Text | Xiaoyu
A heavy snowstorm swept through Hengdian World Studios half a month ago, and it happened that there were more than 40 crew members who were lucky enough to benefit from Ruixue. Nearly half of them are large-scale production projects starring popular stars, including "The Legend of the Hidden Sea", " Fox Demon Matchmaker ·King Power", "Water Dragon Song", "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain", etc.
Legend has it that as long as there is heavy snow in Hengdian, there will be explosive dramas, such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan" filmed in 2010, "Do You Know Should Be Green, Fat, Red, and Thin" filmed in 2017, and "The Legend of Zhou Sheng" filmed in 2020. As a result, netizens began to bet on these dramas being filmed, especially with high hopes for large-scale production projects. The related topic "Snow in Hengdian, explosive drama" also appeared on Weibo's hot search. Before
delivers the finished product to the audience for testing, the response to the broadcast is naturally unknown, so for the time being it is just a matter of good expectations. However, what can be determined in advance is that the shooting categories of popular celebrities and flowers at the top of the pyramid often determine the categories of major dramas in the future, from which we can also first observe some new trends in the market.
1
The heroine is busy in business wars
From sadomasochism to fairy tales, disturbing the court to fighting on the battlefield, domestic heroine dramas have never stopped updating. After "Meng Hua Lu" and "Wind Blowing Pinellia" won overwhelming praise, more and more leading heroines are also busy "doing business".
For example, in the recently completed "Sichuan Brocade Family" and the currently filming "National Color Youth" and "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain", the heroines are respectively businesswomen who specialize in Shu brocade silk dyeing, flower cultivation, and jewelry design. Judging from the filing information, these three dramas all define themselves as ancient costume legends, and the introductions always run through the plot of shopping mall games. It is expected that the style of the finished films may be different from ordinary ancient puppets.
"Sichuan Brocade Family" stars Tan Songyun as the heroine, playing the role of Ji Yingying, a young Sichuan girl who is smart and obsessed with silk dyeing since she was a child. She inherits and innovates her own Sichuan red silk dyeing techniques, but does not want to offend Nanzhao Bai Wang who covets the secret recipe. The land of Shu is in turmoil. In order to protect the craftsmen and quell the disputes, she and Yang Jinglan, a descendant of the aristocratic family, negotiated with Nanzhao, and finally left a legendary story about Shu brocade in the late Tang Dynasty.
Chief director Liu Haibo's representative works are mainly realist dramas such as "People's Property" and "Trident". The costume drama "Tiansheng Changge" he directed also tends to have a grand and legendary style. I wonder how he will handle this drama. A more youth-oriented series.
In "The Beauty of the Country", the heroine He Weifang played by Yang Zi is the daughter of a merchant who left the house in a marriage where only benefits were exchanged. With her superb skills in cultivating rare peonies, she came to Chang'an to become a "flower and bird envoy" to the emperor's ministers. Jiang Changyang started business. As a result, she got to know a group of women who had a rough life and were confused about their future, and helped them learn skills to make a living. Later, He Weifang decided to transform his industry and founded the "Wu Yong Tang", which produced oil, medicine, and grain, in order to benefit the people. He repeatedly assisted Jiang Changyang on his journey to serve the country.
It can be seen that the play also involves women's mutual help and feelings about family and country, and it feels like another "Menghua Lu". Director Ding Ziguang has never directed a costume drama. His previous masterpieces are healing modern dramas such as "In the Name of Family" and "Go Where the Wind Is". I wonder how it will play out in new fields.
The heroine Dragon Boat Festival in "Pearl Curtain and Jade Curtain" is played by Zhao Lusi. The play tells the story of Dragon Boat Festival, a pearl-fishing girl, who goes west to do business with the mysterious businessman Yan Zijing. She relies on her flexible mind to make a series of jewelry businesses, and gains a lot of money with the jade lady Yueyun. Xiu's deep friendship. After Yan Zijing's guidance, Duanwu, who only knew pearls, opened the door to the jewelry world. Then she went to Yangzhou and became the industry leader with tortoise shell armor, jewelry and horse gear, colorful jewelry and other products, and she truly counterattacked and became a story of a generation of businesswomen.
This drama is directed by Xie Ze. His representative works include "The Legend of Miyue", "Great Expectations", "The Dreamer", etc. The style is relatively diverse.
Coincidentally, these female-led dramas are all set in the Tang Dynasty, and the story directions and cores also have certain similarities. For example, the first two combine business with helping the world, which is undoubtedly a reflection of the level of the drama. Raise the seeds.And although they have the ambition to break away from the ancient doll Mary Sue, they still hope to create on-screen couples to reap dividends. For example, the male and female protagonists of the latter two are once popular cp duo, but the help of the actresses' transformation may be relatively limited. .
In addition, other female-led business war dramas that are rumored to be in production include "Magnolia Blooms" and "Businesswoman". The former is based on the life story of Ms. Dong Zhujun, the founder of Shanghai Jinjiang Hotel, and the latter is about the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. The counterattack of a businesswoman to save the country was also a project that the popular internet celebrities were eyeing.
2
The male protagonist ascends to the court
A number of male video dramas in which popular popular students play the male protagonist are also being intensively produced. What they have in common is that they all involve Bo Yun's treacherous court disputes, and the opponents also use their status as powerful men. The one with the upper hand takes precedence. Among the male video dramas such as
, the first one to break out of the industry was actually "Celebrating More Than Years" starring Zhang Ruoyun. The second season of the show was completed last year, and last month it became the first TV series on the Internet to have over 10 million reservations, which shows its market appeal.
"Qing Yu Nian Season 2" should continue the style of Machiavellian martial arts, but other projects still have their own emphasis on specific types.
