The industrialization of film and television has spawned a "virtual urban universe" named like water

The industrialization of film and television has spawned a "virtual urban universe"

The place where the story takes place in the series is most often named after "river", "state" and "sea", and nearly 70% of the themes are suspenseful cases

　　In recent years, "virtual city" has become the most common concept in the film and television industry.

Whether it is "Tanling", "Jingang", "Lvteng" or "Jiangzhou", countless turbulent stories are happening every day in these "cities".

However, what real regions are behind the "virtual city"?

What are the most common place names of virtual cities?

A reporter from the Beijing News looked for the underlying rules from the explanations of many directors and producers.

　　1 Most of the filming locations are named after the south, and they like to be associated with "water"

　　Some experts once believed that the origin and meaning of Chinese place names are very complicated, which can be roughly divided into natural environmental factors and social and historical factors.

The "virtual cities" in the TV series, such as Jinghai, Jiangzhou, Lvteng, Jingang, Beijiang, etc., seem to be named randomly, but the way behind them seems to be closely related to the laws of Chinese place names.

　　According to the statistics of reporters from the Beijing News, "jiang", "zhou" and "sea" are the most commonly used keywords for naming virtual cities.

Among them, "Jiangzhou", which has filmed 11 TV series and ranked first in the number of times used, "Beijiang" where "Hunting Illustrated Book" and "Fox Hunting" took place, "Jiangtan" where "The Silent Truth" is located, " The "Han River" where "The Great Game" is located is named after "Jiang".

According to the data of the my country National Geographical Name Information Database, there are 825 administrative regions with the word "Jiang" at the provincial, city, county, and township levels in China, most of which are located in the south.

Most of the above works were shot in the south. For example, "Wang Gui and Anna" was filmed in Henan and Hubei; The Silent Truth" in Chongqing, etc.

　　Coincidentally, "state" has been a common unit of geographical division since ancient China, and it has been used to this day.

According to the data of the China National Geographical Name Information Database, there are 314 administrative regions with the word "state" at the provincial, city, county, and township levels in China, covering most of the provinces.

Therefore, "Jingzhou" where "In the Name of the People" and "Breakthrough", Nanzhou where "Unexpected Arrival" and "Under the Sun" are located, Ningzhou where "The Hidden Corner" is located, Rongzhou where "Bottom Line" is located, etc. They have been mistaken by the audience for real places.

　　How exactly is the "virtual city" named?

Many creators have not interpreted this, and most of them may just be their whims.

Take "Jiangzhou", the most representative virtual city, as an example.

In 2008, "Jiangzhou" appeared for the first time in the TV series "Wang Gui and Anna".

This play is directed by Teng Huatao and Lin Yan, and written by Liuliu, Teng Huatao and Cao Dun. It was filmed in parts of Hubei and Henan.

Geographically, the Yangtze River flows through Hubei Province and the Yellow River flows through Henan Province.

　　Teng Huatao once said in an interview with the media that he thought about whether he could create a virtual city and put all these filming locations in it, so he came up with the name "Jiangzhou" on a whim.

"Then we dug out the map of China, searched a lot, and found that the word Jiangzhou really didn't appear on the map." Over the years since then, most of the TV dramas directed by Teng Huatao, whether they were filmed in Beijing or Shanghai, were also set in the TV series. It was named "Jiangzhou".

The stories created by Liuliu, such as "Women Are Not Strong, Heaven Can't Forbid", "Youth School", etc., also took place in "Jiangzhou".

　　Although the video footprint of "Jiangzhou" has spread all over the country, many viewers still associate it with the same "real city" and connect it with many classic realistic works in the past ten years.

Teng Huatao once said to the media that "Jiangzhou" actually represents most of the real Chinese cities. It can be very commercial, it can also be a medium-sized city, or it may be a third-tier city seeking development like in "Floating".

It doesn't matter which city Jiangzhou is in. Its important intention is to create a virtual city that can represent the Chinese city that the creators want to write about. The important thing is that there are a group of real people living here.

　　2 "Jinghai" integrates the characteristics of multiple cities in reality

　　In terms of themes, according to the statistics of the Beijing News reporter, nearly 70% of the TV dramas whose story backgrounds are "virtual" are suspense-related themes. The "Green Vine" of many criminal forces) and the city "Jingang" popularized by "White Night Chasing Murder" are the most well-known.

　　"Green Vine" first appeared in the web drama "Psychological Crime" directed by Wubai in 2015.

Since then, Wubai's Wuyuan Culture and Arclight Alliance's film and television projects will continue to use "Lvteng City" and continue to add new characters and stories, such as "Sweeping Black Storm".

Wubai also affectionately called the fans of "Sweeping Black Storm" "Lvteng Citizens".

As far as the naming of cities is concerned, "Lvteng" does not seem to have the characteristics of naming administrative regions in China, so many viewers are more willing to imagine this from the perspective of artistic creation.

