Recently, the urban fantasy romance drama "Filter" has aroused enthusiastic response in the market with its unique narrative perspective and innovative aesthetics. It has topped the major playback volume charts for many consecutive days and received a positive score of 7.3 on Douban.
The drama is centered around the "filter system" and tells the story of the heroine Su Chengcheng who accidentally obtains a mysterious filter that can switch between multiple identities, and embarks on an adventure journey of self-cognition and emotional redemption in the dual dimensions of workplace and emotion.
Stills from "Filter", starring Li Landi and Tan Jianci
The series transforms the beauty tools that modern people rely on into wearable technology devices. Through super-technological technology, the heroine Su Chengcheng can instantly switch between multiple identities such as a beautiful model, a female scientist, and a "tear-off" handsome guy, and interact with the male protagonist Tang Qi across dimensions. The setting of integrating surreal elements into realistic logic not only satisfies the audience's expectations for spectacular pictures, but also implies a metaphorical criticism of the "masked personality" in contemporary society. In the dramatic tension of "madness" and "burning", the appearance and identity anxiety in society are deconstructed in an exaggerated way; and the funny scenes in the play such as "alpaca rampage" and "jumping into the lake for love" have caused "viral spread" on the Internet, becoming one of the most unique series in the first quarter of 2025.
In a recent interview with The Paper, the director of the drama, Chen Yuejin, shared in depth the creation process of "Filter", the story behind the filming, and the theme that the drama wants to convey to the audience. He said that the drama originated from the observation of contemporary people's identity anxiety. In his opinion, in real life, many people are in a fragmented state of existence, such as "a refined circle of friends, a rough life", such as we live in different masks in the company and on the Internet. "Filter" is covered with the cloak of science fiction love, but it actually explores: when the world forces all of us to wear filters, how can we protect the self that may not be perfect but is real enough; in arrogance and prejudice, how can we let go of prejudices and accept the more real self.
Chen Yuejin on the set
【dialogue】
The core is the story and character emotions
The Paper : Many netizens jokingly call "Filter" a "crazy drama". With such a "flying" plot, how do you ensure that its logic and characters are reasonable and realistic?
Chen Yuejin : The core of all dramas, movies, and TV series is still the story and the emotions of the characters. So at the beginning, I put aside the so-called funny content in the play and started with the emotions of the characters, making sure that the context of the story, the motivations and emotions of the characters are accurate. If these are accurate, people will be more tolerant of those "abstract" parts when watching.
For example, Su Chengcheng is a sports student. She doesn't have a complicated brain circuit, but she has strong execution ability. In addition, her best friend is a cartoonist, who has a clear mind and is quick to accept new things. So they quickly accepted this setting in front of the filter system, as if it was something they could do. Tang Qi is a well-educated and serious person. He has to have scientific evidence to support everything. When these three people are put together, there will be a chemical reaction, and everyone will find it very funny.
That is to say, we need to have a reasonable framework, and then add absurdity and humor to the framework. For example, Su Chengcheng transformed into the two-dimensional Monkey King to punish her colleagues who bullied her, and Su Miao and Tang Qi dated and Tang Qi jumped into the lake for love. We always start from the character's personality, preferences, and behavior habits to find a way to deal with the character's behavior that is both funny and reasonable.
Stills from "Filter"
The Paper : Tan Jianci and Li Landi are both outstanding actors. Can you talk about your collaboration with them this time?
Chen Yuejin : Jianci and Landi, these two actors are very well suited to their roles. Tan Jianci played Tang Qi very well, while Li Landi has the same fierceness as Su Chengcheng. So now everyone can believe this story, mainly thanks to the actors.
And because we didn't have CG shots in the early stages, a lot of non-property performances needed them to rely on their own imagination, so I might communicate with them about a scene, a fixed point, and make some reminder signs or dynamic previews to assist them in their performances. Coupled with their accurate understanding of the characters, it would make the audience feel very real and involved.
Chen Yuejin (first from left) on the set
The Paper : In the play, Su Chengcheng repeatedly changes her face into different people, so it takes multiple actors to interpret the character of "Su Chengcheng". How to unify and differentiate their performances is actually a difficult point?
