Small dramas counterattack summer season: Don't rely too much on actors, insist on originality and discover blue seas in the red sea

During the summer, there is a small and medium-cost drama with no IP and no big hits. It silently reaped the number one rating at the same time period. It is "God Dog Xiao Qi 2". As IP is gradually overdrawn, the creation of such dramas has become inevitable, especially for companies with less resources. Is there any methodology behind the "counterattack of small drama" that can be put into practice?

Original title: "God Dog Xiaoqi 2" and "Spicy Deformation Meter" dominate the summer season. There are no big celebrities without IP. Where do the high ratings come from?

Satellite TV's summer season finally ushered in the battle of fantasy dramas.

IP dramas such as "Kyushu Sky City","Fantasy City" and "Qingyunzhi" have been launched one after another, earning enough attention. However, in this summer fantasy craze, there is also a small and medium-cost drama that is non-IP and has no big celebrities, silently harvesting The number one rating at the same time period is "God Dog Xiao Qi 2".

Although the Internet popularity is not as popular as IP dramas,"God Dog Xiao Qi 2", which focuses on the theme of cute pets, cannot be underestimated in terms of ratings and online views, making it the most low-key beneficiary of the summer season.

"God Dog Xiao Qi 2" is produced by Perfect World Jianghe Studio. It is worth noting that whether it is the "God Dog" and "God Dog Xiao Qi" in the "God Dog Series", or the "Spicy Female Soldier" in the "Spicy Series", they are all non-IP and non-big celebrities but have created high ratings. "God Dog Xiao Qi" became the 2015 Evening Golden Theater ratings champion during the summer season last year, with a national network average of 3.4% of ratings, while "God Dog" and "Spicy Woman" were also the ratings champions during the same period.

In such an era where tens of millions of dollars are often bought for IP, dramas that are non-IP and have no big names but can create high-ratings are simply a clear stream. As IP is gradually overdrawn, the creation of such dramas has become inevitable, especially for companies with less resources. Is there any methodology behind the "counterattack of small drama" that can be put into practice?

The bonus film and

television market with innovative themes has always swarmed up whenever a subject becomes popular. This kind of follow-up idea carries considerable risks. After all, it is easy for viewers to like the new and hate the old. Behind a hit movie is often countless blockbuster works.

In February 2016, the online drama "Addiction" on the theme of beauty became popular across the Internet, with an investment of less than 5 million yuan. The actors were all unknown newcomers, and the production level was not excellent. However, for the first time it was recognized by the mainstream market as "Addiction"."It has already heralded the success of" Addiction ". In fact, a large number of Danmei dramas have emerged on the market after "Addiction", but it is difficult to regain the glory of "Addiction".

The easiest way to open up new themes is of course to buy IP. Growing up in the era of online text, in order to increase clicks, online text IP usually uses more innovative settings to attract attention. However, as the IP was overdrawn, all the slightly "beautiful" IPs were robbed, and the innovation of online novels also became a problem.

In this case, choosing to find a different path may be a wonderful move. Jiang He Studio may be well aware of the pros and cons, and all works have certain innovations and gradually raise the threshold. The cute pet theme of "God Dog Xiao Qi" and "Spicy Deformation Meter" focuses on the quasi-military theme of the bodyguard industry, which are rare in domestic films and television.

For originality, He Jing, producer of Jiang He Studio, said that there is no exact methodology, but after summarizing the works of the Shendog series and the Spicy series, she put forward several suggestions: based on observation of the market, anatomy of data, analysis of policies, find breakthroughs in the process of interacting with the audience, and then innovate in all aspects of creation.

He Jing's suggestion is somewhat similar to the systematic analysis method in innovation management. In the creation of film and television dramas, we can first systematically and carefully divide the elements that can be used in film and television dramas, then innovate in every detail, and finally re-combine. Specifically, it lists various possibilities for the classification, style, elements, and character design of the film and television series, extends and innovates each element, and finally recombines it, for example: beauty + game system + palace fight combination.

