529 Teacher He, You Really are My Guiding Light!
After reading the post, Pei Qian fell into a long silence.
How the f*ck did this happen? I would tolerate this if Tomorrow is Beautiful had won the Palme d'Or and you wrote this post.
Yet, you're writing this post even though it did not win the Palme d'Or, and the conclusion of your analysis was that the film could have won the Palme d'Or, but it didn't need to?!
I can't take this anymore!
There was only one message between the lines of the post: Tomorrow is Beautiful definitely had what it took to win the Palme d'Or, but it only fell short because of a few specific factors!
One had to admit that putting it this way worked much better than awarding the film the Palme d'Or directly.
The comments section proved this.
"I see! Thank you for your explanation, Big Boss!"
"It's no wonder… there's so much to it."
"That's right. Locals would understand the final post-credits scene very well. In fact, it upholds the meaning behind the entire film. However, to foreigners, and especially to overseas judges, that scene would have been uncomfortable to watch."
"Perhaps the judges felt that the final post-credits scene had ruined the entire film's artistry."
"Yes, you can't say much. We understand."
"Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize even though there were so many factors going against it. Doesn't that prove all-the-more that the film was well-produced?"
"What a pity. The production team should have just cut the second post-credits scene away before submitting the film!"
"I think that the production team already knew about this problem but chose not to do anything."
"Why? Do they have something against the award?"
Everyone shared their own opinions until another film critic who had watched countless films spoke up. "I also think that the production team did that on purpose. It's actually not hard to understand.
"First, the production team was definitely clear on the message that the film was trying to convey and the meaning of the pistol-throwing post-credits scene. Otherwise, why did they film it?
"If they were clear on the meaning, they would also have expected that the judges would not find that scene palatable. Cutting that scene out would have been simple, but they did not do that.
"I think there could only be two reasons.
"First, they knew that Cannes preferred films that premiered at the film festival, and they did not expect Tomorrow is Beautiful to win an award, much less the Palme d'Or. They participated in the film festival with a cavalier attitude and had no intention of pleasing the judges.
"Second, they knew they would be penalized for it, but they insisted on expressing their full message through the movie.
"If they had cut off that last post-credits scene, the film would have been lacking in something. Maybe the production team stubbornly insisted on keeping the film whole and refused even to cut away an unimportant post-credits scene."
After reading the analysis, a realization dawned on all the bystanders.
So that was why!
That was true—how could the production team not have realized what the film critics could see?
Yet, they still submitted the entire film without any worries. That was akin to entering someone else's territory and competing on their rules, and then winning second place based on one's own abilities, without attempting to cater to the judges at all.
Was this… the pride of an artist?
The netizens could not help but feel moved. Indeed, heroes were cultivated from a young age!
Many old artists in the film industry were respectable, but many of them also tried hard to cater to judges' tastes to win awards at international film festivals. On some level, they had given up their own self-expression.
That was not just sad for certain filmmakers, but also for the entire local film industry in general.
However, everyone in the production team at Fei Huang Workspace—from the director to the scriptwriter—was young.
It felt almost like a young knight, proudly participating in a Sword Appreciation Conference with top practitioners of martial arts, using a sword that he had painstakingly sharpened. What's more, despite knowing how to cater to the judges, the young knight insisted on remaining true to himself and ended up defeating everyone else based on his own capabilities.
Suddenly, it did not seem to matter whether the film won first or second place. Although it had not been awarded the Palme d'Or, the production team had still brought far more meaning to the local film industry than a Palme d'Or ever would!
The post became extremely popular and triggered passionate discussions!
For some reason, someone else posted the film's ratings from various major websites.
"A foreign website released the film's rating yesterday—8.2. Some of you might think that that's no big deal, but judging from other films' ratings on that website, very few movies throughout history have gotten a rating of 9.0 and above. An 8.2 puts Tomorrow is Beautiful among the top 250 films on the database!
"If we look at the rating as a percentage, we would have no choice but to lash out at our local websites.
"Before this, Tomorrow is Beautiful had gotten a rating of 8.5 and below on multiple websites. That's especially amusing given that a good domestic movie can easily get a score of 9.5 or more on those websites.
"Everyone can easily see that Tomorrow is Beautiful's rating on TPDb has remained consistent at about 9.1. Although it has been fluctuating slightly, it's still considered very stable!
"I think that low scores are not representative of how strict a rating website is. You don't have to keep a close eye on the film's ratings on foreign websites. After all, Tomorrow is Beautiful was produced by locals. The message that it conveys can only be fully understood by locals.
"I hope that this film represents a good beginning for domestic films. We no longer have to strive for recognition at international film festivals. Instead, we can focus on telling our local story well!
"At this point, I urge everyone to register an account at TPDb and watch Tomorrow is Beautiful one more time on Aili Island. Let us always remember this meaningful and monumental day!"
…
After reading the netizens' comments, Pei Qian quietly closed the browser.
Alright, that's all. I'll give up fighting now.
Pei Qian realized that netizens were getting increasingly ridiculous. Every now and then, they would pull off a new trick again. He would never have thought that the final comment would push everyone to TPDb and the online version of Tomorrow is Beautiful again.
He wondered how many people would purchase Tomorrow is Beautiful on Aili Island this time and how many people would add more bullet screen comments like 'play it a billion more times', 'treasure of the site', and 'pulling the entire world together' to the beginning of the movie.
Pei Qian could almost see how things would go when he met Zhu Xiaoce next. The latter's expression would be filled with excitement as he rushed to Pei Qian's side, saying 'Boss Pei! Your decision to share profits with Aili Island was wise and correct!'
