Chapter 1 Filming of "A Better Tomorrow"

"Cut!"

"Okay, that take's a wrap."

"Everyone's worked hard, let's take a break. We'll officially start shooting the commercials in a little while."

Director Zhu Xiaoce's voice had barely faded when a burst of applause and cheers erupted on set, many people visibly relieved.

So far, the main part of the movie had been completely filmed.

Although there had been a few minor problems at the start of filming, they were quickly overcome with Boss Pei's guidance and the collective efforts of everyone on set.

In particular, the lead actors, including Lu Zhiyao, were becoming more and more in sync, their scenes together more and more impressive. At first, they often needed reshoots, but later, they often nailed it in two or three takes, and those takes were so good that Zhu Xiaoce found it hard to choose between them.

If it's hard to choose, then don't choose yet; decide in post-production during editing.

So, the regular filming tasks were all completed.

Many of the staff breathed a sigh of relief, since all that was left was to shoot the commercials.

And commercials, frankly, were just background scenery in the movie. Most people instinctively felt that they didn't need to be taken as seriously as the main feature; just slap something together and be done with it.

But Zhu Xiaoce clearly didn't think so.

He was holding a thick stack of commercial planning documents, carefully explaining them to the actors responsible for shooting the ads.

This group of people shooting the commercials had also been recast.

Originally, how to shoot the commercials hadn't been decided, and Zhu Xiaoce had even considered letting various brands do product placement and providing his own commercials.

But Boss Pei rejected that idea, so it was finally decided: they would shoot the commercials themselves, and they couldn't involve any real-world companies, trademarks, or products.

Once that was settled, Zhu Xiaoce started arranging for people to audition everywhere.

Because these commercials would be shown in the movie as background, the main actors who had appeared in the movie couldn't participate.

Many of the characters in the movie were poor people; in the movie's context, they weren't qualified to shoot these kinds of ads.

Only the judge played by Zhang Zuting and the male lead (after he became famous) played by Lu Zhiyao could shoot a few commercials.

And the young woman who was pushed up by the judge to replace the male lead at the end could also shoot a few commercials.

Apart from these exceptions, all the other commercials would have to be cast with new people; they had to be new faces that had never appeared in the movie before.

Director Zhu Xiaoce had put a lot of effort into planning the commercials, which was why he had such a thick stack of commercial planning documents.

"First of all, I want to emphasize to everyone that even though we're shooting commercials, and they'll only be background in the movie, don't take them lightly. They're just as important as the movie itself, and in some ways, even more so!"

"First, the commercials serve as a kind of hint and connection."

"The movie will use commercials to connect parts of the plot."

"For example, before the male and female leads participate in the talent show, they often see endorsements and commercials of the judge when watching TV shows. This allows the audience to see the judge character in advance and implies that the judge is a very rich and influential successful person."

"After the male lead becomes famous, some commercials he filmed will be played, and there can be many different kinds of products to imply his overnight fame."

"And after the male lead is discredited, he's lying in bed, and the TV is playing commercials of the girl who replaced him, which also implies that after he was framed, the judge immediately pushed a new person to take his place, starting a cycle."

"Secondly, commercials can be used to reflect the current concerns about big data and privacy leaks."

"We'll shoot many kinds of commercials, and these commercials will be directly related to the male lead's experiences."

"For example, as soon as the male lead drinks a can of beer, the screen will push him ads for fried chicken or wine."

"As soon as the male lead loses a lot of money watching TV shows, the ads will push him loan services."

"And when the male lead earns a lot of money, he'll be pushed all kinds of wealth management products, insurance, luxury goods, and so on."

"We'll spread these categories throughout the movie, and as the male lead's life changes, the ads he sees will also change."

"On the one hand, it can create an atmosphere, and on the other hand, it can imply and satirize the problems of big data and privacy leaks."

"Finally, commercials can strengthen the science fiction elements and are a conjecture about the cultural life of the future world."

"Just like Boss Pei said, we have to make the commercials sufficiently stream-of-consciousness and cool enough, using some future elements to make the audience confused, so that they can constantly be reminded that this is the future world."

"These commercials can make them feel the characteristics of the future world and help them immerse themselves in this worldview."

Zhu Xiaoce looked around at everyone, then turned to one of the actors:

"Okay, it looks like everyone understands. The next commercial is for a takeaway, and the content of the commercial is also very simple: a drone flies across the city with a takeaway."

"It's just that the drone is on fire, flying across the night sky like a big fireball. Then you open the door, reach out to take the takeaway, open the exquisite lunch box, and find that the exquisite steak inside is like it's just been grilled, still steaming..."

