Feng Xiaogang started from a TV series.
The first TV series he participated in was "The Story of the Editorial Department", the screenwriter of the play was mainly Wang Shuo, supplemented by Feng Xiaogang and others, they first went to the Friendship Hotel for a planning meeting, starting with the characters, first talking about Li Dongbao, and then saying that there was a girl Ge Ling who was separated from Li Dongbao, the characters were set, and then discussed what to say, one topic per episode, each led a few back to write, and finally Wang Shuo wrote the most used, Feng Xiaogang also had six or seven episodes.
When it came to "Beijinger in New York", Feng Xiaogang began to participate in the filming and became a director, the first director was Zheng Xiaolong.
"A Land of Chicken Feathers" is the work of Feng Xiaogang's independent director.
With these dramas as the foundation, after the Spring Festival in 1997, Han Sanping, the director of Beijing Film Studio, found Feng Xiaogang, an unemployed young man who was 39 years old and had only released one of three films, and asked him to shoot a New Year comedy, and the actor had been found - Ge You, who had just won Cannes actor.
Zhao Baogang and Zheng Xiaolong were originally among the candidates for director, and the reason for finally finalizing Feng Xiaogang was that he knew the lives of civilians best.
After the movie was filmed, the preview effect was not good. At the Beijing Film Academy, students throw things on stage after watching it. But Feng Xiaogang said his confidence in the film was "200%".
Feng Xiaogang took Ge You and other starring actors to run 21 cities in 17 days. At the end, Ge You's hand had already signed and could not be lifted.
The story after that is familiar to everyone. At the box office of Beijing alone, the film recovered all investment costs, breaking the mainland film record at that time and creating the concept of domestic New Year films.
The movie is called "Party A and Party B". Feng Xiaogang's box office era began here.
When he was in full swing, he also made a literary film that was not particularly favorable, called "A Sigh". Played by Zhang Guoli, adapted from the novel "Living a Messy Life". The box office was just over 20 million.
In this movie and later in "Mobile Phone", Feng Xiaogang's keen insight into middle-aged married life can be seen.
Feng Xiaogang's films occupied the domestic film market for more than a decade, until in recent years, when the lights came on again, people in the crowded theaters shed tears for Lei Jiayin's loud recitation of "Manjiang Red" and tears for the tragedy in the prequel of "The Wandering Earth". And the film market is no longer Feng Xiaogang's quacks.
But Feng Xiaogang quietly returned to the once incomparably familiar field of TV series.
The first "North and South" Douban 4.9,
The second work is obviously full of energy to regain lost ground, which is the suspense drama that landed on iQiyi Misty Theater tonight:
"Echoes".
The male and female protagonists are Song Jia and Wang Yang, who were very successful in the CP group in "The World".
In "Echo", Feng Xiaogang asked the two to reorganize CP in another way.
In addition, he also found a gorgeous lineup composed of Zhu Yuchen, Dong Jie, Wei Ni, Liu Guanlin, Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan, Zhang Jiayi, Huang Xuan and Bao Bell.
Serious literary adaptation, suspenseful style, and taking the road of criminal investigation and human nature are obviously to make a blockbuster.
Prior to this, the first two bullets of this year's "Misty Theater" became duds, "Daughter Back" went high and low, Mei Ting's evil girl succeeded, but the score in the second half of the series plummeted all the way to 6.3 points. The reputation of "Moses on the Plain" rebounded to 7.7, but the tone of literary films made the popularity of the series reach a trough.
Regarding "Fog", the audience seems to have decided that only the remake of Zijin Chen's works has the possibility of a big explosion, a "Hidden Corner" and a "Silent Truth".
And in the current TV drama market, "Echo" is not without strong rivals, and "Who is He" led by Zhang Yi is as imposing as a rainbow when it starts broadcasting, and it is also taking the road of criminal investigation suspense.
Director Feng Xiaogang wants to prove that the TV series is still his own rivers and lakes, and the difficulty is not low.
Whether it is for Feng Xiaogang, who fights again, or the Misty Theater, who even eats duds, if you want to turn the tide, the premise is that "Echo" can really hear the echo.
1: Story
The play is adapted from the novel of the same name "Echoes" by writer Dong Dong.
The original book is a speculative work set against the background of marriage topics.
At the beginning of the trailer, a beautiful young woman is found to have died mysteriously in the river, and one wrist is cut off abruptly.
