"Tang Dynasty Legends: Westward Journey" was launched on July 18, thanks to the popularity of the previous work, the drama aroused heated discussions among the audience as soon as it was broadcast; "Sauvignon Blanc Season 2" was launched on July 8 and won the first place on multiple platforms in the first week of airborne; The just-concluded "Du Hua Nian" is very popular, becoming Youku's 5th popular drama series in 2024, and among the first 4 popular dramas, 3 are all ancient costumes, namely "Flower Order", "Cherish Flowers" and "Ink Rain and Clouds".
According to the list of "Top 20 On-Demand Broadcasts in H1 (First Half of 2024)" released by Kuyun Digital Entertainment on July 3, costume dramas were frequently produced in the first half of the year, and the results were gratifying. "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2", "Walking with the Phoenix" and "Between the Ink Rain and Clouds" are among the top three, highlighting the popularity of costume dramas in the drama market. As an important category in the drama market, costume dramas, which were once in a bottleneck, have recovered significantly in recent years, not only with frequent hits, setting off a boom in watching dramas, but also with many works shortlisted for this year's Magnolia Award. In the drama market with deepening genre and increasingly fierce competition, how costume dramas can innovate and break through, and how to achieve wide dissemination while gaining recognition, have become the focus of attention in the industry.
The formula for the popularity of costume dramas
Beacon data shows that in the first half of 2024, a total of 149 dramas will be effectively played, a decrease of 12 from 161 in the same period last year, but the cumulative number of feature films will increase by 35.1% against the trend, and the average number of plays will increase by 97 million. The broadcast performance of Shangxing dramas on online platforms is also excellent, with a growth rate of 38.8%, and the effect of Taiwan-network linkage is remarkable. In the first half of 2024, among the TOP10 TV drama feature films broadcast volume, "Celebrating More Than Years Season 2" and "Walking with the Phoenix" ranked first and second. Among the TOP10 online dramas feature film playback, "Between the Ink Rain Clouds" topped the list, with a cumulative feature film playback of more than 2.3 billion; "Cherish the Flowers" and "Flower Order", which were also broadcast on Youku, ranked second and third respectively.
Zheng Zhongli summarized the creative experience of "Walking with the Phoenix", and Zheng Zhongli, the producer of Xinli TV and "Walking with the Phoenix" under China Literature Group, said that the work needs good characters, good topics and good stories to get out of the circle. The choice of actors should give the audience a sense of substitution, and some viewers said that Shen Li played by Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin acted as if they really existed in parallel time and space. At the same time, the main creative team must be fully prepared, and the matching music, high-burning special effects and other details must be tacitly coordinated.
As a well-known label focusing on the costume film and television track and deeply cultivating national style works, Huanyu Film and Television has successively launched the "Palace" series, "The Legend of Lu Zhen", "Yanxi Raiders", "Sideburns Are Not Begonia Red", "Shangshi", "Heirloom", "For the Dark Fragrance" and other costume dramas since its establishment 12 years ago. The main creative team of the summer "costume dark horse" "Ink Rain Clouds" is also from the entertainment department. It took only 2 days for the show to break 10,000 in popularity since its launch, and it is the fastest drama on the Youku platform to break 10,000 since the beginning of 2024. Yang Le, co-founder and general manager of Huanyu Film and Television, summarized the creation experience of popular costume dramas as a benign ecology-driven Huanyu Film and Television creation methodology formed by the three major driving forces of "content empathy", "talent symbiosis" and "channel co-creation". "The first appearance of a hit is to get out of the circle, and strong topic dramas must be built on strong content empathy." Yang Le introduced that "Between the Ink Rain and Clouds" was ridiculed by netizens as a "mammary-friendly" decompression drama, and the public felt infinite joy in the process of the heroine overcoming many difficulties and regaining her rights step by step with her own strength and ingenuity, and had a strong resonance with the growth of the characters. In addition, near the end of the story, the main creative team of Huanyu Film and Television actively responded to the audience's voice, quickly gathered the director, screenwriter and other original team members, and rushed to work on the MV overnight to meet the needs of the audience.
Ma Shishi, one of the screenwriters and directors of "Ink Rain Clouds" and the contracted director of Huanyu Film and Television, reviewed the creative experience of "Ink Rain Clouds" from three aspects: in terms of script, he used short drama thinking to develop long dramas, combined with the advantages of screenwriters in different fields to highlight strong plots, big conflicts, and multiple reversals, and created three-dimensional characters on this basis; In terms of shooting, it is inseparable from the topical sense of the picture, and it is also necessary to form a strong tension through audio-visual language to capture the audience; In casting, it is necessary to clarify the acting skills and character shaping ability of the actors. "The combination of the three aspects, plus some luck, can make a hit."
