The past and present of domestic water-injection drama: from "Journey to the West" to "Xiangmi"

When

mentioned the three words "water injection drama", everyone must have sneered at it.

In recent years, we, who have been deeply poisoned by water injections and demonic reforms, have turned to ignorance at the beginning. Some people have turned their attention to Japanese and American dramas, while others have fun in Tucao, "I am not chasing dramas for anything else." , Just to scold you..." The new notice issued by the radio and television today will undoubtedly curb the production of some water injection dramas. For example, "Qing Zan Xing" only records 35 episodes, and "Madam Hu Zhu" only has 40 episodes.


So will the water injection drama be eliminated? The answer is not yet known, but judging from the "New World" broadcast on the Spring Festival file, there is a long way to go.

After all, the water injection drama has been "running for many years", just like a poisonous sore born in the film and television industry, it will not be eliminated for a while. So today we will talk about the history of the development of domestic water injection drama.

01

First come to science, what is water injection drama?

can be understood from the literal meaning, that is, 10 episodes or more of the plot of 1 episode are filmed, and the expressions are mostly plot repetition, character dialogues are meaningless, story progress is slow, and memories are repeated a lot.

The impressive water-infusion dramas include "Chu Qiao Biography", "Xiangmi", "Qingyun Zhi" and other ancient costume giants. However, the phenomenon of water injection in domestic dramas has already existed, but it has become more and more magnified.


Before 2000, most of the domestic dramas remained around 20 episodes. For example, the "Wrong Couple in Sedan Chair" was born 20 years ago, with a compact plot and a romantic love story.


However, after 2004, the number of domestic TV series has increased significantly, and the number of works around 30 episodes has increased. The most famous "water injection drama" is "The Imperial Envoy". The actor Li Baotian even sued the producer for "stretching" for 3 episodes.

This matter caused a lot of controversy at the time. How do you say


? With the expansion of the film and television market, TV stations and investors want more benefits, and the number of advertisements in the middle of the longer episodes increases, and the producers have to "inject water." (At that time, the advertising fee income was much higher than the unit price of the drama)

However, the "water injection" routine at this time was still relatively simple, and it was only realized through post-editing, such as the impressive "Journey to the West", which originally had 25 episodes. , Both the investor and the TV station can expand it to 30 episodes. In desperation, the director Cao Rong used ghost and animal techniques to forcefully pull out 5 episodes.


At that time, many viewers complained about the "water injection" and improper editing of the TV series (it can be seen that the audience's tolerance at that time was not as good as it is now), so in the spring of 2009, Radio and Television issued a "slimming order" not to exceed 30 TV episodes. . The result of

can be imagined, and the power is very small.

As for the reason, it has something to do with the expansion of the TV station. The provincial satellite TV, which relies on advertising revenue, naturally hopes that the longer the series, the better, such as "Zhen Huan Biography" 76 episodes, the new "Returning Pearl Gege" 98 episodes, "Going Home" The Temptation" 68 episodes.


Although the number of episodes of the TV series has been lengthened, most of the episodes have a compact plot, smooth logic, and not lengthy. At this time, the classic "New Three Kingdoms" (95 episodes) came out.

Therefore, not all long dramas are filled with water, and they really should not be one size fits all. Long play

02

does not necessarily have to be filled with water, it must be a long play, so long is regarded as a protective color for water filling. When did the real water injection drama of

start?

According to data released by the Radio and Television, between 14 and 18 years, the average has increased from 32 episodes to 42 episodes, of which more than 60 episodes have surged, and 40 to 50 episodes have become commonplace.


However, the quality is declining, and Douban 8 episodes are rare.

Many TV dramas with first-class production teams have also lost in the water. The most obvious example is "Sweet Honey as Embers as Frost". When netizens scolded the screenwriters, they realized that they didn't know who should be the one to remember?

The script of the play was originally scheduled for 36 episodes. At the request of the management, the chief screenwriter Zhang Yuanying pulled to 43 episodes, and 63 episodes were shown on the air, which means that the drama was added during the shooting.


It doesn't matter if you add the play reasonably. It is easy to add water at random. For example, the play of the Devil Princess and Qiyuan in the play is dispensable. She obviously has a good feeling for Xufeng in the early stage, and the subsequent changes are undoubtedly too harsh.

In addition, the second part of "Glory of the Tang Dynasty", "The Beautiful Woman", "The Hunting Ground", "The Time Between You and Me" and other dramas have all been complained.

From forced water injection to active water injection, what has the producer experienced?

skimmed the situation of bringing money into the team. Most of the water injection dramas are for water injection. Why?


and there are many reasons involved. First, the popularity of smart phones has made TV stations no longer the only sales channel for producers. Major video sites have paid high prices to buy episodes in order to gain ground.

Second, the policy of no advertisements between episodes and two stars in one play makes TV stations and producers have to find new profit points. For example, TV stations attract investment for reserve episodes, and producers should lengthen episodes accordingly. At the same time, due to the soaring unit price of the drama, once the star is favored by satellite TV and online platforms, it will have 3 revenues.

Third, the high salaries of star actors account for most of the production cost of TV series. In order to recover the cost, the length of the series can just offset. And because TV stations and websites only recognize traffic and first-line actors, a closed loop will be formed over time, and there will be more and more water injection dramas. Some people question

, why not release a long-length drama without water injection? The loss of word of mouth is more than the loss.

Of course, high-quality scripts take a long time to create, and the market can’t wait. For this reason, they buy big IPs, but adaptation requires skill. At present, there are only a handful of great god-level screenwriters.

For example, several novels with cats, only "Celebrating More Than Years" was successfully adapted, which is naturally the credit of senior screenwriter Wang Juan.


Now the radio and television has launched a "set restriction order" and stricter script review, and the film and television industry has moved from summer to winter.

And those film and television companies driven by profits will eventually be burdened by profits.

As for video platforms and TV stations, in response to the call, it is inevitable to cut episodes. Each episode loses millions, and the only pain is the producer.


knew so long ago, why bother...