Original title: New path and new space for the refinement of Chinese opera from the drama "New Life"

On May 21, the "Freshman" expert seminar jointly sponsored by Youku, the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Radio, Film and Television Research Center was held in Beijing.

The seminar took the crime drama "New Life" of information difference in Youku White Night Theatre as a case to discuss. The experts and scholars attending the seminar reviewed the success of the drama in terms of typology, realism, artistry, etc., and exchanged views on how to further expand the new path and new space for the refinement of Chinese opera.

The crime drama "New Life", directed by the Olympic bid, still starring Jing Boran and Zhou, has been broadcast exclusively on Youku's website since May 6. It is also the first series launched after Youku's suspense theater was upgraded to a night theater. "New Life" opens with the death of the hero "Fei Ke". It spreads out the life of "Fei Ke" through the telling puzzle of the five "victims of deception" at the memorial meeting. It tells a story of Rashomon about human nature. It uses multiple time and space to cross narrative to show the thinking of different individuals about life choices, life circumstances and human desires, causing heated discussion and praise.

From the first film in 2019, "The Beneficiary", which focused on marriage fraud, to the film, "desperate", which reflected the fraud of Burmese Northern Telecom, to "New Life", which refreshed the way of playing the suspensive track of the national opera, the director of the bid for the Olympic Games started from one fraud to another, and explored and described the depth of human nature. At the seminar, the bid for the Olympic Games talked about the experience of running the track of the first drama series, saying: "What we shot was a crime drama about information difference. In fact, we played a game with the audience in the way of information difference shooting and playing. When the audience complained about the writer and director in the first six episodes, the answer in the seventh episode would clear up the misunderstanding in the first six episodes, and there were also seven, eight, and nine episodes that explained the life experience of the protagonist, until the final tenth episode. " Of course, he did not shy away from the controversy caused by the ending of the play. He said that the criticism of netizens gave him room for reflection and progress. "In the future, he will continue to innovate in the play, continue to try, continue to interact with the audience, and will also adhere to this layered narrative style in the creation of the play."

Zheng Lin, the founder of Banshan Culture and the producer of New Life, talked about the original intention of the play as the first project after the establishment of Banshan Culture, "We hope to explore deeper social and human issues through a suspense story. We believe that refinement is not only to improve the quality of production, but also to dig deeply into the content to create works that can resonate with the audience and trigger social discussion." He also said that with the emergence of a number of works such as "New Life", the market saw the value of short and refined dramas, "At present, there are still two short dramas under development for the mountain culture and Olympic bid director."

"New Life" is a customized drama cooperated by the platform and companion mountain culture. Although it is only 10 episodes, we can see the innovation and uniqueness of this project. "Xiang Lan, general manager of Youku Scintillation Studio and supervisor of the series New Life, also shared the creative experience of New Life, from the aspects of financial security, actor selection, creative data support, etc, Youku has given great help to the main creative team. She also mentioned that the play has been synchronized with Netflix As the first batch of works of Youku White Night Theatre after upgrading, it provides ideas for expanding the new path and new space of international boutique. We hope that more creative talents will participate in the creation of the White Night Theatre, explore more profound social topics, and explore more humanistic care topics. "

At the seminar, Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Association of Literary and Art Critics and professor of Tsinghua University, Zhou Jie, deputy secretary general of the China Association of Online Audiovisual Program Services, Li Xingwen, editor in chief and film critic of Film and Television Monolingual, and Lv Fan, deputy director of Peking University Television Research Center, also shared their views.

Yin Hong said that the production level of "New Life" has met the requirements of the film, and at the same time, it has achieved a breakthrough in typology. It uses strong pseudo qualitative works to convey the observation of the real society. He believes that the platform is a positive incentive for creators to actively promote the innovation of short and refined dramas and expand the boundaries of theme and art.

Zhou Jie believes that "New Life" is an online drama that opens and progresses layer by layer in the tension of drama and the narrative structure of layers of nesting. He also put forward his own expectations, "especially looking forward to Youku's White Night Theater to bring more updated and good works to everyone, so that we can also immerse ourselves in a story to understand such a complex society and complex human nature in addition to short videos and mini dramas."

Li Xingwen saw the evolution direction of domestic dramas from the popularity of "New Life". "Domestic dramas still need this kind of reasoning works with exquisite layout and complex narration. At the same time, high-quality short dramas not only retain the advantages of audio-visual language, but also allow stories to be fully expressed. It can be said that domestic dramas have found an antidote to the changes in audience's aesthetic interest in the short video era."

Lv Fan saw the changes made in the suspense setting of "New Life". "In previous suspense dramas, the main narrative method was to cover up the core information, which would mislead you, and people kept guessing. This time," New Life "uses details to achieve the so-called information gap, which is very subtle, and this thing is very valuable." He also put forward suggestions for the production of future Olympic bid director's dramas, "If the drama wants to spread its value, it can further explore the foundation of the event, which may be more convincing for young audiences."

From its launch on Youku on May 6 to its launch on Netflix the next day, New Life has set a precedent for many domestic dramas. Xie Ying, vice president of Youku, said, "The New Life is a work that is both popular and successful. It has realized the benign operation of the business model and laid a very good model for the commercialization of future high-quality dramas."

From the success of "New Life", we can see that the artistic value and commercial value of short drama can be both. "With the opening of the White Night Theater, the spring of future short dramas, the new generation of screenwriters and the old drama bones has come," Xie Ying said.