Then the scene shifted, with an extra scene inserted at the end showing the main character playing with his own child. The top right corner of the phone screen clearly displayed a date several months later, implying the main character had successfully escaped—
Although this movie didn't explicitly explain the protagonist's final outcome, the details basically hinted at it completely. This post-credits scene almost blatantly told everyone the final ending, though perhaps still fearing it might be blocked by mysterious forces, the scene was slightly toned down.
However, Xiao He felt this was also the director's way of testing the waters.
That is, in film and television creation, whether there is now greater creative freedom regarding the portrayal of such characters and their final outcomes.
Clearly, the answer is yes.
Xiao He felt this was a good thing.
Perhaps in the future, we really will see more, better, and superior scriptwriting and production teams.
For an actor like him, this would mean more choices, not just being limited to a specific genre or character type.
Life really seems more promising with each passing day...
In the blink of an eye, the enjoyable National Day holiday was about to end, and "Starry Radiance" officially began its online hype campaign. It was scheduled to premiere simultaneously on CCTV-8's prime time slot and online platforms at 8 PM on October 12th.
"Starry Radiance" featured veteran actor Zhang Mo as the main lead, with traffic idol Su Shengxi and popular young actress Yi Man'er as important supporting roles. Additionally, with director Wen Hongyuan and screenwriter Tan Yuan, a husband-and-wife team, joining forces for a powerful collaboration... this destined the drama to attract a massive amount of heat and attention.
Sure enough, the night the broadcast date was announced, this news shot onto the Hot Search list!
Simultaneously, the first official trailer was released.
War-torn, devastated ruins; a bustling, volatile night city... A woman humming a little tune, dressed in a bright red cheongsam, stood in the center of the dance floor, her eyes glancing around, beautiful and captivating.
The fan in her hand swayed gently. The next moment, the scene changed to Li Shuo standing at a banquet filled with clinking glasses, a flattering smile on his face as he lightly swirled his wine glass. Then, as if discovering something, the smile on his face slowly faded. He suddenly looked up towards the camera, his gaze seeming to pierce through the screen and look at the person watching.
A mysterious contact in black clothes flashed past in a dark alley. Immediately after, reporter Bai Mingchuan, with a camera hanging from his chest, looked nervous, glancing left and right, before raising his camera and taking a picture through the window.
As the shutter clicked, the background music intensified. A gunshot rang out abruptly, a bullet speeding through the window glass towards the crowd. Meng Zetian, in uniform, his eyes cold and fierce, directly raised his gun and returned fire towards the surging crowd—
A loud thud of a body hitting the ground caused all sound and visuals to cease abruptly.
In the darkness, someone lit a cigarette: "No matter how much you do, it's all in vain."
"Isn't living a good thing?"
Li Shuo turned his head to look at the person in the shadows behind him, pulling the corner of his mouth slightly in a barely noticeable smirk: "Life and death are a matter of an instant, but dragging out a feeble existence is a lifelong affair."
"I'm not afraid of death." Bai Mingchuan pushed his glasses up, his face solemn and earnest, "I only wish to truthfully record all of this, to prevent those people from erasing our true names with their despicable methods."
"Death? Heh—" Meng Zetian squatted down, calmly examining the bloodied man on the ground whose face was no longer recognizable, "Once you enter our domain, life and death are no longer yours to decide."
"Kill him—"
Following Li Shuo's shout, the music intensified again. The important characters made their appearances one after another. The actors' names and the characters they played switched along with the different people on screen. Then, the four characters for "Starry Radiance" appeared, like a heavy history book, emitting a dull sound—
---------------------
["Starry Radiance" premieres October 12th at 8 PM. See you then!]
After this main trailer, there were also individual character trailers, mainly for the roles with more significant screen time: the male lead Li Shuo, the second male lead Bai Mingchuan, the female lead Qiu Rongyue... and even a trailer for the fourth male lead, Meng Zetian.
The content of these trailers was edited very fragmented, not clearly explaining the story, but they were largely prepared for the respective fans of the actors, primarily for promotion and driving traffic.
