On March 3, the new "Echo" on iQiyi Misty Theater tells the suspenseful story of a criminal investigation case and a family marriage that overlaps in two lines: a young woman is murdered, multiple criminal suspects emerge one after another, and the female policeman in charge of the case, Ran Dongdong, accidentally discovers her husband's secret during the investigation, and the "case line" and "emotional line" are intertwined to form an "echo".

"Echo" reflects the "standard" of fog production

For the market, the most important "stepping stone" of this work is naturally director Feng Xiaogang's first time directing a suspense short drama, and the director of photography Zhao Xiaoding and art director Wang Jing in the main creative team have won a number of awards; In terms of actors, the "Rong Guang CP" loved by the audience in "The World" - Song Jia and Wang Yang teamed up again, and Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan, Zhang Jiayi, Huang Xuan, etc. joined to jointly interpret this story of reality and psychological entanglement. But if you look at it in a longer timeline, you will find that elements such as dramas, film creation integration + gathering of big coffee creators + social reality + human nature torture have already quietly become the standard for "productions" of the Misty Theater.

After three years of cultivation of 12 works, "Fog" as a genre drama theater has subtly upgraded the once niche theme of crime suspense, not only continues to output high-level works such as "Hidden Corner", "The Silent Truth", "Who is the Murderer" and "Moses on the Plain", but more importantly, it can be seen that first-class creators are willing to innovate and lead industry content here, and the audience can expect enough works of variety and possibility here.

"Mist" works have the potential to dig deeper

The first work "Daughter Returning" returned by the Misty Theater this year is a family + suspense combination with a very sense of small-town life, not only the impression of "Liao Suifang" in the play is comparable to the "Zhang Dongsheng" who climbs the mountain, and the family relationship of "bulk family" is more intriguing. At the same time, the intricate interpersonal relationships in the small town of Lingnan in the 80s of the last century, as well as the secret connection with crime, these careless "idle notes" are also chilling.

"Moses on the Plain", which was followed by "Moses on the Plain", is more like a super long movie, unhurriedly showing the process of a pair of young people who were childhood sweethearts separated by the changes of their father's generation, but realized that they were both participants in the old case when they reunited. While describing the investigation process of the case, this work also follows the perspective of the male protagonist to explore the growth of the teenager and the imprint of the life of the times, giving people a sense of nostalgia of the times.

These works not only use "people constantly leaving" and "constantly reversing the truth" to bring strong stimulation and "refreshment" to the audience, but more importantly, they explore emotional, human and social issues through "suspense" and storytelling, which makes the drama have the potential to dig deeper and wider.

Clearing the "fog" is innovation

iQiyi's Mist Theater has gone through three years now, from its stunning debut in the first season to its calm return, it has cultivated itself into a big IP full of vitality. Behind this is the theater's continuous attempts at innovation.

The film and television production industry is essentially a content innovation industry, but innovation is not achieved overnight, and it is inevitable to go through several twists and turns in the process of success to find the right direction. In the past three years, iQiyi's Mist Theater has always been innovation, putting more energy into continuous attempts to take "suspense" as the main line, from style, to theme, to narrative, to thought.

From the blockbuster works of the first year of the Misty Theater to the third year of "Echo" and many other works to create new ideas of suspense, under the large genre of "suspense", no drama has a narrative mode and style that completely repeats the former, but these dramas as a whole have a distinct "fog" style imprint. From the product point of view, as a product of iQIYI, under this IP, all works have achieved the "harmony and difference" of style and style. And this is precisely the biggest capital for the Misty Theater to continue to go.

Peeling through the "fog", through the "theater", people see that "suspense" is only the appearance, and innovation is the essence.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Yang Wenjie Coordinator/Man Yi