I really don't want to make bad movies!

"Have you heard? Director Xia is going to participate in the 'Hello Director' live interview, co-hosted by Tencent and iQiyi today."

"Xia Ming? Is he the director of 'Atlantic Rim 2'? Don't let me find out where he's participating, or I'll kill him offline!"

"666 embezzled so much money and still dared to show his face in public. The domestic film and television industry is doomed."

The popularity of Atlantic Rim 2 has never waned.

The development of videos by various bloggers, the ongoing second creation competition, the reports from major media outlets, and the added fuel to the fire by the two celebrity studios have all kept Xia Ming's name in the spotlight.

Ju Jingyi's studio has posted lawyer's letters against Xia Ming online more than once, claiming that Xia Ming has damaged Ju Jingyi's public image.

Wang Yuan's studio also stood up to support Ju Jingyi, with both sides stating that they had been treated unfairly on set.

KIKI never imagined in her life that "Atlantic Rim 2" would become such a hit.

Back then, "Bureau 849" was also a complete disaster, causing a huge uproar online. Wang Junkai and Lu Chuan did not escape the wrath of netizens.

Even though she tried her best to suppress comments and divert attention, she couldn't withstand the overwhelming voices of netizens.

Ultimately, the problem lies in the overdeveloped culture of fan-created content in the current online environment.

On just one platform, Atlantic Rim 2, the game has already garnered over 100 million views.

The number of videos featuring吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical commentary) has already exceeded 100,000.

Who wouldn't want to ride the wave of popularity?

Unsuspecting passersby who come across the video will always see Ju Jingyi and Wang Yuan's ugly behavior in the drama first.

Those who are truly interested will try to understand the story behind the film and find out who the real scourge of the production team and the film industry is.

Those who are not interested will simply scroll to the next video, but the negative images of Ju Jingyi and Wang Yuan will be firmly etched in their minds.

Regardless of the final outcome, whether Xia Ming is punished or not, Ju Jingyi and Wang Yuan will have to bear the brunt of this massive undercurrent.

Therefore, KIKI hates Sun and Moon Commentary even more, and hates Xia Ming, the instigator of it all.

She didn't earn a penny on set, and even had to pay tens of millions in public relations expenses.

"KIKI, I heard online that Xia Ming is going to participate in a public interview to talk about the crew of 'Atlantic Rim 2'."

The young people in the studio rushed up to KIKI, holding their tablets.

"Does she still dare to show her face in public?"

KIKI looked doubtful and took the tablet from his hand in disbelief.

The interview can be seen on the official Weibo accounts and main websites of Tencent Video and iQiyi Video, and even in the WeChat Moments of Tencent's two social media platforms.

KIKI angrily threw the tablet aside: "You lackeys of capital!"

She knew that Xia Ming had made a lot of money for several platforms, so the platforms were happy to promote him.

Regardless of whether Xia Ming can provide any useful information, both platforms can still generate a lot of traffic.

"Sis, he didn't actually come prepared, did he?"

KIKI glared at him and pinched his chin: "Go buy me public relations now, hire online trolls, and do the opposite of whatever Xia Ming says."

"Have someone dig up dirt on Xia Ming from the past, and then find some scandalous news about Wang Yuan to extinguish the hype surrounding this matter!"

"Go quickly!"

KIKI shouted angrily, and after he left the studio, she paced anxiously around the studio by herself.

The high heels clicked crisply on the high-quality hardwood floor.

Hearing the sounds coming from the tablet, KIKI couldn't resist. She walked to the sofa, bit her nail polish, and picked up the tablet.

Meanwhile, like her, members of Wang Yuan's studio, Chen Kun, Jiang Wen, Xie Fei, and countless others who had previously worked with Xia Ming were also present before the show.

They all wanted to know why Xia Ming, such a gifted young talent, had made such a groundbreaking film as "Atlantic Rim 2".

Besides these industry professionals, there are millions of onlookers and even more uninformed passersby who were drawn to the program by Tencent's massive promotional campaign.

This interview not only gave Xia Ming a chance to clarify things, but it was also an opportunity for Tencent to promote its own young directors.

He Junyan has already begun planning the initial stages of X Theater, selecting several outstanding directors from Tencent's young director program, intending to leverage the popularity of this interview for extensive promotion.

……

The interview took place as scheduled.

In a modern studio set up by two video platforms, a fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged host sat in front of the camera, chatting with a young director beside her.

This director is the director of Tencent's S-level web series released at the beginning of the year. He participated in the interview to promote his series.

The host asked about everything from project initiation to long-term planning, from the script to filming techniques, covering everything.

The atmosphere in the studio was calm and unhurried, but the comments section was already buzzing with excitement.