Xie Ying, vice president of Youku, said that Youku's formula for popular costume dramas is different from the traditional "big IP + traffic actors + high investment in publicity and distribution", but "good story + strong creative team + actor adaptation". "Good stories come first. Youku's selection of IP is not based on how loud the IP is and how good the data is, so it pays a high premium to buy it; Cultivating growing IP is a path chosen by Youku. Xie Ying introduced that so far, Youku has cultivated a number of growth IPs such as "Long Moon Embers", "Sito" and "Cherish Flowers". Among them, Youku's "Long Moon Embers" is the first film and television work of the original author Fuji Luo Weizhi. At the same time, many of the author's works are being put into film and television production on Youku, including "Turbid Moon Tide", "Falling Jade in the Night", "The Daughter of the Mountain Lord", etc. Xie Ying said, "In Youku, the weight of directors and screenwriters is much higher than that of actors. We do not pursue 'people to praise the drama', but pay more attention to the story, the adaptation of actors is the first, and 'drama praise' is a virtuous circle in the industry. ”
The integration of contemporary values needs to grasp the scale
"Take history as a mirror and create the future." On the one hand, the history and culture presented in costume dramas are a vivid way for the audience to understand the ancients and ancient things; On the other hand, more and more costume dramas are oriented to the present, reflecting the aesthetic tendencies and values of contemporary society, and arousing the audience's emotional resonance. A female revenge story like "Between the Ink Rain and Clouds" is actually similar in terms of plot, and this type has its own "coolness", "The gap between the protagonist and the villain's environment is paved in the early stage of the series, and in the process, through the different settings of the environment, the 'counterattack' result is achieved step by step, which is both traceable and logical, thus bringing the audience a sense of decompression." Ma Shishi explained that if "Between the Ink Rain and Clouds" wants to arouse the audience's empathy, the character of Xue Fangfei must have a "sense of reality". "A real person must be bittersweet and sour, joyful and sorrowful. We presented Xue Fangfei's wisdom and weaknesses in front of the audience together, just to let everyone see her more completely and experience the emotions she should have at the moment. In addition, we will also enrich and improve the growth of characters in difficult situations. ”
"The platform, the media, and netizens all call "Ink Rain and Clouds" a 'cool' drama, not only the theme and story are cool, but also the presentation of the beauty of character growth and the mapping of contemporary values." In Yang Le's view, costume dramas should reflect the current social trend and observe the emotions of the audience. For example, "Between the Ink Rain and Clouds" criticizes parents who try to control their children with marriage through the plot of blind date, and criticizes men who deceive women for the sake of inheritance; Through the creation of rich female group portraits, it shows the growth and mutual assistance of women. In terms of concept, the protagonist's story line is not driven by love, but focuses on the subjective consciousness and personal tempering, and tells a good story of women's growth through narrative. At the same time, the play abandons the black-and-white character portrayal in the traditional counterattack drama, making the characters three-dimensional and humanized, and each character in the play is diverse and full, showing real and three-dimensional human nature and human feelings.
Zhou Jing, producer of Zhou Jing's "Ink Rain and Clouds" platform and general manager of Ali Dawen Entertainment Kumi Studio, said that the theme of ancient costumes is the traditional Red Sea track, and highlighting uniqueness in the vast works has always been the focus of Youku's attention. "In order for costume dramas to make the audience empathize, they need to think about the meaning behind empathy and the observation of reality, and then find uniqueness on this basis." Platforms and creators should observe and constantly adjust their creations in a timely manner to meet the needs of users. "We don't have the so-called 'traffic password', we just capture the user's emotions and the resonance of the times. Creators should respect users and content, and always remind themselves, what are the needs of users? How does the story create an emotional, emotional connection with the user? What does it mean to reflect reality? Moreover, the values of the story must be new and empathetic to the times. In Zhou Jing's view, the ultimate test of film and television drama creation is the creator's high awareness of the whole world and human nature, and he must look at the whole world and people from a higher dimension. Only by constantly learning and exploring, and collaborating with more excellent collaborators, can we create word-of-mouth works that can transcend the boundaries of time and space. Liang Zhenhua, a professor, screenwriter and producer at Beijing Normal University, believes that the concept of love and philosophy infiltrated by many costume dramas, including the way the characters behave in the world, is very modern, which is also an important feature of online IP. But in the face of this "modern trend" set off by the creation of costume dramas, Liang Zhenhua reminded - "The integration of modern values should have a certain degree of moderation and boundaries", "'Talking about the ancient with the ancient', everyone may think that many things are outdated, but to talk about the values of today's and today's people with the framework of ancient stories will also bring some other problems." Modern concepts are overflowing in the creation of current costume dramas, and the ideal state is to find a balance between modern concepts, ancient forms, and classical spirits. ”
