"Short drama chasing videos" refers to the marketing materials, highlight clips, tidbits, and secondary creations of episodes on the short video platform, including commentary, mixed editing, inventory, etc. Chasing dramas and short videos is an important entertainment method for contemporary college students after school. What kind of attitude do they hold to this emerging style of Internet literature and art? We conducted targeted research and interviews, and here are the specific feelings of six college students.

Comply with fragmented communication and broaden the choice of watching dramas

A 2019 undergraduate student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology: I don’t watch dramas very often, one a month, but I watch about two or three short videos every day, but they are basically passive watching, and most of them are plot induction. Only when I encounter a TV series that I particularly like, I will take the initiative to search for "second creation" content related to this TV series on various platforms.

The short video of chasing dramas has changed my habit of chasing dramas to a certain extent. In the past, I followed a certain drama because it was recommended by the video platform or discussed by friends around me, but now if I am interested in a certain drama, I will first watch related short videos on the Internet to learn about the drama in advance. My overall understanding of the series will be affected by these short videos. If the content of the series presented in the short videos of the series does not meet my expectations, I will lose interest in the series. In addition, the short video of chasing dramas has broadened my field of watching dramas. On traditional long video platforms, I usually look for new episodes according to the classification given by the platform, but short videos of chasing dramas will push me some that I have never touched. type of content.

For me, chasing short videos of dramas provides entertainment value; for drama producers, it is a very good means of publicity; , is the driving force behind the innovation and development of drama series. In general, I have a positive attitude towards short videos of chasing dramas.

A 2019 undergraduate student from the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence Education, Central China Normal University: I watch dramas quite frequently, one drama a week. I mainly watch two or three-minute short videos of the plot summary type, especially those with horror and suspense themes, because it allows me to quickly grasp the content of the episode. With the "companion" of the commentary, I can also accept many horror clips. In fact, the rise of short videos for chasing dramas is because it conforms to the era of fragmentation, is convenient, short-term, and caters to users' viewing needs.

Although chasing short videos of dramas is gradually occupying our daily life, it has not had much impact on my habit of watching dramas, it just enriches my entertainment viewing mode. I will still choose to watch a complete episode on the video platform. Because chasing short videos of dramas will limit people's thinking ability, I don't like being influenced by them.

I think chasing short videos of dramas is a double-edged sword. While stimulating the enthusiasm of creators and expanding the dissemination of film and television works, it may also divert the flow of film and television works and cause copyright disputes.

Give the original a new perspective of interpretation

A class of 2020 undergraduate student from the Law School of Shenzhen University: "Look carefully, the woman in front of me is Xiaomei. She received a call from the yoga studio, and her best friend who just passed away transferred her membership to her..." At the moment, with a similar There are endless short videos of chasing dramas at the beginning of the expression, which can be called "copy and paste". But in addition to the simple and crude plot summary, formulaic and templated commentary, there are also many short videos of chasing dramas that highlight originality. Some wrote the commentaries into beautiful poems, some compiled the lines into catchy raps, some used the opera accents of Peking Opera, and some refined the plots with in-depth thinking and unique viewpoints, endowing them with A new interpretation angle of the original work.

A certain producer's "Zhen Huan Biography" commentary video is a good example. Even though I have watched "The Legend of Zhen Huan" many times, I still get a lot of inspiration from his videos. In a certain video, he focused on Wei Lin, the apprentice of imperial physician Wen Shichu. As a supporting role, Wei Lin has a weak sense of "presence" in the eyes of ordinary audiences, but this video producer has discovered the shining points of the small role. After careful analysis, he believes that Wei Lin is better at observing words and demeanor than Wen Shichu, so he has the ability Replaced the master and became Zhen Huan's confidant in the later stage of the plot. To a certain extent, this interpretation also makes the arc of characters that were originally missing more complete.

Short videos of chasing dramas like this can often "see what people haven't seen, think what people haven't thought about", which has subtly changed people's inherent prejudices about characters. They are full of highlights and wonderful, not only very "dinner", but sometimes make you not think about eating and drinking, just want to catch up.

