The bag of roast chicken was spread out on the floor, and the two sat on the floor, each opening a can of beer. After eating something, drinking some beer, and satisfying his already empty stomach after an afternoon, Yechen took the initiative to ask, "How are you going to operate the first horror movie?" ”

Yan Yuchen took a big sip of wine and said: "Yechen, you don't know how difficult it is for a novice to get ahead in the entertainment industry, not to mention that I want to make a movie, not to be an actor, just raising funds will waste my time for a few months." ”

"How much money do you have now?" Yechen asked, movies are a high-investment business, and of course, there will be a high rate of return if successful.

Yan Yuchen stretched out a finger and said, "One million." ”

"Not bad!" Yechen praised, "You can have a million in such a short time, how did you raise it?" ”

When chatting before, Yechen learned that Yan Yuchen entered this mission world a few months earlier than herself, and it stands to reason that the funds they had at the beginning of the mission should be about the same, at most tens of thousands of yuan, and it is indeed not easy to raise one million in such a short time.

"At the beginning, I went to an investment company, a large film company, but I was a newcomer with no background, no one would take care of me, even if I went to the bank for a loan, I had nothing to pledge." Remembering the days when she was rejected everywhere and occasionally ridiculed, she was quite depressed, but soon, she regained her optimistic expression, "Finally, I finally found a way to raise funds." ”

"What's the solution?"

"Usury is the kind of small, illegal usury."

"Nine in and thirteen out?" Yechen said with some surprise, "Generally, it will be profitable, and no matter how successful a movie is, you won't be able to repay the interest." "Generally speaking, the production cycle of a film is at least about a year, not counting the profit recovery period after release, such a long time, such a high interest, no matter how successful the film is, it is useless.

"I know." Yan Yuchen said, "I don't plan to pay back the money at all. After the money arrives, find a suitable opportunity, kill the lender, find a wilderness and bury it, and you're done. ”

Yechen paused with his hand holding the beer and said, "It's really special!" ”

Yan Yuchen smiled and said: "Otherwise, why should I look for that kind of small illegal loan shark company, most of that kind of company is a leather bag company, and the borrower is often a one-line contact, as long as the person dies, this line will be broken, and no one will track me down." ”

Yechen asked curiously, "Even if it's a one-line contact, don't they have a record there?" ”

Yan Yuchen said: "I use a fake identity, and many times someone else comes forward to complete the loan procedures for me. ”

Yechen didn't ask about the fate of those who lent money for her, but turned her attention back to the movie and said: "One million should be enough for a horror film with a small investment." ”

Yan Yuchen shook his head and said, "Not enough, not enough at all." We didn't have any foundation in cinema, and if we wanted to make the first film a hit, we had to go off the rails. ”

Yechen found the chicken leg of the roast chicken and said, "Let's talk about it." ”

Yanyuchen asked, "Have you heard of 'Witch Black'?" ”

Yechen thought about it in his mind and said, "I seem to have heard of it, but I don't have a deep impression, I just remember it...... This is a low-budget, documentary horror film, and it seems to have done very well at the box office. ”

Yan Yuchen nodded and said: "Yes, the manufacturing cost of "Witch Black" is very low, only tens of thousands of US dollars, and the final box office is hundreds of millions, which is a classic case of small and big. Do you think this film can achieve such good box office results because it is very exciting? ”

"Isn't it?" Yechen asked, she hadn't learned about it at all, she really didn't know.

"Of course not!" Yan Yuchen said categorically, "No matter from which angle, this is a completely bad movie, a very bad kind, no plot, no story, not to mention any shooting techniques, editing soundtrack." ”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Yan Yuchen continued: "The most successful part of this film lies in its publicity and distribution methods. ”

Next, Yan Yuchen introduced the publicity and marketing methods of "Witch Black" in detail to Yechen, who knew little about the film industry.

