Disappointment and surprise coexist in the 2021 episode of the hottest absentee genre is innovative into an out-of-circle password
Author: Ge Yiting
[ 12月的收官之战某种程度也映射着2021年度剧集市场的整体面貌——失望与惊喜并存。纵观全年，剧集上新数量与近两年基本持平，但缺乏真正意义上的全民爆款，不过类型上呈现出丰富多元的面向，能够满足不同圈层观众的喜好。 ]
At the end of 2021, the drama market is in full swing. Ancient costume conspiracy “Fighting a Knife in the Snow”, suspense detective “Wind up Luoyang”, family ethics “Xiaomin Jia”, crime suspense “Who is the Murderer” appeared in turn, all star lineups, head IP, competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
However, compared with the warm-up before the broadcast, not all “top matches” can meet the expectations of the audience being raised. On the contrary, it was a number of low-key mid-cost drama series, which relied on word of mouth to counterattack and achieved good ratings. The broadcast effect of the finished urban light comedy “Love Is Delicious” exceeded expectations. It was announced a few days ago that the movie version is in preparation and is expected to be released next year. The spy war drama “The Opponent”, which is currently on the air, takes a different approach and uses the villain’s perspective as the main line of the narrative, depicting the middle-aged life of two foreign spies. According to China’s audio-visual big data, the show landed on CCTV 8 on December 16, and ranked third in the single-channel ratings of primetime TV dramas during the first week, surpassing “Knife in the Snow” and “Xiaomin’s House”.
The ending battle in December also reflects to some extent the overall appearance of the 2021 drama market-disappointment and surprise coexist. Throughout the whole year, the number of new episodes on the series is basically the same as in the past two years, but there is no real national explosion, but the genre presents a rich and diverse aspect, which can meet the preferences of audiences from different circles.
The main themes represented by “Mountain and Sea Love”, “Awakening Age”, and “Merciful Merit” successfully broke the circle through the real shaping of the characters and the audiovisual language close to the young; “It’s My Glory” through the innovation of specific types, alleviates the aesthetic fatigue of the audience; many S-class dramas that are considered to have the potential to be explosive are misfired, and the formula of traffic and IP is no longer echoed, but rather some small and medium cost dramas. With its creativity, the set has taken the audience’s attention and gained a foothold in the highly competitive drama market.
Innovation is always accompanied by risks. In this year’s drama market, those original dramas that dared to break the stereotypes finally won the audience’s approval. When these high-quality content continue to receive positive feedback in the market, the production and production of original dramas can enter a virtuous circle.
The main theme is close to young people
There are no traffic actors and no overwhelming marketing. A number of thematic film and television dramas such as “Mountain and Sea Love”, “Awakening Age” and “Merchants” lead the prime-time ratings list of various Davids depending on word of mouth, arousing the resonance of audiences from all circles and ages. . The fascinating theme of these themes is that they break away from the heroic narrative and missionary thinking of the past, create flesh-and-blood characters, and tell true stories in the wave of the times.
For example, “Mountain and Sea Love”, which starts from a typical case in the fight against poverty, tells the endless local human sentiments on this land. Starting from the lives of the most ordinary characters, they describe their labor and love, frustration and pursuit, pain and joy, and respond to the eternal theme of struggle and ideals in the stories of the times. The paintings depicted in the play are idealistic, romantic and contain realism, giving the main melody humanity and poetry.
“The Age of Awakening” restores the great men in history to ordinary people with emotions, sorrows, sorrows and joys, creating a convincing group of idealistic figures. In addition to the depiction of the portraits of the characters, the clever pens full of life breath have also become the flesh and blood that supports the grand narrative. The actors strive for perfection in the performance details, showing the inner waves of these intellectuals and thought pioneers in the face of historical choices, and the courage to innovate in shooting techniques. The lens language combining freehand brushwork and realism brings aesthetic experience to the audience.
How to make people and stories real and sensible depends on the details of production, from scenes, costumes, props, small actions, etc., to the true state of a generation. For example, the recipients of the “Medal of the Republic” in “The Meritorious Service” are in different eras and come from different industries. Their stories are vivid and vivid, and their character creation is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. They are also inseparable from the interpretation of a group of powerful actors. The success of these thematic works has promoted the return of the drama market from traffic to acting and from IP to the essence of creation, and it will also bring benign touches to creators, investors and platforms.
