905 Movie Network Special Article The theme of fairy tales is rooted in traditional Chinese culture. It not only shows a fantasy world view and wonderful fairy tales, but also carries the Chinese people's unique understanding of morality, emotion and life at the spiritual core. In the context of globalization, the theme of fairy tales has also become an important business card for Chinese culture to go global.
In recent years, online dramas and online literature with fairy tale themes have become popular. Recently, the series "Fairy Sword 4" and "Fairy Sword 6" were adapted from the classic game IP "Legend of Sword and Fairy" (renamed " pray for the present"). 》) was aired almost at the same time, but why are there so few fairy-themed movies on the big screen?
Why is it difficult to make movies with fairy tale themes?
Looking at the development of domestic films, we will find that not only films with fairy tale themes, but also expanded to larger fantasy genres, are now facing poor performance or even gradual disappearance. Why are films of this type so bad? What about shooting?
First of all, in terms of creation, the huge world view of Xianxia World puts certain restrictions on the adaptation of IPs such as Xianxia. This is why we often see TV series with Xianxia themes instead of movies. Xianxia dramas usually have more than 30 episodes, which can use a relatively long length to depict a fantasy world of Xianxia; however, in a 120-minute movie, it is difficult to clarify the background of the Xianxia world and its character relationships in the film. , it will also be difficult for the audience to understand.
"The Legend of Shushan" filmed by director Tsui Hark 20 years ago, compressed the original novel of more than 5 million words into a movie of more than an hour, and deleted too many things, making it completely incomprehensible to audiences who do not know about cultivating immortals. The plot The shortcomings also gave the movie a poor reputation.
Secondly, it is difficult to produce in an industrialized manner, because works with fairy tale themes require a large number of special effects shots, and the production of these special effects is no less difficult than that of science fiction films. For example, the movie "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom" has more than 2,300 special effects shots, accounting for more than 90% of the entire film; the water unicorn in the movie "Zhu Xian" took several years to make just one CG shot. Showing difficulties in industrial production.
Xianxia-themed movies require strong support from the film industry, which also shows the need for extremely high investment. However, the long-term sluggish performance of Xianxia-themed movies has also discouraged many investors from such themes.
Finally, it is difficult to convert the audience. For example, the IP of "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom", from literary works to TV series to movies, although the content is the same, the success factors of these three types of works are different. The audience is different in various The media requirements are also different, so there is no guarantee that audiences who read novels and TV series will definitely go to the movies, and it is difficult to convert the audience groups.
The above-mentioned difficulties have brought a lot of uncertainty to Xianxia movies, which also makes it difficult for us to see high-quality Xianxia movies in theaters.
How to shoot the fairy tale theme well?
The current Xianxia-themed films are not up to expectations, but we cannot completely sentence this theme to "death". Just like before we made "The Wandering Earth", no one expected that Chinese science fiction movies would be so good; before we made "Fengshen Part 1", no one thought that an epic mythological movie could achieve such good reputation and box office results. . Therefore, facing some current difficulties in the fairy tale genre, our film creators should find new directions for their efforts.
film critic Tan Fei gave three suggestions. The first is to hope that the Xianxia theme can be linked with dramas and movies, so that movies and TV series can be developed simultaneously. The release of the movie and drama in the same cycle can also trigger the audience to compare and discuss the two versions, keeping the popularity of the drama and movie.
The second is to delete the complex and simplify the content adaptation, simplifying some of the complex relationships in the world of immortals. "Fengshen Part 1" is a good example. The film takes the growth of the two characters Ji Fa and Yin Jiao as the main line of the movie, and omits many "key points" in the original novel, and the details are appropriately selected.
The third is to increase the relevance of reality in the fairy tale theme, inject modern elements into the fairy tale theme film, and inject the current spiritual power, which will make more people feel it. For example, workplace relationships, new love relationships, and even new views on women can be integrated into the film, so that more viewers can feel involved and fall in love with Xianxia again.
The misty clouds entering the mountains and the solitary and precipitous cliffs are the places that young people have visited in their dreams; the courage to point the sword at the sky and bend the bow to shoot Qionghua is the heroism and righteousness that the young man has in his heart. Therefore, the fairy tale theme is a unique creative theme in China. I hope We can see more high-quality fairy-themed movies in the future!
