Chapter 192 – Act as My Female Lead AttentivelyAs a singer who was good at singing and composing songs, Ye Fan expressed that his ears had been seriously defiled today.
If Sheng Jiaoyang had recited the song aloud, it wouldn"t have been as bad. To think that she could sing a cla.s.sic song that everyone was familiar with to that degree, she was in a cla.s.s of her own.
Ye Fan obstructed Sheng Jiaoyang"s view and interrupted, “Xu Jiaojiao, please stop singing! I"ll throw in the towel!”
Sheng Jiaoyang stopped and looked at Ye Fan. “You"re admitting defeat?”
“Yes, I"m throwing in the towel. Give me a bottle of the perfume that you"re advertising and I"ll take a photo,” Ye Fan hurriedly replied.
“But, we haven"t played the second round yet.”
“There"s no need, I"m certain that I"ll lose anyway.” Proceed with the second round? With his skills, he"d most likely win again. In that case, his ears would undergo the same suffering.
With his arms wrapped around Lina, George suddenly blurted, “She sings as "good" as Sheng Jiaoyang.”
Lina was surprised to hear this. She then smiled and said, “This is predestined.”
When he was in college, George had heard Sheng Jiaoyang sing before, which was a disaster. From then on, those who knew her never asked her to sing again.
There was a popular saying in her circle of friends: If you"re desperate about life, you might as well ask Jiaoyang to sing a song for you. Then, you"ll certainly give up all hope!
“Did you sing like that on purpose? Even the worst singers on the talent shows that I"ve partic.i.p.ated in are better than you.” Ye Fan stared at her with a sceptical look.
“I told you I couldn"t sing from the beginning, but you still asked me to sing,” Sheng Jiaoyang innocently retorted.
“In the end, it was all my fault!” Ye Fan was helpless.
Lina fished out a delicate perfume bottle from her bag and handed it to Ye Fan. “I happen to have a bottle in my bag.”
When Ye Fan opened the perfume bottle and smelled it, he noticed that the scent was the same as Xu Jiaojiao. He feigned ignorance and complimented, “This perfume smells good.”
“Of course it does! This is the main product we"re launching this year. When you smell it, don"t you feel your heart skip a beat? If a girl you find attractive exuded this faint fragrance, wouldn"t your favourable impression of her increase twice as much?” Lina asked.
Ye Fan cast a glance at Xu Jiaojiao and nodded.
After posing for the photo, Ye Fan uploaded the photo on Weibo and posted: [Today, I won the game, but ultimately lost to someone"s diabolical voice. I"m going to breathe in this sweet scent to comfort my injured heart.]
His fans were in an uproar when they saw the post. Meanwhile, the group went their separate ways after playing for a while longer. Gu Zhou and Ye Fan left, while Lina and George left together. Sheng Jiaoyang also got in a car to go home.
In the car, she took out her cell phone from her pocket and found that there were several missed calls from Shen Zhining.
When she was about to return the call, she received a message from Gu Zhou. She couldn"t help smiling when she saw Gu Zhou warning her that Lina had taken some misleading photos of her and Ye Fan when they were playing billiards earlier.
Mei Niu must"ve taken photos of Ye Fan teaching her to play billiards so she could make fun of her later, but her act was caught by Gu Zhou. Gu Zhou didn"t know how deep their friends.h.i.+p was, so he naturally thought that Mei Niu had an ulterior motive.
However, since Gu Zhou had specifically reminded her of this, he was clearly a nice person and a good friend worthy of her trust.
Afterwards, she sent a message to Lina to ask about the photos.
Lina quickly replied to her message and sent her the group of photos.
There were several photos of Ye Fan encircling her with his arms as he taught her billiards, and she noticed that these photos were taken in succession. If these fell in the hands of the paparazzi, it would certainly cause a stir. It was no wonder that Gu Zhou specifically warned her about this.
Lina called and said, “What do you think? I have the potential to become a paparazzi, right?”
“Someone already thinks of you as paparazzi.” Sheng Jiaoyang smiled.
“You mean Gu Zhou? The way he looked at me when I took those photos was hilarious, it was as if he was guarding against thieves.”
“Alright, go enjoy your alone time with George. I don"t want to hear him say that I"m disturbing your lovey-dovey moment again.”
After hanging up, Sheng Jiaoyang replied to Gu Zhou, expressing her grat.i.tude and rea.s.suring him that Lina had taken those photos merely for fun and that they wouldn"t be used for other purposes.
After sending out the reply, she browsed the internet some more before reaching home.
When she got home, Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly remembered that she hadn"t gotten back to Shen Zhining yet and her heart skipped a beat.
She hurriedly called back, but his phone was switched off.
What"s going on?
She quickly walked to the villa next door to check on the situation. Felix told her that Grandfather Shen had fallen ill, so Shen Zhining went abroad to visit his grandfather. Shen Zhining must"ve called her when he was on his way to the airport.
Due to the time difference, Sheng Jiaoyang sent Shen Zhining a text message the next morning instead of calling. After all, it was morning at her place, which meant that it was still midnight over there. If she called, she"d disturb his rest.
Afterwards, she went to pick up Gu Zhou before proceeding to the ad agency.
