Author: Horn Tip
There is no doubt that at the beginning of this year's series, the king of popularity and word-of-mouth belongs to "The Beginning". This "infinite stream" suspense drama, which has only been online for more than two weeks on Tencent Video, is running to "the first hit of the new year":
Relevant data show that as of tonight's end, the number of broadcasts of "Beginning" on the whole network has exceeded 1.2 billion, with more than 3.7 billion Weibo topics, and the spread trend of "hot search every day (at least more than ten Weibo topics a day)" since it was broadcast, which is enough to glimpse the explosive appearance of this drama. At present, the drama has been simultaneously released to 11 overseas countries and regions, and has received popularity and praise on YouTube, iTalk, VIKI and other platforms.
In China, Douban more than 280,000 Chinese people scored a high score of 8.2, and the well-known film and television UP master of Station B, No-Barty, praised it with ""The Beginning" is the kind of domestic suspense drama that can be taken, has a certain representativeness, and will not be humiliated".
However, at present, the bad end of this drama is also on the top of the hot search. The topic has now been read more than 81.2 million times and discussed by 33,000 people. Admittedly, "The Beginning" has certain flaws. But its greatest significance to the film and television industry may lie in the courage of the "infinite stream" theme, which is the first "infinite stream" theme in the domestic film and television drama market, and also lays the foundation for all subsequent works.
From another dimension, this is still a suspense theme creation. A little drama reading found that this year is still a big year for suspense dramas. According to some data, the number of suspense dramas to be broadcast this year reached 47 (only according to the current list of films on various platforms), accounting for 12.7% of the total number of episodes.
From the perspective of theme, this year's suspense theater is undoubtedly more innovative, in addition to the original reasoning and social reasoning loved by the audience in the past, the main "suspense +" works are becoming a new creative outlet; the actor dimension, Zhang Songwen, Deng Jiajia, Wang Jingchun and other suspense drama "hot players", are becoming the object of platform competition, at the same time, it also gives some young actors such as Li Yifeng and Ou Hao the opportunity to seek "transformation".
A small surprise is that in the past, the production of suspense themes relied too much on "head companies", such as Wuyuan Culture, Wannian Pictures, etc., but this year, the addition of some established companies such as Lemon Meng, Yaoke, Hualu Baina, etc., also made the suspense drama track more interesting.
In 2022, the suspense drama track is still the mainstream of the market. "The Beginning" has made a "good start" at present, but it remains to be seen whether good luck can continue to be passed on.
The first "explosion" of the beginning of the year, what enlightenment has "Beginning" brought to the industry?
The audience has a premonition that "Beginning" can "fire". After all, in front of the noonday sun of the "National Drama Door Face", the original IP fever, and some yan fans of Bai Jingting and Zhao Jinmai, the production team and theme of "Beginning" are the head of the market, and there are also many novel fans. This makes "The Beginning" "unaired first red".
But when "The Beginning" was released for the first six episodes, the market was still shocked by the quality and word-of-mouth fermentation it created. It is undeniable that "The Beginning" has certain flaws, and in the face of many mature "infinite stream" works abroad, whether "The Beginning" can be regarded as an infinite stream in a broad sense has caused great controversy in the market.
What further magnifies this controversy is the "simple sense" of the noonday sun shooting suspense drama technique, Liu Tao's "foolish" acting skills, and Huang Jue's "I am the murderer" eye scene from the appearance.
Although there are many shortcomings, overall, "Beginning" is still an infinite flow theme of medium and upper quality. The core reason why it initially attracted the attention of the market was indeed inseparable from the theme setting of "infinite flow". Taking the bus explosion incident as the starting point, it tells the story of two young people, Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun, who "accidentally" entered the cycle and did their best to change the bus explosion. "The Beginning" seems simple, but it is more complicated.
For example, in the first half of the play, the audience will follow the perspective of Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun, "looping" over and over again, and its "bring-in" storytelling techniques also immerse the audience in the plot - why does the bus explode? Who is the murderer? Is "Cannon (Ringtone)" a bomb ringtone? What can "I" do when the "next" loop occurs? ...... This suspected "script killing" style of creation makes the audience addicted.
At the same time, it also paves the way for the suspense drama market, that is, a good suspense theme must have excellent logical reasoning and fascinating plot, otherwise the audience will abandon the drama. "Beginning" can be said to have reached the level of suspense drama creation in this dimension.
However, it is clear that if a work only touches the "passing line", it is difficult to cause the current market heated discussion. Another great feature of "The Beginning" lies in the "humanistic care" held by the play. In other words, this is still a suspenseful subject about "human nature".
On the bus, the old farmer who carries watermelons for thousands of miles to find his son, Lao Jiao, who goes out to work in order to raise tuition for his daughter, the "little Internet celebrity" who has been holding his mobile phone and keeps broadcasting live, and the two-dimensional teenager who names himself as "Lu Cat's Apostle, Asthma Conqueror, The Chosen Man of Light, Flute", all have their own stories and unknown sides. Including why "murderer" Tao Yinghong insisted on "blowing up the car", the series also gave a very reasonable and sympathetic statement.
Some netizens left a message on Weibo: "I am more worried about these poor people who have their own pain but can only "lose their voices" than the protagonists who are forced to enter the 'cycle' indefinitely. "The "loop" may have a real end, but how can those who have aphasia return to a peaceful life after the "loop" is over... This may be the suspense left by "The Beginning" to the public, at the same time, it also gives a new proposition for the creation of the series: what is the criterion for judging good people and bad people?
