This director needs to apologize

Chapter 378: Innovation cannot be underestimated
Da Zhuang originally came here with the intention of dragging his brothers together to watch the joke of a competitor, but after Chen Yiming's analysis, he found that this sudden incident was actually unpredictable whether it would be good or bad for "The 13th Floor".

This inevitably made his once cheerful mood become a little depressed.

It was Chen Yiming who spoke to comfort him, "There's no need to be more ambitious. The current results have exceeded expectations. Don't forget that our initial booking goal was only to sit third and hope for second."

Da Zhuang said somewhat angrily, "When I think about the fact that if the other party hadn't played tricks, we would have been the box office champion, I feel unwilling from the bottom of my heart."

Chen Yiming laughed and said, "Doesn't that prove that the other party is bound to do something tricky?"

Da Zhuang stared at Chen Yiming and said word by word, "Yiming, are we just going to watch and not do anything?"

Chen Yiming sighed, "What else can we do except watch? If we act rashly, we will be giving the other party free attention. Boss Lin would love that. I am still worried about how to respond to the media tomorrow. It would be better if we could just cancel tomorrow's roadshow."

He looked at Da Zhuang and felt something was wrong, so he asked tentatively, "You didn't tell Lao Jia's guys to lead the pace, did you?"

Da Zhuang gave Chen Yiming a thumbs up and said, "My parents gave me life, and Brother Chen knows me. Don't worry, Lao Jia knows how to act."

Chen Yiming raised his hand to support his forehead, "This is not a question of propriety, but our response is too easy to guess. If I were Anyue's PR, I would have to create an opponent, otherwise how can you let them argue?
Now, once Lao Jia's people leave, the rhythm on the Internet tomorrow will be ready, and Anyue will not have to bother asking and answering questions on his own. "

Da Zhuang also argued, "When someone accuses you of doing something, you'd better actually do it. This way, at least the anger in your chest can be released. Although you still can't win the box office championship, at least you can get your idea across."

At this point in the debate, Chen Yiming had nothing to say, because this was no longer a discussion of strategy, but a ranking of values.

In fact, Chen Yiming didn’t care about these little tricks played by An Yue at all. They had little impact on "The 13th Floor". An Yue just secretly "modified" its own data and did not squeeze out Platinum's screening schedule.

The Spring Festival period has continued to this day, and the official publicity and promotion of the two companies are basically fighting each other. There is no tit-for-tat situation, and overall it is still a category of healthy competition.

Anyue's 3D blockbusters are targeting casual audiences, so they need to maintain the title of box office champion and sufficient public opinion, while Platinum's "The th Floor" is mainly aimed at senior movie fans, and the proportion of second and multiple viewings has been gradually increasing since its screening.

The two companies' publicity and promotion tracks are completely unrelated, and their occasional intersections are immediately separated. There is really no reason for them to engage in a face-to-face battle.

Of course, the water army who secretly counteract the moves is another matter, but aren’t they just wearing a vest? Even if they beat the dog’s brains out, it was done by “temporary workers” and has nothing to do with the real boss.

However, after Anyue's little secret was exposed in broad daylight, this "stable and harmonious" situation would certainly not be able to be maintained, because it did not meet the public's expectations.

There is a rule for surfing, which is to ride the tide and follow the waves. If you get the direction wrong, you will definitely fail. The same applies to online promotion.

Especially, "The 13th Floor" takes the route of guiding audience discussion and spontaneous spread, in other words, the tap water tactic. As a film producer, you must not go against or hurt the feelings of fans, otherwise you will have to wait for a huge wave of fans to leave and return.

Therefore, Platinum has been trying its best to avoid flags such as "reigniting the Spring Festival championship" in its publicity and promotion, and Chen Yiming always mentions "far exceeding expectations" during every roadshow, in order to avoid triggering the "championship competition" rhythm that the media likes to see.

Originally, this tacit understanding between the No. 1 carrying the flag and the No. 2 enjoying the coolness was operating smoothly, but now complications have arisen, and it is obviously impossible for Platinum to make a fortune in silence.

Netizens have all taken sides, if you don’t, how can you survive?
It is not difficult to guess what those netizens who strongly support "The 13th Floor" are thinking. To quote a famous line from a movie in my previous life, what I give you is yours, and if I don't give it to you, you can't take it away from me.

Anyue's behavior is almost equivalent to open robbery, and netizens who only use heavy punches will definitely not tolerate it.

The problem is that the ticket money is not refundable. What can you do even if you are reluctant? It won't stop new audiences from coming to the theater out of curiosity to see the new movie. After all, box office fraud has nothing to do with the movie itself.

Therefore, as the front-line spokesperson, Platinum has been entrusted with the important task of speaking on behalf of movie fans. This is a question of stance. Avoiding the issue is tantamount to going along with the crowd, and making excuses is tantamount to collusion.

This is the most annoying part. Unless there is another purpose, no other peers will speak out at this critical juncture. Only Platinum Films has to speak out because your movie is still in theaters.

