Chapter 95: Riding the Hype
Because of the start of filming for "Blood Mist," Qin Linlin was stretched too thin, so the recording time for the variety show "Don’t Look Back in the Dark" was postponed for a while.
Furthermore, Rong Yu had the GCD boy band's debut tour concerts to prepare for. After filming most of his male lead scenes, he had to go practice the songs and dances for the tour.
Of course, he wasn't the only one needing to juggle both schedules, other team members also had their own agencies and had received various invitations and arrangements.
In short, everyone was busy.
But the others had short-term advertisements and MV invitations, while Rong Yu had to act in a male lead role, which was more time and energy-consuming.
Not long ago, Ming Qian had also accepted a script and joined a crew to act, though not as the male lead, but as the second male lead.
The drama Ming Qian's agent got him was called "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close," a romantic time-travel wuxia drama where the second male lead is a young master from a prominent family.
As was commonly understood within the vast tropes of romantic dramas, the male lead existed for the female lead to love, while the second male lead was left for the audience to pity. Furthermore, "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" was an adaptation of a popular time-travel novel, so accepting the role of the second male lead was not considered a poor career move.
The notable coincidence, however, was that this particular second male lead also happened to be a character with dissociative identity disorder.
So when the promotional photos and plot summaries for "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" appeared on the hot search, it was inevitable that people would compare Ming Qian and Rong Yu.
After all, both had taken on roles with dissociative identity disorder and were members of the same team.
The slight difference was that Rong Yu's character involved two split personalities falling in love with each other, while Ming Qian's character had both split personalities liking the female lead.
Initially, these were just small-scale comparisons among fans, but some marketing accounts spotted the traffic generated by controversy and quickly grabbed the pictures, deliberately pairing them with highly controversial and suggestive captions before posting.
Entertainment Circle Cat V: GCD boy band's first and second place winners are playing similar roles. Who do you think will come out on top? [Picture][Picture][Picture]
The purpose of this inflammatory caption was clear—it practically screamed: Come on, come on~ fans, come and fight~
Even if the fans didn't want to fight, there would be anti-fans pretending to be fans, playing the game of arguing with big and small accounts, and they argued quite fiercely.
Some fans inevitably couldn't tell the difference and were led into the fray.
Some people took out the two actors' official stills for comparison, from looks to costumes, makeup, and props, from the actors themselves to the roles they played, from the roles expanding to the entire series, and then extending to the original works and authors.
As a modern drama, 'Blood Mist' did not require elaborate costumes, they just needed everyday clothes. Plus, Qin Linlin had used most of the budget on renting various scenic spots and remote mountain villas, as well as hiring photographers, makeup artists, and the post-production team. There really wasn't much budget left for costumes, so the clothes in the official stills appeared visually weaker compared to the bright and flowing wuxia-style outfits.
Moreover, "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" incorporated time-travel and fictional elements, so the costumes weren't as strict as those in serious historical dramas. The director could put actors in clothes that revealed shoulders, waist, navel, or sheer gauze outfits where the skin was visible without attracting too much scrutiny from sticklers because it wasn't necessary.
Those costumes, aligned with modern aesthetics, were more likely to attract audiences whether in terms of color vibrancy or style novelty, especially since the official stills were also refined and retouched in post-production.
The retouching method almost turned faces and clothes into game models. Nearly everyone's face seemed to be retouched using the same template—the deep shadows, the sparkling highlights, the glossy lip color—how could they not be exquisite and good-looking?
Using such official stills to compare with the "Blood Mist" stills, which retained realistic details like the actors' fine facial hairs and skin pores—the former inevitably appeared more striking, ethereal, and visually impressive."
Watching these online comparisons escalate, fans couldn't help but join in to defend their idols. Sally frowned—years of experience made her keenly aware that the direction of this trend was not right.
If no one was deliberately guiding it behind the scenes, the direction of this topic wouldn't be so one-sided.
The fire of war spread from arguments between opposing fans to the actors' roles, then to the crew's costumes, makeup, props, and finally to the original plot.
This probably wasn't just a dispute between Ming Qian's fans and Rong Yu's fans anymore, it also involved the web series' publicity team deliberately stirring up topics and generating hype
Simply put, the PR team for "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close" was using this wave of infighting to generate hype for their new drama that hadn't even started filming yet.
"The director of 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close' is Liang Ming. His directing skills are mediocre at best, but he excels at manipulating public opinion. Furthermore, the male lead is played by Lu Xiaoyang, whose agent, Feng Yu, is also a formidable operator," Sally explained to Yin Chengjue. "Ming Qian's agent wants him to gain audience favor through the second male lead's plot and character advantages, but the male lead's agent isn't stupid either. They plan to step on Ming Qian's popularity to boost the hype for 'Worlds Apart, Yet So Close'."
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