Author | Stir-fried hawthorn in sugar
Compared with the popular "hot start" of costume dramas, "Cherish the Flowers" seems to be a little "slow".
Half a month after the broadcast, nearly two-thirds of the plot, the show exceeded 10,000 popularity on Youku, and on the same day, it topped the list of feature films on the whole network of Lighthouse. Since then, the momentum has been high, not only stabilizing the TOP1 position for many consecutive days, but also winning the TOP1 of the April drama episodes. In Yunhe Rating, this drama has also achieved an "upgrade" from the first broadcast of A-level to S-level and finally S+.
From the "not optimistic" under the "big flow" drama in March and April, to the upward curve that has been steadily walked out, "Cherish the Flowers" is the "counterattack ontology" in the hearts of many drama fans. As a loyal audience of "Zhi Zheng Zhi", the entertainment unicorn understands the "gold content" behind this curve too well: excellent plot strength and character building ability.
On social platforms such as Weibo, we can also find all kinds of "tap water" that continue to run for "Cherish the Flowers". Some people praise the "intellectual love" of the male and female protagonists: they don't forcibly sprinkle sugar or get tired of being crooked, they just take time to talk about love in addition to their respective careers;
Some people are amazed by the group portrait shaping in the play, and even many viewers shouted for the love line between grandmother and grandfather, the best friend line between grandmother and the queen mother, and the love line between the fourth uncle and the fourth aunt...... has seen a lot of scenes of supporting characters flipping the table, and the group scene where all the members are on the table is really refreshing and good-looking. Of course, there are also people who brush the barrage of "Fengshen" at the high-energy scene where business and power conspiracy converge, and some people fall in love with the oriental aesthetics in the play......
This is the preciousness of "Cherish the Flowers": we don't need to frame it with a so-called concept, the rise of the down-and-out daughter, the house fight and farming, or the more common ancient puppet love, power struggle, are only one side, it is more in a narrator to tell the story, everyone, everything, and even every scene prop is in the story, and the rest is handed over to the audience.
How to tell a complicated story?
About three years ago, Yan Bei saw the novel "Cherish the Flowers" for the first time, and the producer's keen sense of smell made her immediately make a judgment: the story base is very good, the human background and group portrait are excellent, and as a family drama, it also has its own novelty, not a traditional house fight, but "although everyone has their own selfishness, they also support each other in times of difficulty, and can twist into a rope to save themselves from the whirlpool."
The story of "Cherish the Flowers" is a typical "beginning of the collapse": the Qing Gui court was once raided, and the men were exiled, leaving only a family full of women and children, and their livelihood became a problem. How to get out of the predicament after raiding the house is the most important point of the TV series. But the practical difficulty is: in the setting of the original work, the heroine Hua Zhi came through time, and it also laid the tone of the heroine of the whole text, but in the film and television, this point must be avoided.
The opening of the drama version adds a slightly dramatic scene: the young Hua Zhi climbs on the sail of the ship in the bumpy waves and lowers the sail. Such a setting not only makes the character highlight, but more importantly, lays out her growth environment, highlights the character, and also lays the foundation for her to lead the Hua family out of the predicament later: since she was a child, she has traveled with her grandfather, and her experience and knowledge reserve have determined that she is different from ordinary women in the boudoir.
This is obviously only the smallest test of the film and television of "Cherish the Flowers", and the real difficulty is that this story is not easy to tell, especially the multi-line parallel narrative structure, complex character relationships and emotions. Yan Bei aimed at the director Zhu Ruibin and screenwriter who had cooperated with "Long Song Xing".
"I need an excellent soul character to tell this story well", although the market's perception of director Zhu Ruibin is mainly about the theme of Xianxia, Yan Bei is interested in his ability to tell stories and tell emotions. She also believes that when faced with a genre that has not been touched before, the director will put more enthusiasm and greater interest into making it well.
As for the screenwriter, after "Long Song Xing", Yan Bei has been looking for the possibility of working with him again, "Generally, when we see a book that we think is good, we will show it to her and ask her if she is interested", "Cherish the Flowers" made the two sides hit it off.
The scene of "Fengshen" in the play can intuitively glimpse the power of this group of partners. Downstairs is the showdown between the Hua family and the white shopkeeper for the management of the restaurant, upstairs is the confrontation between Gu Yanxi and King Xian, what really makes the atmosphere full is that this is a "double father and son" showdown, the chef representative is Fu Dong and his father who once abandoned him, King Xian's seizure of power is aimed at his father who is the emperor, a sentence "I am happy when I lose as a father", saying that others are also myself.
