Chapter 115 "Couldn't be, the entire movie won't be this quality, will it?"

"These sets, these props, these special effects, how much money did they burn?"

Lu Xiaoping felt confused because *Mission and Choice*'s attention to detail had far exceeded his expectations!

Although Lu Xiaoping had heard some rumors before, saying that Tenda had invested a huge amount of money in the new movie, he just listened casually and didn't take it seriously.

Because bragging is the norm in the industry.

Just like in ancient times, when armies went to war, 100,000 men could be inflated to 500,000. Anyway, the numbers were boasted first, in the hopes of fooling some people.

A movie would spend a large sum of money buying the IP and hiring big-name actors, and then adding the publicity and marketing expenses. Saying they invested hundreds of millions, but in reality, the money actually used in film production wasn't much at all.

Lu Xiaoping originally thought that, no matter how you put it, *Mission and Choice* was just a domestic science fiction film, and the ceiling for domestic science fiction films had always been there, not very high at all.

But now, Lu Xiaoping was confused.

Is this really a domestic movie?

The details are so well done, it's indistinguishable from those big-budget Hollywood blockbusters!

Could it be that *Mission and Choice* really saved all the money from the IP and the salaries of big-name actors, and even saved on publicity expenses, and actually put all the money into the film's production?

Thinking of this possibility, Lu Xiaoping had only one thought: crazy!

This was not just an adventure, it was suicide!

If other production teams did this, it would be tantamount to courting death. Of course, production teams couldn't do this anyway, because the investors would never agree.

But Tenda was different.

Obviously, Flying Yellow Workshop wasn't committing suicide. They dared to do this because they had strong confidence in *Mission and Choice*, believing that even without conventional publicity, it could still crush all the games in the same period and break through the encirclement!

Lu Xiaoping realized that his judgment was seriously flawed!

Before, he thought that *Mission and Choice* was brought forward because they lacked confidence and wanted to avoid the Golden Week holiday, but now he realized, how was that possible?

With the quality of this film, it would probably be a massacre even during Golden Week. How could they be afraid of *Warships of the Angry Sea*?

The situation isn't good…

Lu Xiaoping continued to watch with extremely uneasy feelings.

…

The following plot can be described as full of twists and turns, climaxes one after another, without any dull moments, and full of various reversals, which are dazzling.

The entire story of the film revolves around the character of Qin Yi, and the emotions of the audience are all being pulled by this character.

Although it was a one-man show, Lu Zhiyao successfully supported the character through his acting skills and successfully completed the task of mobilizing the audience's emotions.

The entire story can be roughly divided into the following stages:

First stage, Qin Yi becomes the commander, understands the situation of the defeat of the human race in the war against the Zerg through simulated battles, understands the necessity of the commander and the ansible communication (a device for instantaneous or superluminal communication), accepts the position of commander, and trains seriously.

Second stage, after being completely familiar with the operation of the console, Qin Yi begins to conduct simulation training. Everything was going smoothly at first, but the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse when the "realistic elements" were added, and the human army was defeated. In order to increase the chances of winning, Qin Yi slowly began to get used to accepting Aeeis's data and suggestions, and gradually became an emotionless command machine.

Third stage, Qin Yi saw the scene of his original As-371-45 squad performing a mission, and eventually made the same decision as the previous commander. In the midst of contradictions and struggles, Qin Yi finally understood the behavior of the former commander and made many painful choices for the sake of victory.

Fourth stage, everyone thought Qin Yi was ready, but what followed was a more brutal slap in the face from reality. In the final battle deduction, even if he commanded entirely according to Aeeis's advice, the human race was still losing ground.

Qin Yi almost collapsed. He no longer believed that the human race could win this war. Whether deceiving or not, no matter what kind of command method was adopted, it was impossible to win the victory.

Fifth stage, Qin Yi realized that it was wrong to measure the value of each person with cold data. The original command method did improve combat efficiency to a certain extent, but it was absolutely impossible to fight the Zerg with the Zerg's tactics and try to turn all the soldiers into emotionless machines. So, Qin Yi chose to tell all the soldiers the truth, and used a speech in desperation to re-ignite everyone's belief, and the war turned around again.

