428 One Website was Extremely Stable!
Just Qian was very efficient. He published his new film review before dinner.
'Alright, the Emperor's New Clothing was Nice Indeed'
"This used to be a long review, giving the movie three-stars. However, after watching the movie a second time, I decided to change my rating.
"Before, I thought that the movie was just sentimental nonsense. I thought the biggest problem was the advertisements in the film. It's absolutely despicable to force the audience to watch advertisements together with the main leads!
"However, after watching the movie a second time, I realized my mistake. Those advertisements had been meticulously planned, and each one of them had a deep meaning!
"First of all, those advertisements were not linked to any existing brand. The movie had not entered sponsored partnerships with any other company. That maintains the audience's experience. Compared to movies that did anything for sponsors, this is really worthy of praise!
"On top of that, each advertisement was very carefully designed. Not only were they well-filmed, but there was also a variety of advertisements. There were humorous ones and postmodern ones: on one hand, the audience felt immersed in the futuristic world; on the other hand, the advertisements alone were very interesting!
"Additionally, the advertisements served to link the entire story together. There's one simple example: the judge played by Zhang Zuting had already been featured in one of the advertisements on the television at the beginning of the movie. The female host who appeared at the end was also featured in one of the advertisements. You would notice this if you watch the movie again.
"Finally, the advertisements are very sharp criticisms of society! When the protagonist drank beer, the advertisements were about fried chicken and red wine. When the protagonist lost money, the advertisements were about money lending services. When the protagonist saved enough money, the advertisements were about financial instruments. This is obviously a criticism of big data and breach of privacy!
"I thought that the advertisements were just advertisements, but now I know that I was wrong. The advertisements in this movie did not make me feel disgusted. Instead, they added meaning to the film. It's brilliant!
"Before this, I thought that the film was forcefully packaging itself as sci-fi because only the background was well done. However, I know my mistake now. The film is filled with reflections of what the future and technology would look like!
"Local sci-fi films have gotten it wrong so far. All of them have sought to be impressive and epic. Yet, Tomorrow is Beautiful has blazed a new trail and shown everyone a viable alternative, by focusing on the perspective of an ordinary person. Apparently, this is a good direction!
"All in all, I deeply misunderstood the movie before. I now undoubtedly give it five-stars!
"I deeply regret misunderstanding the film before. I didn't understand the film because I was shallow-minded and simple…"
The last paragraph was filled with fancy expressions of remorse. All the lines seemed to have the same underlying meaning: 'Everyone who badmouths the film is an ignorant country-bumpkin!'
Obviously, he was just trying to hit the word count…
Pei Qian had asked him to write a thousand words, but he had only had three hundred words worth of content. Thus, he had had no choice but to fill up the empty space by repeating himself.
Although it looked like he was a fraudster, Pei Qian did not care.
Just Qian had done his job well!
Pei Qian had requested for him to awkwardly praise the film from a crafty angle. That was exactly what Just Qian had done: he had praised the advertisements in the film!
Pei Qian had only inserted the advertisements in the movie to pass time and drag it out. Only then could he fulfill the cinema's minimum requirement.
Yet, Just Qian had made such a big deal out of them. He had made the advertisements sound even more interesting than the movie itself!
He would have sounded more legitimate if he had praised the movie's deep meaning or the actors' skills. The audience would not have suspected that the critic had been paid to write something.
Yet, he praised the advertisements. His reaction had even undergone such a drastic change. Most people would probably be able to tell that he was praising the movie for the sake of it, right?
People would realize that he had changed his review because he had been paid, right?
Without a moment's hesitation, Pei Qian scrolled to the final paragraph. He could not wait to see the newest comments on this review.
Of course, it would be some time before people realized that the critic had edited his review.
Pei Qian considered waiting a while before returning to this page. In the meantime, he could check how effective his competitors' fake reviewers had been.
After surfing the net for a while, Pei Qian could not help but feel moved. His competitors seemed quite wealthy. Their fake reviewers were everywhere!
Quality was important when it came to fake reviewers, but the quantity was more so.
If one wanted many fake reviewers, they would have to spend more money. One even had to pay various classes of accounts to write bad reviews and give low ratings. Those were considerable expenses.
However, the bigger the scale, the happier Pei Qian felt!
It was true that fake reviews tended to be stereotyped and repetitive. Most of them said 'loose plot', 'actors looked out-of-character', 'inexpressive lines', 'too many advertisements', 'lacks sincerity', or other meaningless disses. Still, they continued to pass off as genuine comments.
That was because fake reviewers aimed to influence those who had not watched the movie before. If they did not diss it well enough, they would not be able to persuade others not to watch it.
On top of that, the large-scale, low-rating motion had already begun. At noon, Pei Qian saw that the movie's rating was 8.8. Now, it was 8.6 and showing signs of continuing to drop.
Pei Qian read the negative comments for an hour and immediately felt more joyful.
"I wonder which good-hearted soul hired these fake reviewers. They've really done me a favor!
"Hmm… I think it's time to read the comments under Just Qian's edited review."
