novellhall Chapter 52: Starting to Go Viral
Chapter 52: Starting to Go Viral
The post on Tianya went viral for three days.
The number of comments under Li Hua's "insider information" post has exceeded 50,000.
Forums at Beijing Film Academy and many other universities are also being held simultaneously.
The two blurry screenshots taken by the "underachiever in the directing department" were forwarded to a bunch of BBS forums such as Mop and Xici Hutong, and people argued about them everywhere.
Some say it was staged to lure people in, others say it's solid evidence that's backfiring, and still others have started a poll:
What are the chances that a top-scoring student in the national college entrance examination will make a bad film as their debut?
Of the more than 3,000 people who voted, nearly 70% chose "more than 80%".
Wei Yi would glance at it every day before continuing to arrange the publicity work.
He was quite satisfied with the ratio.
The more people criticize, the more likely the situation will turn around.
On the afternoon of the third day, Li Hua received a phone call.
The caller was an editor from Sina Entertainment's film and television section, surnamed Liu, named Liu Yang, who had been working in the film and television industry for almost ten years.
Li Hua actually knew this person; they had met twice before and exchanged business cards.
"Brother Li, was that post on Tianya yours?" Liu Yang asked bluntly.
Li Hua was watching TV in his living room, holding a teacup, when he heard this and paused. "What post?"
"Insider news: The debut film of the top scorer in the Beijing Film Academy entrance exam may flop," reads a post by someone online named "Making a living in the industry."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Brother Li, stop pretending. Your own reply gave you away. You're an insider, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, you worked on 'Towards the Republic' and 'The Great Earthquake,' and now you're on one of Zhang Yi's film crews. Isn't that you?"
Li Hua cursed under his breath.
He knew he might be exposed, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
"What do you want to do by making this call?" Li Hua neither admitted nor denied it.
"Of course it's an interview. Brother Li, your post is the hottest film and television topic on the entire internet right now. We at Sina are going to publish a report, and we're just missing an 'unnamed industry insider' to say a few words."
Liu Yang: "Don't worry, I won't write your name. I'll just say 'a senior assistant director who participated in the filming of this movie'."
"I can't say too much."
"No need to say too much. Just say what's in the post. I just need to confirm that this information is true, and then we'll help you with the packaging."
Li Hua's mind raced.
Wei Yi's task for him was to release information online.
Now that Sina has taken the initiative to reach out, the effect is a hundred times greater than if it had gone viral on Tianya.
No matter how much trouble Tianya causes, it's still just a BBS.
Sina Entertainment is a portal website that reaches a nationwide readership.
"Wait a moment." After saying that, Li Hua put the phone face down on the sofa and dialed Wei Yi on the landline.
After listening, Wei Yi said, "Agree to it. Be ambiguous, nine parts true and one part false, just like the letter."
"He knew it was me."
"That would be even better. If he knows it's you, he'll believe the news is true. Because you're the real person, not an alias. He might think he's uncovered a major scoop, but he's just using you as a mouthpiece for us."
When Li Hua picked up his phone again, there was even a hint of helplessness in his tone.
This helplessness wasn't feigned; he genuinely cared about Wei Yi.
"Liu Yang, I can talk to you for a bit, but you can't record this or write my name."
"rest assured."
"Well, the cast of Wei Yi's film is indeed impressive, and both Beijing Film Academy and China Film Group are supporting it, that's true. But during the few days I was there, the atmosphere on set wasn't ideal. He's too young, only eighteen, and he hasn't even finished his first year of university. Sometimes the actors didn't quite understand his ideas."
"I've seen some of the footage, and... well, it might be a bit different from what I expected. But I'm not the director; I was just there to help out. I haven't seen the final product."
"So you mean the outlook isn't very optimistic?"
"I didn't say that. I just said what I saw. Besides, the selling point of this film might not even be the movie itself, right? He's the top scorer in the college entrance exam, the only one in the whole country. That title alone is worth ten million in box office revenue, isn't it? The content isn't that important."
"Understood."
Liu Yang's voice was filled with satisfaction, like a hunter hearing his prey step into a trap. "Brother Li, thanks. I'll treat you to drinks later."
At 8 p.m. that evening.
Sina Entertainment's homepage featured a bold, red headline with the words "Exclusive" prominently displayed.
Exclusive: The directorial debut of top-scoring college entrance exam student Wei Yi is showing promise, but industry insiders reveal the situation is "not optimistic."
The report's lead directly quoted an "unnamed industry insider" as its opening statement.
Then spread it out layer by layer:
First, a brief recap of who Wei Yi is: a perfect score on the college entrance exam, rejection of Tsinghua and Peking Universities, attracting Anna Wintour with a set of photos, and causing LV to postpone its fashion show for him—a long list of accolades.
Then, the author shifts focus, saying that this debut film has been kept secret since filming began, and the occasional leaked clips have been verified from various sources to be from the film's source material.
Then came the sentence, "Our reporter had an exclusive interview with a senior assistant director who had participated in the filming of the movie."
The person repackaged Li Hua's words: "The person admitted that the situation on set was not ideal, and the director's age and experience became a bottleneck in communication."
The accompanying picture is a rather unflattering still from the show, showing Baoqiang with flour smeared on his face.
It was shot by Wei Yi, but I chose it because it looks the most like a bad movie.
The caption reads: Footage from the set of "One Shot," showing the actors' performances, which have been the subject of much controversy.
The report also included a section of "background information".
It lists several recent examples of box office failures of new directors' debut films.
Each one of them flopped in its own unique way.
Finally, a section on the controversy surrounding Wei Yi's reading of the Beijing Film Academy was added.
Many people questioned his decision to give up Tsinghua and Peking Universities to study at an art school.
In retrospect, such doubts may not be without merit.
The article concludes with a seemingly objective but actually definitive statement: "Let's wait and see how this controversial debut turns out."
Wei Yi read the report online.
Not a single word was missed from beginning to end.
Then he leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling, and laughed.
Okay, very good. He originally only intended to stir up some trouble online and generate some buzz.
Unexpectedly, Sina directly boiled the water.
The better the report is written and the wider it is disseminated, the more firmly the impression of a "bad movie" will be ingrained in the minds of the audience.
The stronger the impression, the more explosive the effect of the reversal.
An hour later, Tian Erzhuang called.
"Wei Yi! Sina Entertainment also reported it! Did you arrange that too?!"
"No, they came to us on their own."
Tian Erzhuang was silent for a while on the other end, then said in a tone as if he were looking at a monster, "You hired people to smear you, and after they smeared you, the portal websites even chased after you to help them smear you. Tell me, did your perfect score on the college entrance exam even come of any use?"
"Teacher, a perfect score on the college entrance exam is in science."
"Get lost."