In the list of Chinese TV dramas shortlisted for the Magnolia Award at the 28th Shanghai TV Festival, many "phenomenal" works appeared. What kind of characteristics do they have that can make the audience unforgettable? On June 19, Hu Zhifeng, chairman of the TV drama category jury of the Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Awards, was in the chairman's master class of the "Magnolia Dialogue" TV forum. 6 works, including The World, Menghualu, County Party Committee Courtyard, and Hurricane, shared with the audience my observations and thoughts on the "phenomenal" works of Chinese TV dramas in recent years. He believes: "A work that can become a 'phenomenal level' must not only have a single attribute, it should be a combination of various complex characteristics."
Epic panoramic presentation cannot lack details
"From ancient times to the present, the classic works we have seen have a rule, which is to make epic improvements." Hu Zhifeng said that works such as "Mountain and Sea Love" and "The World" can be called "epic". "County Party Committee Compound" may not be regarded as an epic work, but its panoramic presentation of the development of Chinese society is also the tonality of "epic works".
Hu Zhifeng
"The success of "Mountain and Sea Love" is to put the theme of 'helping the poor and running towards a well-off society' in a more permanent perspective, and upgrade it into an epic work, which has completed a breakthrough in time and space, pattern, and realm." " "County Party Committee Compound" is also related to poverty alleviation, but it is different from "Mountain and Sea Love". While it shows the landscape of Chinese social development in the new era in a panoramic manner, it also directly points to the working and living conditions within the county system. "The contradiction between environmental protection and ecology and economic development, and the contradiction between people's livelihood and economic and social development are very contemporary," Hu Zhifeng said. There are about one or two hundred characters in this play. Teachers, doctors, farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, students, etc., cover almost all of them, with a very broad field of vision, covering political, economic, social and other issues, with a very rich perspective."
"The World", which he commented as "a peak work of Chinese TV dramas in the past 10 years", is, in his opinion, the "civilian epic" of the Chinese people. "If we need to find an image that most vividly reflects the love, hatred, family life, and daily life of Chinese people in the past half century, I think there is nothing more appropriate and suitable than "The World." He said. Said that this play has been written from the 1960s to today, spanning more than 50 years, "has a very full sense of history."
To be a successful "epic work", you can't just rely on theme enhancement or panoramic presentation. Hu Zhifeng said that great screenwriters speak in trivial details. "For example, "Mountain and Sea Love" revolves around relocation funds, children's schooling, elderly support, and everyone's employment. These are very mundane and realistic things. The mundane and trivial things become a content with more emotional impact and appeal." He said that "The World" did the same thing, "The crew collected old objects at that time everywhere in the three northeastern provinces, as large as pots and pans. Basins, as small as wall calendars and old newspapers, are to restore the most authentic history of Chinese social changes in the past half century. This sense of history evokes everyone’s youthful memories, childhood memories and family memories, and every Chinese People's love and hatred, joys and sorrows, and family changes are all closely related."
Break the inertial thinking and find the resonance of the times
In recent years, realistic creation has become one of the most basic characteristics of "hot styles". As a researcher of realistic creation, Hu Zhifeng believes that no matter it is the creation of major themes, historical themes, or even costume idol themes that were once considered "suspended", as long as we adhere to the spirit of realism and break the "routines", we can create meaningful works. A representative work of temperature and empathy.
In Hu Zhifeng's opinion, the creation of major themes is "actually a propositional composition". The general point of view is that propositional composition will tie the creator's hands and feet and limit artistic expression, but "Mountain and Sea Love" and "Awakening Age" have broken this inertial thinking. For the commonality of these works, Hu Zhifeng used a word "out of the box" to describe: "'out of the box' is reflected in the fact that it is not conceptualized, and it is particularly artistic."
"The Age of Awakening" is a major theme creation, but it completely eliminates slogans and conceptualization. Screenwriter Long Pingping and Hu Zhifeng are old friends for many years. During the exchange between the two, Long Pingping once told Hu Zhifeng that he chose to restore the details of life in the early days of the founding of the party, and use "true details" to show the "power of history". "When Chen Duxiu launched the revolution in Tokyo, he was expelled by the Japanese authorities. Teacher Long Pingping did a very detailed research on his life before and after, including what he ate and what he ate on which occasion in Tokyo, and what the weather was like at that time. Back in Shanghai and Beijing, where Chen Duxiu lived, the environment of this place, his daily work, the details of his diet and daily life, and even down to what he ate for each meal, a lot of textual research has been done.” He said The result of this textual research is that "Awakening Age" can withstand nitpicking, "It may be different from our previous textbooks, or even the party history landscape in film and television dramas, but it can shock the audience and feel like they have returned to the scene of history. .”
Breaking the routine and finding a point of resonance with the current audience has also become one of the reasons for the success of the costume drama "Menghualu". Under the cloak of ancient costumes, it is contemporary and contemporary. Hu Zhifeng believes that the story of this play took place in the Song Dynasty. "The thoughts of this dynasty were relatively conservative and even imprisoned, but the culture and social life were relatively open. Poetry, poetry and art were very active, and business was also very prosperous. This drama has found a combination point with the inheritance and innovation of the current Chinese culture, and found the joy of life, family and country feelings and the spiritual value of Chinese culture from it-these, from today's perspective, are still valuable."
"Hurricane", which describes the anti-crime storm, also did not follow the usual path. It attracted everyone's attention at the beginning of its broadcast because of its outstanding highlights, that is, "dare to face sharp real problems", and conducted an in-depth dissection of the very complicated contradictions existing in the city of Jinghai. But when the audience saw the later stage, they were actually attracted by Gao Qiqiang played by Zhang Songwen. Hu Zhifeng said: "It is difficult to balance the shaping of positive and negative characters, but this drama has made a considerable breakthrough, and the scale of content presentation is not small. Now it seems that Zhang Songwen's performance is still very appropriate. Of course, regarding the negative The issue of character creation, and the resulting ending was considered too hasty, is also a topic that needs to be further explored."
