Recently, the online drama "You Who Saved 10,000 Times" has attracted the author's attention with its comedy style and open-minded setting. By coincidence, it has reached an agreement with its producer Yuan Yumei. 's interview.
"You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is her first project after starting a business. In this unique project, Yuan Yumei's creative preferences and personal characteristics can be seen with the naked eye. In her own words, "I have known me for more than five years. People who are so good can even guess which passages and which lines are from me."
From the perspective of the industry, whether it is a platform or an actor, "innovation" is a word that makes people both love and fear. "Innovation" has the meaning and possibility of opening up new space in the market, but there is also the risk of "going too far" and not being understood and accepted. From the perspective of a producer like Yuan Yumei, "innovation" means that there is no precedent in the creation and production process, which means high trial and error costs and high risks. As the "behind the scenes" of "Unexpectedly", "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", and "Tremble, Abe", which are of different genres, but are also highly popular and highly praised dramas, Yuan Yumei admits that she never likes dramas that are "stable and stable". , Several projects of entrepreneurial research and development are innovative. "You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is the smallest in size and completed first, which is logical.
As a producer, Yuan Yumei has a very high investment in this project. She does every link of script development, on-site shooting, and post-production by herself. Due to the late entry of the director into the crew due to isolation, many of the pre-production work has been completed by her. . Her obsession with the project, the details down to the color of a piece of glass, the design of a narration, the use of a prop that appears for just a few seconds. Even Deng Anning, the director of the play, once sighed: "Miss Mei, you are co-director of this project, I have no problem at all".
However, in Yuan Yumei's view, there are still many regrets. The high requirements of comedy performances on actors, and the way of explanation and presentation of brain holes set in the previous episodes all determine that this is an easy and simple audience, but the actual creation is extremely challenging. s work. At the end of the show, this work was loved by many audiences because of its unique style and sincerity, but it did not achieve the "breaking circle" or even "explosive style" expected by Yuan Yumei. "This is more realistic. When you see all your hard work and you don't get the best return in your heart, you will definitely be under great psychological pressure."
The author used to be a screenwriter and participated in the creation of some TV dramas. In the conversation between the author and her, Yuan Yumei reviewed the whole process of the creation of this work and her mental journey. The audience to understand and think about, for example, the practical difficulty of innovation, the reconciliation of reality and ideal.
At the end of the interview, Yuan Yumei said something impressive: "Ideal is priceless, but idealism is sold at a 'price'."
"Make a drama that the audience can watch at its original speed"
Come on : Why did you buy the comic "My Boss Dies Once a Day" for an adaptation? What attracted you to it?
Yuan Yumei : What I like is the setting of this story, it is a two-player game. If you have been a screenwriter, you should be able to intuitively feel that if it is a one-person cycle, it is difficult for the story to have the volume of a long drama. However, the 61 chapters of the original comic are not long in the comics, so there are not many effective plots sorted out, and there are only three pages in total. From a 61-episode comic to a 24-episode series, I know that the amount of script engineering is very large, with at least 90% of the original plot.
In the finale, everyone will also find that, in fact, we have added another setting based on the original setting, which is to use a big loop to embed the previous small loop, which is an upgrade to the core setting of the original comic. This also made Douban many netizens say that our adaptation this time exceeded the Korean version. If you are chasing from the beginning to the end, you should find that we have a lot of echoes from the beginning to the end.
Come on : At the point of time loop, its own high concept and strong setting, for creation, there is an explanation cost. In fact, if this is not done well, it will lead to difficulties for the audience to enter in the early stage.
Yuan Yumei : Yes, but the time loop must be the biggest hook and point of view, so it is necessary to enter the time loop as quickly as possible. We should now be in the loop around twenty minutes into the first episode.
In fact, the first day of entering the cycle is the most difficult, because it is the day when the cycle starts, but it should also be the most ordinary day for the heroine. When it loops, it must leave a lot of traces on that day, but these traces must be simple and simple, and only discovered after being mentioned. It can't be too intense to grab the time loop drama, but it is too much to stay. Like a scar, it leaves room for future twist and correction.
So we made a lot of small designs on this day: roommates borrowed 6,000 yuan, shared bicycles fell down a row, little yellow hat children made funny faces, table tennis balls rolled down the subway steps, etc., just to make the heroine feel uncomfortable Knowing, at first she felt as if she had a sense of sight, and then gradually realized: I entered a time loop.
In fact, at the beginning of the second episode, we originally wanted to give the heroine an emotional presentation after learning that she had entered the cycle. She felt very strange and distressed, and wanted to get out of this state like a walking dead. This can help the audience to understand and enter her situation. . But in the end, the effect of this scene was really not good enough, so it was removed. After it was removed, some audiences reported that it seemed to be a shortcoming.
