After a simple day of adjusting to the jet lag and completing some activities with Shion that were beneficial to physical and mental health, Nanaya officially launched his publicity campaign in China.
At the beginning, they were basically some relatively routine, even old-fashioned activities.
For example, visiting the Forbidden City, climbing the Great Wall and eating Peking duck.
These three things should be considered as must-do items for foreigners visiting the capital.
There is not much to say about the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Nanaya and the crew members of "Madoka Magica" left behind a large number of photos as material for media publicity.
What made Nanaya most satisfied was eating roast duck at Quanjude.
You know, Nanaya had always been very careful with his budget when eating roast duck in his previous life, but this time he could eat as much as he wanted and really indulged himself.
However, Nanaya did not participate in another dish that foreigners often eat, namely, noodles with soybean paste.
Because he had eaten it several times in his previous life, but always felt it was too salty.
So I gave up this time.
However, Nanaya also tried other delicious local delicacies, such as donkey rolls and three-no-zhan.
During this period, Nanaya and the "Madoka Magica" crew could be seen every day on the Internet and numerous entertainment media.
Basically, we either took photos at some iconic cultural building or went to eat some special Chinese food.
However, Nanaya never spoke Chinese again except when signing at the airport.
On the one hand, Nanaya was afraid that Shion and others would "slander" him again for using Chinese to hook up with female fans.
On the other hand, Nanaya plans to create a huge surprise in Chinese at a big enough occasion.
Nanaya knew too well what the people of China were thinking.
After the rapid economic development, the people here have an urgent desire to gain recognition from the world.
Even 10 years later, this feeling still exists.
This is actually a very normal phenomenon.
Japan had the same idea when it rose in the last century.
Moreover, the Japanese are much more arrogant than China. Not only do they show off their wealth all over the world, they also constantly provoke the United States.
Then this naughty kid was taught a lesson by his dear "American dad".
In comparison, Nanaya still prefers the relatively restrained approach of China.
Therefore, Nanaya believes that when he, a foreigner, can speak fluent Chinese, he will definitely bring unexpected surprises to the fans here.
And it greatly deepened my sense of identification with Nanaya.
This will be very beneficial to Nanaya and even Washimine's future development in the Heavenly Kingdom.
You should know that Nanaya's current identity in China is not just a director.
On a certain encyclopedia, Nanaya's identity is introduced as follows: famous Hollywood director and producer, entrepreneur, game producer, billionaire, and philanthropist.
With these identities, coupled with a friendly attitude towards China.
This will definitely make it much easier for Nanaya and Washimine to conduct business activities here in the future.
After all, other Hollywood companies have long been eyeing this market.
Among them, Disney, which has made the most rapid progress in conquering China, has even received approval to build a Disneyland in Shanghai.
Perhaps because it has always produced harmless movies and rarely got involved in miscellaneous matters, Disney has always had a high reputation in China.
This gives Disney a lot of convenience.
The most obvious point is that Disney's movies are always easy to pass review, and they can be released simultaneously unless it is a special period.
Even Nanaya, who was usually able to comfort himself, felt a little envious and jealous.
I can only say that Disney's children's marketing strategy is really successful.
Many people grew up watching Disney stories, so they naturally have a natural liking for it.
Nanaya has now asked Washimine to make efforts in this regard.
But this is not something that can be solved overnight. You can only slowly cultivate your own audience.
Overall, Nanaya had a very comfortable time during his few days in China.
Apart from having to appear at designated places every day to carry out activities, he actually has less things to do than when he was in North America.
Nanaya even felt like he was on a sponsored tour.
After all, visiting tourist attractions and tasting local food, isn't that what people do when traveling?
Even during Christmas, the publicity team was considerate enough to give the "Madoka Magica" crew a half-day holiday.
However, Nanaya didn't go anywhere. He was forced by Shion and Rin to stay in the hotel suite for a whole night, performing a drama of "Nine Nights of Misery".
Because Rin and Shion were afraid that this guy would seduce female fans on this special day of Christmas.
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After several days of busy activities, Nanaya finally arrived at the most important stop of this promotional trip besides the premiere - media interviews.
December 27th, a Sunday that couldn't be more ordinary.
