Luck Potato Chips was the largest potato chip brand in the world. Thus, the spokespersons they choose would naturally not be ordinary stars.
There were a total of four spokespersons for this particular potato chip commercial. Excluding the young woman[1] whose contract had expired, there were three other popular stars. One of them was Qi Rong, a first-tier actress who made a one-hit success with a youthful chick flick. Another was Bao Jiahong, a well-known singer known as the Little King of Hip-Hop. There was also the one preparing to shoot the advertisement scenes with Rong Xu, Deng Yiwen.
Deng Yiwen is a popular student under the Streaming Lights Entertainment Company. Seven years ago, he debuted with a youthful idol drama, and in recent years, he has performed in many modern and ancient-style idol dramas. It wasn't until last year when he starred as Male No.2 in a power-struggle drama[2] that he achieved a one-hit success, reached first-tier, and gained countless fans.
Although after the beginning of this year, Deng Yiwen's recent modern romance movie had extremely low viewings, poor ratings and popularity, in general, he was still a first-tier trainee and would not fall into second-tier within this year.
To be able to get to such a position, Deng Yiwen definitely wouldn't be stupid like Han Yanghao. At nine o'clock in the morning, he appeared at the crew on time. His assistant and the director were also in discussion to determine today's shooting process.
Inside the dressing room, an experienced makeup artist was helping Rong Xu dye his hair when they saw a clean and handsome boy walk in. The other party greeted everyone enthusiastically with a "Good morning". Afterwards, he happily sat down and said to the makeup artist at the side: "I am late today, Should I do my hair and makeup at the same time? At least, this way we can save some time."
A makeup artist immediately stepped forward and smiled: "Not late, it's only nine o'clock, just right."
Deng Yiwen smiled and saw Rong Xu, who was dyeing his hair, through the mirror.
It was already May, and the weather in Hengdian was about 20 degrees Celsius today. Rong Xu had already donned his costume, but Deng Yiwen was still wearing his short-sleeved t-shirt. In this weather, wearing short-sleeve clothing would still make one slightly chilled, but Deng Yiwen actually kept fanning himself non-stop. While fanning, he turned towards Rong Xu, saying with a smile: "So, you are Rong Xu? I am Deng Yiwen. I am happy to be able to work with you today, haha."
In his past life, Rong Xu had met many people like Deng Yiwen, this type of star who assumed familiarity with everyone. He nodded with a smile and said: "Hello, I am Rong Xu. Happy cooperation."
Deng Yiwen's handsome and sunny face showed a bright smile towards Rong Xu, and then he turned back to continue to tease the makeup artist. The female makeup artist, who was in her early thirties, was teased into laughter. When Rong Xu's hair was finished dyeing, the two of them were still laughing happily.
Rong Xu turned to look at Deng Yiwen, saying politely: "Then, I'm going to go film first."
Deng Yiwen smiled happily and waved at him: "Okay, I'll come right away."
Rong Xu's eyes glanced casually at the back of Deng Yiwen's head before he got up and left. Today, he (RX) had the most scenes, while Deng Yiwen only had four or five scenes. Even if Deng Yiwen came to the crew in the afternoon, it would not be an issue. However, the other party still arrived on time and gave Rong Xu a good impression.
Although, this person seemed to be a bit frivolous.
—— Rong Xu added secretly in his heart.
Leaving the rambunctious and laughter-filled dressing room, Rong Xu went directly to the set and prepared to film his part.
The moment he left the door of the dressing room, his steps paused, and he looked back subconsciously. However, he found that the people inside were still laughing and messing around with Deng Yiwen.
Not thinking too much about it, Rong Xu went to shoot his hard-copy posters first.
But, just as he left the dressing room, Deng Yiwen's gaze flicked lightly towards him, the corner of his mouth curving upwards, and then he looked away.
During the entire morning, Rong Xu finished taking all of his hard-copy pictures.
This time, Luck Potato Chips's commercial background was set in outer space in the future, and there were four super-powered individuals fighting for treasure. Based on sequential order, Bao Jiahong will be the first super-powered individual to get the treasure. Qi Rong will be second, Deng Yiwen will be fourth, and Rong Xu will be third.
After everyone acquires a treasure, they will be teleported to the ultimate battlefield where they will be sealed in ice, waiting for the four treasures to come together before they can break open the ice and truly start the final battle for the ultimate treasure.
As for what the ultimate treasure hidden in the glowing light is… it is naturally Luck potato chips.
A super blockbuster; popular, handsome stars; coupled with stunning, eye-catching visual effects, the final pursuit of this blockbuster advertisement was actually potato chips! Although he didn't know who thought up such a unique advertising idea, Rong Xu knew that this advertisement must be extremely expensive.
The scenes of all four spokespersons added together was already 30 minutes long. And within this 30 minutes, it was packed with action scenes and mostly special effects. Every single frame was simply robbing money (Expensive).
