Chapter 202: The Voice

"Cut, hold on, everyone take a short break."

Wei Jin shouted into the walkie-talkie, then looked at Liu Jianguo, who was in charge of the special effects team beside him: "Old Liu, how is the effect?"

Liu Jianguo stared at the monitor and began to watch, occasionally taking out the molds on his computer to make some adjustments. After a long while, he spoke: "Boss, it's okay. This shot is much more perfect than the previous ones."

As he spoke, he gave Wei Jin a thumbs up.

Wei Jin smiled upon hearing this and let out a sigh of relief.

After finishing the filming of the indoor scenes, Wei Jin led the crew to relocate to Hong Kong. After about ten days of filming, the time had already entered late October.

This film has many special effects parts. When filming, one must not only consider the actors' states but also whether the shots meet the requirements of the special effects. Therefore, from the preparation period of the film, Shanhe Ink has had special effects supervisors following the crew.

Currently, except for a few shots related to the Tokyo location, basically all the shots involving special effects have been filmed, and Wei Jin has also completely let out a sigh of relief.

Jing Tian and Liang Jiahui also walked over, and the latter asked: "Director Wei, is this shot okay?"

The personnel in charge of special effects also came over to look at Wei Jin, waiting for his answer.

"The effect is good this time, it's a pass." Wei Jin said to them with a smile.

"Yay, finally got it done."

Hearing this, everyone in the crew became happy. After all, the scenes in Hong Kong involve road closures, applications, and the like, which are quite troublesome.

Except for some fragmented location shots filmed in the first few days, for the past seven or eight days, the entire crew has been busy with this street car chase scene.

Normally, filming car chase scenes and car crash scenes is usually done by just using scrapped cars to crash, but this time the director and the special effects staff were unexpectedly unsatisfied, so they could only grind it out shot by shot.

After years of polishing and upgrading, the quality of the behind-the-scenes staff of the Shanhe Media filming team is basically very good, and the team's level can be said to be absolutely among the top in the country.

The Golden Harvest staff are also old hands who have been in the industry for decades; what kind of storms and waves haven't they seen?

Even so, this time, some of the personnel from the Mainland and the staff sent by Golden Harvest to assist in the filming were also exhausted by the tossing of Wei Jin and the special effects team, which shows the difficulty of the filming.

"Alright, everyone has worked hard. The crew has prepared a banquet tonight, everyone have a good rest."

As the Producer, Chen Xi also has to take care of everyone's emotions; the intensity during this period has indeed been too high.

"Lao Duan, I've really troubled you during this time."

Shi Nansheng is the General Manager of Golden Harvest and has also been serving as the Producer of *Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame* during this time. With complex affairs, she arranged for a Vice General Manager to come and cooperate with Wei Jin, who is the very Lao Duan before him.

"Mr. Wei is too polite, we are all one family, it's only right."

Facing the big boss, Lao Duan kept his status very clear. This time, leading the team over, he also specifically instructed his subordinates not to cause any trouble, otherwise, if their rice bowls were smashed, they wouldn't be able to pick them up. —— After the banquet ended, Wei Jin took Jing Tian back to the hotel. With the "Rich Flower" accompanying him, any other young models or ball queens were just passing clouds.

"Brother, it's still early, let's watch *The Voice* for a while."

Without waiting for Wei Jin to answer, Jing Tian opened the computer on her own. Recently, many classmates in the Penguin group have been discussing this variety show, and she feels that she has fallen behind and can't even join the conversation.

Wei Jin naturally had no objections. Although he had already learned some information, he still wanted to see the level of production of the Variety Department.

According to Chen Zhiming's report, this program had its premiere on Modu TV a few days ago, and the results were very eye-catching.

The premiere ratings were as high as 4.5, and the peak ratings for that episode were 6.7, indisputably the first in the same period. Moreover, this was only the first episode; as the popularity gradually increases, breaking 7 or 8 will be completely effortless.

It simply dropped the jaws of the senior management of Modu TV. One must know that *Happy Camp* only has ratings of around 3. This result is simply explosive; only the peak period of *Super Girl* could suppress *The Voice*.

Moreover, the online discussion index is also particularly high. It is in the top three of the Baidu daily search index, and many netizens have given it a rating on Yinxiang Net, as high as 8.1 points, which means a double harvest of ratings and word-of-mouth.

Several mentors have also become popular overnight. After the first episode, their advertising fees and endorsement fees have risen sharply.

To describe it in two words, this program has exploded. The result it brought is that the advertising fees for the same time slot on Modu TV have directly multiplied several times over.

"Alright, then let's watch it."