Nanaya walked into the auditorium of Beijing Film Academy and held an exclusive interview session for "Madoka Magica".
Originally, this event was supposed to be held in a large theater, and only media reporters were expected to be present.
Although there are reporters of the Six Princesses, they are still just media, but their identities are more special.
But since last week, "Madoka Magica" has surpassed "Titanic" to become the new box office champion in film history.
This turned Nanaya from a famous commercial director into the world's top box office director.
Don't underestimate this leap. It made many people who were not very interested in Nanaya become very interested.
For example, China's film workers and major film academies.
Therefore, with the efforts of all parties, the location of the media interview was changed to the auditorium of Beijing Film Academy.
The participants include not only media reporters, but also Chinese film workers and students majoring in film from all over the capital.
Even the topic of discussion has been upgraded to a chat about the entire film industry.
As the location, participants and topics are expanded, the time will naturally be extended.
What was originally supposed to be a half-day trip has now been extended to a full day.
Although the formal interview session will start in the afternoon.
But there were too many participants, so Nanaya had to come to Beijing Film Academy early.
To be honest, the event was so grand that Nanaya felt a little nervous.
Anyway, Nanaya had never thought about giving a speech at Beijing Film Academy in his previous life.
Fortunately, all the problems basically revolve around Hollywood and the film industry.
At least there won't be any problems beyond the scope of the course.
After all, what would Nanaya do if someone asked him about the Iraq War?
He is not a bureau chief, so he cannot use tricks and poisonous milk to give the US military a set of buffs.
Of course, this part is aimed at students' questions.
As for the media reporters, Nanaya was not too worried.
In the year 2009 which has just ended, diplomatic relations between China and Japan as well as between China and the United States are still pretty good.
In such an environment, media reporters here cannot attack Nanaya or raise sensitive questions.
With still an hour to go before the meet-and-greet, Beijing Auditorium, which could accommodate thousands of people, was already full.
The front row, of course, consisted of media reporters and their cameras, as densely packed as a thick black forest.
Behind them are China's film workers and teachers from film academies, and then the students.
Among the students, many were holding posters of "Madoka Magica" or other movies by Nanaya.
In recent years, many films directed by Nanaya have been introduced into China.
Although China's box office performance has not been very good in the past two years, there are still quite a few people watching movies.
Many of the students in particular became aware of the name Kiryu through pirated copies that were ubiquitous on the Internet.
Although Hollywood movies are very popular in China, in fact, the only ones that can be truly spread nationwide are big-budget commercial movies, especially special effects action movies.
This is exactly what Nanaya is best at and what he has been shooting all along.
In China, the most recognized Hollywood directors are commercial film directors such as Cameron, Michael Bay and Nolan.
Even Spielberg, who is popular here, was never popular because of Schindler's List.
That was the film for which he won his first Academy Award for Best Director.
Instead, they are big special effects productions such as "Jurassic Park" and "Ready Player One".
This is the reality of the market here.
On the contrary, art films that win Oscars are generally not considered to perform particularly well at the box office here.
The directors and stars of art films also have limited influence here.
Well, some actresses in "Japanese art films" are exceptions.
Of course, in the eyes of the academic community, Nanaya's image may not be very good.
"There's nothing beautiful about his films."
A middle-aged man sitting relatively near the front said to a slightly younger man.
"Nanaya Kiryu's directing level is about the same as Michael Bay's. Movies like that will only remain at the commodity level and will never be put on the stage."
At this point, the other party glanced at the crowded student seating area behind him - many people who sneaked in sat on the steps because there were no seats.
"Students nowadays are all looking for this kind of movie. I really don't know what the future of our film industry will be like."
"After all, it's a market economy now. Everything is about money."
The younger filmmaker said with a relaxed look: "Besides, there are not many students from the directing department here. Instead, there are more students from the acting department."
This made the older filmmaker snort: "That's because these young people only want to be stars, not actors."
"Look at how fancy they are all dressed. Do you think that Hollywood director will select actors on the spot to star in his movie?"
"That's not right. Aren't we directors too?"
The younger one smiled and said, "What if one of us is short of actors and meets someone here? Don't think these students are too stupid."
The older filmmaker was suddenly speechless.
After a long while, he finally said, "You can choose if you want. I won't choose anyway."