Author | Jianjiao Dongfang TV and Jiangsu Satellite TV won the first place in the year. Yunhe and Kuyun online broadcast data were at the forefront of the same period. The broadcast performance of "Guzhou" exceeded many people's expectations. As a spy drama, "Lone Boat" is n

Author | Jianjiao

Dongfang TV and Jiangsu TV ranked first in the year. Yunhe and Kuyun online broadcast data were among the top in the same period. The broadcast performance of "Lone Boat" exceeded many people's expectations.

As a spy drama, "Lone Boat" does not have the "refreshing" feeling as imagined. The male protagonist, Gu Yizhong, is an architect by trade. He grew up as a "novice agent" and was framed at the beginning of the story. He got deeper and deeper step by step. In terms of plot, the relationship between the characters is very clear from the beginning, and there is no suspenseful struggle between ourselves and the enemy. When

first aired, "Lone Boat" encountered a lot of doubts. Some viewers thought it had a slow pace and heavy emotional drama, and even called it a "spy couple."

Meng Qingfeng, producer of "Lone Boat" and deputy general manager of Happy Blue Ocean, believes that this may be related to the misalignment of early publicity. "Lone Boat" is essentially an atypical "life flow" spy war drama. It innovatively presents the spy war ecology, integrates characters into the long history, pays attention to the daily life of agents, and shows the most realistic character choices and emotional flows.

On August 23, "Lone Boat" started advance screening. On the same day, "Going to the Southwest" co-produced by Happy Blue Ocean premiered on Yangyi Prime Time. In the second half of the year, Happy Blue Ocean also has several projects to be broadcast, such as "Soldiers from the Wind", "People's Police", "This Water, This Mountain, This Place" and the suspense drama "Symbiosis", with stable production capacity and abundant reserves. It is understood that Happy Blue Ocean has more than 40 projects in reserve. It plans to stably control 1 to 2 TV series every year, participate in investment and produce 5 to 8 TV series, and give full play to the advantages of the entire industry chain layout.

In the future, Meng Qingfeng also wants to create a "Changhe Drama" belonging to China, with the connection of historical figures as the core theme, focusing on the vivid portrayal of the intertwining of individuals and history, and opening up a "new blue ocean."

How is an atypical "life flow" spy drama created?

In 2012, Happy Blue Ocean commissioned Lin Lisheng to create a spy drama. Meng Qingfeng remembers that he had no special requirements for the script at that time, "I just wanted him to tell a story that he would tell others hundreds of times and make him happy."

Lin Lisheng, the director of "Lone Boat", graduated from Xiamen University with a bachelor's degree Department of History, this drama is his third collaboration with Jiang Wei. Fifteen years ago, Jiang Wei directed "Latent", and Lin Lisheng was the script planner. " Borrowing a Gun " broadcast in 2011 was also directed by Jiang Wei, with Lin Lisheng as the screenwriter. This time "Lone Boat" will be directed and written by Lin Lisheng, while Jiang Wei will serve as the producer.

Before 2017, the story of "Lone Boat" still took place in Guangzhou, and the protagonist was born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine. However, more than 20 episodes of the script were written and they were never able to be advanced. Around 2018, Meng Qingfeng proposed to change the location of the story to Suzhou. Firstly, Suzhou has rarely been the main location for spy war dramas in the past. Secondly, he hoped to make a Jiangnan spy story full of "Zen".

