Two years ago, "Squid Game" exploded worldwide.
It's all because of its crazy setting.
456 outlaws were locked up in closed locations, and the Colosseum Battle Royale.
The winner gets a huge amount of money, and the loser eats the bullet.
There are also rich people who watch the whole process behind the scenes, as a side dish.
There is both a duel of force and a game of human nature.
Netflix has been online for 17 days and has been watched by more than 111 million users.
In one fell swoop, it became the "most watched Netflix series in history".
Now two years later, it is still the top viewer of Netflix's original Korean dramas.
High traffic leads to high revenue.
It created $890 million in commercial value for Netflix at a cost of $21.4 million, which is really a lot of money.
However, because of its popularity, children in many countries blindly imitate the violent games, and some even lead to serious injuries.
As a result, schools and experts in many places have issued warnings.
But warnings are warnings, and they don't affect the derivation of their IP at all.
In September of this year, Sandbox VR, an immersive gaming social company, partnered with Netflix to bring "Squid Game" to the VR experience store.
With offline venues + VR, players can experience the "Battle Royale" plot first-hand.
Not only that, but a Netflix reality show of the same name was recently launched.
The show is billed as "the biggest reality show in history" and offers "the highest TV show bonus in history".
The scenes and game settings in the episode are completely replicated.
More realistic than VR, more dramatic than dramas.
As for whether it's good or not, let's taste it together-
"Squid Game: Live Action Festival"
Squid Game: The Challenge
2023.11.22
Live-action battle royale
First of all, a brief introduction to the reality show setting.
It's exactly the same as the original show:
The 456 contestants have to go through multiple rounds of "life and death games", and they are constantly eliminated, and in the end, only one person can win the grand prize——
4.56 million US dollars (about 32 million yuan).
The game venues, projects, dormitories and rules are also perfectly reproduced 1:1 from the original drama, which is full of excitement.
At the beginning of the film, all the contestants wait on the side of the road and are pulled away by a black van.
As soon as the camera turned, the staff was dressed in red and wearing masks, behind the surveillance.
Look at the venue again.
The dormitory is densely packed with iron-framed beds, and the contestants are dressed in blue numbered tracksuits.
Who can tell whether it's a reality show or a TV series.
Of course, the most immersive part is the gameplay.
The games in the series are all from childhood, such as 123 Wooden Man, Candy Painting, Marbles, Jumping Grid, etc.
Use the most childlike innocence to contrast the most cruel, full of contrast.
The same is true for variety shows, there are games that are completely copied and pasted - 123 wooden people.
When the giant puppet keeps muttering the melody of "hibiscus blossoms", no one's heart is groaning.
The 456 contestants swarmed forward with the singing, and when the singing stopped, the movers were eliminated.
In the first level alone, 259 people were eliminated, more than half.
Of course, the eliminators in the variety show are not faced with real guns, but with the explosion of pre-loaded ink bags in their clothes to simulate death.
There are also innovations based on the original game.
The second level - the ponkan game.
In the original play, players randomly choose one of the four shapes of a circle, a triangle, a five-star, and an umbrella without any off-site information.
Then I was told that I had to use a needle to completely cut out the figure within the allotted time.
But in the reality show, the contestants are all contestants who have read and recited the first season of "Squid Game" and know the rules by heart.
As a result, the program team found another way.
This level is randomly teamed up by the contestants into 4 columns.
Then let the contestant at the top of each column enter the game room.
There are four figures hanging on the wall, and the four of them can decide on the favorite figure for their respective teams, but they must agree on it within 2 minutes.
That is, each person must stand on a figure.
Everyone knows how easy it is to shape, circles< triangles< pentagrams< umbrella shapes, so no one wants to choose an umbrella.
As a result, when the time came, all four of them were eliminated with one shot.
It's that simple.
The pressure is given to the next group of four.
All 4 people in the field want to choose simple graphics, but someone has to make a sacrifice, otherwise they will all be eliminated.
However, the choice of the "umbrella" pattern can only be kept for a while, and there is still a high probability of being eliminated when it comes to the sugar picking link.
Under the pressure of the 2-minute countdown, any skill is useless, and it depends on who has strong psychological quality and can withstand the pressure.