Type innovation leads the market trend
Crime suspense and spy war dramas have always been areas where excellent works in domestic dramas have emerged. The confrontation between justice and evil, and the undercurrent of light and darkness can often arouse the audience’s desire for fairness and justice. However, if these types of works just stay on the successful path of copying the classics, they will fall into the creation bottleneck and make the audience feel aesthetic fatigue. At this time, creators need to find new ways to innovate in writing or shooting methods, so that traditional types can keep up with the times. .
The reality itself provides inexhaustible motivation for the creation of scripts. In terms of expression, it also requires the main creative to continuously innovate methods to adapt to the aesthetic preferences of the new generation of audiences. It can be seen that the crime suspense-themed “Sweeping Dark Storm” has absorbed the creation methods of foreign boutique dramas such as American and Korean dramas. Compared with traditional TV dramas, it has the characteristics of online content-a bright rhythm and more entertaining. The spy warfare theme “Opponent” shoots the spy warfare drama into the taste of life. The ingenious drama structure reconciles the spy warfare and the family clues. The acting skills of several Mesozoic actors add a lot of color to the show, and it is humorous. The bitterness and the deep affection in the sadness also made this story more visible.
In a workplace drama that is homogenized and imaginary, “Ideal City” provides a reference value for content innovation for this genre. The story of how newcomers in the workplace learn to grow by stepping on thunder and digging pits in the past are often simplified into game-like upgrades and monsters in episodes of the same theme. No matter how difficult the protagonist encounters, he will be like a god at the critical moment. . “Ideal City” eliminates the fairy tale plot, nor does it provide the audience with the pleasure of revenge through the setting of the bloody plot. Like the protagonist, the audience also experiences the protagonist’s sorrow and suffering along the way, and empathizes with it.
At the moment when a series of dramas are created with a fast-paced and strong plot, the main creative choice of “Ideal City” slows down, spends time brewing seemingly unimportant plots, and uses pen and ink to create a complex and three-dimensional character. These details are carved and polished. Determines the thickness of the work. Sometimes, it is the dramatic tension of the still water that makes the audience memorable, rather than pure sensory stimulation.
Small but beautiful drama counterattack
In recent years, many celebrity lineups and top IP dramas have shown timidity when they meet with the audience in the finished product. This year, the success of “Small and Beautiful” dramas such as “Original Gifts”, “I’m Very Good in a Foreign Country”, “Love Is Delicious” and other “small and beautiful” dramas once again proved that traffic and IP are not a panacea, only sincere creative talents It is possible to get feedback from the audience.
For example, the platform of “Essence of the Gods” is not high and the budget is limited, but it has not been rushed due to small costs. It has been prepared for three years and the script has been polished for one and a half years. The overall pay for the actors is far below the industry regulations. Finding the most suitable actors within the price range of, it is precisely because of the participation of new actors and the higher degree of cooperation that the main creative team has more room for adjustment and more freedom of creation.
On the one hand, these dramas have leaned resources towards the creation itself under limited costs, which has enabled the dramas to achieve a higher degree of completion. On the other hand, advanced gender concepts are also the key to these works’ ability to capture the audience in the end. The gender concept of equality is reflected in the relationship between the characters. The heroes and heroines work together and respect each other. The female image is no longer stuck in “silly, white and sweet”, and it adds agility, wisdom and courage to the foundation of simplicity and kindness. The male protagonist created is also the male image that most female audiences desire to see that truly respects women and can provide emotional value.
As the main consumer of TV dramas, the awakening of female consciousness puts forward requirements for the shaping of female images in TV dramas, and also makes creators have to keep pace with the times and grasp the attention of contemporary female audiences by shaping female images in the new era. In recent years, film and television dramas have finally liberated women from trivial family affairs, and their focus is no longer just about the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, marriage issues and other parental issues. Coming out of a fixed model, routine but safe group portrait shaping is an innovative trend in female group portrait dramas in recent years.
Small-cost film and television dramas have won the favor of audiences in a small area, and show a trend of breaking the circle. If the industry’s head resources are tilted toward such conscientious creators and good actors, the overall quality of domestic dramas can be improved. , To promote the real prosperity of domestic dramas. The experience of these dramas breaking through from niche circles may become another successful path for innovative dramas in the future. When more innovative and high-quality dramas land on the screen and are well received by audiences, the creative market will become more active and capital will also tend to A more innovative production team.
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