What else does the drama need to counterattack?

"I have always said that what we do is small dramas, which cannot be compared with the big dramas made by other colleagues and predecessors, but we hope that the small dramas can also release the energy as much as the big dramas," Jiang He Studio producer He Jing said.

In addition to innovative themes, what other work has Jiang He Studio done to make the small drama receive high ratings? After continuously reviewing Jianghe Studio's projects, we have summarized the following key points:

innovation awareness and orphan product awareness

"Innovation is an alternative, you must take it. From high-quality products to orphan products is our goal and pursuit."

He Jing has repeatedly emphasized to us,"Innovation should reflect all aspects. The more we pay attention to details and the more meticulous we are, the closer we may be to success. Take "The Divine Dog Xiao Qi" as an example. Its story core, character relationships, characters and animal settings, lines and photography, and even subsequent publicity and promotion are all consciously innovating. Innovation means that every aspect of your work must be different from the past."

According to He Jing's understanding, orphan products do not mean that competition is excluded, but that in the same subject area, through multi-dimensional efforts, the work creates an irreplaceable temperament.

At

present, a large part of the cost of film and television dramas is affected by the actor's pay, and for small and medium-cost TV dramas, it can not only reduce the cost but also ensure a certain popularity, so it is a good strategy to use potential growth actors.

When "Spicy Metamorphosis Meter" decided to choose Marco and Dilizheba, Marco's killing sister in "Flower Thousand Bones" had not yet appeared, and Dilizheba's "Carla Lovers" had not yet been launched. "We've witnessed them getting more and more popular along the way, so when we choose actors, we'll want to share the value of his growth stage more, and keep our costs within a reasonable range." He Jing was also very emotional about this. However, this process is also verified and not purely intuitive.

The stars of "God Dog Xiao Qi 2" are Zhang Yunlong and Wang Yang. He Jing laughed and said that at that time, the actors were actually selected based on their legs."Because we require that the most seats be given to animals, it is very important for the actors to have more legs in the show."

It may be the hope of many producers not to rely too much on actors. When asked why they have such confidence, He Jing replied,"We may have our own confidence in the more unique themes we have introduced, so we can consider more the compatibility of actors and characters when selecting actors. We also hope that the actors we choose can have a tacit fit with the target audience."

IP or original? Discovering the Blue Ocean in the Red Sea

In an era when everyone talks about IP, Jiang He Studio always insists on originality, and constantly explores new themes, and always maintains a calm and bystanders attitude towards IP. Why?

He Jing told reporters: "Existence is reasonable. IP being chased by capital should be a historical necessity at the moment, but from my personal perspective, I am criticizing it. Why? If everyone pursues IP to a relatively insane market state, I think they may respond to that sentence and let whoever dies go crazy first."

As it says, Jiang He Studio is still on the road of originality, striving to discover blue seas in the red sea, and gradually forming two major brands: "God Dog Series" and "Spicy Series". These two themes will also be developed at multiple points every year in the form of TV dramas, movies, online dramas, stage dramas, documentaries, games, comics, online texts, derivative sales and licensing. Among them,"God Dog Xiao Qi" has been planned for its seventh season and will also go abroad. Put it in a more international context.

"" The God Dog Xiao Qi "has begun to have its own rhythm. Its worldview is getting bigger and bigger. The professionalism of the God dog Xiao Qi is becoming more and more obvious. This is something we didn't expect, but it is pushing us to carry out the next step of development." Perhaps this is the possibility of originality. When the story takes shape, it will push you forward. In addition, He Jing told reporters that they are also planning a third theme that is not on the market.

"We hope to turn our originality into IP and then make it release greater energy." He Jing seemed extremely certain about the future path of Jiang He Studio. "The right path in the world is vicissitudes. I think neither IP nor originality is that simple, but everyone is moving in the right direction and going through the painful period of market regulation together. However, after the pain, there may be big waves. This is also a historical necessity."

Editor: yvette