Be wary of being led away by "algorithms"

A 2023 graduate student from the School of Economics and Management of the University of Hong Kong: Every time I watch the video, I will see short videos of chasing dramas. As long as I click on an entry related to the drama, its related short videos will be frequently pushed. In fact, I was caught The algorithm "circles" in. It is difficult for me to judge whether I am actively or passively watching the short video, because I am active when I open the entry, and I am passive when the short video is pushed, but after watching this short video completely, it seems that I have become took the initiative.

Watching short videos of dramas has broadened my choice of watching dramas and exposed me to more works, but it has never been able to fully show the drama. In fact, it is not difficult to find that most of the creators of short video clips are repeatedly editing the highlight moments in the series. Generally speaking, they are too streamlined, which makes me feel that the experience is insufficient.

I don't want to encounter two types of short videos for chasing dramas: one is that there are a lot of spoilers without a complete update of the drama, and the other is that the video quality is extremely poor and affects the perception. Especially the second type, they all have similar characteristics, poor copywriting, AI sound, earthy soundtrack, no taste, no value.

After the short video platform became popular, many film studios will use short videos for publicity, but the focus of publicity they choose may limit the audience. For example, when some movies were promoted, there were slogans such as "Couples must watch together", which gave me a bad impression of this movie. The negative impact of chasing short videos of dramas may also be the diversion of traditional film and television dramas. Many people around me feel that they have roughly grasped the content of the episode through short videos, and there is no need to spend time watching the full episode.

There is no substitute for the full viewing experience

A 2019 undergraduate student from the School of Economics and Management, Communication University of China: I watch dramas in a very fixed process: the video platform recommends mixed-cut videos of various new dramas to me. If I think a mixed-cut video is good, I will start watching it After watching the drama, if you still can’t get enough of it, you can go to the platform to continue watching related mixed-cut short videos. To put it simply, I watched the mixed-cut short video before starting to follow the drama.

I have tried to make some "second creation" short videos myself, so I can especially appreciate the characteristics of excellent short video works. The most important thing is the creator's directorial thinking, telling the story clearly and completely in a limited time, from major plots to emotional changes, and strive to immerse the audience in it. Of course, some ingenious designs can also catch the audience's attention, such as the selection of background music that perfectly matches the plot and rhythm, and the left and right sound channels are set to reflect the dialogue between multiple characters.

I don’t think watching short videos of chasing dramas can be called “chasing dramas”, because chasing dramas is actually a process, such as squatting in front of the screen on time, spending enough time and energy to go deep into the episodes and have a personalized experience. The spiritual value and emotional experience brought about by this process are completely different from those of short video dramas. And it is not difficult to find that the short videos of chasing dramas are similar, and they are the highlights of those few dramas. The limited creative materials limit the life cycle of these short videos, and their user stickiness is not as strong as that of traditional dramas. Naturally, they cannot be replaced. traditional drama.

A 2020 undergraduate student from the School of Journalism and Communication of Wuhan University: After watching a drama by watching short videos, can it be called "chasing drama"? I don't think so. It's like dismantling and cutting every piece of fabric on a piece of clothing, and the re-sewn clothing is obviously different from the original one. The same is true for fragmented short videos of chasing dramas. Some dramas have a delicate style and express warm feelings with abundant details, but many short videos of chasing dramas stay at the level of summarizing the plot, paying too much attention to the reversal of the plot and ignoring the key details. Some secondary creations have dispelled the serious values of the original work to a certain extent. For example, some short videos achieve funny and funny effects by highlighting the dramatic expressions of the villains, but let the audience forget their vicious bullying in the laughter. act. There are also some creators who "entrain private goods" in commentary videos, distort the original work with subjective views, mislead the audience, and even attract people's attention and provoke emotions for the sake of traffic, which has brought adverse effects.

The traditional way of chasing dramas cannot be replaced. However, the procrastinated TV dramas on the screen and the fast-paced urban life in reality make it inevitable that short videos of chasing dramas will appear and become popular. We need high-density information capacity, and we need to condense one hundred minutes of "raw material" into one minute of "essence". But when you come across a good drama that suits your taste, you might as well enjoy it completely, and carefully observe the transition of the camera, the delicacy of the details of the set, and the change of the actors' accents... Slow down, and you will get more rest and richer nourishment and deeper enlightenment.

(Arranged by Li Yizhan and Gu Shilan)