E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World
Chapter 131: Episode 131: How a Fashion Blockbuster is Made 2

Chapter 131: Episode 131: How a Fashion Blockbuster is Made 2

Wang Simo was satisfied with the photos, and even Li Yiyang hadn’t expected that his efforts would match up to those of the male models in major fashion shoots.

"Yiyang, I think you could start a second career as a print male model," Liu He praised after viewing the photos.

In the photo, Liu He and Li Yiyang were standing face to face, both hands raised as if holding something. Both of them slightly bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

"Sisi, what are we going to Photoshop onto our hands?" Liu He asked curiously.

"A disassembled watch, it’s suitable for a Flash background. We’ll see how KK handles it, right, Shanshan?" Wang Simo looked at Yao Shanshan.

"Hmm..." Yao Shanshan frowned as she looked at the picture, "Sisi, we need to reshoot..."

"Reshoot what?" Wang Simo asked, puzzled.

"Hehe, in this position, it looks like you’re holding something and sticking it to his face," Yao Shanshan demonstrated and explained at the same time.

It seemed she was planning to have them capture all the images in her head as photographs.

Liu He and Li Yiyang followed Yao Shanshan’s directions, changing poses continuously. Wang Simo found the right angles for these poses, snapping photos and praising their perfect coordination.

Taking photos was really a physically demanding job. Both the photographer and the models were exhausted. After half a day’s work, Li Yiyang felt more tired than if he had run 1500 meters.

"I now realize how hard those models work... Twisting into those poses is not something just anyone can do... and you photographers work hard too! I’ll treat you to dinner tonight!"

Li Yiyang was indeed generous. Initially, he had planned to invite only Wang Simo and Yao Shanshan, but then he thought about it and decided to treat everyone at the company who had been working on his project to dinner at Dinghao Grand Restaurant after work.

As the saying goes, snapping pictures is fun, but editing feels like a crematorium...

Yao Shanshan and Wang Simo were stunned when they saw the finished products, facing such a vast number of photos, only the three people in the art department were truly busy.

Moreover, Yao Shanshan also needed to assist Kang Siyin with the design of the parts required for the Flash game.

"Yinyin, the art department needs more people... There’s a huge amount of editing, and I still have stuff to make for KK... otherwise, we won’t meet the deadline!" Yao Shanshan urgently sought help from Zhou Xueyin.

"You want me to recruit people now? Where am I supposed to find them at this last minute... How about this, why don’t you ask Li Hua and Bai Ying? They’re pretty good with Photoshop. Why don’t you temporarily use them?" Recruiting on the spot would definitely be too late; it would be better to reallocate from within the company.

"Then please, could you talk to them?" Yao Shanshan asked Zhou Xueyin.

Fortunately, the number of editors was sufficient enough, even if they needed some soft articles or daily updates, the current manpower was plenty.

So Zhou Xueyin and Liu He made arrangements, temporarily assigning Bai Ying and Li Hua to Yao Shanshan to help with the high-fashion photos.

A week later, Wang Simo handed over the photos.

A group of people sat in the conference room looking at the photoshoot. Ji Xiaoxi and another model’s series featured a black and white theme, where only the watches highlighted in fluorescent colors were in color, also emphasising cyber-style fluorescent lines.

The combination of black and white with fluorescent colors such as blue, purple, green, and pink was indeed eye-catching. Currently, no domestic magazine had dared to use such a bold style, and 51buy could be considered a pioneer in this regard.

Looking again at the series of images featuring Liu He and Li Yiyang, filled with a sense of story, each one feels like it could spawn a 1000-word scenario.

The entire set of photos is enough to inspire Liu He to write a deeply moving "Cosmic Quest for a Husband".

"If Ya Rui sees these photos, she will definitely praise them nonstop!" Zhou Xueyin planned to use this set of photos as a supplement for Fashion Xinrui and give it to Ya Rui to help with the offline promotion.

As the internet continued to develop, the magazine and newspaper industry faced increasing challenges. Although 51buy had been continuously helping Fashion Xinrui to boost sales, the effects were becoming negligible.

Zhou Xueyin wondered if the release of this set of photos could trigger a sales climax...

The Fengyi Watches project went live on Christmas day, and Zhou Xueyin immediately regretted it.

She should have launched this campaign a few days earlier to allow a pre-heating process among netizens.

Now it was too late, there was no pre-heating at all, and she had hoped for a sales peak on Christmas day itself, which was simply a dream.

Never mind reaching a sales peak, there were hardly any people playing the online games on forums.

Why did this situation arise? No need to ask, right? Everyone was off celebrating the festival, no one was in the mood to work...

But unexpectedly, the promotional posters displayed in the store were highly praised. Everyone thought professional models took the photos for the products, leading to vigorous inquiries on the forums about who the models were.

"Annson, I’ve got an idea!" Seeing the hot discussions on the forum, Zhou Xueyin had a plan.

"Oh? What’s the idea?" Li Yiyang looked at her curiously.

"We need to expand our advertising efforts. Just displaying posters at the store is not enough. How about we also stick these ads on buses, especially double-deckers?" Zhou Xueyin thought about the bus posters she saw while waiting for a bus, realizing that this kind of mobile advertisement was the best promotion.

"Listening to you is fine, in terms of promotion, you are the professionals, I trust your expertise!" Li Yiyang reassured Zhou Xueyin confidently.

With Li Yiyang’s approval, Zhou Xueyin instructed Li Jiniang to negotiate a partnership with the bus group. A significant amount of money was invested, but seeing Fengyi Watches’ advertisements all over the buses throughout the city was quite a fulfilling achievement.

"Yinyin, it’s not good! Liu He has been grounded by her mom!" A few days before the Spring Festival, Li Yiyang made a distress call.

"What? What happened?" Zhou Xueyin was puzzled. How had Liu He suddenly been grounded?

"It’s all my fault. Hehe had repeatedly cautioned me not to tell her mom about her posing for the advertisement. But I accidentally spilled the beans yesterday while dining at her house... Now not only can she not go out, but I can’t even see her..." Li Yiyang said anxiously.

"Don’t worry, don’t worry... I’ll handle this..." In retrospect, it was her fault for not understanding the family’s situation thoroughly before arranging the photo shoot and then displaying it in a public place.

Traditional thinking wouldn’t understand this...

She had made the mess, and she would fix it!

Zhou Xueyin obtained Liu He’s home address, gave a few instructions to Li Jiniang to keep an eye on things, and then went alone to "rescue" Liu He.

"Yinyin, you finally came... Hehe has been locked in her room by her mom, and even her phone has been confiscated..." Li Yiyang anxiously explained the situation to Zhou Xueyin, "She’s forbidden from seeing anyone... I don’t know if your arrival will make a difference..."