All-rounder Artist

Chapter 1318: Chapter 1099: Surely Nobody Watches This Movie, Right?_2

“But I do feel that the release of this promotional video precisely reflects Shadow’s insecurity.”

“How so?”

“You still don’t understand the tricks of film promotion, do you?”

“Eighty percent of the crappy movies put all the best parts in the promo. The promo looks fantastic, but when you’re actually lured into the cinema, you’ll find the movie is a complete mess and realize you’d have been better off just watching the promo.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Shadow might just be playing this game, editing all the best scenes into the promo, while the quality of the actual film can’t match up to the promo at all.”

“I Believe in Shadow!”

“Then brace yourself to be harvested like leeks. I’ve seen this trick too many times. A promo, huh?”

“Heh.”

The skepticism was now halved, but half remained.

Those who remained suspected that the promotional video was a trap laid out by the production team, but this wasn’t something Lin Yuan could fix—after all, he couldn’t release the full content now.

Fortunately, the film distribution was already in place.

A few hours after the promo aired.

Chasing Shadow Studio updated with a new announcement:

[The movie will officially premiere on October 1st. Please support Shadow’s first animated film!]

Suddenly.

There was a stirring of incredulity from all quarters.

Even people from the top five animation movie companies were puzzled:

Something’s off! The film was supposedly made in two months, and it’s Shadow, a newcomer director, at the helm. Why is this company so confident, acting as if their film is outstanding?

On what grounds are you so assured and self-righteous!

…

Qi Continent.

Hu Yan is a director at Firefly Animation Company, one of the top five animation movie companies in Blue Star.

The most legendary thing about Hu Yan is:

He once produced a decent quality animated film in just six months.

Since then, Hu Yan has been known as ‘Marksman,’ the fastest in the animation film circle.

Ever since Shadow decided to make an animated film, Hu Yan had been closely following him.

Hu Yan admired his comic work and even hoped for a chance to collaborate with him someday.

But then.

Events that dumbfounded Hu Yan occurred one after another.

First off, Shadow’s animated film titled “Robot Wally” was completed in just two months.

Then, Shadow personally took on the role of director!

An animated film made by a rookie director in two months? It’s common sense that it would be unbearable to watch.

Hu Yan found the whole thing preposterous.

Yet.

Just as everyone was thinking this way.

The rookie director released a promotional video that surprised everyone!

Although the few minutes of the video didn’t reveal much about the story’s quality or even clearly explain what the film intends to express, visuals and music don’t lie!

The quality of the visuals is high!

The music featured in the promo is quite refined too!

These elements are so good they seem impossible to have been made in just two months!

Even if, as some speculate, the best visual parts of the movie were all in the promo…

Hu Yan still became immensely curious about this movie.

“It is theoretically possible to do it in two months,” he muses.

Hu Yan had carefully analyzed the situation; you just need to get all the pre-production done in advance and then use the latest intelligent superbrain technology from Wei Continent.

But apparently that thing is exorbitantly expensive.

You’d need an investment of several hundred million to even countenance using it.

It looks like Shadow has used this technology for the promo.

And if everything goes smoothly throughout all stages, it would indeed be possible to complete an animated film in two months.

But that’s just in theory.

Does someone in the world truly have the ability to prep everything in advance?

The capability to construct such intricate designs mentally is staggering!

It suggests that the director already had a clear vision of what the film should be, allowing a flawless execution of every phase!

Hu Yan had once made an animated film in six months.

He had thought that was the limit of Blue Star’s speed.

At least until he surpassed his own record, no one could do it faster.

However, Shadow appeared.

And got it done in two months.

Hu Yan thought that even to push his limits again, it would take at least five months, yet Shadow managed to cut the time down to two: “Perhaps he sacrificed something in exchange for speed, but what’s the point of pursuing production speed if the final quality of the work isn’t managed properly?”

Without quality, where would the box office be?

Hu Yan was baffled.

Stop pondering the incomprehensible.

Hu Yan decided to buy a ticket and see for himself.

…

Hu Yan opened his phone, ready to book a ticket.

Suddenly.

