Chapter 297: If You Aren't Obsessed, You Won't Succeed: Refusing Bad Films, Market Value Rising

On the film set, Wang Jinsong looked at Wei Jin with some hesitation.

"Really throw it? Really hit him?"

"Teacher Wang, his acting skills cannot compare to yours. If we don't do it for real, the emotions in this scene won't come out."

After Wei Jin finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Bai Yu.

"Xiaobai, what do you think?"

"Teacher Wang, Director Wei is right. Everything is for the sake of the scene. You don't need to worry; I have thick skin and flesh, I can take it."

There was sincerity on Bai Yu's face. This scene was one of the climaxes of the first half, and the emotional outburst was extremely intense. He also knew that it was difficult for him to handle, so instead of frequent NGs, it was better to have a real confrontation.

"Alright, then let's begin."

Wang Jinsong was also a decisive person; he had only asked because he was not familiar with Bai Yu. Seeing that both the director and his scene partner had made their decision, he no longer hesitated.

Nodding, Wei Jin came behind the monitor and sat down. He looked around and saw that the heads of each team were giving him the "OK" gesture.

"Action!"

"The rhythm is wrong. Follow it closely. Five, six, seven, go!"

Bai Yu continued to play the drums, "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Stop! Still not quite right."

A smile appeared on Wang Jinsong's face, "No problem, let's do it again."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"The rhythm is wrong, start over!"

Bai Yu tried hard to adjust his breathing and continued. "It's dragging a bit, start over!"

In the lens, Bai Yu played the drums again, and he was not told to stop.

The camera cut, and the expression on Wang Jinsong's face had completely turned cold. He did not curse or speak, just listened to the drumbeats as he walked toward the chair.

With a casual motion, a chair flew out. Bai Yu dodged by instinct, and the chair crashed into the wall behind him.

The Beijing Film Academy students who had come to observe were stunned. They saw very clearly that there were no safety measures for this scene. If Bai Yu had reacted a second slower, it would have smashed into his head. It was too crazy.

In fact, how could Wei Jin not consider safety issues? The chair was naturally custom-made; hitting someone with it would at most cause a little pain, and it wouldn't cause any major problems.

The camera gave a close-up of Wang Jinsong's face. There was not a hint of a smile; his eyes were half-squinted, and his facial muscles outlined a dangerous expression, giving people the feeling of being stared at by a venomous snake.

"Do you know why I threw the chair at you?"

Bai Yu was clearly crushed in terms of acting, but it happened to fit the requirements of the scene at this moment—he was somewhat timid, not even daring to look into Wang Jinsong's eyes.

"I... I don't know."

"Look into my eyes. Were you dragging or rushing?"

"I don't know."

"Start counting!"

"Five, six..."

"Look into my eyes, start counting from four!"

Watching the intense confrontation between the two in the lens—no, to be precise, watching Bai Yu being unilaterally crushed—Wei Jin was very satisfied.

"One, two, three, four... Slap!"

"One, two, three, four... Slap!"

"One, two, three, four... Slap!"

Three times in a row, the slaps were loud. At this moment, the right side of Bai Yu's face was significantly redder than the left.

"Now, tell me, were you dragging or rushing?"

Wang Jinsong suppressed his voice and roared in a low tone.

"Rushing."

There was already a hint of a sob in Bai Yu's voice. He had truly entered the scene and felt so aggrieved.

"So, do you f***ing know the difference now? If you dare to intentionally drag your feet, I will make you regret coming into this world!"

"Cut!"

Hearing this sound, the people on set clearly let out a sigh of relief. The atmosphere just now had been truly too oppressive.

"My god, is this how acting is done?"

"If you aren't obsessed, you won't succeed. That was truly incredible."

The observing students began to whisper to each other, their eyes full of sympathy as they looked at Bai Yu. It was too miserable.

Ignoring the fuss of these students, Wei Jin repeatedly watched the footage on the monitor and gave his instructions.

