The recently concluded young director created the reality show "Let's Shoot", which not only restored the film industry process in a highly simulated way, showing the whole process of creation and broadcasting in the film industry; Let the audience intuitively feel the gratifying growth and development potential of the six young directors; it has also produced a series of interesting and heated discussions, including "Brake", "Love That Doesn't Talk", "Reunion", "Crooked Play" and "Feng Hai's Dream". Batch of short films.
Due to the natural defects brought about by the conflict between short film competition and feature film evaluation in variety shows in the film and television industry, the show failed to become a hit with word-of-mouth. The unique window of observation, and its practice of guiding the industry's ethos based on industry rules, also provides a valuable observation perspective for analyzing the development of the current industry variety reality show.
Industry reality shows are forming a promising new type and trend of variety shows
Variety reality shows like "Let's Start Shooting" that serve the industry have recently become a new type of variety show. For example, "Director Please Advise" under the banner of "Restore the Market To show the drama itself, I also want to show the process of drama production and rehearsal" "Drama New Life" with the goal of "helping more young people who have just entered the industry to improve their living conditions", as well as "exploring excellent domestic comedy in China". Newcomers and comedy screenwriters, let more people understand the diverse charm of comedy" "Annual Comedy Competition", etc., all take "industry" and "industry people" as the center of reality show variety show expression.
We might as well call this type of variety reality show an industry variety reality show.
Different from traditional literary and art variety shows that focus on the performance and competition of "artistic programs" on a single level, under the form of "competition" and other programs, this type of program mainly focuses on the "creative" and ""creation" and ""competition" of industry practitioners in the process of creating and producing works. The production conditions, mechanism and process of "acting" are more comprehensively displayed, focusing on the performance of the overall ecology and dilemma of the industry, and at the same time expressing the ideals and beliefs held by industry practitioners and the confusion and setbacks they face. The introduction of the film has aroused people's attention to industries including drama, film and television, and guided people to discuss and think about the problems faced by the industry.
In addition to life reality shows, industry reality shows are increasingly becoming a promising new type and trend of variety reality shows.
However, the shift from single-level "performing arts" and "competition" to the industry's process and ecology can only be a condition for defining whether a variety show belongs to an industry reality show, but it cannot be used as a measure of the quality of variety shows.
Although some programs are under the banner of industry services, they are well versed in the deliberate creation of topics by "traffic passwords" and excessive consumption of industry problems.
For example, another film and television director competition reality show has problems such as violating the laws of industry development and excessive topic consumption.
Much criticized by the audience, the "surprise filming" of letting the director complete a short film in two or three days violates the creative requirements of "profound thought, exquisite art, and excellent production" for film and television works; The works are evaluated with "spiciness", which constantly stimulates the conflict of positions and concepts with the audience and investors, and even further rises from the differences of views to personal attacks, and even more deliberately edits to create the effect of constant conflict, making the show a "" "challenging" and triggering "quarrels" among stakeholders in different industries.
From its score of 4.1 on Douban and its negative evaluation, it can be seen that the program not only failed to achieve people's attention to the film and television industry, but also exposed the extreme positions and viewpoints of practitioners in the program in the deliberately created "variety sense". , one-sidedly arouses the audience's dissatisfaction with the filmmakers, which is not conducive to building a good industry ecology.
In contrast, "Let's Shoot" highly simulates the overall industrial process of the film industry, and restores the situation of the film from script creation, team formation, investment pull, release and broadcast, and market judgment. At the same time, it uses the creation and broadcast of short films. As the center, while presenting the differences in the evaluations of "Green Lantern Festival" investors, professional film critics and film audiences, in a way that is more in line with the laws of industry development and the healthy construction of the industry's ecology, the marketability and artistry of short films are discussed in depth. , the conflict and dilemma between self-expression and realistic pressure.
The program cancels the form of competitive elimination, and aims to obtain the "dream seat" for the filming of theatrical feature films. In the process of completing the production of three short films, it pays attention to the basic rules of short film creation, and gives young directors the most in line with market rules. The budget for the filming, and more adequate support in terms of creation time and conditions. For example, the first short film of Peng Youlun, who was transformed from an advertising director to a film director, could not be completed as scheduled due to experience reasons. The program team gave Peng Youlun the opportunity to continue the production of the short film. opportunity.
When young director Hao Jie chose to withdraw from the competition, Chen Kaige highly affirmed Hao Jie's pioneeringness and scarcity of country-themed art films, as well as the full support of the team and funds, showing the program's contribution to the development of the industry. Value orientation of kindness and inclusiveness.
Compared with the topic controversy caused by "Director Please Advise", the online comments caused by "Let's Shoot" are more focused on the interpretation of the director's short film, as well as the discussion on the growth and development of young directors. The attention of film works also plays a positive role in building a benign industry atmosphere.
Don't sacrifice "professionalism" for "entertainment", only simulate the industry ecology and ignore the guidance of the industry ethos
Although "Let's Shoot" is not perfect, its significance is to establish a certain reference direction for the emerging industry reality show:
On the one hand, industry variety reality shows must design the content and competition system of variety shows on the basis of fully respecting the laws of industry development, and cannot sacrifice "professionalism" for "entertainment".
Professionalism is the lifeline of the industry reality show. It conforms to the industrial law of industry development, respects the production law of literary and artistic creation, and gives enough respect to industry practitioners, which is the embodiment of the industry reality show professionalism.
The respect given by "Let's Shoot" to the six young directors with different styles, as well as the goodwill expressed to the actors, let the audience feel the warmth of the show to the practitioners in the industry, and in the evaluation of works, including Sairen, Tao Taolin There is no doubt about the professionalism and sincerity of professional film critics such as Lin. In the program, they also evaluate mainly based on the work itself, and have relatively stable evaluation standards.
The "variety sense" of the show comes from the unique "humour" and "humour" formed by the collision between the four "Green Lantern" investors director Chen Kaige, actor Shu Qi, writer Liu Zhenyun and producer Chen Sicheng, as well as between them and the six young directors. What to watch", and people's great expectations for the three rounds of short films, rather than relying on "challenging" topics to consume.
On the other hand, industry reality shows must balance the simulation of industry ecology and the guidance of industry ethos.
Industry reality shows use the simulation of the real ecology of the industry to show the cruelty of the living environment of the industry, including film and television, drama, etc., such as showing the fate of actors being chosen, the narrowness of the acting space for older female actors, and the demand of directors in the market. Conflicts with personal expressions, etc.
However, art comes from life and is higher than life. The simulation of the industry ecology should not overly highlight the bad atmosphere in the industry and its cruel reality, let alone make it the center of audience consumption.
For an industry reality show, its authenticity and conflict come from the real industry predicament. Therefore, the multiple relationships between the industry's internal market demand and personal expression, ideals and beliefs, and realistic setbacks and the performance of its predicament should be the core of the show's conflict. , and can show the guidance of the program to the industry atmosphere and the value construction of the industry's benign ecology.
In "Let's Shoot", the question of how young directors balance between self-expression, market reality and professional evaluation has always been the center of the program's expression, such as how Hao Jie faces his own "breakthrough", and how does Yi Xiaoxing change people's attitudes Impressions, and the "death nibbling" between the desert and Hu Guohan to the end, etc.
Another example is the introduction of different types of comedies in "Annual Comedy Conference", the respect for comedy screenwriters, and the full humanistic care given to comedians' realistic survival plight, or the expression of "Drama New Life" on the life beliefs of comedians etc., so that people not only pay attention to a new type of literature and art, but also pay attention to the development of an unfamiliar industry.
With the rise and development of industry variety show as a new type of variety show, we expect that future shows will be able to truly base and serve the industry, reduce traffic consumption and topic hype, and discuss the problems faced by the industry in a serious and professional manner. Showing the dilemmas and beliefs faced by industry practitioners can guide the development of the industry and advocate a benign industry development ecology.
(Author: Zheng Huanzhao is an associate professor at the School of Literature, Jinan University)