Are Tao Yinghong and Wang Xingde bad people? If it is their attachment to the "death of their daughter", what is wrong? Should the old Jiao, who sees the righteous and courageous in the loop, be praised? If he could, his rescue was only to make his daughter use sanitary napkins and have a motive for tuition, how to judge... Including Xiao Heyun's initial careful thinking of "saving himself and saving others", how should he define it?
Depicting human nature but not making a conclusion is the value output of "Beginning" to the whole play, and at the same time, it also allows the market to see the realistic value of film and television works. It is no exaggeration to say that "The Beginning" has a certain enlightening significance for the film and television drama industry, and this inspiration lies in its theme innovation and its in-depth portrayal of human nature. This is an important reason why "Beginning" can become popular in the market and become the first explosion of the year, and it also makes a good start for the next suspense theme.
"Suspense +" and "new" companies have become the focus of attention, when will the next "Beginning" appear?
This year is the "big year" of the suspense drama market, and it is also quite innovative. As mentioned above, there are currently 45 suspense works to be broadcast, which is a year of diversification and gradual segmentation from the perspective of themes and casts.
First of all, from the perspective of the theme, the "Beginning" that ends tonight can be said to be a good foundation for the next "infinite flow" theme. At present, in addition to "Beginning", the well-known online article "Kaleidoscope of Death", "The Earth Above the Line" and "Global College Entrance Examination" bought by Huace Film and Television and Penguin Film and Television are listed in the "Infinite Stream" theme field, and they can bring the audience what new ways to play in the creative dimension, which makes the market look forward to it.
Suspense dramas from the perspective of women and families still occupy the high ground this year. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 10 works in these two categories in the market, and almost one is owned by Aiyou Tengmang. Among them, "Monsoon Theater" will be broadcast on the 27th of this month", "Jiang Zhao Dawn", "Mist Theater" the main "Double Eclipse" is highly anticipated, one has the film queen Ma Sichun, the other is the wedding debut of Xiaohua Tong Liya, the theme of these two works is the self-help and counterattack of women after being betrayed by their husbands. If done well, it may become the next "Deadly Woman", if the response is mediocre, it may be comparable to "White Moonlight" broadcast by Youku before.
It should be particularly mentioned that in these suspense dramas that focus on the family perspective, there is such a type of work that deserves attention, that is, the "Gift" and "Disappearing Child" created by the "Monsoon Theater", as well as the "Daughter Who Came Back" of the "Mist Theater", Youku's "Coward" (adapted from Zheng Zhi's novel "Raw Swallow"), creating a suspense theme from the perspective of children, and reflecting a series of realistic problems, in 2020, the "Hidden Corner" of "Bursting Fire" will do it to the extreme, whether it can give birth to another work of the same type, Quite intriguing.
Among the genres, there is such a category of works that have become the focus of this year's suspense drama field. One is the IP suspense drama such as "Three-Body Problem", and the creative trend of "science fiction + suspense" is rare in the film and television drama market; the other is the Internet suspense crime film that aims the contradiction at online violence, such as "Silent Testimony", which has entered the preparatory stage, and "Are You Safe" that the famous director Cao Dun is serving as a producer and is preparing.
These two types of suspense themes will become the focus of this year's drama market, one is influenced by the "infinite flow" theme "Beginning", and the other is inseparable from the current social context. That is, after the Internet media has become an indispensable part of people's lives, "network violence" and "cybercrime" have become more and more common, and it is really expected to present such works on the small screen.
From the perspective of actors, this batch of suspense dramas to be broadcast, in addition to the continuous target of "suspense drama familiar faces", Luo Jin, Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Song Yang and some other veteran actors who have not appeared in the field of suspense dramas are also worth looking forward to; in addition, as mentioned above, some idol actors are also looking for suspense dramas "transformation", such as Li Yifeng's "Dark Nightcrawler", Wang Yibo's "Ice Rain and Fire" that has been filmed for a long time but has not been broadcast for a long time. The diversification of the cast is a major attraction in the suspense drama market.
However, all the works have long been told to the public that the suspense drama market has never been only "actor theory", and even Deng Jiajia, who has a good performance in many suspense themes before, is not a "mainstream actor" in the market. The public's judgment standard for suspense dramas "recognizing content and not recognizing the lineup" has always been higher than that of other genres.
From the perspective of the production company, the Five-Yuan Culture and The Ten Thousand Years Pictures, including the Linghe Culture that created the "Royal Gift of Little Servants", seem to have taken a back seat. At present, in the list of suspense films revealed, these companies do not appear, but Lemon Meng Pictures, Huace, Yaoke and Hualu Baina, which have been committed to the creation of traditional film and television dramas, have joined the lineup. It is worth mentioning that Lemon Meng Pictures entered the suspense market for the first time, and it joined hands with iQiyi to create short dramas, which is not a small innovation for a company that has become popular in the market with realistic themes.
Overall, this year's suspense drama market has a lot to watch. Under the "good start" laid by the noonday sun "Beginning", those suspense fans who were not in good shape due to the "mist theater" last year are extremely likely to return to the theater this year. However, just like the current market trend, even if the theme is new and the cast is particularly strong, the "content" is not passed, and it is still difficult to pry the public's heart.
This is the "welfare" that suspense dramas bring to the market, and at the same time, it is also a time bomb.