Yiqing | wen
Chen Meixi | edit
The domestic drama has produced another "masterpiece", this time from Tencent Video's "X Theater", from the hands of the Xin Shuang team.
As soon as "The Long Season" was broadcast, the Internet was filled with discussions about the show, music, pictures, shots, performances... Until the finale, the topic of "sealing gods" appeared on the hot search. At the same time, on Douban, more than 300,000 netizens scored a high score of 9.4 for this drama, breaking the word-of-mouth record of domestic dramas in the past five years.
From "Hidden Corner" to "Long Season", Xin Shuang once again used his strength to create a myth of domestic drama word of mouth. Before the start of shooting, he was not under pressure, but it was precisely because of the pressure that he had more motivation, "This pressure comes from the fact that I don't want to stay where I am, and the audience doesn't want me to stay still." ”
After the drama was broadcast, producer Lu Jing received a lot of news from her peers, and she was grateful and happy to see the moment when the number of episodes and word of mouth were good.
When doing the "Hidden Corner" project, Lu Jing and the team left some regrets after review, in order to make up for the regrets, this time the group, Lu Jing used 90% of the original team of "Hidden Corner". For her and her team, the current results are an affirmation of focusing on the project and giving 100%, "It's very meaningful, and the rest is left to the audience." ”
Source: Douban screenshot
In the view of Zhang Na, senior director of Natural Studio of Tencent's online video film and television content production department, producer and chief producer of "The Long Season", the result of this drama is higher than her expectations.
"Long Season" is a very new attempt by Tencent Video, behind which is Zhang Na's long persistence. There is no successful case support and benchmarking, but there is enough internal support, and she is very grateful to her boss Sun Zhonghuai for making the final decision: "Then we will support the artist." ”
As a result, this 12-episode short drama, which was filmed for 107 days, came out.
"Innovation and respect for the audience are the most important things." Zhang Na said that the birth of "The Long Season" is a collaboration of "people" and a challenge of "breakthrough".
As it turned out, it did.
"The Long Season" and the Long Game
Like the title of "The Long Season", the "Long Season" has also gone through a long process.
In 2018, Zhang Na and screenwriter friend Yu Xiaoqian talked about the suspense drama "Evidence of Innocence" they watched recently, and liked it very much. Yu Xiaoqian told Zhang Na with interest that he also liked this genre, but he had written a lot of urban emotional dramas before, and even wrote idol dramas, but he had not written suspense dramas, and no one gave him such a chance.
Zhang Na encouraged Yu Xiaoqian to create, and the two hit it off, but they didn't expect that the project would take five years to do. Zhang Na took Yu Xiaoqian to write an original script from scratch, and had the prototype of the story - "Winter Blade". "Because Yu Xiaoqian and Teacher Fan Wei have collaborated on the drama "Lei Ge Lao Fan" and are familiar with him, when he first wrote Wang Xiang, he substituted Fan Wei in his mind." Zhang Na revealed.
Unfortunately, Zhang Na did not find a suitable director to shoot, and the script also flowed to the market, but she firmly believed that "Winter Blade" was a good story, formed an obsession of "must shoot", and bought the copyright of the script back.
Zhang Na feels that the Xinshuang team is very suitable for "The Long Season". On the one hand, Xin Shuang presents his own strong style in his works, whether it is music or pictures, he has achieved the extreme; On the other hand, it is also a point that Zhang Na feels very important, Xin Shuang can use "romance" to deconstruct life and plot, so that the drama has a rich viewing level while being grounded.
At that time, people who were looking for Xin Shuang to cooperate with each other, Zhang Na had no bottom in her heart. Coincidentally, Zhang Na once met with Lu Jing, and in the process of chatting, she learned that when "Winter Blade" flowed to the market, Lu Jing had seen this script and liked it very much. After meeting that day, Lu Jing learned that the copyright of the script was in Tencent Video.
