Chapter 692: Three Trailers

The effect of the "Voluntary Recommendation Method" was, unexpectedly, even more powerful than anyone had imagined.

Jin Li was always attending classes at school; only during her spare time after class would she open her phone to search for news related to "Counterattack."

As soon as she searched, a post by a "strange netizen" immediately popped up, revealing candid photos taken on the film set earlier that year.

The photos were aesthetically pleasing; Jin Li, dressed in a vibrant school uniform, was chatting and laughing with Gu Cheng, who was wearing the same uniform beside her.

But rather than being simply beautiful, these photos possessed a hazy atmosphere of youth.

It was not that the people in the photos were impossibly beautiful, but rather that they evoked the atmosphere of youth.

Handsome men and beautiful women do not necessarily make one feel a sense of youthfulness.

Some people have ordinary looks, yet at a certain moment, they can make one recall youth.

This hazy aesthetic could awaken many people's memories of youth, so "Counterattack" trended on the hot search list based on just one candid photo.

Many netizens posted comments and messages, asking when this drama would be released.

Release it quickly; they wanted to watch the drama immediately!!

Jin Li's focus, however, differed from that of the general public.

When others saw this photo, they only felt it had a strong sense of youth.

But when she saw it, she instead marveled somewhat at Director Xu's dedication.

Claiming it was a candid photo, it truly looked like a candid shot.

Moreover, the angle was a high-angle shot looking down from above; the photographer appeared to have taken it from a distance while standing atop a high building.

The angle, timing, and atmosphere were all captured with great precision.

Previously, a trend called "Oneself Through the Eyes of a Station Sister" had swept the internet; many internet celebrities specifically hired station sisters (fans who use professional cameras, such as telephoto lenses, to photograph stars and idols) to take pictures of them.

After all, in the hands of those station sisters, every airport snapshot of a star looked good, and every photo from event scenes looked good too; internet celebrities believed station sisters were very skilled at photography.

Station sisters were naturally willing to take on this extra work; each quote varied, as there was no unified market price for such services.

At that time, the fervor surrounding "Station Sister Photos," following the emergence of terms like "Million-Dollar Photo Editor," "Million-Dollar Sound Engineer," and "Million-Dollar Microphone," gave birth to another phrase:

"Million-Dollar Station Sister Photo!"

Jin Li had scrolled past a few such images while watching videos and felt that the picture revealed by the netizen had very much that same vibe.

But clearly, this photo had been specially arranged by Director Xu to be taken.

Jin Li was uncertain whether Director Xu had already planned the promotional strategy while filming, which was why he had arranged for the photo to be taken in advance for future promotion.

If that were the case, then she felt this director was not truly as laid-back as he appeared.

Although he had outwardly seemed indifferent to this drama back then, often allowing her to get scenes right in one take, he had actually been carefully planning for this production all along.

Because this candid photo had surged onto the hot search list and achieved such a strong response, many netizens also went to Chenxi Entertainment's blog to ask questions.

These netizens had also become smarter; they knew Jin Li would not respond.

To be precise, apart from reposting various commercial promotions on her official blog, Jin Li basically never replied to any comments, whereas she would occasionally reply to a few comments in her live stream room.

Since asking Jin Li was useless, they went to ask Chenxi Entertainment instead.

Caught somewhat off guard by this wave of inquiries, Chenxi Entertainment happened to have a new employee managing the blog who did not know this was part of the "Counterattack" promotional campaign; this employee even replied to one fan:

[We don't know, but candid photography is not good; please do not imitate it!]

This comment was discovered by a senior employee the next day, who immediately deleted it and then reported the incident to Sui Lingfang.

The senior employee did not know when "Counterattack" would air; she did not even know if the editing for "Counterattack" was finished.

The reason she suspected this photo might be part of a marketing campaign was based on her judgment from years of experience gossiping within the entertainment industry.

After asking Sui Lingfang, she learned that it was indeed promotion.

Sui Lingfang also learned about the employee's mistaken comment, but she did not consider it a major issue; promotion was promotion, but candid photography was indeed improper.

As industry insiders, it was normal to be sensitive about candid photography.

However, to prevent future information asymmetry from causing misaligned responses between both parties, Sister Fang created a WeChat group, asking Director Xu to notify them whenever he planned to carry out promotions.

There was no need for detailed notifications; knowing that "Counterattack" was ramping up its promotional efforts again was sufficient.

Jin Li was also included in this group.

