Novelty Career｜"You're Here": When an Acting Student Becomes a Script Killing Host
The Paper reporter He Peiyun Xue Shasha
There was a table and two rows of chairs, the lights gradually dimmed, the figure on the opposite side was hidden in the dark, and the heartbeat of "dong dong dong" gradually rose.
The figure said, "You are here." "This scene makes me feel particularly oppressive." The Sichuan boy Shuaishuai recalled the scene where he first experienced script killing.
Shuai Shuai, 24, is a junior in the Performance Department of the Shanghai Theater Academy.
At the end of 2019, he came into contact with script killing for the first time, and was moved by this form of coexistence of immersion and interaction, and decided to become a script killing host.
For the next two years or so, he spent his weekends working part-time in a scripted killing shop, playing the role of the housekeeper of the old house, the bartender in the bar, and sometimes the princess of a certain kingdom...
In the past few years, the script killing industry has flourished and has become an entertainment choice for more and more young people.
According to media reports, as of the end of 2020, the number of immersive script-related physical stores nationwide has exceeded 30,000, and by 2021, there will be more than 45,000 domestic stores operating script killings.
The "China Immersive Script Entertainment Industry Research Report (2021-2022)" released by the China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association in July 2022 shows that from 2018 to 2021, the overall growth rate of escape room and script killing business venues exceeded 400%. The immersive scripted entertainment industry is rapidly expanding in size.
Many players have said that script killing the host is the key to the offline script killing game experience.
The host is called DM. This abbreviation comes from the classic board game "Dungeon and Dragon". The full name is Dungeon Master, which literally translates to the dungeon master.
According to the survey data of the "2021 Entity Script Killing Consumption Insight Report", 50% of offline script killing merchants are equipped with 5 to 10 DMs.
DMs work both part-time and full-time.
The reporter inquired on a recruitment platform and found that the recruitment salary of a full-time script killing host in Shanghai is generally between 8,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan. The job requirements include being good at interpretation and interaction, standard Mandarin, and good at mobilizing atmosphere.
"In every good script, the characters are three-dimensional and thoughtful, not just an empty shell." For Shuai Shuai, being a DM is not just a part-time job.
As a performance student, Script Kill provides him with more opportunities to apply what he has learned in school to practice, and also allows him to think about the creation of the stage again and again, treat Script Kill as a drama, and complete a co-direction with the players. Cooperation.
The following is Shuai Shuai's own statement:
"Players are both spectators and actors"
My major in college is acting, and I want to experience the feeling of stage and drama.
At the end of 2019, I was exposed to script killing for the first time.
The first play experience was not very good, but I analyzed it and felt that this was reasonable, and it was entirely a DM's problem.
At that time, the DM had a stern face, took the book for a while and went out to smoke a cigarette, then came back and continued.
So I found another store and experienced it again. The second DM was very good, and you could feel that he was substituting the character and creating the scene.
At that time, he turned off the light and played a heartbeat sound effect. He stood in the dim light wearing a mask and said, "You're here", which made me feel particularly oppressive.
In the drama, what the actors come into contact with on the stage is one-sided, from the perspective of the actor, and ignores another most important aspect of the stage, which is the audience. Without the audience, the stage is not constituted.
I think script killing is very interactive and very popular, so I began to wonder if it could be developed in this area.
Whether to bring a book, I will look first.
I have a habit of not bringing bad books.
After reading it, I think this book suits my taste, and the process is no problem. I will look at the plot of the characters carefully to see if the characters can stand up.
Then I will go to see if the murder in the script is reasonable and the logic is correct.
The last is to summarize, how to open the book, to design and test the stage.
Generally, script killing is in a general space, and (atmosphere) needs to work on lighting and clothing, such as dimming the light and changing the color, unless the theme store has a secret room or a specially designed room.
Later, I also came into contact with something called "Ring Curtain". There are walls like big screens on all sides of the room, which can switch scenes.
In the script killing, the player is both the audience and the actor, which made me think for a long time.
Script killing is an immersive stage art and an interactive art.
We can't force players how to perform, we can only guide them through their own performances. If you perform well, they will naturally be involved.
My habit is that the drama starts as soon as the player steps into this room.
Sometimes, players will suddenly ask the DM a question outside the script, or make some excessive actions. I will stop it based on the characteristics of the characters, instead of jumping out of the script and saying that it is not good.
I will rehearse a script as a drama and deal with it in a staged mode.
I got to the store at least an hour early to see the lighting first, then the costumes and props.
Where the lights of different colors are placed, and when the music is played, I will dig it out again, and then I will go to the book.
My design will be more than others, I will think, players are actors, and where should I place them as a director.