Yuan Yumei : There are many factors that make it difficult to enter this early stage, and our remedy in the later stage can only reach this level, so maybe everyone will enter the state a little later in the first two episodes. I personally think that the quality of our last four episodes is the best in the whole series, especially the 22 episodes. Sometimes the level of many dramas may drop by the end, but when we watched the movie very early, the platform said that we were ahead of us. It's a disadvantage, and it looks better in the back.
Regarding the point of the male protagonist's "death", our tonality is as follows: Among all the methods of death, the first is a "heavy" death, which must be real and can shock everyone, but his "death" in the subsequent cycle "Fa" is all comedic, deconstructed, and flying. This is like a game, so the second time Luduo (played by Zhang Yaqin) reacted with expected helplessness: Or is he dead? In order to protect the character and reduce the lethality to the death of the cursed person, I also specially added the lines in the later stage: "The life in the time loop is equivalent to a life in the game." This is all "Little Rescue" the correct way to open. If the audience were to look at our treatment in a very practical and rational light, there might be a problem of comprehension.
Come on : I found that this is one of the few domestic dramas that I have to watch at the original speed in recent years, because the narrative is quite fast, and its comedy rhythm, if you watch it at double speed, you will lose.
Yuan Yumei : When I decided to do this project, I just wanted to make a drama that the audience can watch at the original speed. In order to be more streamlined, the drama volume of 28 episodes was cut into 24 episodes. Indeed, now if you watch it at 1.5x and 2x speed, the comedy rhythm in it is wrong, and the comedy point is gone. At that time, we asked a publicity company to watch the film. They wanted to watch a few more episodes a day, and they had to watch it at double the speed. It turned out that if it was increased to 1.5 times, it was impossible to watch it at all. It was too fast. But this actually makes us suffer a lot. There are many feedbacks from the audience that they don’t have time to play the barrage when they watch it, but you must know that the amount of barrage is important in the calculation of the platform’s popularity.
Yuan Yumei : I always feel that the title is not just the title, it should be the prologue of the narrative. I have always hoped to use a title to set the tone of the play in the first few episodes, and to tell the audience through the title, what kind of expectations should be brought to open the show.
Our whole story is full of comics, so we naturally think of animation, but the two-dimensional animation doesn't quite match the texture of our drama, so we think of stop-motion animation. I happened to meet a director of Kew Gardens who had done stop-motion animation, and we hit it off immediately, and then the soundtrack was also confirmed with the soundtrack teacher, and it should be in the style of a black fairy tale. Another reason for this is that I have always been worried that the audience will feel a little disgusted or inaccessible to the male protagonist's constant "death" being cursed. "These relatively dark and heavy topics, please dispel.
"If I don't need a white customer, I will do this book for nothing"
Come on : Bai Ke is a big surprise. I know he can act in comedies, but I think many people didn't expect him to act in "Boss" and romantic dramas.
Yuan Yumei : One of the difficulties in my project is that I determined that Bai Ke is the best candidate from the perspective of the script. The platform recognizes Bai Ke's acting skills, but no one has ever thought of letting Bai Ke act in the "Idol drama". When I first came into contact with several platforms, everyone thought that the script was rated very well. If actors with higher traffic were used, they would be able to give a higher price. But I think if I don't have a white guest, my book will be done in vain. I can imagine what it would look like if I played it by another person. Maybe the traffic in the first few episodes will be better, but there are many things about the character "White Truth". not established. In the end, under my insistence, and then some of my previous successful resumes of selected actors convinced the platform, and after fixing the makeup, the platform was also very satisfied.
But the problem at this time is that Bai Ke hesitates, you know, many comedians, he is not a comedian at heart. Bai Ke is actually a low-key person of the Buddhist family. He likes Shakespeare. The only idol drama he has ever watched is Full House Romance. He feels that he cannot understand the emotion of idol dramas at all.
"King Sledgehammer" was our first collaboration, and he said this role was an inflection point in his career, but I think everyone wants to renew themselves and say goodbye to the past. Everyone has their own preferences, which should be respected, but from the perspective of my use of an actor, I think he is very suitable for comedy, and if he is acting in comedy, it is difficult for him to meet such a suitable role. Cute point, his handsomeness is very natural.
Come on : As far as I know, it takes a lot of skill for the producer to convince the actors and the team.
