Chapter 166: The Trailer
The official microblog for "Ghost Traces" released the trailer for "Ghost Traces" on schedule.
On the screen, layers of mist dissipated, and a piece of red clothing corner slowly drifted down.
A pair of hands appeared in the frame, but only that pair of hands, picking up the shattered red fabric that had fallen to the ground.
Right at that moment, a blinding light shone directly onto the camera lens, causing everyone watching the video to feel discomfort in their eyes, instinctively squinting.
Immediately followed by a harsh screeching sound of brakes!
"Bang!" A shattering sound exploded in their ears.
The scene shifted. A person suddenly bolted upright from the bed, eyes wide with terror, mouth agape, gasping for breath heavily.
In the silent space, only the sound of his ragged breathing rose and fell.
Fans quickly recognized this person as Rong Yu.
Rong Yu was wearing a set of red round-neck pajamas, which made his skin appear even more pale and luminous.
He looked around, and after seeing clearly where he was, he seemed to secretly sigh in relief. Then he picked up a glass of water placed on the bedside table.
Text appeared on screen simultaneously—Jing Sheng, portrayed by Rong Yu.
Rong Yu's monologue voice sounded in the video: "My name is Jing Sheng. I'm 18 years old. Today is the day of the talent show I'm participating in. The show starts at eight, and now it's... eight-thirty... Crap! I'm going to be late!"
The scene changed. Rong Yu was running at full speed, rushing into the entrance of the recording venue like a gust of wind. After submitting a series of identification documents, he learned that just five minutes before he arrived, someone had called his name. Since he wasn't present, they had already let the person next in line go up.
Rong Yu hurried to the backstage area. Just as his gaze turned to the person performing their talent on stage, the entire venue suddenly went dark!
When the lights came back on, the person who had been dancing was now lying on the ground.
Screams erupted, seeming to tear through the deathly silence.
The entire screen went black. Suddenly! A white mask appeared in the frame!
From the eye holes of the mask, blinding crimson tears slowly slid down.
The camera followed the crimson liquid. With a "plop" sound, a drop fell into the darkness.
The blood spread, extending to form two large characters—Ghost Traces.
A line of smaller text appeared below—
Stay Tuned.
At first glance, the entire trailer seemed to feature only Rong Yu as the main character. However, if someone paused it slightly, they would discover many details missed in the fleeting shots.
For example, when Rong Yu was running to the talent show venue, he passed a man wearing a white mask. Then, upon entering the venue's main door, he bumped shoulders with a man wearing silver-rimmed glasses with only the lower frame.
That man wearing glasses is the psychologist portrayed by Wei Hai.
When the camera faced Rong Yu's front, and there was a momentary blurring of his face, a corner behind Rong Yu became clear for a split second.
If that briefly clear area was magnified, one would see the masked man behind Rong Yu removing his mask, revealing Ming Qian's face.
Thus, all three main characters made their appearances. This one-and-a-half-minute trailer seemed ordinary and simple at first, but upon closer thought, it felt eerie everywhere.
The clothing of the male lead, Rong Yu—whether his pajamas or his clothes for the talent show—was red. The outfit changed, but the color did not.
Moreover, Rong Yu's makeup as the male lead was excessively pale and sickly. It was sickly pale, not the kind of rosy-white from filter effects.
But because the story started with him oversleeping and nearly missing the talent show, most people initially didn't pay attention to the dark circles under his eyes, simply assuming he was naturally not good at grooming himself and, being late, had no time to tidy up.
However, these were abnormalities only noticeable to those examining with a fine-tooth comb. Viewers who just gave it a casual glance would likely find this trailer unremarkable and unmemorable, not seeming like promotion at all, but rather like a deterrent.
So, after the trailer finished playing, the comment section below quickly filled up, and without exception, it was a series of: ?????
Comment 1: This is a trailer? Seriously? To be honest, this trailer isn't very appealing. I can even guess the plot that comes next.
Comment 2: Usually, the trailer is more exciting than the movie, but this one's trailer is so bland. Let's move on, probably nothing much worth filming anyway.
Comment 3: I clicked in from the trending search, watched for a minute and a half, and I feel like I watched nothing at all.
Comment 4: The post-production isn't good. Spend more money and get better post-production. Learn from those variety shows, their trailers are edited much better than this thing.
Comment 5: A passerby clicked in, successfully got turned off. Goodbye.
Comment 6: Learn from the newly released "The Chase," see how exciting their trailer is edited, and then look at this one. Even an elementary school student couldn't edit this mess. What is this trying to express? This counts as a supernatural film? Hilarious.
If passersby merely thought the editing of this trailer lacked appeal, then Ming Qian's fans completely erupted upon seeing this trailer.
