The staff helped Dilumo set up the beach scene that he wanted to film. He walked around the set, gesticulating critically for half a day, as if he was really a perfectionist. The staff members expressionlessly watched him point around and listened to his completely amateur comments, forcibly suppressing their urge to roll their eyes.
After filming started, Dilumo stepped on the white sand wearing swimming trunks. He fiddled with his hair, facing the camera in what he thought was his handsomest pose. His pose really had no problem, but based on the camera movement he requested, the footage made the director frown the entire time.
After filming a scene, Dilumo ran over to watch the replay. After watching it, he immediately asked, "What happened? Did you even shoot based on what I said?"
The director ignored him, his face cold. The director's assistant said, "This is precisely the result of what you requested."
"Impossible!" Dilumo said with great dissatisfaction. "If you really filmed based on my requirements, the footage would definitely not be like this. Look what you turned me into."
"Since you said this, then you might as well shoot it yourself." The director said impatiently. He hated these self-righteous people the most.
"If I could do it separately, it would absolutely be better than yours. The directors who helped me with my promotional videos before all did so under my guidance. I hope that you all can have a little work ethic. Evidently you know that I can't film myself, and you still say that I should do it myself." Dilumo had already made up his mind to blame the bad results on the directing group. In any case he didn't expect these people to give him a high score, as long as he could maintain his image in the hearts of his fans, that was enough.
The staff members finally couldn't resist starting to roll their eyes. They could be considered people who had seen a lot, but it was really their first time meeting someone who was so shameless.
After shooting again, Dilumo once again seized the angle and scene problems to criticize. "The scene shot from this angle is really too fake, and the transition from this sea water to the sand, can't you do it a little better? How could the result from shooting it like this be good?"
The director originally didn't want to talk more with this person, but hearing him be more and more extreme, he finally couldn't resist. "The angle was what you requested yourself, and the scene was also done based on what you asked for. If it wasn't shot well, that isn't the problem with our ability, but that you simply don't understand and still make random requests. Anyone with brains would know to choose slightly darker scenes to shoot, so that they can achieve more realistic results, whether during filming or in post-production when adding special effects. And only you, put forward the request to shoot a beach and ocean scene in a studio. Such a bright scene, it was already very difficult to shoot a realistic scene, and then you even chose some messy angles. Anyone with some brain cells wouldn't have done this."
Dilumo was so frankly satirized as brainless by the director, and his expression immediately became ugly.
The director hadn't finished venting the anger in his heart. Since the words had already come out, he felt that he might as well be even more blunt. "Don't think that we're fools, and think that we can't see your purpose. You clearly don't understand how to set up a good shoot, and still want to forcibly say that it was our problem. I've been in this line for twenty to thirty years, and I've won more awards than the number of promos you've ever taken, and you think that you could throw the problem to me with just a few words? I'm telling you, anyone who understands the least bit can tell that it's all your problem. You think that you are criticizing us, but don't know how ridiculous you seem in other people's eyes!"
Dilumo was still very unconvinced, and at this time he felt that he couldn't admit his mistakes, so he strongly resisted. "You say that it's my problem, then why didn't I have any problems with my previous videos? Clearly you all don't understand what I wanted, and couldn't meet my requirements, but still want to place the responsibility on my head!"
"Good!" The director said. "Then I'll find someone to come and show you whether it is your problem or our problem."
~
Jing Yang lay on Regulus's chest, only feeling like he had no strength left in his entire body.
Regulus raised his chin and kissed him. He pulled up the robe that had slipped down to his waist and covered up his body, his hand still stroking his skin under his clothes.
"En~" Jing Yang's sensitive areas were touched by him, and he buried his face in his chest, letting out a sound of protest.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, making Jing Yang's body stiffen. Regulus immediately stroked his back to appease him.
The knock on the door sounded two more times, and Regulus picked up Jing Yang, bringing him into the inner room of the lounge and placing him on the bed. He took out a new set of clothes from the closet and lay them on the bed. Regulus leaned over and kissed Jing Yang on the cheek, and then got up and went out first.
Jing Yang lay on the bed for a while, and after calming down, he changed and went out.
Jing Yang's assistant was standing there to talk to Regulus about something. This assistant was someone who Regulus had arranged for him later, so he could be considered one of Regulus's men.
"What happened?" Jing Yang walked over and sat down next to Regulus.
Regulus held Jing Yang in his arms and motioned to the assistant to repeat what he had said.
After listening, Jing Yang found out that originally the director and Dilumo had a conflict, and the director wanted Jing Yang to shoot again in the scene Dilumo arranged to prove who was the problem.
He agreed without much thought. He was certainly happy to do something like this that could give Dilumo a hit.
While he walked to the studio, Jing Yang really admired Dilumo's courage to go up against all of the staff members all by himself. He could pretty much guess Dilumo's thought process. He wanted to use his best scene to push all of the responsibility for not shooting well onto the director and the staff members. Because even if he shot any other scenes, for someone like him who didn't know anything about the scene layout or shooting process, he wouldn't be able to arrange any good scenes or shoot anything good.
