Author|工也
Within 24 hours of its launch, the number of views on Douyin was 50 million, and the recharge exceeded 10 million.
One week after its launch, it still occupies a place on the daily list of DataEye's hot list, and its total calorific value (reference number of consumption value) has exceeded 36 million (as of April 11).
In the short drama circle in early April, "Deep House Advanced Record", produced by the traditional film and television company Ningmeng Pictures and the new short drama head Kyushu short drama, broke out of the encirclement and became the most talked about hit drama in recent times.
Its overall structure and character design are highly similar to last year's revenge short drama "Black Lotus Upper Position Manual", replacing the palace fight with a house fight, and taking revenge for the mother into revenge for the sister. Its heroine is Ma Qiuyuan, the heroine of "Black Lotus", and the male protagonist is played by Su Yuanhe, the male protagonist of "I Was a Stepmother in the 80s", and its big actor Chen Huiyi once played the queen in "Black Lotus". Although the main prosecution is different, it is reported that the behind-the-scenes filming team is also quite overlapping.
Following the framework of popular dramas + gathering the leading actors of the two popular dramas, it can be said that the topics in the short drama circle have been included in "Deep House". The popularity and out-of-the-circle of "Deep House" are self-evident. In addition, the play is produced by the short drama label "Good Ability" under Ningmeng Pictures and Kyushu Short Drama. Gathering many tags, it is not difficult to see the reason for the show's popularity:
1. Following the framework of "Black Lotus" and "The Red Lantern Hangs High", referring to "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Yanxi Raiders", emphasizing women's revenge and intrigue, the plot is high-energy, and the emotional value is full.
2. A total of 80 episodes, each episode is 1~2 minutes, an average of 10 episodes kill one person, and the plot is compact.
3. The lineup is eye-catching, and the popular drama has become one of the biggest signboards of the show.
4. The starring Ma Qiuyuan's acting skills are online, and the overall actor's performance is qualified.
5. The production is excellent, the lens language is aligned with the long drama, the audio-visual language is rich, and the service is exquisite.
In this issue of "Demolition Short Drama" column, by dismantling the structure and cool points of "Deep House Advanced Record", let's take a look at the reasons for the popularity and development prospects of Gong Dou/House Fight revenge dramas.
In previous issues, please also click to read:
1, 18 tips for this week's short drama hits: family dramas fight tear-jerking, revenge dramas are darker than dark, counterattack + cute babies show magical powers
2, 18 tricks to reveal the secret of this week's short drama hit password: female frequency volume theme, male frequency volume production, love comprehensive tricks
3, the single-day popularity fault is the first, all because of music infringement?|Demolition drama "Divorce Diva Concert at the Beginning, Please Make My Debut"
4. 20 conclusions, decoding the secrets of last week's Top 10 popular short dramas
5, the rise of the female frequency + family track, the integration of male and female frequency is obvious|The secret of this week's popular short drama
Ten minutes to determine life and death, and the opening reversal three times set up a double-faced character
Just as movies attract audiences with their high concepts, long dramas stabilize the basic ratings with their core settings, and fast-paced short dramas naturally rely on the first ten minutes of the opening to predetermine their explosive potential.
"Deep House Advancement" is no exception. The main line is that in order to avenge her sister, the heroine joined the Xu Mansion as the first Qing Qi of the Red Mansion, determined to persecute and take revenge on the four aunts who were the culprits of the year one by one according to the seniority from low to high, and gradually ascended to the throne. It is not difficult to imagine that the overall plot begins with the heroine defeating an aunt, and finally achieves advancement. The cyclic plot of the house fight upgrade is prone to high repetition of the plot in the later stage. And the key to the show's success lies in setting up a painful and refreshing dramatic framework and mode in the first twelve episodes of the show.
In the first and second episodes, the heroine's motivation is set up and the overall background of the whole drama is laid. The heroine Gu Qingyi married into the Xu Mansion in order to help her sister Gu Wanting avenge her. Seven years ago, she witnessed her sister who married into the Xu Mansion being persecuted to death by the aunts of the Xu Mansion. The heroine silently clutches the token she is going to exchange with her sister and buries the seeds of revenge.