One of the interpretations is that "vine" is a kind of extremely resilient vine plant, often intertwined, spreading and clinging to the wall, while "green vine" refers to the intricate relationship between characters in these works involved, as well as part of the plot. Power clinging to cover is waiting to be uprooted.

　　In fact, Wubai did not explain in detail the reason for the naming of "Green Vine".

However, actor Qiu Xinzhi revealed in an interview with the Beijing News that Li Yixun, the captain of the Luteng star basketball team, is the producer of Wuyuan Culture and is a colleague of the director Wubai.

In the early stage of script creation of five yuan culture, a fictional city was just needed, so he proposed to use the name "Lvteng", which can be regarded as an advertisement for the basketball team.

The name of the Green Rattan Star Basketball Team is derived from the teaching building covered with green vines beside the basketball court of the Chinese Opera. Many members of the team are actors, directors, and producers who graduated from the Chinese Opera.

　　Regarding the "Jingang" universe created by "White Night Chasing the Murder", "Rebirth" and "Outside the Court", many viewers thought that its naming inspiration came from Tianjin.

In fact, "White Night Chasing the Murder" was filmed in Beijing, and it is suspected that a map of Tianjin was used in the plot.

However, some scenes of "White Night Chasing the Murder" were also filmed in Guangdong, Jilin and other places; and then "Rebirth" and "Outside the Court" were "fading away" from Tianjin, and were filmed in Chongqing and Xiamen respectively.

　　A few days ago, "Jinghai", where the TV series "Hurricane" is located, also became popular in Jiangmen, Guangdong.

This is the place where many overseas Chinese returned to China to invest and live in the early days, so it is also known as "China's No. 1 Hometown of Overseas Chinese".

Xu Jizhou, the director of the play, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News that in the original story, Jinghai is more like a second- and third-tier northern city, but "Jinghai" actually represents the epitome of urban development in mainland China over the past two decades, including The content is very rich.

During the creation process, he and another screenwriter Zhu Junyi put in as much as possible the social ecology, power structure, and grassroots political ecology they knew.

"In the process of filming, in order to show the characteristics of the three eras and visually distinguish it from previous works, we went all the way to Guangdong. The customs and folk customs of Guangdong are interspersed in the works, adding some highlights to the play. Now The rice rolls, dumplings, and pig’s feet noodles that came out of the circle are all Guangdong’s regional characteristics, and the audience also grasped these points.”

　　3 The linkage of place names and personal names facilitates the serialization of works and creates exclusive labels

　　In the past, TV dramas such as "Beijingers in New York", "I Love My Family", "Longing", "Golden Wedding" and "Serious Case Six" all had clear urban attributes, but in recent years "virtual cities" have gradually become mainstream, especially in suspense, In realistic works with social topics such as crimes and education.

　　In this regard, some drama critics believe that on the one hand, the virtualization of the story background can minimize the controversy and discussion brought about by the plot on cities and regions.

For example, many dramas involved in the case are adapted from real cases and take place in different places.

The crew often have to take into account the local environment, style and temperament when framing the scene.

If the city and the plot are "bundled", it may blur the sense of boundary between reality and drama, causing unnecessary associations for the audience.

　　On the other hand, with the improvement of the current TV drama production level, live-action shooting has become the norm, and it is becoming more and more common to shoot scenes in different cities like "Wang Gui and Anna".

Today, the vast majority of modern-themed TV shows have two or three different locations.

This also leads to the fact that if the story is limited to a specific city, it is likely to cause confusion in the scene.

　　In addition, facilitating the industrialization and serialization of film and television works has also become one of the missions of the "virtual city".

For example, the three works "White Night Chasing the Murder", "Rebirth" and "Outside the Court" created by the screenwriter Fingerprint all set the story in Tianjin and Hong Kong, and the plot and character relationship are constantly intertwined.

For example, the scene of the harbor detachment in "Rebirth" appeared in "Outside the Court"; Han Bin, the mysterious lawyer in "White Night Chase" and "Rebirth", is a partner of Dezhi Law Firm in "Outside the Court".

In "Outside the Court", Han Bin contacted a friend of his, who was Qin Chi (played by Zhang Yi) in "Rebirth"... Wang Ping, the chief producer of "Outside the Court", said that all these connections are It is to create a suspenseful "Jingang Universe", "I hope that the characters in these stories have a continuable dramatic life."

　　It is foreseeable that in the future, more and more cities will be "virtualized" by another identity in film and television dramas, a new world view will be constructed and a series of works will be created.

But from the perspective of film and television industrialization, whether it is Chongqing or "Lvteng", the audience is more concerned about whether there can be turbulent and fascinating stories in this parallel universe.

As the famous screenwriter Zhou Meisen ("In the Name of the People", "The Great Game" and "Breakout") said in an interview with the media, writers always have their own literary territory, just like Mo Yan wrote Gaomi and Su Tong wrote Street, "I don't Will engage in any industrialized production, this is something cultural entrepreneurs consider, not my business. Jingzhou is my fictional literary territory, and I put stories into this territory."