Two days ago, "Singing Dragon Boy" ushered in the finale. I repeated the shots of the score, and the realness of that emotion uncovered my dusty memories.
Many viewers may not be surprised by it, this is the most usual cinematic miracle. But "The Singing Dragon Boy" is not just a story.
"Minglong Boy" is about memory, about reality, and also about romanticism. As the creator said, "That's not exactly the story we wrote, we did meet such a child in Caifeng." ”
"Minglong Boy" is more like a microcosm of the wave of high-quality Chinese dramas in the past two years: when the amateur players who "enter the craze and clear the cold winter" retreat, the professional players who stay on the field cooperate with each other and trust each other; When the main theme of the industry, clearing and cost reduction become the main theme of the industry, there are always some platforms that are willing to increase investment in good projects.
In conversations with the industry, we are always eager to hear "another story". Jumping out of the norm, the industry will not fall into the same, the drama can dance in places beyond people's imagination, and the creators can experience the thrill of innovation......"Singing Dragon Boy" gave me such an experience.
In the narration of the chief producer Shang Na, the general manager of Youku Youxiang Studio, Zhou Zhaozhong, and the producer of Wow Haw Haw Wow, we heard another version of "Minglong Boy".
BootcampLast summer, the "Fengshen Proton Troupe" became an instant hit, and the Fengshen training camp that created this group of actors was unveiled.
In fact, before the filming of "Minglong Boy", a "Minglong Training Camp" was also established, and the five Class 11 students Li Ran, Cheng Yushan, Yu Yang, Bian Xiaoxiao, and Jiang Qinglang, who have countless fans in the play, came out of here.
In order to find suitable actors, the casting team met almost all the young actors in the industry, chatting about life, roles, performances, and auditions.
Half a year later, dozens of young actors gathered in Changsha for a two-month intensive training: going to school to experience life, watching reference films, reading scripts, playing each other's rivals, and trying different roles ......
Why? Because we have to correct the performance mentality of the actors, don't think that if you have gone through the college entrance examination, you can perform the most accurate state on the spot. Shana explained.
The training camp also took on another additional function: now many crews attach great importance to the script reading session, and "Ming Dragon Boy" has extended this time, and in the last two weeks of the training camp, all the actors have joined the reading except for the people who participated in the selection. These actors eat, live and train together, witnessing each other's growth and transformation, and also cultivating a high level of tacit understanding and trust in the following filming, colliding with more imaginative creative sparks.
The selection is cruel, and there are always regrets, just like the fateful college entrance examination, there are four or five candidates for each role. At the end of the camp, some stayed and some left.
Zhou Zhaozhong vividly remembers the scene at that time, "When the final candidates were announced, everyone showed their true feelings and cried bitterly at the scene. And the five young actors who were finally selected shouldered the common expectations of the "Minglong Boys" and handed in their best answers in the performance.
KaleidoscopeAlthough it incorporates the spiritual qualities of idealism and the emotional expression of romanticism, "The Boy of the Singing Dragon" is a work based on realism in the final analysis.
The apt way to say about its style would be: a hundred truths, one assumption. The truth comes from the creative concept of "coming from life and going to life", and the assumption is reflected in the innovation of expression.
The main creator's refinement and condensation of real people and life make "Minglong Boy" a highly concise poem and a strong metaphorical allegory, which also means that it is a "kaleidoscope" to a certain extent, moving from the campus to the times.
Shang Na said, "Under the big proposition of the college entrance examination, we can see the human picture of the whole society at present, including the relationship between students, teachers and students, generations, and even classes." ”
Zeng Yun believes that "the current generation of young people is very different from the past, and "Minglong Boy" tries to capture their common emotions. ”
Zhou Zhaozhong said frankly, ""Minglong Boy" is like a kaleidoscope, seeing the various states of life from the campus, no matter what age the audience is, they can find their corresponding self in the play, maybe everyone used to be a 'Minglong boy'." ”
Everyone has had a student age, especially for those who have gone through the college entrance examination, those days are clear and pure. But for today's film and television drama creation, first, nostalgic youth is no longer the mainstream, tearing down the campus wall and facing reality has become the new grammar; The second is the narrative of a single youth drama, which is easily crushed by the fast-paced life and footsteps of people at the moment, which can neither provide healing effects nor play a role in recording the times.
And the "kaleidoscope" positioning of "Minglong Boy" obviously provides a way to solve the problem.
SpiralingShanna describes the collaboration as a "spiral", "Every time you add a partner, you bring an improvement to the project. ”
The magnetic effect of good projects on talents is vividly reflected in the creation of "Minglong Boy":
When developing the script, I didn't think about making it an idol theme, but I wanted to use it as a base to influence more young people. They hired Shanna as the chief producer.
