Editor/Mao Shiyang
"Isn’t it a bit of a middle school to use an ancient costume drama to say that people are born equal?" Hearing the reporter’s question, the screenwriter Wang Tie’s mind was agitated.
"It’s really idealistic, but I don’t even dare to dream, and there’s no way forward," he replied.
Like the theme expressed by "Qing Yu Nian", the adaptation process of this drama also revealed the idealism of the main creative team. For the first time, the production model of five years and three seasons was proposed, and for the first time, the cultural collision of modern people in the ancient environment was visualized. The production of "Qing Yu Nian" was full of experimental meaning.
Fortunately, as of now, the legendary costume drama "Qingyu Nian" jointly produced and produced by Tencent Pictures and Xinli TV has obtained a score of 8.0 from 83,000 Douban users, which is a double affirmation from drama fans and original fans.
In the past, there were always many glitches in the adaptation of male-frequency novels, such as the characters in the background board, the adaptation is divorced from the original novel, and there is no feeling of the original novel, but these problems seem to be basically solved in "Qingyu Nian".
Wang Qinian, Teng Zijing, Lin Gong, Cheng Jushu… These characters who were similar to NPCs in the original novel came to life in the series "Celebration of More Than Years", becoming more three-dimensional, promoting Fan Xian’s transformation from being alone to challenging established rules, adding a sense of life to the original novel.
From words and deeds to thoughts, "Qing Yu Nian" was filmed from the perspective of Fan Xian’s modern people, giving birth to a large number of jokes, which inadvertently touched the heartstrings of the audience. "The sense of humor comes from the character’s character and experience. If you try to be funny, the audience will not laugh." Director Sun HaoOne Entertainment ObservationSay.
Retaining the cool points and suspense in the novel, Fan Xian and Emperor Qing are like two sides of the same coin, pushing the plot to switch back and forth between easy banter and dignified and cold. Under the appearance of the comedy of "Qingyu Nian" is buried the stubbornness of knowing that reality still maintains idealism, which can be called "half a cool drama".
▲ "Celebration of the Year" poster
Gamified storytelling, how to get down to earth
Men’s frequency novels often have millions of words, depicting many levels around the growth of teenagers, similar to the upgrade of the game to fight monsters, the most attractive thing is the blood and burning, but the daily update of the writing method on the Internet has also caused many vague supporting roles, only appearing in a certain level of the male protagonist, setting off the wisdom and bravery of the protagonist, and then no intersection.
The characters are loose and have no characteristics, the male protagonist’s customs clearance is too smooth, and there is no spiritual connotation. These are all taboos for film and television presentation.
In order to solve this problem, previous male-frequency IP adaptations of dramas would habitually join emotional dramas to make up CP, or join difficulties according to the routines of previous dramas, and were eventually attacked by the original fans. What’s more, the order of appearances of the original characters was completely disrupted, and the content of the novel was mixed into dozens of episodes. The result can be imagined.
In such a context, how "Qingyu Nian" will be adapted has attracted the attention of the audience and the industry.
In 2017, Tencent Pictures proposed a production model of more than 100 episodes in five years and three seasons, which has a certain experimental meaning. Adhering to the story method of heavy theme and easy telling, while ensuring the plot content of each season, is a test for the creative ability of screenwriters and directors and the ability of producers to operate.
▲ "Celebration of More Than a Year" crew
"There is a lot of risk and difficulty in developing a series around one IP. Due to the discontinuity of the creative time, it brings greater challenges to the development of the script, the performance of the actors, the scheduling, the setting and the post productin. But we are still willing to explore and try," Chen Yingjie, vice-president of Tencent Pictures, said in an interview.
Will Zhang Ruoyun, Chen Daoming, Li Qin and other actors continue to star in the second season? These remain to be seen. But the arrangement of multi-season shooting allows the adaptation of "Celebration of More Than Years" to return to the creation itself, without rushing to present anything, and there are few changes that deviate from the original spirit.
"The original novel itself has different highlights. In the first season, we first made the characters appear. Fan Xian kept guessing who was behind the scenes and who killed Ye Qingmei, which made the audience curious." The director Sun Hao met the screenwriter Wang Tie for the first time, and the two discussed the general framework and plot direction of the first season of "Qingyu Nian", and determined the tone of the heavy story to be easy to tell.
In the more than 20 episodes that have been broadcast in the first season, Wang Qinian, Teng Zijing, and Fan Siche have contributed a lot of laughs, and there is a deep core hidden behind the careful consideration.
For Fan Xian, the relevant files of Teng Zijing’s family were transferred from the investigation institute just out of friendship, and the latter quickly knelt down and expressed his willingness to repay with his life.
Fan Xian and Tanzhou’s grandmother are estranged from each other on the outside, but they are actually close. Wang Qinian seems to be greedy and stingy, but he is actually kind and soft. After the screenwriter Wang Tie’s streamlining and refining, Fan Xian, his relatives and guards have many character reversals. The audience is slapped in the face by their own presets every minute, and the character who was KO at first also has memory points.
For example, Lin Gong, the second son of the prime minister suspected of plotting the assassination of Fan Xian on Niulan Street, received a box lunch as soon as he appeared in the original book, but in the episode he showed his many encounters with Fan Xian and his love for his sister Lin Waner.