[Hurry up! Who's here to see this director? We want to see Xia Ming!]

[Summer Dog, come out and face your death! I went to the movies with my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, and she still hasn't replied to my messages!]

[Restore Ju Jingyi's innocence! Restore Ju Jingyi's innocence! Restore Ju Jingyi's innocence! Restore Ju Jingyi's innocence...]

When will "The Swindlers 2" be released? When will "The Swindlers 2" be released? When will "The Swindlers 2" be released?

The host was talking to himself, and the comments were also talking to themselves, making the entire live stream completely uninterrupted.

He Junyan and Huang Xuke stood backstage, both watching the data feed simultaneously.

"Wow, 2.6 million for the same job! Director Xia is a real star!" Huang Xuke exclaimed.

He Junyan smiled and nodded, recalling the data from the first interview: "When Director Xia first came to our site for an interview, it seems there were only 160,000 people online at the same time."

"It's settled then, we kiwifruit are going to GG first."

He Junyan looked indifferent and raised his hand, saying, "Go ahead and insert it."

Huang Xuke indicated the connection of the central control missile, and the web series GG from iQiyi immediately appeared in the lower right corner of the live broadcast room.

Huang Xuke felt a strange feeling. It was quite a strange experience to be giving up on his own web series in Tencent's live broadcast room.

Seeing the screen filled with comments urging Xia Ming to appear, He Junyan couldn't help but laugh and said, "Director Xia is truly a genius for being able to provoke such widespread public outrage across the internet."

"That's right. With such a huge amount of negative public opinion, what platform would dare to accept his work?" Huang Xuke nodded in agreement.

He Junyan was silent for a moment, then snorted and said, "We at Tengzi have been criticized a lot, but we're a perfect match with Director Xia."

The two executives appeared to be chatting casually, but in reality, they were both plotting how to get their hands on Xia Ming's "The Swindler 2".

"Mr. Huang, we've been reported 30,000 times in less than 20 minutes of live streaming."

Huang Xuke was speechless: "You're crazy, why would you report us?"

Zhongkong expressed its helplessness: "I don't know. A lot of level-one accounts are filing complaints, citing false advertising as the reason. They probably all want to see Xia Ming appear, right?"

He Junyan lit a cigarette and walked out from backstage: "Never mind, keep streaming. I've registered with the cybersecurity department."

The live stream continued, with one director after another taking to the stage to share their creative insights.

The number of viewers in the live stream did not decrease but increased, gradually exceeding three million.

Everyone just wants to see Xia Ming on the field!

When will you arrive at Director Xia's place? When will you arrive at Director Xia's place? When will you arrive at Director Xia's place?

I demand an explanation from Director Xia!

Director Xia, stop ruining the film industry and focus on making good web series!

The originally diverse and varied comments gradually became more unified, and more and more people began to look forward to Xia Ming's appearance.

The number of viewers in the live stream is still increasing!

Three and a half million!

Four million!

Five million!

Fortunately, Tencent's cloud servers were powerful enough that the live stream, which was watched by five million people simultaneously, ran without any lag.

The host held a tablet in his hand, chatting with the director across from him while watching the live comments.

But after watching for a long time, she couldn't read a single comment.

With millions of people chanting Xia Ming's name in unison, how is she supposed to read the questions in the live chat?

The host asked a few pre-prepared questions, finally managing to get five minutes of interview time for each director.

"I see many viewers in the live chat are looking forward to Director Xia's appearance. The live stream has been going on for an hour, so let's have a small giveaway first. Director Xia will be appearing soon."

[What a load of crap! Five million people can't possibly pick on me, can they? Let's get Director Xia!!!]

Don't waste your time!! My boss is coming!

【Summer Dog, I'll take your life!!!】

The host, relying on his professionalism, forced himself to keep a straight face and stood in front of the spinning wheel to draw prizes, his lips pursed.

After the raffle, she finally returned to the interview table and began clapping to herself: "Now, let's welcome the last young director of 'Hello Director,' Xia Ming, Director Xia!!"

The live chat exploded instantly!

The already dense barrage of comments exploded as soon as the host finished speaking, layering up and overflowing the entire screen!

Huang Xuke glanced at the data; the number of viewers in the live stream was still soaring!

Seven million!

Nine million!

Breaking 10 million!

Both platforms can make a fortune from this one live stream!

Amidst the calls of millions of netizens, Xia Ming finally emerged from behind the backdrop and sat down opposite the host.

"Hello, Director Xia."

"Hello, host."

The host smiled and nodded, reading a few polite remarks from the script before getting straight to the point: "Raging Pacific 2 is the most pressing question online right now. How much did you actually spend making it?"

Xia Ming smiled at the camera and made the number eight with his hand: "Eighty million."

