Author | Zhou Qi

Editor | Shen Xuezhou

Design | Zhang Pengfei

I saw that the dubbing and soundtrack of "East Palace" have been adjusted. After being launched on Youku, director Li Muge, who had been busy all night, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The day before, the plot was supposed to be updated to the "famous scene" of the male and female protagonists jumping off the River of Forgetfulness together, but what caught the team off guard was that in the comments on barrages and Weibo, many viewers All reflect that the dubbing and soundtrack did not arouse *emotion. After discussing with the team and the platform, Li Muge decided to make changes overnight. He hurriedly left a message on Weibo and said, "I have seen everyone's messages, and I will rescue them. If I still can't satisfy everyone or feel better, I will be punished with a glass of Wangchuan water." Bar……".

In fact, both Li Muge and the producers Youku and Tang De have tried this kind of operation method for the first time. The relaunched version immediately aroused enthusiastic responses from fans. The topic "Donggong Director's Favorite Fans" once appeared on Weibo's hot search list. Many netizens expressed their desire to re-watch the adjusted classic scene of "Jumping into the Forgotten River", and some even He expressed that he would add stars to the rating of "East Palace" on Douban.

Under the catalysis of this incident, the "Donggong Girls" became a spontaneous group of fans. They were active on barrages and social media, making "Are you in love? Destroy your entire clan" "," "There are glass shards in the sugar" and other emoticons created a new term "Hua Mei Opera" and spontaneously promoted the series. At present, "East Palace" has topped the list of popularity on the Internet, surpassing "The Soul" twice within a week and becoming the drama category champion in the Weibo Super Chat community.

In the view of Li Huan, the chief producer of "East Palace", this is in line with the expectations for the positioning of the series. As a drama adapted from a well-known online IP, "We care about the fans' opinions from the beginning. As long as they like it, it may influence the people around them."

But this approach seems too advanced in 2016, when the pursuit of large production and large traffic is the trend. "East Palace", which was launched that year, also faced many unknowns. "What is the core of the original work? Where are the actors who fit the characters? Do we need to shoot in real locations? Do we need to make adjustments after it goes online?" Li Huan told "Three Voices" that choices had to be made every day during the entire process.

In the end, the adaptation of "East Palace" tried to restore the original work as much as possible, using new actors who fit the role and were more committed, and used a large number of real-life shooting. "I feel very lucky that our choices and firm decisions all paid off in the end," Li Huan said.

As an IP adaptation, although "East Palace" is still difficult to break out of the industry, it has initially mobilized the participation of the fan circle in all aspects from early creation and production to later adjustments based on feedback. Spend. For both the creator Tangde Film and Television and the platform Youku, this is an experiment to allow closer interaction between the work and fans.

"If you ask me to talk about my experience in making IP dramas, the first thing I have to ask is do you love it?"

After changing owners several times, the 2016 TV series adaptation of "East Palace" The copyright belongs to Tangde Film and Television.

At that time, IP dramas with heroines were popular on the screen. After "The Legend of Zhen Huan", more than 20 dramas with heroines in costumes were successively approved. Among them, "The Legend of Wu Mei Niang", also produced by Tang De, set multiple ratings records in 2014.

"East Palace" is Tang De's new attempt at the market level. In the view of producer Li Huan, unlike "The Legend of Wu Mei Niang", which focuses on historical interpretation, "East Palace" is one of the most influential works of the representative figure of Internet literature, Bandit Wo Sicun, and has strong Internet attributes. And with a huge fan base, it is more suitable to start from the demands of fans of the original work and carry out in-depth creation based on the characteristics of the IP itself.

When choosing the main creator, Li Huan first thought of young director Li Muge, who had signed a contract with Tang De for many years. Previously, Li Muge not only served as the executive director of the drama "Three Kingdoms" directed by Gao Xixi, but also has practical experience in costume dramas. He has also filmed many urban emotional dramas and is good at delicate emotional control. This is in line with the needs of character relationships and emotional levels in "East Palace".

More importantly, both of them are fans of the original work. "I really like the lingering and pathos love in the original work, and I have the urge to film this story." Li Muge said to "Three Voices", "The text description of the novel is very artistic, but how to transform the artistic conception into The script, lines and lens language are quite difficult.”