The online copyright of *The Voice* was sold to Tudou. For the variety shows of Shanhe Media, Wang Wei never turns anyone away, but the release time is a bit later, which is also to avoid competing with the TV station and affecting the ratings.

The computer buffered for a while, and the program began to play.

"Brother, where did you find the host? This speaking speed is too fast, my brain can't even keep up."

Jing Tian looked at the host on the screen, outputting a rapid-fire stream of words, and felt as if her brain was about to grow a brain.

The host of this program was found to be Hua Shao. This guy joined Jiangzhe Satellite TV in 2005 and had always been doing odd jobs and chores.

The *I Love Remembering Lyrics* that he was originally supposed to host was also "fleeced" by Wei Jin, and he had almost no chance to stand out at Jiangzhe Satellite TV.

When Shanhe Media found him, he was completely stunned, unable to understand why a variety show with tens of millions in investment would let him host it.

However, facing the opportunity, Hua Shao was very decisive and resigned from his job at Jiangzhe Satellite TV without hesitation, throwing himself into Shanhe Media.

Many people in the Variety Department were also curious why Wei Jin would personally appoint such an obscure little person.

Hua Shao knew that the opportunity was hard-won and did not live up to Wei Jin's expectations. He pondered a set of ad copy and recited it at an extremely fast speed. It is said that he used less than a minute for more than 200 words, and his articulation was clear, making every sentence understandable, it's just that the brain easily couldn't keep up.

"It is very impressive, and full of gimmicks. Not bad, not bad."

Watching Hua Shao on the screen like a Gatling gun, Wei Jin nodded with satisfaction. It was not in vain that he had gone against the public opinion, and hadn't even given Liu Yan a chance.

The fact is also true. After the program aired, Hua Shao's super speed made the advertisement quickly go viral, and he himself and the program *The Voice* also gained a lot of limelight.

Undoubtedly, this is a very successful marketing model, and many sponsors have already specified Hua Shao to read their ad copy.

After Hua Shao's appearance, the program began. The routine is similar to the original version; the contestants appear directly, and their family and friends are waiting backstage with Hua Shao.

The four mentors' chairs turn around, facing away from the stage, selecting material solely by relying on the sound they hear. There are also 200-300 live audience members on site, acting as the atmosphere group.

It is worth mentioning that the recording site is in the studio of Shanhe Media, located inside the Shanhe Building. This is also a necessary condition for self-produced variety shows. Shanhe Media is gradually improving relevant hardware measures, vowing to conquer a piece of territory in the variety show field.

The first person to appear in the entire program was a middle-aged man wearing a military overcoat with a seemingly simple face. Seeing him, Wei Jin nodded. The program team knows how to create gimmicks, intentionally letting Da Yi Ge appear in a military overcoat, immediately putting out the signboard of *The Voice* having no threshold.

After all, once the audience sees that such a rural man can successfully advance and gain the favor and competition of celebrity mentors, this contrast is enough to grab the audience's attention.

In the current year of 2008, it is still an era where grassroots culture is prevalent. Grassroots people chasing dreams and achieving a counter-attack is a plot that audiences love to see.

"Brother, this person's vocal conditions are really too good, it's just that his technique is a bit lacking."

Jing Tian was somewhat shocked by Da Yi Ge's strength; his thick and powerful bass is simply a gift from heaven.

"No way, he's self-taught. Didn't you see the introduction just now? He learned everything little by little by listening to the radio."

Wei Jin felt a bit of a pity. This person is also older and has no cultivation value. With his strength, it is very difficult to walk to the end on the stage of *The Voice*.

After Da Yi Ge finished singing, the program team probably gave a heads-up. After all, he was the first to go on stage, and the four mentors turned around one after another, starting to enter the "stealing people" segment.

"Teacher Liu Huan has such a strong aura, Wang Fei speaks so directly, Teacher Halin is really funny, and Chen Yixun is also very hilarious..."

The playful banter of the mentors on the show felt very novel to Jing Tian.

After all, these few were veterans of the music industry and rarely appeared on variety shows, so it was difficult for both fans and outsiders to understand their temperaments.

Wei Jin heard this, smiled, and said nothing.

The biggest selling point of this show was the contestants and the mentors; with these two aspects in order, the show was already more than half successful.

The personas of the four mentors were also well-established; Liu Huan, as the big brother, had a commanding presence and was even more effective at anchoring the stage.

Wang Fei, as the only woman, had a straightforward and somewhat domineering temper; Halin and Chen Yixun mainly enlivened the atmosphere.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this was the first episode; in reality, the order of the contestants' performances had been edited out of sequence, so while it looked like the mentors were working together for the first time, they had actually been honing their chemistry for a while, their coordination was quite tacit, and the show's effect was maximized.

