Not surprisingly, "Meritorious Service" may be the last high-scoring domestic drama with more than 9 points in 2021.
Since the low-key launch at the end of last month, it has been strongly out of the circle with word of mouth.
4 satellite TV, 4 major platform simulcasts, single-day broadcast volume is about to exceed 10 million, the cumulative playback volume reached 290 million, has won 15 daily championships, both heat and playback.
Douban 9.1, which is a score that can be called "divine drama" no matter where it is placed.
Some netizens said: "This is the best domestic drama in the past ten years" and "This is the best main melody drama so far".
In fact, a drama can catch fire, it is not without reason.
And "Meritorious Service" can be praised and "recorded in history", and the general director Zheng Xiaolong can really be described as indispensable.
"Meritorious Service" is a main theme series based on the true stories of the first eight recipients of the "Order of the Republic".
With the artistic technique of "national narrative and expression of the times", in the form of unit dramas, the brilliant chapters of their lives are connected with the fate of the republic, interpreting their "loyal, persistent, simple" life character and the lofty realm of dedication to the people of the motherland.
The filming of this series was planned as early as 2019, just after the issuance of the first batch of the highest honors in New China, the "Order of the Republic".
The candidate for the general director is Zheng Xiaolong, hand-picked by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
Zheng Xiaolong, a character that must be talked about in the history of Chinese television dramas, is known as the "godfather of television dramas".
On Zheng Xiaolong, there is also a label that must be mentioned, that is, he is good at filming dramas that ordinary people love to watch.
Judging from the positioning of "Meritorious Service", this drama should not have been the type that the market liked, but from the data point of view, the performance of this drama was unexpected.
According to bone data, the audience age group of "Meritorious Service" accounts for the largest proportion of 25-34 years old, the second age group is 18-24 years old, and the combined proportion of the two age groups is as high as 68%, more than half.
Compared with "Mountains and Seas" at the beginning of the year and "The Age of Awakening" in the middle of the year, "Meritorious Service" is more popular among young people.
As a drama with a main theme theme, it perfectly integrates the "main theme" and "rejuvenation" together, and it is also well integrated.
It can not only retain middle-aged and elderly audiences, but also attract young netizens, so what efforts has zheng Xiaolong, the general director, made to create such a "main theme" that can be affirmed by young people?
First of all, the script is full and the actors are reliable.
In today's era of endless good dramas, the audience is becoming more and more critical of national dramas.
Therefore, how to make the unit drama "Meritorious Service" show the highlights that are different from previous unit dramas has become the first big problem that this drama needs to solve.
From the perspective of finished products, "Meritorious Service" abandons the usual narrative technique of "character biography" and focuses on the highlight moments when the eight meritorious characters achieve their achievements.
But at the same time, it is not a "recorded" type of highlight moment summary, but integrated into the sense of truth.
Take the just-finished "Tu Youyou's Gift" unit as an example, the protagonist of this unit is China's first Nobel Prize winner in medicine.
Her story begins when she joined Project 523 in 1969.
The main line is to tell the story of Tu Youyou, in order to study new anti-malaria drugs, overcome many difficulties and finally embark on the road of merit in such a special era background.
Poor scientific research conditions, insufficient personnel ratio, and difficult times and environments, these stories that we know and do not know are shown in details and dialogues.
For example, a capable old professor can only work as a coolie in the boiler room because of the composition problem, and Tu Youyou's husband has to be sent to study because of his experience in Susu.
That is to say, in addition to showing the difficulty of Tu Youyou's research on new drugs, just 6 episodes also sketched out that era, real.
In addition, the shaping of the character of Tu Youyou is also very well grasped.
In the opening few minutes, Tu Youyou's extraordinary scientific research spirit is displayed, and then through the details of the family line, it shows the blunt sense of the researchers to the trivialities of life and human feelings.
For example, she took her child to the post office in her hometown to make a phone call, and after the call, she completely forgot that she had brought her daughter over, so she walked directly out of the post office and almost forgot her daughter there.
It was hard to go home once, but the shoes I wanted to buy for my little daughter were bought alongside.
And she had to recuperate at home because of liver poisoning, and she was worried not about the pressure of reduced wages, but about the progress and difficulties of drug research.
In addition, the series is also interspersed with romantic stories between Tu Youyou and her husband.
There is not much dialogue between the two, but under Zhang Songwen's gentle and delicate performance, the part of their family drama is warm and moving, especially the dialogue between the two on the balcony, gentle and calm, but can make people feel the beauty of supporting each other.
