How can a hit TV series break the curse of sequels? The challenge may lie mainly in two aspects.

On the one hand, when the first season of a high-quality show releases the freshness and uniqueness of new themes and new perspectives to the greatest extent, the audience's expectations are raised, and the "reproduction" of creation will inevitably only bring a big gap, and the "expansion" of experience is the "promised land". This tests the creator's expanded vision and depth of understanding of the characteristics of the subject matter.

At the same time, in terms of the serial operation of the content, from the surface stability of the participating cast to the deep continuity of the quality tone, it is a very specific and practical test of the operation and management of the drama. "Original flavor" is precisely achieved in the pursuit of these details. The resurgence of "Hunting Crime Picture Book 2" in the past month may have accurately answered these two questions.

"Hunting Crime Picture Book 2" poster

Zhang Yiyun, the chief producer of the "Hunting Crime Picture Book" series, said in an interview with The Paper that the core starting point of "Hunting Crime Picture Book" is to discover the perspective of portrait painters in the category of detective dramas. In our communication with her, we found that after two seasons of continuous thinking and development, the IP of this series is holding a bigger "key" - through the continuous and diversified opening of the "eye" and "ability" of art, trying to constantly have a brand new dialogue language for detective dramas, to form a new way of observing the world, human nature, reason, order and other big worldviews.

"Hunting Crime Picture Book 2" significantly presents the upgraded capabilities of "artistic detective work" in multiple dimensions, such as theme expression, narrative ability, audio-visual aesthetics, and character portrayal, giving the audience another impactful new experience of "artistic detective work".

As the core perspective, portrait artist Shen Yi changed from his job of "painting the skin and bones" in the first season to the exploration of "painting the heart" in psychological profiling in the second season. This may be the fulcrum change of the second season.

On top of this, the theme of the entire season has a more profound layout. "It not only explores the stories behind the cases, but also explores the good and evil of human nature behind the cases, radiating to a broader spectrum of human nature," said Zhang Yiyun. Through the various stories of "Hunting Crime Picture Book 2", we have indeed seen a more subtle moment of human nature in the diversified social hot topics, such as the more intense love and hatred in lonely souls, such as the reversal of human nature on the verge of life and death, such as the powerful power of the weak - the amazing "reversals" that often appear in this drama are not necessarily the reversal of the truth, but illuminate the cracks in people's hearts that have never been paid attention to.

The exploration of human hearts and human nature is obviously "dangerous"; this does not refer to the threat to the life of the explorer caused by the murderer, but the exploration of darkness, the offense to the boundary of reason, and the backlash to the explorer himself. Therefore, the upgrade of "Painting Heart" immediately brought new points in proposition expression and the relationship between characters: tracing the crime, when the murderer is locked, whether to trace the source of the evil psychology; myopia of the abyss black hole, how to determine the appropriate boundary; how to explore and empathize with the human heart without affecting the legal principle and conflicting the punishment...

"Shen Yi's character is more complex in this season. When his extreme artistic sensitivity and desire for exploration collide with his professional instinct as a simulated portrait artist, he will face more struggles and pain. And Du Cheng, as a guardian of procedural justice and the law, is extremely rational and objective. He will constantly discuss with Shen Yi where the boundary between this exploration and authority lies." In Zhang Yiyun's view, this new status among the core characters has brought a stronger sense of tension and newer drama to the second season.

At the same time, "Painting Heart" also opens up new space for this content system that pays great attention to the unique "Crime Hunting Aesthetics" and the shaping of textured audio-visual language. Unlike the first season of art detective work, which was mainly reflected in "portraits" and "crime scenes in famous paintings", in "Crime Hunting Illustrated Book 2", through painting, the external visualization of psychology is realized; in addition to painting, sculptures, sand tables and other art forms are used in the investigation; and the crime scene also presents a stronger sense of design, completing the spectacular shaping with more visual impact, such as the "Trojan Horse" and "Stage Drama" and other scenes, which use art to more deeply reveal the intensity of emotions and humanity behind the crime.

In fact, we can clearly see that all kinds of innovations are the best inheritance of the core genes of "Hunting Crime Picture Book". The fundamental value of this IP is that it opens up a new perspective and new space for the creation of detective dramas in the same content track, and it is an unprecedented supplement to the market audience with a younger, warm and literary suspense work. The innovation of "Hunting Crime Picture Book 2" closely follows the core elements and expands its capacity space, and fully penetrates the upgrade into the content system to achieve a tighter overall presentation from the outside to the inside. In such a chain of inheritance and innovation, not only has the single-season drama created a hit record, but it has also significantly left a clear path for subsequent creation and development.

