Sohu Entertainment Special Article (Hu Tu Photo/Text)
When Zhao Lusi , Hou Minghao , Guan Xiaotong appears in an era drama, the audience was a little surprised, "Are the era dramas nowadays so 'young'?"
era dramas, the general understanding of it by industry insiders refers to works that took place from the late Qing Dynasty to the reform and opening up of , and contain elements such as spy wars, revolutionary wars, great changes in the times, and the Republic of China.
In the past, such works are often labeled as heavy tags such as "obscure", "boring", "ager" and "old" due to problems such as the background of the times, cast, and theme creation.
Nowadays, with more and more young actors entering the game and becoming younger in their creative perspectives, the audience of such topics is no longer only middle-aged and elderly people, but more and more young people are pouring in.
Fox Factory Entertainment Observation talked with several colleagues in the industry about this phenomenon and found that their feelings were generally consistent, that is, the current era dramas are so "young".
The continuous influx of "young artists"
Zhao Lusi, Guan Xiaotong, Hou Minghao in " Hutong ", Lin Yi, Tan Songyun was invited in "These Ten Years"... The cast of the era dramas has accelerated the trend of "youngering", which is obvious to the public.
Director Liu Chang told Sohu Entertainment Observation that this is determined by the market supply and demand relationship and is the general trend. He admitted that not only that, most of the topics in the market are now heading towards the trend of "youngering".
Artist Coordinator Riky also gave a similar answer. He said that his current agency, the offshore agent, has already submitted information about his young artists to the Era Drama crew on a large scale.
"There are some news flowing in the market now. In addition to sweet short dramas, the era dramas will be seen more. It can be said that they account for at least half of all topics."
artist agent Xiaohai also affirmed this statement. "In the past, our young artists (18-25 years old), especially idol-type artists, were not very interested in serious works such as period dramas. But now, many young artists have begun to take the initiative to inquire about this aspect."
"The track of period dramas is currently relatively important for young artists," said Xiaohai.
and its importance is mainly reflected in two levels. One is to ensure that some waist-end artists who cannot receive the show and do not have much attention, and have the show to shoot; the other is the problem of the transformation of top artists that can be seen by the public.
At present, the top stars who are actively entering this track, from Wang Yibo , Li Xian , to post-00s actors Yi Yang Qianxi , Hu Xianxu , etc., era dramas are relatively important to their "professional resume".
Riky explains the importance of chronological dramas to them from another dimension.
"Many top artists often choose to reduce their pay when joining this track. Of course, this premise depends on the creative team and work size of the project."
, and this type of subject is also relatively strict for young artists to cast.
Xiao Hai said that when selecting young artists in this type of subject, in addition to selecting actors in previous works, focusing on the personal image, commercial value and role matching of actors, whether actors has excellent cultural literacy, whether they are willing to spend time to understand the historical background, etc., is the key assessment object.
Zhao Liying When filming "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes", he went to the countryside to experience life early before the crew started; Li Qin When filming " Bailuyuan ", he also followed the crew to Lantian, Shaanxi for 8 months.
not to mention the "professional" of the era drama Yin Tao . In recent years, it has grown up with the era drama and has gradually been recognized by young audiences...
("White Deer Plain" Li Qin)
The importance of era dramas to young artists is perceived by the market; And young artists are more like "accelerator" .
No matter how the final effect is, it is certain that their arrival has accelerated the pace of "rejuvenating" of the era dramas and laid the important position of such themes in the market.
"Younger" in creation
If young artists accelerate the development trend of "Younger" in the period dramas, it is obvious; then this kind of subject matter is tactful and even differentiated in the creative level. The broadcast of a number of tribute dramas such as "Hutong" and "We've Been Ten Years" allows the public to see the youthful performance of such themes in the market. TV series distribution manager Fang Fang said that their youthful expressions are relatively obscure, mainly reflected in the narrative perspective, material selection, and even the transmission of values.
For example, "Hutong", it tells the story of how three women became the director of the neighborhood committee from a commoner in three different eras. The perspective of women and popularization, the creation of small characters, and the core values conveyed in the drama "let the people live a happy life" are common in ancient and modern times. The same is true for
"Our Decade". Through 11 units of stories, the play creates a group of people in the new era, which is essentially different from traditional era dramas. In the market of
, another type of period drama with obvious trend of youth starts with a batch of new themes that have gradually poured into the track in the past two years. "Starting: When the Wind Rises" directed by Liu Chang is a movie, and " Light " starring Zhang Xincheng and Cai Wenjing is a movie.
Looking further, " Hot-blooded " starring Yi Yang Qianxi and Huang Zitao , and another work starring Huang Zitao "Hot-blooded Youth", etc., all belong to the category of such works.
