Hu Xiang
Since the beginning of this year, domestic high score dramas have appeared frequently, such as "Detective Chinatown", "I am Yu Huanshui", "Game of Ten Days", "The Hidden Corner", "Blame You Too Beautiful" and "Thirty Only". These dramas include suspense dramas and detectives. Dramas, industry dramas, heroine dramas and other different types. Unlike previous hot TV series, these shows basically do not have big directors or big stars, but with their excellent quality, they make people shine, applauded and popular. Why? The key is that whether it is storytelling, characterization, or lens language, these dramas all show an unprecedented kind of vitality and vigor, as if new winds are blowing, both refreshing and rising, making people exclaim: the era of new national dramas Is coming.
New Characters: Exploring character characters with brand-new values and shaping classic characters
There have been several innovative movements brought about by young people in the history of world cinema, such as the Italian New Realism, the French New Wave, and the American New Hollywood Movement. The main reason for the emergence of these new movements is the changes in the social background and cultural trends at that time. Young people oppose the stale values of the older generation and oppose the gorgeous but empty language of images. They have created a group of brand-new characters. For example, the characters in "The Male and Female Thief" and "Easy Rider" brought a huge impact to American society. . The so-called new person is actually a new value and a self-consciousness.
In these domestic dramas this year, a number of impressive characters have also appeared. These characters have more independent personalities and no longer float on the surface, but pay more attention to using the lens to penetrate into the characters' hearts, present a kind of complexity and profoundness, and arouse the resonance of the audience. For the first time, "Thirty Only" aimed at young women in their 30s, showing their exploration of the unique value and power of women. For example, Gu Jia took shortcuts from studying his wife's circle to independently creating the empty mountain tea brand , Zhong Xiaoqin worked hard to tear off the "Post-it" label and no longer live in the eyes of others. Wang Manni left Duo Jin Huaxin Man and repositioned back to her hometown. They are all new characters, and many bulletin messages: The sense of substitution is too strong. "The Hidden Corner" contributed some of the most special images of young people to Chinese TV dramas. The three young people play with adults in their hands. Their innocent faces are in sharp contrast with the darkness of their hearts. After 00, the actors officially appeared on the screen and showed Strong shaping power and impact. "I Am Yu Huanshui" uses absurd methods to create a very down-to-earth and unlucky image of "Yu Huanshui". Middle-aged men encounter severe attacks in the workplace and the gap between family status. Their humble life has caused great netizens resonance. In addition, there is Lin Mo, a cold-faced detective who is as professional as a hound in "Detective Chinatown", and Mo Xiangwan, a shrewd and capable but principled celebrity agent in "Blame You Too Beautiful"...the reason why these characters are novel, On the one hand, it is inseparable from the superb acting skills of the actors, on the other hand, it is also inseparable from the support of new values. Both are new aesthetic discoveries brought by the new national drama.
New concept: illuminating humanistic care with the spirit of realism, reflecting the spirit of the times
TV series are popular culture closely connected with the times. Any excellent and classic TV series can always show the style and spirit of the times. How to reflect the breath of the times? It is inevitably required to observe society and characters in a realistic spirit, to show the problems faced by people of different eras, and to work hard to answer the questions of this era. The newness of the new national drama is also reflected in the more enhanced expression of realism, whether it is the external service of Taoism, or the internal realism with a deep humanistic spirit and even a critical color. They break through the limitations of previous family dramas as the main theme, break through the emotional stereotypes of misery, and show a realism that is more active and close to the lives of ordinary people.
"I Am Yu Huanshui" is the most in-depth exploration of the realism TV series this year. The main reason lies in the high level of realism it embodies, restoring the new realism of "One Place Chicken Feather" and "Troubled Life" in the 1990s. The literary spirit of Yu Huanshui is the 21st century Xiaolin and Yin Jiahou. In the pungent social irony and criticism, there is also a kind of humanistic care for the little people. This solid texture is in sharp contrast with the plastic feeling of the middle-aged crisis in "If Time Can Turn Back". "Thirty Only" focuses on the description of the survival pressure of 30-year-old women. It uses three typical female characters with different personalities and different classes to outline the marriage, family, and workplace challenges faced by women. It not only talks about Nora’s After leaving, I also talked about how Nora should break the social prejudice to find her self-worth after leaving. The hot search since the show was broadcast is that it is highly typified and dared to truly represent social reality. "Blame You Are Excessively Beautiful" changes the stereotypes and false imaginations of the entertainment industry in the past, and truly presents the economic benefits and the test of humanity's good and evil faced by celebrity agents, and shows the embarrassment and helplessness behind the glorious and glorious entertainment industry In recent years, there have been few industry dramas with details, criticism, and warmth, which are several grades higher than the floating drama of "Perfect Relationship". "The Hidden Corner" removes the overly dark elements in the original work, and replaces warm family affection as the emotional background. It successfully landed the virtual geographic space in the novel into a small seaside town full of fireworks in reality. It has a great impact on parent-child relationship and family The profound manifestations of various aspects of education and children’s growth allow us to reflect on how families, schools, and society should let the sunshine of love shine into the hidden corners of children’s hearts.