Yan Bei also reviewed the "completion" of this scene with the screenwriter after the broadcast of the play. From the perspective of script creation, this scene has been foreshadowed for at least three episodes, including the line of the Six Princes, the line of Fudong and his father, the line of Gu Yanxi and the emperor, the line of Gu Yanxi and King Xian, including the line of Hua Zhi and the white shopkeeper, and the line of Hua Zhi and Gu Yanxi, all of which are steadily advancing in the early stage, and when everything comes together, such a plot climax will be ushered in.
The director also contributed a lot. is not only the tense atmosphere, but the transition of the camera can be called silky: the "sharpening knife Huohuo" downstairs turns to the upstairs with a touch, and the clean and neat knife technique of the winter is seamlessly connected to the cleaning scene of the Seven Houses Division cleaning up King Xian, borrowing the words of the people in the play, it is "the master makes a move, the sword light and sword shadow", which is another metaphor. According to Yan Bei, the details and props were also designed and prepared by the director in advance.
Of course, it is not enough for a drama to only have highlight scenes, the most fundamental thing is how to tell a good story. Putting the court line, business line, family line, love line, farming and other elements in the play in front of him one by one, Yan Bei's answer was simpler: "Our entry point is that the Hua family is copied, then everyone will naturally pay attention to the 'person who copied the house' and the 'person who was copied from the house', and the development of the story will naturally be laid out." ”
"If you write about the court's conspiracy and the high-ranking daughters in business at the beginning, the audience may not be able to bring it in, but when you really get in touch with these many characters, understand their past and present, and when these thousands of lines finally converge, the conflict will naturally be more extreme and intense", which actually explains the key to the "late strike" of "Cherish the Flowers".
"Zhi Zheng Dynasty Pity": The correct way to open the domestic ancient puppet CP?
When Gu Yanxi confessed to Hua Zhi his identity as the prince of Ling Wang and the envoy of the Seven Residences, the barrage was full of emotion of "this male protagonist has a long mouth", and in the face of Hua Zhi's confession of "I don't hate you", the barrage was once again covered by terms like "calm and rational". In this way, none of the wife-chasing crematoriums predicted by the audience did not arrive.
is not only the anti-routine plot that is eye-catching, but the characters of the male and female protagonists are also firmly established, and the ancient puppet "intellectual sexuality" has a new ceiling. In Yan Bei's view, script creation is the forefront of film and television, so we must take into account the time difference between the actual broadcast of the series, the changes in public aesthetics, and the fatigue of popular routines, "You can't confirm the audience's reaction with the old standard."
To put it simply, it is to "make new changes based on the logic and characteristics of the characters". Hua Zhi and Gu Yanxi, who are "long-mouthed", have the ability to make independent judgments, and have their own independent career lines, can be said to have perfectly avoided the minefield of the male and female protagonists of costume dramas in recent years, and are more in line with the aesthetic preferences of the current audience, and the relationship between the two people who always redeem each other and go both ways is also different from industrial saccharin, full of intellectual beauty.
There are also many people on Weibo who praise the emotional concept of "fighting for the future": "I am not stuck in whether we can be together, but I see the beautiful qualities of each other as independent people." The relationship between men and women is not only love, not limited to jealous drama, but also respect and appreciation. ”
Aside from these "most obvious advantages", Hua Zhi and Gu Yanxi's visibility as independent individuals is also extremely strong. Hua Zhi's most attractive entertainment unicorn is the process of "entering the WTO" she is experiencing: she is a noble girl, but before she was raided, she was obviously immersed in her own spiritual world, she has the vision of "I was not born in the boudoir", but she is also actively "isolating" everything, refusing to have deeper emotional ties with people other than her grandfather.
When the Hua family was raided, and the old and weak women and children were deceived of their property, Hua Zhi no longer hid and came forward. This process is naturally twists and turns: she played many games with the third aunt of the original ruler, and was also scolded by the rod because of her mother and second aunt's hidden money...... Only when the bond becomes deeper and deeper, can she truly become a member of this family, and gradually become the real head of the flower family and the "confidence" in everyone's hearts.