Dilumo saw Jing Yang come over, feeling hatred in his heart. He knew that it must have been the director who had let him come over, and he was the person who the director had said could prove who was the problem. Right now he no longer dared to despise this person. If the video shot by Arthur in the same scene had a big difference from his own, that would undoubtedly be a blow to his ability. Ever since this person had reappeared in the public eye, it was as if he had been cursed, and nothing had gone smoothly for him. This couldn't happen, he had to think of a way to save the situation.
Jing Yang discussed with the director and made some small changes to the scene. He changed the originally crystal clear sky with a bright sun to that of a sunrise. He basically didn't change the scene layout, just darkening the lighting by a lot, and changing it into a gradient. He used the light and dark to highlight the three-dimensionality of the space.
Jing Yang wore a simple white shirt and only a pair of briefs, which just happened to cover his hips.
A pair of flawless, straight, and slender legs was Jing Yang's body's greatest advantage. Since this was a model's personal promotional video, he naturally had to highlight his own greatest advantage. Just now he had already shown his outstanding bearing and performance abilities, so now he would show off his physical advantages. But just showing off his body was a little boring, so this time he intended to further strengthen the artistic concept, and let audience experience it personally.
With his back to the camera, the unbuttoned shirt softly swayed in the wind. Under the background of the slowly rising sun, the beauty of the shot was positively suffocating, it could definitely be called a "back killer."
Jing Yang turned slightly and began to move forward. In fact he was just walking in place, but the change in the background and the lightning made it seem like he was moving forward. Even the staff at the scene were almost deceived by this visual illusion and thought that he really was walking forward, but never reaching the end.
The tide rose up but didn't reach his ankles. He looked toward the sun that had completely risen above the horizon, and then slowly turned, facing the camera. He hugged his body with both hands, slightly tilting his head, and revealed a childlike pure smile, just like the sun behind him to his left, dreamlike and beautiful.
The film was finally fixed in the moment Jing Yang revealed this smile. From this smile, it was as if you could feel the hope and dazzling light, perfectly in line with the theme of the sunrise. This kind of image could fit with many different advertising themes, it was the one of the advertising forms that many businesses loved, leaving them with a lot of creative freedom.
It was not until the staff on the scene broke out into applause that the netizens watching through the screens came back to their senses. This was very different from Jing Yang's previous sexy and seductive atmosphere. This time in the entire filming process he appeared sacred and beautiful, making people feel like having even the lightest bad fantasy about him would be too dirty and evil. This person was really too mystical, with such a short film, he could guide the people's hearts. Companies must love such a model.
Jing Yang bowed to thank the staff members and then went to the dressing room to change. When his back completely disappeared, the applause finally stopped.
The director deliberately let the staff put up Jing Yang's scene and Dilumo's scene at the same time on the screen to compare them.
The director walked up to Dilumo and said, "Whose problem it was, isn't it obvious now? Look at other people's professionalism, can you even compare? This is the so-called gap, not only a career gap, but also a character gap."
"You all did this on purpose, didn't you?" Dilumo said with an expression full of anger and grievance. "You deliberately didn't follow my requests and deliberately filmed me very poorly, and then compared mine to his very well filmed video to highlight his excellence. What benefits did he give you? To let you all target me everywhere?"
The director looked at him with disbelief. "Someone like you is simply beyond hope of saving. I'll just wait to see what kind of end someone like you will get!"
The netizens had long already started scolding into a mess. For Dilumo's behavior, anyone with a brain could tell his purpose, so most of it were remarks satirizing him. And the reason brainless fans were called brainless was because they couldn't distinguish between right or wrong and didn't care whether their idol's behavior had any bad effects, just blindly supporting their idols. No matter what he did, they would still find excuses to help defend him. Sometimes they even knew the truth of the matter, but still deliberately tried to whitewash it.
When the netizens attacked Dilumo, his fans all went to defend him, protecting him even better than they would their parents. They even cursed the director and the organizers together, saying that they were deliberately biased against Dilumo, or else he definitely wouldn't have the current results.
Dilumo know that he already had no hope of winning the competition, but he still could stabilize the hearts of his fans, and that would already be enough for him. For everything else, he could slowly plan in the future. He believed that there would never be no hope, even in Arthur Yang's situation, he was still able to come back. And right now he himself had so many fans supporting him, he could do the same, and do it even better.
He would definitely find a way to deal with Arthur Yang, and let those who support Arthur know how stupid it was to like Arthur. He would let everyone scolding him and insulting him regret!
Translator Notes:
[1] gesticulating critically – 指手画脚, idiom, means to criticize or give orders while waving his hands
[2] seen a lot – 见多识广, idiom, experienced and knowledgeable, worldly
[3] back killer – 背影杀手, slang, basically someone who looks stunning from behind
[4] there would never be no nope – 天无绝人之路, idiom, means don't despair and you will find a way through
Random Notes:
About an hour: 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm, for 3.6k characters to 2.3k words. Shorter chapter than usual.