This embarrassing situation, combined with Chen Yiming’s “prediction” at the industry briefing, would be even more dramatic.

After thinking about it, Chen Yiming could only sigh. He was not a director at all, but an actor. This time he had to perform a one-man show.

After that, the three of them became a little bored in the conversation. This kind of situation where you have to bear the consequences even though you have done nothing wrong is the most depressing.

I asked Da Zhuang to check An Xixi in, and the three of them went to rest. The next day at noon, everyone who participated in the roadshow gathered again in the hotel restaurant. As expected, everyone was talking about the midnight show, which had been widely circulated on the Internet, and several official media outlets commented on it.

From a professional communication perspective, even in the age of mobile Internet, such a rapid rate of spread is somewhat excessive. Obviously, there are dark forces behind this.

And Chen Yiming’s “prophecy” at the beginning of the year was indeed brought out by some people with ulterior motives.

Now, the stage, the referee, the sign-holding ladies, and the spectators are all in place, waiting for Chen Yiming to go on stage and fight with Anyue.

Everyone discussed how to respond while eating. The interview QA during the roadshow is often completed by the public relations cooperation between the actors and the film company. Since Chen Yiming's crew rarely uses big names, it was usually Jia's team that was in charge in the past. The key issues were decided by Chen Yiming.

There are some changes in "The Thirteenth Floor" this time. Chen Kun and Song Jia are no longer small-time celebrities. They have already set up their own studios, and the big boss Chen Yiming has no control over them.

After a few rounds of discussion, the public relations of the actors' studio were inclined not to get involved in this mess. After all, they were just acting for pay, and winning the championship had nothing to do with them. If they rashly took sides, there would be no benefit and endless trouble.

Chen Yiming simply took all the responsibility for this trouble, and if the media asked any questions during the roadshow, he would be the one to answer them.

To be honest, he still hasn't figured out a safe enough response. He has to oppose it, but he is troubled about what to oppose specifically.

It's not that he was worried about offending people. If he was really afraid, he wouldn't have made a fuss at the briefing. His original intention was to expose the scars in advance so that the higher-ups could pay attention to it, improve the industry rules as soon as possible, and avoid the mess in the past.

However, sometimes things are so ironic. When he doesn't get it right, it doesn't matter if he breaks the bell. But when he gets it right, it may not be appropriate for him to ring the bell again.

This was probably the reason why Yuan Shao killed Tian Feng during the Three Kingdoms period.

The first road show today was a public event attended by fans, media, and even critics, as the screening was scheduled in a university lecture hall.

When Lao Jia first made the plan, he wanted to organize a tour of Chinese campuses, visiting a school in each city to highlight the principle of equal treatment. However, Chen Yiming deleted most of the original plan and only retained one show in each of the major cities, and all of them were scheduled for the second half of the screening period.

He always felt that he was not yet old enough to give orders on a university campus. Debating with college students would only do harm, no matter if he won or lost, and there was really no need to show off.

After the event started, Chen Yiming deliberately controlled the rhythm. During the question-and-answer session, he specifically targeted young students and skipped those who looked anxious.

As expected, the atmosphere was very harmonious. People on and off the stage focused on discussing metaphysical topics such as "self and id", "emotional evolution", and "personality discipline". It was more like a philosophy class than an exchange meeting.

Shen Ming and Chen Kun, two senior literary youths, one middle-aged and one old, dominated the whole audience. When they talked about their character designs and themes, they cited a lot of examples and made clear their arguments, which made Chen Yiming a little unable to keep up.

Unfortunately, happy times are always short-lived. When Chen Yiming called a boy in the back row again, he watched him take the microphone handed to him by the staff, and then handed it to a middle-aged man next to him.

Chen Yiming was speechless. This is a lack of martial ethics. You can't ambush like this.

The middle-aged man introduced himself as a reporter, and the question he asked was, as expected, "what are your views on the rumors of box office fraud."

The "academic atmosphere" hanging over the lecture hall disappeared in an instant, and the college students in the audience were whispering to each other. It was obvious that many people present did not care about the film industry and had no idea about Anyue's outrageous move before.

But college students are a group with a relatively high sense of justice and moral values. After they knew what was going on, they immediately determined their stance, and their eyes towards the stage were filled with scrutiny and expectation.

If Chen Yiming were allowed to choose a place to make a public statement, it would definitely not be here.

After a moment's silence, Chen Yiming picked up the microphone and said, "I am just a director, working part-time as a producer and supervisor. As the saying goes, different trades are like different mountains. I should not give orders to cinema chains and theaters.

According to general handling procedures, I should not make rash comments before the rumors are confirmed and the management agency has reached a conclusion.

However, due to some well-known facts, I decided to say a few words.

Assuming that the phenomenon of empty theaters at midnight is true, I am not qualified to make a conclusion, but I think that similar situations are likely to intensify, and we cannot underestimate the ability of the industry to innovate. "

(End of this chapter)