Source: "The Beginning"
30 seconds fast reading
| 1 | The "Infinite Stream" episode "Beginning" is on fire! In the first episode alone, the heroine "died" 6 times. |
| 2 | According to incomplete statistics, from the beginning of the pre-warm-up to the present, "The Beginning" has mentioned more than 300 Weibo hot searches, and the number of broadcasts has soared to 1 billion. |
| 3 | The "2021 Web Drama Development Report" shows that in 2020 and 2021, a total of 268 online dramas and 266 online dramas were launched in China, and the popularity of "sweet pet" and "costume" dramas was quite high, and the "out of the circle" phenomenon of "Hidden Corners" was not reproduced. |
The first "explosion" of the 2022 episode, "Beginning" is on fire. Let netizens "dream of the bus" every day.
In the play, it is a brand new bus with an environmental logo, the body is painted in colorful colors, and elementary school students want the same toy when they see it.
The sun is shining outside the window, the car is calm and peaceful, looking around, the fitness man listens to songs, the man in the flower shirt brushes short videos, and everyone is immersed in their own world. But ten minutes later, with a burst of Cannon's bell, it will usher in a huge explosion. With this explosion, time begins to "cycle", the ugliness and flash of human nature are revealed one by one, and death lingers like a shadow: in the first episode alone, the heroine "dies" 6 times.
Despite this, there are still many netizens on social platforms imagining: "If I am on the bus." "Last night, "The Beginning" was even more three episodes, and these netizens could not help but be addicted.
Don't ask, ask is "the beginning" "breaking the circle".
As the first domestic "unlimited stream" theme film and television drama, "Beginning" was launched for a few days, which detonated major social platforms and became a new "social currency" in the circle of friends.
According to the film and television data platform Lighthouse, as of press time, the broadcast market share of "Beginning", which was only 10 days online, rose to the first place with 14.45%; on Douban, "Beginning" has 123,000 people "watching" and 102,000 people "watching", and the rating finally fell at 8.2 points; Tencent Video shows that in the three days of January 18, 19 and 20, the playback volume of "Beginning" has risen from "breaking 300 million" to "breaking 700 million".
Source: Lighthouse
Just at the beginning of 2022, how did "The Beginning" instantly catch fire?
01 Rub on "Infinite Stream"
"Compared to most other dramas, the theme of this drama is novel." Programmer Jin Zheng (pseudonym) commented that he was initially attracted by the episode posters on social platforms, but did not expect to "chase 8 episodes in one breath". Subsequently, he began to spontaneously "Amway" to his friends, and even set up a small group to "urge" friends to see.
In terms of theme, "The Beginning" has been described as the first "infinite stream" drama in China, but if it is carefully examined, this series may not be able to be called "infinite stream" in the orthodox sense.
The term "infinite stream" originated from the 2007 novel "Infinite Horror" serialized by online author zhtty, in which the protagonist constantly travels through the system to complete tasks in various other worlds, just like "brushing copies" in the game. "Beginning" is only part of the setting of the concept of "infinite flow", which is more like the "time loop" mode in foreign movies such as "Groundhog Day", "Horror Cruise", "Edge of Tomorrow" and so on.
However, this does not dilute the scarcity of such genres, even if it is a "time loop", which is very rare in domestic dramas. A person in the film and television industry analyzed to the "IT Times" reporter that the "time loop" genre itself has a variety of elements such as suspense, plot, emotion, etc., which can maintain a suspenseful atmosphere while unfolding the plot, the plot rhythm is tense, the discussion is strong, and it is easier to reach different circles of audiences through social sharing.
The above people also believe that "Beginning" is more like actively using the gimmick of "infinite stream" to promote, and then rely on the quality of the episode to circle fans.
In fact, in addition to the good reputation, "The Beginning" has indeed made sufficient efforts in marketing. According to lighthouse data, the current public opinion heat of the 578683 surpassed the second place "Mirror Twin Cities" by more than double.