In 1995, the Internet was not as widespread as it was during the information explosion that followed, but in advanced capitalist countries like the United States and Europe, computers and Internet applications were gradually becoming popular and universal.

In the last week of April 1995, many netizens and movie fans who had computers or often surfed the Internet discovered a very special website, the legend of the "witch". On this website, there are posts about murderous witches in Maryland, as well as some frightening footage.

Videos, pictures, and red headlines are all revealing and telling the story of the witch Blair.

For such a website, at first, there were still many people who didn't believe it, thinking that it was a spoof, and felt very boring, and even they would abuse the computer a few words. But within a few days, some common magazines and newspapers suddenly appeared on these missing person notices: Montgomery University Heather, Mike and Just, because they went to Maryland to find out about the witch Blair, have not returned, and many months have passed.

When these missing person notices appeared in major newspapers and magazines in the United States, they immediately aroused a thousand waves, surprise, curiosity, and a faint excitement. A murderous witch is found in Maryland, and three Montgomery University students mysteriously disappear. This kind of news, the talk about witches, suddenly became the focus of many people's discussions, young men and women, especially college students, are particularly concerned about this matter.

Using the rumors to gain people's full curiosity about witches, Blake the witch has attracted the attention of the whole society. Countless people talked about this matter after dinner, and there were many kind-hearted people who used their networks to spread this matter so that more people could know about it, hoping to get wider attention.

When public opinion slowly ferments and the mysterious and dangerous witch becomes a topic of widespread discussion in society, a message will suddenly appear on websites, newspapers, and magazines where witch rumors have appeared, and the police have found some belongings of the three students, including the cameras they used and some films.

These films are the power supply of "Blake the Witch".

Even when the film was about to be released, the publicity and distribution company still did not admit that it was actually a movie shot with special techniques, but insisted that it was found near the scene of the crime, the so-called relics of the missing person.

Driven by curiosity, countless people, especially young men and women, walked into the cinema to watch this film that was about three lives.

"Deception." Yechen summed up two words.

Yan Yuchen nodded and said, "Yes, the essence of the announcement of "Witch Black" is deception. At that time, people had not yet experienced the baptism of the information explosion, and they still had a minimum of trust in the media, and they did not understand what those media people could do for money, and people believed that there were really three students who were missing and were likely to face danger to their lives, so they eagerly cared, anxiously waited, and mobilized their relatives and friends around them to pay attention to this tragedy. ”

"At the end of the day, they knew it was just a marketing ploy for a movie." A smile appeared at the corner of Ye Chen's mouth, and he said, "They are absolutely angry, in a word, it is definitely a waste of feelings, no, not just a waste, but a deception of feelings." ”

Yan Yuchen nodded and said: "After the screening of "Witch Black", the invective began to spread and the crowd was angry, but the audience's anger was also used as a means of film marketing, attracting more people who didn't know about it to enter the cinema to watch what was going on with this movie that attracted such abuse. In this way, this movie, which can't be worse, has a box office of hundreds of millions. ”

"It's a bit of a bad character." Yechen said.

"That's right, this marketing method is extreme, the movie "Witch Black" was successful, but its main creators can be said to be on the blacklist of most audiences, and after a short period of dazzling, they disappeared and there was no movement."

Yechen took a sip of beer and said, "You plan to use this way to market, the effect may not be ideal, the current audience is not so easy to deceive." ”

Yan Yuchen said: "I know, in fact, after the success of "Witch Black", many films tried to follow the hype, but they all failed, and the audience was deceived once, so it was difficult to be fooled. ”

"So what are you going to do?"

Yan Yuchen said confidently: "It's still with the marketing strategy of "Witch Black", but they are fake, we can come to the real one." ”

"What do you mean?"

Yan Yuchen stood up and said, "Can you restrain the ghost in a house?" We can create a haunted house and send out a message online to encourage some people to come and explore it. As long as a few people die, the reputation of the haunted house will spread, and when the society is widely concerned, we send out actors and film crews to shoot real haunted house adventures. ”

"A real haunted house, a real ghost, will definitely attract many people to the cinema!" Yan Yuchen waved his arm hard, very excited.