Consequently, she personally witnessed a top-tier online marketing campaign.

Since "Counterattack" had gained momentum from one candid photo, Director Xu seized the opportunity by using a "hijacking trends" method, prompting other marketing accounts to release behind-the-scenes videos allegedly filmed by paparazzi earlier in the year.

In reality, these were all carefully shot by the production team and then provided to the media.

The team meticulously crafted a beauty that appeared casual and messy; although the content within the frames seemed somewhat chaotic, there was order within the chaos, with each segment providing more than three effective memory points for viewers.

The buzz surrounding the "Counterattack" film crew was further amplified.

When the netizens' curiosity reached its peak, the official production team finally made their appearance.

Using professional techniques, they demonstrated to everyone—

Do not use your amateur candid photography to challenge our official professionalism.

In the realm of professionalism, you pose no threat to us.

Yet those blurry and chaotic candid videos have caused us to lose all face.

Why say this? Because although the revealed behind-the-scenes footage was beautiful and pleasant to watch, the content was quite chaotic.

After all, when it comes to candid photography, what more could one expect?

However, some netizens worried that the quality of the candid videos represented the actual quality of the film and television drama, so the official team personally stepped in to debunk the rumors and bring everyone high-quality trailers.

Watching the entire process, Jin Li realized that the so-called crises of "candid photography," "netizen doubts," and "chaotic editing of Counterattack" were all staged single-handedly by Director Xu.

She thought to herself that being a director was actually a waste of Director Xu's talents; with his ability to manipulate public opinion, he should have been a public relations specialist instead.

But regardless, after Director Xu's hype, netizens flocked to click on the trailer released by the official account.

Here, Director Xu also set up a cliffhanger; he stated on the official blog that three versions of the trailer had been edited, and the internal team was very conflicted about which version to use as the main promotion.

Netizens immediately commented and left messages: [Release all three versions; we will help you choose!]

This comment was upvoted to the top.

The official blog also took the advice to heart and released the first version.

This version of the trailer focused on the personal struggle of the female lead played by Jin Li—Jin Xiaoli.

Jin Xiaoli's grades were poor, but she was naturally optimistic, and her parents never made any demands of her.

Then one day, she suddenly saw the brother she used to be close with smoking, drinking, fighting, sporting tattooed arms, and street racing...

It was as if she was meeting this person for the first time; those beautiful impressions in her mind were completely overturned.

When she returned home, she brought up the matter.

Her parents said that because he failed to get into a good university, his own parents nagged him a few times, causing him to storm out of the house in anger, only returning to collect his tuition fees just before school was about to start.

At that time, his parents had not noticed his transformation.

But the university he attended was no good; it was merely an ordinary vocational college where the crowd was very mixed, and that older brother had picked up many bad habits while at school.

After graduating and looking for work, he was too picky to find a decent job, so he simply returned home to live off his parents.

From then on, this older brother went down a path of decadence, becoming a failure in the eyes of adults and filled with self-loathing.

This dealt a huge blow to Jin Xiaoli, causing her to suffer from frequent nightmares for a period of time.

In her dreams, because she failed to get into a good university, she too became a vocational student.

That school was no good either; senior female students would often bully others, forcing her to become a little delinquent to protect herself.

The dreams were chaotic; after waking, Jin Xiaoli forgot much of what happened in them, but she remembered the very last image before she woke up.

She was holding a kitchen knife, chasing someone through nineteen streets!

Hiss—

Could a quiet girl like her actually have such a reckless moment?

No way!!

She didn't want to become that kind of person!!

Ravaged by nightmares, Jin Xiaoli embarked on the path of a struggling underdog turning the tables.

The trailer focused on explaining why Jin Xiaoli changed, showing only a few snippets of how she struggled, serving as a brief summary.

This was normal, after all, since "Counterattack" was mainly about the female lead's struggle.

If the best plot points were all revealed, netizens would understand the gist of the drama just by watching the trailer; why would they then bother going to the cinema?

Moreover, the scenes of struggle shown were very few, emphasizing instead the doubt others felt toward a poor student like the female lead suddenly wanting to work hard.

"Is it realistic for someone who frequently fails exams to suddenly say they want to score 120?"

"Poor students should act like poor students; don't hinder other students who want to learn!"

"How did your grades improve so fast? Are you cheating!"

Just three short sentences, a mere ten-second clip, yet the emotion conveyed within it ignited the feelings of the netizens watching the trailer.