"When creating characters, I will put in the audience’s perspective. If you want to remember a person, you must see his most distinctive side, what is different from ordinary people. Then you can explore his life-like side. If you only do the first step, he is just a special person. Only when you do the second step will the audience feel that he lives by my side and has lovely and vivid emotions." Screenwriter Wang Tie has created many character reversals in "Celebration of More Than a Year", and some characters strive to be remembered by the audience even if they only have a few scenes.
Cool is very simple, it is rare to leave an aftertaste after a cool experience. The fullness of the supporting characters in "Celebration of Yunian" makes it present the appearance of a group portrait drama, not just the brilliance of a person.
▲ "Celebration of the Year" poster
Science fiction costume drama?
Another highlight of the adaptation of "Qingyu Nian" is the joke produced when Fan Xian, who holds modern ideas, does not blend with the ancient environment.
After Fan Xian knew that Lin Waner was his fiancée, he happily trotted all the way and danced modern dances, and the modern languages such as "Good Man Card", "SF Express" and "IQ Basin" that popped out of his mouth, which made people laugh. The use of background music such as electronic music and Western classical music also increased the style of "Celebration of More Years".
"When Fan Xian is alone, when he is angry about what happened to his friends, his emotional expression must be modern." Under the lens of the director Sun Hao, Zhang Ruoyun plays Fan Xian before a date, soaking himself in the fragrance of "five-spiced duck" and calling the second prince "second child", but in other unfamiliar occasions, he maintains ancient etiquette.
The series "Celebrating More Than a Year" retains the passages in the original novel in which Fan Xian won praise from literary people with Tang poems such as Du Fu and Li Bai, while adding more modern details of his life. These passages are the first time in the video adaptation of online novels.
In general, in online novels, people with modern thinking appeared in ancient times, relying on their knowledge advantages, earning a reputation for talent with Tang poetry and Song poetry, benefiting the people’s court with agricultural technology and chemical experiments, and merging Kyushu Xiongba with modern military theory. This made it easy for readers to feel excited and also caused a major difficulty in film and television adaptation.
In recent years, a number of male-frequency IP-adapted online dramas broadcast in specific historical time and space have directly depicted the adventures and upgrades of the protagonists in the ancient environment, without focusing on highlighting their modern behavioral psychology.
The special feature of "Qingyu Nian" is that it uses the theme of science fiction to give Ye Qingmei and Fan Xian, two people with modern thinking, the rationality of adventure in a specific historical time and space, and also lays the foundation for the playful madness of the series.
Screenwriter Wang Tie is rightOne Entertainment ObservationFrankly, when I first received the adaptation task, I was torn for a while and hesitated to follow the previous adaptation convention. In the end, I decided to keep the sci-fi elements in the novel, "Qingyu Nian" can’t do that, its core is the collision of modern people and ancient civilizations. If the original setting is removed, the series will become a nondescript thing. "
In the novel "Qing Yu Nian", Fan Xian’s mother can make sugar and glass, which brings modern business system and intelligence agencies to Qing, and also plants the natural contradiction between his son Fan Xian and class rule. This is the origin of the story. Only by retaining this setting can the original feel and tragedy be preserved.
▲ "Celebration of the Year" stills
"If there is any difference between’Qing Yu Nian ‘and previous period dramas of the same genre, it should be the reason why he and his mother appeared in that world. He didn’t suddenly appear and inexplicably enter this body. Our setting is different from before," said the screenwriter Wang Tie.
Do you want a venue or actors? Production constraints
Interestingly, "Celebration of More Than a Year" and the costume comedy "Once Upon a Time There Was a Spirit Sword Mountain" broadcast at the same time both used directors who had previously directed modern dramas to create an atmosphere that is both ancient and modern.
Multiple light-chasing shots, similar to comic-style editing, distinguish "Qingyu Nian" from traditional costume dramas.
In the 12th episode, Lin Waner and Fan Xian recognize each other with their true identities. The woman holds a knife in one hand, guarding the psychological defense line of the ancient woman, and Maimai asks Fan Xian if he takes himself seriously. Ancient and modern marriage concepts collide with sweet sparks, and some netizens in the bullet comment ridiculed, "The director must have filmed a romantic drama before!"
Previously, he directed modern urban dramas such as "Big Man When Married" and "Big Girl When Married". He graduated from the Performance Department of Shanghai Theater Academy. Sun Hao’s advantages in grasping emotional relationships and performing are reflected in "Qingyu Nian".
Considering the large number of actors in the play, in order to facilitate everyone to enter the play as soon as possible, Sun Hao prepared a kit for each actor to assist in the performance in advance. At the same time, after discussing with the two protagonists in the play, Fan Xian and Emperor Qing, he set the two performance keywords of "dissatisfied" and "light weight". Fan Xian did not kneel to the emperor to kneel to relatives and friends, and regarded the powerful and common people as the same. Emperor Qing wore a gauze with loose hair, but it could intimidate the ministers.
▲ "Celebration of the Year" stills
In order to devote more time to the performance, 80% of the scenes in "Celebration of More Than a Year" were filmed in Duyun, Guizhou, where there are few extras. Some scenes that require a lively street scene can only be presented in a flexible way.
"For example, when the second prince and Fan Xian met on the street, we created a habit for him to like chatting in quiet streets," said director Sun Hao.
Although there is still room for improvement in production, from the current situation, "Qingyu Nian" has indeed found a new way in the male-frequency IP adaptation.
