Abandoning age and gender portraits, "My Secret Roommate" is all-in-one 丨 Dialogue with Yu Jinwei

Have you ever imagined such a scene?

After get off work, you go home as usual. One second, everything was the same as before, and the next second, I suddenly found that the house had actually "traversed" - half of it was left in the present, half of it had returned to four months ago, and an old tenant was also attached by the way.

has such a strange brain hole, which is an imaginative setting even for senior fantasy fans.

's popular fantasy love drama " My Secret Roommate " on iQiyi has turned this fantastical fantasy into reality.

Although the genre fusion formula of fantasy + love has become popular in the Chinese drama market, "My Secret Roommate" is still a unique fantasy romance.

It has a high concept, but it doesn't have the "traveling" old stalk that audiences are accustomed to, and it doesn't follow the trend to play time loops. Instead, it uses the scientific concept of "unexpected, reasonable" to create a "space-time fusion" setting. .

It also tells love stories, but Chen Jialan ( Xiang Hanzhi ) and He Zhengyu ( Yang Xuwen ) get along for 46 minutes a day, but it is a wonderful setting. For the remaining 23 hours and 14 minutes of each day, the hero and heroine must endure the pain of "unreachable lovers", which is probably one of the most interesting and difficult love obstacles to overcome in urban dramas in recent years. In addition to

, ​​it also has a suspense line that cracks time and space changes, a cool drama line deduced by the exchange of dual time and space information...

is similar to "eat more than one fish", "My Secret Roommate" has a lot to do with fantasy, love, and suspense. The ingenious combination of elements such as drama, comedy, etc. allows the audience to gain a rich experience of "seeing more than one drama".

Surprisingly, behind this agile and light web drama, there is a senior producer who is known for realistic dramas.

Chief Producer Yu Jinwei

As a radio and television "veteran", Yu Jinwei has rich experience in producing dramas. After her career transition and founding Huaxi Taihe in 2015, she once again proved her subject vision and project management ability with an urban emotional drama " True Love's Lies: Icebreaker " based on the anti-drug background.

Facing a "small and beautiful" drama like "My Secret Roommate", Yu Jinwei admitted that it was a challenge to his own path. "The smaller the volume, the more often the production level will be tested." But Known as a "nail-type" producer, she quickly found the way of "doing a dojo in a snail shell" by virtue of her high-standard production control method from beginning to end.

The following is the narration of the producer Yu Jinwei.

took out the original energy to do a "proposition composition"

"Is "My Secret Roommate" a sweet pet drama?" Before the launch of

, ​​many colleagues often asked this question when talking about this project with me. The answer I give is always decisively denying , but I still have to explain why it is not a "sweet pet".

Until this drama is officially broadcast, when communicating with peers, the word "sweet pet" is not mentioned frequently. Because, everyone can see that this is a solid fantasy romance.

In 2018, iQIYI Taiwan had a "1006's Tenant ", iQIYI took a fancy to its "space-time fusion" element and wanted to develop a version of the drama that meets the aesthetic demands of mainland audiences. At the beginning of 2019, Yang Bei , the general manager and chief producer of iQIYI Copyright Management Center, approached me and wanted to cooperate with me in the form of customized dramas.

After I got the project, I felt that the fantasy setting in it was very interesting, and the positioning of "sweet and brainy" attracted me and my team very much. But at the same time, there are also doubts in the heart, worried that the conventional "sweet pet" positioning will limit the style of this fantasy story. Why should

"Sweet Pet" be separated from the romance drama and become a single track? I analyze, is this formulation derived from the marketing link? "Sweet love, pampering feeling" is just an expression of intimacyDa, should not become a routine template in creation.

Therefore, in the discussion with iQiyi partners, I raised the question of the creative positioning of this drama: Are we going to make it a sweet pet drama for children?

iQIYI's planners and producers rejected this statement after hearing it. They hope to enhance the professional attributes of this drama, so that the three elements of workplace, fantasy and love can be equally divided and organically integrated in this drama. This happens to be my idea too. Therefore, after confirming that the creation "destination" of the platform and the platform are consistent, we start the project promotion work.

Although this "proposition composition" is based on a story core, the script development process of "My Secret Roommate" is still difficult.

First of all, it is the landing of professional dramas. In

, ​​the hero He Zhengyu is a lawyer, and the heroine Chen Jialan is a reporter. Taking into account the cultural differences between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the adaptation requirements for strengthening professional scenes, we chose to conduct interviews and research from scratch, and completely overturn all the "career" scenes.

I led the team of screenwriters to go deep into the law firm to collect stories, understand the real working and living conditions of lawyers, search for materials in the files, and finally decided to set He Zhengyu's identity as a civil lawyer, re-select cases for him, weave conflicts, and make career progress. The line has been completely rewritten.