Sixth stage, the high-intensity thinking made Qin Yi's body overwhelmed. In his coma, he felt the Zerg hive mind. The Zerg Queen showed him the truth of the past. It turned out that the war between humans and the Zerg was initiated by humans, and the Zerg Queen's behavior in the hive was trying to communicate with Qin Yi, but it wasn't successful until now.

Qin Yi made a gesture of reconciliation on the surface, but in reality he deceived the Zerg Queen and executed the decapitation operation, directly laying the foundation for victory.

Seventh stage, Qin Yi, who thought the war was over and wanted to evacuate, was betrayed. The command ship he was on rushed into the Zerg swarm to commit suicide, but he didn't expect that because all the secondary queens were beheaded, he, who possessed the Zerg hive mind, became the new brain of the Zerg.

In fact, the end of the film left two suspenseful points.

The first suspense is, who decided to betray Qin Yi, the Executive Committee or Aeeis?

Aeeis's words to Qin Yi pushed the blame entirely to the Supreme Executive Committee, creating a feeling of "when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked." But in the meeting scene of the Supreme Executive Committee, Aeeis said that Qin Yi took the initiative to seek death, and the committee members all seemed very remorseful.

There are obviously two possibilities: one is that Aeeis deceived both above and below, deceiving both Qin Yi and the Supreme Executive Committee, and effortlessly killed a human military genius, clearing the way for himself to take over the entire human army in the future; the other is that some people in the Supreme Executive Committee authorized Aeeis to do so, and were hypocritically acting.

And these two possibilities are hinting at two different sequels, "the Machine Crisis" or "the Civil War."

The second suspense is that Qin Yi, who inherited the Zerg hive mind in the Leviathan beast's body, was also transformed by the Zerg into a special life form. He is a soldier, with a natural loyalty to the human race, but he suffered the most shameful betrayal.

Will Qin Yi choose to lead the Zerg swarm to take revenge? Or will he take a different path? Can he still be called human? How will he perceive himself?

Obviously, these contents will have to be revealed later.

…

The grand scenes of interstellar warfare made all the audience overwhelmed, and some were even immersed in this shocking emotion, forgetting to exclaim.

From the initial defeat of mankind when they encountered the Zerg, to small-scale realistic training, to the large-scale battles in the vast starry sky and on the surface of the planet...

All the war scenes in the film are progressive and constantly upgraded. The audience, following Captain Qin Yi from weak to strong, witnessed the long-lasting and grand war between humans and the Zerg in the universe.

What shocked Lu Xiaoping was that although the special effects of this film were very cool, it was obviously not just special effects.

The film also did an excellent job in storytelling and mobilizing the audience's emotions!

Although overall, the war scenes in the film are constantly upgraded, the emotional tone of each stage is constantly fluctuating, like a wave, with peaks and troughs, presenting a spiral upward state in the fluctuation, making people completely unpredictable.

Other films often show these contents through conflicts between characters. For example, when in trouble, members of a team with different personalities propose different solutions, and fierce arguments will make the audience in front of the screen also become irritable. When everyone's opinions are unified and they overcome difficulties in the end, the audience will feel that their emotions have been released.

This is a common routine in many literary works. Although it is old-fashioned, it is easy to use and has no risks.

But in *Mission and Choice*, Lu Zhiyao completely supported the emotional tone of the film through his own performance and acting with the cold and emotionless artificial intelligence electronic voice Aeeis!

This feeling reminded Lu Xiaoping of a one-man show film from the past two years, which tells the story of the protagonist being buried alive in a coffin in the desert, constantly exploring and using various props around him to survive. In the end, when he thought dawn was coming, he was only met with despair.

In that movie, the whole process was also a one-man show of the protagonist, but it brought constant suspense to the audience. The unique perspective, superb camera work, and twists and turns of the plot made this film successfully achieve a box office miracle that year, earning 20 million dollars at a cost of 3 million dollars, and achieved great success.

And *Mission and Choice* is, in a sense, similar to this film.

The protagonists of both films are trapped in a small space, and they are fighting hard in the face of unknown destiny, although they fail again and again but are still unyielding.

They both withstood the test of acting in a one-man show, and supported the emotional context of the entire film by themselves, and also perfectly allowed the audience to be brought into the film.