But this is not a cool article that is divorced from reality, Hua Zhi's growth did not cross the background of imperial power at that time, especially the "oppression" from imperial power in the recent plot, the emperor's high and indifferent turn to become a knife that fell on other people's heads, and also placed the growth of characters in a grander era background and business scene. When individual choices and difficulties in people's livelihood are placed in front of the characters, growth has a stronger sense of landing and a stronger oriental charm.
In the shaping of Gu Yanxi, Yan Bei emphasizes novelty and anti-routine, but also values the "things that follow the true colors of human nature" in the characters. In the latest broadcast of the plot, Gu Yanxi's sense of contradiction is gradually revealed, especially in the face of the imperial uncle who has given him family warmth since he was a child, even if the other party's request goes against his own heart, he can't completely refuse, and can only become his "knife" to kill. This is the humanity of the characters, and it also takes a process to grow.
Of course, the success of character creation is inseparable from the accurate interpretation of actors. Yan Bei has her own methodology in choosing actors, and she is not particularly anxious to talk about characters with actors, but pays attention to whether the actors have the characteristics of the characters and whether they can bring the audience the feeling of "unity of people and dramas". It's like Hu Yitian's lack of words, cold temperament, and the habit of fitness and boxing. Zhang Jingyi and Hua Zhi are most compatible with each other in that they are very assertive, and they will stick to moving forward on the road of choice.
"Female Farming 101": a triumph of "adventure" creation
The best part of "Cherish the Flowers" must be the group portrait portrayal, but Yan Bei also admitted that this is a bit of an "adventurous" creation.
"The usual script writing must be closely around the male and female protagonists, and although our characters are tightly screwed together, they do write a lot of people. This is a very test for both the director and the screenwriter, that is, how to tell everyone vividly when the drama structure is compact enough and the play is good-looking, even if it is a few strokes, the audience can remember it. ”
At the beginning of the story, the scene of the flower house girl watching the play in "Cherish the Flowers" not only made the image of a noble family full of flowers and cooking oil with fire a more intuitive feeling, but also made all the characters appear on the stage, with clear "levels" and distinct personalities, which were praised by netizens as "having the immediate sense of the Dream of Red Mansions", especially the third aunt played by Myolie Wu, who is quite like the feeling of Wang Xifeng in the flower house version.
As the story progresses and more and more characters appear, it really tests the crew's ability in group portrait portrayal. The first thing is to accurately grasp the personality traits of the characters and create vivid characters instead of faces.
A family of women and children, grandmother in the face of sudden changes has become the needle in the hearts of everyone, showing the experience and vision of a noble girl; Hua Zhi's mother is timid and afraid of things, taking her husband as the key link, and even chose to commit suicide at the beginning of the house; the second aunt revolves around her son every day, and as soon as she encounters her son's affairs, she activates an "excessive defense mechanism", or even "can't carry it clearly"; the third aunt is a businessman, and she seems to be exquisite, but in fact there are hardships inside; and the fourth aunt is a gentle and petty delicate girl.
This is also the key to why all the characters appear on the stage and there are many group shots, but the audience is not "face blind" in the drama. But if you only stay at this level, you will inevitably become a "tool man".
"We want a real group drama, where every character (who appears for a long or short time) is long, and we want to show the growth, transformation and highlights of the characters as much as possible. She may not be a continuous plot like the main character, but the fragmentary plot must also be that this person is changing, and it is getting better and better", Yan Bei emphasized. In short, the second point is that group portraits also need to grow.
Hua Zhi's mother can also run for her daughter after the accident and become a strong backing for her daughter; the second aunt finally chose to reconcile with Aunt Qin, so that her son can have the love of two mothers; the third aunt and Hua Zhi have experienced the process from contention to reconciliation; the fourth aunt has raised her daughter strongly; including Hua Ling, Hua Rong, Hua Qin, etc., have undergone transformation in the whole story.
The TV series also fills the side plots for the group characters, making the characters grow more full. For example, the grandmother's love line and friendship line. The serious patriarch of the Hua family was also a free and easy woman who galloped on a horse, with the courage and beauty of falling in love with a poor boy, and the purity of leaving behind the mortal world to gently protect a girl's friendship. And when the grandfather saw the hairpin on Hua Zhi's head, he directly guessed the death of his grandmother, which also made the deep affection between the two young people and stay together for a lifetime have a more intuitive expression.