Chen Yuejin : Yes. In our play, each actor has two roles (laughs). Before filming, we will read together. After that, we will have a summary of the character of Su Chengcheng: what kind of person is she, how will she deal with some things, we will design some ways of walking for her, some ways of expressing emotions, and then everyone will do some unified exercises. Then, they will also observe Randy and watch Randy's previous plays. After observing, they will form a way to perform "her".
But we hope that their performances can be connected with Randy himself and the character of Su Chengcheng, and we also hope that everyone's performances can have some points that jump out of them. For example, Su Miao dances in a food stall, which is not something Su Chengcheng does in her daily life, but when she puts on Su Miao's mask, she will have this kind of unbridled feeling.
Stills from "Filter"
In the Fang Jin unit, there will be a lot of real and fake Fang Jins appearing in the same scene, which requires the actress Pu Tao who plays Fang Jin to be able to make her performance so that the audience can recognize the difference between the two at a glance. For example, the real Fang Jin's eyes are a little empty and his demeanor is hunched, while Su Chengcheng's version of Fang Jin holds his head high, his eyes are firm, and his body is agile.
In some scenes, we also use the camera to complete the transformation of the characters. For example, in the rainbow staircase, we used a long shot and replaced the fake Fang Jin with Su Chengcheng who appeared in the camera to reflect Su Chengcheng's inner turmoil at the moment and to establish her emotional connection with Tang Qi.
Stills from "Filter"
The Paper : The rainbow staircase is also one of the famous scenes. Can you talk about the creation details of that scene?
Chen Yuejin : We went to many places and looked at many stairs before we found the most suitable one in Ningbo. Ningbo rains a lot, so we repainted the rainbow several times to fix the color. At the same time, in order to achieve a better effect for the aerial shots, we conducted multiple tests and determined that five colors form a transition range, with three levels of transition colors in between.
Behind the Scenes of "Filter"
The Paper : The emotional development of the male and female protagonists comes not only from the repeated changes in their appearance, but also from the dislocation and contradictions in their inner cognition. This makes it difficult for them to truly connect with each other, resulting in a slow emotional development. How do you solve this problem?
Chen Yuejin : There are two aspects. The first is how can we make the visual presentation so that everyone can like them. Before the official shooting, all our creative departments had an in-depth discussion about the proportion of Su Chengcheng's original image and the transformed image.
For example, in the unit of Su Miao, why did we have another actor perform most of the scenes? Because in this unit, we wanted to create a misunderstanding: Su Chengcheng thought that Tang Qi fell in love with her beautiful appearance after her transformation. Then we also wanted to add some playfulness when Su Chengcheng put on Su Miao's mask and launched "revenge" on Tang Qi. So we used some performances and shooting techniques to show Su Chengcheng in Su Miao's inner world, so that the audience can always realize: In fact, this girl is Su Chengcheng.
In the next few units, although Su Chengcheng also has to transform into a different person, when it comes to the emotional sections of the characters, we basically use Su Chengcheng's original body to build emotions with Tang Qi, so that the audience can get it more: in fact, it is Tang Qi and Su Chengcheng who are experiencing and interacting together.
Stills from "Filter"
The Importance of Aesthetic Unity
The Paper : As a high-concept story, with some very "fantastic" scenes such as the heroine turning into an alpaca, an acupuncture bronze man, and a New Year picture doll, how did the creators make these things come true and make the audience accept their rationality?
Chen Yuejin : First of all, we need to convince the audience that the filter system can work. In terms of current technology, the filter system is a bit like using light and shadow to change the appearance of what people see, similar to the technology of projectors and AR, but a little more advanced. We have established a set of optical logic. For the bracelet equipped with the filter system, we made several versions of the plan at the beginning, but we felt that they lacked product quality.
The Paper : What does product nature mean?
Chen Yuejin : Product nature means that we did not think about the design logic of this bracelet as a product manager, such as who its users are and what pain points it needs to solve. So we changed our identities and thought about it, and now we have the candy-colored, intuitive and easy-to-understand UI interface. And every time we upgrade its interface, it will be different. For example, at the beginning, the entire interface texture was frosted, and the second upgrade made it more transparent, and after the third upgrade, there will be some optical particle effects.
Stills from "Filter"
The Paper : In terms of visual presentation, these very "flying" plots and the mixture of genre elements all require the director to unify them into an aesthetic system. I would also like to hear you share this process.