In order to make the male and female protagonists more evenly matched in terms of identity and mind, we also changed the female protagonist's identity from a trainee reporter to a news investigative reporter. The core members of the team and I have a certain degree of media work experience, plus the visits to many senior reporter friends around me, the enrichment of the heroine's career line is very fast.

The implementation of the professional drama is the core problem solved by the first draft of the script. Because of the full preparation and detailed materials, after a year of material accumulation and the change and running-in of the writing team, the team completed the first draft of the script in April 2021.

Secondly, it is the deduction of the love line under the fantasy framework.

Although "My Secret Roommate" has a fantasy setting, its core theme is love. The difficulty is that the hero and heroine can only meet for 46 minutes a day. This largely limits their interaction and also affects the progression of the emotional line. After the first draft of the script for

came out, we felt that this problem had not been solved very well, so we asked the famous screenwriter and planner Li Xiaoming for advice.

The advice he gave me was to find a way to screw the two timelines together. Although the story pre-sets that the male and female protagonists can only get along for 46 minutes a day in the fusion of time and space, there is still room for other intersections. For example, Chen Jialan, the heroine in 2021, can have a story with He Zhengyu in 2022, why can't she also have a connection with He Zhengyu in 2021?

After listening to Mr. Li's suggestion, I felt relieved.

goes further, since the heroine of 2021 can come to 2022, why can't the hero of 2022 go back to 2021? The idea was opened, and we immediately decided to redo the script.

I invited Mr. Li Xiaoming as a script consultant, and found three groups of screenwriters with their own strengths to create a team. In June 2021, the script creation of the second draft will start, and the emotional drama of the two protagonists has been re-examined. .

Finally, it's a matter of plot freshness and younger lines. Although

has "The Tenant of 1006" first, it is too boring to just follow the original story "reprint". After two drafts of the script, we not only completed the overhaul of the career line, but also tried to expand and extend the emotional line.

In order to improve work efficiency, when I drafted the script for the second time, I referred to the creative model of American dramas and hired three groups of screenwriters. Jiang Dan and Liu Xiang's team are responsible for writing the episodes and splits, Zhang Yujie's team is responsible for writing the characters, and I also recruited Shi Yi, a screenwriter who has experience in talk show writing, to polish the lines and make the style of the script "young and funny.""Get up. Finally, Li Xiaoming, the script consultant, is responsible for checking the general direction of the story and the correct rhythm.

I saw a message from the audience saying: "There are so many screenwriters in this drama, are you serious? "My answer is, very serious. Every screenwriter of "My Secret Roommate" is a good play, and the audience can see that our stories have a smooth rhythm, similar logic, and pitfalls. Required, it is hard work.

"My Secret Roommate" finally only retains the concept of "space-time fusion" and the professional identity of the male and female protagonists, and the remaining characters and stories are remade. So in my heart , "My Secret Roommate" is a customized drama with a high degree of originality.

Small dramas also have ambitions

We always say that actors' performances can't be flat and facial, and the same is true of film and television creation. As the person in charge of the project, The works cannot be framed by genres, let alone set limits on creation.

Compared with historical epics and historical legends, "My Secret Roommate" is a drama with a small cut, but this does not mean that it has no room for innovation and expansion.

In "My Secret Roommate", we try to break through the type of fantasy romance drama from three levels.

is the first, the setting can be fantastic, but the characters must be on the ground.

I always believe that the truth is the total of The premise of love . As far as characters are concerned, both the protagonist and the supporting roles must be complex living people, not just functional characters that promote the development of the plot.

Take the male protagonist He Zhengyu as an example, he is like a book, Going to different chapters will show different aspects.

In his work, he is a big businessman, but he is not a lawyer who is sophisticated and tactful in the traditional impression. In the face of a scumbag client, he will scold him and leave; He is not afraid of tearing his face as a partner with an unscrupulous mind. In today's society, there are not a few elites with strong ability and individuality like He Zhengyu. They prefer to fight alone rather than be wronged and seek perfection. He Zhengyu in

's life is quite contrasting. Although he has turtle hair and cleanliness, he is a cute big boy. He will put a mask on himself after taking a shower, and he will also play games with friends in Internet cafes to relieve pressure. Occasionally play pranks, even repairing a lamp without forgetting to pretend to be electrocuted to tease people. Although such a male protagonist is excellent, he is not high, although he seems to be at a certain distance from the audience, but he is actually by everyone's side.

