Author | Lila Recently, the topic of "Goodbye Lover 4" was indispensable at the dinner table of variety show directors. Unlike the audience who were suffocated by "Mai Xue" and "Yang Xue", the industry was filled with envy. You have to know how many variety shows it takes to

Author | Lila

Recently, the topic of "Goodbye Lover 4" was indispensable at the dinner table of variety show directors.

is different from the audience who are suffocated by "Mai Xue" and "Yang Xue". There is a voice of envy in the industry. You must know that creating a phenomenal variety show that competes with popular film and television dramas is a rare "career ideal" for many practitioners in the variety show industry.

With a learning attitude, variety show directors began to study why "Goodbye Lover 4" became such a hit. What did the program team do right? How to generate issues in reality shows? How to link reality shows with public opinion? How to turn variety show content into a broader social event?

With these questions in mind, Entertainment Capital also made an appointment for a "learning dinner" with the variety show director next to him on weekend nights. While eating smoked chicken, he had an in-depth chat about the topics of reality shows through this popular variety show. How deep is the doorway?

(Yang Hong is a pseudonym below)

Casting itself is a topic choice

Returning to the production logic of the reality show director team, the production of a variety show goes through the following processes:

• Proposal, that is, planning on the theme and direction of the variety show

• Casting, selecting guests and contestants suitable to participate in this reality show

• Planning, creating the framework of the reality show links and content

• Location scouting. Outdoor reality shows require the director team to scout and select locations on the spot during the planning process.

• Pre-acquisition. After the casting is decided, a lot of pre-acquisition work will be done on the guests to fully understand the guests' story background, emotional state, and personality. Elements, psychological appeal

• Official recording, that is, the filming of the main film

• The post-production editing of the main film

In the stereotype of film and television works, the narrative begins with planning and screenwriting. But emotional programs are different. In emotional reality shows, the narrative begins with casting. Take "Goodbye Darling" as an example. In fact, the three divorced couples in each season represent the marriage samples that the program team wants to present.

The three couples in the first season, Guo Keyu Zhang He, Zhu Yaqiong and Laowang, Tong Chenjie Wei Wei , are more about the emotional state of marriage, reflecting the deviations in marital attitudes, values ​​and modes of getting along. What the audience discussed following the first season was more about the emotional patterns between husband and wife, such as the choices made by Guo Keyu and Zhang He in marriage. Guo Keyu finally returned to himself and chose divorce, which still touches the audience. In this state, The negative public opinion in the first season was not as intense as it is now.

In the second season, the program team wanted to show the relationship between an elderly couple, so they chose Chen Meiling and Ai Wei to increase the intergenerational gap sample with young couples; in the third season, Fu Seoul and Lao Liu provided the program team with a more extreme sample of the marriage proposition of "strong women and weak men"; in the fourth season, this sample further evolved into Mai Lin and Li Xingliang, Huang Shengyi, and who are currently the center of public opinion. Yangzi.

The source of contestants and guests for most emotional variety shows consists of two parts: one is self-registration and screening by the casting director; the other is invitation from the program team.

"When we make programs, more channels are still selected from registered contestants, because there will be more people willing to participate in romance dramas, but for a program like "Goodbye Lover" with a strong setting and strong topicality, the program team should There are more invitations," Yang Hong, director of a romance show, told Entertainment Capital.

However, in the presentation of Love TV Series, there is no deeper difference between the amateur guests, so the difference in casting sources is not obvious. "The factors we consider in casting are more about differences in appearance, occupation, region, etc. They are superficial and do not explore such in-depth topics as personality, family of origin, class, etc. And whether there is a sense of cliché among the guests is also relatively superficial. important."

Observing the guests of "Goodbye Lover" in the past three seasons, we can still see differences in the casting channels of different couples. Couples whose social status is relatively "amateur" are more likely to come from the registration channel, and among the two, there is an "artist" status. Most of the couples were invited by the program team. In an interview with Entertainment Capital last year, Liu Le, the producer of "Goodbye Lover", shared that Zhang Shuo and Wang sleep. , Ji Huanbo and Wang Shiqing were selected from those who signed up.

