From the very beginning of cinema, science fiction has occupied a place. In 1902, the science fiction film "Journey to the Moon", directed by Georges Méliès, was a shock. For more than a hundred years, countless science fiction classics have shone in the history of film, which has also created a huge number of science fiction IP.
Although the recent popular movie "Out of Control Player" is an original story, there are still sci-fi IP blessings such as "The Avengers" and "Star Wars" in the film, which has won the applause of fans. In the field of Chinese science fiction films, "The Wandering Earth 2" is expected to start in October this year, which is expected to make domestic science fiction films climb to a higher peak.
But it is undeniable that domestic science fiction films are still in a state of scarcity in number. In the past, it can be said that there was a lack of popular science fiction IP, but now this situation has undergone a fundamental change, according to the "2021 Science Fiction Network New Trend Report": As of 2021, more than 515,000 creators have created science fiction network articles on the reading platform, an increase of 189% in 2020 compared with 2016.
On the reading platform, popular science fiction novels such as "The Naming of the Night", "We Live in Nanjing", "Starting from the Red Moon", "Virtual End", and "Long Night Embers" have become the focus of attention. What cannot be ignored is that the creators of the post-90s generation have also become the mainstay of the platform, and they have applied their imagination to science fiction works, which not only opens up new horizons for readers, but also brings a wave of new science fiction IP to the film and television industry.
So, the question is, how should different types of science fiction works be adapted and developed.
Cyberpunk, dystopia, cosmic exploration... Re-recognize The Chinese Sci-Fi IP
Since entering the 21st century, Liu Cixin has opened up a new situation in Chinese science fiction literature with a series of science fiction novels such as "The Three-Body Problem" and "Ball Lightning", especially after the novella "The Wandering Earth" created by him was made into a movie, it has obtained a mainland box office of 4.686 billion yuan, allowing domestic science fiction films to enter the sequence of super blockbusters.
"The Wandering Earth" belongs to the exploration of the universe from the theme point of view. In the vast creative space of science fiction, cyberpunk, dystopia and other science fiction genres are enough to fascinate people, how to recognize and distinguish it?
What is cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk in English is a combination of "cybernetics, neuromechanics" and "punk". The storyline of cyberpunk works usually revolves around the contradictions between hackers, artificial intelligence and large enterprises, and the rapid development of technology has caused damage to human society.
Cyberpunk movies have a distinct visual style, strange neon lights make a city colorful, but the surface of the shiny city has dark and muddy corners, and the movie "Blade Runner" and "Shell Agents" are classic representatives of cyberpunk style.
Released in 1982, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, laid the foundation for cyberpunk's cinematic aesthetic, applying cyberpunk's aesthetic to every part of the city scene, and the use of neon lights was spectacular. Many works of the same genre will be affected later, and the shadow of the city in Blade Runner can be seen in "Minority Report" and "Alita: Battle Angel".
The talking elbow of the writer chooses to introduce the cyberpunk style into the work "The Naming of the Night", which tells the story of the teenager Qingchen who accidentally crossed into a highly developed world of mechanical civilization, his own plausible identity, mysterious middle-aged people, and the four major families hidden behind the scenes, showing the waves and clouds under the cyberpunk world. As soon as the novel was launched, it caused a strong response, and the number of readers, collectors, and average orders on the reading platform broke many historical records of the starting platform.
Coincidentally, "Virtual End" by the writer Qingyi Drunken is also a very cyberpunk-style science fiction novel, telling the story of the strike worker Chen Shi who crossed over to become the president of the game company after the sudden death, the president Chen Shi began to create his own super dream game, which received strong response in the market, but Chen Shi gradually found that his world was originally hidden. In the novel, the author has created a colorful game world, if you think of it as a movie, it should be "Out of Control Player" and "Ready Player One".
What is dystopia?
"Utopia" refers to ideal societies and things that cannot occur.
"Dystopia" refers to an extremely bad form of society.
Dystopias are expressed in literature and film and television, and the background is in the new society created after the end of the disaster, which is extremely disturbing. Dystopias often manifest themselves as ecological disasters or other social decays. The Hollywood movie "The Hunger Games" is one of the representatives, with the teenage protagonist struggling to resist the evil villain as the main story line, and after the series of novels sold well, the four-part film adaptation also received a high box office return of $2.95 billion worldwide.
According to the "2021 Science Fiction Network New Trend Report", the rise of Z generation (post-95s and post-00s) creators is highlighted, and the post-00s readers are growing rapidly. These readers also have a special preference for dystopian novels, such as "The Long Night's Embers" by the diving squid, which tells that in the future, the old world has been destroyed, and the protagonist Shang Miyao applies to join the Ministry of Security and is assigned to the investigation team for the causes of the destruction of the old world, who searches for the truth in the ruins, determined to find the key to open the door to the new world.
