Wen 丨 Park Garden
Jianbao dramas are undoubtedly the "upstarts" in the mainland drama market in recent years.
From the web drama "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau 1" and "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau 2" to the film version of "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau", the treasure hunting drama that integrates curiosity, fun and knowledge in one furnace has been constantly innovating, and has developed into a subdivision type that competes with tomb robbery dramas.
This time, the new film and television work of the big IP "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau" is the "List of Looted Treasures of the Antiques Bureau Central Bureau" (hereinafter referred to as the "Looted List").
On July 21, "List of Looted Treasures", adapted from Ma Boyong's novel of the same name, directed by Han Qing and starring Qu Chuxiao and Chen Yuqi, landed on Tencent Video. Unlike previous treasure hunting dramas, it boldly incorporates elements such as steampunk, blues tunes, and dynamic comics, presenting a completely different video style.
Recently, the screenwriters helped interview Han Qing, the chief screenwriter and director of "Looting List", to understand the front and back of the drama creation stage. "New concepts give new works, new elements present the new Republic, we want to do a different treasure drama," Han Qing said, "only by daring to take risks and try, art has endless possibilities."
Steampunk Republic of China
"Making culture clashes more extreme"
In Ma Boyong's "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau" sequence, the "Treasure Plunder List" is more like a "prequel" - if "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau 1" and "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau 2" are contemporary wishing stories, then "Treasure Plunder List" tells the duel between Xu Yicheng, the grandfather of the wish, and the old pilgrimage during the Republic of China.
Interestingly, the Loot list is a complete "remake" of the original book, and its genre innovation is refreshing.
The violent collision of the old and new worlds makes the Republic of China in the "Treasure Raid list" like the strange world in the movie "Tai Chi" - there is a pioneering attempt of steampunk, and Xu Yicheng in the play is like an inventor possessed, he will fly upside down, make hot air balloons, ride motorcycles, and indulge in various mechanical manufacturing and chemical experiments; there is the wonderful imagination of Frankenstein, and the Highland Pearl studying in Cambridge is full of curiosity about alien civilizations, dreaming of flying across the Atlantic Ocean one day in a hot air balloon. All these "new things" that were reasonable in the Republic of China period precipitated into the epochal background of the drama, laying the foundation for the new youth in the play to "open their eyes to see the world"; there is also a detailed depiction of the west wind and the east, Yaolai, Liu Yiming, and Huang Kewu are the "rich second generation" of the treasure industry in the Four-Nine Cities, and they are also loyal fans of baseball, and they fell in love with this fashionable sport in the early years of the Republic of China.
"We've seen the Republic of China in dresses, driving cars, and drinking coffee, but the Loot list wants to be more extreme." Han Qing said that the steampunk-style Republic of China has a deep foundation in reality. When the script was written, Han Qing and his friends did their homework, carefully examining that there was a baseball stadium near Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing, and Xu Yicheng's enthusiasm for "new gadgets" had also appeared in Beijing at that time.
What makes Han Qing pay more attention is that the innovation of video style should serve the character shaping and plot advancement. As a student of Tsinghua University and a descendant of the Five Pulses White Gate, Xu Yicheng seems to be born as a spokesman for the punk style of the Republic of China, "He is very interested in new ideas and new things, and he desperately wants to see what the outside world is like, and he and the city of Beijing where he is located can show the fierce conflict between the two cultures," Han Qing said.
Treasure hunting is high-tech
"'Palm eye' is more visual impact"
Like the tomb robbery drama, the treasure hunting drama itself has a strong hunting color. As Xu Yicheng said, behind every old object, there are thrilling stories of ordinary people.
How to present Ma Boyong's amazing "palm eyes" and "doukou" and other wonderful plots is an important creative problem that classic IP faces in film and television.
The answer given by the Loot List is not the same as in the past. It uses different styles of computer special effects to replace the treasure hunting plot of the previous "protagonist dictation" with a visual spectacle with a strong impact.
For example, in the first important treasure hunting scene in the opening chapter, Xu Yicheng found out the secret behind the "Gentleman's Chess". In order to present the treasure hunting process of the golden silk Nanmu chess pieces, the "Treasure Skimming List" uses miniature lenses to turn the seabed needle into a giant hook, so that the chess piece becomes the earth, the giant hook breaks the earth, and the jade in the chess piece finally appears. At the same time, the camera focuses on Xu Yicheng's sharp eyes, portrays the two-handed movements, and is supplemented by rapid editing and high-burning BGM, and the whole is in one go.
The same is Xu Yicheng Jianyu, in prince Long's palace, the "List of Plundered Treasures" is different. Yu Guanyin grew from small to large, growing a huge jade product, and Xu Yicheng looked up in a Sherlock Holmes appearance. In the smoke, the jade Guanyin resembles a huge statue of Jesus on Monte Cristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, solemn and full of ritual.
Why use computer special effects to illustrate the treasure hunting process? Han Qing said that the "List of Looted Treasures" is first of all a film and television product, to meet the audience's visual and conceptual impact, "the real identification is monotonous and tedious, but film and television works in order to pursue novelty, present aesthetic value, to do special consideration."
