Recently, Zhang Yimou revealed his next work plan to the media, mentioning that he will participate in the filming of the online drama "League of Legends" with the theme of e-sports in September this year.
Regardless of whether director Zhang Da is suitable for e-sports themes, the sentence "I hope to improve the overall quality of online dramas" is somewhat self-lifting.
In addition, he said: "The first time I tried an online drama, I wanted to make this work very handsome, cool and sassy. ”
Speaking confidently, people can't help but wonder, what kind of handsome method is it?
Is it a mirror to the end? Or Yi Yangqianxi?
In other words, I vaguely remember that twenty years ago, Zhang Yimou once advised Zhang Ziyi, who had just entered the film industry: "Don't mess with the drama, don't make TV series to earn money."
Years later, Zhang Ziyi took over the TV series "Shangyang Fu", and the high-ranking actress was ridiculed by netizens because of her inconsistent character characteristics, and some people mentioned this past with sadness: "Ziyi! You should listen to your teacher! ”
And now, the mentor has also gone to the sea to film dramas, and is jokingly called by netizens as the "friend of Panga" in the history of Chinese film and television.
01
It is no longer uncommon for film directors to make cross-border films.
In recent years, the development of video websites has changed the viewing habits of audiences, and online dramas have become the most important electronic vegetable for the younger generation. In the face of the audience's new viewing habits and the huge profits behind them, more and more film directors choose to actively embrace new opportunities.
Among them, Zhang Dalei's "Moses on the Plain", Chen Zhengdao's "Love is Delicious", and Lu Yang's "Fengqi Longxi" have all achieved good reputation and click rates.
In addition to the new generation, in the camp of movie veterans like Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang has "Echo" that has just been broadcast, and Wong Kar-wai has
"Blossoms"...
Since it has long been common for big directors to make online dramas, why did Zhang Yimou's decision stir up thousands of waves with one stone?
As a well-known Chinese fifth-generation director, Zhang Yimou has been known for his enthusiastic photographic styling and accurate and direct portrayal of national character since his first film "Red Sorghum".
In "Red Sorghum", the combination of loud sorghum, surging sorghum fields and the sons and daughters of the earth is subtle and magnificent, poetic and crude. In the taboo expressive screen, Gong Li and Jiang Wen's erotic drama in the sorghum field is presented with a sense of ritual unique to the East, which dumbfounds Western audiences.
In "The Red Lantern Hangs High", the power and lust symbolized by red are like ghosts possessed, and after devouring the innocence of Songlian, they imprison living women in the courtyard of the deep house like a cage, like feudal thought itself.
In "Alive", the little people are stumbling through the storms of history, and their pain and struggle only turn into sighs and sighs.
At that time, Zhang Yimou was undoubtedly the freshest and youngest one for Chinese films.
But for him, who is good at shooting strong tragic characters, heavy history and criticism of national nature, e-sports-themed dramas emphasize blood and hard work, which does not seem to suit him.
According to the plot synopsis currently exposed, the strong atmosphere of online novels revealed by the online drama "League of Legends" is really difficult to expect Zhang Yimou's performance.
Also filming online dramas, Wong Kar-wai's "Prosperous" presents the city style of old Shanghai, and John Woo's "Red Cliff" tells magnificent historical stories, which are very in line with their original style.
Zhang Yimou chose "Glory of Kings", Bassaijun can only say that having money can make a son push and grind.
02
Judging from the list of production personnel announced on the official website of Yaoke Media, the screenwriters of the online drama "Hero Media" are Xu Su and Wang Xiaohan, and these two people happen to be the screenwriters of the 2019 e-sports-themed online drama "Crossfire".
The director of the online drama "Crossfire" is Xu Hongyu, who previously filmed the movie "Like You", which received a good reputation that year, and nearly 16,000 people on Douban finally scored a high score of 7.9.
Its success lies in the fact that the game world is cool enough, real life is vivid enough, and the mix of the two is just right.
Using CF as the backdrop for the story, it tells a passionate journey of youthful growth.
Fans of the game can get memories and pleasure of playing games, and non-fans can also get the feeling of pursuing their dreams.
So don't worry too much about the script, the director himself is the most unstable factor.
Because although Zhang Yimou is good at strong audiovisual lens language, in the e-sports theme with youth and network sense as the main style, his advantages can not play much. Zhang Yimou's films are typical styles where emotions are more important than plot and form trumps content, such as the best "Ju Dou", "Big Red Lantern Hanging High", "Qiu Ju Lawsuit" and other films have such characteristics.
Online dramas need to be fast-paced and dramatic, especially e-sports dramas with their own blood attributes.
Stripped of his most confident "little people in the big time" story genre, the esports theme is like a floating board in the vast sea, with no fulcrum for him to stabilize.
Therefore, it is not surprising that netizens are not optimistic about him.
03
Major movie cafes are engaged in TV series, and there will only be more and more in the future.
Take Qin Hao, who has only made art films for many years, as an example.
In the early years, he said in an interview: "It's not Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye, but also Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, the TV series will not be picked up again." ”
A few years ago, he publicly shouted in the media: "I'm going to make a TV series next, I want to make money!" ”
So he took over online dramas such as "Undocumented Crime" and "Hidden Corner" and entered the public's field of vision.
It can be seen that the movie café "under the fan" online drama seems to be dimensionality reduction, but it is also really earned!
In 2022, Netflix had 200 million subscribers and Disney-owned streaming subscribers reached 230 million.
In China, the size of netizens reached 1.067 billion, and the size of the online drama market reached 21.2 billion yuan, and it continues to grow.
Behind these huge numbers, it represents the super market potential of online dramas.
After the online drama "Tomb Robbery Notes" was launched in 2014, more than 2.6 million requests for payment orders were made by members.
Make money, make too much money.
Therefore, Shanghai Film Company has the courage to spend 500 million to buy a film and television base for Wong Kar-wai's "Blossoms".
With such a huge amount of funds, how many big directors can resist the temptation?
In 2016, online dramas as a film and television phenomenon officially attracted the attention and discussion of the industry, and at that time, people's impression of online dramas was "low cost, cliché story, garbage acting skills".
In 2017, iQiyi CEO Gong Yu predicted: "In the future, a large number of filmmakers will flow into the online drama industry, including but not limited to directors, screenwriters and actors. ”
It can be said that in one word.
Where the money is, the talent is.
In 2020, iQiyi launched "Misty Theater", focusing on self-made suspense dramas, filming high-quality dramas such as "The Silent Truth" and "Hidden Corner".
The inflow of a large number of filmmakers has improved the quality of online dramas and promoted the entry of online dramas into boutique films.
Nowadays, one after another high-quality online dramas have long allowed "Internet dramas" to get rid of the stereotype of lowly birth and have the confidence to benchmark movies.
In addition, in the past two years, the film industry market has been sluggish and creativity has declined, and some creative film directors have chosen to embrace online dramas.
In fact, Zhang Yimou's online drama itself is not worth criticizing, what we are worried about is that the misalignment of the characteristics of e-sports online dramas and the exaggeration of his personal style makes him really late.