At the very least, it was a 200,000 yuan performance fee, plus 100,000 for props. Although this wasn’t much money for Lin Chang, it still needed to make some waves.
Pei Qian knew clearly that this project was doomed to fail, but that was fine. As long as Pei Qian showed that he didn’t need this money to spend but was just playing around, Lin Chang wouldn’t become suspicious, and that would be enough.
Although the money was called a performance fee, Pei Qian had no intention of actually shooting short videos or small films.
It was simple—the budget wasn’t enough.
Pei Qian was only doing this for the performance fee in the first place. He had only asked for 100,000 for props. With such a small amount, there wasn’t enough to pay the director, actors, crew, or post-production staff, let alone buy camera equipment.
Fei Huang Studio did have all the necessary equipment readily available, but the problem was that Pei Qian didn’t want to involve them.
After all, in Huang Sibo and the others’ eyes, why would Mr. Pei want to shoot short videos himself? It didn’t make sense.
So Pei Qian planned to do everything himself—self-reliance for abundant food and clothing—and try not to let anyone besides Lin Chang know about it.
For filming, he would use his phone. As for post-production editing, he didn’t know how to do anything complex anyway, so he would just cut out some unnecessary shots and splice them together.
He would film everything in a single take from start to finish, regardless of quality, then upload it to AiLiDao and call it a day.
As for whether anyone would watch it…
It would be better if no one did.
Moreover, Pei Qian had no intention of showing his face. He would wear a mask or only show half his face. If the video somehow went viral, his employees wouldn’t recognize him.
The sole purpose of shooting this video was to get the 200,000 yuan performance fee.
If Lin Chang ever asked about the 300,000 yuan, Pei Qian could show him this series of videos to prove that he had indeed seriously filmed something.
As for why the videos weren’t popular…
There was nothing to be done about that. Everyone makes mistakes. Mr. Pei’s performance art was too profound, and today’s society was too superficial—people just couldn’t understand it. That wasn’t Mr. Pei’s fault.
By then, Lin Chang definitely wouldn’t investigate too deeply or become suspicious.
With this in mind, Pei Qian gathered his things, picked up the express delivery that had arrived today, left the company, and returned to his rented apartment.
He would produce the first episode tonight!
Although there was no deadline, Pei Qian planned to film 20 episodes. Even at a rate of two episodes per week, it would still take more than two months, so he needed to start early.
The sooner he finished filming, the more confidently he could spend the 200,000 yuan!
…
First, Pei Qian fixed his phone in place and put the newly purchased delivery on the table.
It was a new foreign phone that had been released just over a month ago—the Pineapple 4, priced at 4,999 yuan, which perfectly fit the 5,000 yuan budget.
Among the currently popular phone brands in China, Shenhua’s annual flagship phones could only be considered second-tier. The highest-end tier still belonged to Pineapple phones, with a status similar to what Pei Qian remembered of Apple, or perhaps slightly lower.
In any case, this phone had high sales and good reviews. Using it for the first episode was very appropriate.
Pei Qian had considered that the content of the short video wasn’t important, nor was its success or failure. The key was to make Lin Chang feel that this project matched Mr. Pei’s persona.
Previously, Pei Qian had told Lin Chang that he wanted to use this money to experiment, so this experiment had to be unconventional.
It had to be innovative!
Just like when Pei Qian had played “Mr. Pei” before—although he was playing himself, he was following a script, so receiving a performance fee was reasonable.
This time was the same.
Pei Qian planned to play a “professional” digital product reviewer.
First, he took out a piece of paper and roughly wrote down the flow of the program, then officially began filming.
To avoid showing his face, Pei Qian took a white piece of paper and wrote “Hardcore Review” in large characters.
He took out the eyeglass frames he had bought at a high price earlier, wore them over the white paper, and successfully clamped the paper as a mask.
Then, Pei Qian changed into rather ordinary clothes, thought for a few minutes, and wrote the introduction for the video.
“Hardcore Review”
“Non-Independent Review Day 1”
“Hardcore Review is a non-independent review organization. Review results depend on how much manufacturers pay. Any products reviewed in this video may have received PR fees from manufacturers. Please close the video immediately. If any manufacturer wishes to cooperate, please contact via private message.”
He would make a pure subtitle version to put at the beginning of the video, first discouraging a batch of viewers.
After everything was prepared, Pei Qian opened his phone’s recording function and began recording.
“Welcome to the nation’s most professional and rigorous unboxing review program. I am a professional digital reviewer, Wao Yu.”
“Today, we’ll be unboxing and reviewing the Pineapple 4. Now, let’s carefully unbox it.”
Pei Qian deliberately used an emotionless tone to prevent others from recognizing his voice.
Then, he took a dinner knife from nearby, poked several holes in the packaging box, and pried out the phone.
Using a very careless method, he tore off the protective film, deliberately crumpled it into a ball and set it aside, then took the packaging box along with the charging cable, charging head, and other accessories, covered them all up, and threw them aside.
“First test: water resistance performance.”
He took a small basin of water that he had prepared earlier and threw the turned-on Pineapple phone into it.
After a few minutes, he took it out. The water resistance was good; no water had entered the phone.
“Next is the second test: drop resistance performance.”
Pei Qian held his phone in his left hand to film while dropping the Pineapple 4 from different heights and angles with his right hand, letting it fall to the ground.
First corner down, then back cover down, and finally screen down, dropping it from heights of 1 meter, 2 meters, and 3 meters.
After each drop, he filmed a close-up.
After dropping it from 3 meters, the entire phone was in a pitiful state. Although it could still turn on and run, the screen was cracked, the corner was slightly dented, and the back cover had some paint chipping.
“Third test: impact resistance performance.”
Pei Qian took up the dinner knife again and hacked at the back cover a few times.
At first, he used minimal force, causing no major damage, but as he increased the force, obvious cracks soon appeared and became increasingly clear.
“Fourth test: disassembly.”
“Everyone knows that disassembly is the step that best reveals whether a phone’s internal structure and materials are of good quality. Next, let’s disassemble it using a very professional method.”
Pei Qian took a flathead screwdriver and pried up the entire back cover along the cracks, then successively removed the battery, camera, and components on the back panel.
When there was nothing left to disassemble, the entire phone was completely unrecognizable.
“Alright, this is the internal structure of the Pineapple 4 phone. You can see its workmanship and materials. You all should understand what each part does, so I won’t explain further.”
“Next, let’s put it back together.”
Pei Qian didn’t do this step; he would just play the footage in reverse later.
Finally, he needed to record a closing statement.
“That concludes the review of the Pineapple 4 phone. I’d like to remind Pineapple to quickly transfer the remaining payment to my account.”
“This is Hardcore Review. See you in our next program!”
After recording everything, Pei Qian found a simple editing software, edited the footage a bit, added the text for the introduction, and included the reversed footage.
After rendering the video, he watched it.
There were many problems, and Mr. Pei was very satisfied.
Pei Qian registered a new account on the AiLiDao website, simply called “Hardcore Review,” and uploaded the video.
“Good, that’s a wrap!”
Pei Qian put away the paper and glasses—after all, he would need them to record the next episode.
With 19 episodes remaining, he would unbox a different digital product for each episode, following the same steps for all products. He could easily complete all 20 episodes and then spend the 200,000 yuan with a clear conscience!