Pei Qian accessed the comments section of Just Qian's edited review and then skipped past the first few pages which contained earlier comments.
"Eh? This got so many comments in just one hour?
"Did everyone find out that he had been paid to change his review? Are they roasting him right now?"
Pei Qian expectantly read the new comments.
"There is nothing better than if one can change after making a mistake!"
"Did your conscience strike you after you dissed the film for the sake of doing it?"
"I said before that the film is not a mindless one. It's an exquisite product! You swallowed everything in a single mouthful and missed out on a lot of details. Of course, you ended up thinking it was horrible! Everything changed once you rewatched it and saw those details, right?"
"It's indeed interesting to zoom in on the advertisements. I thought they just formed a background and didn't bother to look too much into them. I only remember thinking that each of those advertisements was amusing. Now, I know that they contained so much meaning!"
"Well-written. I want to re-watch it, too!"
"I had the same thoughts before!"
"The writer was quite sincere in his apologies in the last paragraph. Since you're so willing to admit your mistakes; I might consider turning into a fan."
"This review taught me that no success is accidental. Behind every successful movie are many meticulously-planned details! Director Zhu Xiaoce is awesome!"
"Author, can I share this?"
"I want to share this, too."
The fifth page…
The sixth page…
…the last page.
Pei Qian read every single one of those new comments and then scratched his head in confusion.
What the hell?! He's obviously making something out of nothing. Can't you tell?! Don't you feel disgusted at all?!
He was paid to change his review! He really was! I can attest to that!
Does anyone care?!
Pei Qian was speechless. The audience was focusing on strange things, weren't they? Why weren't they thinking about why the writer changed his review all of a sudden? Why were they focusing instead on the advertisements in the movie?
Wasn't this critic supposed to collaborate with the competitors' fake reviewers?
The collaboration ended before it even began…
Pei Qian opened Gou Yan and discovered that the film schedule for Tomorrow is Beautiful was out. Tomorrow is Beautiful's row piece rate had increased again!
It's like nothing that Pei Qian had done was effective.
"Keep going, fake reviewers, my brothers! You're fighting a lonely battle, but my heart is with you always!"
For some reason, Pei Qian felt bad for the fake reviewers.
Logically, he should hate fake reviewers because they were people who distorted the truth for their own selfish gain.
Yet, for some reason, Pei Qian felt that once those fake reviewers had come over to his side, they had turned into mantises trying to block traffic. One by one, they were being sent to their tragic deaths.
On the other hand, Boss Pei was the hostage who was tied to the car. He could only watch them get reduced to dust by car wheels while he teared and inwardly wished them a pleasant afterlife…
Pei Qian did not know why, but he felt like one of the main characters in a tragic romance story.
…
…
February 24th, Thursday, the third day of Tomorrow is Beautiful's screening…
In Shenzhen…
After ending a meet-and-greet, the staff in charge of publicity for the film could finally take a break.
Zhu Xiaoce collapsed onto his seat. "I'm dead tired!"
Zhang Zuting smiled by the side. "We're doing publicity for a movie. That's the way it is. You'll get used to it, Director Zhu."
Huang Sibo was dead beat as well. As he hammered his leg with one fist, he surfed the net for reviews of the movie.
"The comments are not bad overall. It looks like our movie has become famous.
"However, fake reviewers are obviously at work. I've checked three days in a row, but the film's ratings have been consistently falling. Our rating on Gou Yan application is now 8.3."
After some thought, Zhu Xiaoce asked, "Should we talk to Boss Pei about this? He just has to say a word to Boss Lin of Shenhua Film, and the latter would settle this for us, right?"
Huang Sibo pondered about it and then shook his head. "Of course, he can settle this for us, but we shouldn't ask Boss Lin for too many favors. We've already bothered him enough with the advertising."
Zhu Xiaoce nodded. "Yes, that's right. This is our problem. What's more, it wouldn't hurt even if our ratings fall by less than 1 point. We shouldn't bother Boss Lin over something as minor as this."
Everyone fell silent. Only the sound of Huang Sibo hammering his leg filled the room.
Yet, all of a sudden, he slammed his fist on his thigh hard. "Holy sh*t!" Huang Sibo could not help but cuss.
Everyone turned to him, confused. "What's the matter?"
"Quickly, look at this!" Huang Sibo handed them the cell phone.
They looked at Huang Sibo's cell phone and saw a hot post. Its title was 'Recording Tomorrow is Beautiful's daily online ratings to see how psychotic the fake reviewers are—updated regularly'.
The contents of the post were quite simple. Tomorrow is Beautiful's daily ratings on various websites had been captured via screenshots. For example, there were screenshots of the film having a rating of 8.8 on Gou Yan application at first but then subsequently dropping to 8.3. Obviously, fake reviewers were running wild.
The situation was the same on other websites as well. The movie's ratings dropped at varying speeds.
However, one website was an exception.
On TPDb, Tomorrow is Beautiful's ratings hovered around 9.1. It was extremely stable!