"This take is a pass. Clap, clap, clap."

Wei Jin was the first to stand up and start clapping. Soon, the crew members followed suit, and even the students observing from the side joined in.

"Xiaobai, Teacher Wang, the performance was brilliant."

A look of satisfaction was on Wang Jinsong's face. He waved his hand, feeling that this scene had been very satisfying as well. However, looking at the red mark on Bai Yu's face, he felt he might have been too heavy-handed and couldn't help but ask with concern: "Xiaobai, are you alright?"

At this moment, Bai Yu was still a bit dazed. He paused before reacting and rubbed his cheek.

"No problem, Teacher Wang. It's just that your expression just now was so spot-on, I was truly scared silly."

Bai Yu's words were not flattery. This Beijing Film Academy teacher he was acting against truly had some real skills. As one of the three major institutions, Beijing Film Academy was definitely not famous for nothing.

"You weren't bad either. To have this level of skill in your first time filming a movie, it seems Director Wei's eye for casting is very sharp, haha."

Watching the two begin to engage in commercial mutual flattery, even dragging him into it, Wei Jin coughed dryly.

"Cough, alright, today's filming ends here. Everyone, be on time tomorrow..." — In a villa in Beijing.

Accompanied by a low roar, a "sports meet" came to an end.

Having lost several points in a row, Liu Yifei no longer had any fighting spirit, her face flushed pink and her eyes unfocused.

After about seven or eight minutes, the young girl finally recovered from the mood of defeat and braced herself to start cleaning up the competition arena.

After some intimate service, Liu Yifei leaned somewhat lazily against Wei Jin's chest.

"Brother, it's been so many days, when will it finally be my turn to film?"

*Whiplash* had already been filming for over ten days, and Liu Yifei spent every day hanging around the set; watching others act with such immersion, she was getting a bit anxious.

"Ahem, your scenes aren't many, I plan to film them all at once, let's start the day after tomorrow."

*Whiplash* was a film that was almost a one-man show, consisting entirely of the male lead Bai Yu's scenes; Liu Yifei, as the female lead, had a very low presence in this film, being nothing more than a girl who gets broken up with for no apparent reason.

Wei Jin estimated that the filming would take about a day, and he had originally planned to shoot it last, but since the young girl was in a hurry, then they would just shoot it early.

Upon getting a specific time, Liu Yifei stopped asking, and like a little kitten, she took the opportunity to snuggle closer to Wei Jin, her face full of comfort and contentment.

After a long while, suddenly remembering something, Liu Yifei turned to Wei Jin with some excitement and said: "By the way, Brother, I received an invitation..."

Wei Jin patted the girl's head, not caring at all.

"Don't you receive invitations all the time? What's there to be so surprised about?"

As the head of the Four Dan Actresses, and with works like *The Forbidden Kingdom* and *Inception*, Liu Yifei was very sought after among the young actresses in the industry; Red Star Dock received many scripts every year, and Wei Jin was already used to it. "This time it's different, I heard them say that the main cast hasn't been decided yet, and I was the first person they thought of for the female lead, hee hee."

It was clear that Liu Yifei was very happy; being the first one thought of proved something obvious, and it had to be said that the production team really had a good eye.

"Oh? What movie?"

Wei Jin nonchalantly placed his hand on the young girl's conscience, intending to add some rations for future children.

"*White Vengeance*, they want me to play Yu Ji."

Hearing this, Wei Jin's hand movement paused, and looking at the girl, he asked somewhat uncertainly:

"Is it the one by Li Rengang?"

"Mm."

Having received an affirmative answer, Wei Jin lost interest.

The production of *White Vengeance* had been making quite a stir a while ago; the investor Starlight International had originally wanted to hire Lu Chuan to direct it, but that guy was dawdling and had too many issues, so he was replaced.