How to embody "Zen"? Meng Qingfeng was thinking of "Wu Qingyuan" directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang: "It's foggy and wet, with a panoramic pavilion and an old man sitting there playing chess. Needless to say, it's a beautiful picture of Jiangnan. "Lone Boat" is an oil-paper umbrella and a stone slab. Roads, small bridges and flowing water, cheongsam, Pingtan, Wu Nong's soft language and Kunqu opera, and suddenly a gunshot. What I want is this feeling. I want to create this atmosphere, and everyone will soon enter a period of history. "

and ordinary spies. Unlike war dramas that focus on the excitement and tension of the plot, "Lone Boat" is an atypical life-flow spy war drama. This "flow of life" and sense of history require more careful study by the main creator. The creator of

once consulted information to understand the population density of Suzhou at that time, and used this to arrange the arrangement of pedestrians on the street. "Lone Boat" focuses on daily topics such as "How much salary do spy agents usually receive? How do they deal with their relationships with their families? How do they talk to their colleagues at work?" From these daily life scenes, the protagonist's views on The entanglement between human nature and justice presents a complex ecology of different camps between the enemy and ourselves.

Another innovative point of "Gu Zhou" is Gu Yizhong's identity as an architect.

“The most important thing for an agent is not to draw a gun but to escape." Meng Qingfeng discovered that the classic American drama " Prison Break " is very similar to the spy war genre. Before entering the prison, he has mastered the original architectural drawings and formulated a prison escape plan. Suzhou has a large number of ancient buildings and gardens, and the architect is the most likely role. Take advantage of the geographical advantages to escape. Finally, this design also combines history: “At that time, most of the people who returned from studying abroad and did not participate in the national political struggle were architects. "

In addition to striving to maintain historical authenticity in the characters and plot, "Lone Boat" also strives to shoot real-life gardens in Suzhou.

There are many gardens in Suzhou that can be visited by tourists, but it is very difficult to obtain filming permission. Happy Blue Ocean actively cooperates with the Suzhou Municipal Committee With the coordination of the Propaganda Department and other relevant agencies, finally managed to film in 14 real locations including Jinxi Ancient Town, Jiang Zhongchuan Villa, and Hanshan Temple. There was also an ancient street that was about to be demolished and renovated, and the

stones were preserved until the filming was completed. The green moss, the young seedlings in the cracks of the stones, the slanting trees on the eaves, and the blue light emitted by the river all reveal the depth of history that takes time to settle.

Finally, what attracts the audience is the three-dimensional character creation. The duel between Gu Yizhong and Zhou Zhifei and their respective growth and transformation, as well as the rich female characters such as Zhang Haimo, Xiao Ruotong, Weng Tai, etc., make "Lone Boat" different from previous spy dramas and form a unique style.

talks about creative methodology: how to develop. A new blue ocean for film and television creation?

Meng Qingfeng revealed that there are currently more than 40 projects in the happy blue ocean reserve, of which more than 20 scripts have been completed, covering various genres such as costume history, women's history, classic spy wars, science fiction comedies, and pastoral healing.

has been approached by countless projects every year. Meng Qingfeng himself summarized a set of methodology for writing scripts: three-line principle.

"First of all, I will carefully read the first 5 episodes of the script, pay attention to the appearance of the characters, the beginning of the incident and the foreshadowing. Pay attention to The lines and scene descriptions, and then skipping to the middle and the finale, can basically be completed in about a day. Then based on the outline, project book and script, analyzes the plot climax of the main characters, including the protagonist, the protagonist's opponent (enemy or heroine) and the group scene. If these three bands highly overlap, it is a good show .

Meng Qingfeng, Deputy General Manager of Happy Blue Ocean

The three-line principle is mostly applicable to fast-paced and strong-plot dramas, while pastoral healing dramas have another method of judgment.

Meng Qingfeng’s master’s and doctorate majors are all in philosophy, and his favorite philosophy is The author is Karl Popper, who once proposed the famous "three worlds" theory, which aims to explain the relationship between the physical world, the spiritual world and the objective world of knowledge. Meng Qingfeng used this theory to judge the pastoral healing drama. Key point: “The focus of is on whether it can achieve social emotional stress relief and guidance . "The "Deep Breath in C-flat" currently being prepared by

Happy Blue Ocean is a pastoral healing drama, directed by the creative team of the "Liu Laogen" series. In Meng Qingfeng's view, dramas with similar themes have gone through four eras. "The first era of The theme is poverty alleviation, the second era is rural revitalization, and the next is pastoral healing. Now we are in the fourth era, which is to find our own place. ""Deep Breathing in C-flat" blurs the difference between the countryside and the city, adopts a horizontal perspective, and conveys the concept of "serious living".

