"Story of Tang Dynasty", the beginning of the revival of ancient costume detective dramas?

author | Gu Han

editor | Li Chunhui

In the past summer file, the performance of ancient costume dramas is obvious to all, and Wang bombs one after another. Among these ancient costume themes, the love of Xianxia with crazy sugar sprinkles is the most sought after by the audience. That's right, I'm talking about " Freeland Jue " by iQIYI .

In fact, in the history of national dramas, ancient costume detective dramas were once a rich mine of explosives, which could meet the audience's demand for strong plot content. Classic works such as " Bao Qingtian ", " Detective Di Renjie ", " Dasong's Criminal Officer ", etc., have still been found and tasted repeatedly by netizens, and they always have a strong appeal.

But unfortunately, the past two years have been a "little year" for costume detective dramas, and the market supply is quite scarce. iQIYI's just-launched " Tang Dynasty Strange Stories " undoubtedly gave a good start to the revival of this theme.

The show has attracted widespread attention since its broadcast. As a result, after the bombardment of ancient costume sweet pet dramas, it is time for the audience to change their tastes. iQIYI is now laying out ancient costume detective dramas, which happens to take advantage of content differentiation.

Second, in addition to the natural preference of the masses for Datang detectives, the distant and beautiful memories of " Soul Ferry " (2014) are also calling - both are produced by iQiyi and the same company.

However, 2022 is not 2014 after all, domestic detective dramas have been reeled one after another, long and short, refreshing and deep, the audience has seen too many, and their tastes have been raised a lot. "Tang Dynasty Strange Stories" was launched at the end of September and participated in the competition for the National Day holiday. Is it really as confident as a famous detective in the Tang Dynasty?

The suspense is full of suspense, and the secret is hidden in the mystery

"The Story of Tang Dynasty" is produced by iQIYI and Changxin Media, Guo Jingyu Producer, Wei Fenghua original work and screenwriter, Bai Shan chief director, Yang Xuwen , Yang Zhigang starring, Gao Siwen , Chen Chuang , Shi Yueanxin , Sun Xuening starring , the mysterious unit detective drama, tells the story of Chang'an Jinwu Wei Zhonglang, Lu Lingfeng and Di Gong's personal disciples The story of Su Wuming's work together to solve the conspiracy, protect the common people and save the society. When the story of

happened, the Tang Dynasty was in urgent need of recuperation, ensuring people's livelihood and allowing the common people to live in peace, was the heavy burden on the shoulders of officials. In the "Chang'an Black Tea Case", on the one hand, the rich and powerful in Chang'an went bankrupt for black tea, and on the other hand, the married brides disappeared one after another. In the panic, fate tied Lu Lingfeng and Su Wuming together.

begins with the occurrence of a strange case, followed by the suspense brought by the multi-line narrative. Who was the murderer of the former county lieutenant? Where did Injuro, who suddenly disappeared from the ghost market, go? Is there any connection between the black tea in the market and the black tea in the Princess Mansion? The suspense is full of suspense, and the mystery is hidden.

With the merger of the bride and black tea clues, Su and Lu, who originally did not trust each other, gradually reached a consensus, and finally dug out the planner, the county magistrate. He was unhappy with revenge in mind, and because of a single thought, he failed to keep his heart and went astray, which is embarrassing.

It is worth noting that the original work of "Story of the Tang Dynasty" does not have a consistent protagonist and main line like the TV series, but is similar to a notebook novel, using the ancient classic "Youyang Zazu" as a clue , to explore all kinds of strange stories and anecdotes left over from that time.

After iQIYI and producer Guo Jingyu learned about this work, it was precisely the vastness of the background dynasties reflected in the strange talk—"the upper reaches the court, the lower reaches the people", and the rich humanistic care it contains. Strong support for his film and television development.

Back then, iQIYI's "Soul Ferry" was not a work that relied on sensory stimulation and theme dividends, but had a positive value that touched people's hearts, "cultivating a good heart and breaking a hundred kinds of evil." The same is true for

"Story of the Tang Dynasty". It is necessary to support the eerie atmosphere and make differences with visual spectacles, but also insist on breaking the superstition and the belief that the right will suppress the evil. This is the producer, screenwriter and director.The consensus between them also ultimately guided the creation of the play.

Either virtual or real, high-quality texture

Starting from the dual identities of the original author and the film and television screenwriter, Wei Fenghua defines the world in "The Story of the Tang Dynasty" as "an ancient aesthetic that blends the boundaries of realism and fantasy. ". In the play, there are not only real details supported by historical data, such as marriage, travel, food, clothing and housing, customs and habits of the ancients, but also some rare and strange beasts, and illusions that are difficult to distinguish between true and false. When 108 Square is dotted with stars and cleverly appeared in Su Wuming's case analysis chart, it is difficult for traditional culture lovers not to be amazed.

Not only that, the "map" of "Story of the Tang Dynasty" is not limited to Chang'an, 8 units take place in 7 different locations, from prosperous cities to small southern cities, from yamen, palaces to underground rivers and lakes of three religions and nine streams, all-round. Describe a story time and space that is different from modern society. The audience follows the protagonist first south and then north, which is not only a journey of investigation, growth, but also a literal tour.

