from "MVP Lover" to "The Prince Turns into a Frog", from "Sheep Star" to "Destined to Love You", from "Carat Lover" to " Meets Wang Lichuan ", and then to the popular TV series on Youku "You Too Have Today" was filmed by director Chen Mingzhang from the age of 30 to 50. He also led the trend of idol dramas for 20 years and accompanied the growth of countless audiences.
Regarding the love in idol dramas, Chen Mingzhang hopes that there will be more than just sweetness: "I hope that my work will be seen by more people, so that the audience can gain something after enjoying the romance, not just a sweet smile."
Reject saccharin and put people first
"You Too Have Today" is adapted from Ye Feiran's novel of the same name. In the play, Cheng Yao (played by Zhang Ruonan), an innocent girl with a dream of being a lawyer, is accepted by a top law firm, so she decides to move to a place closer to the company where she can work better. Unexpectedly, the landlord rented two rooms for one room, and Cheng Yao had a quarrel with another tenant. It turned out that that person turned out to be Qian Heng (played by Chen Xingxu), the boss of Cheng Yao's law firm. As the two got along day and night at work and life, they went from not dealing with each other to caring for each other, and gradually sparked the spark of love. After going through ups and downs, Cheng Yao grew up to be a qualified lawyer and got into a happy marriage with Qian Heng.
"I want to make an organic idol drama and reject artificial saccharin." Chen Mingzhang has complicated emotions about the label "idol drama". He admitted that now is an era when "idol drama has become a derogatory term" and "idol" The label "drama director" also caused him trouble. "I've heard a lot of ridicule like, 'You're just an idol drama star.' Sweetness, rather than deliberate romance.
In his opinion, it is just a drama where actors "sprinkle sugar and fall in love" and can only be regarded as a "children's drama" rather than a real "idol drama". Chen Mingzhang believes that when audiences become more and more impatient, the biggest challenge for long video creators in the short video era is how to retain the audience and let everyone watch a "product" completely. "I advocate not to use car accidents, Explosions and other plots are the core, and dramas are made with people as the core. Because as long as the audience likes the person in the drama, they will care about everything he does, the difficulties he encounters and the process of solving them."
Characters with flaws are the real ones.
Chen Mingzhang believes that both parties in idol dramas must not have perfect characters and must have flaws to be real. The male protagonist of the new drama, Qian Heng, is a standard "cold boss". After being labeled as a stereotype, how can he be different? Chen Mingzhang tried to give the characters flaws: "The audience is more likely to believe in and take on characters with flaws. At the same time, the protagonist's flaws also highlight the difference between this drama and other idol dramas. For example, the male protagonist is particularly good at litigating, but he can't afford it. Spicy, he sweats all over when he eats spicy food, and he likes to compete with others to eat spicy food; he can't swim, and the heroine has to save him when he falls into the water." The initial character of the heroine Cheng Yao is a straightforward "rookie in the workplace." Chen Mingzhang said: "If a person is very weak, he must 'dress up' his appearance on the first day he goes to the company. He wears exquisite leather shoes. The first thing he does after returning home is to kick off his leather shoes."
Character Creation It also depends on the actors. "You Too Have Today" is Chen Mingzhang's first collaboration with mainland "post-95" actors. He lamented that as long as young actors are serious, even if they have little acting experience, he is willing to tolerate and help them: "Chen Xingxu and Zhang Ruonan showed me how serious they are. They are never late and always memorize the script for filming. Although these two This is the basic requirement for actors, but it is not easy now."
Love must also keep pace with the times
Chen Mingzhang, who has been filming idol dramas for 20 years, said that the prerequisite for telling a good love story is to understand love. Chen Mingzhang believes that many couples will end up living like their significant other: "In a love relationship, the progression and change of the relationship between the two parties is that they will think for each other and be influenced by the other party. Two people grow together and live like each other. This is The greatest romance." Based on the new drama, he analyzed that Qian Heng was initially a arrogant and overbearing boss, but under the influence of Cheng Yao, he later became cute and warm, and even had a sense of arrogance like a little princess; Cheng Yao, who was originally arrogant and stumbling, gradually He became more mature and even finally defeated Qian Heng, who had never been defeated in court, and reached a relationship of equality. He said: "This era pays attention to equal relationships between men and women. The interaction between a gold medal lawyer and an assistant lawyer will make the audience feel unequal. But the two gradually became equal while handling cases and getting along with each other. Cheng Yao finally made Qian Heng understand that many of his previous actions were wrong. This way of telling stories will bring pleasure to the audience. "
Talking about the future trend of idol dramas, Chen Mingzhang believes that this category will not be eliminated, but will continue to produce new ones: "If creators reproduce old-fashioned content, the audience will not like to watch it, even if they use old-fashioned structures. Create new effects, for example, present social topics in idol dramas and use stronger logic to connect topics. "(Xinmin Evening News reporter Sun Jiayin)
