"Sweet Pet" idol drama, as a subdivision of film and television dramas, was once popular in recent years. But with the popularity, problems have gradually emerged. With some assembly-line replicating scenes, lines, and conflicts, the audience can guess the ending after watching the beginning, and it is difficult not to suffer from aesthetic fatigue. In addition, the plot is unreasonable and there are loopholes in logic.
Recently, Chen Mingzhang, the director of the popular TV series "You Too Have Today", was interviewed by a reporter from Red Star News. When talking about this phenomenon, he believed that some idol dramas have entered a misunderstanding, as if spreading sugar is an idol drama. In his opinion, Filming is not about filming scenes or plot, but about writing characters well. The audience must empathize with the characters and pay attention to everything he or she does. Idol dramas definitely need sweet moments, but they must be logical and not deliberate. "It is sweet, but it is definitely not industrial saccharine."
Idol dramas are not sprinkled with "industrial saccharin"
Many people born in the 80s and 90s watch them An idol drama directed by Chen Mingzhang. After debuting for more than 20 years, Chen Mingzhang has filmed TV series including popular idol dramas such as "MVP Lover", "The Prince Turns into a Frog", "Du Lala's Promotion" and "Carat Lovers".
From the story point of view, the plot of "You Too Have Today" is not new: Cheng Yao (played by Zhang Ruonan), a girl with a dream of being a lawyer, is admitted to a top law firm. When renting a house, I didn't expect that the landlord rented two rooms for one room - the other tenant of the house was none other than Qian Heng (played by Chen Xingxu), the top local lawyer and the founder of Chengyao Law Firm. This house was where Qian Heng lived in the early days of his business. He returned here in the hope of curing his severe insomnia in a familiar environment. By chance, the two temporarily became roommates. In a series of ridiculous misunderstandings and coincidences, the aloof Qian Heng gradually melted away and fell in love with the warm and kind-hearted Cheng Yao.
Strangers living under the same roof, or a superior-subordinate relationship, is indeed a common setting in most idol dramas. Although the story provides explanations, many viewers also complained about some routines. Chen Mingzhang chose to treat this as a joke in the play and make fun of himself to "de-routine" it: the title of the first episode is "Idol drama happened to me", using the heroine's inner monologue to complain. At the same time, after learning about this situation, the heroine's friend also complained that "such a corny joke can still be reflected in reality."
Focusing on idol dramas for more than 20 years, Chen Mingzhang is good at grasping characters and emotions, and is also good at figuring out the audience's preferences and needs. But in his opinion, a large number of idol dramas in recent years have entered into a misunderstanding. It seems that if a few young actors are found to sprinkle sugar, they are idol dramas. "What makes me sad is that the word 'idol drama' has gradually become a misunderstanding." It has become a derogatory term - ah, you are just a person who shoots idol dramas."
Chen Mingzhang said that he has heard many similar ridicules over the years, and he has been exploring, hoping to do something through a new idol drama Try to tear off people's inherent labels for idol dramas, "I have long said that I want to make 'idol dramas for adults.' Now everyone's concept of idol dramas is that young actors spreading sugar and falling in love are called idols. drama, so there are not many real idol dramas on the market."
Chen Mingzhang hopes to make the characters realistic and allow them to grow and have arcs. For example, the male protagonist is a commonly known as "cold boss". With this classic and traditional label, how can he be different from other "cold bosses"? Then when creating, you have to give him a lot of flaws, because it is easier for the audience to believe and empathize with people who have flaws.
For example, the male protagonist is a very powerful lawyer, but he can’t eat spicy food. He sweats every time he eats spicy food, but he still has to compete with others to eat spicy food; he can’t swim, and the female protagonist has to save him when he falls into the water... "I like it The protagonist has many shortcomings, because when everyone watches this drama, they can see the character setting that is different from other idol dramas."
As the drama is broadcast, the audience will also see that Qian Heng and Cheng Yao There’s been a lot of growth, too. Qian Heng was arrogant at first, but under the influence of Cheng Yao, Qian Heng also became lovable later on. Cheng Yao, who was originally very popular, became more and more mature. "In this play, you will slowly see the growth of the heroine. She is The last lawsuit involves defeating the male protagonist.Emotionally, it's a two-way street, and both people have to work hard together, instead of having the boys take the lead in how to protect and pursue women like in traditional idol dramas. "
In the interview, Chen Mingzhang repeatedly mentioned his frustration with many current idol dramas "spreading industrial saccharine", "I want to make an organic idol drama. What is organic? That is, your sweetness is organic and logical, not artificial. "Chen Mingzhang said that he is a director who likes to capture and magnify details, because what really touches people is the details in the relationship. Only by grasping the details can you make an idol drama that women like.
When filming "You Too Have Today" , Chen Mingzhang was deeply impressed by the scene where the male and female protagonists eat pizza on their first date. Maybe in idol dramas, the two of them feed each other pizza, and it looks sweet. "I will think about how this 'sweetness' can be achieved." Make it organic. "Chen Mingzhang said that Qian Heng has a relatively cold personality and will not take the initiative to do thoughtful things. Cheng Yao saw the boy at the next table feeding his girlfriend pizza, so she signaled with her eyes, and Qian Heng reluctantly reached out to take the pizza. It seemed that Want to feed. But it was too difficult for Qian Heng. He couldn’t stretch out the pizza halfway. During the filming, Chen Mingzhang asked Cheng Yao to leave the seat and took a bite, "What I want to express is What? This "sweetness" is half your effort and half my effort. Falling in love is when two people take a step independently and rush in both directions to complete an organic romance. It's sweet, but not industrially saccharine, and it completes the character change in this scene. ”
Idol dramas will not be eliminated, but they must create new things
The current film and television industry is changing rapidly. Yesterday, heroines and sweet pet dramas may have been popular, but today they are talking about realism. The tastes of the audience are becoming more and more picky, allowing creators to It’s unpredictable.
Stills from "MVP Lover"
Chen Mingzhang, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years, believes that the market has not changed, but that the audience may be becoming more and more impatient. "Now is the era of short videos. It takes 3 minutes to watch a movie." The phenomenon is too common. "For creators, the biggest challenge is how to retain the audience and make them have the patience to read your product." Why I said that filming is about filming people, not filming scenes or plots. Because as long as you like the person in the play, you will care about everything he does, instead of attracting the audience with today's car accident and tomorrow's explosion. What I'm doing is making the audience like my characters. I hope that I can still use the traditional method of "writing about people" to make the audience like the characters and patiently watch my play. "
Stills of " Meet Wang Lichuan"
In the interview, Chen Mingzhang mentioned that idol dramas will never lack audiences. He also believes that this category will not be eliminated, but if the creators only make some very old Audiences may not like to watch things that are cliche. Creators need to create new things within the old structure. For example, in "You Too Have Today", the hero and heroine become lawyers, but this identity cannot be just a background The board needs to be a representative and solid case, and the logic of the case must be very strong. "We didn't have to do this before, but now we have to provide harder logic so that the audience will want to see what happens behind the case."
Chen Mingzhang recalled that when he was filming idol dramas in the early days, he didn’t have the concept of idol dramas at first. He slowly explored it, and only when he matured did he start to inject some of his own thoughts. “I hope that more people will see my works. After letting the audience enjoy the romance, they can also gain something, not just a sweet smile. Many people ask me, are you a romantic by nature? Do you naturally believe in love? No, it’s just because I don’t believe in love that I shoot love. Because I want you to live in a very pleasant world while watching my works, and you turn off the TV, close the computer, open the door and go out. , the real world is not like this. ”
Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng intern Xiao Senyang editor Wang Liqiang