"Deep Breathing in C-flat" characters

In addition to the method of quickly judging the script, the blue ocean of happiness led by Meng Qingfeng I have also been adhering to the "two highs and one new" of creation: high attention, high threshold and new perspective .

Among them, high attention means that the subject matter, event or social sentiment has received widespread attention, and high threshold means the difficulty of creation. Including two dimensions: the script is difficult to write and the subject matter is difficult to review. In addition, we must also strive to find new perspectives and create new ideas in every common subject type.

During the filming of "Lone Boat", Meng Qingfeng chatted with the starring Zhang Fengyi about a new idea for a series. The protagonist is a retired national security official code-named "Eagle" who achieves two-way redemption with a group of bad teenagers while on vacation in his hometown. This is a series. The first season is initially set in Yunnan and will involve a fraud case in northern Myanmar. Later seasons will look for stories from other border cities. "Eagle's Holiday" obviously meets the requirements of "Two High and One New": the subject matter is scarce, and it is difficult to create and pass the review.

Meng Qingfeng revealed that Happy Blue Ocean currently plans to invest in about 5 to 8 TV series projects every year, of which 1 to 2 TV series are fully controlled every year. Among other reserve projects, the "Northeast War of Resistance" trilogy presents true history from three dimensions: eulogizing heroes, accusing atrocities, and human love. The movie "Sparkling Truck" focusing on female truck drivers, and the legendary drama "Jiangnan Lantern Picture" with a costume heroine have attracted much attention on the platform. In addition, various types of themes such as realism, urban themes, science fiction comedy, etc. are all arranged.

Create China's "Long River Drama"

"China lacks good historical dramas." In the interview, Meng Qingfeng repeatedly emphasized, "There are two trends in historical dramas now. One is to use the perspective of small characters to bring out historical fragments, and the main focus is drama. The second is historical fiction and fabrication. "

Meng Qingfeng attaches more importance to the inner power of real people and events. The dramas created by Happy Blue Ocean also strive to have "characters have prototypes and events have origins." Based on this, he proposed the third way of historical drama: Changhe drama.

The word "长河" has many meanings that can be interpreted. We often talk about the "long river of history". "Long river" is a metaphor. The long and continuous nature of human history is like a broad and winding river, flowing from ancient times to the present. The far-reaching influence of Chinese history and the connections between different eras are like the endless river on the ancient scrolls.

Why do you insist on making long-term dramas?

"There are Dahe novels in France and Dahe dramas in Japan. They both focus on a family, and they have always insisted on narrative. Because the history is long and uninterrupted, the literary and artistic works we can do are more ambitious than them." Meng Qingfeng explained that compared with traditional The definition of historical drama, "Changhe Drama" takes the connection of historical figures as the core theme, and focuses more on the vivid portrayal of the intertwining of individuals and history. It emphasizes that in the historical moment, the choice and experience of the characters not only affect the fate of the individual, but also It also invisibly affects the direction of history.

Just like what Zweig called "when the stars of mankind shine", each star represents an individual. When their actions and choices play a role at the crossroads of history, they will intersect with the torrent of history and lead the times. direction.

At the same time, the great rivers are also the historical roots of China. They are important carriers of Chinese culture and aesthetics, and embody the unique and deep emotions of the Chinese people. The profound meaning behind "Changhe Drama" not only represents the continuity, complexity and diversity of China's thousands of years of historical civilization, but also symbolizes the Chinese people's profound outlook on history and life.

"The Sino-Japanese War" currently being prepared by Happy Blue Ocean belongs to the "Changhe Drama" series. The main line is how a group of young senior intellectuals in the shipping school "learned from the barbarians and developed skills to control the barbarians", and then worked generously for the country and the people. die.