Yuan Yumei : I only talked to his agent and boss at the time about two points. I said whether or not a project will explode in the end, and to what extent, no one can guarantee the ticket, but I can confirm two things: First, I will let him go. Bai Ke's fashion and appearance have reached the ceiling in his history; secondly, more than 90% of the dramas in the market are emotional dramas, but Bai Ke does not accept emotional dramas, which causes him to always be a role model in more genre works. supporting role. I said that after this project of mine, I will make everyone believe that he can act in love, and he can take on emotional dramas, and there will be such scripts to consider him as the first candidate. Whether he takes preference or not, but he will have such an option. I think I have done both. If I hand this project over to someone else, I wouldn't dare to say it, but I'm in it all the way, and I'll keep it under control.
Yuan Yumei : Bai Ke's modeling is me and the modeling teacher. I have read a lot of his interviews in recent years, including some content on Xiaohongshu and Douyin, to understand his changes in the past two years, and to pick him up bit by bit. shape. Before he came, I also emphasized to his agent, I said that your shape, the size must be very accurate, and during the production, the weight must not change.
If you want to be "Boss", you must be tall and show his aura. We have done a lot of design, hair style, glasses, including his tie, clothes shape, and even the radian of his hair, which is very thin, so he was very satisfied on the day he came to try on the clothes, all clothes fit, only I took the initiative to eliminate a set of looks, because I felt that the shoulders of that dress were a little slumped down, and it didn't show his uprightness.
Our modelling teacher Guo Baobao also said that in the groups he met before, sometimes he couldn't perform well. But this time, as long as it's a good idea, we'll present it. Even Baizheng's office has been deliberately added a layer of height, and the lights above the route he walked out are extended forward, forming a certain aura and a sense of air pressure.
Come on : I want to talk about comedy creation. It is a workplace story and the shell of a fantasy comedy. It is destined that it needs a very clear degree of grasp. If it is too suspended, if it is too small, the comedy may be greatly reduced.
Yuan Yumei : What I have always pursued when doing comedy is that I hope that my comedy does not have the kind of witty, ugly, grandstanding, and I don't even want the so-called "golden sentences". I prefer the joy brought by the dislocation of the way of thinking and the specific situation. For example, the male protagonist said, "I have never lost this word in my life," and the female protagonist immediately answered, "Then your dictionary is pirated." This is actually a kind of logical and unexpected appearance after jumping out of the inherent way of thinking. of joy.
To a certain extent, comedy is very dependent on the performance and personal charm of the actors. The same script is played by Jia Ling and Shen Teng, and the effect is very different from that of Jia Ling and Shen Teng. But I think the comedy brought about by the way of thinking out of the way, the dislocation of specific situations and characters can slightly reduce the dependence of comedy on actors. I think it's really hard to do comedy. Being able to do comedy is a precious ability, so it's scarce, but everyone needs comedy. In addition to the brain hole of comedy, the sense of proportion has become particularly important. When preparing for the early stage, I said: how far our brain holes are, the layout of all the scenes and the psychological basis of the characters must be solid, otherwise both will be the same. Flying is absolutely exaggerated.
Come on : Then what you said should be implemented in the details. From the perspective of script creation, the so-called sense of life and realism are the details of a single scene, but these details are actually very important in the early creation. easy to ignore.
Yuan Yumei : For example, once the character setting is confirmed, I will implement the image of this character from the clothing styling lines. Because the character biography is dead, after the character biography has generally clarified the basic character, growth experience, professional identity, etc., to return to a living actor, you must pack the actor's whole body and put him in an environment suitable for him. go inside.
For example, when I first saw the first draft design of the hostess's room, I also marked a little bit, what was wrong, for example, the chair looked uncomfortable, not like the way the hostess usually sits, so I changed it, and the color of the radian of the chair was changed. Get it right, then add a small blanket. There is also the stained glass on the window of the hostess room, which is specially made by us. Before and after adding this glass, the atmosphere of the whole environment is completely different. You have to put characters in this space, so that people feel that it belongs to them.
Yuan Yumei : This should come from the accumulation of these years. I started out with literary planning, and I always gave advice to people to change the script, and I didn’t simply give advice. It’s easy to say that negative comments are particularly easy, but script revisions affect the whole body, so every time I give a negative opinion, I will definitely Will come up with a solution, otherwise I'll just drop an opinion easily. In addition, I have always hoped for To C in my creation. I often read the comments, and I know what the audience cares about and likes.
For example, I went to participate in "The Birth of an Actor" to make a comment. Later, the program team found out why I always cut what I said in the later stage. Later, I found that my opinion and the choice of the audience are often the most consistent. We speak first, After they edited it, they edited it according to the results of the live audience's vote. When they selected the commentator's speech, they would find that my speech was often the closest to the result of the audience's choice, so it was quoted the most. In the crew, there is assistance, all for the good of the project. Everyone is reasonable and aesthetic, and it is natural to listen to the opinions that can add points.
