Whether it is producing dramas or running a company, Xu Kang will first make a budget assessment, then consolidate the foundation, and finally carve the shape.
"Assuming that the market average is 60 points, our content can do 75 or 80 points, which is very valuable." In a stable state, continuously output works that are higher than the industry standard in each link is the core of the development of a content company. ”
——Xu Kang, founder of Liubai Film and Television
Luoyang paper is expensive.
After zuo si's "Three Capitals" was written in the Jin Dynasty, there were many people who copied it, and the price of paper in Luoyang increased. Later generations used this idiom as a metaphor for writings that were widely circulated and became popular.
Today, a Series related to Luoyang has triggered a similar effect.
On December 1, the drama "Wind Rises luoyang", jointly produced by iQiyi, Liubai Film and Television and Luoyang Cultural Protection Group, adapted from Ma Boyong's novel "Luoyang", was officially broadcast.
In less than 24 hours, the popularity of the series on iQiyi's station exceeded 9,000; after the update the next week, the data reached a new high. It not only allows more audiences to hold expectations for the work, but also brings "opening red" to the film and television market at the end of the year.
This achievement is within the expectations of the chief producer, Xu Kang, the founder of Liubai Film and Television.
With accurate work positioning, precise pre-preparation and exquisite production standards, Xu Kang has enough confidence in "Wind Rises in Luoyang".
A few days ago, Huang Xiaoxian (pengxx01) conducted an exclusive interview with Xu Kang, who shared the story of "Wind Rises Luoyang" in front of and behind the stage, the progress and experience of developing the "Ma Boyong Universe", and the company's content strategic direction.
Xu Kang, the chief producer of Liubai Film and Television's "Wind Rises in Luoyang"
Seeing Xu Kang in his office, a casual outfit, a pair of sneakers, the whole person seems to be kind and easy-going, chatting, without reservation, pouring out his bags. Between the words, there are the feelings and yearnings of being a film and television person, and there is also the rationality and rigor of investors.
Like an ancient Lego building on his windowsill, it is exquisite and aesthetic on the outside, with a tight structure and a precise fit on the inside.
And this is also Xu Kang's attitude to doing things: whether it is producing dramas or running a company, first do the budget assessment, then consolidate the foundation, and finally sculpt the shape. The effects that come out have eye-catching elements, breakthrough and innovative perceptions, and the ability to resist impacts.
"'Wind Rises in Luoyang' is a work that we have clearly positioned from the beginning, based on the production experience of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", we know that this play should find a balance between quality and business, so that the users with the largest common divisor can come in and see it."
According to Xu Kang, the idea of preparing for "Wind Rises Luoyang" was born in 2017. At that time, Liubai Film and Television was preparing "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" (hereinafter referred to as": "Chang'an"). In the process, he and Ma Boyong talked about the follow-up work plan, and the two people's ideas were highly consistent:
The current audience has a very strong sense of national pride, and generally prefers to watch the stories of the strong period, so the next work may wish to continue to use the ancient city as the background to express the culture of the Tang Dynasty.
In this regard, the novel "Luoyang" was born.
Then, in line with the naming logic of film and television dramas, the main creative team named the adaptation "Wind Rises Luoyang". In addition, in order to maximize the attractiveness of the series, IP has adopted the strategy of "broadcasting the drama first, then publishing the book".
According to this IP development idea, "Wind Rises Luoyang" soon entered the preparatory period. At the initial stage, it was a top priority to identify the core type of the work.
Xu Kang recalled that at that time, the main creative team held a highly concentrated brainstorming meeting, and everyone had to say a core type word for the intuitive feelings of "Luoyang", and then talk about the second and third types.
In the end, after everyone's joint discussion and Ma Boyong's decision, "The Wind Rises in Luoyang" has a very clear genre context:
With "detective" as the main line, supplemented by suspense, action, love and other elements.
"If you take the S-level budget of the platform, you have to make an S-level effect."
The core type is clarified, and other links will be smoothly unfolded. Xu Kang knows in his heart that "Wind Rises in Luoyang" is a work supported by the platform with head resources, and compared with "Chang'an", it has more commercial attributes and holds a high market share.