Chen Yuejin : Our preparation period is probably two to three times the average of a TV series. Because it is really hard to find accurate references in domestic TV series for this series, there is not much experience to learn from, and it is unconventional, so it takes a long time to explore. Although the whole story is "flying", it is still a science fiction drama. We must not only maintain the spectacle, but also make the audience believe it. This requires us to do more preparation and communication to make each department reach a consensus. For example, the communication with the special effects department and the photography department, I think the most important thing is the unity of aesthetics.
The Paper : Can you tell us about a scene that you think was the most difficult to realize?
Chen Yuejin : I think the episode that required the most cooperation from the director, photographer, special effects and other departments was the alpaca scene, because there is a consensus in the industry: filming children and animals is the most difficult. And alpacas are not often used animal actors, so they are difficult to control. Most of the scheduling and performances require us to cooperate with them on the spot.
Most of that scene was shot in real life, and some of it required CG for the alpaca in post-production, so we needed to make the alpaca's texture, lighting and other parameters very accurate and detailed when preparing for this scene in the early stages.
Stills from "Filter"
The second difficulty is that the entire episode takes place in Tang Qi's house, and it is almost entirely Tang Qi's one-man show, which requires solving the problem of drama, picture, and scheduling richness. Teacher Tan Jianci is indeed very good at acting. He knows how to interact with the alpaca to achieve the performance effect we want. In addition, we also made an emotional curve for this entire episode. At the beginning, he cared for the alpaca, then the alpaca rebelled, and then he analyzed his emotions, missed Su Miao, and then had some heartfelt dialogues with the alpaca. We also did a lot of work on camera scheduling and scene scheduling, and tried to add more small scenes in the space of Tang Qi's house to make this episode richer.
We selected this alpaca from a large number of alpacas. First of all, it had to match the body shape and feeling of Su Chengcheng, because in the plot, it was Su Chengcheng who transformed. In addition, this alpaca had to match Tang Qi, and they had to be harmonious in the same scene. By the way, as an aside, this alpaca is very healthy and likes to eat wolfberries (laughs).
The Paper : Everything you said about alpacas was quite “niche”. Do you think the creation of this work requires a lot of imagination and strong execution?
Chen Yuejin : Yes, when I first saw the script by Tong Hua, I also felt that it was too new and too advanced, and it was very difficult to shoot and a big challenge. The difficulty lies in how to bring the audience into the story while doing so many "flying" things.
Let go of your prejudices and accept your true self
The Paper : Are there any new attempts in terms of narrative rhythm and camera language this time?
Chen Yuejin : For example, we have a lot of designs for transitions, because this play has multiple people playing one role, and there are often many scenes in which many shots of characters need to be cut back and forth. If the cuts are abrupt, it will make the audience uncomfortable. We have thought of many ways to make transitions and switches smoother with the photography team, screenwriter team and other creative teams, such as how to move the camera in the panorama, where the camera is, how to connect the actors' performances, how to connect the shots, etc., and we talked about it in great detail. In addition, we also used some narrative methods of short plays, focusing on the amplification of information and the rhythm of the narrative, so that the audience can have a richer emotional experience and picture feeling in a single scene.
When I was creating "Filter" this time, I saw a review online: it has the core of a serious drama, the rhythm of a skit, the effect of a comedy, the creativity of a comic, and the details of a suspense film. This kind of review made me quite happy.
The Paper : The content and themes of "Filter" are very rich. What do you most want to convey to the audience?
Chen Yuejin : I think the story of "Filter" has a very basic expression framework, which is derived from our observation of the identity anxiety of contemporary people. For example, the so-called "fine circle of friends, rough life", for example, in the company, you wear a mask very tightly to be a person, and when you go home, you wear a mask to vent your emotions and pressure on the Internet. In fact, many people are in a very fragmented state of existence.
What we want to explore most is: when the world forces all of us to wear filters, how can we protect our imperfect but real selves? In addition, the screenwriter has already laid the groundwork for Su Chengcheng and Tang Qi's arrogance and prejudice in their youth, which is also the concept throughout our story: in arrogance and prejudice, how can we let go of our prejudices and accept each other's truer selves.