Come on : I think the most painful thing for a screenwriter is that after you hand over your things, you have to go through each creative department. If the team has inconsistent understanding of content creation and professional attitude, the script will eventually become A screenwriter doesn't know what it is. Therefore, it is very important for producers who understand script creation.
Yuan Yumei : Yes, writing a script is an ability, and reading a script is also an ability. You have to say it with reason and evidence, and then you can let the screenwriter make effective revisions. I used to read scripts faster than the average person. Maybe when I was young, I read too many good books and bad books. Actually, I also read bad ones. You can see why it is bad after reading it, and avoid lightning.
And now, my speed of reading the script has slowed down because I have started to read the script in a more visual way. I want to watch and think, this script, what would happen with S-level actors and A-level actors; how would this scene be shot if a very mature director came, and if it was shot by a passing director , how much will be discounted. I'm more used to reading the script with an editing mindset. The screenwriter has written so much for this play, so after I finally cut it out, there may be a lot left. This is because many screenwriters, whose lines are so good, will cover up the problem of the script structure. . But actually the script structure is the most important. Many times script problems are magnified later on.
Yuan Yumei : Maybe I am not a stable person from the bottom of my heart. And it's also quite interesting. These projects that have a certain reputation later were not favored by the market at first. At that time, "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night" was not approved by the platform. There was no IP. The script had been floating for three years and no one had done it. The director was young and had not made a long-form film independently. It was also a suspense drama. At that time, I was still looking for a business colleague, and asked them to help me to estimate the increase of several million investment. By subtracting the budget cost of several million in this way, I reached the lowest project approval standard B, so at that time "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night" It's a B-level project. I made it with very little money. If the budget at the time could give us an extra 5 million or 8 million, we could make its art clothing a little better.
"Unexpectedly" is because of the tonality problem. I also wrote a "Wan Yanshu" to the president of Youku at that time to persuade him to do this project. I said that this drama is not the "clothing" that Youku often wears, but it must be It is a "new clothes" of Youku that will never lose its share. I also said that it is a "virus" that can have a very strong spread.
"Tremble, Abe" was not an internal project at the time. After three departments, it finally came to me. Then I read the outline. I especially liked the outline, but I didn't like the script at that time, so the reorganization of the screenwriting team returned to the outline. Come up and rewrite the script.
"You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is the first project of my business. In addition to the epidemic situation and some of the situations we talked about earlier, it is really difficult. Our Director Deng is not familiar with the mainland. So we set up our own crew. I did a lot of persuasion work to form the current team and lineup. This may be the project that I have invested the most emotionally and physically exhausted the most so far. I read the comments on Weibo and Douban every day, and then I found that those who like us are really likes with three exclamation marks; those who don’t like us are just indifferent.
Our drama is not large, with 24 groups, our drama can also be very large, large enough to accommodate the dreams of all the participating friends, big or small, and their brains are open. This isn't my first, and it's not my last, but I've probably loved it too much and invested too much in it, and I especially hope this story finds its kind: innocent, funny people. Win or lose, I respect and appreciate from the bottom of my heart those who do their best to fight a good battle. Creation is not easy, innovation is not easy, and comedy lasts forever.
"You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is her first project after starting a business. In this unique project, Yuan Yumei's creative preferences and personal characteristics can be seen with the naked eye. In her own words, "I have known me for more than five years. People who are so good can even guess which passages and which lines are from me."