The planner was chatting with the photographer and other staff in the conference room where the meeting was scheduled. Seeing that Sheng Jiaoyang and the main actors of the commercial hadn"t arrived yet, they were conversing in an informal manner.
“If you want to advertise, how can you get a better return without investing more money?”
“That"s right, just look at X, who invested tens of millions of dollars in advertising. The endors.e.m.e.nt fees alone were more than ten million dollars. Popular stars were hired for the commercial, and in the end, sales increased several times before even shooting the TV commercial.”
“It"s now the era of famous celebrities. In fact, it"s a very conventional approach. If the same kind of product is placed in front of you, and one is endorsed by a famous star, while the other isn"t, which one will you choose?”
“I will, of course, choose the product endorsed by my favourite star. I trust the quality of a product endorsed by a famous star. Even if it"s a bit more expensive, I"m willing to buy it.”
“Didn"t Xu Jiaojiao say yesterday that she hired a male star to help shoot the commercial? Who do you think it is?”
“Xu Jiaojiao is still quite new in the entertainment industry, so she probably doesn"t know many big names. The famous stars" endors.e.m.e.nt fees are very high and they"re all very busy. Who"d be willing to help shoot an ad for free? If that"s the case, they must be very close.”
“Xu Jiaojiao and Zhang Yue should be quite close. Will he be invited this time?”
“It would be nice if we could invite Zhang Yue. Their drama is extremely popular right now.”
As footsteps drew nearer, everyone stopped chatting and looked over.
Lina"s team was the first to walk in, and soon after, Lina walked in with a handsome foreign man.
“They invited a foreigner?” the planner muttered.
Just as the ad agency"s staff thought that the foreigner was the male lead of the commercial, Xu Jiaojiao turned up at the door. She paused in her steps and moved sideways. “Hurry and come in.”
“G-gu Zhou?!!”
Upon seeing the surprised looks, Sheng Jiaoyang inwardly smiled and introduced, “This is the male lead of our TV commercial, Gu Zhou.”
The ad agency"s staff couldn"t help but murmur under their breath: She managed to invite Gu Zhou! Could there really be something between the two of them?
“Gu Zhou has limited time, so I hope that we can complete the shoot within three days,” Sheng Jiaoyang said.
The planner was Gu Zhou"s fan, and she immediately responded, “With Prince Charming Gu"s acting skills, three days is more than enough!”
“Prince Charming Gu, Prince Charming Gu, this is the script for the ad. Please have a look.” The planner eagerly handed over the ad layout.
Gu Zhou smiled at her before taking the ad layout and flipping through it. “Overall, this layout is very well written.” There was no nonsensical plot in the advertis.e.m.e.nt. The perfume was the main theme from beginning to end, and the composition of the scenes were loving and warm.
In fact, this advertis.e.m.e.nt was a bit challenging for him. The wandering traveller started as a wanton and unrestrained youth, and experienced the indulgence of love. Afterwards, he fell victim to Alzheimer"s disease, and as he was approaching his end, he appeared peaceful and content. The short TV commercial contained the male lead"s life journey. In order to play this role perfectly, the actor must indeed possess exceptional acting skills. Otherwise, the end result of the TV commercial would be greatly degraded.
It could be said that the male lead was the core character of the TV commercial, and the female lead was simply responsible for being beautiful. However, being beautiful didn"t solely refer to looking attractive in appearance. Because this was a perfume commercial, the female lead must also possess an inner beauty that radiates from within so that when people looked at her, they"d feel as if they were breathing in the sweet fragrance of the perfume.
“Thank you for your praise!” the planner exclaimed.
“Have you ever thought of turning this ad into a short film?” Gu Zhou asked.
The planner was stunned for a moment. “But, the plot is too flat for a short film as it lacks a turning point and suspense.”
“If we change the ending scene where the traveller recalls his first encounter with the female lead to another scene shot in a laboratory, where someone came up with a new perfume formula and took the perfume to the streets to test how well-received the perfume is, and the female lead appears…”
“Oh, I know! After the female lead tried the perfume, the male lead appeared nearby…and then everything reverted to the start of the story. Is that what you meant?” the planner couldn"t wait and interrupted.
Gu Zhou smiled and nodded approvingly.
“Sure enough, adding this section makes the story even better. The story moves in cycles, which makes people want to see it all over again, and highlights the allure of this perfume.” The planner"s eyes sparkled.
Although the original ad layout was good, the main focus was the love story with the perfume as a backdrop. However, by adding Gu Zhou"s proposed ending scene, the whole story became more compelling and denoted the essence of the commercial – perfume.
Lina gave Gu Zhou a thumbs-up. Jiaojiao really found herself a great helper. Not only was he a "walking spotlight", but he also came up with so many ideas. She could already foresee how popular this TV commercial would be in the future.
“Adding this section makes the story flow better. Previously, I felt that something was missing, but thanks to you, I"ve figured it out. The original version highlights the traveller"s love for the female lead, yet with your suggestion, the perfume becomes the essence of the whole commercial. I"m very grateful for your help!” Sheng Jiaoyang said.
“How are you going to express your grat.i.tude?”
Sheng Jiaoyang tilted her head. “What do you want? How do you want me to repay you?”
Gu Zhou smiled gently and replied, “You must act as my female lead attentively!”