Though, the director who came to direct today's advertisement is a famous Hollywood director, Stephen Griffin. This top director's movies all had one common feature: High costs and enormous spending.
Once Rong Xu finished taking his costume photo stills and officially prepared to start filming, Stephen immediately turned his eyes away from the script to stare at Rong Xu. His eyes lit up as he walked over excitedly, holding a big belly, and said with excitement: "Uh-maz-ing[3]! Rong, this appearance truly is good-looking. I already can't wait to film you."
Stephen's Chinese couldn't be regarded as perfect, but it could still be understood. He could even use idioms proficiently.
Over these past years, for the sake of going beyond the country's borders, all of Huaxia's directors could speak English fluently; and Hollywood directors, who wanted to compete in the Huaxia market and win Huaxia's awards, would also study and work hard. There was even a Hollywood common saying: The more famous the director, the better their Chinese was.
Humans have always been moved by capital and interests. No matter how hard Chinese was to learn, in order to access the Huaxia market and compete with Huaxia movies, these top Hollywood directors would study day and night to conquer this grand mountain called Chinese.
In the span of his two lifetimes, Rong Xu discovered that these big foreign directors usually had one unique characteristic: either they were super eccentric, arrogant and narcissistic, and difficult to communicate with; or they were passionate and fiery and couldn't help but extol you with all the best praises in the world, without repeats.
Obviously, Stephen belonged to the latter.
The handsome young man smiled and said sincerely: "Being able to work together with you is my honor."
Stephen immediately praised again: "No, no, no. I really do like this appearance. It's really cool."
The curve of Rong Xu's lips rose a bit more as he calmly replied: "I also cannot wait to work with you."
The two praised each other a few more times. At the side, a Huaxia assistant director glanced at Rong Xu a few more times in surprise. Unexpectedly, this young child was actually able to talk to Stephen for long without a change in expression.
When Stephen went to go coordinate with the other units to prepare for the day's first shots, that assistant director secretly gave Rong Xu a thumbs-up and whispered: "This foreign director is too enthusiastic. I'd already made several films with him before. Rong Xu, you are the one who has dealt with him the best. You didn't see, but even Qi Rong was flattered by this old man until he was red-faced and heart thumping, almost unable to hold back (from escaping)."
After hearing this, Rong Xu blinked innocently, but the corners of his mouth tilted up: "I'm only speaking the truth."
This assistant director's admiration for him deepened a little more.
His words were such, but when Rong Xu finished discussing with the action director and was preparing to head onto the filming site, he slowly became serious and the smile on his face vanished. The sturdy film wires gradually lifted the youth. On the ground, the rotund director who was previously praising the young man also gradually composed his expressions, watching Rong Xu seriously.
Rong Xu's eyes stayed on Stephen's serious countenance for a bit, and then shook his head helplessly.
Sure enough, this was a Hollywood director in the most traditional sense —— when praising you to the sky, he would make you feel as if you were his most beloved protagonist. But once you truly started filming, he would become so strict that it would make any actor doubt whether they should've entered the entertainment circle.
"!"
"Action!"
The moment a voice sounded, a high-wattage stage light immediately illuminated from Rong Xu's right-front side, flashing across his beautiful and delicate face.
In just a brief second, Rong Xu suddenly kicked the stone wall with his right foot, flipped over in a circular moon shape and then used his left foot to kick off another cliff, appearing as if he were flying along the walls and passing through this small cavernous space.
The set location prepared by the crew was on the inside of a cave. The rocks here were quite peculiar. The rocks hid a fluorescent glow underneath them, which emitted a faint blue light that lit up the cave like daytime.
Within this extraordinary scenery there was the charming figure of a youth donned in a black windbreaker rapidly flying between fluorescent stone walls.The asymmetrical costume design and the silver crystals dotted on the collar gave this outfit a distinctive style. Black, close-fitting pants clung to those straight and slender legs. The moment he landed on the ground, he kneeled on his left knee and supported himself with his right hand. He looked up sharply, his eyes cold, and gave off a dangerous aura..
"Cut!"
This scene ended here.
Though it seemed only a few tens of seconds passed, the various action-packed scenes in it were more difficult than shooting a ten-minute cultural film.
Stephen watched the monitor screen carefully. Only after examining it back and forth three times did he look up at Rong Xu, who was at the center of the set, and say: "Again. The third action wasn't smooth enough, I want it to be crisp and clean! Rong, you know what it is I want; I want the coolest actions, the most handsome Huaxia Kungfu!"
Rong Xu nodded slightly, and the makeup artist fixed his makeup again. Then, they began shooting the scene for the second time.
Action films were different from cultural films. Solely having acting skills was not enough, it also required proper coordination. First, the actor must be well versed on the director's filming process. Second, one must be familiar with the stunt wires. Then, they have to coordinate with the light technicians and cameraperson, etc. Only this way would a perfect composition be created.