Even the parents who do not appear much also show the warmth that is difficult to portray in family dramas.
I really didn't expect that in a main theme drama, there can be a love that is better than many current love dramas, and there can be a warmer and more moving family affection than many current family dramas.
From the unit of Tu Youyou, it can be found that in the creation of the script, "Meritorious Service" has always been based on the creative concept of "extraordinary in the ordinary, ordinary in the extraordinary".
Not just from one angle, but from multiple angles to show the deeds of these eight meritorious figures.
Similarly, in the "Li Yannian" unit screenwriter Liu Gejian consulted a large number of historical materials, but also selectively displayed the character experience, because it is necessary to strive to restore the truth and ensure that the series is watchable.
There is also the "Yuan Longping's Dream" unit, watching Yuan Longping name each rice seedling, drunken rice to scare away blind dates, habitually scratching his head, playing the violin, and scalding the skin with a hot warm bottle to stop itching...
These vivid and vivid plots and details are academician Yuan Longping that we do not know, but they are the real him.
In the choice of actors, Zheng Xiaolong still uses his consistent casting standards, does not consider traffic, and only considers role suitability.
Therefore, the cast list of this drama, described by the word "gorgeous", is not enough.
Wang Lei, Lei Jiayin, Guo Tao, Huang Xiaoming, Jiang Xin, Tong Dawei, Zhou Xun, Huang Zhizhong, as well as Sun Li, Ni Ni, Li Guangjie, Zhang Songwen, Chen Baoguo, Xi Meijuan, Ni Ping, Yang Shuo, Shao Wen, Wang Luoyong, Yu Rongguang, etc., casually proposed one, can play the leading role in other dramas.
In "Nengwen Nengwu Li Yannian", Wang Lei, who plays the soldier Li Yannian, is also from a military family and has a natural advantage in the understanding and interpretation of the role;
Tong Dawei, who played Sun Jiadong in "Sun Jiadong's Heavenly Road", is not only a fellow countryman with Academician Sun, but also has a single eyelid image temperament close to the photos of Sun Jiadong when he was young;
Before the filming of "Yuan Longping's Dream", Huang Zhizhong, who played Yuan Longping, paid a special visit to the living Mr. Yuan Longping and specially learned the violin.
In fact, from the appearance time of only 1 minute of the "dragon set" is a national first-class actor such a configuration can be known, Zheng Xiaolong's intentions for this drama, indeed beyond our expectations.
Second, pay attention to details and restore the era.
All the stories of "Meritorious Service" have a strong atmosphere of the times, how to make the audience more substitutionary, the details are very important.
The 8 units of the series, whether it is the large war scenes full of gunfire and smoke, or the furnishings and props details in the small scenes, let the audience feel the temperament of that era in the picture.
In order to shoot the war drama group from scratch to last a month, in Jilin Yanji completely copied the 346.6 highlands in the battle.
There is also a one-to-one restoration of Zhang Fuqing's home scene, so subtle that a needle and a thread must be exactly the same;
In order to restore the age texture of Xigou Village, where Shen Jilan is located, the crew made the building old over and over again until it was almost the same as in the photo;
In order to restore key historical props such as the Dongfeng missile and the Dongfanghong satellite that Sun Jiadong participated in developing one-to-one, they consulted a large number of historical materials and documents;
And from the details, small to books, test tubes, notebooks, and make every effort to restore Tu Youyou's laboratory;
In the last unit, the crew even restored the Anjiang Agricultural College, where Yuan Longping taught, to the appearance of the 1960s;
From these details alone, it can be seen that this drama is really careful.
In fact, the TV series directed and participated in by Zheng Xiaolong not only involve a wide range of genres, but also have practical significance in each one.
"Beijingers in New York" reflects the real living conditions of Chinese overseas, and "Golden Marriage" truly shows the ups and downs of small families in the process of social change, which is a portrayal of many families in contemporary China.
Even the palace fight drama "The Biography of Zhen Huan" has a criticism of the royal feudal marriage system in addition to Zhen Huan's ups and downs in life and lamentable emotional experiences.
The meaning of "Meritorious Service", not to mention, here is a direct quote from Mr. Li Yannian' original words:
Judging from the current number of broadcasts and word of mouth, "Meritorious Service" is indeed as the general director Zheng Xiaolong originally promised:
It has become a realistic theme work that the audience likes, the audience loves to watch, and the audience is satisfied with.
We expect more such works, because such deeds need to be known by more people.
Bluestone Movie | Old Meng
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