New national dramas may have different themes and expressions, but their biggest common point is that they have a solid spirit of realism. They dare to write and shoot. They are not criticized for criticism, but are close to our lives. The real world is restored, and the spirit of the times is displayed through highly refined typical characters, which arouses widespread resonance. If you leave realism, no matter how new it is, it will be new without foundation and without soul.
New language: the new generation of directors brings new narrative methods and lens language
The big difference between TV series and movies lies in the language style of the two. The film emphasizes the highly compressed and condensed time and space, and emphasizes the strong drama conflict, while the TV series likes the long flow of water, and the technique is more biased towards the flow of life. Traditional Chinese dramas rarely innovate in lens language and narrative language, and they have always been criticized. Since 2020, TV series, especially web series, have brought subversive changes in narrative style, lens language and even length of the series.
The skit becomes a new form. The skits are highly condensed, especially the suspenseful skits with fast-paced and strong plots, which condense drama conflicts in a short and concise length, creating a unique audio-visual experience for the audience. The emergence of "Detective Cases in Chinatown" has brought online dramas on detective topics to a new level. Its biggest feature is fast-characters think fast, speak fast, reason fast, act fast, with fast cut shots, coupled with digital technology virtual characters, highly sensitive olfactory detection talent, and extremely imaginative and creative Colorful blasting screen. The narrative expression in domestic dramas has caught up with the rhythm of the plot for the first time-the "soft underbelly" of domestic dramas is hardening. "Ten Days Game" tells about a kidnapping case that occurred within ten days. The work gradually unfolds the case through two clues of forward and flashback. The fast-paced narrative is very brain-intensive. "The Hidden Corner" adopts an interlocking narrative method. Each character only explains part of it first, leaving enough suspense to connect to the next plot point, like a spider web; when every corner is woven Finished, until the end we saw a complete narrative network and got a shocking narrative pleasure. "I am Yu Huanshui" is the first time that a life drama featuring small characters is launched in the form of a short drama. In 12 episodes, it tells about the multiple crises of Yu Huanshui's divorce, "terminal illness", non-payment of debts by friends, and framed and oppressed in the workplace. , The rhythm is very lively. When the characters start to reverse, this fast-paced seems very refreshing. The new national drama shows us that life drama can still be filmed with a high degree of dramatic tension.
Narrative and camera are closely connected. In addition to narrative methods, the lens language of the new national drama has also made great progress. The stylized lens language in "The Hidden Corner" is very delicate and delicate, the image's tone and composition are exquisite, the scene scheduling is smooth and natural, and it presents a high-level texture. In "Detective Chinatown", a large number of close-up shots to speed up the shots, a large number of fast superimposed shots produced by digital special effects, and weird distorted perspective shots are very modern and integrated with the characteristics of web dramas.
The language innovation of new national dramas mainly comes from web dramas. There are two most critical reasons: on the one hand, the membership payment model of web dramas will inevitably force the improvement of the quality of web dramas, while the acceleration of the industrialization process of film and television dramas and technological advancement It has brought an upgrade of images; on the other hand, the addition of young directors has brought a new lens language-they are basically born in the 1980s, who have grown up in the image age, and understand the preferences of young audiences better.
Of course, the advent of the new national drama era should not only be considered from a few of the best works. The emergence of a few "dark horses" is not enough to explain the progress of the entire industry; but the creative concepts and production quality presented by the high-quality new national dramas , Will inevitably drive the progress of the entire industry. It is foreseeable that the advent of the new national drama era will not happen overnight. On the contrary, it will be a slow process like a thawing ice. However, as the aesthetic needs of audiences in the new era escalate, it is bound to require the transformation and upgrading of domestic dramas themselves-from thinking to production, all-round upgrade and iteration. The new national drama era is here!