Who is this woman? Why did you die? Why was her killer so cruel? With doubts, the policewoman Ran Dongdong (played by Song Jia) began a difficult road to detection.
In the process of solving the murder, she accidentally found the clue that her husband opened a house privately, so she had to solve both the case and the mystery of feelings, and the psychological contest on the two lines unfolded at the same time.
In the end, she brought the criminals to justice, but also divorced Bai Yueguang's husband.
It must be said that this is not a simple suspense story, there are criminal investigation elements, and the audience will want to find out who killed the beauty.
But suspense detection is only a shell of the story, and the real core of the plot has two points:
One is marriage.
As the case progressed, various people surfaced, including suspicion between intellectual couples, emotional disputes between young girls and wealthy businessmen, and parental love and control over their children. Marriage and love, suspicion and trust.
Such a story theme is Feng Xiaogang's favorite.
In the original work, the novel is advanced according to the "case line" and "emotional line", the reasoning and detection of Ran Dongdong is written in odd-numbered chapters, the marriage crisis between Ran Dongdong and literature professor Mudaf is written in even-numbered chapters, and the two lines merge in the last chapter and intertwined with each other to form "echoes".
The series should also have two narrative lines, the bright line is the murderer of the murder case by the heroine of the criminal police, and the dark line is that she is caught in her marriage puzzle.
The second is human nature.
Li Jingze, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, once commented on this book: "Dongxi is a novelist who writes to the east and must write to the west, and when he writes to the west, he must look at the east." When I write "Echo", I write this near, far, relative, and estranged. ”
Near, far, relative, estranged. Speaking to the basics.
2: Highlights
In recent years, the suspense dramas that have really become popular in the Misty Theater are "Hidden Corner" and "The Silent Truth", and since then, there have been more 12-episode suspense online dramas. "Echoes" is 13 episodes.
But suspense online dramas, the small number of episodes does not mean that the pace of the plot is fast, nor does it mean that it is high-quality, and the "Octagon Tower Mysterious Fog" broadcast the year before last is a real example. "Moses on the Plain" is only 6 episodes in total, but the pace is the slowest in the Theater of the Mist.
If domestic suspense dramas want to succeed, they are not engaged in some impactful shots, or use cinematic techniques to impress the audience, and even the audience may not buy it if they shoot well. It looks good.
As for "Echo", first of all, the production quality must be excellent.
Feng Xiaogang, who has created blockbusters such as "Rally" and "Night Banquet", has always been online in camera beauty.
Compared with some over-literary shots of suspense dramas, Feng Xiaogang's lens will not shake the audience with a shaky lens, let alone a long shot to the end.
Secondly, Feng Xiaogang is still a storyteller Feng Xiaogang.
The trailer repeats the line again and again, "I melted", until "I melted, and your hand melted", Ran Dongdong dug out the skeleton of a hand under a green tree, fiercely holding the suspenseful and tense atmosphere.
And when the heroine began to interrogate the criminal suspects played by Wang Yang and Bao Bell one by one.
directly pushes the suspense to a high point.
In the face of the heroine who seems to be able to see through people's hearts, people's reactions are mixed, some are panicked, some are puzzled, some are doubtful, and some are disdainful.
The different expressions on people's faces tell hidden secrets.
Everyone's finger was pointed at the beautiful woman who died, but the truth did not seem to be so simple.
"You don't think I killed her, do you?"
A trailer of less than 2 minutes, full of suspenseful atmosphere.
The story is attractive enough, and in the trailer, the actors' performance is also remarkable. It can be said that the hardware of "Echo" is good and has the potential to become a hit. But Feng Xiaogang's biggest killer feature must be next——
3: Actors
As a director who has not yet proven himself to master the suspense genre again at the market level with ease and high commercial value, there is only one reason why he can assemble such a gorgeous lineup - he is Feng Xiaogang.
The starring actors of the series are Song Jia and Wang Yang, and the guest cast has Zhang Jiayi, Huang Xuan, Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan and other powerful actors who are enough to provoke the beam. The lineup is not unstrong.
The first thing that must be said, Song Jia.
Song Jia, who became famous with "Crossing the Guandong" and established a wide national popularity with "Cliff", went wider and wider after winning the Golden Rooster Movie, and even won the Actress of the Year Award at the first Chinese TV Drama Annual Gala with the role of Zhou Rong.
But Song Jia's uniqueness is that casting is becoming more and more unusual.
Since "The World", every role played by Song Jia is a very unflattering role that other actresses dare not play.