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" poster
"You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is adapted from the popular Korean comic "My Boss Dies Once a Day". With the brain hole of time loop, a workplace story is embedded: the heroine discovers that the mean male boss is cursed once "die" will really die, and she will be dragged into the time loop because of this. In order to break the cycle, her only choice is to prevent the male boss from dying in various bizarre ways. It can be seen from the story setting that this is a fantasy comedy targeting young audiences, and it is also an innovative project that is rare in domestic dramas.From the perspective of the industry, whether it is a platform or an actor, "innovation" is a word that makes people both love and fear. "Innovation" has the meaning and possibility of opening up new space in the market, but there is also the risk of "going too far" and not being understood and accepted. From the perspective of a producer like Yuan Yumei, "innovation" means that there is no precedent in the creation and production process, which means high trial and error costs and high risks. As the "behind the scenes" of "Unexpectedly", "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", and "Tremble, Abe", which are of different genres, but are also highly popular and highly praised dramas, Yuan Yumei admits that she never likes dramas that are "stable and stable". , Several projects of entrepreneurial research and development are innovative. "You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is the smallest in size and completed first, which is logical.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
In the interview, Yuan Yumei talked about many "hardships" in the creation process of this series. Objectively, there are the impact of the epidemic and funding, and the difficulty of persuading the platform and actors due to the "new". In the face of this "new", there are various hesitations, doubts, and different opinions. For such a special project, what the producer needs to do is not only to be familiar with and understand the text, but also to have a strong quality control ability at the specific operational level: what kind of cooperation partner to choose What is the best fit for this story, what balance should be done between the various departments, and how should all aspects of departmental cooperation be unified into the presentation of the visual style.As a producer, Yuan Yumei has a very high investment in this project. She does every link of script development, on-site shooting, and post-production by herself. Due to the late entry of the director into the crew due to isolation, many of the pre-production work has been completed by her. . Her obsession with the project, the details down to the color of a piece of glass, the design of a narration, the use of a prop that appears for just a few seconds. Even Deng Anning, the director of the play, once sighed: "Miss Mei, you are co-director of this project, I have no problem at all".
However, in Yuan Yumei's view, there are still many regrets. The high requirements of comedy performances on actors, and the way of explanation and presentation of brain holes set in the previous episodes all determine that this is an easy and simple audience, but the actual creation is extremely challenging. s work. At the end of the show, this work was loved by many audiences because of its unique style and sincerity, but it did not achieve the "breaking circle" or even "explosive style" expected by Yuan Yumei. "This is more realistic. When you see all your hard work and you don't get the best return in your heart, you will definitely be under great psychological pressure."
The author used to be a screenwriter and participated in the creation of some TV dramas. In the conversation between the author and her, Yuan Yumei reviewed the whole process of the creation of this work and her mental journey. The audience to understand and think about, for example, the practical difficulty of innovation, the reconciliation of reality and ideal.
At the end of the interview, Yuan Yumei said something impressive: "Ideal is priceless, but idealism is sold at a 'price'."
Producer Yuan Yumei
【dialogue】"Make a drama that the audience can watch at its original speed"
Come on : Why did you buy the comic "My Boss Dies Once a Day" for an adaptation? What attracted you to it?
Yuan Yumei : What I like is the setting of this story, it is a two-player game. If you have been a screenwriter, you should be able to intuitively feel that if it is a one-person cycle, it is difficult for the story to have the volume of a long drama. However, the 61 chapters of the original comic are not long in the comics, so there are not many effective plots sorted out, and there are only three pages in total. From a 61-episode comic to a 24-episode series, I know that the amount of script engineering is very large, with at least 90% of the original plot.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
I have seen some people take it for granted that we "can't copy at all", but that's not true, and I don't even think about copying. Our culture is different from that of South Korea, and our workplace environment is also unacceptable, so everything from character backgrounds to incident conflicts, and even the industry we are in is completely new.In the finale, everyone will also find that, in fact, we have added another setting based on the original setting, which is to use a big loop to embed the previous small loop, which is an upgrade to the core setting of the original comic. This also made Douban many netizens say that our adaptation this time exceeded the Korean version. If you are chasing from the beginning to the end, you should find that we have a lot of echoes from the beginning to the end.
Come on : At the point of time loop, its own high concept and strong setting, for creation, there is an explanation cost. In fact, if this is not done well, it will lead to difficulties for the audience to enter in the early stage.
Yuan Yumei : Yes, but the time loop must be the biggest hook and point of view, so it is necessary to enter the time loop as quickly as possible. We should now be in the loop around twenty minutes into the first episode.
In fact, the first day of entering the cycle is the most difficult, because it is the day when the cycle starts, but it should also be the most ordinary day for the heroine. When it loops, it must leave a lot of traces on that day, but these traces must be simple and simple, and only discovered after being mentioned. It can't be too intense to grab the time loop drama, but it is too much to stay. Like a scar, it leaves room for future twist and correction.
So we made a lot of small designs on this day: roommates borrowed 6,000 yuan, shared bicycles fell down a row, little yellow hat children made funny faces, table tennis balls rolled down the subway steps, etc., just to make the heroine feel uncomfortable Knowing, at first she felt as if she had a sense of sight, and then gradually realized: I entered a time loop.