The love line between the fourth uncle and the fourth aunt also responded to the emotions of the fourth aunt with high sweetness when the fourth uncle named his daughter "kite". Around the fourth uncle is also the family line with Hua Zhi, the fourth uncle buried the eighteen altars of daughter red after Hua Zhi was born, so that Hua Zhi's "lost" father-daughter relationship has made up for it, and also saved the Hua family in danger, Hua Zhi took care of his wife and daughter for the fourth uncle, and also buried eighteen altars of daughter red for Hua Kite. Family affection is concretized at this moment, and it is more "coming and going".
The third point is that old drama bones and powerful actors make character group portraits. Myolie Wu's relaxed and outgoing performance portrays a rather novel character in a costume drama, Liu Jia's grandmother has earned many people's tears, and Zhang Jingyi also admitted that her confrontation with her "has no feeling of acting." She is my grandmother, and the two of us naturally talk about things in life, which is very comfortable and natural."
How is the "Life Stream" costume drama made?
It is worth noting that the story that revolves around the flower house does not have the life-and-death struggle for power and profit in the traditional house fighting drama, but is cordial like a family in our lives, with noisy quarrels and trivial trivialities.
The so-called "life flow" costume drama is just a group of people who are obsessed with the beauty of one vegetable and one meal, and the noisy and noisy little days of the family, and the hearts of the people will condense into a rope in times of crisis, and they will also give birth to selfishness when they are rich and prosperous, but in the end they will get closer step by step. This is probably the reason why this drama has always pulled the audience's mind.
In order to strengthen this "sense of life", "Cherish the Flowers" has also put a lot of effort into the production. The most typical, with the women and children of the Hua family in the play as the main line, from the flowery high-ranking dignitaries, to the destitute survival after being raided, and then to the later businessmen, many of these changes also need to be shown in the production.
In terms of clothing modeling, Hua Zhi's personality determines that she wears braids all the year round, and her clothes are neat and neat, not as delicate and exquisite as other sisters in the boudoir, others such as the third aunt have a flamboyant personality, and the clothes are mainly bright colors, the second aunt is traditional and quiet, and the clothes are pure and elegant. For another example, the daughter of the Hua family, who was raided and "robbed", wore cloth clothes and a cloth bag on her head, until the business gradually improved, and the clothes and headdresses on her body gradually increased.
In terms of scene props, the newly appeared flower house is extremely exquisite from the pavilions and pavilions, carved dragon and painted buildings, and the purple fence house where the grandmother lived after the raid is the place where the mountains and rivers are located on the outskirts of the city, and the pavilion blowing through the hall is a visual feeling, which is a summer leisure place in the middle of summer when it is prosperous, and it looks desolate in the cold weather after the downfall. The new flower house that was moved to later was a transitional stage between the two, and the scale of the building was not as good as the old flower house.
According to Yan Bei, the purple fence residence was built by the crew in four months, mainly considering that Hengdian is dominated by palace system and family mansion architecture, and it is difficult to accurately highlight the state of the characters after their homes are raided.
The landing of "life flow" also lies in how to "restore" a real life scene close to the background of the times. It is understood that the props in the play, including lantern patterns, tea sets, porcelain, etc., are all made according to the records of ancient books and paintings, and the buns, hairpins, and velvet flowers on the women's heads are also made with reference to the background of the Song Dynasty and after consulting a large number of historical materials, including some non-genetic inheritance.
In the latest broadcast of the plot, Shen Erlang came to work in the famous building after being copied from the Shen family, and the running clothes he wore and the patterns of the hat on his head were also made after restoring the wearing characteristics of the corresponding industry at that time. According to Yan Bei, there are as many as 600 sets of costumes for the protagonists in the whole play.
At this point, we can also get a glimpse of some of the ways to break through the content of "Cherish the Flowers": whether it is storytelling, character building, group portrait shaping, or oriental aesthetics, this drama is advancing in a "double-line" way, in short, it can not only give the audience a sense of surprise with highlight moments and clever settings, but also always stick to its original intention, polish it carefully and steadfastly, and retain the audience with good stories, good emotions, and good characters.
After all, who can refuse a good story full of surprises? This spring, not only Hua Zhi, Gu Yanxi and other characters penetrate the text to become more vivid film and television images, but "Cherish Hua Zhi" has also brought an immersive show to countless audiences, and those eloquent life truths, speculation about family love, and thinking about how to practice life goals will also slowly turn into the spiritual energy of the audience who follow the drama, moisturizing things silently.
Finally, based on the market, the path of success of "Cherish the Flowers" with content will also boost market confidence again, so that those who insist on doing a good job in stories and good content will go on more firmly.