Text | Xiaoyu
IP adaptations still occupy half of the current drama market.
"The Three-Body Problem", which opens the door to Chinese science fiction films, is adapted from the world-class science fiction IP written by Liu Cixin, and "The Silk Case of the Great Ming under the Microscope", which writes about small characters and underlying cases in the Ming Dynasty, is adapted from a historical suspense novel written by Ma Boyong. The urban emotional drama "I Heard You Like Me", the fairy ancient puppet drama "Heavy Purple", "Starfall into Sugar" and the suspense detective drama "Light Abyss" all have well-known web novel IPs as the base.
When evaluating these plays, casting is an unavoidable topic. Although the success of a drama depends on the complementarity of the script, director, costume, etc., actors are only one of the factors. However, as the most direct communication carrier in front of the stage, the performance of the actors sometimes does have a significant impact on the broadcast effect of the play.
Moreover, compared with original dramas, IP adaptations have a certain fan base of the original work, and casting is more likely to cause huge discussions. Recognition of casting often has a pre-emptive effect, which can effectively improve audience expectations and tolerance. And not being recognized will more or less attract some applause and affect the direction of public opinion in the early stage.
Therefore, whether considering the quality of the final play or caring about the external public opinion, the casting of IP adaptations needs to be careful and carefully balance the opinions of all parties, which is a very challenging work.
01
Why is IP adaptation casting always unsatisfactory?
So far, film and television casting has formed a relatively complete industrial chain. The casting studio plays a bridging role, mainly responsible for the basic work of delivering actors to platforms, production companies and crews.
IP adaptations are one of the most common types of projects that casting studios are exposed to, and while the IP base is more controversial, it will also provide some convenience for casting work. Liu Kaixuan, the head of a casting studio, told Xingfan that the casting work of IP adaptations is quite different from the original drama in terms of specific operations.
"The casting direction given by the IP adaptation will be clearer, because the original IP has provided a lot of reference information and a more detailed description of the character, including the character's appearance, temperament, background, etc. The casting of the original drama will actually be more complicated, because it has no detailed reference information, and the casting director can only repeatedly figure out the script, and finally complete the outline of a character from scratch. ”
When they are casting, they must look at the original work and put the original author's opinion in a more important position. At the same time, book fan ideas, fan creation content, etc. are also information that the team will take the initiative to collect and consider. In fact, this is also an essential work for most casting teams when casting IP adaptations.
Although enough attention is paid to the relevant information of the original IP, the final cast often makes some fans of the original work dissatisfied, what is the reason?
First of all, the opinions within the group of book fans are not necessarily uniform. Liu said, "There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and the so-called elected nominee actor for the same role is usually more than one. "Even if the casting team picks one person from these nominations, there will always be others who think differently.
The novel "Black Lotus Strategy Manual", known as the famous work of Jinjiang Ancient Yan, was successfully signed 3 years ago and plans to prepare for an online drama. According to incomplete statistics, the male protagonists of the play have nominated Liu Yu, Luo Yizhou, Gong Jun, Chen Feiyu, etc., and the female protagonists are Yu Shuxin, Tian Xiwei, Zhao Lusi, Shen Yue and so on. At present, the actors updated on the Douban page of the play are Chen Feiyu and Yu Shuxin, and the voices for and against in the comment area are competing.
Secondly, what the producers of fanfiction content consider when "Lalang matches" is obviously different from serious casting. The text is similar to the second creation of the fandom, as long as a name appears, the audience can be stunned. The video category relies on editing, and producers need to find the right shots to stitch. But for serious casting work, they also have to consider project costs, time, actor salaries, schedules and other issues.
From the perspective of the casting process, after the project is launched, the casting team will determine the character direction and actor needs through the script. Preliminary selection of suitable actors is carried out by actively inviting actors or publishing group news, and then auditions will be organized. After finalizing the final candidates, they will go through the routine procedures of try-on, makeup fixing, and signing contracts. If there is a mismatch in either link, the casting team needs to remeasure.
Finally, IP adaptation always has the situation that "no matter how you choose, the third dimension is not as good as the second dimension, and there will always be people who are not satisfied". But for the casting team, "maybe as long as 80% of the audience is satisfied, this is considered a success." ”
02
The peculiarities of the casting of comic book dramas
In IP adaptation, comic book dramas are a special existence. Compared with text IP, the native concrete information of anime IP seems to have a greater impact on casting.
For a long time, comic dramas have been in a tepid state. Previously, various works such as "Chess Soul", "Take My Brother Away" and "Long Song Xing" were broadcast one after another, and they made small achievements in popularity and word of mouth. Of course, there are always aspects that are not recognized by the audience. But in the future, comic dramas such as "Fox Demon Little Red Lady Moon Red Chapter", "Love and Love" and "Monthly Girl" will also meet with the audience, and the magnitude of these works to be broadcast has effectively boosted the audience's attention and confidence in this track.
Regarding the casting of comic book dramas, Liu Kaixuan said, "In anime IP, for the sake of the characteristics or beauty of the characters, the author will deviate from the structure and common sense of the human body in the process of using techniques, such as nine-headed body, large head and small body. Real casting can't follow that. ”
For example, in "Young Song Xing", the character of General Tuye seems to be three or four times larger than others, and the casting of the drama version does not necessarily have to find such an actor.
