The enthusiasm from online discussions continued to grow. Whether it was major Chinese social media platforms or overseas websites, people were all going crazy.
The popularity had even overtaken the morning military parade.
Liu Wei was the protagonist behind this celebration show. He looked at the screen on his mobile phone. The Weibo post he submitted about the show an hour ago had already received thousands of comments. He had a smug smile on his face.
He felt like he had peaked in life.
Even though he had produced a lot of blockbuster action movies before, some of which were box office hits, he himself had never received this much publicity before.
It was like he was a celebrity.
He handed over the rest of the work to his assistants and assistant directors. When he walked out of the stadium, it was already midnight. He could still hear the excited chatter from the people still inside the stadium.
Liu Wei smiled and took out his phone again. He called a few people in his contacts list.
He called up and gathered a few friends. They all walked along an empty street. Finally, they found a barbecue restaurant on the side of the road that was still open.
They opened a few bottles of beer as the food came. Liu Wei smelled the scent of barbecued meat and beer. He felt that the built-up exhaustion over the past few months had finally washed away.
There was a TV hanging on the corner of the restaurant. The CTV channel was broadcasting the show.
The entire celebration show was shown through multiple camera angles. Even though the cameras were carefully placed, it still couldn’t capture the visual impact of seeing the show live in-person.
Liu Wei was not interested in watching the show again. He concentrated on the beer and barbecue skewers on the table. His friends, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to compliment him, giving him one congratulation after another.
“Congratulations, Director Liu! After this, you should be in the directors hall of fame, right?”
“Yeah, yeah! Your name will be remembered in film history!”
“Sigh, not yet, not yet.” Liu Wei waved his hand and humbly said, “This is just a celebration show. There aren’t any awards. Far from being in the hall of fame!”
Even though he was being humble on the outside, he had a proud smile on his face.
The times were changing. Other than food and shelter, everyone was paying more attention to self-actualization and spiritual satisfaction. Otherwise, what would be the difference between a fish and a person?
Even a person who was indifferent to fame and fortune would be hard-pressed to remain self-composed when put in Liu Wei’s position.
“You’re almost done, right? With the documentary.”
Liu Wei shook his head and said, “It’s not easy to shoot. The script has been modified many times.”
“That film is also a holographic projection?”
“No, it uses traditional shooting methods.”
“Makes sense. After all, there is no need for special effects.” His friend sitting across from him sighed and said, “It’s a pity. If you can strike while the iron is hot and produce a holographic blockbuster, you’ll be the most popular director on the planet.”
Liu Wei smiled and said, “It’s still too early to talk about holographic movies. I’m afraid there aren’t many movie theaters in the country that has the technology. Holographic projection is not as simple as buying a projector. It’s actually quite complicated to explain. Alright, enough talking, the food is getting cold, let’s eat.”
…
While the director was eating with a few of his friends, the stadium was still busy evacuating the audience.
Because it was still crowded outside, Lu Zhou didn’t immediately leave the stadium. Instead, he wandered to the control room behind the scenes.
When he arrived backstage, Director Ou was directing some of the staff members to check whether the equipment was completely turned off. After he saw Lu Zhou walk in, he immediately greeted him with a happy smile.
“Haha, Academician Lu, thank you so much! The show was perfect! The retired men from the Entertainment Department office were crying!”
There was no doubt that this show was a huge success.
In 60 minutes, the memories of the past century were displayed in front of the audience. The magnificent special effects and the crisp presentation made the whole celebration even more eye-catching. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the stage.
Compared to a theatrical performance with singing and dancing, this grand visual effect was far better at artistic expression, both in emotional value and sentimental value.
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “You’re welcome, I’m quite satisfied with the performance.”
Director Ou said, “Just now, we received a ton of emails. Many people who weren’t at the live show requested us to do the show a few more times.”
“That… doesn’t seem too realistic. The traffic will be a huge issue.”
With more than a hundred thousand people in the stadium, this was equivalent to the national population of many small countries. Even a small mistake could evolve into a serious incident; no one could bear the consequences.
It was obviously unrealistic to perform this show for several days in a row.
Ou Haifeng sighed and said, “I think so too, so… I just wanted to ask you if there are any alternatives! After all, if people could only rewatch this show on a 2D screen, that would be a shame!”
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, “Actually… Holographic images don’t have to be projected into reality. They can also be displayed elsewhere in another form.”
“Like in a cinema?”
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “Cinemas will take a while… A more realistic way is to integrate this documentary into the Phantom system.”
“Phantom system?” Director Ou was slightly stunned. He said, “The… virtual reality helmet? Can it work?”
“It’s not technically difficult. The entire celebration show was made in our virtual reality system. Also, according to our data, the number of registered users of the Phantom system has exceeded 20 million. Among them, 37% bought their helmets from companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, etc… While more than 60% of users registered through our virtual reality experience stores. At least 50 million people will be able to watch the show through the Phantom system.”
By relying on the popularity of this show, they could increase the Phantom system’s customer base.
However, Lu Zhou didn’t mention this.
Normally, even if a broadcast was given to users for free, it was necessary to pay for the broadcasting rights. But Director Ou didn’t mention charging a broadcasting fee, so Lu Zhou didn’t mention it either.
In fact, Ou Haifeng didn’t think about the broadcasting rights at all. In his opinion, Academician Lu did them a huge favor for this celebration show. There was no way he would charge Academician Lu a broadcasting fee.
“Then… Can you do this for us as a favor?”
“This isn’t a favor at all!” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’ll just talk to my CEO about it.”
Ou Haifeng smiled and said, “Thank you so much!”