In a shop where I work part-time for a long time, the owner and staff of this shop are either directing or acting. Maybe everyone has basically reached a consensus, and we think this should be done in this way.
In addition to my superiors and subordinates, my relationship with the boss is also a good friend, a brother, and a planning partner, so the experience for me is very rich.
We were able to talk a lot, he wrote the script himself, and I gave him advice and helped him rehearse.
Later, this store couldn't do it due to the epidemic. I have also been to other stores, and I can clearly feel that some stores have made DMs too instrumental. I don't like that feeling very much.
DMs are not robots that read lines
To be a good DM, you must first use your brain and have the ability to identify scripts.
If you can't even tell a good script from a bad script, then you're probably just a robot that does whatever others tell you to do.
I met a lot of DMs in stores, I asked if you have designed this character?
Some DMs say that I will recite the lines.
Do you know what the lines mean?
What emotion should I use to read the lines?
So I hate that kind of shop.
I once asked a store, and they said you look good, you just need to act.
The DM must also have the ability to organize and lead, and to be able to control the situation, at least seven or eight people can be led.
The most important thing is tension, which can be retracted and released, able to adapt to various roles, and perform this role in different environments and places.
DMs will play all kinds of people, old and young, men and women.
One day I took an early class, and I was thinking about who would come to play script killing at ten in the morning, but I saw that it was a group of students.
The script they chose was a suspense book, and they had to go into the secret room to search for clues.
But to my surprise, I felt they were not noisy.
I looked in the secret room through surveillance and found that they had a team leader with them, and they felt like they were searching for clues and going through the process in a very orderly manner.
I played a housekeeper in the script, and he was able to pick up on the words I interacted with with the squad leader.
It means that he has read the script and understood it.
I was quite surprised.
After the game, the team leader may still have nothing to do. When he left, he gave me a bow and said, Mr. Butler, we will see you next time.
When I heard it, I was heartbroken.
After the script was over, I had already taken off the butler's suit, and he knew I was the butler and called me Mr. Butler.
I would think he has a lot of respect for the stage.
different life experience
I'm in my third year now, and it's been more than two years since I worked part-time as a script to kill a DM.
I bring a book and the salary is between 200 and 300 yuan, and most of them work part-time on weekends.
When I don't have a notebook, I'm either reciting it, playing, or collecting materials.
Currently, I have to spend at least three or four days a week on things related to script killing.
Compared with traditional performance teaching and training, being a DM is more free, and there are many things that can be said and done.
In the theater, I would be more restrained. You have to listen to the director, and you don't even have the chance to refute it.
The freedom of script killing is positive feedback for me, which can train my directing and choreography skills.
This also feeds back into my studies.
I adapted a clip of killing a script and presented it on the stage as a mid-term assignment. At that time, the teacher's comments were very innovative and expressive.
For the script killing industry, I wrote a paper discussing the relationship between Maslow's demand theory and script killing.
Why do young people like to play script killing?
When your material is satisfied, the spirit needs to pursue higher stimulation and satisfaction.
Young people are working every day. When they want to find a life and experience that is different from their present, they may choose to kill the script.
Playing a script kill costs one or two hundred yuan, which is not particularly expensive for the working class, and players can get a unique experience.
When you meet a good store, a good DM, and a good book, you can even remember it for a lifetime.
I myself have written scripts to kill scripts, and they are already on sale, but they are not very popular scripts.
It is about a story from the Edo period in Japan.
At first, I thought that as long as the work was good, I was not afraid that no one would buy it.
Later, I found that I still have to analyze the market demand, and analyze where this book makes money and attracts people.
Ben needs to set up a few roles, how many males and females to match?
How many DMs need to be configured for one book?
What kind of venue can be configured to make money?
Creators have to deal with the needs of the market and convey some ideas, which may be a problem that creators have to face.
The times are too fast and the rhythm is too fast. Everyone doesn't want to spend four or five hours watching something that is just spiritual food. People want more pleasure. It is best to bring five hours of experience in one hour.
I think that there may be more and more script killing practitioners, but if there are more and more practitioners, it is not necessarily a good thing.
Some unprofessional DMs will join in, which will affect our living environment to some extent, and may also lead to a vicious circle, making people feel that the script is not fun, and a small number of customers will be lost.
I think if you want to become a DM, you can first learn to observe and analyze.
The characters of every good script are three-dimensional and thoughtful, not just an empty shell.
If you just want to make money to engage in script killing, you might as well go to a store to be a waiter, the nature is similar.
I have always liked this profession very much, and there are many friends who have known each other because of the script killing, and have always kept in touch.
A friend who is a DM told me that sometimes I feel that the world is quite boring and not as exciting as the script.