This means that around the core genre, each link of the series needs to strike a balance between artistic height, viewing threshold and story depth. He took script writing and shooting production as an example and made relevant analysis:
One is the script creation, which is the most difficult and time-consuming part of the whole play, which lasts more than a year. Xu Kang invited Qing Ming and Wu Cong to be screenwriters. In their pen, the lines are no longer similar to the text of "Chang'an", which is simpler and easier to understand, the overall rhythm is faster, the strong plot is more, and the drama is more abundant.
Second, speaking of filming and production, Xu Kang revealed that the production budget of "Wind Rises in Luoyang" is only 60% of "Chang'an". It goes without saying that if you want to create the same level of quality, you must spend money on the blade.
Among them, how to visually present a different Luoyang is Xu Kang's main thinking direction.
In its view, Luoyang, as the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, has a deep heritage, especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, with its own unique charm. However, if it is copied and restored, one is that it is difficult and the cost is high; the other is not completely conducive to film and television presentation.
Considering the cost performance and lens effect, the art team, under the guidance of experts, adopted a moderately innovative way to design the scenes in the play and the matching costumes. For example, build a "Nanshi" in Hengdian, make a ten-meter-long river, constantly elaborate "bad well" life scenes and character shapes, and hand-weave the armor of the inner guard.
With ingenuity and creativity, they showed the magnificent court, the smoke-filled houses, the bustling and bustling street markets, the bad wells that hid dirt and grime, the Luo River where boats passed, and the Shengtang Luoyang, which made the audience fascinated, and jumped on the screen in a panoramic manner.
"I felt that I was lucky, just according to the suitability to choose the actors, I did not expect that after the fixing, people became more and more popular."
Whether it is Lei Jiayin and Yi Qianxi of "Chang'an", or Huang Xuan and Wang Yibo of "Wind Rises Luoyang", on the surface, the two dramas seem to use the configuration of "strength + new force", but in fact, as early as before the actors became popular, Liubai Film and Television had locked them.
Xu Kang said that when "Chang'an" set Lei Jiayin, "The First Half of My Life" had just started broadcasting, the name of "Ex-Husband Brother" had not yet been popularized, and Yi Qianxi was playing the protagonist for the first time, and there was no precedent for the effect to refer to.
After "The Wind Rises in Luoyang", considering Gao Bingcang's complex experience, Xu Kang locked Huang Xuan early, and after many communications between the two sides, reached a consensus on cooperation. Of course, Huang Xuan also gave Xu Kang good feedback.
Xu Kang remembers very clearly that in the days before the start of filming, when he woke up every day, his mobile phone was dozens of nearly 60-second-long voices sent by Huang Xuan, all about the understanding of the character. When filming, Huang Xuan is also highly dedicated, not afraid of play and mire scenes.
Wang Yibo was the target of the team according to the personality of "Baili Hongyi" and aimed in advance, at that time, a costume drama had not yet been broadcast.
Later, it was determined to enter the group, Wang Yibo's performance was also surprising, he tried the play first, and where he felt that there was a problem, he would find the director to actively communicate. Xu Kang commented on Wang Yibo: The appearance looks like a piece of ice, and there is a fire hidden in the heart.
Inviting Song Qian to play Wu Siyue is also out of the role fit. Xu Kang believes that Song Qian's hard work experience in her career is itself a portrayal of an independent woman, which is in line with the identity characteristics of Wu Siyue. In addition, she has practiced dance, playing and stretching has a sense of beauty, and the men's clothing style is heroic and cool.
"Lao Ma is a restrained person who does not interfere too much in film and television creation, but as his works continue to be adapted, he has to take this step anyway." Next year, his first screenwriting work, "Daming Under the Microscope," is expected to air. ”
As the second drama series cooperated by Ma Boyong and Liubai Film and Television, "Wind Rises in Luoyang" makes their cooperation more tacit, and also increases each other's experience in literary IP film and television adaptation. This will undoubtedly contribute to closer cooperation in the future.
Xu Kang introduced that at this stage, Ma Boyong's other four works have been put on the production schedule of Liubai Film and Television, namely "Daming under the Microscope", "Lychee of Chang'an", "Daming Bookseller" and "Fenjing".
Among them, the book "Daming Under the Microscope" contains six true stories of the Ming Dynasty, and will shoot six genre series of short dramas, which belongs to the new attempts of Liubai Film and Television and Ma Boyong.
