Picture source @Visual China
text | Entertainment talk, author | Cheng Shushu, editor | Abi
In kk's previous article: "Hao Lei and Wu Zhenyu came to rectify domestic entertainment again", Ning Jing turned into a short drama lover, Hao Lei Zeng Zhiwei because Short drama actor Jin Chao battles live! !
Eric Tsang believes that it is not advisable for Jin Chao to abandon the existing short drama market and disappear from the public eye to learn acting in order to transform into long-form dramas. Now short dramas are opportunities for newcomers. He should defend his position and learn at the same time. . Because if you disappear, you may be forgotten by the public. Some opportunities will not come again.
Hao Lei praised his choice very much and thought that his attitude of being able to calm down and study was worthy of praise. After all, as Mr. Eric Tsang said, many of the very popular young talents have only been popular for two years, and it is also because of their lack of acting skills.
Seeing the fierce debate between the instructors in the show, KK also became curious. The short drama track became more and more popular. Directors and artists such as Wang Jing, Stephen Chow, Yin Zheng, and Deng Jiajia all entered the show, and the original actors in this track The group wants to escape? So, what is the current situation of skit actors? For actors entering the industry, is a popular short play a springboard for the transition to a long-form drama, or is it a new opportunity to break into a new world?
01 Dreaming of a long drama
Speaking of which, Jin Chao was once one of the few short drama actors that KK paid attention to and praised. Like many people, his curiosity and favorable impression of short plays are closely related to the two short plays he starred in, "The Princess" and "Donglan Snow". Especially "Donglan Snow", whose feature film has nearly 500 million views, has completely made many viewers remember the short drama pairing of him and Qi Xiaxia.
However, as he himself said in "Infinite Transcendence Class 2", after these two works, Jin Chao never had any short plays broadcast. The next time I saw him, he and Qi Xiaxia appeared together in " In "The Everlasting Moon", she played small roles in the last two scenes of the Twelve True Gods, the God of Thunder and the God of Wind. Thinking about his dream of a long-running drama, he probably also made up his mind around that time.
Judging from the content discussed on the "Infinite Beyond Class 2" program, there may be a question mark over Jin Chao's choice? He completely put aside his resources in the field of short plays, but what he learned was not a truly systematic performance. From Hao Lei's expression when he heard him say that others did not teach him the biographies of small characters to get started in acting, but went directly to auditions to practice his acting skills, You can see her speechlessness about this.
In fact, it is not without success stories for short-act actors to transform into long-form dramas.
For example, Cheng Lei, who achieved promotion through the short drama "Xuyan", was chosen by Guo Jingming to join the cast of "Yunzhiyu" to play the second male role of Gong Shang within a few months of the show. During the broadcast of this drama, the "The Night Is Still Light" CP played by him and Lu Yuxiao's supporting characters made many people want to stop eating.
After "Yunzhiyu", Cheng Lei received the second male lead in "Yan Xin Ji" starring Luo Yunxi and Song Yi. In the play, he had emotional lines with Chen Yao and Huang Riying. At the end of 2023, Cheng Lei ushered in his first male-led IP drama "Jinyue Ruge", as well as multiple brand businesses. In just one year, he not only successfully transformed from a short drama actor to a long drama, but also achieved three consecutive take-offs. Promoted to a fashion niche.
As lucky as Cheng Lei, Chen Xinhai, the male protagonist in the short drama "The Most Eating Fireworks in the World" last year, has already won the second male lead in the TV series "In the Clouds" and "Tree in Sendai" , the former is Yu Zhengxin's work, starring Wu Jinyan and Wang Xingyue, and also brings together new and old actors such as Chen Qiaoen, Zhang Yuqi, Yang Chaoyue, He Hongshan, Li Xinze, etc.; "Tree in Sendai" needless to say, a film from KK IP works that are constantly topical.
In addition to directly getting important roles in long dramas and quickly realizing resource jumps, there are also some short drama actors who are willing to step up from supporting roles in long dramas.
For example, Hu Dandan , who made a small debut through the short drama "Nian Nian Wu Ming", played An Xiyuan in the online drama "Qing Qing Daily", one of the few villains in the drama, and in "Traveling with the Phoenix" Also participated in; through the short play "Please!" "Don't Spoil Me" received Zhang Miaoyi . Later, she played the female lead in the online drama "Let's Meet Now". Last year, she partnered with Zhou Yiran in the youth drama "When I Fly to You" and was promoted to the female lead. This drama has received a good response. It is clear that Zhang Miaoyi's career as an actress has become more advanced; Ke Ying, the heroine in "Xu Yan", participated in Yu Zheng's new drama "Five Blessings" and won a Small role.
In addition, there are the male and female protagonists of the popular mini-program short drama "Oh, the Queen is here to work", Sun Yue guest-starred as the male supporting actor Gu Zinian in "Love as Camp", and Xu Yizhen appeared in the star TV series "Sunshine With Me" Lin Lin, who plays the heroine's assistant.
can see that even if they are "top performers" in short dramas, they are happy to play marginal roles in long dramas. According to the short play screenwriter C, , many of the short play actors he has come into contact with are not just those who just want to make money, but those who are a bit "ambitious" are yearning for long plays. Taking part in short plays is just a springboard.