The recently concluded "Shōnen Song Xing" is not a manga drama in the traditional sense, but because the anime version of the show performs well, when its live-action version is broadcast, the audience will inevitably compare the actors with the characters of the anime version. In addition, the IP belongs to the martial arts group portrait theme work, with many characters and distinctive characteristics. This makes some supporting characters appear rarely, but the audience still pays more attention. Such as Zhao Yuzhen and Li Hanyi, the poignant love between the two willing but not allowed to stay together is very moving. Coupled with the relatively successful modeling of anime, some audiences have high requirements for their live-action casting, almost to the point that no live-action actor can match.
However, in addition to these special circumstances, as long as there is a place to refer to in the selection of character appearance conditions, temperament and so on, the casting team will still try to fit the original work as much as possible.
Liu Kaixuan once participated in the casting of "Two Doubts of Love", which is adapted from the comic "Two Doubts". The original work tells the story of Emperor Wenzhi, who does not know martial arts, and Empress Wenzhi, a martial general who wields knives and guns, originally looked at each other with disgust and distrust, but after accidentally exchanging bodies, they re-understood each other, solved past misunderstandings, and learned to love and trust.
In the end, the play confirmed Song Yanfei and Zhang Haowei to play the protagonists. Liu Kaixuan explained the reason for recommending the two actors, "It depends on the fit of the actor and the role, Yanfei herself is a big grinning girl, can be heroic, in line with the setting of the heroine Xu Yu." Hao Wei played the prince Li Chenggan in "Qing Yu Nian", a soft and weak look, and the male protagonist Xiao Jinyun has many similarities, and has cooperated before, others get along very well, and the degree of cooperation is very high. ”
Whether it is an IP adaptation or not, Liu Kaixuan will focus on considering the professionalism and dedication of the actors. He believes that "some external things can be changed through the actor's own shaping ability and styling team. "No matter how bad it is, there are always actors of the same type in the industry. Of course, if the appearance does not match the needs at all, they will also consider it carefully.
03
"Elected" considerations
From the perspective of the vast majority of the audience, the fit of appearance and temperament is the primary factor in their consideration of the success of casting.
"East Palace" is recognized as one of the most successful IP adaptations in casting, Chen Xingxu's tough and fierce sense is very compatible with Li Chengyan's power plot script, and Peng Xiaoran's bright and flexible movement also matches the setting of Xiaofeng Prairie Girl.
In fact, if it is an obvious idol drama, appearance is actually what the audience values the most. The broadcast "East Palace", "Canglan Tips", "You Are My Glory", etc., and the upcoming "Sauvignon Blanc", "Ning'an Like a Dream", "Jade Bone Haruka", etc. have attracted enough fans based on the actor's appearance.
Looking closely, among the IP adaptations that have been broadcast, "The Three-Body Problem" is one with high praise for casting. During the preparation, director Yang Lei decided to present the work in a realistic way, so the casting required the actor to have the ability to act in a realistic theme. Obviously, the official casting of the play also values the fit of the actors with the script and characters, as well as their own professionalism and dedication.
When the cast of "The Three-Body Problem" was announced, most of the characters were in line with the imagination of book fans, only Yu Hewei's appearance caused some doubts. After the broadcast, Yu Hewei's performance conquered the audience. In addition to the credit of his acting skills, he actually has Shi Qiang's temperament that seems to be mixed, but is actually very burdensome.
At present, there are a large number of purchased film and television copyright IPs that have not yet been put on the production schedule in the industry. Book fans and lively netizens who have high hopes for film and television have selected many rounds of actors for these popular IPs whose casting is undecided.
Among the elected heroines of "Fox Demon Little Red Lady Bamboo Industry", Liu Shishi is the existence that everyone expects, and the male protagonists are selected from Hu Ge, Huo Jianhua, Chen Xiao to Cheng Yi and Yang Yang. All of them are actors who are highly recognized in ancient costumes and have appeared in ancient puppet masterpieces.
The two protagonists in "Si Mei" have made cameo appearances in the sister story "Canglan Tips". Among them, Si Ming, played by Li Yitong, is widely recognized and is the best choice for the heroine in the eyes of book fans and netizens. At the same time, Li Yitong is also the most requested actress in "Notes on Guanhe", mainly because the role of Lu Wenxi played by her is very similar to the heroine of the book in terms of appearance, personality, temperament and other aspects.
In addition to the idol dramas that attract traffic, the main dramas of raising coffee are also areas of great concern for netizens. The protagonists of the second part of "The Three-Body Problem", Luo Ji and Zhang Beihai, also have many popular recommendations, the former such as Chen Kun and Zhang Yi, and the latter such as Duan Yihong and Zhang Zhen. Although some netizens recommend popular traffic students, powerful middle-generation actors still have an overwhelming advantage in the audience.
It can be found that many "folk casting" considerations are based on the actor's external personality and previous works. The advantage is that you don't have to care about various practical factors such as coffee position, salary, schedule, etc., which further highlights the importance of the actor's professional ability. But there are also concerns that may make it difficult for some actors who have not yet worked to make it possible.
Although the factors to be considered in the official and popular elections are different, the ultimate goal is the same, and both sides hope that the IP adaptation project they value will be a great success. Perhaps the healthiest model at present is for officials to make decisions with a professional, comprehensive perspective that appropriately refers to elected opinions. And book fans, netizens and viewers can also have more patience and trust, after all, "true fragrance" incidents often occur.