Ji Cheng scratched his head in frustration. "I even considered asking Shen Qing to reshoot the whole thing, but there's simply not enough time."
"Not enough time?" Wei Hongsi asked, somewhat puzzled. "Is she unavailable?"
"That's not it. Shen Qing is attending the new product launch event; she's kept her schedule clear for us these past few days." Ji Cheng let out a long sigh. "The main issue is that shooting an takes too much time. Don't be fooled by the fact that the longest version of Plan B is only a little over a minute; the entire shoot took nearly ten days from start to finish."
"I don't think that's necessarily the case. Copying homework is always easier than doing it from scratch." Wei Hongsi mused thoughtfully. "If we replicate the visuals, storyboards, and shots from Plan B and hire the previous filming crew, we should be able to drastically shorten the time."
"That makes sense!" Ji Cheng's spirits lifted immediately. "Vice President Pang, what do you think?"
Pang Weizhi pondered for a moment before slowly nodding. "We can give it a try."
Ji Cheng immediately took out his phone and called Shen Qing's agent. After some back-and-forth negotiation, Shen Qing agreed to reshoot tomorrow.
He then contacted the previous filming crew and managed to secure a deal without much difficulty.
With the reshoot settled, Ji Cheng felt a significant weight lift off his shoulders. Putting down his phone, he said with a sigh, "Engineer Wei, Director Lu, it's fortunate your analysis report was delivered quickly, over a day ahead of the original schedule. Otherwise, we would have had zero room to maneuver and would have been forced to go with Plan D."
He harbored some grievances against Zhiwei Technology. There was an old saying, wasn't there? The keeper of the treasure cannot escape blame! He had looked it up online just this afternoon.
But he wouldn't hold this against Lu Jiaqi and Wei Hongsi personally. Individuals are individuals, and companies are companies, especially large corporations. They have to be judged separately.
Therefore, Ji Cheng felt grateful towards these two. Seizing the opportunity, he mentioned their contribution, hoping their superiors would be aware of the situation.
In his view, succeeding in a big company isn't just about achieving results; you also have to make sure the leadership knows you've achieved them. Only then does it count as merit; otherwise, it's all just wasted effort.
Ji Yongsheng was well aware of Ji Cheng's intention.
In truth, he didn't need the reminder. During the internal investigation, he hadn't overlooked certain details and naturally knew from which part of the process that extra day had been squeezed out.
However, receiving such client advocacy indicated that Wei Hongsi and Lu Jiaqi had done their jobs exceptionally well, which was rather commendable.
Even more praiseworthy was the fact that, on the surface, the final solution appeared to have been proposed by Ji Cheng and approved by Pang Weizhi. Wei Hongsi had merely played a guiding role.
This method of handling the problem was quite sophisticated, no wonder the President held this young man in high regard.
What he didn't know was that Wei Hongsi's focus wasn't on this aspect at all; the so-called "guidance" was unintentional.
Responding modestly to Ji Cheng's praise, Wei Hongsi then asked, "Director Ji, regarding the filming crew you just contacted, did they have any reservations?"
"Exactly. It wasn't just the filming crew; Shen Qing's side also had issues, but they weren't directed at us. They were unhappy with Peng Jun."
Ji Cheng hadn't hidden his phone calls from anyone in the private room, which was quiet, so it was normal for some bits to be overheard. Thinking Wei Hongsi was concerned about the reshoot's quality, he didn't overthink it and instead offered more explanation.
"When Peng Jun was leading the shoot, his demands were extremely strict. Everything—shots, visuals, blocking, lighting—had to be exactly to his liking. If it didn't meet his standards, he'd demand a reshoot. During their previous shoot, both Shen Qing's agent and the head cameraman, Old Huang, complained to us repeatedly. They were very unhappy.
"Looking at it now, that might actually be a good thing. Old Huang told me he has the entire situation from back then etched in his memory, so he even took on tasks like the script and storyboarding. He said the reshoot might not be an exact replica of the original, but it will be very, very close."
Hearing this, Wei Hongsi felt even more certain of his earlier suspicions, but he still needed to verify them.
Perhaps noticing Ji Cheng was talking a bit too much, Pang Weizhi said, "We still need to strive for excellence and shoot it as well as possible."
Ji Yongsheng added, "Vice President Pang, if you feel the footage shot in one day is a bit rough, we can certainly arrange additional pickup shots later. Rest assured, all related costs will be covered by us."
Pang Weizhi smiled. "You're too kind, President Ji."
For companies the size of Paradise and Zhiwei, the cost of a few extra shots was trivial. However, Ji Yongsheng's words expressed a stance of solidarity and shared responsibility.
Who wouldn't appreciate such a partner?
With a solution for the key problem found, everyone finally felt relaxed enough to eat something.
Wei Hongsi had also gathered the information he needed. Claiming he had already eaten and had work to attend to, he excused himself and left.
At this moment, he couldn't help but admire Wu Wenjun's foresight. If, back at the small restaurant when he met with his brother and the others, they had also discussed business first, he'd probably still be starving by now.
Exiting the restaurant, Wei Hongsi didn't rush back to the main building. He went outside first and called his brother.
Wei Hongbo was on his way to Zhiwei Technology. Hearing his younger brother's request, he felt a bit puzzled. "You want Peng Jun's previous works? Are those ads problematic too?"
"Not necessarily problematic, but we might find some clues from them. It would be best if we could get the original footage."
"Alright, I understand."
Wei Hongbo agreed. Estimating this wouldn't be too difficult, he immediately called Zhang Shengyong and asked him to handle it.
After finishing the call with his brother, Wei Hongsi sent a message to Gu Shiming on WD, indicating he had some matters he wished to discuss in person.
Not long after, he received a reply from Gu Shiming: "Come to the Department Five Director's office on the 13th floor."
Wei Hongsi looked up at the Zhiwei Technology tower. Lights were on on almost every floor. Since joining the company, his workload had been light, and he clocked out on time daily, so he rarely saw the main building at night.
The Department Five Director's office originally belonged to Mu Wei. Gu Shiming, leading the CMS rectification work, was temporarily using it.
When Wei Hongsi entered, Gu Shiming was discussing the rectification plan with Qian Jiayu.
Seeing Wei Hongsi come in, the two paused their discussion. Gu Shiming asked, "What's the situation?"
Wei Hongsi said, "I suspect Plan B was already somewhat abnormal before CMS performed its rendering on it."
Gu Shiming's eyebrows shot up. "Explain in detail."
Qian Jiayu looked at Wei Hongsi with keen interest.
"This morning, I performed a reverse analysis on Plan B's eye-tracking data using CMS, restoring its subconscious trigger points. At the time, I thought it would be difficult to achieve such precise activation of several types of subconscious negative valence emotions using traditional filming and editing methods."
Wei Hongsi paused before continuing, "But conversely, could a regular video , relying solely on CMS rendering, achieve the effects of Plan B?"
Gu Shiming immediately grasped his meaning. "Unless the original video itself contained subconscious trigger foundations!"
"Makes sense!" Qian Jiayu's eyes lit up, fully agreeing with this inference.