Objectively speaking, one of these couples has the label of "marriage trouble" and the other has the label of "old husband and young wife". They are both good choices among amateurs. The sample means what kind of marital status the program presents, and in terms of a wider communication scope, it also means It means what kind of agenda setting they can provide and what kind of topic entry point they can throw to the audience. This is where the casting of "Goodbye Lover" is more complicated than that of romance dramas that rely more on "cp sense". The process comes from a lot of pre-screening and interviews with the director team. Before the recording of the reality show, the program team will finalize the candidates through interviews and interviews.

"Our working method is to first draw a circle and lock in less than 10 male guests and less than 10 female guests, and then based on the actual selection process. Which ones have better expressions and more interesting personalities, and are more likely to have intersections and stories with other guests, will be sorted and finally selected. This process involves both the director team and the platform. And because everyone has different opinions, a battle is likely to occur. Yang Hong said.

In "Goodbye Lover 4", "Huang Shengyi Yang Zi" has innate topic attributes, creating a popular "basic base" in the early stage of the show. "Li Xingliang Mailin" has a natural relationship with the previous guests. "Ge Xi Liu Shuang" is a guest who is found through acquaintances and is more suitable for amateur guests to sign up, and was selected through sufficient personality traits and storytelling

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When talking about the casting of the third season of "Goodbye Lover" before, Liu Le told Entertainment Capital that Ji Huanbo and Wang Shiqing were the couple who were selected as guests in the second season, but actually appeared on the show a year later because they were During this year, the pain points in their relationship became clearer.

"Wang Shiqing's social circle expanded, she had many new friends, and she had more work. Lao Ji felt lost and no longer needed. This entangled transition between strong and weak relationships became so obvious that we invited them in Season 3. In fact, in many fields, the transition between strong and weak relationships will cause pain. "

This kind of pre-interview and interview content will be revealed in interspersed interviews in the program after the guests are confirmed to record. In "Goodbye Lover 4", such interview content sets the tone for the relationships, conflicts and pain points of the three couples. played a very important role, such as the dispute between Mai Lin and Li Xingliang over family matters. From the replacement of "trash can" to the differences in "house decoration", they are all presented in the pre-production and early material exposure.

In addition, compared with the previous three seasons, this season is in " The two couples "Mailin Li Xingliang" and "Ge Xi Liu Shuang" can find topic points that are closer to reality, that is, "property distribution" and "economic disputes" between husband and wife, which are the most common disputes and contradictions in marriage relationships. , which is also the "down-to-earthness" that the audience complained about in "Goodbye Lover" before. This can also be seen in the topic point. The choice also affects the standards and choices of the program team to a certain extent.

Content narrative creates program topics

"Text analysis is a way to watch "Goodbye Lover". "

Just as Liu Le said in a podcast. From a narrative perspective, "Goodbye Lover 4" seems to have turned this "text analysis" into program content, presenting it in various ways from the perspective of program links and flying guests. .

In fact, there is a big difference between variety show scripts and film and television drama scripts. Reality show scripts do not stipulate the behaviors and emotional expressions of the guests, but give out the program framework and every link under the theme of a single episode.Take "Goodbye Lover" as an example. During the 18-day journey of three couples, the script should be closer to the "rundown (process)" of each day rather than the script. The

process is for the presentation of character relationships and the "topic" service for a single issue's theme.

There are some fixed links in the four seasons of "Goodbye Lover": taking divorce photos, couple portraits, the final "36 questions", and flying guests who will join the trip at regular intervals. Behind these links are the different narrative purposes of the director team.

During the divorce photo shoot of "Goodbye Lover 4", Mai Lin and Li Xingliang revealed their sharp "wardrobe" conflicts to the camera for the first time, presenting the pain points of marriage problems to the audience more intuitively. Before that, they had always maintained a more Gentle appearance.

Couple portraits are deeper and can show the psychological state of each guest. This psychological state is the most important cause of marital problems.

The "36 Questions" near the end are after the guests re-explore the relationship, they "re-ask" and re-understand each other. After the questions are answered again, the marriage relationship comes to the end of the decision.

