On the set of “Beautiful Tomorrow.”

“Cut!”

“Good, that take is approved.”

“Thank you, everyone, for your hard work. Let’s take a break, and then we’ll officially start shooting the advertisements.”

As soon as Director Zhu Xiaocai finished speaking, the set erupted with applause and cheers, with many people feeling relieved.

Up to this point, the main portions of the film had been completely shot.

Although there were some minor issues during the initial filming, under Mr. Pei’s guidance and the collective efforts of everyone on set, these problems were quickly overcome.

The collaboration between Lu Zhiyao and other lead actors became increasingly seamless, their scenes together increasingly brilliant. At the beginning, they often needed to reshoot, but later they would often get it in two or three takes, all of which were excellent, making it difficult for Zhu Xiaocai to choose.

When it was difficult to decide, he postponed the decision—he would decide during post-production editing.

So, the regular filming tasks were finished.

Many staff members breathed a sigh of relief, since only the advertisements remained to be shot.

The advertisements, plainly speaking, were just background elements in the film. Most people instinctively felt that they didn’t need to be as meticulous as the main film—they could just be thrown together quickly.

But Zhu Xiaocai didn’t think so.

He held a thick stack of advertisement planning documents and was earnestly explaining to the actors responsible for the advertisement shoots.

The group of people shooting the advertisements had all been newly cast.

Originally, how to shoot the advertisements wasn’t determined. Zhu Xiaocai had considered having various brands place advertisements and provide their commercial clips.

However, Mr. Pei rejected this idea, so it was finally decided: they would shoot the advertisements themselves, and they couldn’t involve any real-world companies, trademarks, or products.

Once this was decided, Zhu Xiaocai began arranging for people to scout for actors.

Since these advertisements would be played as background in the film, the main actors who had already appeared in the film definitely couldn’t participate.

Many characters in the film were poor people who, in the film’s setting, wouldn’t qualify to shoot such advertisements.

Only the judge played by Zhang Zuting and the male protagonist played by Lu Zhiyao (after he becomes famous) could shoot a few advertisements.

Also, the young woman who was ultimately promoted by the judge to replace the male protagonist could shoot a few advertisements as well.

Apart from these exceptions, all other advertisements required new actors—they had to be new faces that had never appeared in the film before.

In planning the advertisements, Director Zhu Xiaocai had put in considerable effort, which was why he had such a thick stack of advertisement planning documents.

“First, I want to emphasize to everyone that although we’re shooting advertisements that will only serve as background in the film, we absolutely cannot be careless. They are as important as the film itself, and in some ways, even more important!”

“First, the advertisements serve as a hint and connection.”

“In the film, advertisements will connect certain plot elements.”

“For example, before the male and female protagonists participate in the talent show, he often sees the judge’s endorsements and advertisements while watching TV programs. This allows the audience to meet the judge’s character in advance and hints that the judge is a very wealthy and influential successful person.”

“After the male protagonist becomes famous, we’ll show some advertisements he shoots for many different products, suggesting his overnight success.”

“And after the male protagonist’s downfall, as he lies in bed, the television plays advertisements featuring the girl who replaced him, suggesting that after he was sabotaged, the judge immediately promoted a new person, starting a cycle.”

“Second, the advertisements can allude to concerns people have today about big data and privacy leaks.”

“We’ll shoot many types of advertisements that will directly relate to the male protagonist’s experiences.”

“For instance, just after the male protagonist drinks a can of beer, the screen will recommend chicken wing advertisements or wine advertisements to him.”

“Just after the male protagonist loses a large sum of money watching a TV program, the advertisements will promote loan services to him.”

“And when the male protagonist earns a large sum of money, he’ll be shown various financial products, insurance, luxury goods, and so on.”

“We’ll spread these categories throughout the film. As the male protagonist’s life changes, the advertisements he sees will also change.”

“On one hand, this creates atmosphere; on the other hand, it hints at and satirizes issues of big data and privacy leaks.”

“Finally, the advertisements can strengthen the science fiction elements, serving as speculation about the cultural life of the future world.”

“As Mr. Pei said, we need to make the advertisements sufficiently stream-of-consciousness and cool, incorporating some futuristic elements that will leave the audience confused, constantly hinting to the audience that this is a future world.”

“These advertisements can help them better experience the characteristics of the future world, making it easier for them to immerse themselves in this worldview.”

Zhu Xiaocai looked around at everyone, then turned to one of the actors:

“Good, it seems everyone understands. The next advertisement is for a food delivery service, and the content is very simple: a drone carrying takeout food flying over the city.”

“However, this drone is on fire, flying like a fireball across the city’s night sky. Then you open the door, reach out to take the food delivery, open the beautiful food container, and discover the beautiful steak inside is as if it’s just been grilled, still steaming…”

“Then the next one is a joint advertisement for food delivery and mobile phones.”