As a result, they brought in Hong Kong director Li Rengang to take over—the very same die-hard fan of saucer-shaped hats, the director of *Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon* and *Blades*.

However, Lu Chuan wasn't so easy to dismiss; after bickering with the investors online for a few days, he turned around and secured investment from Stellar Mega, whipping up *The Last Supper*. It was said that filming would start after the new year, with an efficiency even higher than *White Vengeance*, clearly intending to compete head-to-head.

Wei Jin didn't think highly of either side in this dog-eat-dog fight; Li Rengang's level could be seen from his previous few films, completely lacking historical depth, and as for Lu Chuan, that good-for-nothing who relied on his family's legacy and had high standards but low ability, that went without saying.

This time, Stellar Mega invested 100 million, and Starlight International invested 150 million; it was estimated that when the films were released, Qin Hong and Wang Zhe would be crying their eyes out.

It was destined to be a bad film, so naturally, Wei Jin wouldn't let his own woman appear in it; it would be too beneath her status.

"Turn it down."

Seeming to see Liu Yifei's confusion, Wei Jin added another sentence.

"Believe me, Hong Kong directors can't film historical subjects well."

"Mm, Brother, I'll listen to you, I'll turn them down tomorrow."

Liu Yifei followed his advice readily; even though Wei Jin hadn't even read the script, his judgment over these years had already proven countless things.

"Yifei, how is your singing practice going?"

"I've been practicing lately, but it really is very difficult..."

When the topic turned to this, Liu Yifei was a bit lost; Wei Jin had finally written her an English song, and she had been dreaming of making it onto the Billboard, but she couldn't even sing it well.

"That won't do, I'll lend you my microphone, practice well again tonight."

A playful look appeared on Wei Jin's face as he patted the young girl's perky buttocks, the meaning in his words clear.

"Brother, you only know how to bully me..."

Rolling her eyes at the man, Liu Yifei ultimately complied and leaned down to charge the microphone.

That night, the young girl practiced singing until her voice was hoarse, forgetting to eat or sleep—news of the premiere of *Sacrifice* appeared online, and it had to be said, Chen Shiren really knew how to put on a flashy show.

Hundreds of models dressed in ancient costumes stood in neat rows on both sides of the red carpet to welcome the guests; the scale was truly grand.

When reporters at the scene asked about box office expectations, Chen Shiren didn't speak, leaving it to the Producer, Chen Hong, to answer; perhaps he was also afraid his own man would pull another "I am very unhappy" stunt.

"The investment and marketing costs for *Sacrifice* exceed 100 million. Director Chen has poured his heart and soul into this film, spending a great deal of effort. Of course, I hope the box office is as high as possible, at least it shouldn't be lower than 500 million, haha..."

On the same day, *Now You See Me 2* was released domestically.

Although it was an imported film, both the screenwriter Wei Jin and one of the leads, Jing Tian, had immense appeal in the industry.

Coupled with the screen allocation support from the theater chains under China Film Group, Wanda, and Shanhe Media, as well as the buzz from the previous installment, the film raked in 32 million on its opening day, and the box office for the first three-day weekend reached as high as 102 million.

Although it couldn't compare to the previous installment, for an imported film, it was already a quite dazzling result.

One had to know that *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)*, which was released the week before, had only just crossed the 100 million mark after ten days of release.

At the same time, *Twilight 4* was also launched globally.

Benefiting from a massive fan base and theater chain opening support, the film's midnight box office reached 30.25 million USD, the opening day box office was as high as 72 million USD, and the first three-day weekend box office was 185 million USD, surpassing the previous installment and powerfully topping the global weekly box office chart.

Seeing these figures, Wei Jin was in a very good mood; the *Twilight* series had brought him at least over a billion in revenue.

Withdrawing his gaze, Wei Jin focused his mind on the set.

Today's scene was the one where the female lead gets broken up with by the male lead in a cafe for no reason.