This kind of performance is very difficult, like a high-stakes gamble, putting all the chips on the same game. If it succeeds, you will earn a lot of money, but if it fails, it means you will lose everything.

The difference between the two is that the emotional tone is somewhat different.

The protagonist who was buried alive was in a coffin, which was extremely narrow, and the despair he suffered came from both mental and physical torment. The audience is also like the protagonist, with a severely limited perspective, and is in a cramped, depressing, and desperate state throughout the whole process.

Although Qin Yi is in the space capsule, he can see the real situation around him through the holographic image wall of the capsule, and his vision is not restricted in any way. The despair he suffers is more of a mental torment, the pain of bearing the fate of mankind alone.

These two kinds of performances are a severe test for acting skills, but Lu Zhiyao's performance seems to be more difficult.

Because most of the despair that Qin Yi suffers comes from the mental aspect, the whole set and environment cannot play too much of a role in setting off his emotions. At this time, if you want to mobilize the player's emotions, you have to rely entirely on Lu Zhiyao's performance.

Fortunately, Lu Zhiyao completed the task very well and contributed his most perfect acting skills since his debut.

It even made Lu Xiaoping feel that what he saw was not Lu Zhiyao, but another person, or... Captain Qin Yi himself!

Since acting in *A Beautiful Tomorrow*, Lu Zhiyao's acting skills have improved by leaps and bounds as if he had cheated.

Before, many people sprayed Lu Zhiyao for being a "box office poison" and "overacting," but from *A Beautiful Tomorrow* to *Mission and Choice*, Lu Zhiyao's acting skills seem to be constantly improving, from extroverted to introverted, those exaggerated expressions are all gone, replaced by more delicate psychology and carefully designed micro-expressions. The whole person seems to be completely integrated into the role!

In the last scene of the film, Qin Yi woke up in the incubation pool in the Leviathan beast's body, and his eyes suddenly opened, and the camera gave a close-up.

There seems to be too many complex emotions in his eyes.

In fact, at the beginning of the film, there was also such a close-up, but at that time Qin Yi woke up from the hibernation pod, and at the end he woke up in the incubation pool in the Leviathan beast's body.

The two eyes seem to have some common ground, but the background, the appearance of the protagonist, the subtle expressions, especially the eyes, are very different.

The hibernation pod and the incubation pool are like the womb, and this shot is obviously a symbol of Qin Yi being reborn.

It's just that in these two lives, Qin Yi played the role of human commander and Zerg hive mind respectively.

Just like at the beginning of the film, this expression at the end also lasted for several seconds before switching to the next shot.

His thoughts spread rapidly in the cosmic space, and all the larvae in the incubation pool surrounded him, becoming an extension of his consciousness.

Then, the camera quickly zoomed out to the cosmic starry sky outside the Leviathan beast's body. This terrifying Zerg that was aimlessly wandering in the universe also suddenly opened its eyes and accelerated its speed to move quickly into the endless starry sky!

A large number of Zerg followed behind the Leviathan beast, like a comet dragging a long tail, disappearing into the depths of the screen.

The movie ends here, and the list of cast and crew appears on the big screen.

The end credits song starts, which is a high-spirited battle song, describing the scene of a soldier about to go on an expedition and step onto the battlefield.

Originally, this song should have been very exciting, but the scene it was accompanied by was the scene of human soldiers cleaning up the mess, and the Leviathan beast carrying Qin Yi finally disappearing into the cosmic space, which made this song inexplicably full of a desolate meaning.

With a "snap," the lights in the movie theater turned on.

Many viewers woke up from their dreams, and exclamations of "fuck" and "awesome" were endless!

"Damn, that was so awesome!"

"I didn't expect that ending!"

"It's so satisfying, this ticket was worth it!"

When *A Beautiful Tomorrow* premiered, most of the audience felt that it was unclear and profound.

Because *A Beautiful Tomorrow*'s performance on many key issues is quite obscure. As a drama, there are not so many impressive grand scenes. After watching it, you will feel a little blocked in your heart, and you have to watch the film reviews and savor it carefully to read the deep meaning in it.

But *Mission and Choice* is a popcorn movie, full of various space war scenes throughout the whole process, and the emotions fluctuate up and down like a roller coaster, with both troughs and peaks, giving people an extremely stimulating emotional experience.

