necessary to strive for perfection, but the workload is what it is. Even if it is edited frame by frame, it will still be 56 seconds long.

"Of course, it is expected to be online in a week."

CCTV's post-production capabilities are still very good; government-run content doesn't usually get stuck in censorship, and it can be uploaded as soon as it's edited.

The main reason is that the shooting process was so meticulous that there were no invalid shots, which greatly reduced the difficulty of post-production.

"I didn't expect you to be so professional. Have you ever considered working for CCTV?"

During this collaboration, Feng Yang's opinion of Yu Wei changed drastically.

She used to think Yu Wei was just a talented but cunning young man, but who knew that this kid was so capable and later even seemed to be in charge of everything, almost sidelining her...

Yu Wei is determined to join the system, and it's only a matter of time before he takes on a major role.

"No, no, I don't like being controlled."

Yu Wei hesitated for a moment, then changed his mind and said, "It's hard to say. If I've run out of ideas, I hope Director Feng can make an introduction."

The Chinese people's unique desire for stability.

He was just saying it casually. When he really runs out of ideas, Director Feng will probably have already retired long ago.

Feng Yang smiled but didn't say anything. Their collaboration wasn't over yet. After the New Year, the filming of "Packaging" should be on the agenda.

"At that time, we'll have to trouble Teacher Yu again."

……

After counting his account balance for the third time, Lü Ang realized he hadn't earned a single cent all year.

Rent, mortgage, bills, job competition next spring... these thoughts came flooding in like a tide, making it hard for him to breathe.

The TV suddenly switched to a commercial break, and just as Lü Ang was about to turn off the remote, an unfamiliar screen froze his finger.

An elderly woman with gray hair was chopping vegetables with trembling hands when the phone suddenly rang.

"Mom, I promised to come home to see you today, but the company is having dinner with clients today..." The voice on the other end of the phone was urgent and distant.

Lu Ang saw the expectation on the old lady's face flicker like a candle flame, then forced an understanding smile: "Oh...it's nothing, go ahead with your work."

Before hanging up the phone, she murmured to herself, "Is the microwave still convenient to use? Is there anything I need?" The old man replied, "Nothing is needed."

But when the camera panned across the empty living room behind her, it was clear that the most important thing was missing.

Then came a call from her grandson, who hurriedly said he wanted to go to the amusement park. The old lady had barely uttered a single "uh" when the call was disconnected.

Lu Ang noticed that the old man's hand holding the receiver was trembling slightly, and his mumbling was particularly jarring in the quiet room.

This reminded him of the last time he answered his mother's phone call, when he used the same tone to say, "I'm working overtime, I'll hang up now."

The third phone call hurt him the most.

Amidst the background noise, her daughter's voice said, "Mom, how was the movie at the home theater? I'm going to my bodybuilding class and I'm not coming home today."

The old lady put down the phone, her hunched back slowly turning towards the dining table, where a sumptuous meal lay untouched.

Her sigh fell into Lü Ang's heart like a feather.

"Busy, everyone's busy. Sigh, it's good to be busy!"

This sentence was like a key, quietly unlocking the floodgates of his memory.

Lu Ang recalled that when he left home last year, his mother repeatedly told him at the train station: "Don't be too frugal when you're away from home, eat when you should."

But he could clearly see that the cuffs of her sweater were already frayed...

When she shouted "Don't keep running back if you're busy" to the slowly starting bus, what was hidden under her scarf was actually a hesitant expectation.

The television screen switched to late at night, and the old lady sat alone on the sofa. The television screen flickered with static, but she stared blankly at the family photo.

The camera finally focuses on that yellowed photograph, and the advertising slogan quietly emerges: "Don't let your parents feel lonely, go home and visit them often."

In that instant, Lü Ang felt a pang of pain. He recalled his mother's lonely figure when he returned home early, and also remembered the smile that instantly appeared on her face when she saw him.

"I want to go home!"

He considered himself to be fairly indifferent, but he never expected to be so easily swayed by a one-minute advertisement. Who was behind this?
Lu Ang subconsciously glanced at the credits at the end of the advertisement. The first thing he saw was the CCTV logo, but the name listed as screenwriter was one he had never expected.

"Yu Wei?"

When did he start working for the system...?

Lü Ang doesn't usually go online much, but these past few days, with the Spring Festival approaching, Yu Wei's image has been everywhere. When he goes out, good luck is everywhere, and his colleagues are also talking about his Spring Festival Gala appearance.

Being on the Spring Festival Gala is one thing, but now they're getting involved in public service announcements too. They're definitely part of the group, right?

Why are you everywhere? (End of Chapter)