Author: Liu Yuhan
After "Beginning", the web drama "A Flash and a Shining Star" has opened a "loop". These two "infinite stream" theme dramas of time and space reincarnation have successively become "dark horse" works, which proves the great potential of this genre. The theme of "infinite flow" can win, not only relying on the novel structural shell, but also the suspenseful setting, humanistic depth and emotional immersion to fill it, and the rich core is the key to making the work stand up.
Hardcore vs emotional direction, creative space is vast
"Beginning" took the lead in detonating the "infinite stream" theme at the beginning of this year, the drama is about game designer Xiao Heyun and college student Li Shiqing who came back from the dead after encountering a bus explosion, they continue to experience the time loop, only to find the truth to save the whole car passengers, they can get out of the cycle. The subsequent broadcast of "One Twinkle and One Shining Star" also adopts the structure of time and space loop, which can also be regarded as an "infinite stream" theme. This drama tells the story of Lin Beixing, a thirty-year-old veteran girl who was abandoned by her boyfriend when she was about to get married, and when she accidentally deleted the text messages of her old mobile phone, she actually traveled back to her high school days and re-acquainted with her old classmate Zhang Wansen, and since then the two have embarked on a story of redemption and growth.
The structure of the time and space loop puts a cloak of fantasy and suspense for the series. Who is the maker of the bus bombing in "The Beginning"? How did Xiao Heyun and Li Shiqing save all the passengers? The audience is dragged by this suspenseful main line to chase the drama. In "A Twinkle and a Shining Star", why did the male protagonist Zhang Wansen jump off the tower? Can Lin Beixing successfully save Zhang Wansen? The audience is curious to find the mystery of the answer.
Although the themes are the same, the textures of the two series "Beginning" and "One Shining Star" are very different. "Beginning" belongs to the hardcore faction, and the protagonist has experienced 25 time and space loops in the play, not only the plot is brain-opening, but also the logical structure is more rigorous. "A Twinkle and a Shining Star" focuses not on the tightly sewn cyclical logical structure, but more on the emotional direction and leading the female audience into the pit. "Twinkle a Shining Star" is a way of parallel time and space, through time and time again, weaving a pure love story about a crush. When watching "The Beginning", everyone is looking forward to escaping the loop quickly, and watching "A Twinkle and a Shining Star", everyone is trapped in the loop and does not want to come out. Every text message that can make Lin Beixing return to the past is a regret moment left by Zhang Wansen: dancing the rabbit dance together, taking the bus together, going to Beijing to go to university together, taking the college entrance examination together, taking graduation photos together, watching fireworks together, riding a bicycle together, growing into an excellent adult together... "A Flash of a Shining Star" slowly peels off all the careful thoughts in the crush layer by layer, hitting the softness and beauty in the audience's heart - crush is to hold up an umbrella behind the back on a rainy day, and it is to brave the rain to the breakfast shop to buy each other's favorite bean bags It is to carefully prepare a learning plan for the other party, and it is also to deliberately play a careful machine to seek attention occasionally.
Whether it is hardcore, realism or emotional orientation, under the theme framework of "infinite flow", "Beginning" and "A Twinkle and a Shining Star" have found their own unique footholds, which provides a broader space for "infinite flow".
The subject matter is niche and may be popular in the future
Under the time loop and limited scenes, the "infinite flow" theme also puts forward higher requirements for the expressiveness of actors. Most of the scenes in "Beginnings" take place on the bus, and how to show emotional changes and progression in a cycle after cycle, rather than simply copying and pasting, is no small test. As the main actors, Bai Jingting and Zhao Jinmai handed over a satisfactory answer sheet to the audience. "A Twinkle of a Shining Star" is a sweet and sadistic campus drama, this kind of drama seems to be simple to operate, but it is not easy to be brilliant. The male and female protagonists Qu Chuxiao and Zhang Jianning are both powerful factions in the new generation of actors, and their excellent interpretations give the characters a more real soul, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the drama and express great staying power.
"Beginning" and "A Twinkle of a Shining Star" are both blockbuster "dark horse" dramas that start in 2022. "Beginning" was on more than 300 hot searches in one week, and was jokingly called "welded to death on the hot search" by netizens. And "A Twinkle and a Shining Star" was quietly launched without warm-up, no publicity, and no traffic stars, and after half a month, the word of mouth gradually fermented under the audience's word of mouth, and now it has become a regular visitor on the hot search list, and many viewers call it "crush ceiling". At present, "Beginning" and "One Flash and One Shining Star" have a score of 7 on Douban, respectively. 9 points and 7. 0 points, all belong to the high-scoring high-quality dramas in domestic dramas.
Two "infinite stream" dramas have become popular, making many people predict that 2022 will be the explosive year of "infinite stream". In the field of film, the theme of "infinite flow" is no longer a new topic, "Horror Cruise", "Source Code", "Groundhog Day", "Edge of Tomorrow" and so on are classic time and space cycle works. In the field of film and television dramas, the "infinite stream" theme is still very rare, before that, only "Want to See You" and the 2020 suspense drama "In the End" involved in the topic of time and space loop. Industry insiders said that there is almost no project reserve of "unlimited flow" themes in the market, and it still belongs to niche themes. However, the "infinite stream" series has the characteristics of short and concise, low cost, even if there is no traffic star, it can rely on the theme dividend to let the audience into the pit, and it is likely to become popular in the future. (Liu Yuhan)
Source: Qilu Evening News