After Shang Na read the script, she felt in her bones that the soul of Lei Ming belonged to Zhang Ruoyun, "He has his own inner self and has a very deep attitude towards the profession of actor, so when a script like "Minglong Boy" with broad value to society was handed over, he was moved. ”
People who cherish each other can always find the softness of each other's hearts, and later Zhang Ruoyun wrote in his closing speech: "I am very happy to play "Minglong Boy", it is what I can do as an actor at this stage, and it makes me feel the most professional sense of mission." ”
is like a 400-meter relay race, after handing over the baton to Zhang Ruoyun, he recommended director Ding Hei to Wow Haw Haw Wow. After director Ding Hei joined, he advocated "using realistic details to pursue the possibility of romanticism, and using a suspenseful structure to express the inner self of young people." ”
In the end, the crucial stick was handed over to Youku. In the current film and television industry, there is no platform and no seat, but at that time, the industry was "improving quality and efficiency", Youku already had a similar project "Chasing the Light", why did you resolutely take over this burden?
Zeng Yun said, "When we handed over the script, Youku responded in the fastest way and quickly reached a consensus, giving us great support." Zhou Zhaozhong added with a smile, "After we saw the script, it was like picking up a treasure." ”
Each creator is going all out in his own position, doing things that can do things, making voices that can make a voice, and having a point of heat will send a point of light. For example, Zhang Ruoyun only filmed this drama in 2022, and in the first week of the publicity stage, he took three days to fully cooperate.
Shang Na told us that there were many group scenes during the filming, with more than 150 leading actors and special appointments, in order to ensure the safety of the filming and ensure the entire throughout, the entire crew stayed in the crew during the four-month filming period, regardless of whether the actors had a scene or not.
The hearts of the people are united, Mount Tai moves, but there is one last difficulty stuck in front of everyone: money. Shanna said that after four months of filming, although every penny was spent on the blade, in order to be perfect, the cost of the second half was still exceeded.
We discussed with Youku, but Youku didn't say a word - additional budget. Their attitude is that we should support the best of good things and seek better results. ”
Later, Ding Hei told them that what touched him the most about this project was that it was precisely because there was such a group of people in the film and television industry who worked hard for good content that they pushed the industry to continue to improve.
Big adventure"The so-called market ceiling can only prove one thing: it has not been done yet. And in order to put "Minglong Boy" in place, all the main creators are saturated. ”
Zhou Zhaozhong's sentence points to the most valuable characteristics of "Minglong Boy": the main creative adventure and the innovation of the work.
The adventure began at the script stage, and Shanna told us, "Screenwriter Chen Shu is good at writing movies and has never written TV series, but we decided to work with her because we liked her good at group writing and film-like structures." ”
is not only the picture, but also the drama thinking of the movie, the scene of "Minglong Boy" is frequently changed, and there are many group scenes, which are completely different from the previous dramas where the contradictions focused on "one person".
The structure has a sense of cinema, and the character creation has a sense of suspense. Ding Hei said, "One of the characteristics of this drama is the suspense of the fate of the characters. Each character has to be peeled back layer by layer. ”
Youku's "one episode a day" schedule is also adventurous, but as Zhou Zhao said, ""Minglong Boy" is like making thirty movies, each episode has a sense of cinema, and each episode has a new suspense. "In the final analysis, the broadcast schedule is determined by the content, and the market recognition of "Minglong Boy" is geometric, just look at how many viewers stick to the update every day.
Shang Na believes that this kind of scheduling is easy to awaken people's memories of chasing dramas when they were children, "That feeling is particularly precious, every day I will recall the plot broadcast that day, imagine the next fate of the characters, and then update the content the next day, which often shatters the audience's illusions, which is a battle of wits between the creator and the audience." ”
Wow Haw Haw Wow also gave full play to its own longboard advantages and tailored OST for "Minglong Boy", according to Zeng Yun, the ending song that many people were impressed by was also sung by the artists of Wow Haw Wow.
Mulberry UniverseThere is Sang Zhi in "Secretly Can't Hide", Sang Xia in "Minglong Boy", Sang Yan in the to-be-broadcast "Hard to Coax", and in the three dramas cooperated by Youku and Wow Haw Haw Wow, a "Sang Family Universe" was formed intentionally or unintentionally.
The B side of "Sangjia Universe" is a youth content label jointly created by Wow Haw Haw Wow and Youku, and after the accumulation of the two dramas, it has gained a firm foothold in the industry and the audience.
Zeng Yun said that Wow Haw Haw Wow is a newcomer in the film and television industry, "The two S-level projects are both cooperating with Youku, and to some extent, we are supported by Youku." ”
Zhou Zhaozhong described the relationship as "growing together". He said that Youku insists on making efforts on good content, taking "quality" as the core of its content strategy, and the younger content track is a major feature.
In the live-action manga track, "Young White Horse Drunk Spring Breeze" in "Shaoge Universe" has been completed, and "Legend of the Dark River" is being prepared. The "Under the Alien" series is continuing to develop, among which "Under the Alien: Biyou Village" will be presented in the form of a boutique short drama. On the "youth" track, the sister chapter of "Can't Hide Secretly" "Hard to Coax" is in preparation, and strives to continue to climb higher on the basis of the previous work.
Mutual respect, create a win-win situation, the theme breakthrough and market success achieved by "Minglong Boy" is not the credit of a certain link, but from the joint efforts of many parties. It has made a correct demonstration for the industry's drama creation, and it also gives people reason to believe that the story of "Minglong Boy" is over, but Youku and content creators who do not admit defeat, do not believe in fate, and dare to work hard can still provide a steady stream of excellent works.