Therefore, after watching *Mission and Choice*, most viewers can only summarize their feelings in two words, which is "awesome!"

This kind of impact from the senses is more direct and stronger, especially the last scene of Qin Yi's expression with the end credits song, which allowed the audience's emotions to be finally released, and was so cool to the peak while being thought-provoking.

The audience stood up one after another, eager to share their viewing experience with their companions.

"It's so awesome! Can the special effects of domestic science fiction films actually reach this level? It's completely comparable to Hollywood blockbusters! I was dazzled the whole time and didn't feel like I was watching a movie at all!"

"As expected, Tenda's films are awesome! They never disappoint!"

"It wouldn't be too much to invest hundreds of millions in publicity for this film, right? It's a pity that the publicity is a bit insufficient, and the screening rate is not high."

"It doesn't matter, a film of this quality is not afraid of not being popular?"

"The way Qin Yi was handled at the end was really awesome. I thought it was going to be another cliché plot of different species shaking hands and building a beautiful universe. That was great!"

"Lu Zhiyao's acting was really good. I feel like President Pei has Lu Zhiyao's instructions for use. He used to be a box office poison, but now his acting skills have improved visibly. It really feels like he's an emperor of film!"

The audience was full of praise. Obviously, the actual effect of this film far exceeded their psychological expectations!

Although the audience who came to see the movie came for various different reasons, most of them didn't have too many unrealistic expectations.

Everyone knows what the state of domestic science fiction films is. If the production team of *Mission and Choice* was not Tenda, but some other company, even some very rich companies, the audience would not come to see the midnight show as guinea pigs.

Because no company can gain such a high degree of trust from the audience like Tenda.

In addition, there is not much publicity for this film, and most viewers think that this may be a "small and beautiful" film, that is, the kind that has enough advantages, but the disadvantages will also be very obvious.

But after watching the movie, they realized that it was not the case at all. All aspects of this movie far exceeded everyone's expectations!

And this mentality, invisibly, also raised the audience's evaluation of *Mission and Choice*.

This is like going to a restaurant to eat. If the food is about the same delicious, but it is in a restaurant that has received rave reviews online, then customers may feel that the reputation is not deserved; but if they accidentally eat it in an unknown small shop in an alley, customers will be particularly surprised and unforgettable!

Lu Xiaoping and the publicity director of *Warships of the Angry Sea* did not get up immediately with the other audience members, but fell into silence.

From the beginning of the movie until now, the two of them have not said a word.

The director was shocked by the movie. He was originally drowsy, but now he was very excited. Especially the scene at the end always lingered in his mind, and the picture could not be dissipated for a long time.

Although *Mission and Choice* is a competing film, the better it performs, the worse the situation of *Warships of the Angry Sea* will be, but the director has no mood to consider this for the time being, because he is completely conquered by this film, and only has sincere appreciation!

After a long time, the director said, "There shouldn't be... any Easter eggs, right?"

Lu Xiaoping nodded silently: "Well... maybe."

The director said: "Then, President Lu, shall we go?"

Lu Xiaoping: "Let's go..."

His emotions were very low.

They came to see the premiere of the midnight show today, originally with the mentality of watching a joke, but they never expected that they would become the joke.

There were still many audience members who had not left the venue, obviously waiting for the Easter eggs.

But Lu Xiaoping judged that there should be no Easter eggs. On the one hand, the lights in the theater had already been turned on to indicate that, and on the other hand, the whole story had been told very clearly, and there was no need for Easter eggs to continue to warm up the next part of the story.

Strictly speaking, the whole story should end when Qin Yi was betrayed and sent into the Zerg swarm by Aeeis.

The meeting of the Supreme Executive Committee of the Allied Fleet and Qin Yi waking up in the Leviathan beast's body, these two plots are more suitable to appear as Easter eggs.

But these two plots are too important, and the length is also very long. If they are made into Easter eggs, there will be a sense of separation, so Zhu Xiaoce considered it again and again, and still put these two plots at the end of the movie, which had a very good effect with the end credits song.

Lu Xiaoping also judged for this reason that the movie should not have any Easter eggs.

But just as the two were about to leave, some pictures appeared next to the rolling end credits.

There were no Easter eggs at the end of the film, but there were other things.