Only when this scene was on its third take did big-belly Stephen excitedly yell: "Perfect!"
Thus, it was considered to have passed.
The make-up artist stepped forward to help Rong Xu wipe his sweat and touch up his makeup. At this moment, Deng Yiwen also finished his makeup and came out. When he walked out, he saw Rong Xu who was surrounded by a group of staff members.
Rong Xu's 185 (cm) height allowed him to stand out amongst this many people, his posture upright. His hair was slightly long with the left side clipped up with an invisible black clip. Most of his black hair was fixed to the right side with hairspray, revealing a good half of his fair and beautiful face.
Within the soft silky black hair, there were broken strands of silver dyed in. The shining rays of silver interspersed in the middle of the black hair made it extraordinarily dazzling; the youth's skin appeared even fairer but also added a cold and ruthless sci-fi ambience.
Rong Xu's face had a very high level of malleability and there was no doubt that this type of futuristic appearance suited him quite well. In a crowd, you could see him at a glance, unable to look away.
Deng Yiwen dejectedly glanced at Rong Xu a few times before turning to look towards his own little assistant, saying with a smile: "He is actually not bad, isn't he?"
The assistant gave Rong Xu a few glances and said: "His type isn't commonly seen in the entertainment circle, he only looks good. That's it."
Deng Yiwen raised his eyebrows: "Dong Zheng had said that his acting skills were also good."
The assistant spread out their hands and didn't say anymore.
Later, they once again started on Rong Xu's scenes.
The context of Rong Xu's commercial was that he arrived at this cave and fought against the invisible dark storm that was inside. At last, he was finally going to obtain the treasure, but then, Deng Yiwen appears. For the sake of the ultimate treasure, the two began another spectacular round of battle. In the end, Rong Xu wins the treasure and is transported to the ultimate battlefield. Deng Yiwen can only resume his search for the fourth treasure.
Among these four spokespersons, Rong Xu's image belonged to a ruthless and rational type, so his hair was highlighted with silver. On the other hand, Deng Yiwen was comic relief. He was responsible for playing around and creating comedic aspects. Thus, he always wore white clothing with blonde-dyed hair.
This character design was part of the Hollywood template. Although it was lousy, the audience would always eagerly eat up this setting.
Rong Xu filmed some of the action scenes on set. Among these, he had to imagine the existence of a dark storm and fight against it. This was the first time he filmed action scenes and he needed three takes before it satisfied Stephen. When they reached the fourth action scene, as soon as he finished, Stephen, with his big belly, applauded happily and directly went up to hug the youth making Rong Xu unable to decide if he should laugh or cry.
"Spectacular! Rong, just maintain this feeling and let's continue!"
With Stephen's words, all the members of the crew dived into their work with increased excitement.
Deng Yiwen sat in a chair, smiling, and chatted with one of the working girls on the set. Hearing Stephen's words, he quietly glanced back at Rong Xu before smiling and moving his sight away.
Next, Rong Xu was considered to have eradicated the dark storm and was close to getting the treasure. At this moment, it was time for Deng Yiwen's appearance.
Deng Yiwen and the girl joked around some more before he entered the set.
Rong Xu was about to finish up and handed Luo Zhentao the towel he used to wipe his sweat. He looked up and saw Deng Yiwen grinning and beckoning toward him, exposing a set of neat, white teeth. Rong Xu raised his eyebrows but still waved at the other party with a smile.
Big-bellied Stephen looked over the stage and then raised his hand: "Action!"
The filming site of Luck Potato Chips was busy, and in the outside word, music and movie enthusiasts have already collectively exploded.
To date, the cumulative box office for Black Clouds has already broken 4 billion and was steadily closing in on 5 billion. Simultaneously[4] , Zhao Chuyun had been following up on the promotional plans for "Lost Wings". That afternoon, she had Zhao Kun post nine photos on his private Weibo account.
Of the nine photos, eight photos showed only the blurry silhouettes of two people, obviously done through PS (photoshop) blurring. However, in the centermost photo there was a youth in a red jacket. His left hand was stretched out to cover his left cheek, resulting in the right side of his face being even more prominent.
From the corner of his upturned eyes, red cinnabar hooked upwards and outlined a captivating arch. Those light-colored pupils were like a lake immersed in moonlight, peaceful and quiet, capturing your spirit and soul inside.
The photo was coupled with Zhao Kun's Weibo text——
[5, 2, 0[5] "Lost Wings", Coming to meet you!]
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[1]Young woman: Original translation: Little flower
[2] Power-struggle drama: anything related to a fight for power, mostly referenced to period dramas featuring royalty
[3] Original: 鹅妹嘤 (E Mei Yin), Pronounced to sound like "Amazing" in English
[4]Simultaneously: original: "At the same time that it was progressing towards 5 billion" original had it reiterated for emphasis
[5]520- homophone for "I love you" in Chinese