Why do more and more young people choose to "immerse" in the theater
This is a seemingly ordinary night. You walk into a building called "McKinnon Hotel" with the crowds, randomly select a playing card under the guidance of the staff, and then put on a white mask and walk into the elevator. At this time, the card information will determine your starting floor.
When the elevator door opens slowly and the protagonist Macbeth walks towards him, you hold your breath and keep up with his steps, and the story of "Sleepless Night" starts.
"Sleepless Night" is an immersive drama introduced by Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts Group in 2016. In the five years since its performance, the Shanghai version of "Sleepless Night" has an average attendance rate of over 96% and an average repurchase rate of over 30%.
With the introduction of "Sleepless Night" into China, this dramatic form that breaks the fixed viewing mode and emphasizes immersion and interaction has also entered the field of vision of more young people.
George, who is engaged in event planning, will search for performance news whenever he has time. He spends 80-10,000 yuan on immersive theater performances every year. "Basically, as long as there are new plays in China, I will watch them."
Recently, he "brushed" "Happy Events in Nanjing" three times in a row.
Liu Xiaoxiao has worked in the ancient town of Anren near Chengdu for many years, and is very familiar with the immersive drama "Today and Today" performed in the ancient town.
This year's "May Day", she was pleasantly surprised to find that the drama, which was originally only performed at night, added a drama game during the day.
Why do more and more young people choose to "immerse" in the theater?
The audience becomes part of the story
"Why do you like immersive drama? Because it allows you to temporarily withdraw from the busy real life and experience another world fully." George said.
Immersion is the most obvious feature of immersive drama.
In order to allow the audience to "enter into the play" as soon as possible, the producers also pay more attention to the richness of details in setting up the scene and creating the atmosphere, trying to construct a more realistic performance space in the interweaving of vision, hearing, smell and temperature.
For example, the McKinnon Hotel in the Shanghai version of "Sleepless Nights" was originally an old building. The Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts Group spent nearly 8 months redesigning and remodeling the entire building. There are 90 rooms arranged in it.
The audience walked into one of them at will, and they could turn over the yellowed props notes and envelopes on the table, answer the phone, and search for hidden plots.
In the ward scene, the audience can also smell the pungent smell of disinfectant.
"Now the audience must look at the real, not the fake." said Zhou Xiao, the founder of Wanyu Gravitation and the director of "Happy Events in Nanjing".
Wanyu Gravitation has previously developed the "Electric Shock" series of IP immersive entertainment products, and it is an early startup company focusing on immersive industries in China.
In Zhou Xiao’s view, breaking the "fourth wall" between actors and audiences and allowing every audience to participate in the story is also a major feature of immersive drama. "The audience must really make decisions during the performance. , Become a role in the plot, not just watching."
"In immersive drama, you become part of the story, and the interaction between the actor and you will happen naturally." George said.
"Drama + Game": Supplements the history and the post
On the side of Shuren Street in Anren Ancient Town, four adjacent mansions are the performance space for the immersive drama "Anren Today".
In 2018, while still preparing for this play, Yang Le, the founder of Chengdu Junkan Culture, thought about making it into a mode of "playing during the day and watching the show at night".
"The four old mansions are small and micro museums during the day. They already have some scene-like exhibitions, and the actors are all existing. How to use and activate these resources and introduce games has always been a direction." Chengdu Junkan Culture General Manager, " Feng Mingran, general manager of performance operations for "Today Anren" said.
Three years later, as the "script-killing" game became popular among young people, Feng Mingran knew that the time had come.
Taking into account the differences in plot design and marketing methods between drama and scripted games, Feng Mingran's team chose to jointly fund the "Script Killing" game and the Lejing culture to create the dramatic immersive game "Today and Anren · Lejing Impression".
"It can be considered as a three-party cooperation and co-creation. The original site Chengdu Anren Overseas Chinese Town Cultural Tourism Development Company continues to provide overall platform support. Our company undertakes script creation and space creation tasks, and Lejing Culture is responsible for market operations and attracting customers. The entire project is still in In the investment period, we are the main investor, and the annual cost is about one million yuan, and we will continue to invest for several years." Feng Mingran said.
Compared with purely immersive drama, "Today, Anren and Impression of Paradise" adopts a two-day and one-night "drama + game" model, which is divided into 1,288 yuan according to differences in makeup services, hotel standards, and photography follow-up. , 1588 yuan, 1888 yuan three gears.