From the inception of the project to the broadcast, the production cycle of the series exceeds three years, of which nearly two years are spent just polishing the script.

Compared with many IP dramas that are not sure about their adaptation, the adaptation strategy of "East Palace" was very clear from the beginning: "The two-stage emotional setting and the sadomasochistic character relationship in the original work are the key to the adaptation. It’s very classic. So almost all the characters, character relationships, and core plots have been retained as much as possible.”

Li Muge said that the most touching sadomasochistic love story is the core of this drama and needs to be refined to the extreme. Further refinement.

As for the plot, the "famous scenes" such as "meeting in the sand dunes", "catching fireflies to make love", "both jumping into the River of Forgetfulness", which fans of the original work talk about are restored to the maximum extent.

On the other hand, how to turn a novel of only a few hundred thousand words into a script of more than 50 episodes and 700,000 words while respecting the core of the original work still faces many difficulties.

First of all, the original work adopts the first-person perspective of the heroine Xiaofeng, and there is a lot of blank content except for the heroine’s own experience. However, script creation needs to start from an overall perspective and fill in the behaviors, logic, and motivations of all other characters, so that conflicts can be generated and the plot can be promoted. At the same time, since it is a fictional plot and involves multiple regional forces, a complete world view needs to be constructed in advance.

Secondly, the original work has a fragmented structure. The beginning is the plot three years later, and the memory parts appear interspersed in the book. However, in the play, the script needs to be restructured according to the dramatic structure and the order of plot development. .

In addition, due to the limited perspective, other characters in the original work only exist from Xiaofeng’s subjective perspective. Therefore, the screenwriter needs to add flesh and blood to each character to make each character three-dimensional and full.

Especially the male protagonist Li Chengyin, although all readers are already familiar with his actions of destroying Xiaofeng’s entire family in order to seize power, the audience needs to understand the transformation process and motivation behind him, and let his cold-blooded Rationalization of behavior. For example, plots such as carrying family feuds and seizing power were added to the play, and the motivations for Li Chengyin's killing spree against Xiaofeng's tribe, Danchi, were explained. "He is actually the most pitiful person with the most tragic fate in the whole show." Li Muge explained.

"Not only did he abuse the female protagonist, but he also abused the male protagonist, to the point where his liver hurts." A comment from a Douban netizen wrote.

The sadomasochistic relationship between Li Chengyin and Xiao Feng is the most interesting part of the whole drama, so every step needs to be paved with process before the true feelings can be revealed. In the original work, there was only one emotional scene between the two in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In order to make the emotion fuller and more real, the play added sugar-coated plots such as experiencing life and death together in quicksand, an underwater kiss scene, etc. that quickly heated up the emotion.

Due to the limited capacity of the original work, the presence of the second male lead Gu Jian in the book is not strong, but Li Muge hopes that all the characters in the play must be realistic. When he was rejected by Xiao Feng, Gu Jian, played by Wei Qianxiang, had a look in his eyes Full of sadness, it has become a classic in the eyes of many viewers. "When I shoot this kind of costume drama, I hope that the characters are based on reality. They are neither illusory nor illusory. The characters are all true feelings."

In Li Muge's view, The most important thing for IP adaptation is to "have a solid skeleton": "First of all, I have to analyze why this novel is good, why people like it, and what they like. Only in this way can I keep its good things and avoid copyright infringement. waste".

With the amount of investment in the first series of "East Palace", it is undoubtedly a huge risk to use a new person to play the leading role. "There were a lot of doubts at that time, saying that since new people were hired, was it necessary to invest so much? But we were still very determined." Li Huan said.

In order to find a suitable candidate for the leading role, Li Huan and Li Muge interviewed hundreds of actors, including a large number of already famous actors and newcomers. Finally, after repeated arguments, it was decided to hire a new person.

On the one hand, every fan has his own Xiao Feng and Li Chengyin in his heart. Compared with established actors whose images are relatively solid, newcomers can bring the freshness of "first meeting" to the audience. On the other hand, the plot requires actors to be relatively young. After being squeezed by fate, the two people face the choice and pain of love sincerely, so that the sadomasochistic emotions in the play can stand up. In addition, in Li Muge's view, newcomers' remuneration puts less pressure on production costs, and they have ample time, allowing them to devote themselves to the roles.

