"Linjiangxian" focuses on being short, flat and fast, and it clearly turns a long drama into a short drama; while "Lychees of Chang'an" reduces the original 70,000-word story into 35 episodes, which netizens jokingly call "99 steps to make a dish of cucumber."
On June 15, "Linjiangxian" starring Bai Lu and Zeng Shunxi exceeded 10,000 in popularity on iQiyi; the ancient costume drama "Lychees of Chang'an" starring Lei Jiayin and Yue Yunpeng, which was broadcast in the same period as this fairy tale drama, had only half of the number of full-length film playbacks of "Linjiangxian" on the Lighthouse network that day.
On June 15, the popularity value of "Linjiangxian" on iQiyi exceeded 10,000.
At a time when short dramas and short videos are booming, the narrative styles of these two long dramas can be said to be poles apart.
"Linjiangxian" focuses on a short, flat and fast pace. Although the costumes and props are not satisfactory, the "three marriages and three separations" of the male and female protagonists, a "divorce fairy tale" in which they kill each other more than they love, is an unusual ancient idol drama, whether from the hatred-filled character settings of the male and female protagonists, or the narrative rhythm of constantly switching time and space and memory. It turns a long drama into a short one very clearly.
On the contrary, "Lychees in Chang'an" has a strong sense of cinema in every frame, every choice of light and shadow, and every slow-motion shot. In terms of the plot, Ma Boyong's original work only has 70,000 words. When adapting it, the plot of Zheng Ping'an, who is looking for evidence of the left prime minister's corruption, was added. On the contrary, the main plot of Li Shande delivering lychees is progressing slowly. The story that could have been told in 15 episodes was expanded to 35 episodes, which was jokingly called "99 steps to make a cucumber salad" by netizens.
Stills from "Lychees in Chang'an"
Are "long dramas becoming short dramas" and "high-quality long dramas" absolutely opposite? What kind of long drama can really attract today's audiences?
Cao Dun, the director of "Lychees in Chang'an", said in an interview with CCTV that the biggest gain from filming this drama was to work with some new actors and use some new methods to tell the same story about Chang'an. He believes that every ingenuity of Ma Boyong makes him shine. Whether it is an adaptation of a drama, a movie or a TV series, it targets different audiences and the core groups are different, so different adaptations must fit their own carriers.
Cao Dun said, "The TV series takes into account that more people can have a little time to rest after work, and during the rest time, everyone can have a more pleasant experience." His goal is to let more people turn on the TV after dinner, hold their mobile phones, and watch a good story in a relaxed manner.
When Yu Zheng talked about the production of "Linjiangxian" on Weibo, he said, "I am more demanding than ever before for this drama. Every emotional point must make the audience laugh or cry, the sense of empathy must be infinitely magnified, and there must not be a single second for the audience to leave." He believes that "in the new era, there must be new ways to attract the audience, and the best way is to make sure they can't leave from the first second."
Yu Zheng said, "This is an era of learning and experimentation. Don't be afraid of losing face, don't be afraid of failure, and don't wait until you are sitting high up and there is no one in the audience to regret it."
It is not difficult to see from the speeches of the main creators of the two dramas that different people in the industry have many completely different opinions on the production methods of current long dramas. Each person has his own reasons.
Previously, when the executive producer of "News Queen 2" Zhong Shujia was interviewed, he also talked about the production of long dramas under the impact of short dramas.
Zhong Shukai said, "When watching short dramas, the tolerance of all audiences becomes much wider. They don't mind if the plot is melodramatic or unreasonable. But for long dramas, as soon as you sit down to watch, I will find fault with you. If you are a crime drama, I will see if your logic is right. As long as they don't understand, they will think you are unreasonable. It is definitely not because they don't understand, but the audiences nowadays are impatient."
The author believes that it is not so much that the audience is "impatient" as that there are too many dramas for the audience to choose from. Some audiences seek to remove the dross and retain the essence, and slowly savor it; some audiences just want a fast-paced output and focus on a sense of excitement. The emotional value that each vertical audience needs to get from watching dramas is different from before. In a nutshell, if a drama cannot impress the audience in the "golden first three episodes", why should people wait until more than ten episodes to savor your chaff? And if a drama has a melodramatic plot but no appropriate emotional expression to carry this melodrama, then the audience will sooner or later stay away.
To be honest, in the same time slot, the audience can accommodate more than one drama in terms of viewing time. For example, I am following "Lychees of Chang'an" and "Linjiangxian" at the same time, and I often wonder how great it would be if the narrative rhythm of these two dramas could be neutralized. A little more melodrama and excitement from "Linjiangxian", and a little more detail and emotion from "Lychees of Chang'an"; a little less abrupt twists from "Linjiangxian", and a little less dragging side plots from "Lychees of Chang'an"... As the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little, and just right is precisely the most difficult.
In the final analysis, the current film and television practitioners should demand that the drama itself be good-looking. This kind of good-looking requires that it should be good-looking within the volume of a 45-minute episode without affecting the narrative rhythm, and it should also be good-looking when it is cut into slices and spread on short video platforms. Otherwise, even if the cuts attract people, they will fall asleep after watching two episodes. In this case, no matter how much investment is made, it will be a waste of effort in the end.