So, how to realize this vision in film and television? The answer to "Tang Dynasty Strange Stories" is also a combination of reality and reality. Virtual, that is, computer stunts. Real, that is, real shooting. The two are organically combined to seek the most suitable presentation method. Most of the scenes in the

drama, such as "Ghost City Underground Palace" and "Gantang Station", are built with real scenes. Another key scene, the towering and magnificent "towering tower" is realized through the cooperation of the pre- and post-production. After

bid farewell to the special effects of fifty cents, the market has paid more attention to industrial standards. And alien beasts are also one of the highlights of "The Record of Weird Events in the Tang Dynasty". In just ten episodes, demon cats, phantom tigers, and white pythons have appeared. Not only is the style of painting unplayable, but the coordination with human actors in action scenes is also quite natural and smooth.

can be imagined, which also benefits from the effective cooperation of the front and back. However, this drama does not rely heavily on special effects, but many scenes have a realistic texture. Director Bai Shan once revealed in media sharing that the rain in the "Huangmei Killing" unit and the smoke in the "Gan Tangyi" unit are all real, in order to create a better sense of atmosphere.

It is reported that the filming of "Story of the Tang Dynasty" took nearly 7 months, with a total of more than 550 scenes, which can be called a magnificent picture scroll of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, if a picture scroll wants to be vivid, it is inseparable from the person in the picture. Moreover, the more unit dramas and group dramas, the more stable and balanced actors are required, so as to avoid the part where the star protagonist does not appear to be reduced to "water drama".

"The Story of Tang Dynasty" has more than 150 characters with names and surnames. Not only the little actor actor Chen Chuang joined the protagonist group, playing the role of chaotic and sloppy old fritters on the surface, but in fact Fei Ji, who was assisting the detective team, there are also Zhang Zijian , Yao Anlian , Wang Jinsong , Fan Ming, Luo Jialiang and other actors joined in, as well as Yue Lina and Liu Zhiyang, two familiar faces from the "Pendulum" universe made a surprise appearance.

thinks about human nature, how to win

, ​​no matter how good the idea and production are, the story is not good and it is useless. Fortunately, the "Story of the Tang Dynasty" is the kind of good-looking. Instead of being arrogant or pretending to be deep, the rhythm is crisp and the plot is full. The 36 episodes contain 8 wonderful unit stories, and the most unpredictable greed and evil in human nature are everywhere.

"Shiqiao Tu", "Huangmei Killing" and "Zhengshengtang" respectively tell about the obsessions of literati and writers, the demons of their hearts, and the "crazy benevolence" of doctors who are not aware of it. From spirit to faith, they explore people's distractions and confusion. The huge water beast that appeared in Ninghu, the life-and-death crisis of the princess in Luoyang City, and the illusion conference held by the emperor in Chang'an City brought the story and characters back to the court again, with a bigger conspiracy. destroy.

It is worth noting that these stories with different connotations and tones share a common focus: that is, there are no ghosts and ghosts in the world, and the righteous way is when people’s hearts are good, and evil does not suppress the right, but directly pokes at human nature.

The type of detective cases focuses on strange cases and reasoning, and often neglects the portrayal of characters. Obviously, "Story of the Tang Dynasty" has made great efforts here. The protagonist group will grow in the investigation, and the end of the growth is not only the perfection of personal character, but also the needs of the era and status they live in.Responsible for the layout. Su Wuming, one of the protagonists of

, ​​is a small official who appeared in another Tang Dynasty strange work "Ji Wen", and in the final script, he not only became Di Renjie's disciple, but also integrated into "You Yang". The scholar attribute of the author Duan Chengshi . At the beginning of the story, he was only intoxicated in the world of the case and accepted the princess's support with peace of mind. It was only after he had gone around the world for a while that he really began to have the world feeling of Master Di Gong. Another feature of the

costume detective drama lies in its historical and cultural heritage. Now that a specific dynasty is chosen instead of an overhead world and future time and space as the background, the costume detective drama has this layer of mission and standard. Before Wei Fenghua became a screenwriter, he was already a historical novel writer. Right now, while the series is being updated, he is also doing popular science on his personal Weibo, which is also very conscientious.

In "The Story of the Tang Dynasty", the historical and cultural heritage is not only reflected in the setting and lines, but also in the visual. The frightening ghost city, the red and white ghost marriage scene in the "Chang'an Black Tea" unit, and the dream landscape in the "Stone Bridge Picture" unit are all very Chinese-style aesthetics.

So, why was iQiyi the first to play the differentiated card of the costume detective drama?

detective dramas have always been one of the leading genres of iQIYI. There are long and short ones, those with traditional temperament or a strong sense of the Internet, and those focusing on various police types and various types of detectives. There have been benchmark works. Continuing to find new breakthroughs and advancing corresponding content and aesthetic exploration is an inevitable move for the platform to maintain its advantages on this track. And in terms of the accumulation of detective dramas, iQiyi is also the most likely to do this.

Compared with the crazy involution of the previous two years, the detective drama may have the opportunity to settle down this year and find a breakthrough. The market is waiting for works that can allow us to see new directions and new possibilities. There is no doubt that "Story of the Tang Dynasty" is off to a good start.