The novel "Long Night Embers" adopts a unit drama structure, and each volume of the novel tells a complete adventure and decryption story. And it is also the protagonist group mode, the protagonist CP combination of two men and two women comes with its own cute point. The language of the novel has a light comedic effect, and the protagonist's comic personality triggers countless laughs. In the process of this civilization being broken and rebuilt, the amazing adventure is an eye-opener for the reader.
Diverse science fiction subdivisions.
The "Report" shows that the release of the movie "The Wandering Earth", the release of the "Ten Articles of Science Fiction", the successful launch of the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft and other major events in the industry have led to a wave of science fiction reading boom, attracting more and more young people to "enter the pit", and domestic science fiction literature has also grown rapidly. The content of current science fiction works is extremely rich, and behind the variety of themes, it also shows the boundless imagination and solid scientific knowledge of the creators.
Parallel to the world, Tianrui Shuofu fuses radio technology in his work "We Live in Nanjing", telling the story of two young people who have a dialogue through a time capsule spanning two centuries and saving each other. The story description is close to life, but full of whimsy in time and space, and it is easy to resonate with the reader.
Human Evolution, "From the Red Moon" by the Old Ghost of Montenegro. In the novel, the red moon triggers the end of the world, most human beings lose their minds and lose their lives after the appearance of the red moon, only a very small number of people can be activated on the night of the red moon, and this very small number of people become the backbone of saving the world. The text style of the novel is vivid and humorous, with a little sense of fear, and the control of proportions is clever, which makes people can't bear to read the volume.
Life energy, the author Eagle Eats Chicken", "Stargate" is a representative of such themes. In the depths of the starry sky, the stargate will open, all the secrets are behind the stargate, the world is full of dangers, can the male protagonist Li Hao finally gain insight into the truth? It is still the author's good blood style, and the adventure that breaks through the imagination leads the reader into a new world of science fiction.
The novel "Resurrection Empire" also explores the proposition of life potential development in depth. The terminally ill teenager wakes up after being frozen and finds himself on a strange planet, fate that makes him a samurai who wants to establish a new order in this world. The grand worldview and the extraordinary fate of the protagonist make the novel full of unexpected plot developments.
The story setting of science fiction is grand and full of imagination, allowing the public to see the rich diversity of domestic science fiction IP.
Film and television, animation, games, and adaptations of science fiction IP
The adaptation form that a science fiction IP is facing is extremely rich, and the well-known "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" that the public is familiar with as a well-known big IP have been successively adapted into movies, TV series, animations, and games, which are already the regular configuration of science fiction IP. Some science fiction IP has even been adapted into stage plays, such as the domestic science fiction IP "Three-Body Problem". At present, the very popular script killing has begun to throw an olive branch to the science fiction IP, and the successful science fiction IP can conform to the trend of the times and continuously derive new adaptation forms, always rejuvenated.
A market-tested novel can be roughly seen in its market prospects for adaptation from its popularity. "The Naming of the Night", "The Virtual End", "The Long Night Embers" are all typical blockbuster works on the reading platform, of which "The Naming of the Night" attracted 650,000 people to read in a single month, and 150,000 people paid to call, which shows its influence.
From the perspective of "The Naming of the Night", the book divides the world into "table world" and "inner world", where two intertwined, familiar people have different identities, the protagonist Qingchen incarnated as a chess player, in front of the complex and chaotic intersection, with the light of the flame through the wall of time and space, leading everyone to rush out of the darkness.
Such a story setting, whether adapted into film, television, anime, or games, is enough to open up a new world of images, according to the different art forms, but also to give the whole story a different connotation. If the film "The Naming of the Night" is filmed, the city picture of cyberpunk comes into view first, and the story of the protagonist in the surface world has just begun, does such a movie have the potential to sell well? The form of anime adaptation can better show the visual impact of cyberpunk.
Also infused with the cyberpunk style is Virtual End. The book has a story line for game development, which has unlimited possibilities in terms of visualization, and IP adaptation can present unique, complex, and grand visual effects for this story. Imagine if Virtual End were made into a game, and the player entered a new world with the first perspective of becoming the president, and there were many unknown mysteries behind this world, would such an adventure be attractive enough? It is foreseeable that wonderful stories and shocking pictures will bring unlimited possibilities to this sci-fi IP.