Tan Jianci as Shen Yi

【dialogue】

From painting the skin and bones to painting the heart

The Paper : How long did it take from conception to completion of the script? What was the biggest challenge you encountered during this period, and how did the team overcome it together?

Zhang Yiyun : Because the "Hunting Crime" series is an original story, it took more than two years from creative conception to completion of the script for the second part.

One of the more serious challenges we encountered during the period was how to further combine art and criminal investigation based on the first season. The first season was "Crime Scenes in Famous Paintings". In the second season, we wanted to reflect the exploration of human nature, and finally chose a theme related to psychology. Under this premise, we accumulated more than 60,000 paintings with art directors, directors, screenwriters and other main creators, and had detailed discussions on brushstrokes, colors, and styles. Finally, we chose expressionism and surrealism, which resulted in the paintings presented in the film that are both relevant to the case and artistic.

In addition, the test of the play lies in how to further deepen and shape the character of Shen Yi, how to present the process of Shen Yi's exploration of the criminal personality, and how to visualize the exploration of the criminal's inner world. In the first season, Shen Yi's ability and rationality as a portrait artist have been established, so in the second season he needs to upgrade and grow in ability and predicament. In the background of Shen Yi's character, there is both the order and justice of the police, and the sensibility and empathy of the artist. Finding this fulcrum, we have found the main line of Shen Yi's second season.

Stills from "Hunting Crime Picture Book 2"

The Paper : The unique perspective of the portrait painter in the first part adds a lot of color to the series. What new explorations and innovations are there in the sequel in presenting the profession of portrait painter to avoid aesthetic fatigue among the audience?

Zhang Yiyun : Shen Yi has added psychological profiling skills, upgrading from painting the skin and bones to painting the heart. In this season, he is not only satisfied with completing a portrait, but also wants to explore the causes of crime in depth and prevent crime from the source. The audience will also follow Shen Yi's perspective from two-dimensional space to three-dimensional space to explore the deeper level of human nature.

The complexity of Shen Yi is increased, and the dramatic sense of the tug-of-war between his rational police identity and his emotional artist personality is portrayed, making this character more complete. And because of this tug-of-war from "compassion", his relationship with Du Cheng in this season also has rich space.

At the same time, in terms of Shen Yi's paintings, in order to better present his research on the "Atlas of Human Nature", compared with the realistic sketches that pursued accuracy in the first season, he used more abstract styles such as color and deconstruction to enrich the way of presenting the pictures.

Stills from "Hunting Crime Picture Book 2"

The Paper : As the chief producer, what is your evaluation of the overall performance of the actors in "Hunting Crime Illustrated Book 2"? Did they bring you any unexpected surprises when interpreting their roles?

Zhang Yiyun : The performances of the several actors in the Crime Hunters team have become more stable and mature, and they have a team spirit and a better understanding. This understanding is as if they have been together for the past few years, accompanying each other and growing together. When the actors returned to the scene and saw each other, they were able to quickly get into the role and get into the state, which is also an important guarantee factor for the sequel.

In addition, the new actors in this season also have their own unique highlights. Because it is a unit case, the emotions of each case are extreme and rich, and there are higher requirements for the actors to get into the heart of the role in a short time. Many new actors have also played a unique understanding of the characters and can provide more details during the filming on the set, making each character more colorful. The rivalry between the powerful actors has created wonderful sparks, and the power and complex psychology in those confrontation scenes are impressive.

The Paper : The original cast is back. What new breakthroughs and growth do you think they will have in shaping the characters in the sequel? Especially the leading actors. How do you interpret the emotional depth and complexity of the characters?

Zhang Yiyun : This season, the actors have a stronger belief in their roles. After three years, they have become more mature in their acting skills and have a deeper understanding of the characters. The actors were very involved in the filming process. During the filming, everyone would constantly try to figure out the performance of the characters. It was actually a co-creation process.

Shen Yi's character setting is more complicated in this season. He is a simulated portrait artist, an artist, and a policeman. So in the underlying personality of this character, there is a conflict between extreme sensibility and extreme rationality. In the second season, as an artistic genius, when his extreme sensitivity and desire for exploration in art collide with his professional instinct as a simulated portrait artist, he will face more struggles and pain. And interpreting such a critical point state is a great test for an actor. During the filming process, Tan Jianci grasped this measure very well and brought us many surprises.

Du Cheng has also grown significantly in the past three years. He is more stable, mature and delicate. He has gradually become like his master Captain Lei, more rational, and more determined in his professional beliefs and perseverance. Jin Shijia's performance also naturally integrates his personal charm and characteristics into the role, making Du Cheng feel safe and warm. He is a guardian of procedural justice and the law. He is extremely rational and objective. He will constantly discuss with Shen Yi where the boundary between this exploration and authority is. At the same time, he constantly broadens his cognitive dimension. In the end, Du Cheng pulls Shen Yi back to rationality. Therefore, Shen Yi and Du Cheng naturally have a dramatic conflict. Du Cheng showed a more mature ability to deal with these complex cases, and Jin Shijia's performance gave a very detailed portrayal of this.

