After the burst of popularity of vertical screen short plays, a young actress named Xu Yizhen became the "queen of short plays" among many people. For such a title, Xu Yizhen's own sense of body is not very strong, and even feels far away: "In life, I did not put myself in such a position. As I often say in the live broadcast, I hope to bring happiness to everyone today, which is very good."

and Entertainment Studio On the day of the conversation, Xu Yizhen and Yu Yachen (hereinafter referred to as Long Dao), the boss of her film and television production company, had just concluded a day long meeting. It was more than four o'clock in the afternoon, and they didn't even eat a hot meal. Xu Yizhen came to meet with her naked face. From such a "social animal" state, it is almost possible to describe the daily state of the short dramatists who are "always on the roll".

In Xu Yizhen's opinion, she prefers to leave the bright and beautiful side to "actor Xu Yizhen" rather than Xu Yizhen in daily life. Even when we mentioned whether she would march into the mainstream film and television industry, Xu Yizhen said rationally:“ It can't be said that I have gained some knowledge from short plays. If long plays and movies find me, I will lose short plays... If I can give you more happiness here, short plays should have a very important position. ”

Xu Yizhen's view of popularity and traffic is not that she is still adapting to the changes of popularity, but that she is grounded enough: "Zhenzhen will not start to take the lead just because she is liked by everyone. In fact, it is not fashionable. She is very straightforward and will not care about these things."

　　 "The female version of Xiao Zhan" is all coincidental

Because of Xu Yizhen's achievements in the field of short drama, as well as her educational background of graduating from Zhejiang Media College, some reports will boil it down to - "Xu Yizhen has received the dividend of the era of Hangzhou's Internet development." But when Entertainment Studio When she asked this question, Xu Yizhen was obviously confused. She said she had never seen such a statement before.

　　“ The platform and producers in Hangzhou may come to Zhejiang Chuan or other schools in Hangzhou to select actors, but I have never heard of it. Especially in the field of short play, no one has told me anything. ”After graduating from Zhejiang Chuan, Xu Yizhen started his life as a drifter in the north, and only returned to Hangzhou when filming. In her opinion, this highly regional interpretation is more like a coincidence, which is essentially a matter of several yards, without too much correlation.

Even according to Xu Yizhen's memory, even the classmates in the university are few who can continue to struggle in the actor industry

Old photo of Xu Yizhen

Xu Yizhen's experience in the development of short plays is like that of unemployed college students who rush to take an opportunity to get an offer - because of the epidemic and the cold winter of film and television, there were few long play projects on the market in the first two years, but there were many short play projects. One day in April 2023, Xu Yizhen received a call from a senior brother: "He said that a project would start in three days. Let me record a video for the director to see. If there is no problem, we can go to the show."

It was because of this call that Xu Yizhen knew that there were already short programs in the world, that is, the popular vertical screen short dramas this year. also Because of this shooting experience, Xu Yizhen found that although short plays and short videos have a "short", short plays can be a form of film and television presentation, which is another manifestation of development besides films and long plays.

Therefore, she thought of her good friend Long Dao. "When I first talked to the director, she was also very confused. I would like to give an example of how short plays can now focus on the quality of their works. Long Dao is a very talented director, so I asked her if she wanted to develop together. If she came, it would be a blow to reduce dimensions."

Dragon Guide Weibo Promotes Xu Yizhen's Latest Short Play

In order to convince Long Dao of the development prospect of short plays, Xu Yizhen also told Long Dao that she was called "female Xiao Zhan" by netizens in addition to introducing the short play works she had participated in. “ I told her after listening that you might be a little crazy. Because Mr. Xiao Zhan, we have worked together ”- Before becoming a short play director, Director Long had independently produced Super Star Academy starring Xiao Zhan.

"Including Zhenzhen's role in The Sun Accompanies Me, which is also recommended by me. The role was set up as an assistant beside the female director, similar to the executive director. I was originally asked for this role, but I have not acted for a long time, so I recommended Zhenzhen. Later, I went to see the short play she played, and I really felt relaxed. It was not a stereotype, but a vivid and talented actor. " Long Dao said.

As for why she was rated as the "female version of Xiao Zhan" by netizens, Xu Yizhen revealed that she found it in her own comment area - for some time, netizens often left messages there, most of which were similar questions, such as asking her: Why do you look like Xiao Zhan? Why do you also have the same mole on Xiao Zhan's jaw? “ To tell the truth, when I played the opposite role with Mr. Xiao Zhan, I didn't find that he had this mole. It's interesting in retrospect. This coincidence is interesting. ”Because they are all from Chongqing, Xu Yizhen and Xiao Zhan will chat in Chongqing dialect on the set. "He is very kind and interesting."

