The combined Li Xingyu's twenty-second birthday party and "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" crew's wrap party concluded successfully amid laughter and joy. The organizer, Shao Yichen, and the lead actor, Li Xingyu, were very satisfied with the event and praised the crew mbers for their fresh spirit shown during the celebration. Under the careful guidance of the organizer's superiors, they believed the film crew would continue to forge ahead on their performance journey, constantly innovating and creating more brilliant achievents...
In short, everyone was generally satisfied.
As for the matter between Shao Yichen and Li Xingyu, it remained to be resolved after the film's box office results were settled—but those in the crew who knew the two well keenly sensed that their relationship seed to have undergone a subtle developnt.
Regardless, this was sothing everyone was happy to see.
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With filming completed, post-production was all that remained.
Previously, post-production was primarily handled by Jiang Miaomiao, but this ti, due to the need for extensive special effects, this part of the work was outsourced to an external team... with a little optimization from the system.
After all, it would be a waste not to use an advanced technology like the film system that transcended the tis. The only problem was that the system pursued perfection too rigorously—if all special effects were left to the system, it might take several years, and the film would never be released. Furthermore, the system would only operate strictly according to the required effects without any creative thinking of its own. Therefore, Shao Yichen only brought out this trump card when necessary.
With the film system's assistance, the difficulties encountered by the outsourced team during production were minimal—after all, if they faced technical challenges beyond their capabilities, they only needed to report to Shao Yichen, and within three days at most, she would definitely provide a completed version from a mysterious external source, with effects even better than what they were aiming for.
Under these circumstances, post-production progressed rapidly. The entire process could be completed in less than six months, perhaps even in three months.
During this period, other mbers of the film crew weren't idle. They were busy promoting the film while constantly monitoring Fu Lianghui's activities.
After all, Shao Yichen hadn't forgotten that this film was made to compete with Fu Lianghui's TV drama! She had given strict orders that they must release simultaneously!
So the film crew waited and waited, and finally, more than a month after the film wrapped, they received news about the TV version of "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons."
—The TV version of "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" was scheduled for Banana TV's sumr pri ti slot, with the online version simultaneously launching on Liming Video Platform, officially eting audiences in three months!
This release ti was much earlier than the film crew's publicity team had anticipated.
After all, "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" was a cultivation fantasy piece requiring special effects. To present the best quality, the film version had already discussed the style and direction of special effects with the effects team before filming was even completed, and Shao Yichen had also hired a "mysterious external consultant" to help the effects team handle technical challenges. But even so, to achieve high fidelity, it would still take nearly six months.
The TV version was even longer than the film version. Even if they could relax the precision of the special effects sowhat, it would take more ti, not less. The TV version was planned to be around forty episodes, and under normal circumstances, it would take at least half a year to achieve good results.
But now, the TV version was set to go online in just three months—based on Fu Lianghui's schedule, the TV drama had wrapped less than a week ago!
What was the TV team thinking? Had they also mastered core technology? Were they treating special effects production like selling cabbage, dumping them at ten cents per pound?
This news was truly unexpected. Li Qianqian considered it carefully before decisively deciding that she should consult Shao Yichen.
What should they do? The TV version had announced their release date so suddenly—should they still compete with them?
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While Shao Yichen's side found the TV drama's release date announcent sudden, a significant portion of the TV version's cast also thought it was abrupt.
Especially the special effects team, who were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.
"What's going on!" The special effects supervisor, who had worked with the director for quite so ti, was so angry that he called the director to vent. "I'm telling you, it's absolutely impossible to complete special effects for a forty-episode TV drama in just three months! Even if you doubled the ti, we'd still be rushing to finish! Did you have a brain when you set this schedule?!"
The director wore a bitter expression and couldn't offer any good explanation as he tried to appease the special effects supervisor.
Did he not understand the reality that the special effects couldn't be completed in ti? Of course he did!
But he had no choice!
On one hand, sothing had gone wrong with Liming Video Platform's operations, and they couldn't even pay salaries now, looking like they were about to close down! Logically, with backing from Liming Group, such a large corporation should prevent these problems, but for so reason, Liming Group seed to be abandoning the video platform, offering no support at all!
The video platform, having no alternatives, ordered the director to quickly put "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons," their so-called big IP drama, on the platform as soon as possible, hoping to rely on Fu Lianghui's popularity and the IP's built-in fan base to harvest a wave of views and mberships to slightly alleviate the platform's crisis—otherwise, their salaries for these months of filming would suffer along with the platform!
The director had no choice in the matter.
Moreover, they hadn't forgotten that "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" also had a film version being shot simultaneously! If they delayed for half a year, the film version might set its release date before them, and at that point, they would be in an even more passive position.
