The 70-episode ＂Qingping Le＂ is over! Yang Ying Luhan’s new short play attracts attention

1905 movie network news "Now everyone is living a fast-paced life, and short dramas cater to the tastes of the audience," Xiaozhen, a staff member involved in the production of the online drama "Dragon Ridge Den", told us. It is true that the hit "I Am Yu Huanshui" and "Dragon Ridge Den" in April have become high-quality dramas that many audiences will never forget. These short dramas with a volume of less than 20 episodes have made producers and platforms see the feasibility of short drama development.

On the contrary, the costume drama starring Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Yiwei has been renamed again. The current title of the drama has been changed from "Jiangshan Old Man" to "Shangyang Fu", but what attracts more attention is the estimated 80-episode content.　

In addition, the recently concluded drama "Qingping Le" has also been criticized for being too lengthy due to its 70-episode long volume, and the impulse to follow the drama is weak. A video platform recently launched "Mist Theater", which will focus on the content of many suspense-themed dramas, enhancing the user’s viewing experience with a new theater operation model.

It is conceivable that there will be a large wave of short dramas in the market in the future. These works happen to echo the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Creation and Production Management of TV Drama Online Dramas" issued by the State Administration of Radio, Television and Television in February this year. "Television drama shooting and production should not exceed 40 episodes, and the creation of short dramas within 30 episodes should be encouraged."

"Shortening" has been a highlight of the year. So how can you accelerate smoothly on the right track while "shortening"?　

1. Suspense, drama, and movie feel are standard, and the future needs to be calm and early adopters

Many media have called 2020 the "New Year’s Era" of fine short dramas, but in fact, this phenomenon was laid in the foreshadowing as early as 2017. First, "River God" and "Chasing the Murderer in White Night" were used to rectify the name of online dramas, and then "Crime Without a Certificate" was born, which successfully amazed many audiences. It turned out that online dramas could also be comparable to movies.

Xiaojuan, who was in charge of the early planning of a video platform, told us, "The marketing of’Undocumented Crime ‘was not particularly outstanding at the beginning, but the quality was second to none. For example, in the past two years, I have seen countless plans for online dramas, and 7 out of 10 said they wanted to create’Undocumented Crime 2.0’."　

Although audiences did not wait for this kind of work, it was carefully discovered that "Undocumented Crime" had already laid down a "standard routine" for subsequent short drama productions – suspense, drama, cinematic sense. We counted the 10 short dramas with a volume of less than 20 episodes to be broadcast in the future, and found that most of these works were focused on suspense themes. Even "White Moonlight" directed by the female director Liu Ziwei and "Skyscraper" with a female theme included relevant elements.

The production companies behind these series are mostly involved in video platforms, which makes the genre more dependent on the big data behind "online content". Traditional production companies that have begun to test the water in the short drama market have also focused on this. Lime Moe Pictures, which produced "Little Joy", launched "Soul Messenger", "Swallow" and "Dear Floyd" in the short drama plan. The first two are suspenseful themes, while the last one, although romantic, still incorporates reasoning elements.　

"Most of these works are the dividends of’Undocumented Crime, ‘" Xiaojuan told us. After the broadcast, many copyrights of the original author Zijin Chen were sold one after another. The upcoming broadcasts of’Silent Truth’ and’Hidden Corner ‘are all adaptations of his works. "　

In the face of the current "suspense fever", she seems to see it well, "The vitality of online dramas is actually very short, the volume of 12 episodes, plus factors such as advanced on-demand, in fact, the overall promotion life is only 2 weeks. If you can’t catch the audience’s attention from the beginning, the drama can’t be’saved ‘in the later stage. Therefore, episodes with suspense elements can well whet the audience’s appetite." Screenwriter Xiao Shang has another view on this, "Because most of our studios are not involved in the early stage of project development. Most of them rely on the current popular content or’big data’ for creation, and subsequent writers slowly join. So in terms of genre, we don’t have much power to intervene. In fact, we are more looking forward to doing some multi-genre fusion works."　