　　 After practice in mainstream film and television circles

From the perspective of time, The Hot Sun Accompanies Me is the last long drama that Xu Yizhen shot before she completely devoted herself to the field of short drama. and Entertainment Studio Curiously, there is a theme film called "On the Road to Happiness" in her work resume, and it was also a screening film of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in 2020. "At that time, a theater group came to the school to audition for actors, and I was selected. I went out to shoot for about half a month," said Xu Yizhen.

From the beginning of the main melody works to the short plays that now fully embrace the sinking market, will Xu Yizhen, who graduated from the professional performance class, really feel a sense of difference? When we asked this question, Xu Yizhen in the chat state immediately said seriously: "When we first entered Zhejiang Chuan, the teacher asked us, 'Why do you want to learn acting?' My answer is to experience the life of different roles, which is a necessary process for actors in their professional life."

Xu Yizhen, who was a college student at that time, also participated in the short film shooting of "Actors Please Be in Place Season 1" in 2019. She got this job through the cast announcement group. "She would still be in school, and would like to do some practice on weekends or in winter and summer vacations. There were many such cast announcements group at that time. I saw the news and went to submit my resume, and then I was selected."

When shooting the short film AI directed by Guo Jingming, Xu Yizhen was really caught in the rain all afternoon because of the rain scenes arranged in the script, even though her role could be set up with an umbrella. There were also moments that warmed her heart - at that time, every time she finished shooting a film or waited for other leading actors to act, Xu Yizhen could stand behind the monitor and watch the replay with Director Guo Jingming.

　　“ That day, Director Guo suddenly turned his head to look at us and asked us, 'Why are you three girls standing behind us so wet?' Then he quickly asked other staff to bring us towels and ginger soup. It was really warm at that moment! It is not easy for actors to stand behind the monitor to watch the roles with few scenes like ours. ”

After graduating from college, Xu Yizhen became a Beijing drifter. "It's normal to run ten groups to audition every month." Although the market environment at that time was not very good, Xu Yizhen received six plays that year. "At that time, there were a lot of online universities and online dramas, including two TV dramas." Among these works, Xu Yizhen could get very few scenes, and the roles were marginal, but she thought it was very good, after all, she tried to play them herself.

These experiences in the mainstream film and television industry have made Xu Yizhen more cautious about the profession of actors: "This standard is not something I can define, it should be handed over to the market and audience, and to professional senior actors to evaluate and define." As for whether the traffic obtained in the field of short plays will be used as capital for entering long plays or movies, Xu Yizhen made it clear that: "If I had the chance, I would like to try and strive for it, but I don't think I have the time to choose. ”

So has the "Short Drama Queen" ever received an invitation for cooperation other than short drama? Long Dao, a good friend, replied on behalf of her, "This is also the topic I talked with Zhenzhen. Her focus is still to continue to shine along the way of actors. She certainly hopes to have a larger stage, so that more audiences can see her and know her."

But up to now, although there have been such invitations as the female first in the movie theater and the long play, Xu Yizhen still hasn't met any works that can make her feel excited to put down everything in the short play and devote all her energy to it. "If today Mr. Stephen Chow told me that his project has a suitable role for me, let me go. I will go right away, because I love the star master."

　　 Performance Methodology of "Short Drama Queen"

Out of love for Stephen Chow, Xu Yizhen also added what she understood as "Chow's comedy elements" in her own performance, which made her play more "nonsense like" than those female roles who blindly pursue the style of "bullying, sweet or sadistic". “ I grew up watching Stephen Chow's works when I was a child. I can get both the real points and the points of Mr. Some of our actors may be regarded as' crazy 'if they act like that in other places, but our style needs them to exaggerate a little. ”

Long Dao's partnership with Xu Yizhen is mainly based on tacit understanding. "Sometimes she also says, 'Director, I have some small ideas.' She just said one, I can add two. In addition, I have a strong ability to write stems, and her improvisation is also very strong, so we have a good understanding together." This kind of tacit understanding requires experience. Just like when I decided to play the first short play, Xu Yizhen's first feeling when he saw the script was -“ I regret it! How can I play such a dog's blood and sink ”

Xu Yizhen recalled that the story called "After Rebirth, Spoiled by a Spoiled Man's Death Enemy" was very masculine at the beginning. "It's not like a female script at all. There are always some boys who can't move but fall over girls and start tearing clothes. My God Is it true that there will be audiences who like such a host? Men always beat and scold female masters. The male masters they met after their rebirth also belong to forced love. The audience will not believe that female masters love male masters. ”