Zhou Rong was scolded by the audience until the end of the play.
The female protagonist of "Even If the Wind Rises" caused the male protagonist to lose everything at the beginning, and did not really come back until the finale.
The character this time was also complained about by readers along the road in the original work.
As a female police officer, Ran Dongdong reasoned and deducted the case very rationally. But when it comes to love, there is confusion, or paranoia.
For her husband's suspected cheating, she is "rather trustworthy than trustworthy".
Because she is afraid that she will be deceived, she would rather divorce Bai Yueguang's husband in the whole story, even if her husband does not really cheat, such a role can not stand even ordinary readers, let alone ordinary audiences.
For Song Jia's acting skills, the audience can be completely relieved.
What I really care about is whether Song Jia will play another role that makes her constantly scolded in the play.
The second place, Wang Yang.
When an actor plays all supporting roles with the light of the protagonist, it is only a matter of time before he plays the protagonist.
"Qing Yu Nian" benefited the most from Zhang Ruoyun, but the most cost-effective character is definitely Teng Zijing, who received a box lunch after a few episodes. But with Wang Yang's interpretation of the gods, it was firmly put into the hearts of the audience.
After "Rebel", he played the drag king deeply into the hearts of the people.
"The World", he played the warm male role in the original work, who did not have a strong sense of existence, to the audience.
In "Daming under the Microscope", Wang Yang plays Cheng Renqing, who is the strongest character arc in the whole play, and the last defense scene, can be played by Wang Yang brilliantly if he is pressed down and hit the board.
Working with such an actor, it's hard not to be robbed of the shine.
In this play, Wang Yang finally played the protagonist, but he was also a resigned role.
He is Ran's husband and "has not refused a single of her demands, including divorce." ”
Although he was involved in the case, it was his wife Ran Dongdong who was responsible for solving the case, but he was innocent in both the case and the marriage.
As an intellectual, he has natural romantic feelings in his bones, strong self-esteem, and unlimited accommodation for his wife. This is the most flattering character in the original book.
And Wang Yang is an actor who can feel his strength from his mouth, speaking and pronouncing, not only speaking clearly, but also very infectious. Often a few lines, you can show the character characteristics of the character, giving you an immersive look.
The audience only needs to enjoy Wang Yang's charm again.
Next, let's talk about the show's powerful supporting cast.
The third place, Zhu Yuchen.
The most classic character created by Zhu Yuchen is undoubtedly Huazi in "Struggle". At that time, he was in the limelight.
But as the Beijing-style romance drama fell silent, the actors also sank, and Zhu Yuchen gradually lost news.
In recent years, he began to regain his feelings, playing the clever developer Zheng San in "County Party Committee Compound", who looked like a villain at first, but finally let the audience discover that businessmen also have true feelings, which is a very good interpretation.
His character Xu Shanchuan in this play is the starting point of the entire murder case, although he did not kill his lover, but opened the road to death for this beautiful girl.
One of Zhu Yuchen's expressions in the trailer is already full of tension, he is a powerful actor and deserves his place in the entertainment industry.
The fourth place, Wu You.
This beautiful actress, who became famous with her role in "Residual Sin", also quickly fell into the shadow of classic roles, and there was no new role for the audience to remember.
In this play, she played Xia Bingqing, but it is likely to make the audience's eyes shine, this character was first violated by Xu Shanchuan, but chose to embark on a road of no return without dignity, and finally lost his life because of a "speculative" love.
If the role has a play, it depends on how the actor plays.
Let's look at the unusually strong cameo group of the series.
The fifth place, Zhang Jiayi.
As a top artist in the uncle circle, he has won the Grand Slam of the Emperor of Sight, and although the performance in "Breaking Dawn East" has caused controversy, no one can deny his acting skills.
The secretary Song Siming in "Snail House", the lurker Zhou Yi in "Cliff", Diao Shunzi in "Loading Platform", and the farmer horse shouting water in "Mountain and Sea Love", all classics.
The audience keeps expectations for Zhang Jiayi's works, and it makes sense that he is the ratings guarantee.
In this play, he plays Hong Ange, which is undoubtedly the strongest reinforcement in the support group.
Sixth place, Huang Xuan.
As a recognized strength among this batch of students, Huang Xuan is a little worse in terms of luck and luck in winning prizes.
It is reused by big directors such as Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, but the popular people are not very popular.
The performance in "Mountains and Seas" is wonderful enough, but during the award season, I met Yu Hewei and Lei Jiayin, and I could only accompany me.