Damn it, my fists are clenching!

Many netizens were moved and began sharing their own past experiences.

[I am also one of those underdogs who turned things around. In the teachers' eyes, I was absolutely not a top student; I merely went from failing every subject to passing every subject through hard work, barely scraping above the cutoff for a second-tier university during the college entrance exam.]

[But the doubt from teachers and classmates was exactly as shown in the trailer; they all looked at me with that same demeaning gaze!]

[I can't say it was similar; I can only say it was identical. My experience was exactly the same as what was shown in the trailer!]

[The part about cheating was too real. Because I frequently failed, but then suddenly scored 130 one day (out of 150), the teacher called me to the office and asked if I was cheating.]

[But the funny thing was, my 130 was the highest score in the whole class. So the question is, who exactly would I have to copy from to achieve such a score?]

Not every student is lucky enough to meet a good teacher, enter a school with an exceptionally strong academic atmosphere, or encounter many united and loving companions.

Happy people are all different in their happiness, but unhappy people share the same misfortunes.

Just this single trailer about struggle had already sparked small-scale discussions online, with many netizens quite interested.

This trailer accurately hit its target audience, resonating with those former underdogs who had fought hard for the college entrance exam.

But overall, the audience it attracted was still relatively small.

This trailer received a strong response within a certain group, but among the general public, it was neither impressive nor offensive.

It neither achieved subtraction nor became addition.

Director Xu logged on frequently over the three days following the trailer's release to eat melon and observe the data.

Feeling that the niche traffic had been maxed out, he released the second trailer.

This trailer was somewhat interesting.

It did not focus on struggle but rather unfolded from the perspective of Jin Xiaoli's friends in a slightly bizarre manner.

Yes, this trailer was an ensemble version.

As the protagonist, Jin Xiaoli only flashed by at the beginning, excitedly shouting her slogan:

"We must become number one and get into Tsinghua or Peking University!"

Then she basically did not appear again.

Even when she did appear, it was only in the form of a voiceover.

Netizens only heard her voice but did not see her person; instead, they saw the pained expressions on her companions' faces.

Driven by Jin Xiaoli, her partners wanted to remain salted fish, yet were forced to turn the salted fish over and involuntarily participate in the involution.

Pain mask activated again.jpg

[Another day of waking up at 6 AM. Oh god, how does she have so much energy? Doesn't she ever want to sleep?]

[I can't memorize any more vocabulary words... I want to die... I don't want to live, but I can't die either...]

[The Iron Rooster actually took out one hundred yuan to motivate us? That part is worth watching.]

[Ahhh, another day where I really want to die ^_^]

"Huh? My parents, who never cared about my grades, are actually asking about my mid-term results today. Don't they usually ignore such things?"

"Ah, damn Jin Li! My parents had already given up on my slacker ways, but my recent diligence and love for learning have somehow caught their attention!"

"They've actually started expecting good grades from me. Oh god, how am I supposed to respond to this heavy burden of love?"

"The teacher questioned my grades, but my parents firmly pushed back. My mom and dad are so good to me~"

"I... seem to have suddenly fallen in love with studying..."

"For the first time, I've realized that I too possess infinite possibilities."

"Perhaps I really can get into a good university?"

"Come on! I must strive! Get up quickly! As long as I don't die, I'll keep burying myself in my studies!!"

This ensemble-cast trailer is presented through the perspectives of supporting characters; it feels somewhat like a bystander's view, yet not entirely.

Director Xu incorporated numerous witty jibes into this trailer, editing the visuals to match the commentary, which surprisingly attracted a segment of the general public.

Netizens flooded the comments section:

"This trailer looks quite interesting; it reminds me a bit of my own school days~"

"Though I wasn't pressured by friends; I was forced into the rat race by my classmates. Back then, I spent every day wondering: How can they work so hard? Don't they ever eat?"

"Haha, this trailer is very entertaining. If the supporting characters were forced into this competitive grind, I'd definitely want to watch it. I want to see their pained expressions, hahaha."

"Such youth! This is what youth should look like. When there's barely enough time for studying, who has the leisure to talk about love?"

"No, some top students do date, but that doesn't apply to ordinary people like us. I feel this trailer truly reflects my own youth."

"So novel! I really want to see it!"

Catalyzed by this trailer, discussion surrounding "Counterattack" has fully exploded; its online popularity now gives it the potential to become a blockbuster hit.