Jin Shijia as Du Cheng

The Paper : In terms of casting, are there any new actors? What considerations did you base your selection on? What new vitality and highlights do they bring to the series?

Zhang Yiyun : The unit protagonists of "Hunting Crime" are complex and diverse in their settings, and this season our unit cases have a wider coverage, and the character relationships and emotional expressions are more extreme. When choosing actors, we must not only look at their compatibility with the role, and consider the actor's understanding of the role and performance ability, but also ensure that their external image and performance style are basically in the same aesthetic system, which is to achieve the unique tonality of "Hunting Crime".

The new actors who joined this season have given the show a very fresh vitality. They take their roles seriously and accurately present each character to the audience, thus bringing the audience into the case situation.

Fu Xiaoxian played Yuan Zhaodi, who performed the character's emotional changes layer by layer. When preparing for this role, she also wrote a very detailed character biography, and really put herself into the heart of the character Xiao Danke. Yue Xiaoke, who played Yun Lei, also wrote a separate story for the role of Yun Lei, and Jin Mengyi, who played Xiao Peng, contributed a very touching performance on the scene. These young actors' serious attitude towards the role and the final presentation were very surprising to us.

Fu Xiaoxian as Yuan Zhaodi

Yue Xiaoke as Yunlei, Jin Mengyi as Xiaopeng

Xie Keyin is the chosen Oli. Through her superb acting skills, she interprets the character's complex emotions, such as her beauty and generosity on the surface, her innocence and pity, her inner scheming and cunning, and her determination to never give up until she achieves her goal. At the same time, she is able to express the softest sisterly feelings incisively and vividly.

Xie Keyin as Aoli

Speaking of the new actors, we have to mention a very important character in the second season, Zheng Yunlong, who plays Fang Kaiyi. Whether it is his understanding of the character during the on-site shooting or the final effect, he is the best choice for this role.

Zheng Yunlong as Fang Kaiyi

His appearance actually brings new dramatic space and tension to the relationship between Shen Yi and Du Cheng, because he and Shen Yi are mirror images of each other in terms of personality, but they choose different paths. The inner persistence of this character and the contrast with Shen Yi, as well as the conflict brought to the original relationship between the characters, are not easy to grasp, but Zheng Yunlong, with his excellent acting skills and unique temperament, portrays this boundary-breaking scientist to the core. Every look of his accurately conveys the complex inner world of the character, and also adds a dazzling and unique color to the whole drama.

Three principles for selecting cases

The Paper : In recent years, the audience’s aesthetic tastes and preferences for criminal investigation and crime dramas have changed. How does "The Crime Hunter 2" cater to these changes and guide the audience?

Zhang Yiyun : With the trend of time fragmentation, the audience's viewing habits are also beginning to change. Therefore, "Hunting Crime" has chosen the form of a series of unit dramas, and two to three episodes are used to complete the beginning, development, turning point and ending of a story. At the same time, the audience has higher requirements for the narrative rhythm, and the structure of the unit drama has also established the audience's expectations, and the narrative can be efficiently completed in about two episodes.

The Paper : The current criminal investigation and crime drama market is highly competitive. How do you view the competitiveness and unique selling points of "The Hunting Crime 2" in such a market environment? What are the selection criteria for case types?

Zhang Yiyun : The "Hunting Crime Picture Book" series is a low-level detective drama. At the beginning of creation, we hoped that its tone would not over-describe the cruelty and bloodiness of the case, but focus on showing the emotions behind the case. We use bright light and shadow and warm tones, and add artistic elements.

We have three principles in selecting cases: First, they must be able to show Shen Yi's genius skills through his way of solving cases, including his insight into different human natures. In case design, we pursue a balance between strangeness and suspense, with elements such as bizarre criminal methods and strange crime scenes, and through clever suspense settings and reasoning processes, we keep the audience engaged and curious.

In addition, the case itself can care about different groups of people, and focus on selecting case types that can show the complexity of human nature and emotional conflicts, hoping to resonate more with the audience.

Finally, the case must be contemporary and reflect the emotions and situations of different groups from multiple angles and in a diversified manner. We hope to explore social hot spots and real-life issues through the case, and pay more attention to the portrayal of human nature and the expression of emotions in the process of solving the case, so that the audience can feel the complexity of human nature and the tension of emotions while feeling the story.