Li Chengyin's character in the play has rich layers. In the early stage, he was a sincere and ignorant young man "Gu Xiaowu", but in the later stage, he changed into a ferocious and crazy side. In order to help Chen Xingxu get into the role, Li Muge told him, "Everyone can say that Li Chengyin is a scumbag and that Li Chengyin is ruthless, but you should not understand him in this way, because you are him, and you have to get into the heart of the character."

During the half-year-long filming, whether on the set or after work, Chen Xingxu remained in the same state as Li Chengyin. People around him felt that he seemed to be different from before. . On the day when the whole drama was finished, Chen Xingxu sat on the ground and cried for 40 minutes. "This may be something we have rarely seen in so many years, an actor's immersion in the role." Li Huan said.

In the play, Xiaofeng is a carefree and unrestrained Xizhou princess, which fits perfectly with Peng Xiaoran in real life. “She is just a smart little girl, but she is the kind of person who gets silly when she opens her mouth. ". When performing, Peng Xiaoran will design many small actions for the character, while Li Muge needs to remove those elements of deliberate performance, "I will tell her, you are not doing this right, you are acting, you have to be."

Before filming, Li Muge spent two months intensively training the actors in various skills such as horse riding, martial arts, swordsmanship, etiquette, and body shape. In the play, difficult scenes such as Li Chengyin riding a horse while blindfolded and Gu Jianfei riding a horse were all completed by the actors themselves.

One of Li Muge's biggest insistence is to use a large number of real-life shooting, in order to enhance the sense of immersion in the actors' performances and the quality of the picture presentation. "Most of the people I use are newcomers. If they perform in front of a green cloth, it will be difficult for them to enter. I have to create a real environment and a real atmosphere that they can believe in."

But this also means The cost and difficulty of shooting have increased significantly. The entire filming took place in Beijing, Hengdian, Bashang and Dunhuang. The filming in Duobagou, Dunhuang, involved many major war scenes, and a convoy of up to 180 vehicles required a five-hour round trip every day.

Unlike some film and television bases, everything from extras to horses need to be transported long distances from other cities. There was a scene where two people experienced life and death in quicksand. The crew dug a pit as big as a house in the desert, installed a quicksand device, and had dozens of people operating it in a sealed sand pit, which was very dangerous.

But the effect is obvious. In addition to every frame being picturesque and bringing a strong visual impact, the actors who were originally relatively reserved also instantly entered their roles in the real scene. "We thought it was a bit clumsy at the time, but after going there, we discovered that the space you give the actors will eventually be realized in the picture." Li Huan said.

Being in the magnificent rivers and mountains, Li Muge often bursts out with inspiration while shooting. The scene where the two met for the first time, in which Xiao Feng and Li Cheng Yin, dressed in red, rolled down a sand dune and faced each other under a red gauze, was a temporary creation.

Although there is no clear dynasty in the original work, the aesthetic style and costume styling of the story need to have a basis.

The benchmark of aesthetics refers to the late Tang Dynasty, which was in the transition period from the luxurious Tang Dynasty to the minimalist Song Dynasty. Aesthetics can leave a lot of tolerance for creation. Some of the luxurious symbols of the Tang Dynasty are amplified, while in other places they are kept minimalist, ultimately achieving a sense of visual balance.

At the same time, each set of characters' looks needs to be designed differently according to changes in region and character personality. For example, in the early days, Gu Xiaowu was an elegant and lively young man; while Li Chengyin, who returned to the court of the Feng Dynasty, drew on elegant Song porcelain and ink landscapes for his early styling. After his personality changed in the later period, the colors and textures of his clothes became thicker and deeper. .

Regarding the color grading issue generally reported by the audience, Li Muge specifically emphasized that in the parts outside the Great Wall of Western Zhou Dynasty and Danchi, the color grading of the pictures was based on idol Wong Kar-wai's "Ashes of Time", and even during the filming , he would play the soundtrack of "Ashes of Time" to help the actors get into the scene. The part in Toyo Chao is based on Zhang Yimou's movie "House of Flying Daggers".