"Then the next one is a commercial for the linkage between takeaway and mobile phones."

"A drone comes to pick up the takeaway, but the drone's display screen prompts that the distance is too far, and the battery is not enough to deliver it. At this time, give a close-up of a map, flashing by, this takeaway has to cross deserts and cross the ocean to another city."

"At this time, the owner of the takeaway restaurant casually takes down his mobile phone, connects it to the drone with a connecting cable to supply power, and then the drone flies away."

"Next is the drone crossing the desert and crossing the ocean, experiencing big sandstorms, rainstorms, and various bad weather."

"Finally, you still open the door. At this time, the drone starts to return. After flying back, the restaurant owner takes down the phone and finds that there is still 30% of the battery left..."

Zhu Xiaoce explained the content of the commercials to the actors.

He had killed a lot of brain cells when deciding on the content of the commercials.

Some of the stream-of-consciousness commercials were easy to handle; just let the actors wear futuristic clothes and strike a few poses, take a few inexplicable shots, and add some special effects.

But just having stream-of-consciousness commercials isn't enough, is it?

No matter how developed the future world is, commercials should still maintain a certain diversity.

So, Zhu Xiaoce just thought of a few other styles of commercials as a change of pace.

At the same time, Zhu Xiaoce was also very troubled about which products to advertise.

Because at least he had to make logos and advertising slogans for these commercials, right?

If the logo isn't made with enough heart, it's easy for the audience to complain and be distracted, so wouldn't the meaning of shooting the commercials be lost?

So, the logo must be made well enough, just like a real commercial ad.

But with so many commercials, relying on Zhu Xiaoce alone to think of them all is impossible, even if it kills him, right?

Designing all these logos from scratch is too difficult.

So, after Zhu Xiaoce discussed it with Huang Sibao, they turned to the brother department for help!

Let Moyu Takeaway make a logo for takeaways, use Moyu Takeaway's logo and modify it, and then let Otto Technologies come up with a mobile phone logo that is not used, so that the audience won't have a sense of familiarity.

In short, with the collective efforts of many departments, these logos finally looked like something.

Although they were all modified brands, Zhu Xiaoce still told everyone to have each department claim the brands they modified and register them in advance.

It's not that he expected this movie to have any publicity effect, but mainly because he was afraid that someone would register these trademarks and come over to rip them off.

Registering them in advance can save these troubles.

Zhu Xiaoce estimated that although there were a lot of these commercials, most of them were very short. It would probably take another two weeks to finish filming them.

By then, he would have truly injected the soul into this movie.

...

...

Tengda Games Department.

Ruan Guangjian breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, then the concept designs and original paintings of the first batch of heroes are all done."

Li Yada clapped her hands: "Thank you, Master!"

During this time, Ruan Guangjian had been doing various concept designs and original paintings for GoG's heroes, often running back and forth between Jingzhou and Shanghai.

However, game development and original painting design were two parallel tasks that didn't affect each other.

Ruan Guangjian's job was to re-sculpt the IP characters that Tengda Games had bought, or to create some unique original characters, such as "Modeste the Justice Protector."

Overall, this wasn't a very heavy workload. After all, it wasn't all original; most of it was based on existing images with some modifications.

As long as he fully understood the characteristics of the character and made some changes based on the classic image, it was always easier than creating something completely from scratch.

So, the design work for the original paintings was actually much faster than the game's development progress. The game was still a long way from being officially launched or even publicly tested, but the original paintings were all completed.

Li Yada asked, "So, what are your plans next, Master? Should we tell Boss Pei and celebrate the completion of the original paintings?"

Ruan Guangjian hurriedly shook his head: "No, no, no, there's no need. Boss Pei is busy, so don't bother him with such a small matter."

"Besides, I've been to all the amusement parks in Jingzhou, and there aren't any other exciting projects."

"I'm planning to rest for a few days, take a walk around Jingzhou, and maybe find something new to do."

Li Yada thought for a while and said, "That's right, Tengda has another game department called Shang Yang Games, which is the *Legend of Blood* project, you know?"

Ruan Guangjian nodded: "I know, but I don't feel anything about the *Legend of Blood*'s style of art."

Li Yada: "That's why we need you, Master, to improve the art level of this company! Don't worry, we're all under Boss Pei, so we don't lack money."

Ruan Guangjian hesitated a little: "Two projects might be a bit too much for me..."

Li Yada waved her hand: "It's okay, their art resources have already come out a lot. Master, just go take a look and give some pointers. The main thing is to guide them; you don't need to do it yourself."

Ruan Guangjian thought for a while and nodded: "Okay, then I can go over and take a look and give some opinions."