Talking about the highlights of the project, Lu Jing said: "I think the elderly can make your blood boil, and the suspense theme can also be lived." Zhang Na agreed, in order to make up for the regret of not being able to make up for the project, the cooperation between the two sides came naturally.
Source: Sina Weibo @ The Long Season of Online Dramas
After cooperating in "Hidden Corner", Lu Jing once again handed this script with a unique perspective to Xin Shuang. Immersed in this industry, Xin Shuang has read a large number of scripts, but there are not many scripts that can see "writing people like real people".
The premise of the story is very attractive to him, "An elderly taxi driver, to solve a very regrettable thing in his life, contains a particularly good perspective on old age." Now there are not many films and television programs on the market that tell about the elderly group, and I hope to let everyone pay more attention to people who are not usually paid attention to through this perspective. "Using the perspective of the elderly to return to people's lives can also make suspense dramas full of fatalism and resonate with the audience."
In the play, Wang Xiang came home from work for the first time in 1998, his wife Romesu was boiling medicine, Wang Xiang helped Luo Meisu pour medicine, and the scene of the old husband and wife scaring each other was full of details and textures of life, which also became the reason for Xin Shuang to take over the project. In his opinion, a good perspective and theme, that is, the grip of the story, allows him to grasp and exude something, which is very important for the creator.
The selection of actors is also a major concern of the audience. Under the premise of adaptability, the combination of "familiar face" and "raw face" makes the characters in the play more brilliant. Some actors are not often active in front of the screen, such as Chen Minghao who plays Ma Desheng, and Jiang Qiming, who plays Fu Weijun, who is often active in the field of drama and has rich acting experience, and this kind of "raw face" can give freshness; And Qin Hao, Fan Wei, these "familiar face" actors, in addition to suitability, can also support the role and constantly break the stereotypes of the audience.
"As long as we think the acting skills are good and suitable, we and the platform will fully support them, and never look at the popularity of the actors." Lu Jing explained.
"The Long Season" is set up, but the script is still in the polishing stage. From the first script meeting to the start-up, not only other screenwriters were added in between, but the script was also revised for up to 11 months. But Zhang Na trusts the whole team, and every time the main creative team communicates with her if she has any ideas, as long as it can help the project, the platform does not hesitate to support it.
"Follow-up site selection, special effects makeup, etc., the platform is willing to support artists' attempts and innovations, and our philosophy is to respect artists, support creation, and be their backing." The project "Long Season" has been done for a long time, but both the platform and the main creators have done their best. Zhang Na concluded.
Create a bright story of the Northeast
In the market, the stories adapted from the suspense of the northeast are all with the slaughter and cold of winter, but "The Long Season" instead presents a bright northeast with warm colors, which is the result of 11 months of script polishing and the most difficult part of the creative process.
"Northeast background plus suspense elements, there are many such stories, including multi-line narratives are not new, the audience has seen a lot of similar content, for us, the first step in adaptation is how to make freshness on a more traditional material." Xin Shuang said that the three words "do the opposite" are simple to say, but when they are handled, they are combing the story over and over again, and paying the time cost of nearly a year.
This is also why "Winter Blade" became "The Long Season", and the story moved from winter to autumn.
Xin Shuang is a native of the northeast, and his understanding of the northeast is that there are four distinct seasons, not only winter, but also bright autumn, although this season is short.
When I was a child, when the sun was about to go down, Xin Shuang and his parents rode their bicycles through a cornfield, and the sunset dyed all the corn, there was a sense of harvest, and the picture was very warm.
This image has remained in Xin Shuang's mind for a long time, and it has also formed his unique feeling about the northeast season. When everyone mentions the northeast, they think of the snowy sky, but Xin Shuang wants to break the label and let everyone see the beauty of autumn in the northeast.
The Long Season has three timelines that represent the past and the present. In the process of chatting with the screenwriting team about the script, Xin Shuang talked about the life in the northeast in his heart, which was happy, positive and full of sunshine. He hopes that the ultimate expression of the story is to care about the feelings of the moment, "I think that thing should be soothing, the story includes a cruel fate, but overall, I want to convey a positive attitude." ”
Autumn is followed by winter, the most beautiful period before cruelty, and it also reflects the theme of the story.