These were some of Lu Zhiyao's bloopers during filming!

He was facing the green screen, saying his lines over and over again, changing different ways to perform, and sometimes he would stop immediately if he was not satisfied with the performance halfway through, and he would repeat it like this.

For the same emotion, Lu Zhiyao had to perform at least five or six different feelings, carefully savor them, and then choose the most satisfactory one.

There were also shots of Lu Zhiyao reciting lines with the Aeeis fully automatic intelligent heckling machine.

In the eyes of the audience, many of Lu Zhiyao's performances were actually very good, but Lu Zhiyao himself was still not satisfied, and he still performed it over and over again, striving for perfection in every plot.

Although these shots were also good when taken out alone, they paled in comparison to those in the feature film.

The audience who stayed were basically hardcore fans. Although the lights in the theater had already been turned on, they still insisted on seeing the end, with the idea of "what if there are Easter eggs?"

Unexpectedly, they actually found an unexpected surprise!

"Damn, how many times do you have to shoot the same shot?"

"Lu Zhiyao is so ruthless, I feel like his state is a bit obsessed. He has to change several ways to say the same lines, and the effect is better each time. Looking back at those little fresh meats who don't even memorize their lines and only know how to count 1234567 to lip-sync when acting, the difference is clear at a glance!"

"Actually, strictly speaking, although Lu Zhiyao graduated from a professional background, he didn't have much acting skills at first. He was better than little fresh meats, but not much better. But unlike little fresh meats, he was not satisfied with the praise of fans, but constantly strictly demanded himself and honed his acting skills, so he can bring us such wonderful performances as *A Beautiful Tomorrow* and *Mission and Choice*!"

"Indeed, Lu Zhiyao's acting skills have improved visibly. This movie ticket was so worth it, it was a steal!"

"When *A Beautiful Tomorrow* came out, many people said that Lu Zhiyao was taking advantage of Tenda's script and that his acting skills were also relying on Zhang Zuting. Now this statement should be self-defeating, right?"

"Indeed, one person supports a film with an investment of hundreds of millions. There is no need to discuss the issue of the order of appearance, because he is the only actor!"

"Now Lu Zhiyao should be able to get rid of the title of 'box office poison', right? He has performed so well in two consecutive films, and in the future, he will probably become a well-deserved emperor of film!"

The audience members were all filled with emotion. Even some people who were originally indifferent to Lu Zhiyao were sincerely happy for his progress.

In recent years, there have been more and more traffic movies, and the acting skills of various little fresh meats in various so-called "big productions" have repeatedly broken the lower limit, and many viewers have long been unable to stand it.

And Lu Zhiyao has taken a completely different path from those traffic little fresh meats. He can obviously rely on his looks, but he has to rely on his talent, and he has paid unimaginable efforts for this. How can people not like him?

Finally, the last list of cast and crew of the movie and Lu Zhiyao's bloopers were also played.

The remaining few audience members finally left contentedly, and they were not idle in their hands, quickly posting a message on Moments to praise it.

Lu Xiaoping and the publicity director of *Warships of the Angry Sea* walked out in a daze, as if they had lost their souls.

On the one hand, they were shocked by the content of the movie, and on the other hand, after watching *Mission and Choice*, they were extremely worried about the current situation of Fanqi Media and *Warships of the Angry Sea*.

How terrible an opponent did they provoke when they were hotheaded at the time!

There is a price to pay for poaching this kind of movie.

Lu Xiaoping's plan was all based on the premise that "*Mission and Choice* is of poor quality." That's why he came to poach and increase the popularity of *Warships of the Angry Sea*.

But if the two movies are compared, and *Warships of the Angry Sea* is rubbed on the ground, then those popularity that was gained before will all be backlashed!

If *Warships of the Angry Sea* wins, it is domineering and confident, but if *Warships of the Angry Sea* loses, it is sour and a clown.

This feeling is like a boxer on the ring. He originally thought that the opponent was a small weakling, and he had said all kinds of harsh words before the game, and he had already bragged about his awesomeness. But when he stepped onto the stage, he saw that the opponent took off his coat, and his arms were thicker than his thighs.

How can you even fight!

The two people were silent. They both knew in their hearts that the current situation was bad enough, but in fact, this was just the beginning!