“The drone comes to pick up the food, but the drone’s display screen indicates that the distance is too far, and there’s insufficient power for delivery. At this point, there’s a close-up of a map that flashes by, showing that this food delivery needs to cross deserts and oceans to reach another city.”

“At this moment, the restaurant owner casually takes out his mobile phone, connects it to the drone with a cable to supply power, and then the drone flies away.”

“Next, we see the drone crossing deserts and oceans, experiencing sandstorms, storms, and various harsh weather conditions.”

“Finally, you open the door again. At this point, the drone begins its return journey. After flying back, the restaurant owner removes his phone and finds that it still has 30% battery left…”

Zhu Xiaocai explained the content of the advertisements to the actors.

When determining the advertisement content, he had certainly lost quite a few brain cells.

Some of the stream-of-consciousness advertisements were easy—just have the actors wear futuristic clothes, strike a few poses, shoot a few inexplicable shots, and add some special effects.

But having only stream-of-consciousness advertisements wasn’t enough, was it?

No matter how the future world develops, advertisements would likely maintain a certain diversity.

So Zhu Xiaocai came up with a few other styles of advertisements for variety.

At the same time, deciding which products to advertise gave Zhu Xiaocai a severe headache.

Because at the very least, they needed to create logos and advertising copy for these advertisements, right?

If the logos weren’t well-designed, they could easily be criticized by the audience, breaking immersion. In that case, what would be the point of filming these advertisements?

Therefore, the logos had to be good enough, just like real commercial advertisements.

But with so many advertisements, Zhu Xiaocai alone couldn’t possibly come up with all of them, no matter how hard he worked.

Designing all these logos from scratch would be too difficult.

So, after discussing with Huang Sibo, he decided to seek help from the other departments!

They had Slackin’ Delivery create a delivery logo, modify Slackin’ Delivery’s logo a bit, and had OTTO Technology provide an unused phone logo—as long as the audience didn’t get any sense of déjà vu.

In short, with the collective wisdom of many departments, these logos finally looked somewhat legitimate.

Although they were all modified brands, Zhu Xiaocai still reminded each department to claim their modified brands and register them in advance.

It wasn’t because he expected the film to have any promotional effect; it was mainly to prevent others from registering these trademarks and making trouble.

Registering them in advance would avoid these hassles.

Zhu Xiaocai estimated that although there were quite a few advertisements, most were very short. In about two weeks, they should be able to finish filming.

Only then would the film truly be infused with its soul.

…

…

At the Tenda Games Department.

Ruan Guangjian breathed a sigh of relief: “Good, so the concept designs and original artwork for the first batch of heroes are all completed.”

Li Yada applauded: “Thank you for your hard work, master!”

During this period, Ruan Guangjian had been creating various concept designs and original artwork for GOG heroes, frequently traveling between Jingzhou and Magic City.

However, game development and original artwork design were two parallel tasks that didn’t affect each other.

Ruan Guangjian’s job was to reshape the IP characters purchased by the Tenda Games Department or create some distinctive original characters, such as “Justice Guardian Modister.”

Overall, this wasn’t a particularly arduous task, since it wasn’t entirely original creation—most involved modifying existing images.

As long as he fully understood the character’s features and made some changes based on the classic image, it was much easier than creating entirely from scratch.

So, the original artwork design work was much faster than the game development process. While the game was still far from official launch or even public testing, the original artwork was already complete.

Li Yada asked: “So what are your plans next, master? Do you want to tell Mr. Pei about this and celebrate the completion of the original artwork?”

Ruan Guangjian hurriedly shook his head: “No, no, no, that’s not necessary. Mr. Pei is busy with work, we shouldn’t bother him with such small matters.”

“Besides, I’ve already been to all the amusement parks in Jingzhou, and there aren’t many other exciting attractions left.”

“I plan to rest a bit these days, explore Jingzhou a bit more, and maybe find something new to do.”

Li Yada thought for a moment and said: “By the way, Tenda has another game department called Shangyang Games, the one with the ‘Hot Blood Battle Song’ project, you know?”

Ruan Guangjian nodded: “I know, but I don’t have much feeling for the art style of ‘Hot Blood Battle Song’.”

Li Yada: “That’s why they need a master like you to improve the company’s art level! Don’t worry, we all work under Mr. Pei; none of us lacks money.”

Ruan Guangjian hesitated: “Two projects might be a bit much for me to handle…”

Li Yada waved her hand: “It’s fine, they already have quite a few art resources. You just need to take a look and give some pointers. It’s mainly about guidance, you don’t need to do the work yourself.”

Ruan Guangjian thought for a moment and nodded: “Alright, I can go take a look and offer some suggestions.”