The first story, The Silk Case, is a 14-episode short series that was released in October this year and is tentatively scheduled to air next year. Xu Kang said that the original novel is a high threshold of evidence, Ma Boyong will personally serve as the screenwriter, trying to use the language of film and television to reconstruct the narrative framework. The second story, The Dragon Vein Case, is scheduled to start in 2022.
In addition, the feature-length drama "Lychee of Chang'an" is also planned to be filmed next year, and the script has completed a draft. "Fenjing" is still in the preliminary planning stage.
From this point of view, Xu Kang has a clear direction and planning in the process of creating the "Ma Boyong Universe".
The first step is to lay the foundation for word-of-mouth with high-quality "Chang'an"; the second step is to use the partial commercialization of "Wind Rises Luoyang" to extend the popularity and broaden the user group; the third step is to use "Daming under the Microscope" to launch a diversified series type and form, and simultaneously use "Chang'an's Lychee" to continue the label of high-quality production; the fourth step is to use "Fenjing" to show more ancient city culture of historical dynasties and consolidate the triangular IP value of "Ma Boyong + Ancient City + Blank Film and Television".
"Liubai Film & Television is a producer-centric company that involves projects of all types of tracks. In fact, each project is a small river, and everyone recognizes and trusts each other in order to create value together. I want the people I work with to take it to the next level through our work, or to generate some pride. ”
Counting up, "The Wind Rises in Luoyang" is the third work broadcast by Liubai Film and Television this year. The case-involved drama "Criminal Police's Overseas Action", which was launched at the beginning of the year, was also produced by its main controller, adapted from Ding Mo's novel of the same name suspense love drama "Dark Clouds Meet Kyauk Moon"
Three dramas a year, very different in size and genre, highly productive and diverse.
It can be seen that Liubai Film and Television is implementing the strategic planning of multi-type track deployment. This was affirmed by Xu Kang.
He believes that the layout of large, medium and small volume of drama content in the same period can not only penetrate the entire field of the industry, but also increase the company's ability to resist risks.
At present, Liubai Film and Television is focusing on the development of four types of dramas:
The first category is the large-scale quality costume dramas such as "Chang'an" and "The Wind Rises in Luoyang". The second is a genre drama with a strong plot as the main theme of the case, and the main work to be broadcast is "Wild Ride". It is reported that the drama is directed by Xu Jizhou and starring Zhang Yi, Zhang Songwen, Li Yitong and Zhang Zhijian, telling a story that spans 20 years of anti-gang crime and evil.
The third is to excavate the resonance of the whole people, refract the realistic themes of the times and urban ethics dramas, such as the novel of the same name adapted from Yibei and the "Mature Year" that is being filmed. Directed by Liu Xin, starring Hao Lei, Wang Ou and Tang Yixin, and special starring Song Dandan, the series represents the group as an individual, showing the internal and external crises faced by the mature family.
Another example is the workplace drama "Thirty Thousand Feet", which will start filming next year, which deeply explores the work and life of contemporary urban women by portraying two nearly 30-year-old working women.
The fourth is a love drama that focuses on female audiences. In Xu Kang's view, the continuous production of small and medium-sized vertical works can always connect circle users and young creators, on the other hand, it can also be used to make moderate innovation attempts.
In short, large-scale works are "siege hammers", and small and medium-sized works are "protective walls".
Before filming "The Wind Rises in Luoyang", Xu Kang had not been to Luoyang. At that time, in his eyes, Luoyang was just a typical ancient capital of the Central Plains, with walls, monuments, culture, and museums, but there was no distinct stylized impression.
As the series entered the preparatory stage, Xu Kang came to Luoyang many times. The hands-on experience gave him a new impression of Luoyang: the original water of the Luo River was very wide, and the temperament of the whole city was diverse. There is both the majesty of the north and the delicate gentleness of the south.
Waiting for the filming of the series, Xu Kang has developed a strong affection for Luoyang, met local friends, ate all the local cuisine, and gained a deeper understanding of the local culture.
In the relevant process, he subtly injected his feelings about Luoyang into the production of the series, believing that the audience can feel Xu Kang's emotional changes through "The Wind Rises Luoyang".