Episodes 3 to 5, encountering difficulties, are intended to show that the heroine goes deep into the tiger's den and makes the right and opposition clear. The heroine who entered the door met the "big gifts" given by the ladies of each room, which were actually all bad luck. The heroine who endured the humiliation and burdens was recruited in full, and was forced to return the salute and dance in the rain. In the first encounter, the heroine conceded a pawn and lost at the beginning, but it was also the opponent's last victory.
From episodes six to eight, the conspiracy and scheming officially kicked off, and the heroine fought back and started the road to advancement in Xufu. The heroine gave up the opportunity to light the lamp and bed on the wedding night, and deliberately set up a bureau to give up to the four rooms, and ate the pampered and proud four rooms, and if she was careless in her words and deeds, she would definitely ruin her image in front of the master. The heroine takes retreat as advance and takes a step forward in the dark.
In episodes 9 to 11, the heroine pursued the victory, went to the bright place, and set up a "pure" character. She challenged the chess game laid by the master, which attracted the latter's attention and favor, but refused to be lit by the master and conceded a chess game again. The odds are delayed in order to be able to set up another game.
The twelfth episode, which is also a card point paid set, is stuck when the heroine closes the net. The heroine confessed her own situation to Sifang, which angered Sifang to be rude. At the end, the old man paid a return visit and saw the poor and weak heroine after being slapped in the fourth room. The number of free episodes stayed before the cool point was opened, and after that, the heroine grabbed the master and gave the four rooms a horse.
Three retreats and two advances, the whole play ushered in the first small climax, and it was also the eve of the first victory of the "Fighting Four Rooms" chapter. In the first twelve episodes, the heroine said the core golden sentence of the whole play: "What I am best at is not harming women, but taking care of men";
1. The rhythm is tight, three retreats and two advances, and a reversal node is set for every two episodes.
2. The heroine's victory is constantly delayed, and she uses retreat to create the illusion of "eating deflated", which brings pain. The cool point of victory came when a pause was taken before and the hook was smoothly set.
3. The most important thing is to lay the heroine's "Black Lotus"-style double-faced personality: on one side is a pure lotus, and on the other side is a scheming poisonous woman. The motive is established first, which also brings legitimacy to the blackening of the heroine.
Why has Gong Dou/House Fight become a hit repeatedly?
Slapping, kneeling, pouring wine, from "Black Lotus Upper Manual" to "Deep House Advanced Record", why have the short dramas of Gong Dou or House Dou repeatedly become hits, attracting tens of millions of recharges?
The explosion of the theme of palace fighting can be traced back to national dramas such as "Golden Branch Desire", "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Yanxi Raiders". Zhuyu is in front, and the palace fight/house fight short drama, what to do is to purify the long drama, delete the complex vines of the branches, and peel off its most cool and exciting part, that is, revenge upgrade.
"Black Lotus" and "Deep House", which are highly similar in structure and character plot, are actually inherited from the above classic dramas, and can also be simplified into a revenge + upgrade routine: the heroine slashes the enemy while getting rid of dissidents, and at the same time ascends to the top. It can be said that they pull the two cool points of the short drama to the extreme: counterattack and slap in the face and climb to the top. This has also become the invincible and self-respecting "God of War" in the women's frequency track.
They are better and cooler than ordinary counterattack dramas or upgrade dramas, because there is an intensification of revenge motives, which makes them appeal more to the audience's emotions. The strong emotions of the tragic past and present can make up for the coherence of the narrative, cover up the illogic of the plot, and make the overall plot more ruthless and fierce. Just like the former in which the heroine whips her own hand-bladed mother, which is the best example.
Compared with the former, the strength of "Deep House" has been lightened, and the cool point of the enemy is still there, but the bloodiness in the means has been reduced. The heroine faced only four rooms in person, and she was forced to hang herself, and there were no cruel pictures such as "whipping with her own hands" and "disfigurement of fire coals", which avoided the minefield to a certain extent, but it can also bring a sense of coolness.
The revenge drama satisfies the audience's catharsis and conforms to the audience's viewing habits since the time of "Golden Branches". But they are also a hot potato, and with high returns comes high risk.
For one, there are risks associated with episodes with such themes. is like the takedown of "Black Lotus".
As the regulatory review of short dramas becomes more and more stringent, the palace fight/house fight revenge drama is facing a dilemma: because its cool points and pain points rely heavily on "extremity". On the one hand, it is inseparable from the decaying hierarchy as an extreme situation, creating pain points with the evil of human nature in the feudal order. On the other hand, the extreme psychology of dark revenge is the biggest cool point of this type of drama. So, how to soften the "extremity" and how to downplay the violence and blood, so as not to step on the line, has become a major problem in the revenge drama of Gong Dou/House Fight.
