Media internal reference guide: What kind of sparks have collided between generations in sunshine nursing homes due to intergenerational problems and personality differences? As a work of old age, how to break through its own heaviness and gain a wider audience? With these questions in mind, the media internal reference conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Zhuo, the chief producer of "8090", and tried to explore new solutions to the expression of realistic old age themes.
Source: Media Internal Reference - Editor-in-Chief Wen Jing
Text/JY
Looking at the current situation of the film and television market in recent years, "young audiences win the world" has become a general consensus in the industry, and there are not many dramas that reflect the current situation of this group's life from the perspective of the elderly. In addition, China has now entered an aging society, and the topic of old-age care has attracted much attention, and the screen urgently needs such works to appear.
Recently, the broadcast of the urban family drama "8090", which focuses on the issue of old-age care, can be described as a thousand calls, the drama takes the story of the post-90s "little parents" Guo Sanshuang and Ye Xiaomei taking care of a group of 80-year-old "old children" together as a clue, bringing a new viewing experience with a youthful narrative, which has won many audience praises.
What kind of sparks have collided between generations in sunshine nursing homes due to intergenerational problems and personality differences? As a work of old age, how to break through its own heaviness and gain a wider audience? With these questions in mind, the media internal reference conducted an exclusive interview with Zhang Zhuo, the chief producer of "8090", and tried to explore new solutions to the expression of realistic old age themes.
Grandchildren CP, "little competition" combination and elderly group portrait
Youthful expression perspective on the original appearance of the family in contemporary society
With the diversified development of society, many elderly people no longer revolve around their children and grandchildren all day long, and their lifestyles have gradually become more free. The story of "8090" revolves around the Sunshine Nursing Home, where the grandparents do exercises, chess, cards every day, and even launch a "pleasing to Grandma Lin" trick and health competition, the work with a relaxed and witty narrative rhythm, youthful style to create a contemporary elderly sentient being, creating a sense of fun and drama.
Compared with the urban family dramas in the past two years, which are full of various "original family injuries" and anxiety, "8090" has been well received for its warmth and healing after broadcasting, and in terms of emotional tone creation, chief producer Zhang Zhuo explained: "The theme of the elderly is inherently sad because of the label of 'heavy' and 'depressed', and it is difficult to be liked and sought after by the audience who break the circle. This kind of theme is easy to 'tear-jerking', but it is very difficult for people to easily watch and laugh. Taking the story of the little sister and grandmother as an example, the whole drama does not overly render the sadness and regret of the death of relatives, but emphasizes the strength and persistence of the ancestors and the efforts and growth of the grandchildren. ”
In addition, zhang Zhuo, the chief producer, also revealed in the interview that when determining the tone of the work, the entire creative team led by the director of "8090" determined the style of light comedy and warm drama. In the story setting, the combination of Guo San Shuang and Guo Ye represents the "friend-style" family relationship in reality, adding a comedic color to the whole play; Ye Xiaomei and Grandma Lin are "elderly" family relations, and at the same time show warmth and affection in the "small competition" between the two.
The elderly in the sunshine nursing home have their own stories, and on them, the audience will see the shadows of many elderly people in real life. As early as the announcement of the starring role of "8090", the luxury of the lineup surprised the audience very much, which can be described as bringing together a group of "old drama bones" in China.
In the view of zhang Zhuo, the chief producer, the cast of the work is mainly determined by the role. She said: "I am very grateful that I have received the favor and support of many old artists when casting this work, the epidemic has just entered a period of relaxation before the start of the film, there are still many uncertainties in the shooting, and it is necessary to spend the hot summer in Nanjing." Many actors in the play still overcome difficulties with a high degree of enthusiasm for the theme of pension and actively joined the project."
In addition to Shi Changsheng, who is obsessed with health care products, Grandpa Ge, who occasionally quarrels with Ye Xiaomei, and Grandma Gui, who lives in the shadow of her grandson's unexpected death, two outstanding young actors Wu Qian, Ye Xiaomei played by Bai Jingting and Guo Sanshuang joined in, bringing a young perspective to the Sunshine Nursing Home and injecting new vitality.
Ye Xiaomei learned that Dean Lin had cancer, took her grandmother around to find a doctor to review, looking for a grandfather to take a home remedy, and buying "anti-cancer and anti-cancer" health care products, her willfulness and persistence had ignored her grandmother's feelings, so in the first few episodes, the character setting of "Ye Xiaomei" was slightly controversial. In this regard, chief producer Zhang Zhuo elaborated on the creative experience of this role: "'Little Sister' is a representative of the post-90s generation in the play, who seems to be responsible, has a small stubborn personality but has a sense of family responsibility. The little rebellion she showed at the beginning seemed unpleasant, but it was a very common state for young people. Later, she supported her grandmother to move back to the nursing home, took on the heavy responsibility of the nursing home and overcame many difficulties, all of which showed the kind and intelligent background of the characters, as well as the warmth and responsibility of the younger generation in the difficulties of life. ”
On the one hand, "8090" creates a rich group portrait of the elderly and creates a sense of substitution for watching the drama. On the other hand, let the audience see the growth of young people after experiencing separation and pain, give the characters sufficient buffer time to seek truth, and express the original appearance of the family in contemporary society with youthful expression.
