"Hello, my name is Chen Mu. I'm here to schedule an interview with you."
The girl, upon hearing this, became serious. "Hello, my name is Shen Ruohe."
"Come, sit here. Would you like something to drink?"
Shen Ruohe quickly waved her hand. "No, no, I'm not thirsty, thank you."
Seeing this, Chen Mu didn't say anything more and formally said, "Okay, let's start the interview. How long have you been making videos?"
Shen Ruohe immediately sat up straight, her back upright, her hands neatly placed on the table, as if answering a teacher's question, and truthfully replied, "I've been making videos for about a month. My roommate said it could make a lot of money, so I wanted to give it a try."
"Okay, with your looks, I think your chances of success are very high. I personally have high hopes for you. Do you have any questions?"
"Yes, is it true that there's no penalty for breach of contract? If I don't want to continue, can I leave anytime? And won't you force me to film things I don't want to film?"
Chen Mu nodded firmly: "There's no penalty for breach of contract. Our company pursues win-win cooperation. You don't need to spend a single penny. I'll cover all the operating expenses. If it becomes a hit and we get commercial orders, after deducting costs, we'll split the profits 40/60."
Shen Ruohe's eyes lit up, but she hesitated, asking, "If I become popular and use your 100,000 yuan for operations, but want to leave before even getting any commercial orders, I don't have to bear those operations costs?"
Chen Mu shook his head. "No, simply put, you can leave whenever you want. You don't need to pay any money. My only requirement is that the account be under my name during the cooperation. Of course, you can check the account; I won't use it for illegal activities. If you want to leave later, I'll return the account."
Shen Ruohe lowered her head, seemingly trying to find any loopholes, but after a minute, she couldn't come up with anything.
Deciding not to overthink it, she rubbed her hands awkwardly and smiled, "Well, I think it's fine. I can give it a try. Is there anything I can do?"
Chen Mu nodded. "I'll film a video for you first, so you can see my operational capabilities. Do you have any ideas about the video? For example, what directions do you want to develop in? What directions don't you want to develop in?"
Shen Ruohe's face showed a blank expression: "Development direction? I don't understand that, but I don't want to go astray, like those revealing things."
Chen Mu understood. If an average-looking girl wants to become famous quickly without going astray, the difficulty is self-evident.
But if you're pretty, that's a different story.
You could say that if you're good-looking, you've basically won half the battle on the internet.
The other half is having a special label.
A label is a memorable feature, a characteristic that people can recall when they see you.
If the video theme consistently revolves around this focus, the system can accurately target this demographic for precise streaming, resulting in better video performance and thus attracting more viewers, creating a virtuous cycle.
If the video's focus is scattered and disjointed, the target audience is unclear.
For example, if you want to see flat-chested lolis, but the system shows you videos of overly mature women, you'll likely click "not interested," right?
Poor data leads to poor streaming performance.
Chen Mu labeled Shen Ruohe as having the epitome of pure allure, cuteness, youthfulness, and innocent charm.
Shen Ruohe didn't want to cross that line, so her only asset was her flawless face.
However, simply showing her face would be too one-dimensional.
Therefore, contrast was the best approach.
This is the so-called "ugly first, beautiful later."
Of course, she couldn't actually be ugly. After all, if you scrolled down a video and suddenly an ugly monster appeared, you wouldn't have the mind to watch any further; you'd immediately scroll away.
So, the initial ugliness could be transitioned using funny filters, such as a large face effect, perfectly matching the "cute" label.
[For a specific video, please refer to blogger: Lv Xiaolinzi, September 1, 2023 video, the third most popular one]
(Note: Image included)
First half of the video
Second half
Shen Ruohe was a little confused, but fortunately, with Chen Mu's on-site guidance, the filming was successfully completed in an hour.
Chen Mu said, "I need to edit the video a bit. It should be done in about an hour or two. Then I'll just upload it online. I'll take care of the account; you can think of a username."
"Let's call it: 'Unlike a Seedling.'"
"Okay, that's all for today. I'll let you know when it's uploaded. Go home now."
"Okay, thank you."
[Red +9]
The two said goodbye.
Chen Mu didn't linger and went straight home to edit the video.
At this time, there was no "CapCut," a user-friendly video editing software. Video editing relied on software like iMovie and QuickCut.
But these software programs could only produce simple effects and couldn't handle special effects or slightly complex transitions.
For better video effects, one had to rely on the more professional Premiere Pro.
PR stands for Adobe Premiere Pro, a professional non-linear video editing software developed by Adobe, capable of multi-track, multi-layer video production.
Photoshop, also commonly known as PS, is also made by this company.
Chen Mu was definitely no problem with these software programs. He knew PR, PS, and AE; he had already mastered them in his previous life.
He logged onto the official website, downloaded three software programs, paid a usage fee of 450 yuan, and began editing according to his memory.
After an hour, adding background music, he successfully finished the video.
Looking at the video on the screen, Chen Muzhi was quite satisfied.
It has to be said that Shen Ruohe is indeed very suited to the internet industry.
Most people feel a little embarrassed in front of the camera, making them appear unnatural.
This feeling is undoubtedly fatal for short videos, as it results in a poor viewing experience.
But Shen Ruohe didn't feel any discomfort.
He watched it several more times, feeling that it was almost identical to the scene he remembered. He thought, "The special effects and transitions are very smooth, not abrupt. The only downside is the poor image quality. I'll have to buy a better phone later when I make more money."
His current phone is a Xiaomi 5, a second-hand phone he bought for 400 yuan, and the pixel quality is indeed a bit poor.
Fortunately, the content is good enough to make up for the shortcomings.
Click to save, log in to your Hemiao account, and upload the video.
...
Sanyuan Jiayuan Community.
Han Bing returned home frustrated. She was in a bad mood, partly because she'd made a wasted trip, and partly because of the sweltering heat – nearly 40 degrees Celsius outside. The trip had almost killed her, and to make matters worse, she hadn't gotten anything done.
Was it easy for her to travel such a long way in this heat?
It felt like being tricked by unscrupulous HR people to boost their KPIs.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
She opened Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform) and posted a short essay.
[Fellow users, does anyone understand? I was tricked by a dishonest company and a jerk…]
She wrote down everything that had happened, including the name Jingxing Media, gave them a thorough dressing-down, and then went to take a shower.
When she came out, she found a lot of red dots (indicating negative comments). A quick check revealed that her post had gone viral.
In less than half an hour, it had nearly a hundred comments.
She glanced around and found that everyone was vehemently criticizing the unscrupulous company, saying they had already blocked it. This instantly lifted her spirits.
She smiled smugly, "Ha, serves you right for playing me!"
She sat back down on the sofa and continued scrolling through short videos, hoping to find something she could remake and gain some views.
At 5:30 PM, she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, followed by a girl in a white T-shirt carrying a bag of groceries.
"Oh, it's so hot outside! It's so much more comfortable inside."
Han Bing turned around and saw her roommate had returned. She asked in surprise, "Ruohe, where did you go this afternoon?"