The suspenseful martial arts theme of the network series of movies "The Sword of Death" challenges the ceiling of the internet market from the two aspects of theme and production.
Wuxia films are an important genre of Chinese films, with wide influence and cultural output, but it is undeniable that martial arts films that have developed after experiencing glory have encountered many difficulties. How to innovate in the core of the original martial arts films and create a "new martial arts film" that meets the aesthetics of young audiences and even has global communication has become a problem facing film and television creators.
What is surprising is that a small-cost online movie shows a big determination to stumble on this issue.
To be precise, this is a set of network large, series of movies called "Death Sword" - "The Rise of the Deadly Sword" and "The Blood of the Death sword", the film has been exclusively launched on Tencent Video.
Poster for the upper part of "The Rise of the Deadly Sword"
Poster for the next part of "The Blood of the Deadly Sword"
"Rise again" and "Blood River And Lake" are the upper and lower two films of the "Sword of Death" series, the story is set in the Tang Dynasty, the eight masters in the martial arts have died in their own unique martial arts, the protagonist Duan Xiaofeng is a fast catcher who does not know martial arts in the six doors, but he has super reasoning ability, judging that there must be hidden feelings behind the cause of death of the eight masters, so he embarked on a journey to find the truth.
From the introduction point of view, elements such as "Eight Masters", "Peerless Martial Arts" and "Serial Murders" are not unusual, but "Death Sword" played more than 10 million albums in the 8 hours on the day of the first release of the movie, and the number of positive films played more than 20 million in less than 4 days after the launch exceeded 20 million, and the total number of album plays exceeded 35 million. Behind this "report card", in addition to the efforts to break the original routine in content creation, the opportunities and resources brought by the online video platform to young film and television practitioners should not be underestimated.
Small cost network big how to polish the film texture
Although the "Sword of Death" series of movies is an online movie, the props and sets in the film are closer to the texture of the cinema movie.
For example, the room of the protagonist Duan Xiaofeng, in order to highlight his wide interest and love to study the high IQ image of the "side door left road", the room placed a lot of books and miscellaneous objects, and decorated the ceiling with drooping props, echoing with the circular windows on the wall, creating a "freak feeling"; the color of the room is dominated by cool colors, with western style decorations, creating a "sense of technology".
Duan Xiaofeng residence art concept design
Duan Xiaofeng's residence finally showed an effect
Shangguan Hong's room, one of the eight masters, is decorated with golden screens and exquisite musical instruments, and the color scheme is mainly gold and green, which is in line with her identity as a Yangzhou flower queen.
Shangguan Hong residence art concept design
Shangguan Hong's residence finally showed the effect
In addition, in a scene where Shangguan Hong and Ye Wuji met, the prop team placed a sink outside the window to project sparkling water patterns into the room, forming an ambiguous atmosphere.
The streak of water that appears after placing the sink
According to reports, because the background of the film is set in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, there are not many film and television materials that the crew can refer to, and the art and props groups have read a large number of historical materials in the limited preparation time and collected more than 5,000 pictures for reference.
The crew carefully considered the utensils, food, costumes used in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the patterns on the costumes, so as to restore the props 1:1.
Props in the movie
These tasks were completed in a 70-day preparation period and a shooting period of less than a month, which can be said to be a big challenge in the production industry of The University of Net.
Xu Min, producer of "Death sword" and founder and CEO of Kangaroo Tribe Pictures, introduced that the production cost of this set of films was only 8 million yuan, and the crew invested most of the funds in the production process, "every penny was used on the blade", which had the excellent visual texture of "Death Sword" and became a latest case of the online movie "Xiao Dazheng".
A high-spirited teenage hero to cultivate a record
Production issues aside, the story of the "Sword of Death" series of movies is really eye-catching.
Although the main story line is a jianghu enmity related to revenge, the main creative team abandons the narrative routines commonly used in martial arts movies, wraps it in the cloak of suspense, and uses reasoning techniques to promote the development of the plot. For example, the protagonist Duan Xiaofeng does not know martial arts, and only relies on IQ to win, which in itself is very "anti-martial arts", which is very different from the image of the traditional martial arts hero.
In addition, the unique martial arts of other martial arts masters in the film are not reflected in the method of "seeing the tricks and dismantling the moves", but through special effects to show, the perception tries to get close to the Hollywood commercial blockbuster processing, the setting of the "Eight Masters" is more like a Chinese-style League of Legends.