Marketing is in the forefront to create a high-energy famous scene
Stories of older adults who abandon the "heavy" label are more malleable
The old man is old, and the man is old; the young man is young, and the young man is young. "8090" integrates the two major social topics of the elderly and young people's career choice, and the post-90s young people and the 80-year-old people in the story carry the all-round differences of views of the two generations while creating a daily life drama full of jokes.
"The film and television market has a large number of excellent works every year, but most of them are about teenagers, young people and middle-aged people, and only a small number of works that focus on the elderly group are more heavy. Therefore, at the beginning of the establishment of the project, our marketing tone has been established, we choose to break the heavy stereotype of the topic of pension, pass on the concept of happy pension, and comprehensively portray and display the appearance of the people who are in the pension stage and will enter the pension stage. In the interview, Zhang Zhuo, the chief producer, said that all the marketing cores of the team, the planning of events and the output of materials are all centered around the concept of "a hundred-year-old kindergarten, and the next generation is also very sweet".
Under this concept, it is not difficult to understand that many of the "high-energy scenes" in the play are out of the circle.
Grandma Lin is not only the director of the Sunshine Nursing Home, but also the "dream lover" of everyone. After Hou Lao, who had denounced his grandfather for "pulling the mountain, forming gangs, and robbing my woman", and Shi Changsheng carried out a "secret meeting", he plucked up the courage to confess by phone at night. The same "hero sad beauty off" grandfather, as a generation of kitchen gods, although the taste deteriorated after old age, still sincerely cooked in the hope of capturing Grandma Lin's heart, the two old people staged the "pleasing to Grandma Lin" trick.
Due to the repair of the men's bathhouse of the Sunshine House, The Three Shuang borrowed the women's bathhouse to bathe. The grandfather who swore to guard the door for Sanshuang was temporarily called away by Grandma Lin, and after the unsuspecting Ye Xiaomei rushed in, she staged a "bathhouse battle" with Sanshuang. After grandpa returned, not only did he not feel sorry for his grandson, but he also picked up his mobile phone to take photos as a souvenir, staged the strongest "eating melon" scene, and the interesting plot triggered a lot of topic fermentation.
Compared with the previous "chicken feathers in one place" and "short parents" pension-themed TV series, "8090" is obviously more youthful in narrative and integrates into the light comedy style, and has achieved good results. Zhang Zhuo, the chief producer, believes that expressing a "heavy" topic worth thinking about and paying attention to in a relaxed way and lowering the "opening" threshold of the audience can make more people pay attention to this topic.
I have to say that "8090" with a relaxed, youthful, warm but not sensational tone, thinning the heavy sense of the topic of pension, is a very light choice, enhance the malleability of the story of the elderly.
Three years of field visits, two years of script polishing
Let the power of reality that warmly heals shine
Urban family dramas in the field of realism have always been a place where TV producers compete. In the view of zhang zhuo, the chief producer, realist works need to have more dramatic tension based on life, and if the scale is not well grasped, it will be called "dog blood", but in fact, many real stories in life will often be more "intense and dog blood" than those extracted in the drama.
How to pay attention to the emotional differences and commonalities between generations in a more real and delicate way, condense a sense of healing, and better play the reality communication effect led by the value of TV dramas? "8090" provides a good reference.
In the play, Guo Sanshuang, played by Bai Jingting, and Guo Ye, played by Ni Dahong, form a grandfather cp, and the two often fight each other, and even "dislike" each other, showing a new way of getting along between young people and the older generation in the context of contemporary society. Ye Xiaomei, played by Wu Qian, initially clashed with the elderly with the thinking concept of young people, and after experiencing various communication events, she gradually learned the importance of empathy and the true meaning of responsibility. The work explores the world of the elderly from the perspective of two young people, and uses dramatization to screen life events, so that the audience has a sense of déjà vu.
The group life of the nursing home allows the elderly to show their faces, and the team has done a lot of research work in the early stage of script development. The unit characters in the play basically have prototypes, and most of the main stories selected are also derived from interviews. "Our creative team reached out to more than 1,000 elderly people living in nursing homes and conducted focused interviews with more than 100 of them. Behind every elderly person selected for this project is a type of family, a life story. Zhang Zhuo, the chief producer, revealed that "8090" was finally completed after three years of field visits and two years of script polishing.
The humanistic care attributes and positive energy orientation of the works on the theme of the elderly contain precious social significance, and the broadcast of "8090" on the one hand breaks the stereotype of the audience on the dull and boring life of the elderly, on the other hand, it guides young people to think, as the younger generation, they should further start from the heart, explore the real emotional needs of the elderly, and accompany them in a way that they are willing to accept.
In line with the aesthetic taste of young people, in a humorous and sincere way of expression to present the emotional crux of intergenerational communication among urban people, to dissolve the anxiety of some young people about the issue of old-age care, to encourage people to face difficulties and grinding when not losing their love for life, behind the high popularity of "8090", but also supports the truth that "good stories are good medicine".