HuaYu: A Great Director Starting with Dream of the Red Chamber

"This lousy place really needs to be replaced."

When Li Yan climbed out of the hard bed in the rented room, his whole body ached.

Those long nights working on post-production left him physically and mentally exhausted.

Last night, the neighbors were shouting until the wee hours...

Standing in front of the sink, looking at the dark circles under the actors' eyes that even the actors' faces couldn't hide in the mirror, the urge to move became particularly strong.

"How about we just buy a house?"

Buying a house now is not a bad idea, but the 200,000 yuan I have seems to be only enough for a down payment. The problem is that they don't offer loans in this industry!

Upon receiving the first final payment, his senior brother transferred a bonus of 200,000 yuan to him.

This was the first time in his life he had ever received a "director's fee".

Zhang Qiang is very generous; he gave far more than his peers would.

However, they still can't compare to film directors.

"Let's make enough money first and start making the movie as soon as possible."

……

Around ten o'clock, Li Yan strolled into Jianwai's office.

As soon as I entered, I sensed that something was off about the atmosphere.

They were all so excited when they received their bonuses a couple of days ago, like it was New Year's. But now they're all so listless, and I can't even hear Ding Xiaoxiao's chattering voice.

He tiptoed to Xiaoxiao's side and mouthed, "What's wrong?"

Ding Xiaoxiao shook her head, pouted, and pointed to the conference room door.

Li Yan pushed open the conference room door, and a wave of smoke rushed out, making him cough.

"You're here? Have a seat."

Seeing him come in, Zhang Qiang forced a smile and pointed to the empty seat next to him:

"Good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

Li Yan glanced around; the mood among the people was not very high.

"Let's hear the bad news first. Surely the taxes won't come knocking right after we get our bonuses?"

Wang Hao gave a wry smile and continued the conversation:

"Canon's global marketing department has suddenly released a promotional video called 'A Journey Through Light and Shadow,' produced by... Ogilvy New York."

Li Yan realized that there might be a problem with Canon, but he didn't expect it to be Ogilvy.

This thing can beat up the young and then the old?

"You should know what being parachuted in means," Wang Hao sighed.

"Our media placement plans have all been cut. Prime time slots on CCTV and satellite TV, and homepage splash screens on portal websites are all gone."

Li Yong and Zhou Pangzi were also very disappointed. They worked so hard on the film, but they didn't even get a chance to show their faces. It felt like all their efforts were wasted.

Although Li Yan did not place his bets on television media in his plan.

The promised resources changed right before they were released, which is a bit unfair.

Excessive!

He frowned and asked, "And the good news?"

Zhang Qiang stubbed out his cigarette.

"The good news is that Yamada withstood the pressure and protected our project, so theoretically, we will continue to invest, but at most we will only invest in some scraps."

The meeting room was filled with sighs and groans.

You finally won, but then the two bosses hooked up and stopped playing with you.

Just fucked up!

Li Yan didn't offer an opinion for the time being, but smiled and said, "Let's watch their film first."

Playback begins, and the projection screen lights up.

It must be said that Ogilvy New York really went all out.

Snow-capped Alps, sunsets over the African savanna, and blonde, blue-eyed supermodels.

It's obvious they're using a professional team and top-of-the-line equipment.

The composition, lighting, and colors are impeccable; every frame could be a wallpaper.

However, Li Yan watched for less than twenty seconds before raising his hand to signal Wang Hao to turn it off.

"It's off?" Wang Hao was a little confused.

"Hmm, typical assembly line product, industrial waste!"

Li Yan shrugged. "You can tell from the beginning that this is the kind of movie that says, 'I'm here to raise your standards of aesthetics.'"

The people present looked at each other, somewhat unconvinced.

They can't be blamed for this.

Having spent a long time in the gay community, Wang Hao and his friends still believe that traditional media is the way to go.

It was only 09, and even multinational corporations hadn't yet realized the dissemination effect of new media.

Procter & Gamble has a budget of over 10 billion yuan in China every year, the vast majority of which is spent on television media.

Canon has now cut the TV airing of "Let Me Stay".

In Wang Hao's eyes, it was undoubtedly a fatal blow to a major artery.

Li Yan tapped the table, and everyone looked at him.

"I never intended to go head-to-head with them in traditional media from the beginning."

"TV, we're just a small business, we can't afford their money-burning approach. The meager amount Canon gives us, how many channels can we even get?"

"We can only take the unorthodox approach, using the internet, doing things they look down on and don't understand!"

……

In 09, the internet had no traffic redirection, no censorship, and not so many rules and regulations.

If your title is catchy enough and your content is compelling enough, it's almost inevitable that you'll go viral across the internet.

The office is back in operation.

Zhang Qiang's executive chair has now become Ding Xiaoxiao's throne.

On the monitor, more than a dozen QQ groups were open at the same time, all of which were the results of her work in the past few days.

"Director, how should we send it?"

Ding Xiaoxiao pushed up her non-prescription glasses, looking eager to try.

"Learn from this, and you can do it yourself later."

Li Yan stood behind her, cleared his throat, and gave instructions:

"On Mop and Tianya, there are the most perverts and gossips. You could write a headline like, '818: The Mysterious Man Behind Yang Mi, Would He Dare to Release This Kind of Video?!'"

Ding Xiaoxiao's lips twitched, and she stopped what she was doing:

"Director, Sister Honey will definitely beat you to death... really!"

"I'll post it first and then we'll talk about it later." Li Yan wasn't intimidated at all.

"Let's make Hummingbird and Xitek, the gathering places for veteran photographers, tear them apart and write articles like 'Get the evidence! You're telling me this movie's picture quality was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II?!'"

"As for those innocent little things like Renren and Kaixin... well, college students, you should write something like, 'Breaking News! Private Video of Yang Mi, 'Xuejian' from Legend of Sword and Fairy 3, Leaked! Who is this guy?'"

Ding Xiaoxiao's temples throbbed as she listened:

"Director, you need to testify that this has nothing to do with me..."

Li Yan waved his hand, his tone unconvincing despite his lack of conviction:

"Remember, the content of your posts should be diverse; you can't just post one-sided praise."

Someone exclaimed: "Wow, Yang Mi is so beautiful!"

Someone has to reply: Who is this man? Get out of my way, let go of my wife!

Some people say: This was definitely not taken with a camera, it must have been taken with a movie camera!

Someone has to pretend to be a professional: Look at that depth of field, it really looks like it was taken with a 5D2 and a red-ring lens!

There needs to be someone else to refute this.

"Understand?"

Ding Xiaoxiao was completely mesmerized this time, nodding repeatedly:

"Isn't this just a fight? I'm familiar with that..."

She's incredibly good at this!

……

Canon's promotional campaign has officially begun.

The prime-time program "A Journey Through Light and Shadow" began its relentless barrage of announcements.

With its beautiful visuals and frequent broadcasts, it was everywhere for a time.

Ogilvy China's office.

Huang Jiawei patted the CCTV-Sofres ratings report that his assistant had just brought him, beaming with pride:

"See that? This is a real brand! Those bumpkins are no good."

He glanced again at the 15-second edited version of "Let Me Stay" at the very bottom of the report and sneered:

"This cheap stuff only deserves to stay down there. That old devil Yamada has really lost his mind!"