Source: Screenshot of the episode
Presenting the autumn in the northeast in memory is not simple.
During the preparation of the project, Lu Jing led the team to the northeast, including Shenyang, Anshan and other cities, but found that two problems were difficult to solve.
One is the production, the northeast autumn is short, but the shooting period is as long as 100 days, which cannot meet the shooting cycle, "Maybe the leaves will fall off within a few days of starting the film, and the things we want are gone." ”
Second, the current Northeast factory has fallen into disrepair, or has become a tourist attraction for Internet celebrities, which is a bit fake. In the memory of the protagonist Wang Xiang, the Northeast Factory is brilliant and prosperous, without the slightest sense of ruin. The factory did not meet the team's survey, and under the suggestion of the art director, everyone came to Kunming, Yunnan.
It was winter in Kunming, and the vegetation color of the entire city was similar to that of autumn in the northeast, yellow and green, and the new life was sandwiched with decadence. Kunming's Kungang has train tracks, and the tracks are covered with colorful flowers, which appear colorful and vibrant, and are very close to the scenes in the story. As a result, Kunming replaced the northeast and became the main position for filming.
Wang Xiang is a train driver, but Kungang does not have a train, the team saw the train in the Kunming Museum, and found the steam train they wanted in Hubei, unloaded it into sections, and used three 19-meter carriages to transport it to Kunming to ensure that it could move.
Here comes the more troublesome problem. The problem of the Northeast plant was solved, but the northeast cornfield in Xinxin's memory stumped the team.
After choosing the location in Kunming, Xin Shuang asked Lu Jing: "Can we build a cornfield here?" Lu Jing was shocked, because Kunming could not grow corn that met the needs of filming, and for the sake of effect, the crew finally decided to plant a cornfield in Xishuangbanna. The seeds were planted before start-up, and three months later, the corn fields were only grown. The process is complicated, but Lu Jing is thankful that this cornfield has become an iconic scene in the play.
For Xin Shuang, these are all jobs that present the texture of life in film and television, "The texture of life is the stage we choose for this story, and whether this stage is real or not is very important for the audience's perception." If people don't believe in that stage, they don't believe in that story and characters. ”
Refreshing aesthetics, "half a meter above the ground"
As soon as the series was broadcast, the spicy shots and pictures once again became the focus of heated discussions by the public.
At the finale, the music "Looking Back" sounded, which poked the tears of countless audiences, and "refreshing aesthetics" has also become a question that every media will ask.
Xin Shuang told everyone that when the team initially discussed "aesthetics", they would use "half a meter above the ground" to describe it, which means not to do pure realism, but to add romantic artistic conception on the basis of realistic aesthetics, cracking the stereotype of suspense and northeast in the audience's mind, "Let the audience believe that this is the northeast, and add some romance on the basis of belief is the creative logic of our entire play." ”
There is a scene where Wang Yang asked Shen Mo to watch fireworks, Wang Yang picked up the glass bottle on the ground, and let Shen Mo look through the bottle at the factory's abandoned ground torch, where colored light flashed, and it looked like fireworks were being set off with wine bottles.
Source: Screenshot of the episode
The romantic scene expression, combined with the refreshing and unique musical taste, synthesizes the "spicy aesthetics" that integrates it, which is life, romantic and exquisite.
The aesthetic of "sound" benefited from the sound department, and it took the team about six or seven months from the design of the sound to the mixing. This time is spent polishing the details, "For example, when a door is opened or closed, we spend half an hour adjusting the timbre. Xin Shuang believes that the audience's experience of watching the drama also reflects the state of the department's work to a certain extent, "I also thank the audience for all the main creators and departments." ”
The aesthetic of "music" all serves the narrative of the story.
