"The Great Master": The Story of "Weighing Down" and the Special Effects of "Boiled Out"丨Interview with Bai Yicong

   Now "The Great Master of the North Spirit Youth Records" (hereinafter referred to as "The Great Master") has been online for more than a week, and the audience has been discussing the show.

   is adapted from the fantasy novel of Tiancan Tudou, with the starring lineup of Wang Yuan and Ouyang Nana. "The Overlord" received attention when it appeared, and under the strong traffic of the star, the discussion about the play has not stopped. Actors, emotional drama, degree of reduction, and special effects have become several important elements for the audience to evaluate the content of "The Domination".

   Some netizens commented that "The Great Master" and the original work are not small, and the heroes and heroines have some simple features. Some netizens felt that they did not have great expectations for the special effects of "The Great Master", but this time the special effects Exceeded expectations...

   Compared with other types, as a fantasy IP, "The Domination" is not small in the film and television production, and even the insiders have assessed that the degree of film and television production is not high. Therefore, for the production team Linghe and Bai Yicong, even if they have worked on many works, they also said that it is difficult to guarantee that fans and readers will be satisfied.

   Regarding the discussion, the chief producer Bai Yicong did not shy away from the discussion. During the communication with Gu Duo, he answered questions from netizens about the adaptation one by one. Hearing some positive voices from netizens on special effects, he felt that it was necessary to a certain extent. Thanks to this special effects management.

   At this moment, Bai Yicong and his team are observing the audience’s comments every day, “We hope to understand the audience’s feedback and understand some of the audience’s suggestions for the show itself. Maybe it may not be of much help to us this time, but it will be of little help to us in the future. There is still a lot of help when you are in."

   Now with the popularity of "The Master", the audience's discussion heat is also continuing. According to the data, "The Master" also ranks in the forefront of the Guduo Heat Index.

   Personage and story are a choice under multiple trade-offs

   Currently, the most feedback we have received is suggestions on adaptation. Bai Yicheng said that this is indeed a problem that we should pay attention to. When started shooting, we also knew the content direction of "The Master" and the original. The adjustments made will cause some voices from the audience.

   As an online serial novel, "The Domination" has nearly 5 million words of content, but it has to be condensed to 48 episodes when it is filmed. A lot of content must be discarded. Before the production team took over the project of "Democratic Master", several scripts had been adapted before. Among them, included the kind of books that were very close to the original. However, Bai Yicong and the production team found that when they summarized and analyzed In the original book, the world view is very grand, and the story is also very large, but in order to make the story more three-dimensional with a small number of episodes, and more in line with the audience’s viewing experience at this stage, certain choices may have to be made.

   At the same time, as a fantasy IP, the huge world view, and the appearance of several large scenes of characters in "The Domination" have made it more difficult to adapt than other works during the filming process. "Can it be executed on the ground? " has become an important issue that he and the screenwriter Tang Jiayu's team need to consider when adapting. and Tang Jiayu's team, as the screenwriter team who has done "Exquisite Ancient City", also has relatively rich experience in adaptation.

   "Some content is basically impossible to shoot." For example, the spiritual power that runs through the story is an invisible and intangible existence. In the plot content of the first few episodes of "The Great Master", the young Mu Chen was the only student in the Beiling Academy who had no spiritual power. As the plot continued to develop, Mu Chen's spiritual power began to expand, "But after all, How much spiritual power is hidden in the body, how much spiritual power is expanded when entering the next realm, is in the film and television expression, this invisible part, we can't do it. "白一骢Say.

   Many fans of the original have mentioned that the design of the pastoral domain in the play is not in line with the pastoral domain in their minds. In fact, we are also wondering if we are not the same as the original fans when we understand it, "because we are creating a lot of things Sometimes I will look at the problem more or less from the perspective of the core creator."

   "In fact, after the male lead was selected, there were some discussions." Bai Yicheng said, familiar with the"The audience of the original work understands that in the original work, Mu Chen, who just appeared on the scene, is a relatively young boy. When we selected Wang Yuan, he was about 17 years old. Therefore, the current character of The time of the original characters' appearance is relatively close. "

   also because of their young age, the team chose to follow the normal development logic to do emotional drama. When selecting the role, the production team also received a lot of comments from fans saying that they hoped that the drama would not involve too many emotional scenes. Therefore, after combining the analysis and judgment of some similar works on the market, Bai Yicong and the team felt that if the character was built deeply and too many emotional scenes were added, the credibility might also be reduced.