This dramatic scene had almost no difficulties; Liu Yifei and Bai Yu's performances were impeccable, so Wei Jin didn't continue to polish it and called "Cut" directly.

"Yifei, after we shoot a few more supplementary shots, you can wrap up."

"Oh."

It was clear that Liu Yifei was in low spirits; although she had read the script long ago, the thought that her first time acting in one of Wei Jin's art films resulted in her being a mere background character throughout made her unable to be happy.

How could Wei Jin not know the girl's thoughts? He walked straight over and took Liu Yifei's hand.

"Alright, Yifei, I promise you, in a few years, we'll film an art romance movie together."

Wei Jin had a few art romance films in his mind, which he had watched while accompanying girls back in his previous life.

But for this kind of film, there were quite a lot of kissing scenes, emotional scenes, and intimate scenes; it would be hard to achieve the effect just by using camera angles and body doubles, so he was afraid he would have to act in them himself.

Although he had never systematically studied acting, by imitating the finished film in his mind, Wei Jin believed he could perform with seventy percent of the essence; however, to achieve the best, he still needed to polish his acting skills in advance, so he planned to wait a few years before talking about it.

"Really? Brother, you mustn't lie to me."

Liu Yifei's face was filled with immense surprise; if she could film an art-house movie with Wei Jin, that would be truly blissful.

One must know that over these years, Wei Jin had only played a bit part in Time-Space Cohabitation.

"Mm, rest assured, I keep my word."

Soon, a staff member came over to signal that the scene transition work was ready, and Wei Jin did not delay any further.

"Let's go, Yifei."

Patting the girl's hand, Wei Jin walked straight toward the monitor, and the new scene began—December 1st, Tudou successfully listed on the North American Nasdaq market, with an opening price of 12.88 USD.

Perhaps because it was the first Huaxia video website stock, Tudou's shares were favored by a large number of North American investors; within half an hour of opening, the stock price climbed all the way to 30 USD, and by the midday close, it had even reached 36.77 USD.

Subsequently, it fluctuated and maintained a price range between 30 and 36 until the close, with the day's price finishing at 34.38 USD, a single-day increase of over 168%, and a total market capitalization reaching as high as 4.1 billion USD.

Over the following two trading days, Tudou's stock price rose all the way, successfully breaking through the 50 USD mark, and its total market capitalization also surpassed 6 billion USD.

Looking at this number, Wei Jin was very satisfied; according to the market capitalization estimate at this time, the 33.6% stake in Tudou he held was worth as much as 2 billion USD, which converted to over 13 billion RMB, and unknowingly, his net worth had ushered in another small rise.

As for the specific percentage of the increase, Wei Jin did not know, perhaps 5%?

However, the return rate of Angel Investment was truly high; the money he had invested in Tudou over these years, all told, was no more than a few hundred million RMB, and this wave had directly brought a return rate of ten to twenty times, which was truly terrifying.

The key was that this was not even Tudou's peak; in his past life, Wei Jin remembered very clearly that when Youku went public in the US, its peak market capitalization exceeded 10 billion USD, and with the market share Tudou currently possessed, its stock price would definitely have more advantages than Youku's, so a 10 billion market cap was definitely not Tudou's end point.

Such high returns made Wei Jin think involuntarily of Shanhe Technology; given its nature as an internet technology company and its super-strong profitability, once it went public, he feared its market capitalization would break through 100 billion RMB, right?

On the contrary, for the asset-heavy Shanhe Cinema Line, although its profitability was also good, as a traditional enterprise, it would be considered decent if it could reach the current market capitalization of Golden Harvest after going public; the capital market was truly somewhat unreasonable.

However, calculating it this way, just counting his domestic assets alone, Wei Jin's net worth was likely over 100 billion, which made him feel very troubled; he had absolutely no motivation for Struggle anymore.

"Sigh, for the rest of my life, I can only take saving lost actresses as my duty."

Second update today (End of this chapter)