Just thinking about it made Pei Qian extremely depressed.
It was… very tragic…
….
….
May 26th, Thursday…
At the cafe near Handong University, He An's second class with 'Ma Yang' officially began. Pei Qian had not been sleeping well over the past two days because of how Tomorrow is Beautiful turned out.
To learn as much as he could from today's lesson, Pei Qian still went to bed early the night before. This morning, he woke up naturally with his gravely-injured mental state fully recovered.
Before the class started, Pei Qian sneakily looked at the heading of today's teaching material.
'Second Lesson on Successful Designs: Use your foresight to understand how the industry will develop!'
Pei Qian could not help but feel elated. Finally, he could stop hearing about Tengda's plans!
The previous lesson had been quite good. He had learned that, for games, everything from production to publicity formed one inseparable whole. The right publicity strategy had to be used for different game genres to achieve the best results.
The only downside had been that many of Tengda's games and publicity strategies had been covered as positive examples, so that Pei Qian felt like He An had been rubbing salt in his wounds.
Still, he had learned something. Pei Qian planned to apply what he had learned once Struggle was released. He could not resort to false marketing because the System would not allow it, but he could employ differentiated marketing.
Sometimes, telling half-truths could have a better effect than telling outright lies.
All in all, the previous lesson had been helpful to Pei Qian. It showed him a clear direction, so that his tuition fees were not paid in vain.
This lesson looked even more reliable.
Understand how the industry will develop? It sounded full of useful ideas!
He An sipped his coffee and slowly said, "What we talked about in the previous session was the most basic of all basic knowledge: Establish the basic concepts of the game's design, decide clearly on its genre, and strictly follow the relevant rules for each subsequent step.
"Today, we're still going to talk about basic knowledge, but it'll be one level higher than before. Simply put, which genre should you choose among the many genres available in the market?
"Choosing the right genre is half the battle won.
"Here, I want to give you an example…"
Pei Qian immediately tensed up. He wasn't going to make an example out of Tengda again, was he?
Let me off, I beg you!
He An paused for a moment and then said, "MMORPG."
Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. Tengda had never produced an MMORPG. That was great! He was not going to be kicked while he was down today!
At once, Pei Qian sat up straighter.
He An did not notice the internal struggle going on inside 'Ma Yang'. Instead, he continued speaking. "For a long time, MMORPG has been regarded as the ultimate genre of games. There was enough support for this in theory because MMORPGs could construct a virtual world for players and provide enough rich content to them. What's more, it was highly expandable.
"Many people in the game industry had thought about this before. What game could challenge Fantasy World? At the time, everyone concluded that, to compete with Fantasy World, one had to create an even better MMORPG.
"However…
"The newest development in the game industry has proven that this was wrong. No better MMORPG than Fantasy World has appeared, but another game genre that could challenge MMORPGs has.
"That's right, I'm talking about the most popular battle games in the country or even the world: GOG and IOI!"
Pei Qian: "…"
He was now suicidal. MMORPG had only been the introduction. They still landed back on this topic in the end.
Noticing that 'Ma Yang' looked strange, He An suspiciously asked, "Boss Ma, is there a problem?"
Pei Qian tried to force a smile. "No, no problem at all. Is that related to today's class?"
He An nodded. "Of course! I emphasized before that choosing the right genre is half the battle won. Top game designers cannot come up with a better MMORPG than Fantasy World, but they can come up with a better game genre than MMORPG!
"Obviously, that shows a keen sense of smell!
"Just think about it. If you could sense the limitless potential of IOI while other first-tier game designers fought within the boundaries of MMORPG, you would be one step ahead of them. That gives you the advantage and allows you to dominate the market… think about a butterfly flapping its wings. It looks like a minor move, but it could cause a world of change in the end!
"Tengda Games is way ahead of other game developers. It first invested in IOI and then developed GOG. Obviously, it's the butterfly that's working hard to flap its wings. Boss Ma, as a manager in Tengda's investment company, you should understand more about this than me, right?"
He An smiled as if thinking that 'Boss Ma's' own experience could give him more enlightenment and understanding of today's class.
Pei Qian was speechless. At the same time, he was extremely conflicted.
How should I tell Teacher He that Ma Yang was the one who invested in IOI, but I'm not the real Ma Yang? What's more, even the real Ma Yang had not invested in IOI because of his keen sense of smell but out of pure interest…
Forget it, trying to smooth that out would be extremely troublesome, and He An would probably not understand anyway.
Pei Qian nodded quietly, expressing his agreement with whatever He An had said. Then, he asked a question to change the topic.
"Teacher He, according to that theory, does that mean that choosing a sunset game genre would guarantee failure?"
He An pondered for a moment and then said, "There are no guarantees in this world.
"Gamers may still like retro games—even mosaic-style games—as long as the content is rich enough and the gameplay is novel enough. After all, there are many gamers in the world. One just has to find the right target audience; even a small group of gamers can sustain a game well.
"However… there's nothing wrong with your theory.
"The older a genre is, the smaller the group of gamers who enjoy it. If you invest a huge amount of money in such a game, you would greatly increase your risk of failure.
"You might even end up losing everything."
At that point, Pei Qian's eyes lit up. That's great! There are more ways to incur losses now!
Pei Qian asked, "Teacher He, if I invest a huge amount of money in a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game now… what would happen?"
He An smiled. "You would do better to give the money to me. At least I would thank you. You could also make ducks and drakes of the money so that no one would know about it."
Pei Qian grinned.
Who said that this course was useless? I know what kind of game to develop during the next cycle now!
Teacher He, you really are my guiding light!