"The Sino-Japanese War" is positioned as a classic epic and realist. Among them, the presentation of naval battles is a highlight. The focus is on how to closely combine the visual stimulation of naval battles with the plot and characters, and make innovations in the audio-visual style. Another aspect to watch is the innovative spirit of "local" industry in the shipbuilding process, so the production process of the series will emphasize the progress of industrialization.

"Zhang Jian" is also a typical "Changhe Drama", which is in the same vein as the story of the "Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894". After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Jian, who was over 40 years old, resolutely gave up his status as the number one scholar, resigned and went home. He became a businessman living at the bottom of the Four People's Republic of China. He embarked on the road of industrial salvation and founded China's first private textile enterprise - Dasheng. Cotton mill.Meng Qingfeng said that "Zhang Jian" wanted to emphasize its spiritual connotation of "social entrepreneur" and the pioneering move of industrial and commercial civilization.

Scenes of "Zhang Jian"

Among the preparatory projects, there is also "Nine Palaces" focusing on the "Xiangshan Gang" building the Forbidden City. From the growth context of the two teenagers, it presents the spirit of craftsmanship and oriental aesthetics.

One of the difficulties in creating "Changhe Drama" is the adaptation of real stories. In particular, it is difficult to use the original names of historical figures in creation. "The copyright issue is still secondary. The main reason is that creation is easily restricted, and it is difficult to write and joke about it." , Meng Qingfeng explained that film and television characters cannot be labeled good people. If different aspects of the characters are presented, it will be difficult for him or his family Future generations may disagree.

But Meng Qingfeng still insisted on using his original name. The previous film "The Island Guard" that he served as a producer used the original name of the island guard hero Wang Jicai to tell real people and true stories. The same will be true for "Zhang Jian", which is about to start shooting in September.

In addition, at the 2024 National Radio and Television Work Conference, Cao Shumin, director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, once proposed that TV dramas should focus on contemporary reality, modern revolution, the history of Chinese civilization and other themes, creating "Zhang Jian", "The Wind Rises, Zhang Juzheng" and "Eternal Years". "Romantic Figures" and "Why China" series of works. Therefore, the creation of "Changhe Drama" also complies with the guidance requirements of the General Administration to enrich and optimize content supply and improve quality creation.

As one of the first state-owned groups to go public, Happy Blue Ocean has the unique advantage of creating a "long-term drama". The first is the layout of the entire industry chain. Jiangsu has its own film and television base and satellite TV broadcast platform. Happy Blue Ocean has 600 theaters across the country and its own theater company. From investment, production to broadcasting of , Happy Blue Ocean itself can form a "closed loop" of production.

At the same time, Happy Blue Ocean has strengthened its cooperation with online video platforms. "Lone Boat" is the first customized drama of Happy Blue Ocean and iQiyi, opening up a new cooperation model. This year, Happy Blue Ocean also launched the "Tide Project" to cooperate with more emerging creative teams to produce short plays and build its own short play platform.

Jiangsu’s geographical and economic advantages of being located in the Yangtze River Delta and the historical changes of “cultural integration” also give Happy Blue Ocean the determination and ability to create “Yanghe Drama”.

Happy Blue Ocean is famous for its stable production of family ethics dramas. Meng Qingfeng recalled that at that time, Jiangsu TV reporters had access to a lot of news materials every day. They turned these rich news stories into column dramas, which laid a rich source of creation for Happy Blue Ocean's early family ethics dramas.

With the changes in the background of the times and social sentiments, in addition to family ethics dramas, Happy Blue Ocean has found its own new direction: to be China's "long river drama" . Facing the increasingly fierce differentiated competition in the field of drama series, Happy Blue Ocean is meeting the diverse needs of audiences, allowing them to find a sense of healing and strength in the "Changhe Drama" based on real stories and real characters.