As expected, the release of these trailers attracted a large number of fans and casual viewers.
Especially the fans of Su Shengxi. Although the previous incidents had a significant impact on Su Shengxi, ultimately, more fans chose to indulge him, almost instantly occupying the top comments to help hype the drama.
[Wow, I've finally been waiting for you! I'm so excited! I've waited so long! Wishing Starry Radiance explosive popularity!]
[I say Starry Radiance, you say explode! Starry Radiance—]
[Explode! Explode! Explode!]
[Starry Radiance! Explode!]
[It's finally here! Sister Man'er's big fan is hosting a cloud screening on Fruit Video on 10.12. Everyone is welcome to come watch Starry Radiance!]
[Welcome everyone to watch our Xiao Su's latest transformation work, Starry Radiance!]
[Looking forward to Brother Xiao's performance! Also hosting a cloud screening on Fruit Video! There will also be a stream rain on Weibo that night. Everyone is welcome to come watch~]
[Wow, it's actually the first time I've seen Xiao He's fans. How rare.]
[A little-known fact: the character Shen Jue, played by Xiao He, recently made it into the top 3 of Weibo's Hot Chat character topics. His fans don't usually bubble up much, but there are actually quite a lot of them. It's mainly because Xiao He himself has very few endorsements and activities; you usually can't tell.]
[The lead actor's acting is solid, the supporting cast has also leveled up. What reason is there for Starry Radiance not to explode? Charge!]
The top comments were basically monopolized by various fan groups' controlled comments. It wasn't until a bit further down that real feedback from casual viewers about the trailer appeared—
[Zhang Mo's TV dramas are always very good. His last spy drama was seven years ago, right? I'm quite looking forward to his new work.]
[Indeed, and the director is Wen Hongyuan, whose works have always been quality-guaranteed. Steady and reassuring.]
[Was the songstress at the beginning Yi Man'er? She's really so beautiful! The cheongsam suits her perfectly!]
[Whispering a spoiler: she appears later almost always wearing different styles of cheongsam. She looked really beautiful in the leaked set photos; you can search for them.]
[Wow, then I'm even more looking forward to it!]
[To be honest, I am very interested in this drama, but I really don't like Su Shengxi! Is there an option to skip Su Shengxi's scenes with one click? Or just delete him outright? I feel taken out of the scene whenever I see him.]
[Don't like Su Shengxi +1. Looking at those top comments, I thought I had an extra piece of memory others didn't. Didn't his reputation collapse? He can still appear?]
[Can the anti-fans just leave? When did Su Shengxi's reputation collapse? Weren't the previous matters already clarified?]
[Huh? When were they clarified? Are you talking about the incident where Su Shengxi was the master of 'slippery fingers', or the incident where Su Shengxi had his accounts managed on all platforms? The victim is even in the same drama. Aren't you embarrassed saying that?]
[Hahaha, I almost forgot about those things until you mentioned them. What a precise summary!]
[So, just because the storm has passed, does that mean it's clarified? Fans are idiots, but don't include us netizens; we don't buy that.]
[If you don't like it, then leave. No one is forcing you to watch.]
Wow, as expected of Su Shengxi's fans, first-rate at driving away potential viewers. I'm outta here.
[I'm really fed up. Su Shengxi's fans, could you please say less? I'm begging you. We're busy working on the data metrics. Can your family please stop causing trouble? We finally managed to build up the heat, and you're here starting fights with casual viewers. Are you sure you're not anti-fans? Even if Su Shengxi's career isn't precious, please have some consideration for the rest of us!]
[Right, I'm really fed up. It's not just your family looking forward to the broadcast of "Starry Radiance", okay? Keep a low profile! We still need to promote it!]
[Hahaha, I'm really dying of laughter. This is the first time I've seen fans of actors from the same drama begging other actors' fans to promote less.]
[Is it funny? All I see is a bunch of desperate fans trying to control the narrative.]
[That does sound pretty desperate.]