   Therefore, after weighing the trade-offs, we finally chose to logically sort out the original work. made the emotional drama as simple and credible as possible, hoping to meet the feelings of the film and television audience, and also formed the current " Great dominate".

   Facing netizens’ simple comments on the actors’ characters and storylines, Bai Yicheng said he accepts it. “Because of the overall positioning of “Democratic Master”, hopes that it will gain more attention from younger audiences. The work of . The story itself is also hoped that through the process of Mu Chen's upgrading and killing monsters, everyone can feel the spirit of perseverance in him and hope to convey a positive value to young people."

   Nowadays, "The Domination" has been aired for more than a week. The audience has different opinions on the show, and the popularity of the show is also at the forefront.

   special effects are not as expensive as expected

   "The special effects of the crew are not bad, they exceeded expectations," some netizens commented. As a fantasy work, the importance of special effects to the drama is self-evident. The special effects of "The Domination" have been recognized by some audiences.

   talked about the special effects of "Democratic Domination". In the face of positive comments from netizens, Bai Yicheng explained that it took about a year for the post-production special effects of "Democratic Domination" for . Compared with some plays, the special effects budget of may be possible. It belongs to the higher category, but Bai Yicong did not talk much about the description of this technology and investment, but mentioned a different vocabulary-"special effects management". In his opinion, special effects cannot be directly measured by input costs, but not by spending wrong money. In many cases, the money spent on special effects is wasted.

   Bai Yichi thinks that "everyone thinks the special effects of "Democratic Master" are okay. It is because we have also paid a lot of tuition fees, and through continuous summarization of experience, has obtained a special effects management success. " was finally shot. Whether the things presented are the same as what I thought at the beginning, this is the most difficult problem faced by all special effects teams during production, and the special effects performance of "Master" is still similar to what we thought before. of.

  From the initial setting to the final shooting, from the implementation in the middle to the final presentation, the connection between these contents is relatively complete compared to the previous project, which is also because in recent years I have suffered a lot from special effects, and everyone has started to accumulate awareness of special effects management. Recalling the "detours" he had taken in special effects in the past two years, Bai Yicong felt a lot of emotion.

   Nowadays, when producing special effects in most dramas, green cloth is generally used. In an all-green background, the actor stands inside and imagines the scene to perform, and then performs keying in the later stage to combine the person and the scene, but it is not difficult to find that sometimes the overall effect is not satisfactory.

   So, in this set of scenes, Bai Yicong said that the overall scene of "Democratic Master" was set up larger, so that also built out the overlapping parts of people and scenes. The construction height of Beiling Academy is nearly 6 meters, and the team used CG technology to extend it to a height of 20 to 30 meters. When shooting, the extended part will not overlap with people. I hope that "The Great Master 》The entire front and back scenes can make the audience feel normal and comfortable.

   Before shooting in the green studio, the crew did not consider the issue of green light reflection, and it is not uncommon for actors to have green light on their faces. Bai Yicheng said that the crew should take into account the reflective area when setting up the scene, In "The Great Master", we put the reflective surfaceThis part of the product is also extended. In fact, these are the experiences we have summed up in a play. At the same time, we will also refer to the excellent dramas of other companies, learn from the experience of others, and try to avoid some problems and avoid detours.

   This time Bai Yicheng also chose to continue to work with special effects companies that have already had several dramas to produce "The Master". "Because of the cooperation, everyone's working methods and workflows are also very familiar, so the loss in the middle of this process is further reduced, and the final results are relatively better."

   In interviews, Bai Yicheng always said: “Special effects are not just a matter of money. Only when this step is achieved will I realize that the tuition fees paid before are not paid in vain. This is a complicated experience. There are no shortcuts. Everyone is the same. After many years of experience, a little bit of experience. " And behind the recognition of the audience for "The Dominator" this time, it also proves that Bai Yicong and the team are in special effects this time. A certain degree of success has been achieved in management.

   A changing market, there is no set theory

   In 2014, the first self-produced online drama "Dark Man" was created, and it was called "the first brother of the online drama". In 2015, "Tomb Notes" attracted 5 million new members for iQiyi, wearing "SCI" Bai Yicong, who has many works such as "Old Nine Doors", "Sand Sea", "Golden Eyes", and "Hot-blooded Boys", is constantly exploring the content of online students, and is also at the forefront of the control of themes and content. It seems that the concept of has not changed- has no methodology and has been seeking changes.

