Edit | Li Chunhui

After the New Year's Eve of "Rivers and Rivers" and "Do You Know", the noon sun once again appeared the situation that the left hand hit the right hand. "I am Yu Huanshui" was broadcast in Youaiteng on April 6, and "Qingpingle" was broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV on April 7, only one day later.

The former is produced by Iqiyi and Noon Sunshine Film, with Wang Sanmao and Lei Zi as screenwriters, directed by Sun Molong and starring Guo Jingfei, and adapted from If There Is No Tomorrow, an award-winning work of Hundred Flowers Literature Award. It tells the story that Yu Huanshui, a middle-aged social animal, began to reflect on life and subvert the past after suffering from a terminal illness. It is worth noting that this is a short play with 12 episodes broadcast on the net.

The latter is jointly produced by Noon Sunshine Film, Zhonghui Film and Tencent Video, supervised by Zhang Kaizhou, starring Jiang Shuying, Yang Le, and adapted from the novel Lonely City of Milan. The 69 episodes of the whole drama show Song Renzong Zhao Zhen's behavior and character through courtship and love for children.

In the field of realism and urban topics, Noon Sunshine just released an explosion drama "Everything is OK" last year. As soon as Guo Jingfei appeared in I am Yu Huanshui, the audience began to brainstorm in minutes. And "Qing Ping Le", also starring Wang Kai and featuring costume dramas, is not difficult to remind people of "Nirvana in Fire".

However, after the broadcast, Yu Huanshui continued the collapse of middle-aged people, but with a more cutting-edge attitude. The perception of Qingpingle is changing from Nirvana in Fire 2.0 to Tiansheng Long Song 2.0, but its excellent production is difficult to catch the audience's eye.

Two new dramas, one long and one short, one ancient and one present, are like the past noon meeting the present noon, and the past of China's drama meeting the future of China's drama.

After a hasty filing and renaming, Lonely City Closed (now called Qingpingle) finally met the audience. Familiar dynasties, familiar Cassie, familiar elegant colors, and familiar opening of the origin of the universe all make the audience dream back to what they know. Director Zhang Kaizhou's professional ability was once again questioned.

Renzong in Qing Ping Le is the protagonist of "civet cats for princes" in history. The first two episodes mainly talked about his life experience when he was young. He tried to resist the queen mother several times, but was held down by people around him, so he had to continue to maintain his appearance.

Information is valid information. Fear of adoptive mother, debt to biological mother, what people see and hear, and getting along with teachers will all be related to the subsequent plot. As an emperor, he can't care for his family as he pleases, which is also the tragic root of the whole play.

The problem is that these prehistoric times can be explained by flashbacks when necessary, but Qingpingle paved a gentle road and occupied the "prime time" at the beginning. Emphasize one thing from this angle, and then emphasize one thing from that angle, so that Wang Kai, an adult Injong, appeared at the end of the second episode, with a juvenile version played by a newcomer in front.

It's not that newcomers are not necessarily good, but they are certainly not as attractive to TV viewers as stars. You know, many dramas appear for the first episode, but they don't hesitate to let people in their thirties and forties play teenagers. Do you know that "Qing Ping Le" and "Qing Ping Le" run in the opposite direction, which may be a sign of confidence in the content, but this time the audience seems unwilling to wait.

On the one hand, under the cultivation of massive content supply and the double-speed function of video websites, it has become a fact that the audience lacks patience in chasing dramas. What's more, I've seen a lot of bones in recent years, symmetrical composition and exquisite service, and it's not that expensive. We will not be lenient with the plot because of these "ingredients".

Domestic drama has the tradition of costume drama, and there are many excellent works in its early years. Later, under the impact of ancient puppet shows and mother-in-law dramas, it gradually declined until the birth of Nirvana in Fire on 20 15, which once again set off a "power-seeking fever".

Although "Nirvana in Fire" was not popular at that time (at first, it was to drive away customers, open low and walk high ...), it had a far-reaching impact. It proves that Internet IP can be made into a "drama" in line with mainstream values, and it also proves that this seemingly serious drama can be accepted or even sought after by young people on the Internet. By the way, the visual aesthetics and corresponding marketing of this kind of works are also compared.

Since then, a number of dramas with high tactical content have begun to appear in the market, such as "The Story of the Clouds on the Sea in Kyushu" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", as well as "Tiansheng Long Song" and "Crane Claw Huating", which were changed from female-frequency dramas to male-frequency dramas.

At first glance, the style of this kind of drama is higher than that of the palace fight Marisu and the fantasy fight monster, which were popular at the same time. If you look closely, there will often be situations where the script drags the actors and the production hind legs. The intelligence quotient of the Machiavellian drama is not enough, and the atmosphere is together. Let's pretend to be profound together. In order to balance the sky-high pay and production cost, 60 or 70 episodes are shot frequently, with slow pace and unnecessary water injection.

In a word, it looks beautiful, but it is not very attractive.

In addition to the doubts of the audience and the indifference of the platform, in recent years, the "ancient orders" and "collection orders" of the General Administration of Taxation have restricted the theme of Machiavellian and palace fighting, and advocated realism and "small righteousness (small cost, big feelings, positive energy)", which has also dealt a heavy blow to costume dramas that burn money.

There are indications that the era of Machiavellian drama is coming to an end, and even the midday sun that participated in the creation of this era cannot be retained-or has no intention of retaining it.