Of course, there is also an element of gambling.
Those on the sidelines hope that the people on the field will agree so that it is not their turn to make a choice, and they also pray that the leader of their team will choose a simple shape.
The essence of human beings seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages is fully revealed through this psychological game.
In the third round, you need to form a team before the confrontation.
According to the order of the episodes, the confrontation game at this time should be a tug-of-war.
The contestants firmly believed in the order of the game, so the tall and strong people were in demand, and the thin women and men were disliked.
But I didn't expect that the same game in the first two games was just an appetizer, and this round is a new project - battleship chess.
The rules are also very simple, the main condition for victory is to guess where the opponent's ship is.
Then each time a "missile" is fired to bomb, the player is eliminated after the entire ship is blown up, and the captain who sinks the opponent's two ships first wins.
Not muscle confrontation, but brainstorming.
It's not interesting if everyone is just trying to collide with each other based on luck.
However, there is a high-achieving student in the first team, she entered Mensah (the world's top IQ club) at the age of 13, and her IQ is in the top 0.5% of the whole UK.
It's been hiding in the previous games.
This time, I really showed my skills, using my mathematical and logical abilities to hit almost every shot.
But if you are in the limelight at this time, you may be targeted in the future.
After all, this is not a team game after all, and the teammates at this time are the enemies behind, after all, there is only 1 champion in the end.
This leads to the next level of the game.
Before the game is played, the program team rewards the rest with a picnic.
This is a huge temptation for contestants who have eaten boxed lunches in the dormitory for a few days.
The crowd immediately cheered and found a partner to enjoy a picnic with according to the request of the show.
And this is just the calm before the storm.
Next, many contestants will face even more cruelty.
That is, get rid of your own picnic partner.
Some are mother-son duels, some are best friends become enemy friends, and some are brothers.
Some are dramatic, some are a little touching.
Super parody show
"Squid Game: Live Action Challenge" has currently launched 9 episodes on Netflix.
The final title fight is in suspense and will be released on December 6.
But compared with the huge noise caused by the broadcast of the series, the response of the reality show was mediocre.
The word-of-mouth is also average, and the current Douban 1,000 people have a score of 6.5, which has just crossed the passing line.
is mainly because the purpose of dramas and variety shows is different.
The drama is a series of absurd games to criticize society, satirizing and solidifying the contradictions between class and rich and poor.
But reality shows, in essence, are a show of capital, making money by shouting.
Let's start with the contestants.
The players in the series are debt-ridden and hopeless outlaws.
But reality show contestants are just ordinary people who want a "windfall" to improve their lives.
Stills from "Squid Game".
The excitement of "real death" is lacking in the game setting, and the contestants are not determined to fight to the death.
This turns the whole reality show into a funny acting.
Although we all know that variety shows must have scripts, this is the basis and guidance for the existence of the entire show.
However, a good variety show only provides an outline and framework, and the rest is left to the guests to play freely and controlled by the director.
But the script of "Squid Game: Reality Challenge" is too heavy.
The identities of the participating players are very mixed, white, black, Asian, LGBT...
But obviously the acting skills are not very passable, always crying inexplicably, and deliberately creating contradictions.
Many links are also set up as "anti-reality shows".
For example, one of the perks given to players is "eliminate three players at will".
This has to make people suspect that there is an element of predetermined in the final championship.
In fact, as early as the beginning of the filming of the show, it was revealed that -
The show was filmed at the former Royal Air Force base "Cardington Studio" in Bedford, England.
It was a cold snap in the UK, and the contestants played "123 Wooden Man" in temperatures of minus 3 degrees Celsius.
The 5-minute game in the show, which was expected to be filmed for 2-3 hours, ended up lasting 8 hours.
And in order to get a good shot, the contestants stay still for only a few minutes at first, and then get longer and longer, up to 30 minutes.
Imagine minus 3 degrees, thin sportswear, and insist on moving for 30 minutes.
It's really hard.
This has also led to hypothermia, nerve damage, and passing outs at the scene.
Of course, if the ultimate goal is to win $4.56 million, these hardships are nothing.
But if the champion has already been decided, then the result of this reality show is even more cruel than the drama.
Do not say.
Let's look forward to the early launch of "Squid Game 2".