The author | Gu Han
Editor| Li Chunhui
The drama market in 2021 can be said to be a well-deserved year of the main theme. The main theme of the work is acclaimed and sold well, not only recognized by mainstream awards, but also warmly pursued by young audiences, spontaneous Amway, becoming a major new phenomenon in the drama market.
At the beginning of the year, there are "The Age of Awakening" and "Mountains and Seas", which reproduce the memories of the local era; in the middle of the year, there are "Meritorious Deeds" for 8 heroic models; at the end of the year, there is "Ebola Frontline" that tells the story of China's medical assistance to Africa.
Produced by Tencent Video, "Ebola Frontline" is produced by Endless Culture, with Fang Fang and Mao Yi as the chief producers, Nan Ke as the chief screenwriter, Yang Wenjun as the general director, Luo Jin and Mao Xiaotong as the leading actors, Xu Yajun, Liu Tianzuo, Ning Li, Wu You, and Zhang Tao as the stars, based on the true story of the Chinese medical team participating in the fight against the Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic in 2014, and is a key guidance project of the State Administration of Radio and Television and the "China-Africa Film and Television Cooperation Innovation and Upgrading Project".
Since its broadcast on Tencent Video on December 8, the show's innovative theme and sincere attitude have received a lot of praise. Now that it is nearing its finale, it is worth a review.
True stories, international perspectives, create scarce blockbusters
With the pursuit of drama positions and the replacement of the main force of consumption, the audience's aesthetic is improving and their preferences are changing. On the one hand, the acceptance of the main melody works is constantly increasing. On the other hand, it also calls for more genre dramas with mature concepts, extreme presentations, and international standards, including professional dramas, and medical genre dramas are a very typical type.
However, the supply of these two types of works is obviously not rich enough at present, and homogenization has appeared earlier.
The reasons for premature homogenization are not difficult to understand. The explosion and quality improvement of the main theme series have a lot to do with the intensive gift cycle in recent years, but this also means that propositional compositions and compositions with the same topic often occur.
When it comes to the main theme, many people's first reaction may be revolutionary historical themes, eras or modern poverty alleviation dramas. In the new era and new situation, what kind of main theme story should be told, and how to tell it, is still being explored.
Medical genre dramas also have their own problems. An objective factor is that the audience of the network has different demands for such episodes. In the process of seeking balance, more creators still choose to let the protagonist encounter various "customers" in his work, and then use the "customer" story to connect with social hotspots and win the audience's resonance. However, over time, the topics that everyone chooses gradually converge, which is nothing more than marital infidelity, original family, etc., which is also easy to make the audience aesthetically tired.
In this way, the difference between "Ebola Frontline" as the main theme and the medical genre drama is very obvious:
In terms of pattern, there is both a tension between life and death, and an international perspective, which transcends the general workplace troubles and parents' shortcomings.
In terms of genre, the elements are rich, and the male protagonist Luo Jin staged a medical type drama here, studying viruses and racing against time to save people. The heroine Mao Xiaotong has a more suspenseful sense of suspense - she plays He Huan, who is not a medical worker, but a reporter who investigates diamond smuggling and disguises himself to infiltrate dangerous areas.
Most of the story takes place overseas, and it is particularly necessary to be authentic and believable, so that audiences in China can enter the play. Therefore, in addition to a large number of exotic landscapes and foreign actors, the drama often simulates the documentary style with subjective shots and long shots commonly used in news and documentaries, showing the complex situation and tense atmosphere at that time. Special bridge sections such as reasoning clues and gunfights will also adopt corresponding genre shooting methods, which are different from most domestic dramas on the market.
This kind of theme innovation first stems from our country's long history of aiding Africa and sufficient national strength in reality, with compatriots participating in the fight against the Ebola epidemic and leaving a number of moving deeds. The ability to land innovative themes with a high degree of completion of works reflects the progress of the domestic film and television industry. The fact that such innovations can be recognized by the market proves that this generation of audiences has enough attention and enthusiasm for the history and reality of the country.
To be emotional people, to be truly moving
Impressing the audience with vivid characterization and sincere emotional expression is a common feature of the new batch of main theme works, and "Ebola Frontline" is no exception. The camaraderie between the people of Central Africa, the camaraderie between medical staff, and the family ties of everyone have been carefully shaped, which also makes their choices at critical moments even more moving.
At the beginning of the story, Dr. Zheng Shupeng, played by Luo Jin, is at the end of a two-year mission and is about to return to China. Dr. Qasm, the "China Pass", affectionately presented a scrambled egg with Chinese-African tomatoes, and claimed that the gift used up the last bit of old smoke in the family, which was unbearable. Teasing each other, supplemented by Zheng Shupeng's memories, a few strokes point out the friendship between the two.
However, the arrival of the "18-bed patient" shattered the atmosphere of joy and peace. When Zheng Shupeng rushed back, Qasm was already infected. Zheng Shupeng can only watch his friend's life gradually pass, and finally die in front of his eyes. This incident influenced many of his subsequent decisions.