Afterward, several more singers appeared one after another, each with different backgrounds: some were bar singers, some were stay-at-home moms, some were music teachers, and some were medical students.

Those who could make it onto the show were naturally not mediocre; although many were not professionally trained, at the very least, they all had real talent.

Throughout the entire show, Jing Tian watched with great interest, and to skip the commercials, she even specifically bought a membership for Tudou; Boss Wei was truly harvesting leeks from his own woman.

However, Tudou's current profit model was singular, and it could only reduce costs through advertising; even so, it still lost hundreds of millions every year, and until the piracy issue was resolved, it wouldn't be able to achieve real profitability.

"Brother, this show is really well-made; it makes me want to participate too."

"That won't do. If you really want to play, there's a show next year specifically for established singers; I'll arrange for you to go then."

Wei Jin was referring to *Masked Singer*; since the price had been settled between *The Voice* and Shanghai Television, the three variety shows—*If You Are The One*, *Masked Singer*, and *Keep Running*—had already begun their preliminary preparations.

According to reports from the variety department, after *The Voice* aired, several television stations had already come to negotiate for these shows that were still in development.

This was no surprise; the breakout success of *The Voice* allowed major television stations to see the enormous profits, and they no longer had any doubts about Shanhe Media's variety production capabilities.

Through the show *The Voice*, Shanghai Television not only saw its ratings rise, but the related advertising revenue had also at least tripled from the initial 50,000 for 15 seconds to 150,000 now; adding up all the miscellaneous advertisements, a single episode brought in about 6 million.

The key was that this was just the beginning; if the second episode performed even better, Shanghai Television would have to raise prices, and the variety department estimated that the peak could reach 15 to 20 million per episode.

*The Voice* would have at least a dozen episodes; based on conservative estimates, with ratings breaking 8, a 40% share plus that 30 million guarantee, the revenue for Shanhe Media from the television station side alone would definitely exceed 100 million.

Adding in the title sponsorship fees and product placement within the show, as well as the online platform share, after deducting costs, the profit *The Voice* brought directly to Shanhe Media would definitely not be less than 150 million.

It was simply exorbitant profit, which was why the variety department didn't want to stop for even a moment and had launched three variety shows in one go.

It was just that the domestic variety market was becoming increasingly hot, and television stations were already spending money like crazy to compete.

However, even so, Shanghai Television would definitely not lose out; *The Voice* was a huge hit, and the 30 million spent would certainly be recouped, plus with the significant rise in advertising fees, they could still make a big profit.

Furthermore, the other implicit benefits brought by a flagship variety show were countless; why had Mango TV been able to dominate the ratings of regional satellite channels for so long? Wasn't it by relying on two variety shows to boost ratings, then earning advertising fees to buy high-quality dramas to maintain those ratings, forming a virtuous cycle? In short, Shanhe Media might have made a killing, but Shanghai Television definitely didn't lose; this wave was a win-win.

"Okay, okay, then you have to help me write a few songs; my fans have already started urging me online to release new songs."

Good heavens, if Jing Tian hadn't mentioned it, Wei Jin would have almost forgotten; this young girl debuted as a singer, so was she being a bit unprofessional by running off to film movies now? "Writing songs is no problem, but Tian Tian, what are you prepared to offer as sincerity for requesting these songs?"

Unknowingly, Wei Jin's large hand was already touching Jing Tian's conscience.

"Bad brother, what kind of sincerity do you want?"

Jing Tian turned around, wrapped her arms around Wei Jin's neck, and sat astride him, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.

As she grew older, every look and smile of Jing Tian's was full of temptation; the "human flower of wealth" was becoming more and more charming.

"That depends on whether you are sensible, Tian Tian."

Wei Jin's hand moved downward, touching the center of Jing Tian's perky buttocks.

"Ah, no, it will hurt, and I still have to film."

Although she was already intimate with Wei Jin, Jing Tian was still somewhat resistant to that other path.

"Tian Tian, the filming in Hong Kong is over, and we won't go to Tokyo for a couple of days; you'll definitely be able to recover."

Wei Jin was unwilling to miss any part of the girl.

"That also... Mmph."

Without waiting for Jing Tian to answer, Wei Jin had already kissed her.

That night, Jing Tian ultimately failed to escape Wei Jin's clutches and surrendered another "first night."

But to Jing Tian's surprise, this new experience actually made her feel a different kind of pleasure. Today's first update, I implore all readers to reward me with a subscription, follow-up read, collection, monthly ticket, and recommendation ticket, thank you all! (End of chapter)