"About a year ago, I asked my friends, when will we be able to move from the bottom of the notice list to the first position?" Wu Qian, an actor born in the 1990s, lamented to a reporter from Liberation Daily and Shangguan News. The turnaround came suddenly. In July this year, du

"About a year ago, I asked my friends, when will we be able to move from the bottom of the notice list to the first position?" Wu Qian, an actor born in the 1990s, lamented to a reporter from Liberation Daily and Shangguan News.

's turn came suddenly. In July this year, during the gap between two TV series, she took over the filming of the middle-aged and elderly short drama "My Wife Is a Rich Family". By "pretending to be old", she played the heroine Shi Xiaoxiu, who is about 50 years old. The short play was launched on August 29. As of September 1, it had been played more than 200 million times and quickly became popular on the Internet.

This time, it only took Wu Qian 8 days to appear in front of the audience as the "heroine". This is the total time spent filming the 69-episode vertical screen short drama "Flash Marriage: My Wife Is a Rich Family" (hereinafter referred to as "Flash Marriage"). "The distance between just a few lines of words on the notice sheet, I walked for 10 years and still haven't come across it. I didn't expect that in the short play, I could come across it so easily."

"I really want to film a movie"

"Flash Wedding" is Wu Qian's third short drama. At first it was just because she "couldn't sit still" and had a few days off before joining the group. "After reading the book, I thought it was quite fresh. I hadn't seen many short dramas about middle-aged people's love affairs at that time. I thought... It’s better to give it a try.”

Wu Qian plays Shi Xiaoxiu

If you only look at the experience of the first ten years, Wu Qian's journey to pursue her dream of being in the entertainment industry cannot be said to be very successful. She is from Baotou, Inner Mongolia. She has loved performing since she was a child. She also likes to watch Zhao Benshan's sketches and will learn to imitate them. But like most parents in the north, her parents also hoped that she would study a major with "room for development" so that she could take the civil service exam and find a stable job instead of becoming an actor.

"But I really want to film." She repeated to reporters.

After graduating from college, she first worked for a car company in Shanghai for three years. It was very stable, but it was not the life she liked. So I went through some agents and got a few roles. "I started filming in 2013 and have been filming on and off for more than 10 years." Wu Qian smiled, "I haven't received any big roles. Once the show was broadcast, it was only seen by friends." When I'm not filming, I start a small business selling skin care and health products. "You always have to find a way to support yourself first." I continued filming intermittently like this, year after year.

In her personal account on Douyin, Wu Qian listed the roles she has played. She is Shen Liping in "Mortal Song", Shang Lianjie in " Women's Mystery Club ", Liang Rufen in "Boundless Love", and also Xuemei in "Happiness to Ten Thousand Houses" and Wang Bing in "Happiness Duo". "The role is too small and not easy to see. I am very happy to be able to make a wonderful cameo." She said that many times, she feels like an "outsider" in the crew. She goes to a new team and shoots for a few days. There is always a feeling of going to someone else's house, "There is a big gap in my heart".

Stills from "Flash Marriage: My Wife Is a Rich Family"

Wu Qian is an actor who can't rest. When there is no filming, she will be very anxious and insecure. Sometimes she is free for weeks, and sometimes she is free for a month without filming, not even for supporting roles. This is the current situation of most of the actors around her. "This drama has finished filming, and I don't know where the next one will be." At this time, she would try to find a way to find a job on her own, asking around for any new dramas to be launched, and strive for opportunities to star in them. "Every day, I am either looking for dramas or going to work." On the way to find a play. "

Seize the traffic password of the elderly short drama

Wu Qian did not expect that the short drama "Flash Wedding" would actually achieve a small milestone in her career. After this short drama focusing on the elderly was launched, her Douyin fans increased to more than 100,000 within 5 days. Many viewers flocked to her short video account to leave messages, asking the "Shi Xiaoxiu" actor: "Are you really Are you born in the 1990s? "

The age of more than 30 years old is the backbone of society, but for an unknown ordinary actor, this also means that there are almost no opportunities to play male and female protagonists. “It’s very embarrassing at this age."Wu Qian said frankly that she has not been able to become a heroine in a TV series for 10 years, and the range of choices has been very limited. "I have played the mother of a seven or eight-year-old child, and the aunt of the male and female protagonists. Basically, there is no chance of starring. There are even fewer second and third girls. There are hundreds of roles in a drama or a movie. Not everyone can get a brilliant role and be remembered by the audience. "

stills

When Wu Qian tried to jump from "horizontal screen" TV series to "vertical screen" short plays, it was at a time when the micro-short drama market was rapidly expanding, and short plays quickly captured the audience's attention." White Paper on the Development of China’s Micro-Short Drama Industry (2024 )" shows that as of June this year, the number of micro-short drama users in my country has reached 576 million, accounting for 52.4% of the total Internet users. According to industry agency estimates, the size of my country's micro-short drama market will reach 50.44 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase. 34.9%. The total box office revenue of mainland movies during the same period is expected to be 47 billion yuan. The market size of micro-short dramas is expected to exceed the mainland movie box office for the first time, becoming the new overlord of the film and television industry.