In fact, at the beginning of the second episode, we originally wanted to give the heroine an emotional presentation after learning that she had entered the cycle. She felt very strange and distressed, and wanted to get out of this state like a walking dead. This can help the audience to understand and enter her situation. . But in the end, the effect of this scene was really not good enough, so it was removed. After it was removed, some audiences reported that it seemed to be a shortcoming.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
Come on : There may indeed be some problems with the audience entering in the early stage, and I have also seen some audiences put forward one or two episodes in the previous episode, the female protagonist is not afraid or sad about the death of the male protagonist in front of her, which is very strange. of.Yuan Yumei : There are many factors that make it difficult to enter this early stage, and our remedy in the later stage can only reach this level, so maybe everyone will enter the state a little later in the first two episodes. I personally think that the quality of our last four episodes is the best in the whole series, especially the 22 episodes. Sometimes the level of many dramas may drop by the end, but when we watched the movie very early, the platform said that we were ahead of us. It's a disadvantage, and it looks better in the back.
Regarding the point of the male protagonist's "death", our tonality is as follows: Among all the methods of death, the first is a "heavy" death, which must be real and can shock everyone, but his "death" in the subsequent cycle "Fa" is all comedic, deconstructed, and flying. This is like a game, so the second time Luduo (played by Zhang Yaqin) reacted with expected helplessness: Or is he dead? In order to protect the character and reduce the lethality to the death of the cursed person, I also specially added the lines in the later stage: "The life in the time loop is equivalent to a life in the game." This is all "Little Rescue" the correct way to open. If the audience were to look at our treatment in a very practical and rational light, there might be a problem of comprehension.
Come on : I found that this is one of the few domestic dramas that I have to watch at the original speed in recent years, because the narrative is quite fast, and its comedy rhythm, if you watch it at double speed, you will lose.
Yuan Yumei : When I decided to do this project, I just wanted to make a drama that the audience can watch at the original speed. In order to be more streamlined, the drama volume of 28 episodes was cut into 24 episodes. Indeed, now if you watch it at 1.5x and 2x speed, the comedy rhythm in it is wrong, and the comedy point is gone. At that time, we asked a publicity company to watch the film. They wanted to watch a few more episodes a day, and they had to watch it at double the speed. It turned out that if it was increased to 1.5 times, it was impossible to watch it at all. It was too fast. But this actually makes us suffer a lot. There are many feedbacks from the audience that they don’t have time to play the barrage when they watch it, but you must know that the amount of barrage is important in the calculation of the platform’s popularity.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
Come on : In addition, I noticed that the title is a doll stop-motion animation, which is very labor-intensive, but in fact, people are usually used to skip the title when watching dramas.Yuan Yumei : I always feel that the title is not just the title, it should be the prologue of the narrative. I have always hoped to use a title to set the tone of the play in the first few episodes, and to tell the audience through the title, what kind of expectations should be brought to open the show.
Our whole story is full of comics, so we naturally think of animation, but the two-dimensional animation doesn't quite match the texture of our drama, so we think of stop-motion animation. I happened to meet a director of Kew Gardens who had done stop-motion animation, and we hit it off immediately, and then the soundtrack was also confirmed with the soundtrack teacher, and it should be in the style of a black fairy tale. Another reason for this is that I have always been worried that the audience will feel a little disgusted or inaccessible to the male protagonist's constant "death" being cursed. "These relatively dark and heavy topics, please dispel.
"If I don't need a white customer, I will do this book for nothing"
Come on : Bai Ke is a big surprise. I know he can act in comedies, but I think many people didn't expect him to act in "Boss" and romantic dramas.
Yuan Yumei : One of the difficulties in my project is that I determined that Bai Ke is the best candidate from the perspective of the script. The platform recognizes Bai Ke's acting skills, but no one has ever thought of letting Bai Ke act in the "Idol drama". When I first came into contact with several platforms, everyone thought that the script was rated very well. If actors with higher traffic were used, they would be able to give a higher price. But I think if I don't have a white guest, my book will be done in vain. I can imagine what it would look like if I played it by another person. Maybe the traffic in the first few episodes will be better, but there are many things about the character "White Truth". not established. In the end, under my insistence, and then some of my previous successful resumes of selected actors convinced the platform, and after fixing the makeup, the platform was also very satisfied.
But the problem at this time is that Bai Ke hesitates, you know, many comedians, he is not a comedian at heart. Bai Ke is actually a low-key person of the Buddhist family. He likes Shakespeare. The only idol drama he has ever watched is Full House Romance. He feels that he cannot understand the emotion of idol dramas at all.
"King Sledgehammer" was our first collaboration, and he said this role was an inflection point in his career, but I think everyone wants to renew themselves and say goodbye to the past. Everyone has their own preferences, which should be respected, but from the perspective of my use of an actor, I think he is very suitable for comedy, and if he is acting in comedy, it is difficult for him to meet such a suitable role. Cute point, his handsomeness is very natural.
