"Flowers" came to an end, and discussions on various platforms about the "aesthetics of "Flowers" are still endless. Wong Kar-wai has raised the audio-visual level of the drama to the "next level" with the filming technique of film specifications, and more and more audiences are calling for more film directors to "go down to the earth to make dramas".
Just as the boundary between TV dramas and online dramas is becoming more and more blurred, film directors are becoming "normalized" in directing and supervising dramas across borders. More and more filmmakers are beginning to try to tell stories that are difficult to carry through long dramas and short dramas.
According to rough statistics, there will be nearly 40 dramas with the participation of filmmakers or film companies on various platforms in the next year. Among them, some people won the top order after the first contact with the filming of the series, and some are already "old friends" who have cooperated with the platform for many times, and the stories they try are often difficult to summarize with existing genres, which also hints at the next creative trend of the platform.
The director still loves serious literature
Serious literature used to be a bonanza of Chinese film adaptations, but now movie bigwigs are making cross-border dramas, and literary works with fuller artistic expression are still the first choice.
The original work of "Flowers" outlines the portraits of the wells in Shanghai in the style of Shanghai, and was once known as Shanghai's "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" and won the 9th Mao Dun Literature Award. Feng Xiaogang's life suspense drama "Echo", the original work is also a popular work in the Mao Award.
Zhang Yimou's planned "The Protagonist", the original book of the same name, which won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Award, tells the story of an actress named Yi Qin'e, who grew from a supporting role to a protagonist on the way to learn Qin Yan. The TV series "The Protagonist" was officially filed last month, and it is expected to start filming this year by Zhang Jiayi's Erling Yilu Film and Television. Wong Kar-wai has pushed the audio-visual of TV dramas to an unprecedented level, and the one who can keep up with it is probably Zhang Yimou.
In addition to serious literature, suspense is also the most common category chosen by senior filmmakers for the first time trying online dramas. Cao Baoping's first drama "Once Upon a Time in the Borderwater" is a story of escape and survival in a tropical exotic setting. On the official announcement poster, Shen Xing played by Guo Qilin and Uncle Chai played by Wu Zhenyu are preoccupied, and suspense and danger coexist.
Han Sanping was the first to cooperate with iQiyi and opened up the situation for the Fog Theater, and later, Han Sanping began to supervise the production of high-quality suspense short dramas for various platforms.
Tencent Video's "Little Town Huanri" is about juvenile delinquency, and the story focuses on the death of a teacher at the beginning of the millennium. Misty Theater "Staggered Scenes" is adapted from the novel of the same name by Matsumoto Kiyohari, which tells the mystery of the overlap of criminal investigation and crime novels. Youku's "Hidden Things" is a remake of the Korean drama "The Flower of Evil", and the original drama tells the story of a male protagonist with a split personality who reconciles with himself with the help of his wife.
Yitong Production, which Chen Sicheng is in charge of, has also launched a new suspense drama in the past two years. Chen Sicheng's 12-episode short drama "Strange Tales of the Town" appeared in Mango TV's big drama list last year, the protagonists of the story are four teenagers who were ignored by adults, and in the process of looking for disappeared friends, the teenagers gradually discovered the abnormality of the town and the true face of strangers.
In addition to suspense, Yitong Productions also has a layout for science fiction. Chen Sicheng's co-screenwriters "Ball Lightning" and "Stars" are all top science fiction IPs, the former is from Liu Cixin's novel of the same name, and the latter has won the 11th Nebula Award for Best Feature.
For many young directors who have come out of the First Film Festival, suspense short dramas are also the most suitable choice to adapt to the filming method of dramas. For example, Zhang Dalei's "Moses on the Plains", the image and narrative style are highly close to the movie, and in the play, more important than the truth of the case is the complexity of family grievances and society.
Wen Muye, Olympic bid, and Rao Xiaozhi each have a suspense drama to be broadcast. Wen Muye's "Sweeping Rat Ridge" is Tencent Video's "X Theater Reserve", the drama is adapted from the novel of the same name by Hu Yanyun, a "Chinese reasoning revolutionary", the original work is a long story of nearly 300,000 words, two murders, three generations of police, and the timeline spans ten years.
"New Life" directed by the Olympic bid is a 10-episode short drama that tells the story of a bizarre memorial service in which everyone gradually uncovers the truth about the identity of the deceased Fei Ke (played by Jing Boran) by looking back on the past. "The Disappearing Elephant" supervised by Rao Xiaozhi is a suspense comedy with a bit of highway flavor, telling the absurd story of Zhang Kuang (played by Li Jiuxiao), a young man in a small town, who intersects with gangsters and entrepreneurs in the city, and accidentally gets involved in a criminal gang.
Both the Olympic bid and Rao Xiaozhi are directors who are deeply involved in realistic themes, and they are good at portraying the antagonistic and interdependent relationships between small people. "New Life" and "Vanishing Elephant" should be group dramas that integrate multiple criminal elements and break through the boundaries of genres.
Hong Kong and Taiwan directors prefer "women" and "adventure"
It is not new for Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers to go north, but there are very few filmmakers who insist on making dramas after going north, and the most prolific director is Chen Zhengdao.
After Chen Zhengdao came to the mainland from Taiwan, he grasped both film and drama series, and 1-2 works came out every year, and after opening the female suspense track through "Skyscraper" a few years ago, the dramas he participated in creating have been inseparable from these two keywords. Chen Zhengdao is good at navigating the female perspective and suspenseful atmosphere, and last year he jumped out of his comfort zone to try near-future hard sci-fi, but the reputation and popularity of "Bionic World" failed to surpass his last "Love is Delicious", which tells the life of urban girlfriends.