The reason was none other than their idol appearing for only a few seconds in the trailer, which made them feel extremely discontent.
Previously, even in the promotion for "Worlds Apart, Yet So Close," where Ming Qian played the second male lead, he had a certain amount of screen time in the trailers. It was never like this time, where he only flashed by!
The more they thought about it, the more indignant they felt. Ming Qian's fans simply went to the official microblog of "Ghost Traces" to protest, strongly demanding they revise the trailer, or else they would not buy tickets to watch the film!
With the precedent of "The Chase," Ming Qian's fans were quite confident that they themselves were the main force contributing to box office revenue. Threatening with not buying tickets would surely force the production team to make changes according to their demands.
Initially, only a small portion of Ming Qian's fans were causing a stir in the comment section of the official microblog. Later, as they called in more friends, their numbers gradually increased. Some even made images directly stating: The Production Team Must Apologize! Revise the Trailer! Using Fans as Bait Will Lead to Flop!
Seeing this, Director Mo almost spat out a mouthful of old blood!
Now, everyone in the entire crew was tied together on the same rope, sharing glory and loss. It was bizarre that these fans would come to the official microblog to make a fuss just because of a trailer.
Leaving aside that Ming Qian here is only the second male lead, so it's normal for his screen time to be less than the male lead's... Even if this were a double male lead drama, there's no need to precisely split one and a half minutes into forty-five seconds each, is there?
Do you think this is lining up to share candy? Even the seconds in a trailer have to be fought over for more or less?
Passersby thought the trailer wasn't good because it seemed bland, but Ming Qian's fans, well, they thought the trailer didn't give their idol a few more seconds, feeling it lacked prestige.
What made Director Mo even more speechless was that even after these fans stirred things up to the point of trending on searches, Ming Qian did not post anything on his microblog to say a few words, seemingly giving silent approval to his fans' behavior.
"What's going on? Could he possibly believe this is actually helping to promote our movie?" Director Mo complained angrily to Yin Chengjue: "Why did we choose such a troublesome person to play this role back then?"
Yin Chengjue deeply agreed.
Whether in his past life or this one, Ming Qian's fans loved to engage in these baffling operations, causing a hundred points of damage to the enemy at the cost of eight thousand to themselves.
Perfectly illustrating what it means for one fan to do the work of ten anti-fans.
Yin Chengjue said: "Perhaps, they really do think their actions are promoting the film."
Director Mo: ????
Director Mo: "I have never filmed a supernatural movie that needs promotion through getting bashed!"
Yin Chengjue shrugged: "Well, now you have one."
Watching those fans clamoring that if the trailer wasn't fixed to their liking, they would refuse to buy movie tickets, Yin Chengjue found it utterly ridiculous. Clearly, Ming Qian's fans already saw themselves as the main force driving box office revenue.
As if without them, this film's box office would be dead.
Of course, it's not impossible for some films to rely on fans to boost ticket sales, but those usually star popular celebrities with huge fan bases!
And those fans would never threaten something like "if you don't add more seconds for our idol in the trailer, we won't watch this film," because regardless of whether the trailer adds seconds or not, their idol has already acted in this film, and they would more or less go support their idol.
Yin Chengjue looked at the strange complaints from Ming Qian's fans, feeling utterly speechless. He simply went on his microblog, reposted the "Ghost Traces" trailer, and added: During the premiere period of "Ghost Traces," one movie ticket will be given away per person, redeemable with ID.
As soon as this microblog post went up, the comment section instantly filled with question marks.
Comment 1: President Yin? Giving up on premiere box office? Isn't money sweet?
Comment 2: President Yin, were you hacked? One ticket for everyone? After everyone watches it once, would they go back to watch it again?
Comment 3: This isn't a grand opening promotion; this is having money with nowhere to spend, investing in making a movie and then giving it away for free for everyone to watch.
Yin Chengjue glanced at the comments, then reposted the third one, replying: So, it's free. Will you watch it?
Comment 3, seeing their comment got a reply, instantly replied: Watch! Of course, if President Yin is willing to post a selfie beckoning us with a finger, I can buy another movie ticket.
Yin Chengjue replied to Comment 3: For that, I'll have to ask if my baby agrees or not.
Comment 3: ...
After sending this, Yin Chengjue handed the phone to Rong Yu, smiling: "I think I found a way to pull in a bit more box office revenue."
Rong Yu glanced at it and frowned: "No. Brother is mine."
Yin Chengjue smiled and pinched his cheek: "Okay, then we won't take the photo."
"Wait!" Rong Yu's eyes shifted, then said: "It's not completely impossible. However, my hand has to be in the photo!"
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