Come on : As far as I know, it takes a lot of skill for the producer to convince the actors and the team.
Yuan Yumei : I only talked to his agent and boss at the time about two points. I said whether or not a project will explode in the end, and to what extent, no one can guarantee the ticket, but I can confirm two things: First, I will let him go. Bai Ke's fashion and appearance have reached the ceiling in his history; secondly, more than 90% of the dramas in the market are emotional dramas, but Bai Ke does not accept emotional dramas, which causes him to always be a role model in more genre works. supporting role. I said that after this project of mine, I will make everyone believe that he can act in love, and he can take on emotional dramas, and there will be such scripts to consider him as the first candidate. Whether he takes preference or not, but he will have such an option. I think I have done both. If I hand this project over to someone else, I wouldn't dare to say it, but I'm in it all the way, and I'll keep it under control.
love scene in drama
Come on : When it comes to appearance, this is also a very interesting point. I have been surprised to see posts on social media these days.Yuan Yumei : Bai Ke's modeling is me and the modeling teacher. I have read a lot of his interviews in recent years, including some content on Xiaohongshu and Douyin, to understand his changes in the past two years, and to pick him up bit by bit. shape. Before he came, I also emphasized to his agent, I said that your shape, the size must be very accurate, and during the production, the weight must not change.
If you want to be "Boss", you must be tall and show his aura. We have done a lot of design, hair style, glasses, including his tie, clothes shape, and even the radian of his hair, which is very thin, so he was very satisfied on the day he came to try on the clothes, all clothes fit, only I took the initiative to eliminate a set of looks, because I felt that the shoulders of that dress were a little slumped down, and it didn't show his uprightness.
Our modelling teacher Guo Baobao also said that in the groups he met before, sometimes he couldn't perform well. But this time, as long as it's a good idea, we'll present it. Even Baizheng's office has been deliberately added a layer of height, and the lights above the route he walked out are extended forward, forming a certain aura and a sense of air pressure.
Bai Ke expression pack
"Everybody Needs Comedy"Come on : I want to talk about comedy creation. It is a workplace story and the shell of a fantasy comedy. It is destined that it needs a very clear degree of grasp. If it is too suspended, if it is too small, the comedy may be greatly reduced.
Yuan Yumei : What I have always pursued when doing comedy is that I hope that my comedy does not have the kind of witty, ugly, grandstanding, and I don't even want the so-called "golden sentences". I prefer the joy brought by the dislocation of the way of thinking and the specific situation. For example, the male protagonist said, "I have never lost this word in my life," and the female protagonist immediately answered, "Then your dictionary is pirated." This is actually a kind of logical and unexpected appearance after jumping out of the inherent way of thinking. of joy.
To a certain extent, comedy is very dependent on the performance and personal charm of the actors. The same script is played by Jia Ling and Shen Teng, and the effect is very different from that of Jia Ling and Shen Teng. But I think the comedy brought about by the way of thinking out of the way, the dislocation of specific situations and characters can slightly reduce the dependence of comedy on actors. I think it's really hard to do comedy. Being able to do comedy is a precious ability, so it's scarce, but everyone needs comedy. In addition to the brain hole of comedy, the sense of proportion has become particularly important. When preparing for the early stage, I said: how far our brain holes are, the layout of all the scenes and the psychological basis of the characters must be solid, otherwise both will be the same. Flying is absolutely exaggerated.
Come on : Then what you said should be implemented in the details. From the perspective of script creation, the so-called sense of life and realism are the details of a single scene, but these details are actually very important in the early creation. easy to ignore.
Yuan Yumei : For example, once the character setting is confirmed, I will implement the image of this character from the clothing styling lines. Because the character biography is dead, after the character biography has generally clarified the basic character, growth experience, professional identity, etc., to return to a living actor, you must pack the actor's whole body and put him in an environment suitable for him. go inside.
For example, when I first saw the first draft design of the hostess's room, I also marked a little bit, what was wrong, for example, the chair looked uncomfortable, not like the way the hostess usually sits, so I changed it, and the color of the radian of the chair was changed. Get it right, then add a small blanket. There is also the stained glass on the window of the hostess room, which is specially made by us. Before and after adding this glass, the atmosphere of the whole environment is completely different. You have to put characters in this space, so that people feel that it belongs to them.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
Come on : Sometimes when I'm on the set, I feel that for the creation of a play, in addition to teamwork, it also needs to have an absolute will to run through, which will avoid a lot of collective friction and trial and error. But at the same time, this absolute will must be absolutely correct. For example, a producer has to insist in all aspects, so how can he judge whether his persistence is right?Yuan Yumei : This should come from the accumulation of these years. I started out with literary planning, and I always gave advice to people to change the script, and I didn’t simply give advice. It’s easy to say that negative comments are particularly easy, but script revisions affect the whole body, so every time I give a negative opinion, I will definitely Will come up with a solution, otherwise I'll just drop an opinion easily. In addition, I have always hoped for To C in my creation. I often read the comments, and I know what the audience cares about and likes.