Next, Chen Zhengdao will return to the female suspense track. He has two suspense dramas with two heroines in preparation, one is Youku Suspense Theater's "Symbiosis", which tells the story of twin flowers involved in emotional conspiracy, and it was reported that Zhou Dongyu will play two roles. The other is currently untitled, which tells the story of female revenge in the context of Southeast Asia, and the style is more thriller.
Cha Chuanyi and Chan Ka-shang are among the few Hong Kong directors who have transitioned from film to making ancient puppets. Zha Chuanyi has directed nearly 10 dramas that have been broadcast and are to be broadcast in the past five years, and he is still filming small-scale ancient puppets after "The Rumored Chen Qianqian".
Chen Jiashang, who has filmed "Painted Skin" and "Four Famous Catches", is very online in his control of the plot rhythm and ancient style aesthetics, but he has not had many drama projects in recent years, and the most noteworthy thing at hand is Mango TV's head ancient puppet "Fengyue is not related". The play is adapted from the novel of the same name by Egret Chengshuang, which tells the story of the daughter of Jiangmen and the neighboring proton to save the people of Limin.
Film directors shoot ancient puppets, and the audiovisual language is usually above average. Although Guo Jingming is not a film director from a professional class, he has always specialized in the big screen, and he has also shown his advantages after competing on the small screen. The plot of "Cloud Feather" directed by him is indescribable but visually excellent, and the character makeup, scenery and atmospheric light and shadow are unique among ancient puppets.
The popularity of "Cloud Feather" has also made the most world culture (led by Guo Jingming) receive a lot of orders for costume dramas, and in the second half of last year, it was officially announced that there were four costume dramas directed by Guo Jingming. Among them, the fastest progress is iQiyi's solo broadcast of "The Return of Big Dreams", which tells the story of a big demon who wants to die and is unwilling to lie down on the road to death and regain his life, which is about to be completed. In addition, he also has "Painted Skin" and "Long Night Chang'an" in cooperation with Mango TV, both of which are set in Chang'an and share a story universe, one about people and the other about demons.
"The Return of the Big Dream"
Xu Hongyu, who made great achievements in the field of comic dramas last year, was a film editing director, although Xu Hongyu directed a few works after coming to the mainland, he was better in his ability to innovate and dare to gnaw hard bones. "Crossfire" and "Under the Inhuman" are both benchmark works that set a precedent for domestic dramas. The male frequency attribute of the film drama led by him is obvious, and he is keen to tell the passionate growth of male little people and the group portrait of teenagers.
In order to shoot the "Under the Alien" series, Xu Hongyu also deliberately launched the "Hot Blood Animal Alliance" based on his own film and television company to cultivate planning and post-production talents. At present, the rather boyish director is immersed in the construction of the "Inhuman" universe.
Mesozoic out of your comfort zone
Some filmmakers who try the waters for the first time will choose to continue their own IP or personal style. And some people choose to jump out of their comfort zone for the first time and pick a large-scale and difficult theme.
Xu Zheng and Lu Yang are directors who continue to play their strengths in the series. In June last year, Xu Zheng's Zhenle Dao Culture and Tencent Video officially announced their cooperation in the "Embarrassment" series of short dramas, which includes a total of five units, and at present, "Embarrassment's Love Hunting Plan", "The Key to Shame's Madness" and "The King of Comedy of Embarrassment" have all been recorded, with 8 episodes each. The movie "Embarrassment" tells the story of Rory, a businessman, who goes to a small island in the Pacific Ocean to save the company and go on an adventure to find treasure. The short series of the same name may share a universe with the movie.
Lu Yang and iQiyi have a close cooperation, this year he supervised and directed "Shadow of Mountains and Rivers" and "Persona of the Apocalypse" are broadcast on iQiyi, and the next preparations are still based on costumes/suspense.
In addition to the costume films personally directed by Lu Yang, it also produced the popular account-sharing drama "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", and cooperated with Douyin in the martial arts short drama "Lost in Brocade". Next, Free Cool Whale has two new dramas on iQiyi, one of which is a theme that has not yet appeared on the market, the martial arts adventure drama "Moon Sinking" from a female perspective, the collision of two-dimensional fantasy and female growth has a unique flavor.
Film director Lu Chuan has been very active in the field of dramas recently. "The Extraordinary Doctor" directed by him was broadcast last year and has a good reputation. He is currently filming a criminal investigation suspense short drama "The Pursuit of Years" in Sichuan, and he will also supervise the production of a youth drama "Mancheng" adapted from Rao Xueman's novel.
Seven Impressions, led by Guan Hu, has been broadening the types of dramas it participates in in the past two years. At present, the new dramas officially announced by Seven Impressions include the emotional drama "When I Wake Up" adapted from Ding Mo's novel, the male frequency IP "Assortment" adapted from the greasy novel, the legal drama "The Distance Between Us and the Court", the suspense drama "Blood Relativity" about orphans looking for relatives, and "Crazy Black Fish" about the disappearance of young girls.
These dramas are all key items in Tencent Video's film list. Since Tencent invested in Seven Impressions in 2022 to become the second largest shareholder, the cooperation projects between the two sides have become more and more abundant. Seven Impressions has completed the industrial creation of dramas with the help of Tencent, and the "Ghost Blows the Lantern" series is produced once a year.
It can be seen that in the process of film directors going deep into the drama industry, the team led by themselves will gradually form a closer community of interests with the platform, and the platform and the artist share the risk. The film director's deep shooting skills are bound to open up new perspectives for dramas, but for filmmakers who want to stay in the drama industry for a long time, it may be more important to adapt to the way dramas are filmed and find a balance between film and drama.
[Text/Kwai Chung]