The biggest difference between them and the tribute dramas is that they add more popular elements to the dimension of the work creation. For example, the emotional expression of the male and female protagonists in "Light" is idolized, the suspense elements and lily CP that the audience loves in "Hot Blood" ", including the dual male protagonist settings in "Hot Blood", and the inspirational, business war, passion and other elements in "Stay Sail: When the Wind Rises".
"The quality of works of this type of period drama is often mixed, but a common trend is that young audiences prefer to watch it. Because they have a very special feature compared with traditional period dramas," said Fang Fang.
This "speciality" has also been recognized by Liu Chang. He admitted that when he was filming "Setting Sail: When the Wind Rises", others asked him what subject it was filming? He replied that it was a 1990s theme that included many elements such as business war, inspiration, passion, and youth.
In Liu Chang's eyes, era dramas are a topic type that is not easy to define.
However, in terms of the performance of this type of subject in the current market, we can call it "year drama +", that is, superimposes new elements within the scope of the creation of period dramas.
"Any kind of subject should have the right to develop in the direction of diversification, otherwise the market will be a stagnant pool." Fang Fang said.
The ultimate trend of the themes that are not liquid and innovative must be closely related to loneliness and regression - this is the truth that traditional era dramas told us in those years.
dramas can "grow" again?
After experiencing rapid development and inverted , anything must not escape the "growth trouble". This is true for period dramas.
Currently, there are two "troubles" it faces.
As a result, is mainly the question of "whether young artists are plus points" faced by such topics after young artists flocked to this track.
In "Hutong", Zhao Lusi's Korean acting skills and line level have been questioned by some netizens; and not long ago, her performance in " Star Han Qianghuan " was praised by fans as "95 Flowers' acting skills".
. This problem has also appeared in and weeks ago when they were starring in " Cradle " and " Sparrow ".
Is it a good phenomenon for young artists, especially top stars, to join the era drama track? Varies from person to person. After all, there are also actors who have won a wave of favorable impressions with this type of subject.
The new generation of actors Zhang Wanyi is to gain more resources by relying on their superb performance in this type of subject matter. Currently, "Sauvignon Blanc", which he partnered with Yang Zi and , has attracted much attention from the market. The second problem facing topics such as
is the problem of "lack of age" encountered by some works in the creation of "younger".
Liu Chang said that the atmosphere of period dramas is indeed difficult to create. He recalled that when he was filming the drama "Starting: When the Wind Rises", the use of special effects shots alone exceeded that of costume dramas. The reason is that some sense of age can no longer be restored by relying on "scenery setting", and can only rely on special effects.
As for the makeup of some of the overly clean and tidy actors in other dramas, the use of filters that transition soften and fully display idolization is actually a subtraction in the creation techniques of period dramas.
Fang Fang said that a necessary condition for the creation of dramas in the past is the real . This is mainly influenced by his era background and story plot. Therefore, to a certain extent, this type of subject is also a realist subject.
has a derogatory meaning, and naturally there are also rewards. One of the most significant trends is that topics like have begun to attract the attention of brands and major platforms.
"Now, era dramas, especially top works, are already one of the best selling categories among major themes."
Fang Fang explained that the past era dramas were too serious because of their serious themes, and they were all Mesozoic actors dominating the screen. They did not have the upper hand in advertising investment and distribution, and many works were even backlogged.
He gave an example. The filming of " Brave Heart 2" in 2018 was not broadcast on video websites until 2021; the filming of " Xuanwumen " in 2017 is still in the hands of major platforms.
"Now is the era where video websites dominate the voice. Video websites are under profit pressure, so when purchasing theme types, they also give priority to works with traffic artists or younger themes."
A small surprise is that during the broadcast of "Hutong", some netizens once counted that the advertisement had 54 investments. The data of
is not mentioned yet. Even among the TV series broadcasted at the same time this year, the performance of the investment promotion of the show is not inferior.
Fang Fang said that when any subject has "easy to sell" and "hard to sell", the fundamental problem of course depends on the quality of the work.
But it is undeniable that with the continuous influx of top artists and top production teams in this track, the importance of such topics to the market is obvious.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 10 period dramas to be broadcast in the market. "Old-school" directors like Liu Jiacheng and Liu Jiang continue to work hard on this track, and there are also young and victorious generals from other tracks pouring in.
For example, "The Sea of Dreams in HTML " starring Xiao Zhan , the behind-the-scenes trader is the maker of "Ancient Puppet Drama" Yang Xiaopei , and the teaming up with Yang Xia , the producer of " Untamed ".The track of
drama is moving towards a more youthful and diversified direction. We are looking forward to the explosion of the next " Awakening Era ", and at the same time, we can't wait to see the next "fresh theme".
(Fang Fang is the pseudonym