According to the "first week of success" released by the official blog, from the warm-up before the start of the broadcast to the present, the "Beginning" related topics reached 303, the Top 1 topic has 4; January 18, 19 for the two consecutive days of the series update, there are #Lu Di finally went to save the world ## Li Shiqing collapsed the house ## Beginning Update # and other 12 topics entered the hot search list.
02 Calling for "Breaking the Circle"
In the second half of 2021, a "Squid Game" became popular all over the Internet and swept the world, becoming a phenomenon-level drama, making the drama side earn a lot of money, but also allowing many people to see the power of online dramas.
According to the "2021 Web Drama Development Report" released by CMNC, a total of 268 online dramas and 266 online dramas were launched in China in 2020 and 2021, and the overall number of filings developed steadily; from the perspective of themes, the popularity of "sweet pet" and "costume" dramas is quite high, and suspense dramas are temporarily lagging behind, failing to reproduce the "out of the circle" phenomenon like "Hidden Corners" in 2020.
The Hidden Corner
Domestic web dramas hope to "break the circle", but "lack of quality content" is still a key problem. On Douban, a short comment of more than 9,000 likes said the focus of many film and television industry practitioners: "It has reached a level that can be exported." ”
On the other hand, the long video platform, the shelter of online dramas, is facing a severe test, and the three mainstream long video platforms of "Aiyouteng" are still not getting rid of losses. After the "advanced on-demand" model was stopped by supervision, iQiyi was the first to show its decline, exposing large-scale layoffs at the end of last year. According to public statistics, the domestic "Aiyouteng" three parent video head platform has burned out more than 100 billion yuan in ten years, and has not seen any hope of profitability so far.
On the other hand, Netflix, which launched "Squid Games", is also a long video platform, but it seems to be another species. In the final analysis, it still lies in the reputation and quality of the platform dramas.
"Compared with the drama side, the long video platform will not have less expectations for the popularity of the work." An investor who pays attention to the film and television field summed up to the IT Times reporter: "'Breaking the circle' is very important to the producers, distributors and producers behind the works in today's environment. ”
03 Web Drama "Catfish"
When "breaking the circle" becomes the goal, it was initially regarded as a niche, low-cost web drama, and the impression in people's minds is quietly changing.
"'Beginnings' is very similar to the explosion of 'Squid Games', 'Infinite Stream' and 'Battle Royale' are also niche themes, but they attract so many viewers." Video director Liu Bao (pseudonym) said that in his eyes, "network drama" is not a mainstream drama, but it is in line with the characteristics of the younger generation, the length is not long, the audience group is more clear and the scope is small, although it is not easy to "break the circle", but it also makes the drama party invest small and the income is more stable. For example, "Mao Deception", which is known as "the pioneering work of Chinese web dramas", was filmed in 2010 and has a Douban score of 8.6 points so far, and the shooting team at that time was composed of several college students.
"Squid Game" is produced by Netflix, directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, the director of "The Melting Pot", and joined by many well-known actors such as Lee Jeong-jae and Park Hae-so; "Beginning" is produced by the noonday sun that launched "The Hidden Corner" and "The Age of Awakening", starring Baek Kyung-ting and Cho Jin-mai.
The similar "circle-breaking" process and strong background of the two dramas make Liu Bao more and more aware that the web drama may be changing, and he can't tell whether it is good or bad. Jin Zheng, who frankly said that he "has no HABIT of watching TV", believes that this is a good trend, "more good content in China will attract and cultivate more audiences."
According to relevant data released by the State Administration of Radio and Television, the number of TV dramas filed nationwide hit a new low in 2021, with 447 filings from January to October last year, nearly halving the 810 in 2019 before the epidemic. However, on the other hand, the number of online drama filings has increased year after year, and the number of online drama filings in 2021 exceeds 30% of traditional TV dramas, and is increasingly becoming the "main force".
Will "The Beginning" in 2022 be the "beginning" of the evolution of web dramas?
Author/IT Times reporter Cui Pengzhi
Editor/Wang Xin Kicked Sister
Typography/Ji Jiaying
Photo/ "The Beginning" Lighthouse "The Hidden Corner" The noonday sun
Source/IT Times public account vittimes