"Long Night Embers" revolves around the process of the fragmentation of the old civilization and the reconstruction of the new civilization, and each volume of the original novel is a complete exploration story, which naturally has the potential for unit drama adaptation. The rich length will make the whole story ups and downs and full of three-dimensionality, and the unique scenes will become a major attraction of the series. The protagonist is humorous and funny, with a very light comedic effect. In terms of story style, the author takes the suspense of the mystery of destruction as the main line of the story. In addition, the work is full of immersive substitution, the protagonist group searches for clues in a closed environment, and divides labor and cooperates to reason and decrypt, similar to the current young people's favorite secret room or running group game, which is convenient for the audience to quickly substitute for the role.
In summary, the adaptation of domestic science fiction IP has unlimited possibilities, but it is also a long way to go. Today, when our market and technology have reached a relatively mature stage, more sci-fi IP will also usher in more forms of adaptation.
How will the future development of the science fiction IP adaptation industry be forced?
Judging from the trend of the development of the science fiction industry, with the rapid development of the entertainment industry such as movies, TV series, animation, games, etc., science fiction IP as a treasure trove of adaptations to be developed has received more and more attention. So, how to make sci-fi IP constantly revitalized? How will the relevant fields be strengthened?
On September 12th, at the cross-border dialogue activity of science fiction celebrities jointly organized by Reading, Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World Magazine, Xie Ying, general manager of Youku Drama Center, Zhang Shengyan, vice president of Bilibili, and other guests discussed the series of issues of science fiction IP adaptation and development.
Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World Magazine, believes that science fiction is literature in the era of science and technology, and it describes many kinds of futures, "The great role of science fiction is to let us avoid some bad possibilities and choose some good futures." "The talking elbow also says that the brain holes displayed by science fiction creators and the ideas based on theories are the vision of a group of rationalists for the future." After the national strength is strong, everyone will definitely look forward to the emergence of science fiction works. ”
Only a full understanding of the content can be effectively inspired in the process of film and television creation. Zhang Shengyan, vice president of Bilibili, said: "The biggest feeling of working with Yuwen is that Reading's understanding of content and respect for the author. This is the ability to accumulate for a long time, in fact, we now have a lot of content cooperation in the field of science fiction. Reading article has a deeper understanding of the content, sometimes gives us a lot of inspiration in the creative process, and indeed plays a role as a bridge to communicate with writers, and we hope to develop more and better works together in the future. ”
It can be seen that scholars, broadcast platforms, and the public are also paying more and more attention to science fiction works. These favorable factors have determined that science fiction IP will be further adapted and marketed. Now, more and more science fiction IP has entered the field of vision of film and television people, so what is the difficulty of science fiction IP in the adaptation process?
Xie Ying, general manager of Youku Drama Center, analyzed: "There is a threshold for science fiction IP adaptation. The story content can focus on the decline of civilization, the origin of civilization, both to tell the story of personal struggle, or to tell a very wide range of generations like "Star Wars". It is precisely because of these uniquenesses that its adaptation is particularly difficult. As for the film and television adaptation of science fiction works, she said, "We pay more attention to science fiction works that can stimulate users' desire to explore and have the core and spiritual connotation of Chinese culture." ”
From the speeches of the guests and the "2021 Science Fiction Network Literature New Trend Report", it can be seen that the current Chinese science fiction literature has shown an extremely rich situation. But how to pick out the science fiction IP suitable for adaptation from the huge library is the primary problem. Perhaps after the test of the market, the science fiction IP that is popular with readers will be selected, but how to make a science fiction work into a film and television drama is a realistic problem.
From the success of "The Wandering Earth", it can be seen that the adaptation of a science fiction IP first needs a bold investor, believing that this movie can be successful, because the investment starting point of science fiction film and television dramas is very high. The second is that creators need to love science fiction works and have a deep understanding of science fiction from the original stage, in order to be able to achieve the heavy responsibility of building a unique world view.
Finally, it is necessary to work closely with the creative team, whether it is the actors or the special effects team, every department is working closely together, and I believe that the director can make this film well. After all, for a period of time, domestic science fiction films will still be in the exploratory stage, each story may be a new attempt, only from top to bottom close cooperation can really complete a work.
A science fiction IP from novelty to film and television drama is only the first step, and the subsequent derivative development and game development must be closely coordinated, so that the entire industry chain can drive each other, in order to play a real appeal of a well-known IP.
Science fiction represents the endless exploration of the human imagination, where dreams, realities, and futures are found. A successful science fiction film and television work, relying on the mature film and television industry system, the rapid development of the entertainment industry has brought unlimited possibilities to science fiction IP.
From the perspective of creators, we need to be down-to-earth, look up at the stars, use boundless imagination to create science fiction IP, and realize the imaging of science fiction works with a solid film and television industry.
【Text/Cui Ting】