He saw that in one of the groups he was in, numerous colleagues from the five major companies were chatting idly.

“Just got news, Shadow used Wei Continent’s technology for that movie.”

“The one that’s dubbed intelligent super-brain technology?”

“But even so, two months is still too exaggerated.”

“Don’t they need to prepare?”

“Writing the script, storyboarding, character design, setting design, color design, dubbing, and music composition…”

“All these things take time.”

“Some can be done concurrently.”

“Overall, with our current technology at Blue Star, it’s theoretically possible to make a proper animated movie in two months, but theory is theory for the reason that reality has too many variables to consider. I don’t know what tricks Shadow is up to, but for sure, this movie is a mess, and even if they got the visuals right, other aspects will definitely fall short.”

“Such a movie, there’s no need to watch it.”

“Heh, how bored must someone be to go watch this movie.”

“Anyway, I’m not going.”

“Probably only Shadow’s pitiful fans will, ready to be harvested like leeks.”

Hu Yan snickered.

Is he considered a fan of Shadow?

Maybe barely, he did follow quite some of the other party’s comics; otherwise, he wouldn’t have that odd curiosity and obediently, against his better judgment, purchase a movie ticket despite knowing that the movie was likely being made haphazardly.

…

Just like that.

Several days went by.

On the first of October.

Hu Yan arrived early at the cinema.

Although he was a famous director at one of the top five animation movie companies, he was still a behind-the-scenes guy.

At this moment, with a scruffy beard and greasy hair, no one could recognize him…

“Ol’ Hu?”

Just as Hu Yan was thinking this, a voice suddenly came from nearby.

“Ol’ Zhang?”

Hu Yan turned his head, thinking one of his fans recognized him, but to his surprise, it was a director from one of the big companies.

“What brings you here?”

“I was curious and came to have a look.”

After saying this, Hu Yan looked a bit weirdly at the other person: “Didn’t you vehemently criticize Shadow in the group chat yesterday, saying how you wouldn’t watch this movie no matter what?”

“Ah, you were lurking in the chat back then!”

“That’s right, I saw you guys having a blast trashing it so I didn’t say anything; after all, you know I quite like Shadow’s comic works.”

“Then keep this to yourself.”

Ol’ Zhang felt awkward all right; how could he even run into such a situation!

Hu Yan, holding back a laugh, said, “I won’t tell anyone; you’re not the only one feeling awkward. Look over to the east, isn’t that Ol’ Wang?”

“Eh?”

Ol’ Zhang looked back and suddenly froze.

Damn!

This Ol’ Wang!

Just yesterday in the group chat, he was chiming in with him, vehemently bashing Shadow’s movie for being a rushed animation done in two months, saying stuff like “only leeks would watch this movie” and “only fools would watch it.”

How on earth did they bump into each other at the cinema today?

Fate, too marvelous for words.

Ol’ Zhang wanted to go over and greet Ol’ Wang, but suddenly, Hu Yan grabbed him.

“What’s up?”

“Just take a look at the group chat.”

Ol’ Zhang was startled, opened the group chat and saw that Ol’ Wang had just sent a message:

[How come it’s so quiet in the group? Surely no one actually went to watch Shadow’s animated movie, did they? No way, right?]

Ol’ Zhang: “…”

This guy is seriously asking for it!

If he took a photo of the other party sending messages in the cinema and shared it in the group, what would the effect be?

Social suicide on the spot?

Honestly, it came down to this:

Whether from inside or outside the industry, even though they verbally claimed “impossible,” their bodies truthfully made their way to the cinema.

Because in their hearts, they were somewhat curious, and they held a measure of respect towards Shadow, the so-called “God of Comics.”

Yes.

Many in the animation circle simply do not want to admit that when the God of Comics ventured into animation, they felt a tad nervous.

————————

ps: Wrapping up two-in-one; some say why does Polluted White keep getting his teeth pulled – the fact is Polluted White often complains about toothache and shouts about needing to get them pulled, but he has actually only done it twice, once before and once yesterday. With four wisdom teeth in total, he’s taken out two so far, and there are two more to go. He’s contemplating whether to get the last two taken care of after completing the series.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!