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

Canon's conference room is very large.

Even though the central heating in Yanjing has been turned off, their air conditioners are still running at full blast.

They look incredibly rich.

Across the table sat Canon's management.

In the middle is the Japanese representative, Mr. Yamada, head of the Imaging Products Marketing Department.

His assistant and a Chinese marketing manager sat on either side of him, with a translator behind them.

Yamada looked every bit the old-fashioned executive from Japan, impeccably dressed in a suit, his hair neatly combed.

Right now, he's frowning and has a stern face.

It was clear that Ogilvy's proposal had not completely satisfied him.

When Zhang Qiang and the others came in, they simply nodded slightly.

Although they were able to submit their proposal thanks to Zhang Qiang's connections, the key was that Yamada himself made the proposal, which was not limited to cooperation with the internationally renowned GG company.

In fact, Yamada didn't have high hopes for this small local company at all; he just wanted to dampen the appetites of the 4A agencies.

"Ogilvy's proposal is very comprehensive. If you don't have any groundbreaking ideas, I suggest you get straight to the point. You only have twenty minutes."

The Chinese manager glanced at his watch and said in a businesslike manner:

"You only have twenty minutes."

You're very impolite.

Wang Hao was already nervous, and Huang Jiawei's antics had already made him a bit overwhelmed. Now, with the client pressing him, his palms were sweating profusely.

He hurriedly connected the projector and opened the PowerPoint presentation.

"Well, uh, good morning, the theme of our proposal is... it's 'Emotions Remain'..."

"This slogan has been used for five years!"

Yamada suddenly spoke, his Japanese, delivered through the translator, was completely flat: "If there's nothing new, there's no need to waste time."

Wang Hao's head suddenly went "buzz".

Zhang Qiang also panicked and became anxious, but he was not as good as Wang Hao at making proposals.

Just as the situation was about to collapse, the Chinese manager was already preparing to get up and see the guests off.

With a "snap".

Li Yan closed the notebook in front of Wang Hao and stood up.

The meeting room fell silent instantly.

All eyes were on the young man sitting to the side, who was jokingly referred to as a "male model".

Li Yan remained calm, bypassed Wang Hao, unplugged the HDMI cable, plugged it into another computer, and spoke casually:

"Mr. Yamada, PPTs are for people like those at Ogilvy who lack ambition and need to use fancy words to cover up empty content."

He exuded a powerful aura, staring directly at the person opposite him, taking the initiative from the start.

"As an imaging company, Canon believes that the image is the only true language."

Yamada paused for a moment, then straightened up slightly from his chair.

Arrogant young man!

If he can't get a satisfactory answer, he'll personally kick the person out.

"Let's watch a video first, a video that could change Canon's global market landscape... Please turn off the lights, thank you."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he pressed the space bar.

Turn off the lights.

The projection screen lights up.

There is no sound, no special effects, only pure visuals.

The camera slowly pans in under the early spring sunlight.

Wearing sunglasses, Yang Mi sulked angrily in a corner of the coffee shop. The moment she took off her sunglasses, her expression turned surprised and her eyes sparkled.

The scene then shifts.

It's Ding Xiaoxiao looking back downstairs at Jianwai SOHO, her hair dancing in the backlight, the details clearly visible.

The background is a creamy, blurred mass of people and buildings, with dappled light and shadow.

Extremely shallow depth of field.

Rich colors.

It has a cinematic quality that can only be presented on the big screen!

Yamada's eyes narrowed slightly.

The composition is well-thought-out, the overall quality is average, but the details are layered and the photographer is quite skilled.

Looks like they've gone all out. What kind of machine are they using?

First, we can rule out film cameras. It's a professional camera, and you can still see the difference between it and a film camera in the image.

A new RED? Definitely not.

They can't afford to rent it!

The video is only less than sixty seconds long.

It was very quiet for a minute.

As playback ended, the final frame displayed a line of white text on a black background:

【Shot on Canon EOS 5D Mark II】

(Shot with Canon EOS 5D Mark II)

"What?!?!"

Yamada, who was usually calm and composed and always maintained an unwavering composure, stood up abruptly, the chair scraping sharply against the floor.

He shouted urgently in Japanese:

"This is impossible. We've verified it. How could it possibly produce this kind of depth of field? This kind of dynamic range?!"

The translator almost couldn't keep up with Yamada's words.

The Chinese manager was dumbfounded.

Li Yan calmly took out the "Invincible Rabbit" from his bag, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Yamada.

"Nothing is impossible, Mr. Yamada."

Li Yan leaned forward, placing his hands on the table.

"Is Ogilvy's solution still the same old approach, emphasizing pixels and photography? That's all outdated!"

"The explosion of video websites is obvious to everyone. Overseas, YouTube is the leader, while in China, Sohu and Youku are flourishing."

"If we told the world right now that we could shoot movies with this $20,000 camera, how many people do you think would go crazy for it?"

Shocking!

These words struck Yamada like a bolt of lightning.

Yamada touched the camera in front of him and muttered to himself, "This...this is subversion."

"That's right, a complete upheaval!"

Li Yan pressed her advantage, swapped Wang Hao's computer back, and found the synopsis and marketing plan for "Let Me Stay".

"Besides technology, we also have a story."

"We will invite popular actress Yang Mi to star in it, leveraging the natural appeal of a celebrity's 'boyfriend's perspective' to generate buzz, and then distribute this short film on the domestic internet, especially on social media..."

"This won't just be a GG; it'll be a global trend created specifically for Canon!"

After saying that, Li Yan sat back down in his chair, crossed his legs, and raised an eyebrow at Wang Hao and Zhang Qiang, who were completely stunned.

A long silence fell over the meeting room.

"Slap, slap, slap..."

After a long while, Yamada let out a long breath and led the applause.

He stood up, and bowed deeply to Li Yan.

"Mr. Li, please let us join this trend!"

……

Half an hour later.

The elevator doors had just opened in the 16th-floor elevator lobby.

The Ogilvy team, who hadn't gone far, was preparing to go downstairs.

Zhang Qiang and his two companions walked out of the marketing department carrying computer bags.

Huang Jiawei looked at Wang Hao, whose face was glowing, and smirked: "Hao-zai, you're out so quickly? I knew it, no need to waste time..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the assistant minister behind the three men, all smiles, shaking the "male model's" hand.

"Director Li, rest assured, please don't hesitate to ask for help with equipment and funding. Canon will fully support you! Minister Yamada instructed that you should report directly to him on this project from now on!"

Huang Jiawei's mocking smile froze on his face.

"What's going on?"

As Li Yan passed by him, he paused briefly, turned around, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Teacher Simon, I forgot to tell you earlier that sometimes, spirit is really like a hairline; once it's gone, it can't grow back."

After saying that, he followed Wang Hao and strode into the elevator.

The elevator doors slowly closed.

Outside the door was Huang Jiawei's face, which was gradually turning into a purplish-red...