Rather than waiting, they decided to announce the release date ahead of the film. Although they sacrificed so special effects precision, they gained the initiative, and the impact from the film would be significantly reduced.
Thinking of this, the director felt slightly comforted. He worked hard to reassure the special effects supervisor on the phone: "We still have three months, plus with forty episodes of the TV drama broadcasting only two episodes per day, that gives us another twenty days, right? Altogether it's about four months, which isn't too little! Just bear with it, keep a closer eye on things, ignore so small details if necessary, add special effects only where absolutely needed, and just make it look acceptable!"
After much persuasion, he finally managed to appease the special effects supervisor. The director heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that next ti, no matter how much money soone offered, he would never again take on a job replacing a director at the last minute! Not only were salaries not being paid, but he could also end up with a heap of trouble out of nowhere.
That's right, this director position was originally reserved for Li Qiaoqiao and was urgently given to him after Li Qiaoqiao's plagiarism scandal broke. His previous web films had also been broadcast on Liming Video Platform, and owing the platform a favor, he had agreed, never imagining it would bring so many problems!
Fortunately, he had now temporarily resolved the issues.
The director had just breathed a sigh of relief and hadn't relaxed for long when he suddenly received another call. He looked down and saw it was Fu Lianghui's agent.
He had absolutely no fondness for Fu Lianghui. Not only did the man lack acting skills, but he was also accustod to playing the prima donna on set, looking down on everyone, and constantly trying to make advances on female staff mbers. The director had clashed with him nurous tis over these issues, but fortunately, he hadn't caused any major problems on set.
He initially didn't want to answer the call, but worried it might be important news, such as Fu Lianghui suddenly refusing to participate in the TV drama's publicity events—which wouldn't be unprecedented—and not answering would put him in a passive position.
After consideration, he reluctantly frowned and pressed the answer button.
"Hello, what is it—"
Before he could finish, he heard the anxious voice of Fu Lianghui's agent on the other end.
"Director, have you seen the latest announcent from the official Weibo account of the film version of 'The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons'?"
The director's heart sank: "Not yet. I'm as busy as a spinning top, with one call after another. When would I have ti to check Weibo?"
As he spoke, he thought to himself: No way? Could the film version also...?
The agent's next words confird his suspicions: "The film version has also announced its release date! It's scheduled to premiere just one week after our broadcast begins! And advance screenings start a week before that, with the first screening falling exactly on the day our TV version's first episode airs!"
"It seems this film version is determined to ride on our TV drama's popularity all the way!"
Hearing this, the director gave a bitter smile but said nothing.
Given the current situation, it wasn't clear who was riding whose popularity.
After all, in the month since the film version wrapped, the usually elusive film's male lead, Li Xingyu, had taken a position as a regular guest on a mystery-solving variety show, gaining screen ti for over three hours every week in a fixed program, rapidly increasing his fan base. Not only that, but his performance on the show was remarkably impressive. Though he didn't talk much, his deductions almost always hit the mark, and he collaborated well with veteran guests, even joking around comfortably, winning over many casual viewers.
Moreover, he had acted contrary to his usual self, seizing every opportunity to promote his new film...
In the most recently aired episode, the film's director, Shao Yichen, had been invited to participate. Surprisingly, Shao Yichen's appearance didn't look out of place among the idols on the show. Although her performance initially seed neither impressive nor lacking, the revelation at the end of the program that she was the murderer shocked everyone, with only Li Xingyu correctly identifying her among all the guests.
After this twist, viewers rewatched the program to find clues, finally realizing that Shao Yichen had been subtly guiding the direction of the investigation. They marveled, "As expected of a genius director," indirectly giving her upcoming film advance promotion.
Under this dual offensive, just last week, the official Weibo account of the film version of "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" officially surpassed the TV version in followers.
From his perspective, this series of actions by the film version, rather than riding on popularity, seed more like directly competing with the TV version—they were openly conveying this ssage: We want to compare, we want everyone to see which is better, the film version or the TV version!
Comparing films and TV dramas overall might yield uncertain results, but the TV director felt that, at least in terms of acting, his side probably couldn't compete with theirs.
Thinking of this, an ominous premonition ford in his heart.
...Would this TV drama, which he had taken on to rescue the platform, beco a stain on his career path?
Author's Note:
The director regrets his decision.jpg
Thanks to all the little angels who cast emperor tickets or watered with nutrient solution during 2020-10-04 11:29:14~2020-10-05 12:06:49 period~
Thanks to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: 23333 10 bottles; Rice Rice and Kimchi 5 bottles; Dream Purple Little Creek, Little Jing 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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