Special effects in movies
Coupled with the use of Benge reasoning to solve the case to lead to the appearance of new characters, the use of rapid camera movement and editing to create a sense of tension in the plot, the story logic is born out of the mature commercial story framework, the original old martial arts story routine has been broken, crushed, rearranged and combined, and added many fresh elements of the current commercial films and action movies, creating a comic martial arts jianghu world full of suspense.
For director Zhang Meng, the reason for choosing the script of "Death Sword" is also to see the imagination that can be accommodated behind it, as well as the sublimation space in narrative and creation.
Director Zhang Meng was on the shooting scene of "The Sword of Death"
It can be seen that the main line of "Death Sword" seems to be a revenge that has been focused on 20 years, but the core part is about the growth of a teenager.
In the words of director Zhang Meng, it is "what a child should do when he faces the adult world for the first time." The protagonist as a detective may have learned a lot of knowledge and read a lot of books, but how he faces the murder scene for the first time is what we have to present, that is, how to face the adult world."
Duan Xiaofeng's desire is not only to be a hero and enjoy the pleasure of fame and fame, but also to use the knowledge and skills he has learned to do something and prove his value in the adult world. In the process of solving the case, he encounters a hazy love, redefines friendship, grows up in the life and death of relatives and friends, and then uses his mind to solve difficult problems.
This is not only a story of blood and rivers, but also a story of a vigorous young man who continues to move forward. The experience of its growth will resonate with many young audiences.
"Making Movies for People"
The breakthrough in the theme and story of the "Death Sword" movie is also inseparable from the efforts of the main creative team behind it.
Zhang Meng has repeatedly stressed, "I am making a movie." From pre-preparation to post-special effects production, he always requires all staff to shoot the level of cinema films, and even specially selects difficult shots as the first shot, using the "grinding scene" method to let everyone understand that this is filming, rather than "a network that can be filmed casually".
The filming scene of "The Sword of Death"
This insistence comes from the director's school of origins, and the second comes from his respect and understanding of making movies. In Zhang Meng's view, he is making movies for people. "Whether it is a network university or a cinema movie, the film must face people at the end." Therefore, people's visual, cultural and viewing habits are what every cultural worker must study, and the photographer himself is a person, if he can't even pass this level, how to convince and impress the audience? ”
The director's attitude sets the tone of the film, and the team's efforts guarantee the texture of the film. The film's lighting engineer Wang Yafeng sent a circle of friends during the filming process: use what you have learned in ten years to turn in an assignment; art director Zhou Yang said in an interview that although it is very hard, "everyone is very young and sincerely wants to work hard to make this movie well."
In the shooting team of a large network, a group of young people used enthusiasm and real talent to learn and shoot the "spirit" that the film should have.
The reason why this spirit can be conveyed to the audience is also due to the opportunities provided by the online platform.
Although the creators of "The Sword of Death" have always had a dedicated attitude towards making movies, it is almost impossible to embark on theatrical distribution for a film that costs only 8 million yuan and the main creators are all newcomers.
The online video platform can just give them an opportunity to express their own views and try, and in the long run, it is also beneficial to the development of the domestic film industry.
After the initial stage of barbaric growth, the network movies gradually became more formal, and there was a rapid increase in user capacity, film cost, sub-account box office and word-of-mouth quality. In the first half of 2018 alone, the three major video websites have successively appeared works with a box office of more than 45 million, which has been converted into a theatrical film box office of about 150 million.
It can be seen that the online video platform can already accommodate small cinema volume works, but it will also have its own considerations in the choice of themes.
Fight scenes from the Deadly Sword movie: a combination of cg special effects and martial arts action
The scene of Xiaoxiangguan in the movie "Death Sword": a pool was made under the stage, and the mirror reflection was used to create a gorgeous sense of the scene
As Zhang Meng said, in the era of fierce competition, everyone is looking for opportunities to combine what they have learned with classic content and new ideas of contemporary films. The online video platform is like a laboratory, giving more opportunities to contemporary creators.
It is thanks to such a "laboratory" as the online video platform that young film and television practitioners can exercise themselves in practice, and truly capable people have the opportunity to stand out.
"The staff of the crew of 'The Sword of Death' is like the characters in the film, and everyone's firm belief is to make this work well, no matter how many difficulties they encounter, they will try their best to overcome and solve them." The same is true of many young film and television practitioners at present. Some people hold their breath and just want to make a good work; some people have feelings and want to pour all their learning into the work.
Isn't this a blood-boiling world?