"Dafeng Watchman", also produced by Xinli, starring Wang Hedi, tells the story of Yang Ling, a modern migrant worker, who accidentally enters the Dafeng Dynasty with monsters and magic and becomes a watchman who oversees hundreds of officials. Tongluo Xu Qian . He relied on his modern scientific knowledge and reasoning expertise to solve a series of bizarre cases, and worked with like-minded partners to fight against the dark forces of the court and speak out for the people and justice.
Behind the scenes are the production team of "The Son-in-Law" and "Everyday Life". The trailer released also has a similar look and feel of a fantasy detective comedy in costume, and it is expected to recreate the glory of the creator's previous work.
The soon-to-be-announced "The Legend of the Tibetan Sea" is directed by Zheng Xiaolong and is the original work of the Southern Three Uncles. It stars Xiao Zhan, Zhang Jingyi and others. It is a fantasy adventure series in ancient costume.
In the play, Xiao Zhan plays the role of a child slave who was originally the son of Jianzheng, the Qin Tianjian of Dayong Kingdom, and became a blood feud overnight. After ten years of forbearance, he returned to Beijing under the pseudonym Zanghai, and rose through the ranks in the court with his craftsmanship and manipulation skills. During the gradual investigation, he made the truth about the family extermination public to the public, avenged the injustice, and also assisted Yong to purge the court and eliminate the war.
Following the great success of the costume martial arts drama "Lotus Tower", another martial arts drama starring Cheng Yi "Heroes" has also been completed.
The drama is adapted from the novel of the same name by writer Sun Xiao. It mainly tells the story of middle-aged head catcher Wu Dingyuan who discovers that he is involved in a larger political conspiracy while investigating a series of complex cases. As a result, he gets to know Lu Yun, a failed scholar played by Cheng Yi, and others. Together, they began to fight against fate and search for the truth in the capital.
The original book has the characteristics of a "novel mansion" due to its vast length, broad structure, and numerous characters. It is known as a martial arts masterpiece with the style of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". The achievement of the novel is so high, but it is not without disadvantages for the drama version. After all, it means that the adaptation is quite difficult, and the final effect will not be judged until the drama series is launched.
Of course, there are also male-led dramas where the story is not set in the court, but the excitement of upgrade, narrative of resistance, and suspense are the same.
Ren Jialun's "The Story of Wu Geng in Flames" is the story of the human prince Wu Geng avenging his parents and tribe, and leading the human compatriots to resist the oppression of the gods; Luo Yunxi's "Water Dragon Song" tells the story of Tang Lici, who can't distinguish between good and evil, fighting against the world and fighting against the heroes. The story of protecting the common people; Yang Yang's "The Story of a Mortal Cultivating Immortality" is based on the main line of a poor boy from an ordinary mountain village who has mediocre talents, but relies on his own efforts and reasonable calculations to finally become an immortal.
3
Monster themes have crowded out the traditional fairy tales,
Atypical urban love is coming
Ancient costume and urban love have always been the tracks where traffic stars gather. Although they have been criticized a lot, they are still endless. Judging from the reserves of popular actors and actresses waiting to be broadcast, these two types of dramas also show obvious signs of renewal.
Costume love is often equated with ancient puppets, and the above-mentioned heroine business war dramas can also be classified into this category. This is one of the changes in the market. As for the second change, it is that the spirit and monster themes have occupied the share of traditional fairy tales.
The preparations for the "Fox Fairy Little Matchmaker" series are probably the beginning of this trend. The three dramas "Yuehong Chapter", "Bamboo Industry Chapter" and "King Power Chapter" bring together domestic first-line traffic stars, which greatly strengthens the traditional ghost-themed drama. Even inventory.
The Xianxia worldview often uses a six-realm structure, and the protagonist is usually a kind of human, immortal, and demon; the background of the "Fox Demon" series is that five demon kingdoms compete with humans, and the protagonists are basically fox demons and humans. Moreover, the timeline of the original comics also involves modern times, but it is not yet known whether the drama version will be retained.
These settings are similar to those of Xianxia, such as reincarnation and the confrontation between humans and monsters, etc., but overall it can be regarded as an innovation and may be able to effectively stimulate viewers who have long-term aesthetic fatigue.
In addition to the "Fox Demon" series, there are many ancient puppets with the same theme to be broadcast.
"The Big Dream Returns" starring Hou Minghao and Chen Duling is said to be born out of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" and is a magnificent legend about "a demon trying to catch a demon"; "Worry-Free Crossing" starring Ren Jialun, the play is composed of six ambitious characters "Midnight Return" stars Xu Kai and Tian Xiwei, and is the original work of "The Daily Life of Mrs. Mei's Beloved Husband". "The male and female protagonists are respectively the upright Taoist priest Xiao Langjun and the playboy cat demon elder sister.
Urban love and modern couples are intertwined, and a number of dramas with novel settings are about to come.
For example, "Half-Mature Man and Woman" starring Tian Xiwei was adapted from the Douban romance novel "There Are No Good Men and Believers Here". The original work was a setting of "all villains + all Aquaman", and everyone has their own thoughts and agendas; "Spring Love" is written by Li Xian and Zhou Yutong star in the original work. In the original work, the male protagonist is engaged in the funeral industry, and the female protagonist is a disabled person, who belongs to the theme of returning home for healing after living in exile; "The Hidden Thing" stars Chen Xiao and Yang Zishan, and the male protagonist is a psychological person without the ability to empathize. disorder, and was suspected of a vicious serial murder case.
Although the subject matter is niche, with popular actors starring and a strong production team, it may not be able to inject fresh blood into urban emotional dramas. We can wait and see.