In the podcast, chief director Liu Le said that all fixed links were screened after internal testing by the program director team. The meaning and function of these fixed plots have been verified in the first three seasons of the program. As key nodes in the overall narrative of the program, they gradually promote the program guests to a deeper understanding of themselves and each other, and also set up a step-by-step in-depth understanding for the audience. Discussion Topics.

In addition to the fixed program links, it is a link that is newly added in each season or flexibly set during the recording period. Such links often play two roles: one is to fit the characteristics of the characters and better present the characteristics of the guests; the other is to break the deadlock.

As shown in the above text, "economy" and "finance" are the topics that have been discussed more fully this season. The proposition about "money" not only runs through the conflicts between the couples in the show, but also the conflicts about "family economy" acquired during the pre-production process are likely to affect the arrangement of the links and the construction of the plot by the program team.

"Rotating tour guide" and "travel funds" are a new setting in "Goodbye Lover 4". The first issue of the tour guide program team was given to Mai Lin, and the second issue storyline also focused on Mai Lin's allocation and spending of travel funds. The different attitudes between Pin, other guests, and Li Xingliang highlighted the contradictions between Mai Lin and Li Xingliang in family division of labor, their respective personalities, and their "views on money." This was also the beginning of "Maixue" becoming a hot topic.

The "breaking the deadlock" aspect comes more from the improvised game settings made by the program team in order to advance the recording and find new character states. In "Goodbye Lover 3", the "Six Circles of Speech" in the ninth issue is one of them. In order to allow the guests who have entered the tired period of recording to find an "emotionally full" state, the program team temporarily designed a "shoutout". In this season of

, the guests test their tacit understanding at the dinner table, and the role exchange between husband and wife is also such a "little game". In this game, Mai Lin, Liu Shuang and Yang Zi all observe themselves, and the fun and depth coexist. The atmosphere is no longer heavy.

The setting of flying guests is a direct manifestation of outsiders "breaking the deadlock". This season's Zhang Quanling is obviously sharper than the flying guests in previous seasons, and he is also better at finding problems. Her questions were not only directed to the guests on the show, but also to the public opinion field behind the screen.

When Zhang Quanling asked about the problem of "partner disappearing", there was a more universal question behind it: "What value can your partner bring to you?" After the three couples gave different answers, it triggered another incident in the observation room. further discussion, thus extending to the audience watching the program, rising to the level of social topics.

The observation room itself is a kind of public opinion field.

In addition to the program features, another widely circulated and hotly discussed content comes from the comments in the observation room.

Whether it’s Huang Zhizhong ’s conceptual analogy of “creditor”, the language art behind the word “pair”, or Papi Jiang complaining about Yang Zi “He is really my least favorite type of middle-aged man”, they are all on social media It was widely circulated on the platform and triggered a new round of controversy about divorced couples and guests in the observation room.

"The observation room is originally a secondary interpretation. You can also understand it as a public opinion field that the program team wants to present." Yang Hong told Entertainment Capital. In her opinion, the final presentation of the content in the observation room represents the scope and direction of the topic discussion that the director team wants to present.

First of all, the observation room is not a program section completely dominated by the will of the guests. Under what circumstances, reactions should be paused to start discussions; under what topics discussions should take place; and what kind of questions should be asked by the guests who control the show. The program team has written the program process in advance. This also means that the program team carried out "picking up points" earlier.

Yang Hong shared her experience in recording the observation room with Entertainment Capitalism, "We will give the guests scripts before recording. They will know what content is included in the feature film and what questions the guests will ask. , but we will not limit their answers except that there may be The questions raised in the

observation room need to be thought about in advance, and stories need to be told about personal experiences. The discussions generated are mainly divided into two categories: one is to analyze the behavioral logic of the program guests based on the content of the feature film; the other is to analyze the behavioral logic of the program guests. The content relates to more social and broader issues.

"For example, we have an episode in which a guest falls in love with another guest at first sight. At this time, the proposition thrown in the observation room is 'Do you believe in love at first sight?'" Yang Hong said. This kind of topic is not just for the observation room, but it is actually easier to give space to the audience. They can express their opinions more freely on social media and can create more buzz for the show.