Yechen leaned back on the bed and deduced in his mind: Create a ghost? It should be fine; Confine it to a house? No problem; There have always been a lot of people in this world who like to die, and encourage some adventurous guys to go on a haunted house adventure? No problem; Cast and crew......

Yechen looked at the smoke and rain walking around, and said: "I said, even if everything goes well, I am not sure that I can restrain the behavior of the ghosts, if I really want to enter the haunted house to shoot, I can't guarantee the safety of the actors and film crew." ”

Yan Yuchen stopped, sat down on the ground again, and said, "You're right, it's a very troublesome point, so ......" She thought in her head, and said, "So, we need some special actors, and a special film crew." ”

Yan Yuchen searched his mind for possible resources: "The words of the film crew...... Anyway, in order to have a sense of documentary, we can only arrange for a camera to follow, and I can double this camera. ”

"Are you okay?" Yechen was a little skeptical.

"Of course."

"You've studied videography and directing?"

"Just a while ago, I audited courses related to the directing department and the photography department for several months."

Audit...... Yechen didn't know what to say.

Yan Yuchen was full of confidence and said: "I want to trust your partner, I am very smart, a few months of auditing is enough for me to master the basic theoretical knowledge, and I can learn slowly in practice in the future." ”

Yechen believes that if you can become an excellent trialist, you will definitely not lack your heart and wisdom, and because your soul is strong, their memory and thinking ability are also different from ordinary people.

"What about the actors?" Without waiting for Yan Yuchen to speak, Yechen took the initiative to say, "I don't like to go to the front desk, you know. ”

Of course, I know that when you were in Ryan City, you rarely walked out of the door of the supernatural research laboratory, and Yan Yuchen muttered in his heart, saying, "If there is no suitable candidate, we can invite Qingming." ”

This is a familiar name, Ye Chen asked, "Jiaye District, the Onmyoji of the Faqing Academy, Qingming?" ”

Yan Yuchen nodded and said, "Yes, it's her." ”

This Yechen didn't expect that Qingming also successfully completed the mission in Ryan City, and it seemed that in the final melee, she also captured a door.

Yechen asked, "Apart from the two of us, what other old friends are in this mission world?" ”

Yan Yuchen replied: "I know, except for you, there is only Qingming, and this is because she took the initiative to show up and was frequently exposed in the media." "If a practitioner really wants to hide his identity, it will be difficult for others to get behind, and it is a coincidence that she met Yechen.

"Actively exposed in the media? What does she want to do? ”

Yan Yuchen explained: "Qingming cultivates Shinto, and her soul growth needs the blessing of the power of faith, so this beautiful girl decided to become an idol and become a goddess in the hearts of countless boys and girls. It's not so easy to become a shining star, and our very gimmicky movie can definitely attract her to come over, and she can even pay for it. ”

Yechen nodded slightly, so there should be no problem, the actor is clear, the director and cameraman are dusty, and there is a miscellaneous person, the whole crew is an excellent trialist, and a powerful ghost can't come up with any tricks.

"By the way, since the production cost is so low, why do you say that one million is not enough?" Yechen asked.

Yan Yuchen sighed and said: "Yechen, people often say that the production cost of "Witch Black" is only tens of thousands, and the final box office is hundreds of millions, which is a classic case of small and big, but do you know how much money was spent on the promotion of "Witch Black"? Tens of millions of dollars! Any so-called low-cost film with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and finally tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, does not take into account the cost of publicity and distribution. The industrialization and commercialization of films here are already very mature, and without publicity, no matter how good the movie is, it will not get a good box office. Even if the sword goes off the rails, designing a website, hiring a water army, and sparking widespread discussion in the society, it takes money, and in my plan, the promotion of this movie needs at least three million. ”