Second, forget age and gender "Portrait ", let go of the drama. When

"My Secret Roommate" was broadcast, I unexpectedly received feedback from a middle-aged male friend about watching the drama. He told me directly that the drama was well done, It has the texture of an American drama, and I can't stop catching it. At first, I didn't quite believe it, so I chatted with him about the specific plot and characters. z

At this moment, I think this show is well worth it. At the beginning, it was the right choice to shoot fantasy love with the mentality of equal care, apart from the "portrait" of the user's age and gender.

My Secret Roommate captured both female and male audiences for three reasons. The first is the fantasy and brainy story shell, the second is the high-intensity plot rhythm, and the third is the equal care for the gender perspective. Among them, this third point is the most difficult to do well. When

filmed "My Secret Roommate", we chose to make friends with the audience, not to speak for any party on the basis of gender, but to show it objectively on the basis of ensuring drama.

Chen Jialan and He Zhengyu made a lot of jokes during the emotional ambiguous period. For example, He Zhengyu thought that the kiss was confirmation of the relationship, while Chen Jialan felt that He Zhengyu owed her a confession.

When male viewers see He Zhengyu's slow reaction, they will feel immersed in it, and female viewers will be able to smile when they see Chen Jialan's careful thoughts. This is making friends with the audience. The audience has their own right to choose, we just need to respect it.

Third, the perspective opens, blends insocial issues.

For example, the brother-sister line of Wu Anwen ( Cao Zheng ) and Wu Jirong ( Wang Mengli ) in the play is a reflection on Chinese family relationships.

The Wu family brothers and sisters whose parents died young have been dependent on each other since childhood. Wu Anwen dropped out of school early to work, just to raise his sister. He loves his sister very much but also has a strong desire to control, and puts a lot of invisible shackles on her, causing harm in the name of love. Similar overprotection is the crux of many family problems in China today.

We show this emotional mode in a fantasy love story, and we also want to give the audience a sense of personal experience and some small enlightenment.

Be a good "nail" producer

I'm not a prolific producer. "My Secret Roommate" has been 4 years since my last drama "True Love Lies: Icebreaker" aired. Because of my way of doing things, I follow every project we do from beginning to end, from script to production. In order to ensure the quality, I like to go down to every link, and work with the editor, director and other main creators to complete each project carefully. Creation...

director Zhao Jintao and chief producer Yu Jinwei discuss work

"My Secret Roommate" will start in September 2021. When choosing a shooting location, not only the temperament and volume of the whole drama, but also the to epidemic prevention and control factors. After looking at the four cities of Nanjing, Ningbo, Shanghai, Suzhou, and considering the needs of all parties, we set the location for the location shooting in Suzhou, and the studio shooting in Wuxi. Every scene and prop in the

play is carefully selected and designed by the director and art team. Due to the fusion of time and space, the daily necessities of He Zhengyu and Chen Jialan will be mixed together, so we decided when preparing the props that we must distinguish the quality of life of the two people.

Some viewers noticed that the creeper outside the apartment building of Chen Jialan and He Zhengyu is very beautiful, which was specially transplanted when we set the scene. It is a romantic drama, and we must strive to create a beautiful atmosphere in the environment. Since

already has an atmosphere of creeping tiger decoration, we also made use of this prop and used its color change to distinguish the two time and space. In the special effects stage, we made the 2021 ivy green and the 2022 ivy red in line with the changing seasons, which is beautiful and effective.

The special effect processing of space-time fusion is a place that burns money. In order to make the two time and space merge beautifully and dreamily, we have tried several versions.

For example, whether the color of the light effect is pink or blue, whether the effect of the item appearing is flashing or gradation, etc., it took three months to finalize the draft, which also doubled our special effect cost compared with the budget.

I'm a very competitive person in terms of quality and never accept the idea of ​​"almost". I have always felt that since the target effect can be achieved, it cannot be compromised in order to save trouble, money and time.

I also followed the whole post-production process of "My Secret Roommate", from editing, music, special effects, to color grading, mixing, and polishing every link. When

was doing the mixing, the sound team made a demo for three weeks, and then they went back and forth for several versions, and I felt that the effect was not in place. Later, they asked the sound teacher to help me to make several versions for me to choose. As a result, I picked the version made by the mixer teacher Liu Xu of "The Wandering Earth". I can only say that the effect is not deceiving.

Film and television creation must have a little "dare to be the first in the world" spirit, and also have an attitude of not giving up until the goal is achieved. Small and beautiful projects need to rely on details to win, and there must be no compromise on what should be insisted on.

In my creative concept, I must come up with the finished product that I have done my 100% effort, so as to have the confidence to hand it over to the platform and present it to the audience.

"My Secret Roommate" is a small but beautiful fantasy love drama, its productionThe production process is long and meticulous, and the thoughts we spend are many and delicate. The so-called is a lot of things, and I believe that the same is true of good works.

[Text/Yichen]