The topic in the observation room of "Goodbye Lover 4" shows the progression of two types of topics: first caused by Patty Hou analyzed the logic and psychological motivations of the guests' behavior in the feature film and raised questions , Hu Yanbin, , and Papi Jiang gave their own attitudes and opinions, and then Huang Zhizhong and Shen Yifei moved up to more theoretical and social analysis of issues, completing the progression from point to surface, from personal behavior to more marital relationships. . This is also the reason why the observation room of "Goodbye Lover" has more discussion and content value.

In addition to the relatively clear division of labor, another obvious feature of the guests in the observation room this season is that they have a louder "rational" voice, and the content of this "rationality" gradually increases with the four seasons of the program. In the first and second seasons of the show, guests such as Guo Caijie, Li Weijia, and Sun Yi all had obvious "emotional" characteristics, and the starting point of their discussions came more from empathy; in the fourth season, it is rare to see the guests being completely affected by it. Emotional attitudes dominate, and the expression is more rational and direct. Identifying pain points and proposing solutions becomes a discussion template.

When talking about why Papi Jiang was invited, Liu Le said: "Papi Jiang has a scientific brain." She believes that as an emotional observation program, sensitivity and understanding are needed, but sometimes it is also necessary to jump out of emotions.

This also represents the audience's need to obtain information in the observation room, which to a certain extent breaks the generally "tasteless" status of domestic reality show observation rooms.

At the same time, because the editing rights belong to the program team, many times the direction of topic discussion and the attitude of the guests presented in the observation room also represent the attitude of the program team that they want the audience to see and extend the discussion.

In this season of "Goodbye Lover", guests in the observation room gave many clearer expressions of attitude: For example, when Huang Shengyi faced Yang Zi's choice not to divorce, Shen Yifei bluntly said "Eat something good", or the fourth During the episode, Shen Yifei directly expressed his hope that Huang Shengyi would leave. This was the only time in the Four Seasons program that guests in the observation room persuaded him to leave.

"The order, logic, and choices of the guests' speeches are all things that the program team needs to sort out in the later stages. The narrative of this kind of observation room and the narrative of the main film often complement each other, and the program team is from God's perspective, and they know the subsequent plot development. It will also affect their early presentation," Yang Hong said, "When recording and editing in the observation room, there are often hot search terms - it is possible for xx artists to fall in love at first sight."

What affects the context of the guests in the observation room is also the discussion and attitude of the audience.

Different from the "record first and then broadcast" model of most reality shows, most of the observation room content is recorded during the broadcast of the program, usually two to three weeks before the broadcast content.

This also means that the director team is fully aware of the current hot topics and can apply them to the topic settings in the observation room. On the one hand, it can help the guests’ discussions to be closer to the content that the audience is paying attention to. On the other hand, it can help the guests Avoid some "minefields".

ai Illustration by Entertainment Capital Theory

"Before, one of our observation room guests was scolded quite miserably. Before a subsequent recording, the host in charge would discuss with us in advance how to avoid the risk of public opinion on a certain issue. , or help him recover," Yang Hong told Entertainment Capital.

In fact, it is the responsibility of every program team to avoid public opinion risks as much as possible and create neutral public opinion for guests. As Liu Le said in the podcast: "During the recording process, we will not interfere too much, but we will control the editing." For example, when the director team determines that a certain statement is "100% angry," Then it may be cut later, because such an expression cannot represent the person's true state.

"Give less perfect people an outlet" is the expression that "Goodbye Lover" has been doing.

In the fourth season, even though there are still negative comments surrounding the public opinion of the guests, and there are still arguments based on different positions and viewpoints, it is undeniable that this program has indeed shown honestly that it is worth "discussing" "Modern Marriage Issues. Each guest also showed their honest self to the greatest extent in the show, which is a rare content in domestic reality shows.

In addition to the program, "Goodbye Lover" creates topics that are both broad and deep, as well as hot. At a time when we are eager for expression and reflection in the variety show industry, "Goodbye Lover" indeed provides a model worth exploring and continuing.