In the face of these illogical descriptions, Xu Yizhen will improve and repair them from the perspective of actors, and then synchronize them with the director and the actors in the opposite play. Therefore, I have basically changed all the settings of the male and female hosts of this play, because I can hardly imagine what kind of value output it would be if I shot the original play. After the broadcast, the market response was really good. "

　　 In the eyes of Director Long, Xu Yizhen can be called the "Queen of Short Drama", which depends on the actors' understanding of the works, so that "100% of the money will be sold, and every one will be sold." In order to ensure the stability of this rate of sales, the cycle time for Director Long and Xu Yizhen to shoot a short drama is about 10-11 days, However, most of the vertical screen short dramas on the market only take about 5-8 days to shoot.

The length of shooting time has become the root cause of the "short play is so short, why can't it be produced once a week". Director Long explained: "If a project is calculated according to 81 episodes, the so-called 81 minutes of shooting in two days actually means that the makeup of the actors may not need to be too refined, and it will be fine later. However, our family's play refuses to polish the skin, because the second polish will affect the expression of the actors. "

　　 There is no high demand for the accuracy of shooting some popular vertical screen short dramas, "because they are betting on the probability, if they shoot 100 dramas, one or two of them will explode". In the production team of Long Dao and Xu Yizhen, they may spend more than half an hour waiting on the set for a lighting: "The lighting effect will definitely take time, but if the lighting is good, the overall quality of the actors, including skin color, will be improved."

When performing, Xu Yizhen has no so-called short play rhythm, only her own performance rhythm. Because no matter how short the short play is, it is also a film creation, not a short video shooting, as Long said“ The rhythm of short dramas is good. Its advantages are like American dramas, which exclude some so-called "moisture". ”As for the discussion on "Korean acting skills" of some short play actors, Xu Yizhen also looked very open. "Some actors' acting skills are recognized, and some actors are not. From this perspective, there is no need to distinguish between long and short plays, just to see whether actors can be recognized."

The small program short play can directly face the audience, which is a major advantage of the vertical screen short play. "The audience pays directly, and the creator can have a 'direct communication' with the audience. Through whether to recharge, as well as the popularity, search volume, and play volume of the play, we can see what the audience likes. Now the audience also has requirements. The vertical screen has limited use of the lens, which is much more difficult to shoot than the horizontal screen. We will also have some lens designs, including the position of the characters, and so on, which will be reviewed and studied. " Long Dao said.

As an actor participating in the performance, in addition to modifying the script logic, Xu Yizhen's research direction also includes how to make an article on the charge card points of short plays. "I would like to design this play at the charge card point in advance, so that the audience can feel that they have watched this episode today and must watch the next one. I must go for this play today!"

The payment points of small program short plays are generally preset at the script stage, and after the final film comes out, the second trial will be held. "As an actor, it is OK to show in the form of performance as long as the card points set in the original script can be displayed." But as a creator, Xu Yizhen is still faced with problems caused by pirated short plays“ I understand the consumer psychology of the audience very much, but buying pirated copies really hurts the efforts of the creators. Without people who buy and sell pirated copies, there will be no harm. ”

Vertical screen short plays became popular in the spring, making the "myth of becoming rich" of short plays the focus of attention. As the "Queen of Short Drama" of the blockbusters, Xu Yizhen chose to respond directly:“ It's like someone said that the recharge of "Oh, the Empress came to work" has exceeded 200 million yuan, but what's the relationship between these two billion yuan and me? ”

Hard work will pay off, but not so exaggerated. In Xu Yizhen's mind, this so-called "getting rich" is probably: "The daily expenditure is 100 yuan at ordinary times, but today suddenly it is said that 1000 yuan can be spent. If you can spend 10000 yuan every day through hard work tomorrow, how do you feel?"

Long Zhiji thinks that all short dramatists should be alert to such rumors. "The so-called bonus is that after the short play became popular, more audiences felt the existence of the industry. Some people got some traffic through the short play track, and some audiences also met new actors through the short play. Is it a bonus? There must be, but it will not be too exaggerated, as is rumored by the outside world."

And for Xu Yizhen and Long Dao, who have become partners of a short drama production company, they also have their own team. If we really want to make money quickly, wouldn't it be faster for us to directly open a live broadcast with goods?! But we did not. In this respect, we are completely closed. "

At least for the moment, Xu Yizhen and Long Dao's ultimate wish is to produce more high-quality short plays. The short drama will have a long way to go in the future. I hope we can find our own pit on this track. Of course, if there is an opportunity in the future, it is better to develop on both lines. If there is no opportunity, we will create our own opportunities. "