Second, such dramas also face the dilemma of homogenization. Set up a trap to frame + replace the intrigue mode of the upper position, and you can't escape the Dafa of poisonous alcohol, witch villain, blood confession, fake pregnancy and real cheating, etc. The later the plot develops, the more cookie-cutter it becomes.
As a latecomer, "Deep House Advanced Record", when faced with dual problems, it made a certain upgrade.
The focus of the criticism of the previous work is that the heroine disregards humanity and kills her father, stepmother, and sister, and the object of revenge is her family. But in "Advanced Record of the Deep House", the heroine kills enemies who are not related by blood, and the audience has a higher degree of acceptance.
In the second half of the plot, after the heroine took revenge on several aunts, she successfully sat on the position of the main mother, but found that the real persecutor was the master of the Xu family. It was the old man's casual bullying of the maid that led to the tragedy of his sister. And the ultimate revenge points to the attack on patriarchy and the feudal order.
In the last episode, the heroine became the "one who ignited the fire", got rid of the master, and burned the Xu family's old house with her own hands. This also sublimates the whole drama to the meaning of resisting feudal injustice and pursuing freedom, which raises the pattern of revenge dramas to a certain extent, and at the same time offsets the vicious and unscrupulous values in personal revenge. However, this shift in the emphasis on justice has limited foreshadowing, and it seems that the emotions are not coherent and sleek enough.
It is undeniable that such a theme change has successfully transformed the play from a revenge drama to a positive energy drama about women's liberation and criticizing feudal society. In the early stage, the heroine's emotions have legitimacy, and in the later stage, revenge has justice, and the audience is more comfortable watching it universally.
When traditional companies enter the game, the production is upgraded, and the "integration of long and short" is carried out
"Deep House Advanced Record" also has an important identity label, that is, the entry of traditional film and television companies into the short drama.
The play is from the hand of the "Good Ability" short drama label under Ningmeng Pictures. In the ranks of traditional film and television companies, their performance in the short drama track is more prominent. Especially last year, according to its 23-year annual report, the total revenue of the short drama sector reached 8.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 12 times, while the gross profit increased 17 times year-on-year. It can be seen that they gained momentum in skits last year.
From Ningmeng Pictures' 2023 annual report
The strong entry of the regular army has also integrated into the torrent of high-quality short dramas today, and has continuously improved the standard of production. Just like this "Deep House Advanced Record", the hardware such as the costume is quite exquisite, and the casting acting skills are also avoided, and the overall production is well-made. In terms of lens language, it is relatively exquisite.
Due to the limitations of vertical screen shooting methods and filming cycles, the lens language of mainstream short dramas pays attention to rapidity, impact and directness. Rapid pushing, pulling, and panning have long been commonplace, and the editing also emphasizes the impact of jams, in order to constantly attract the audience's attention through overwhelming image changes.
Relatively speaking, the lens language of the play is more aligned with the long drama. is not to directly give the actor a close-up of the front and let the lines drive the editing. The play is more inclined to the performance of traditional film and television dramas, and many passages follow the transition law of the shot, and a panoramic set shot will be given to explain the scene.
Another example is the shift in focus of the lens, which shifts with the gaze of the characters, more to explain the relationship between the characters in the scene, rather than to render strong emotions. On the whole, it brings a different texture to the whole play.
The lens language of long dramas, coupled with the content given directly, has gradually shown a trend of "blending long and short". With the entry of more professional teams, this has also become the direction of self-renewal of short dramas, and they are constantly moving towards the high-quality route.
Overall, as a popular drama series with a high demand in April, "Deep House Advancement" can be called a success, perhaps this can also be said to be the success of the "Black Lotus" effect. It is precisely because "Black Lotus" has opened up a cool drama mode of palace fighting revenge that "Deep House" is possible.
Based on the framework of the hit short drama, it is then transformed and polished. Such a popular drama generation model is effective, but it is also difficult to reuse. As the business opportunities of the palace fight/house fight revenge drama continue to be realized, the old plot mode will eventually be exhausted and will not be able to bring freshness. Only by continuing to update the genre and breaking through the trap of revenge dramas can we truly become "Black Lotus 2.0" and create another explosive miracle.