The opening song was inspired by Xin Shuang's experience of watching a drama. When the audience enters the scene, there is a music loop that allows everyone to quickly enter the story, and when the story starts, the music pauses and the audience is already in the play. Xin Shuang was inspired and said to Ding Ke, who was in charge of the original music, "How about we match each episode with a music that suits the atmosphere of this episode?" Ding Ke agreed, and the opening song took shape.
The selection of the ending song is an extension of the mood that the team wants to give the audience. For example, "Looking Back". This song is the only ending song that is determined at the script stage because it is more meaningful.
Many viewers asked Xin Shuang on the Internet, "Didn't Wang Xiang say to look forward and don't look back?" How do you put "Looking Back" again? "Actually, this song is not played to Wang Xiang, but to the audience. Although the story is over, he still wants to leave some atmosphere and reverie for everyone. This sentiment cannot be explained, but it also has led to more discussion collisions because of "can only be understood".
Source: Sina Weibo @ The Long Season of Online Dramas
After the shooting, Xin Shuang had to stay in the computer room for seven or eight months to edit, and every day on the way home from the computer room, listening to a variety of favorite music became a work habit, "Once I hear music that feels similar to a scene or an ending I edited in the computer room, I will have a button in my heart and land with a click." ”
In Xin Shuang's view, the ending song is a part of the narrative, an extension of the audience's emotions to the story, and even an extension of the narrative, and can only become the ending song if the feeling is established at the same time as the lyrics.
The opening song, ending song, selection of screen colors, and editing of chapter returns are all on the timeline, assisting the story and characters to achieve the unity of fatalism.
"When we do each episode, we want the content of that episode to give the audience a feeling that can only be formed in that episode, and finally put it together completely to form a more complete and greater impact." Xin Shuang said that like dominoes, all the elements are pushed down at the same time, and at the last moment they meet at the same time.
Snap your fingers that resonate with the audience
During the broadcast, Xin Shuang will read private messages.
In the fifth episode, Wang Xiang stood on the bridge and shouted his son's name to the moon, and some netizens sent a private message to Xin Shuang after reading it, saying that his father had just died last year, and he often stood under the moon to watch the moon and think about his father. When I saw that clip, netizens seemed to think that their father could see him in the moon. Across the screen, the drama chasers and the people in the play have a distant spiritual communication.
The moment the dust settled, in the face of the direction of the story and the ending of the characters, Xin Shuang did not want to interpret too much, and he never responded to questions related to the plot, "because the answer is the least romantic." "Snapping fingers that resonate with the audience is perhaps the most benign relationship between creators and audiences. Keeping a certain space, there can be more imagination, he does not need to take the initiative to break.
"The Long Season" is over, and Lu Jing is grateful for everyone's support. From "Hidden Corner" to "The Long Season," as a producer, she feels like she's doing two things.
On the one hand, she understands what the team is good at, and everyone reflects on successes and regrets of failure.
On the other hand, be clear about the genre positioning of the episodes. "Long Season" is positioned as a life suspense, it tells the longitudinal story of the family, there are the passage of time, there are people and life issues, "Since the beginning of the project, I have discussed with Sister Na many times, and we have not had much deviation in creation. ”
Zhang Na feels that this drama has achieved the "breakthrough" and "innovation" that everyone originally wanted. In the process of chasing the drama, she often watches the barrage, and at first some viewers will comment, "This is not a suspense drama, it's too funny?" But in the end, they all felt the suspense of fate from life itself, as Xin Shuang said, "You never know what cards and puzzles fate will give you in the next second, which itself is full of suspense." ”
In the process of doing this project, she deeply felt that not only "good suspense drama", but also any good project needs to take the initiative to create freshness, and presenting this freshness from all sides will be echoed by the audience.
As the first drama of Tencent's "X Theater", the broadcast of "Long Season" also opened a good start for the theater, ""The Long Season" let everyone see our determination to do a good job in content. Zhang Na said that in the future, the platform also hopes to see a good script with a larger perspective and a wider range of content, so as to achieve the ultimate content and push the emotions to a high point.