The drama market in 2022 follows the call of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency", and a number of high-quality works with excellent reputation and high popularity have appeared. Behind the recognition of traditional themes and avant-garde themes by the audience, the director's operation and control are indispensable, and what shackles have they encountered in the process of continuous exploration and upgrading of the series? This article will sort out the advantages and market problems faced by new and old directors in the directing process through an inventory of the popular TOP20 works in 2022.
List of popular TOP20 drama directors: senior directors play steadily, and emerging directors win with creativity
As shown in the figure below, a total of 12 works in the 2022 TOP20 are directed by senior directors, from ancient costume to modern, from romance to criminal investigation, from realism to urban life, from big male / female protagonists to group portraits, all dabbling, veteran directors play steadily, and the rating, popularity, and discussion of the drama are very eye-catching.
From the perspective of subject matter, the realism chapter includes the opening drama "The World" directed by director Li Lu, which set a new high in CCTV's ratings in 8 years, and previously directed works such as "In the Name of the People"; Q4 hit drama "Wind Blows Half Summer" has a Douban score of 8.1, and director Fu Dongyu is the chief director of "Ideals Shine on China" by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. In addition, the popularity of "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" Youku Station exceeded 10,000, and director Zheng Xiaolong's previous works include "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and so on; After the launch of "County Party Committee Compound", the ratings of full-time TV dramas were TOP1, and director Kong Sheng directed "Langya List" and so on; Ding Hei's "Police Honor" has a Douban score of 8.5, presenting a different criminal investigation drama from the past with pyrotechnics. The above works have gained a good reputation, and the realistic theme can be said to be firmly grasped by veteran directors.
In terms of urban life theme, the popularity of "Basic Law of Genius" iQiyi Station exceeded 9,000, and the Douban score was 7.3, the play was directed by Shen Yan, and his previous works included "My First Half of Life" and "Golden Years"; Teng Huatao's "Home of the Heart" has a popularity of 9000+ in iQiyi Station. Criminal investigation suspense themes include "Special Combat Glory" directed by Xu Jizhou, with a Douban score of 7.1; "The Gate of Rebirth" has exceeded 10,000 popularity on Youku Station, directed by Yang Dong, and his previous works include "Rebirth" and so on.
In terms of costume romance theme, the popularity of "Menghualu" directed by Yang Yang on Tencent Video Station exceeded 33,000, and the number of Douban scores was 800,000, leading the annual list of the V list with a playback index of 95.61, and previous works include "Will Night" and "Heart Technique"; Director Fei Zhenxiang, who has been highly praised for directing the Ghost Blowing Lantern series, has a Douban score of 7.7 and a score of 500,000 people this time directing "Star Han Splendid, Moon Born in the Sea"; Guo Hu's "Agarwood Like Crumbs, Agarwood Heavy Hua" has exceeded 10,000 popularity on Youku, and his previous works include "Zhou Shengru".
Compared with the steady and steady play of senior directors, emerging directors are more inclined to innovate, mainly focusing on the theme of constant victory in costume romance and criminal investigation suspense, to curry favor and niche win, the work has become a dark horse and a hit, and the director has also made a name for himself in the drama market.
"Canglan Tips" has a Douban score of 7.9, 600,000 scorers, and the popularity of iQiyi Station has exceeded 10,000, directed by Yi Zheng, whose previous works include "Da Song Youth History"; Director Zhu Ruibin's "Acquaintance with Jun Chu, Just Like the Return of the Old" Youku station has a popularity value of more than 10,000, and he has directed works such as "Fragrant Honey Sinks Like Frost"; "Qing Qing Daily" directed by Zhao Qichen is widely favored by the audience with its idyllic life flow, and the popularity value of the drama iQiyi Station has exceeded 10,000, with a Douban score of 7.1.
Director Xing Jianjun's "Crime Hunting Guide" has a Douban score of 7.5, and the shaping of the niche profession of portraitist has attracted the audience's attention, Xing Jianjun's previous works include "Out of Control" and so on; "Punishment Crime" iQiyi Station has exceeded 10,000 popularity, directed by Tian Yi and Yi Yong, Tian Yi's previous works include "Ace Force" and other works; "The Beginning" is co-directed by Sun Molong, Liu Hongyuan and Lao Suan, with a Douban score of 7.9 and 800,000 scorers, opening a precedent for time flow cycle dramas.