This result is actually not unexpected. In Hard Sugar Jun's view, Yu Huanshui is more experimental than profitable, although it is not as weird and changeable as her imperfection:

Exquisite short plays and serious literature IP are all new outlets that have been repeatedly mentioned but not yet verified; The realistic background "Shuang Drama" has been exploded overseas (such as "itaewon Class"), but there is no similar case in China. The appearance of "I am Yu Huanshui" has really refreshed many viewers, and only 12 episodes have attracted a lot of goodwill.

In fact, looking back at the history of the midday sun, its sense of smell is quite keen. From the Internet IP craze to the theme of returning to reality, from the image of urban groups to annual gifts, important industry turning points are almost never absent. Of course, not every attempt will succeed.

This is the reason of the team itself. On the other hand, Noon Sunshine is one of the traditional production companies that first contacted the Internet, and established a relationship with video websites earlier. It is also a partner of Sohu Video, the first "network-Taiwan linkage drama" on the whole network, "Please close your eyes when he comes", and the first "Ghost Blowing Lights" in Tencent video series.

This time, as the main promoter of the short drama of 12, after cooperating with a circle of film companies, iQiyi finally found a more appealing midday sunshine in the field of TV dramas.

So, how is the performance of I am Yu Huanshui? As mentioned earlier, the narrative technique of the play is not clever, but it is basically normal. The wife cheated, the boss was ruthless, the father sucked blood, his performance was crushed by his apprentice, and he went to his mother's house for dinner and was ridiculed by his brother-in-law. He can't beat his good neighbors, nor can he cure his friends who owe money ... In just two episodes, the audience followed Yu Huanshui and was beaten 360 degrees by society. There is no respite in the middle, and some young people are directly cheated.

The reason why it can be established lies in the positioning of absurd comedy to a great extent. Most people agree that this drama is to extract the crisis that may be encountered in the life of middle-aged social animals, and then express it in a playful and exaggerated way. Whether it is abused in front or attacked behind, there are some allegorical meanings. Comedy alleviates the sense of distortion caused by the characterization, and also dilutes the preaching tradition of the old-school realistic drama, which is more network (in contrast, if the years can go back, the protagonist's crazy value output).

As the protagonist, Yu Huanshui is also the satirized party. He has a high-spirited past, but gradually turned himself into a greasy man full of low-level lies. He was only handsome for three seconds after the fight. He went to a nightclub to have fun and was taken away by the rich woman ... ahem, in short, the creator didn't mind portraying his personality defects and showing his ugliness. The audience can empathize with or pull away from the whole, which is also an effective way to open the real theme.

The only worry is whether Gen Hongmiao can balance the coolness and reality, satirical catharsis and mainstream values at noon, and don't come back to the final "everything is fine" emergency reconciliation.

No matter from the favorable policies or the guidance of public opinion, it is the general trend to produce upgraded short plays and innovate the expression of realistic themes. But ironically, the two are only iterations of super-long dramas and luxury costumes, and they are very directional. The sunshine at noon seems to come hand in hand this time, but isn't it "I backstab myself"?

With the launch of Qingpingle and the polarization of its response, the topic of whether Noon Sunshine is praised is heating up again. In fact, as mentioned above, the advantage of the midday sun is that it is willing to try and can stand trial and error. But not every type can be played well, and many people quit the track after trying.

According to the information known on the Internet, Noon Sunshine has no new clothing items after Qingpingle. There are two dramas that the team is best at "Little People, Big Times": "Rivers and Rivers 2" and "Qiao's Children", which took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the reform and opening up -2008 respectively. The selling point of falling flowers, adapted from Anai's novel, is said to be a love story of middle-aged people. However, judging from the synopsis of the plot, the encounter between the hero and heroine in their youth may also bring changes to the times.

There are two modern military TV plays. One is a relaxed military life drama "We are Young" (formerly known as "Junior Officers are Young"), starring Wan Qian, Qin Hao and Jackson Yi. At present, it is in the state of shooting and broadcasting. The other is an "overseas group" that cooperates with Lan Xiaolong, and its positioning is "overseas blood chase drama". Project 20 17 was officially announced, but nothing happened.

Education theme is a hot topic in recent two years, and Ning Meng has gained a firm foothold in this field. Little parting, little happiness ... this year, Xiao Shede came again. At noon, the sun missed the protagonist. Last July, another film "In the Name of My Son" was put on record. The play, adapted from Weixi's novel of the same name, tells the sadness, joy, hardship and reconciliation of the parents of three poor students. Looking at it from another angle, it can also be regarded as a female group drama. The three protagonists are all mothers, so it seems that the topic of "widowed parenting" can be booked.

Also filed in July last year was My Superhero, originally written by Bao Jingjing, the screenwriter of 33 Days of Broken Love and Flash Girl, which was originally named My Hero, and told the story of a hotelier who fell in love with a glamorous stewardess. Describing seemingly idol dramas can actually be classified as "I am Yu Huanshui", both of which are chicken blood dramas of male compatriots.

In addition, in March this year, online writer Prayer Jun broke the news that Noon Sunshine bought the film and television copyright of his novel "The Beginning" through infinite flow, and revealed that there would be two versions of the film and television drama. Although it feels impossible, if both versions are made in the midday sun, it will be their first film.

In other words, this time, it is no longer who can spend more money and whose topic is more curious, but who can make a different taste of ordinary reality, resonate with the audience, and show insight and thinking about society in his works. We wait for the good news.