Han Qing told the screenwriters that in order to present the personality characteristics of different characters, each jianbao made a special setting for specific characters to present differentiated treatment. For example, Yao Shenxing is the top figure of Liuli Factory, when identifying porcelain, he uses freehand to describe his divine skills, and the porcelain identification skills mastered by Yao Shenxing are expressed in the form of "liquid", and the stunt effect of internal externalization highlights the god of his porcelain identification skills, and also echoes his status of "Taishan Beidou"; and the teenager Liu Yiming's identification of ancient paintings should highlight the hot blood characteristics of his young people, the visual creativity of "Song of Ice and Fire", implying that he completed nirvana and growth in the raging fire.
"The addition of RAP and comics is also a refreshing and even risky attempt, we want to shoot the Republic of China drama and treasure drama in another way", Han Qing said, "For example, the first episode used RAP to explain the background, because the past simple narration expression was powerless, after re-editing no less than 20 times, finally chose rap with a larger amount of information and a stronger sense of rhythm."
Jian Bao drama Xi Ti "Love Branch"
"Driving the plot with character growth"
The trendy "Treasure Raid list" also added a lot of emotional drama to the creation.
If the emotional drama of the previous "Antiques Bureau Central Bureau" series of works was "holding the pipa and half covering the face", there was always a green that wanted to say that he was still shy; then the love in the "Treasure Raid list" was the sweet interaction of "saying I love you out loud", and the emotions that went straight to the point were unexpected.
The emotional drama between Xu Yicheng and Hai Lanzhu almost runs through the whole process of treasure hunting and puzzle solving. For example, in order to avoid the chase of Hai Lanzhu's father, the two took a hot air balloon and overlooked the entire city of Beijing from the air, and the sunset plated the two with a wonderful layer of gold; in the Prince Long Palace to investigate the theft of the royal treasury, the two accidentally fell into the fire, and Xu Yicheng firmly picked up Hai Lanzhu and escaped from danger.
However, the light sugar "Treasure Skimming List" still triggered discussions among netizens, and some comments ridiculed that "the treasure drama has a 'love branch line'". In this regard, Han Qing hopes that the audience will not watch long dramas with the mentality of chasing short dramas, "If there is only a volume of 12 episodes, there may only be high-energy plots and no character shaping; but in the 40-episode long drama, it is inevitable to write about character emotional dramas to promote the growth of characters."
Han Qing stressed that the depiction of character emotional drama is a must, just like "The Legend of the Archery Hero" "will not talk about how to bend the bow and shoot the big eagle in the first episode", "Treasure Raid list" also needs to "use character growth to drive the plot direction". He said that Xu Yicheng is both the protagonist and the epitome of the young people of the Republic of China era, using him as a clue to "tell the fate of the Qing Dynasty, the future direction of China, and the pursuit and yearning of each individual for dreams and freedom."
For the emotional drama between the characters, Han Qing also hopes that netizens will not stick to love, "In addition to love, family affection and friendship, the "Treasure Raiding List" also tells patriotic feelings, such as Xu Yicheng and the five pulses of the "three small ones" Yaolai, Liu Yiming, Huang Kewu, from the beginning of the sunshine, to the end for the great righteousness of the family and the country can even sacrifice their lives, the transformation of this kind of character is more worthy of our attention."
Xu Yicheng transformed into a handsome teenager
"Artistic creation must dare to take risks forever"
For Han Qing, adapting Ma Boyong's well-known IP works will always face different voices, but from the perspective of artistic creation, it is necessary to make innovations.
From the word medium to film and television art, the "Treasure Raid list" has to make a breakthrough, after all, the original novel with a total word count of 200,000 words is not "abundant" to be converted into 40 episodes. To this end, Han Qing retained the classic plots and main clues in the original novel, such as Huang Xuanfeng, Junzi Chess, and The Theft of Tanglin, but at the same time made drastic changes.
Xu Yicheng's character setting is one of the biggest changes. In the original novel, Xu Yicheng is a steady and elegant middle-aged man; in the film and television adaptation, Xu Yicheng is a hot-blooded, talented, and a little cynical and deviant young man.
Han Qing said that in order to present colorful group portraits of wumai, old chaofeng, camel gang, prince Long and so on, he and the creative team made full character profiles for each character. "For example, Prince Long is the representative of the old man of the former dynasty, he is a conservative and feudal force, because he has always lived in the past, with a strong sense of absurdity and comedy; the bandit warlord who digs the tomb is based on Sun Dianying as a reference to show the characteristics of bandits and warlords; even Xu Yicheng and Hai Lanzhu's wonton sister-in-law who eats supper at night have arranged a special 'character biography' to tell the story of her ups and downs behind her life."
"Looking back, the innovation in the script creation of "Treasure Raid list" is more about story advancement and character growth." Han Qing said frankly: "Whether it is the use of English songs or RAP, it is a new idea in the continuous creation. The interesting thing about creation lies in the collision of different art at different times and places, and these cannot be set. All these possibilities are unpredictable, and I can only say that if you dare to take risks and dare to try, there are endless possibilities. ”
And this is also the original intention of Han Qing when he created the "Treasure Plunder List", "In terms of creation, the unknown place may be a trap, perhaps a beast, but perhaps a paradise of Shangri-La." ”
Editor-in-charge | Fire Baby