Statement | Rika Akanaka
Just when everyone thinks that China's film and television industry will usher in the most "freezing point" this summer, a fire that has quietly burned up has made the entire market "hot".
On June 27, after more than seven months of preparation and 217 days of filming, the costume drama "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" was launched without warning. In the morning of the same day, a reporter just asked the platform side for verification on the broadcast time of this drama, and by the afternoon, Youku had already launched 12 episodes of content in one go. There is no foreshadowing, even if it is a director and screenwriter Who has several jobs, Cao Dun, only knows 3 days earlier than the audience.
"It is indeed more hasty", Xu Kang, the founder of Liubai Film and Television, has the same feeling. As one of the producers, Liubai Film and Television is not only the copyright holder of "Chang'an Twelve Hours", but also participated in many links including IP, bureau, distribution, publicity, and review, and although the cooperation with Youku is in-depth and close, it is not a "platform custom drama" summarized by the outside world.
Xu Kang, founder of Liubai Film and Television
"It's a procurement drama, but Youku is very deeply involved in all aspects of the project." Although the two sides participated in all aspects of the development process, it was necessary to emphasize their respective roles in the project, Leaving Blank Film and Television focused on the publicity link, and Youku focused on platform support.
It is reported that the investment of "Chang'an Twelve Hours" is huge, and the choice of "naked broadcasting" can be imagined as risks and pressures. However, it is gratifying that the Douban score on the day of the launch of the drama was as high as 8.8 points, and the high reputation continued to detonate the Weibo topic, driving the popularity of food culture and tourism industry.
The industry seems to have tasted the sweetness, this "silent" fire has been burning, from "Chang'an Twelve Hours", "Chen QingLing", "Chen Xi Yuan") to yesterday's premiere of "Kyushu Muyi", the costume drama that has been waiting for an opportunity, after seeing the safety signal, it seems to open the floodgates and release water, and flock to occupy the highlands in the post-summer file.
Many viewers even posted in the circle of friends, "Good dramas are released in groups, and I don't know which one to watch." As the person who first lit this fire, how did the "Twelve Hours of Chang'an" "burn"? What were the stories of the project's early days? What new ways to play for this IP in the future? Not long ago, we conducted an exclusive interview with Xu Kang and asked him to decipher the audience one by one.
How does the "genre film" trait become a good business?
Xu Kang calls himself "a straight man", is a loyal fan of Ma Boyong, "I basically read all of The old Horse's books, the only one I didn't read was called "Prairie Zoo", and I also finished watching it yesterday", so Liubai Film and Television early tuned a lot of Ma Boyong's IP in his hand, including the new project released by iQiyi some time ago - "Luoyang", which is also Ma Boyong's original work and Liubai Film and Television Operation.
Even if it is a transaction, the communication between the two sides is particularly simple, "there is no game between us and the old horse." When the thirteenth chapter of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" was written, Xu Kang and Lin Ning had read it, and by the eighth chapter, they had jointly won the 10-year copyright, including all the development rights except literary copyright.
The reason why he is so "obsessed" with Ma Boyong is because Xu Kang has taken a fancy to the distinctive "typological" characteristics of his works, and "the sense of picture is very strong". For example, in the "Twelve Hours of Chang'an", it is described that the Brigade Army captured wolf guards, "holding a crossbow in your hand, how to enter, how to shoot." Not only is the details well expressed, but the overall approach is also in place, and while watching it, you will know what it is like."
In Xu Kang's view, Ma Boyong's expression is very similar to the genre of Western suspense action novels, which is suitable for film and television adaptation. Unlike domestic authors who are accustomed to presenting wonderful parts of large sections in the inner activities of the characters in their creations, Ma Boyong has a more specific way of expression, "whether through dialogue, through action, or through behavior."
Despite this, the development difficulty of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" should not be underestimated. At that time, the industry was keen on the adaptation of costume fantasy and sadomasochistic IP, and accumulated a lot of experience, similar themes and types of works adaptations. But for "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", there are no successful cases in China to learn from, "it is difficult to express its texture and rhythm", everything is crossing the river by feeling the stones.
This also became the only worry Xu Kang had when he won "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an". But as the development progress progresses, a bigger question is in front of us, how to achieve the maximum coverage of the audience?
In Xu Kang's words, the fan portraits of Ma Boyong's works are partial to the spring and white snow, "all of which are white-collar workers in Kochi, elite, first-tier cities and second-tier cities", how to retain Ma Boyong's original authorship - strong rhythm and texture, in order to ensure that the original fans are not lost, while also taking into account some female users, and even spreading to sinking users, this is actually our real pressure."
In this regard, the producer has already considered it at the beginning of the group. The two main actors, Li Bi's actor Yi Qianxi, as a young idol, not only has a huge number of fans and traffic, but also an important weight to communicate with young female audiences; and Zhang Xiaojing's actor Lei Jiayin, on the one hand, meets the screening prediction of Ali's big data, on the other hand, he is also a grounded strength.
In terms of director, It was finally determined that Cao Dun, "After his team came down from "The Tale of The Sea Muyun", it was actually a very complete team." At the production level, the director is the main control core, breaking the operation convention of blank film and television, but it turns out that this trust and the giving of creative space have finally achieved far more results than expected.
In order to let the audience have a "sense of substitution" in the process of chasing the drama, Cao Dun adopted a bold idea in the setting - to "invite" the eight scenes of Chang'an in. He first spent a lot of thought on the choice of landforms, "borrowing" the scenery of Lishan, Nanshan, Huaqing Pond, etc., and then restored the prosperity of Chang'an City on the 70 acres of open space in Xiangyang.
According to Xu Kang, among the huge costs of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", the art and scenery cost the most.
At present, although the whole drama is presented on the screen with the rhythm of the American drama, it does not copy the American drama model in the creative process, "We actually wanted to express at the beginning that this drama is not an inherent genre." The so-called American drama model is nothing more than texture and strong rhythm, but more things are actually something you can't learn, such as the volume of twelve episodes, the mode of shooting and broadcasting, and so on. ”
From a cultural point of view, "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" has its own uniqueness. "What do we have ourselves? Hours, lunar calendars, solar terms, this is our unique way of timing and lifestyle. On the basis of a compact plot, by adding something unique to your own nation, this drama will win respect and make people interested in you," Cao Dun said.
As we all know, the finalization of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" is very hasty, equivalent to "naked broadcasting".
On the one hand, Youku's self-made variety show "This is Street Dance", whether it is word of mouth or traffic, is in an upward period, Yi Qianxi, as one of the four captains, has been high in popularity, "which is bound to consider some traffic inheritance problems", Xu Kang frankly. On the other hand, "it is now the summer vacation, but it lacks such a large-scale drama broadcast, and "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" fills the gap in the market while grasping the student audience."
Regarding the future, Xu Kang is very optimistic, "I think that according to the current broadcast situation of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", there should be a TV station broadcast. However, it is mainly subject to Youku's decision. At the same time, he also revealed to reporters that "Chang'an Twelve Hours 2" has also been put on the agenda at present, "We hope to continue this story, it will become a series of content development, which also includes the continuous stringing together of various content forms." ”
"Including animation, movies, derivatives, etc., all hope to open up to each other, among which the derivatives of the first part of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" will be launched in the near future."