Huang Xuan's next drama is the highly anticipated drama version of "Shangganling", which does not provoke moths, filming quietly, and the time must be on Huang Xuan's side.
Seventh place, Zhang Guoli.
As an old drama bone, Zhang Guoli's performance report card in recent years is actually not bad, from the head of the family who is loved and hated in "Little Shede" to the host of "National Treasure", all of which have impressed the audience, but there is still a lack of a truly classic role.
In this play, he plays Ran Bumo, although it is only a cameo, but the character acting skills are not a problem.
The eighth place, Dong Jie.
In early July 2000, Dong Jie stood out in the last round of auditions for Zhang Yimou's "Happy Time" to hire the heroine, becoming the "happy last" girl among the 50,000 applicants, and thus walked on the Avenue of Stars.
"Gold Dust Family" pushed her career to the peak, but the subsequent story almost buried her acting career.
In recent years, she has gradually regained her state, the "Black Lotus" Empress Fucha in "The Legend of Ruyi", and the mother role in "Hello, Mother", all of which let the audience see her acting skills.
In the next spy war drama "Thin Ice", her appearance is extremely stunning.
I believe that her cameo in this play will also leave an impression on the audience.
The last one, Baubert.
As the most special actor in the audience, Bao Bell has been controversial over the years, and at the same time, he has been constantly dramatic.
His performance in "County Party Committee Compound" can be called down-to-earth.
However, his best performance in recent years is still the second-generation role of the under-smoked rich in "Big" People who was beaten by the male protagonist to find his teeth.
To summarize simply, as long as Baubert's character is uncomfortable, the play is particularly popular.
His character in this play has a crush on a dead beauty, but he can't ask for it, and he has become a major suspect in the case, which can be said to be very sad, does that mean that the drama is also going to be popular.
4: Echo
Suspense film and television works have always occupied an important position in national dramas.
Careful reasoning, ups and downs of the plot, or charismatic characters are all attractive.
But while "Misty Theater" sent the suspense drama to a peak, it also buried a big hole for itself.
The audience's aesthetic standards can't go up and down.
In addition to the two blockbusters, "Theater of the Mist" has tried many formulas: sugar CP + suspense, science fiction + suspense, timeline + suspense, which basically ended in regret.
On the contrary, a number of criminal investigation suspense dramas focusing on criminal investigation have sprung up one after another, "Punishment" is on fire, and "Crazy" is a big hit.
The Theater of the Mist is even more silent.
"Echo" is a good opportunity for it to take back a city.
In this drama, director Feng Xiaogang seems to have the ambition to make two types of dramas.
The first is a suspense drama. The second is a family drama.
The latter, in particular, actually has a huge ratings chassis.
This theme, there are too many directions that can be shot.
In recent years, there have been "The World" that shows family changes throughout the timeline, and "It's Good" in the short "It's Good" in parents, including CCTV's "Wishful Thinking".
The reason why these family dramas have become a hit is very simple, the plot allows us to see more or less the shadow of getting along with our families, which moves the audience.
But what Feng Xiaogang wants to dig up this time is precisely the most obscure part of the Chinese family: the closest relatives, the most alienated.
The person who killed the beautiful woman in the story was the person who had been closest to her, and the person who distrusted her husband the most, was the wife. To summarize simply: everyone is betraying everyone.
It's very ambitious, and it will look good if it's filmed.
But it also requires the right rhythm to grab the audience's attention.
Audiences are no longer easily deceived by cinematic sense, star casts, etc.
The problem with a unique style of "Moses on the Plain" in the Theater of the Mist is that the main creator is intentional, but the story does not move people's hearts.
What the audience wants to see is thriller suspense, and what they want to be touched is the human nature excavation of society.
As a result, I saw a slow, leisurely, ethical story with a literary and artistic temperament.
The more serious the literary work, the more difficult it is in the process of film and television adaptation. Feng Xiaogang's "Echo", seemingly flattering, is actually a hard bone.
Using suspense detective to explore family relationships and human nature, it is a double-line concurrency filmed.
If you can't shoot well, you don't land at both ends.
Feng Xiaogang, who was in full swing back then, famously said, "It is because there are so many garbage audiences that there are so many garbage movies."
But for today's domestic dramas to succeed, they must never underestimate the audience.
The next movie will be Feng Xiaogang of "Do Not Disturb 3", and he urgently needs a play to prove himself, but whether "Echo" has an echo, the audience has to see his true ability.