From script creation to filming, Li Muge described himself as always being in an exciting state of brainstorming: "All my pores and all my perceptions were open. That was what I was able to contribute at the time. The best thing."

Since the version with adjusted background music was put back online, "East Palace" has been called the "conscience after-sales" crew.

Generally speaking, the producers have completed the work on the work after the series is launched. But the crew of "East Palace" has been preparing 24 hours a day until now. Li Huan explained, "We didn't have the opportunity before, but now we hope to adjust all the problems as much as possible so that everyone can finally create this drama together."

In fact, the interaction between "East Palace" and fans It started much earlier. Before the project was launched, the team first conducted a round of preliminary work around the original work and fans. Li Huan revealed that the original author Bie Wo Sicun's recognition of the adaptation by Tang De gave him and his team great confidence. Li Muge had also seen the edited video of Station B's UP host based on "East Palace" and had hundreds of thousands of views. From then on, the audience's expectations made him feel invisible pressure.

During the middle and late stages of filming, a Weibo netizen recommended the song "Love" to Li Muge. This song is recognized as the best background music in all "East Palace" edited videos, with both melody and lyrics. It fits the plot very well. Later, the copyright of this song was bought by the crew and became an episode in the play.

At the same time, Youku, as an investor and platform, also established communication channels between users and the creative team throughout the project. From the early stage of script creation, actor selection, filming and production to the post-launch period, user information is immediately fed back to the film studio, which also successfully releases the synergy between the platform and the producer.

Zhu Yanchun, head of Youku Content Operations Center, told "Three Voices": "The first trailer of "East Palace" was a 'bloodbath' at Station B, which caused a great response. This kind of feedback and calls made us I cherish it very much and hope that the experience it brings to users will get better and better, and the positive cumulative value will be reflected every time."

Before the launch of "East Palace", the original plan was adjusted from a joint broadcast by Taiwan and the Internet. It is broadcast online, so it needs to be re-edited according to the viewing habits of Internet users.

For example, the previous version was based on the Taiwanese Internet drama model of "Ancient Costume Legend" and laid out many narrated plots at the beginning. However, according to the habits of Internet audiences, the key plots need to be advanced earlier. Let Xiao Feng and Li Chengyin meet each other in order to increase the audience stickiness of the online broadcast. After several iterations of adjustments and demonstrations, the final version was launched.

The effect of "East Palace" after its launch was in line with Zhu Yanchun's expectations. Youku conducts user research on the show throughout, including "pre-test" viewing sessions before the broadcast, internal feedback such as barrages and Youku Planet during the broadcast, as well as monitoring user opinions on external channels such as Weibo and Douban. In addition, Youku backend can also see user behavior data such as drag and drop, completion rate, etc. Every day, Youku will synchronize these feedbacks that combine subjective and objective data to the film producers.

At present, Youku has also launched a series of extras including "The Death of the First Prince" and other plots at the request of the audience, adding more sub-plots. In addition, Youku and the producers are discussing to launch a B version of the ending when the series ends. "The direction of the story determines the final fate of the protagonist, and we also hope to give users more possible opportunities." Zhu Yanchun said.

But in fact, the adjustments after the broadcast were completely beyond Li Muge's expectations. In his opinion, some adjustments could have been avoided during pre-production, but oversights were caused by lax control of the process. Although he received an unexpected response, he believes that what is more urgent now is to improve the professionalism of all aspects of drama production and try to avoid regrets.

Internationally, American dramas and Korean dramas that adopt the simultaneous filming and broadcasting model have already realized the real-time reflection of audience feedback in content creation. However, in Li Muge’s view, with the current domestic drama production and broadcasting system and The degree of industrialization is still difficult to achieve in the short term.

But in any case, "East Palace" has taken a small step in this direction. In Li Huan's view, this kind of real-time interaction with fans can be expanded to more aspects of creation in the future. "For the next drama, some favorable adjustments may be made from the script to production."

And this mechanism of quickly responding to user needs may be an opportunity for future drama operations. "The "East Palace" model can be copied. Look at traffic stars, look at IP, and follow what is on the market. This is the traditional content production methodology. Today's methodology is different." Zhu Yanchun said.