02 Acting is stigmatized
Short dramas are very popular, but actors in short dramas finally want to escape. This may have something to do with the stigma given to practitioners when the industry grows wildly. In the early days of the development of
short dramas, the content quality was mixed, and the threshold for actors was relatively low. There were short video internet celebrities from various platforms and some amateurs with no acting experience at all. As short dramas have become a major source of traffic and favored by more capital, the public has begun to pay attention to the ability of the short drama industry to attract money. The regular army of film and television has come to an end, and the quality of short dramas has gradually improved. However, even so, for this wave of actors in the short drama industry, It is still easy to be looked down upon by both inside and outside the industry.
In the opinion of many people, the roles in short plays are relatively simple and stylized, and do not require extremely complex human nature and psychological changes. The acting requirements for actors are not high. They "don't need acting skills", they only need " "Loud", "kneel down", "palm your mouth"...
Some traditional content producers believe that the short length of vertical screen shorts and the stuck presentation method make it impossible for actors to understand the core of the characters, and the performances are hollow and boring. Exaggerated. For example, when Eric Tsang commented on Jin Chao's works, his eyes were empty when filming short plays.
Screenwriter C told KK that some producers look down on actors who have filmed short plays, and casting directors will directly note "no short play actors" in the message. Even some producers of short plays believe that as long as the image of the short play is chosen, the actor's acting skills are not that important.
Little did we know that despite the "discrimination" of many people, some short drama actors relied on their solid performance skills to win the audience's favor for the drama.
Take Sun Yue, who is known as the leader in the short drama circle, as an example. If you have never heard of his name, you must have heard of his mini-program short drama "Oops!" "The Queen is Coming", within 24 hours of its launch, it received 12 million yuan in recharges. In addition, most of the more than a dozen short dramas he starred in have received good responses and have high hit rates, such as "Like Ice Meets the Sun", "After a Flash Wedding, Mr. Fu's Vest Can't be Hidden" and so on.
Compared with other short drama male protagonists, Sun Yue's appearance is not outstanding enough. Fans also admit that this guy does not rely on his appearance to make a living. However, his partnership with Xu Yizhen has achieved the effect of "people leading dramas" in a specific circle. A small number of viewers claim that they started watching micro-short dramas because they were out of the circle.
Looking at his short plays, we can see that the characters that attract his most fans, such as bosses, warlords, and generals, are in great contrast to his personal image, and they are also cute. It can also be seen from these that Sun Yue's acting skills are something.
Looking further, we can find that before becoming famous in the short drama circle, Sun Yue, who graduated from the Performance Department of Zhejiang University of Communication, worked in long dramas for several years. Co-starred with Zhu Yawen and Zheng Yuanchang in the urban inspirational emotional drama "Partners", collaborated with Ma Sichun and others in the urban emotional inspirational drama "Come on, You Are the Best", and co-starred with Huang Xiaoming and Tan Zhuo in the urban workplace romance drama "Emergency Public Relations" 》.Looking back, Sun Yue can be regarded as a successful example of growing up.
Xu Yizhen also graduated from Zhejiang University of Communication, and starred in the theater movie "On the Road to Happiness" as the 2021 Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers screening movie.
In addition, there are other "top performers" in the short drama industry, such as Jiao Peikai, the male protagonist of "Wu Shuang" and "Addicted to Love" graduated from Sichuan Film and Television Academy; Haonan, for example, studied film and television in Sichuan; Xie Yuwang of "The Ex-Wives Strategy" graduated from Sichuan Communication University, including the short drama actors mentioned above who have transformed into long dramas. The opportunity came out of the short drama track.
And the disdain expressed by many voices towards short drama actors may have made some actors have the same feeling. Short dramas are still a bit "low", and long dramas are art. Just like another layer of contempt chain, those who act in movies are better than those who act in TV series.
03 A daily salary of 20,000, or is he at the end of the contempt chain?
According to short drama producer Meng Yuan, the salary of short drama actors has also continued to rise in the past year. The salary of some "top-notch" short dramas has increased from a daily salary of several thousand in the past to a daily salary of 20,000 now. . Based on a seven-day cycle, one drama costs 140,000.
However, screenwriter C still said that many short drama actors have repeatedly said: "If I were not too poor to eat, I would still not make short dramas." Even C himself said that he would stay in the short drama industry for the time being. Because this industry makes money now. In his opinion, "Short plays are famous, but they are not considered art after all." As the latest content format, short plays that grew up in
's savage roughness naturally rank at the end of the contempt chain. Most of the practitioners are just trying to make money and fail to feel a sense of identity.
In fact, when Hao Lei suggested that it is a good thing for actors in short dramas to work hard to integrate into the long-form drama model and further their studies, KK thought that what Eric Tsang said was actually worthy of consideration by the audience and the market: "We who made movies in the past looked down on those who made TV series. Those who make TV series look down on those who make short videos, and those who make short videos look down on those who make short videos. But now Wong Kar-wai has gone to make TV dramas, and Stephen Chow has gone to make short videos."
is not short of money, and he is already in this so-called contempt Everyone at the top of the chain is off filming skits.
In addition, according to industry personnel, in fact, most stars who end up filming short dramas are not paid as much as they do long dramas, but they are still willing to come in. Why?
kk thinks that Zeng Zhiwei’s words in the program can answer that the birth of new business formats gives opportunities to newcomers and also gives the industry more possibilities. This matter is particularly important now.
Therefore, the existence of the contempt chain does not necessarily mean the establishment of the "contempt" logic. Short dramas may not always be crudely produced, and short drama actors may not be able to stand on the wave of traffic one day. For practitioners, too much criticism will only affect themselves. Since there is a market, we must face it and do a good job in it. The interviewees in the
article have pseudonyms, and I would like to thank them again for their expressions.