"However, I Am Yu Huan Shui is a miracle and a good example. Before this show went LIVE, no one expected that such a realistic life drama would have such a big impact in the future. During this time, there have been production companies that have been approaching us to join forces on similar projects, and the leadership is also very willing to do so."　

In addition to the suspense theme becoming common, whether it is the broadcast of the series or the work to be broadcast, we have found that the drama bone has become a key factor in the series, and even many casting choices have taken the form of drama bone with traffic. Xiaojuan told us, "Qin Hao led a good lead in’Crime Without a Certificate ‘, and at that time, he really did not expect that actors of his rank would come out to act in online dramas. In the past, there were so-called’movie coffee’ and’TV drama coffee ‘for the audience, or in our industry, but since then, this barrier has been broken down to some extent. After that, many dramas have gradually become more bold in casting."　

The so-called barrier actually lies in the acting rhythm of the actors, and the two different mediums of movies and TV series will also have differences in the performance of the actors. And the emergence of fast-paced online dramas, to some extent, makes the acting state of the two blurred. So why are actors who were unwilling to participate in the shooting of TV dramas in the past willing to participate in online dramas now? "There are two reasons, on the one hand, a batch of high-quality online dramas appeared in 2017, so many actors began to re-examine this category; on the other hand, actors realized that good quality online dramas can better raise their reputation." Xiao Wen, who works in artist management, told us about his experience.

Xiaozhen also expressed her opinion to us, "Actors do not choose the category of the work, but pay attention to the good work. If the creator carefully polishes the script, the actors are also willing. So the" Ghost Blows the Light "series can directly sign a three-year and five-film contract with Pan Yueming, Zhang Yuqi and Jiang Chao."

It can be seen that in the process of creating high-quality short plays, we are looking forward to seeing more types of works appear, and we also hope that more actors can play their potential and bring good works to the audience.

2.Business model to be developed, advertising and placement will be re-customized　

Although it is difficult for these short dramas to compete with real-life topic dramas such as "Everything is Good" and "Xiao Huanxi", they are bound to have an impact on the long-running drama market. We also find that many short drama projects are making serialization and branding attempts, such as "Detective Chinatown" and "Ghost Blows the Lantern" series. Xiaojuan told us that this is also conducive to the brand implantation of the series in the business model.　

Because most of the short dramas are less than 20 episodes, with the current platform’s scheduling status, plus factors such as advanced on-demand, many episodes can be watched in two weeks. Therefore, brand implantation in such dramas is a dilemma for the brand and the drama’s business team. Xiao Jia, who is engaged in brand implantation, told us, "In fact, if there are too many brands for the implantation of short dramas, the audience will naturally not buy it. For the brand, too little exposure is not cost-effective." He told us that there are only five implantation brands for "I Am Yu Huanshui", which is already very small compared to other dramas.　

He predicts that in the future short drama market, the model of brand placement and advertising placement will be different. Because of the short broadcast cycle of such dramas, many brands are very limited in marketing, and the content cannot have enough time to ferment. "However, if this kind of drama can make a series, in fact, it will be much easier to have long-term cooperation with brands." It is understood that after the success of "Dragon Ridge", many brands took the initiative to find it, hoping to implant it in this series.　

It can be seen that a mature business cooperation model still requires time to accumulate. When short plays do not form their own brand effect and cannot attract high attention from advertisers, they can only follow the traditional approach to commercial cooperation.

Short drama creators should take the initiative to seize the opportunity, through their own accumulation, form distinctive characteristics and styles in the field of dramas, and expand their influence. Once an industry-recognized brand is formed, it will greatly help to enhance the commercial value of short dramas and innovate cooperation models. In short, "short" episodes have become a new trend in current domestic dramas, but it still takes a certain amount of time to polish short dramas for more mature development. We look forward to creators finding a business model suitable for online short drama production in our country, and at the same time expanding new Chinese stories, connecting with the audience’s aesthetics.