   Last year, Bai Yicheng said in a film and television salon sharing that I always think that I am a person who does not know how to be successful. I only know how we can do it without completely messing it up. My only ability is that without messing up, there may be some possibilities for success in the future.

   At this moment, facing the interview with Gu Duo, he still insisted, “I am more repulsive of having a methodology when making a drama. The success of a project contains many elements. It is impossible for everyone to replicate the success of the last time, nor is it possible for the last time to be successful. The so-called rules are found in success. After any drama is made, it has its successful parts and shortcomings, but the success process is often different. No one can guarantee that it will be used in the next drama. Success. If there is, there will be no noticeably different sounds in the projects I made.

   Facing the audience's discussion of "The Domination", Bai Yicheng was very calm. For a work, it is better to have discussion than no discussion. Different voices are normal. We are willing to accept different voices from everyone. I go to see some comments from netizens every day, and the team will also do some public opinion testing to understand the audience’s feedback and some suggestions about the work. These suggestions and feedback of may not be used in this work, but for us in the future. It is still very helpful.

   Talking about the possible general direction of the future web drama market, which subject matter in the market will be popular, whether it is favored by male audiences or female audiences, Bai Yicheng is also thinking at this moment, and it is difficult to answer.

   Sometimes I find something very strange. "The Domination" is obviously a male work, but according to the current data, the female audience of "The Domination" actually greatly exceeds the male audience. Bai Yicong was thinking, everyone has a state now, hoping to be more female.

   is a particularly masculine drama. Perhaps most of its audience is male. Compared with another drama with mostly female audiences, the volume of the two dramas may be similar, but it may be shared by women. The will is stronger, so its spread may be more. Bai Yicong said.

   Whether it is a male or female drama, in a market, cannot have only one type. Even if can't judge where the market wind will blow, Bai Yicong feels that behind the big fire drama series is a group of audiences with a balanced gender ratio.

   In this female-dominated drama market, how to impress the male audience in the drama market? As a male screenwriter, director, and producer, Bai Yicong is also slowly exploring. In fact, male audiences are very simple. They don't need to please, but they need to be made to think. There is no logic and method for thinking things, and the best content is presented to the other party in a good way, onlyIf this thing is a good thing, in the end everyone should still go to see it.

   has been active in the field of online dramas for more than 6 years. Bai Yicheng has experienced the entire process of rapid development of online dramas. He has also completed the transformation from screenwriter to director and producer. He has deeply felt the changes in online dramas. Sometimes we need to be market-only, but sometimes we need to stop being market-only and turn around to do something that is truly valuable. But I am not saying that the things I have made so far are valuable things, but hopes that I can continue to work hard, accumulate experience from successes and failures, and make more in-depth works.

   has moved from savage growth to intensive farming. Over the past few years, with the iterative development of technology, web dramas have also quietly changed. Earlier, web dramas and TV dramas showed two very different development directions. After 2014, web dramas ushered in a blowout moment, more and more people took root in the web drama market, and a group of traditional TV people also devoted themselves to web-generated content. According to Guduo's data, the total network traffic of the entire network was 12.3 billion in 2014. This number rose to 22.9 billion in 2015 and reached 89.2 billion in 2016. Today, the content of online dramas and TV dramas is basically the same. The boundaries are getting thinner.

   The online drama market requires continuous exploration and innovation. In Bai Yicong’s opinion, the live broadcast method of TV stations restricts the production method of drama content. However, the continuous continuity and interactivity of Internet film and television are far stronger than the broadcasting mode of TV stations. There are many things in the online content that can be used. Continue to make a fuss after the broadcast, may be a direction. really good online content should be able to be continuously developed, such as American TV series and British TV series, season by season. However, there are still many areas to be explored in this model. Whether the subject matter type can be sustained or not requires a scientific and reasonable mechanism to judge it. This may take several years to go and everyone needs to try it together.

   He also hopes that when he is making dramas in the future, he can make more of these series that can be developed continuously. At the same time, because he prefers technical challenges and science fiction themes, he also hopes to be able to use them in future works. There can be more science fiction. At this moment, he also accepts the audience's discussion.