For example, I went to participate in "The Birth of an Actor" to make a comment. Later, the program team found out why I always cut what I said in the later stage. Later, I found that my opinion and the choice of the audience are often the most consistent. We speak first, After they edited it, they edited it according to the results of the live audience's vote. When they selected the commentator's speech, they would find that my speech was often the closest to the result of the audience's choice, so it was quoted the most. In the crew, there is assistance, all for the good of the project. Everyone is reasonable and aesthetic, and it is natural to listen to the opinions that can add points.
"You Who Saved Ten Thousand Times" stills
"Writing a script is a skill, and reading a script is also a skill"Come on : I think the most painful thing for a screenwriter is that after you hand over your things, you have to go through each creative department. If the team has inconsistent understanding of content creation and professional attitude, the script will eventually become A screenwriter doesn't know what it is. Therefore, it is very important for producers who understand script creation.
Yuan Yumei : Yes, writing a script is an ability, and reading a script is also an ability. You have to say it with reason and evidence, and then you can let the screenwriter make effective revisions. I used to read scripts faster than the average person. Maybe when I was young, I read too many good books and bad books. Actually, I also read bad ones. You can see why it is bad after reading it, and avoid lightning.
And now, my speed of reading the script has slowed down because I have started to read the script in a more visual way. I want to watch and think, this script, what would happen with S-level actors and A-level actors; how would this scene be shot if a very mature director came, and if it was shot by a passing director , how much will be discounted. I'm more used to reading the script with an editing mindset. The screenwriter has written so much for this play, so after I finally cut it out, there may be a lot left. This is because many screenwriters, whose lines are so good, will cover up the problem of the script structure. . But actually the script structure is the most important. Many times script problems are magnified later on.
Director Deng Anning (left) and producer Yuan Yumei (middle) communicate on the set.
Come on : this drama is a relatively risky topic, and many of its scenes escape the logic of reality, and are unfamiliar to the audience, dramatic presentation and dramatic situations. And you start with "Unexpectedly", it seems that you are always doing this kind of risky and innovative project.Yuan Yumei : Maybe I am not a stable person from the bottom of my heart. And it's also quite interesting. These projects that have a certain reputation later were not favored by the market at first. At that time, "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night" was not approved by the platform. There was no IP. The script had been floating for three years and no one had done it. The director was young and had not made a long-form film independently. It was also a suspense drama. At that time, I was still looking for a business colleague, and asked them to help me to estimate the increase of several million investment. By subtracting the budget cost of several million in this way, I reached the lowest project approval standard B, so at that time "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night" It's a B-level project. I made it with very little money. If the budget at the time could give us an extra 5 million or 8 million, we could make its art clothing a little better.
"Unexpectedly" is because of the tonality problem. I also wrote a "Wan Yanshu" to the president of Youku at that time to persuade him to do this project. I said that this drama is not the "clothing" that Youku often wears, but it must be It is a "new clothes" of Youku that will never lose its share. I also said that it is a "virus" that can have a very strong spread.
"Tremble, Abe" was not an internal project at the time. After three departments, it finally came to me. Then I read the outline. I especially liked the outline, but I didn't like the script at that time, so the reorganization of the screenwriting team returned to the outline. Come up and rewrite the script.
"You Who Saved 10,000 Times" is the first project of my business. In addition to the epidemic situation and some of the situations we talked about earlier, it is really difficult. Our Director Deng is not familiar with the mainland. So we set up our own crew. I did a lot of persuasion work to form the current team and lineup. This may be the project that I have invested the most emotionally and physically exhausted the most so far. I read the comments on Weibo and Douban every day, and then I found that those who like us are really likes with three exclamation marks; those who don’t like us are just indifferent.
Our drama is not large, with 24 groups, our drama can also be very large, large enough to accommodate the dreams of all the participating friends, big or small, and their brains are open. This isn't my first, and it's not my last, but I've probably loved it too much and invested too much in it, and I especially hope this story finds its kind: innocent, funny people. Win or lose, I respect and appreciate from the bottom of my heart those who do their best to fight a good battle. Creation is not easy, innovation is not easy, and comedy lasts forever.
Comments