Established directors shift their values and attract new markets
Through the above inventory, we can see that the stable play of senior directors in 2022 has raised their popularity to a higher level, and with the blessing of popularity and word of mouth, do they also have difficulties?
Years of directing career have allowed him to accumulate a variety of resources, easy to collect the top cast, no matter what the theme can ensure the basic audience plate. For example, "The World" directed by Li Lu gathers three generations of powerful actors of "old, middle and young", and Kong Sheng's "County Party Committee Compound" has the middle generation such as Hu Ge and Wu Yue, as well as the new generation of actors such as Zhang Xincheng. Under the top matching setting, it is easier to bless the actor's own popularity and audience popularity, Yin Tao and Lei Jiayin won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actor and Actor respectively, and Zhao Liying consolidated her acting position with the two roles of He Xingfu and Xu Banxia.
In addition, veteran directors mostly play in the field of themes they are good at, aesthetics online, solid stories, combined with the taste of the current audience, can generally achieve good broadcast results. Director Guo Hu has previously directed costume romance works such as "Zhou Shengru" and "Chen Xiyuan", and is more meticulous in the quality control of "Agarwood Like Crumbs".
The advantages of senior directors are obvious, but the market problems they need to face cannot be ignored. How to adapt to the current audience aesthetics is not a small test for them, the aesthetics and viewing tastes of young audiences change rapidly, and the work may be criticized for the creation of characters and plots. In "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes", He Xingfu has been working hard and learning, divorced because of different values with her husband, but remarried in the finale, and the female image wrapped in traditional values is not suitable for the mainstream trend of "the rise of women's independent consciousness", which has been criticized by the audience.
Since the beginning of this year, group portrait works that are biased towards reality and urban have emerged one after another, but how to clearly present complex characters and their motivations for doing things is not simple. A slight slack turns back into a dilemma of "chaotic personalities, unreasonable logic, conflict for the sake of conflict", resulting in the story losing meaning. According to the evaluation of netizens, many characters in "Home of the Heart" make people "on fire", tired of spinning in the trap of mother-in-law and mother, watching "blocking the heart", word of mouth will naturally be affected.
Emerging directors dare to try and fight through with innovation
Compared with established directors, the opportunity for young directors lies in their daring to innovate and try niche themes that are rare in the market, and may face a lot of pressure during the filming process, but once successful, it will set off a new wave of shooting in the market. "The Beginning", shot by directors such as Lao Suan, skillfully combines time loops, suspenseful detectives and ordinary life, creates narrative differences in time folding, and achieves genre innovation in the film and television ecology in recent years.
In addition to the novelty of the avant-garde theme, emerging directors choose to break the mold in the works of existing models to also present novelty. "Qing Qing Daily" directed by Zhao Qichen adds pastoral elements to the costume romance, focusing on "small but beautiful" light comedy to win over young audiences, contrary to the previous model of house fighting dramas, paying attention to the creation of daily details, full of life interest without losing modern expression, becoming iQiyi's fastest drama to break 10,000.
"Punishment" directed by Tian Yi and Yi Yong portrays the villain very brilliantly, the characters are full of flesh and blood, full of charm, and many netizens expressed reluctance when Zhao Pengchao went offline. Full of dramatic tension is enough to catch people's attention, jump out of the circle of good and evil confrontation, and focus on the plot of the villain's internal contradictions is also very rare in the previous criminal investigation market, winning with freshness.
There are two main market problems faced by emerging directors, the first is the dilemma of how young directors open up their popularity under the law of two eight. The creation of niche and innovative themes will face pressure at the beginning, and rare genres cannot guarantee viewership and broadcasting, resulting in investment problems. If there is no remarkable content after broadcasting, it may not be recognized by mainstream audiences.
On the other hand, young directors have insufficient qualifications and contacts, and under the premise of lacking proof of previous high-quality works, the cast that can be invited is limited, resulting in the inability to rely on actors to attract too much attention for their works during the promotion period, and can only rely on refined details and excellent content to win the audience.
Veteran directors and emerging directors have handed over an excellent report card in 2022, and under the eagerness of the market and the audience, I believe that they will learn from each other's strengths, break through the predicament on the premise of continuing their own advantages, and continue to create more high-quality works to feed the public.