Dr. Xie Yunhu, played by Liu Tianzuo, is another colleague of Zheng Shupeng, with a big grin, which is a classic contrast to Zheng Shupeng's caution. He voluntarily self-isolated after discovering that he might be infected, but it was difficult to hide his emotions when he called his family, like the reaction that every ordinary person has. But it is also such a doctor, after learning of the false alarm and the danger lifted, he still chose to stay in Africa and fight side by side with his colleagues.
As the plot develops, Zheng Shupeng travels to "Sangyi Village" to track down the virus, where he meets He Huan and forms a partner in distress. At the same time, a new Chinese medical team came to Africa to start renovating the hospital, which also supported another story line.
Among this medical team, there is Feng Gang, a patriarch who is not only responsible for the national mission, but also responsible for the life and death of all the team members; there is also a group of young people who are on the mission of aiding Africa for the first time, and they are lost and embarrassed by the extreme weather as soon as they arrive.
After that, their backstory is slowly revealed. For example, Fan Yilin's wife is also a medical worker, who gave her precious life in the fight against SARS. He Dong, on the other hand, has been a family of three generations to aid Africa, and has raised the red flag that his grandfather touched in the past on the african land again.
The addition of historical dimensions affects the collective memory of the Chinese people, and also makes the story more real, and the characters and emotions more credible.
Not only that, the story of Zheng Shupeng and Qasm mentioned above is not made up out of thin air, but taken from the story of Cao Guang, chief physician of the General Surgery Department of Beijing Anzhen Hospital, and his friends. Dr. Cao Guang attended the media sharing session of the show and burst into tears several times while watching the film.
It is reported that the "Ebola Front" lasted 3 years of preparation, the main creators went deep into West Africa, Sierra Leone and other countries to collect on-the-spot style, interviewed nearly 100 historical parties such as medical teams and various relevant experts and scholars, and consulted nearly 10 million words of reference materials. There is also professional guidance in the setting and shooting stages, and strive for rigor.
The scenes and objects in the play, the production team strives to restore the truth
Overall, the creators of "Ebola Frontline" follow genre thinking on the one hand and weave a moving story. On the other hand, it integrates the deep history between China and Africa, the professional feelings of angels in white, the horror of the virus and the science of protection. In the end, it not only has a strong artistic appeal, but also achieves the social benefits that the main theme of the work should have.
Pioneering the main theme of the value of the highland
It is worth mentioning that "Ebola Frontline" is one of the few works controlled by Internet companies in a series of main theme dramas this year. It can be said that the drama is the concentrated embodiment of Tencent Video's sense of social responsibility and active investment in the main theme.
Since October 2020, Tencent Video has broadcast more than 50 main theme works, with a total of more than 18.5 billion views. Among them, there are satellite TV dramas such as "Dajiang Dahe 2", "Mountains and Seas", and "Meritorious Achievements", as well as new tribute dramas such as "On the Field of Hope" and "Set Sail: When the Wind Rises" independently created by the platform and starring a new generation of actors.
According to Tencent Video's data insight into broadcast episodes, in the era of new media, the main theme of the episodes presents two distinct characteristics. First, the user is younger. Today's main theme works are updated, incorporating many humorous and grounded fun factors, thus attracting more post-90s and post-00s viewing groups.
The second is strong user interactivity. Young users with a more network sense will take the initiative to amway's favorite works through bullet screens, social topics, etc., and in the process, they also amplify the content value and market value of the works themselves.
"Therefore, whether it is based on platform responsibility, or from the perspective of industry trends and user insights, the main theme series is the mainstream of the absolute mainstream in the content market, and it is also a new value highland." At the 2022 Tencent Online Video V Vision Conference held in November, Han Zhijie, vice president of Tencent Online Video, said that in the future, Tencent Video will continue to adhere to the creation of high-quality main theme content as the center, work closely with more guidance units and partners, and diversify and present more positive energy works with home and country feelings and highlighting the style of the times with more delicate and innovative expressions.
On the same day, Tencent Video also announced a number of new key projects, continuing to enrich the platform's head boutique main theme drama matrix. These include "The Compound of the County Party Committee", produced by noonday sunshine and directed by Kong Sheng; "Eighty-Eight International Brigade", created by Gao Mantang's team and showing the great righteousness of the anti-coalition fighters; "The Banner of the Fathers", written by Zhao Dongling and telling the development of domestic forestry in the past two decades; "Life and Death Guardian", directed by the Central Political and Legal Commission; and "Public Prosecution Elite", which cooperates with the Supreme People's Procuratorate to show a new image of the people's procurators in the new era.
In addition, there are "Special Battle Glory", "Good Mountains, Good Water, Good Flowers", "Flowers", "Under the Lion Mountain", "Girls' School in the Mountains", "Infinity" and other masterpieces of the times covering many themes such as military service, rural revitalization, and serious literature, telling the story of today's China from different angles.
The popularity of "Ebola Frontline" also proves that the innovation of the main theme based on the true story and integrated into the international vision can become a key direction for the upgrading of national dramas. Under the competitive investment of the upstream, we sincerely believe that this is only the beginning of exploration, and there will be more refreshing main theme dramas in the future.