[Eighty million ghost money?]

[Director Xia embezzled at least 69 million out of 80 million]

With such a large budget, why should Ju Jingyi work for free? The true face of capitalism!

The host expressed surprise: "Netizens are all curious about where you mainly spent your budget?"

Xia Ming replied, "It's mainly special effects production. As everyone knows, the level of special effects in China is slightly behind that of foreign countries. We have always been engaged in the outsourcing industry and have not had contact with the top special effects production for a long time."

[This is hilarious! Wang Yuan is wearing thermal underwear and calling it armor, and he's driving a Wuling van like a spaceship. And you're telling me the money was spent on special effects?]

[If I'd known special effects were this lucrative, why would I have studied mechanical and electrical engineering? I'd switch majors now!]

Now I know why domestic special effects have always lagged behind foreign ones—because Director Xia has been profiting immensely from us!

Following the questions rehearsed, the host continued, "Since the main expense of this film was special effects, could you elaborate?"

Xia Ming opened the laptop that had been prepared in advance on the interview table, plugged in the adapter cable, and the content on the computer was immediately projected onto the large screen on the backdrop behind him.

"Of course, that's also the main reason I'm here for this interview."

Xia Ming opened MAYA, and after a period of loading, a giant robot with three heads and six arms, consisting of tens of thousands of joints, appeared on the screen.

"This is the mech that our special effects team spent a month creating. It's called 'Zhenyue Mingwang' and was the original mech design for 'Atlantic Rim 2'."

Even the host was stunned by these words.

She remembered that the Jaeger in Atlantic Rim 2 was a yellow noodle man, which looked a lot like the swaying balloon man that people like to put out in front of shopping malls in small towns.

This ultra-precise robot is clearly a product of a different era.

"Then, then..."

Just as the host was about to speak, his eyes caught a comment in the live stream chat.

She thought it would generate a lot of buzz, so she read it aloud: "Is this the model you rushed to make these past few days to deal with public opinion? What does it have to do with the movie?"

Xia Ming had anticipated this, so he switched back to the desktop and opened ZB, MARI, RM, BLENDER, and UE5.

From the white model of the mecha to joint positioning, coloring and polishing, material processing, and finally rendering, every step of the process was showcased until the mecha was completed.

"I don't know if any of the people watching the live stream are animation students, but they should be able to tell that a model of this precision cannot be completed in just a few days."

"Moreover, I have the complete film."

Xia Ming closed all software and opened a video.

The video is only thirty seconds long and shows the mech being assembled in a human base.

From the completeness of the visuals to the sophistication of the special effects, and even the sound effects are perfectly crafted, it's like a complete science fiction movie clip!

[Huh? Are these special effects for real? They're comparable to those in Hollywood movies I've watched.]

[No way, tens of millions were spent on a 30-second clip? Is Xia Gou treating me like an idiot?]

[This mecha is really cool, but why did I see the Ultimate Mega Hornet in the movie theater?]

As Xia Ming released the special effects clip, arguments began to erupt in the comments section.

The host blinked, and while crossing his legs again, glanced at the live chat: "Director Xia, is this the only special effects you produced for this movie?"

Xia Ming opened another video, took a screenshot of the progress bar, and then displayed it on the big screen.

Everyone can clearly see that it is a 38-minute video!

"No, I did 38 minutes of special effects, which cost an average of 30,000 yuan per second. This is all my hard work, and it is also a love letter I prepared to give to all Pacific Rim fans."

[Classic love letters, show me how awesome they are!]

[Thirty-eight minutes, 30,000 per second, over 60 million? Was the entire budget used for special effects?]

[Play play play play play!]

Xia Ming smiled and shook his head, pointing to the bottom right corner of the screen: "Soon this special effects video will be available to everyone. You can click the link below or go directly to the iQiyi website to watch it. It's the director's cut of 'Atlantic Rim 2'."

This made Huang Xuke clench his fist and cheer, while He Junyan gritted his teeth in envy.

The host steered the conversation: "We all know that the main selling point of Atlantic Rim 2 is its special effects. If this scene could be included, I believe its reputation would be much better."

[You still say it wasn't intentionally targeting Ju Jingyi? Why not use the good special effects in the main drama?]

[Wang Yuan is incredibly unlucky to have a director like you! All the money is spent on fulfilling his own special effects dreams; what's the point of making amazing special effects anyway!]

I want to see mecha! I want to see mecha!

The host put down his script, clasped his hands together, and asked with a smile, "Many fans of Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi want to know why you didn't include this special effect in the main drama?"

Xia Ming shook his head and smiled at the camera: "It's simple, because Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi are not worthy."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire live stream room erupted in excitement!