Break through the limitations of types and innovate boldly
If costume dramas want to stand out, they need to achieve profound expression at the artistic level, break through the limitations of genres, and boldly innovate. Wang Jingjing, artistic director and chief producer of "Yan Xinji", believes that although "love" is the eternal theme of many costume dramas, only by integrating diversified elements on top of the pure love story can the story be given a new vitality. "Yan Xinji" sparked heated discussions with the fantasy setting of "transformation + ancient costume", "integrating superimposed structures to make the show both fun and real." However, in the actual landing process, it is necessary to refer to the actual dynasty, show the characters and background details to everyone with aesthetic settings, and use contemporary values to narrow the distance between the characters and the audience, and resonate with the audience. ”
Wang Jingjing and Yang Le said that the rise of short videos once made the film and television industry "long and short dispute" endless, short dramas, a new category of content with distinct C-end attributes, under the role of the creator's high-quality main consciousness, can actually be "applauded and applauded", "long dramas and short dramas" are not only no longer a prejudice, but also given new opportunities for integration and updating, innovation and change. The "short drama" "Ink Rain and Clouds" exploded this summer to prove this phenomenon again: the reason for choosing electronic mustard or spiritual food is by no means long, the focus is on whether the characters are full, whether the plot is compact, and whether the service is exquisite. "What is 'ruining' the long drama is the redundant character design, the plot of the routine and the length of the water injection, and the repertoire that returns to the logic of creation and improves the level of production, no matter how long or short, is a work worthy of applause in the eyes of the audience." When it comes to the innovation of costume dramas, Zhou Jing believes that breakthroughs can be made in two aspects, one is content innovation, including whether the character design is novel and whether the relationship between the characters is extreme; The second is aesthetic innovation, which can combine the beauty of traditional Chinese culture to create visual wonders. She especially mentioned the innovative iterations of the two major tracks of "Ancient Puppet" and "Xianxia". "The innovation of Xianxia dramas is often reflected in the construction of costume aesthetics and world view. The construction of the world view can not only give full play to the imagination and uniqueness of Xianxia dramas, but also determine the temperament, direction and aesthetics of the entire series. If it is a high-concept fairytale, the overall costume aesthetic will be more elegant and imaginative; If it is a landed fairy, such as a semi-overhead type, the aesthetic direction of the whole series will be more inclined to traditional Chinese culture, and tend to have costume elements with certain historical characteristics. "For example, the worldview of 'Embers of the Long Moon' is based on traditional Chinese mythology, and its costume aesthetic is derived from Dunhuang murals." In terms of ancient puppet dramas, creators can integrate and superimpose user emotions, new social emotions and new genre elements to bring different feelings to the audience. This innovation not only enriches the level of the plot, but also enhances the artistic expression of the series, allowing the audience to feel the impact of culture and aesthetics in the process of appreciating costume dramas, and realize the perfect combination of tradition and modernity. "In addition, there are also many innovative directions and entry points for women's frequency costumes." On the basis of paying attention to the plight of women, the creation of women's themes should find an incision that can effectively touch women's emotions, seek a breakthrough and express emotions, which may be revenge stories, family stories, and workplace stories. ”
Liang Zhenhua believes that in terms of aesthetic taste and storytelling methods, costume dramas, especially ancient puppet dramas, still have huge room for innovation. "The word 'ancient' is very important, not only in ancient costumes, but also in ancient meanings, ancient styles, and ancient sayings, all of which should present the form and content related to traditional Chinese culture in ancient costume works. Costume dramas are not a modern copy, but to truly return to ancient culture, and package the elements of ancient meaning and ancient style in an aesthetic form. Liang Zhenhua said that costume dramas are not only to create dreams for everyone, but also to continue the traditional art form, and hope that future costume dramas can be closer to the spirit of Chinese classical culture, close to Chinese history and humanistic traditions, close to the philosophical concepts and ways of life of Chinese." This is also the direction that the entire industry should work together. We should have some works that are in line with history and inherit the spirit of classical China, or works that try to connect history and legend. At present, this type of work is relatively rare in the market. In addition, the industry is also calling for a new historical drama. In short, the creation of costume dramas should be full of flowers. ”
Special Planning|Traditional Cultural Core, Contemporary Value Expression, Breaking and Standing of Costume Dramas
- The core of traditional culture, the expression of contemporary values, and the breaking and standing of costume dramas
- Ancient style and modern rhyme, costume drama creation resonates and empathizes
- Costume dramas and traditional culture "go both ways"
- Costume dramas go to sea and move towards a new era
Picture: Douban, the official Weibo of the drama
Submissions should be sent to: