Costume drama: you can't just see the ancient costume without the ancient rhyme
【Review of film and television】
Costume drama is a type of TV drama that is deeply loved by the people.
In the past two years, costume dramas have occupied half of the TV dramas with the highest ratings.
Recently, a large number of costume dramas have been launched.
However, in these works, only see ancient costumes, but not the shoddy works of the ancients frequently appear.
Many works are based on the background of the era, the stories are suspended above the real historical era, and the characters' behaviors do not conform to normal psychological logic, which always gives people a false sense.
The fakes in the form of audio-visual expressions are the most obvious, mainly including fake actors' acting skills, fake art and fake picture quality.
The makeup and hair of many works blindly cater to modern aesthetics, and excessive use of beauty filters to smooth skin.
For example, the heroine of a certain drama appeared with a tinkling headgear and "semi-permanent" Internet celebrity makeup.
Even when the army was in chaos and pretending to be a refugee, his face was spotless, as if he was taking an "artistic photo of ancient costumes".
In another costume drama, the character has a long brown head, and the audience exclaimed, "Did the ancients already dye their hair?"
The art scenes and costumes are also fake enough to be seen at a glance.
Some dramas just use a few stones and a little sand to euphemistically call it a "dry landscape" style garden landscape.
The horseback riding scenes are all close-up scenes, and some don't even bother to use fake horses, and the actors directly take the reins to draw air.
It is common to use means such as stand-ins and cut-out sets. Without historical research, it is common to mix and match utensils from various dynasties.
What's more, some works directly blur the background in order to cover up the rough scenery.
Being in it, the audience can't help but sigh "I don't know what year it is today and where is this place".
It is undeniable that in the creation of costume dramas, there are also many large-scale productions that pursue exquisite visuals.
However, such works also have problems such as flaws in story logic and deviation in value orientation, which make the audience feel alienated and alienated.
Some of the works have exaggerated plots, upgrade to fight monsters today, and rise to immortality tomorrow.
Some works are limited to palace fights and tricks, and the harem frequently "leads box lunches", and the conspiracy of the previous dynasty is still chaotic, causing the audience to have aesthetic fatigue.
In some works, the characters are bold and unrestrained, and opening their mouths is a popular Internet term, which is completely absent from the graceful manners of the ancients.
There are also works that pursue a sense of coolness too much, so that the protagonist hangs all the way, and comprehensively crushes other characters in intelligence and ability, which is difficult for people to empathize with.
All of these are caused by the lack of cultural core.
No matter how good the acting skills are and how exquisite the costumes are, there is still a good-looking skin, giving people a sense of exquisite mediocrity, a kind of fake good at disguise.
How to avoid the false sense and make the creation return to the original?
With the resolution of the star's sky-high remuneration problem, the budget for film and television drama costumes and other aspects is becoming more and more sufficient.
However, the investment is too much, and the corresponding main creative team needs to be put into practice.
Excellent costume drama directors, screenwriters, prop designers, makeup artists, and artists must not only know the technology of film and television drama production, but also understand art and history.
However, at present, the film and television industry has not yet formed a perfect talent training mechanism for costume dramas. Many practitioners have only skills and lack of cultural and aesthetic literacy, which leads to problems such as disordered costume dramas, shabby clothes, and poor texture, which is not surprising. .
Therefore, it is a top priority to call on relevant government departments and education and training institutions to strengthen the training of costume drama film and television talents in different majors.
If the sophisticated audio-visual language is the good-looking skin of a costume drama, then the logic of the plot is the bone and blood of the costume drama, the creative transformation and innovative development of the story to the excellent traditional Chinese culture, as well as the observation of the development of the current era and social reality, then It is the soul of costume drama.
Chinese history and culture are the source of the creation of costume dramas.
Only by constantly drawing nourishment from the long history and culture and looking for inspiration, can creation continuously achieve innovation in content and form.
Even if it is a work that jokes about a legend or even an alternate era background, it is not limited by a specific historical era and can provide more imagination space for the creation. The story cannot be completely separated from Chinese history and culture, and it is made up in order to increase entertainment and attract attention.
Although the characters in costume dramas wear ancient costumes and the story takes place in ancient times, they can also use the past to learn from the present to reflect realistic care and convey realistic temperature.
The creation should be close to the life of the common people, and use ancient stories to discuss the issues that the common people care about, such as youth struggle, emotional relationship, family education, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and so on, so that the works can resonate with the audience’s current life at the same frequency.
The times calls for more high-quality costume dramas with profound historical and cultural heritage and positive energy.
We believe that with the continuous improvement of the technical level of practitioners and the increasing development of cultural horizons, the creation of costume dramas will jump out of the rut of palace fights, romance, and intrigue, with more diverse forms, more contemporary texture, and more realistic care. The connotation of the show appeared in front of the audience. While meeting the growing cultural needs of the audience, it conveyed the Chinese voice, told Chinese stories well, and demonstrated the Chinese spirit.
(Author: Liu Xiaoyan, associate professor and master tutor of School of Language and Communication, Beijing Jiaotong University; Zhang Zihe, graduate student of School of Language and Communication, Beijing Jiaotong University)