As one of the first batch of 16 audience members, Liu Xiaoxiao and friends experienced the 1,888 yuan project.
"Starting from the hotel, I put on a cheongsam and curled up my hair in the dressing room of the mansion, and the game officially started. According to my role, I looked for clues everywhere in the courtyard of the mansion, and'fighting wits' with other friends and actors. Eat After dinner, the time tunnel created by lighting enters the theater part. Many of the questions collected during the day can be answered in the original drama plot. After the performance, the game continues until the next morning. The ending is really enjoyable." Liu Xiaoxiao said.
In Feng Mingran's view, "the game is more like the prehistory and post-story of the drama, adding a lot of details, and the drama provides the background and emotional foreshadowing."
Multi-line story, you can "brush" more
"When we came out of the old mansion that day, our group of young friends who have just met recently couldn't make a scene at all. Everyone was eating skewers in the barbecue restaurant and replaying the plot. Each person’s role is different, and the background of the characters and the triggering side plots are also very big. Differences, sometimes the side story of one character is the foreshadowing of the fate of another character, and it is very interesting to communicate." Liu Xiaoxiao said.
According to Feng Mingran, the play has three endings, "there are hundreds of branches, and the character stories are constantly updated. No one can explore all the branches".
"No one can exhaust all the plots" is also a major feature of immersive drama.
In a sophisticated theater space, multiple story lines are interlaced, and every time the audience takes a step forward, it is possible to enter a new narrative path.
Zhou Xiao has done statistics. In the eight months since the opening of "Happy Events in Nanjing", the viewers with the most views have actually "swiped" more than 40 times.
Multi-line stories have increased the repurchase rate of dramas, and put forward higher demands on the cast and crew.
"A "Happy Event in Nanjing" can receive 100 spectators. Each story line has about a dozen spectators. Generally, one or two actors bring a line to play. Each actor has received training before, and must be immersed. You also need to understand how to guide the audience to interact with each other.” Zhou Xiao said.
In "Today's Anren·Lejing Impression", the ratio of audience to cast and crew has reached 1:1.
In Feng Mingran's view, immersive drama has touched the strong demand of young people for novel experiences.
Do more with one stone, move the whole block
"Street Tour" is a very distinctive link before the opening of "Happy Events in Nanjing". Audiences who put on period costumes in the experience hall of the ticket center must pass through Nanjing Xinanli with the sound of gongs and drums, and walk to meet the sight of tourists and shopkeepers. Go to the theater.
In Zhou Xiao's view, "Happy Events in Nanjing" is like a window, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the old stories of Nanjing in the theater, and allowing them to see the scenery of Xinanli outside the theater.
According to reports, "Happy Events in Nanjing" started to make a profit one month after the first performance. "Wanyu Gravitation is the producer of "Happy Events in Nanjing". The current production cost of the drama is 20 million yuan. The later operating costs mainly include personnel and material supplies. In addition to the different tickets for the two derivative services of RMB 498 and RMB, we have also designed a series of peripheral products, many of which are co-branded with shops in the Xinanli neighborhood. Since the opening of "Happy Events in Nanjing", rents in Xinanli have risen Twice or twice, the format driving effect of immersive performances is still very significant."
Feng Mingran used "one arrow and more sculptures" to describe the radiation effect of immersive business on the consumption of catering, accommodation and scenic spots in ancient towns. "The scenic spots have done statistics. After the show starts in 2018, the overall consumption of scenic spots has increased from 20-50 yuan per capita to 300 yuan. After investing in the "two days and one night" drama game, it went from 300 yuan to 2,000-3,000 yuan. If you can leverage and revitalize the entire ancient town through dramatic immersive games, it will be worthwhile in the long run."
Since the opening of "Happy Events in Nanjing", Zhou Xiao has received invitations from many cities one after another. He is also considering opening up new possibilities between urban characteristics and immersive formats. "After all, immersive is not a type, but a type. Thinking, what it changes is the relationship between users and products".
The "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Cultural Industry Development" issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in June this year clearly stated: "Encourage the integration of immersive experience with urban complexes, public spaces, tourist attractions, etc.".
Under favorable policies, what new possibilities are there for immersive dramas remains to be seen.
(George and Liu Xiaoxiao in the text are pseudonyms)
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Li Xuan