At the same time, middle-aged and elderly users over the age of 50 are loyal fans of micro-short dramas, accounting for nearly one-third. "Post-90s" actors in short plays "Pretending to be old", when the protagonist of "The Boss Falls in Love with Me" became a "grandma" in her 50s, Wu Qian caught the traffic password at the right time.

"The roles I played before were at most older than my actual age. When I was in my early teens, I was cast as a grandma, which was quite unexpected. I couldn't accept it at first, but I slowly accepted the role during filming. "When "acting old" in short plays, Wu Qian's experience is to create the feeling of middle-aged and elderly people from details such as body posture and walking. For example, when performing, the back should be a little rickety, and the walking should be a little bit splayed, and the overall state is not So delicate. "Young people walk upright when wearing high heels, as if there is a thread hanging from the top of their head. Old people have to sink a little lower. "

However, the "pretending to be old" in the short drama does not require excessive realism. The elderly short drama is still a "tycoon" and "rich family" configuration, and naturally requires actors to be pleasing to the eye. It’s pleasing to the eye, just like an idol drama. “From the performance point of view, the difference between a 40-year-old and a 50-year-old is mainly the subtle physical age, makeup, and the lack of filters in post-production, which only deliberately removes the spots and bumps on the face. When typed out, there will be a sense of age. "She introduced that when filming short dramas for the elderly, wrinkles and other details are usually not deliberately added to the appearance. "People are all visual animals, and the presentation methods of short dramas and film and television dramas are still different. I play the character Shi Xiaoxiu, and she You need to have a sense of age, but you can't really look old because your voice is young, and you also need to make the audience like this character at first sight. "

Actor Wu Qian

In Wu Qian's view, although they are all about "tycoons", they are "dream-making" short plays for female audiences, and they are the audience's imagination of "romance", but the elderly short plays are about "love". "Or the expression of emotion is more restrained and tactful. "Young people's love is intense and passionate, and it will catch you. Among middle-aged and elderly people, it is not an expression of "I love you", but "I am here" when things happen. This is a very pure expression of love. "She said that she would also see many middle-aged and elderly people's status, demands, psychological expectations, etc. from her mother, which would be used in character creation. "If you imagine yourself as a fifty-year-old person, you will naturally know how to express it. emotion. Shi Xiaoxiu's emotional expression must be reserved, aggrieved and unwilling to express happiness. What she needs is the man's guidance. "

After "Flash Wedding"

In the past half month, Wu Qian has been joining the group and has been so busy that she has no time to rest. After "Flash Wedding" was launched, five or six short drama producers added her on WeChat almost every day, the most There were about ten of them at one time," Now people come and ask questions every once in a while, and they all ask about short plays.” Despite the hard work and busy schedule, she feels particularly safe, “It’s much more comfortable than just leaving me idle. Now I don’t worry about finishing this film. Without a job, I can complete my own plays with peace of mind."

She gained some experience in performing short plays. "The biggest feature of short plays is 'direct giving'.Long plays can have a lot of space, and actors can express emotions by pacing and running. The vertical screen only has a very small space, and the actors can only express their emotions through upper body movements. The rhythm is also tighter than that of a long play, which will shorten the emotional details. "Wu Qian said, "I strongly disagree with some people who say that short plays are just about standing and speaking without any emotion. "

Actor Wu Qian

In her opinion, even if you are acting in a short play, the most important thing is "sincerity". "As an actor, you must convince yourself that this will really happen." In order to adapt to the fast-paced viewing style , the plot conflicts in the short play are intense, and the expression of character behavior is also more exaggerated. “The short play will tell you directly that I am a bad guy, and everything is written on my face. Wu Qian gave an example. In "Flash Wedding", there are scenes such as Shi Xiaoxiu being splashed with a lion's head. The expression of the conflict is more direct, and this is also the test for the actors. "The emotional changes in the short play are very sudden. This is The short play is determined by its own logic and system. You have to believe that the bad guys in the short play will behave like this, and believe that the conflict will break out as soon as it starts. As an actor, you can only implement this method of expression. "

stills

Although she has been on the road of short plays fairly smoothly, Wu Qian still hopes that she can have the opportunity to act in a movie and be able to show her acting skills delicately in the movie. "I especially want to play a heroic heroine. When I watched "Age of Awakening" before, I was moved by Zhang Wanyi's role as Chen Yannian. I also wanted to express the righteousness of my family and country through the role. "She said that she also wanted to play a role similar to the "Business Girl" in "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins". "I'm not sure whether I can play it well, but I especially want to play a small person at the bottom of society."

Reporter Interview That day, Wu Qian was on her way to the set, “There was a dinner scene with Boss Ba in the evening. "She told reporters that after "Flash Wedding", she has three or four short dramas with the same theme that she has finished filming but have not yet aired.