The phenomenal tales of mystery in Yinyang Town has given a new lesson to the theme dividend theory-an interview with director Zhang Tao in black and white entertainment.

Behind the 30-million-yuan split box office in half a month, tales of mystery in Yinyang Town also achieved some more amazing data, such as the novelty rate for a single platform as high as nearly 40%. However, in the view of director Zhang Tao, it is far from being complacent at present. This work, which they think is just "normal and neat", has made a breakthrough, reflecting the content gap in the industry.

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Authors: Liang Xiang and Lan Er.

Editor: Prince Zhi

Layout: Wang Wei

"I don’t think it’s winter now. If it’s winter, tales of mystery in Yinyang Town can’t have such achievements."

The online movie "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town", a folk thriller, was broadcast on Tencent Video and iQiyi.In just half a month, the sub-account box office broke 30 million, and the number of effective viewers exceeded 12 million.; Among them, in the single platform of Tencent video, the sub-account will break 20 million.

The opening of "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town" has given a shot in the arm to the online movie market, which has been regarded as depressed since late last year. In particular, tales of mystery in the Town of Yin and Yang intentionally metabolized the genre theme in the original period of online movies, which made the "ancient" theme that had long been "fully rewarded" in people’s cognition proud, which may also push practitioners to re-examine our thinking on the development of genre theme.

"Any theme can have a bonus, and any theme may not have a bonus," said director Zhang Tao. Such a seemingly contradictory statement, in the final analysis, wants to point to the quality of creation and content."We have also seen the rise of too many themes. If you think that folk themes have advantages, how many years have been folded; Everyone thinks that realistic themes may have disadvantages in audience acceptance, and there have been many good works that have been a hit in the past two years. What I want to say is that since the development of online movies, everyone should look at the problem more dialectically. "

In his view, the quality of content should not be blamed by the theme. "This is a human problem, and it is people who control the project, not data or machines."

Since the launch of "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town", what it has attached is precisely the topic that the industry is very concerned about at present. Zhang Tao gave a lot of sharp answers about how to make effective innovations in genre themes, how to do a good job in online movies, what kind of energy is needed to break the cold winter of the industry, and so on.

"yesA breakthrough in the theme of industry origin can bring new inspiration."

"When a bottleneck is encountered, people will think that the bonus of this theme is gone, or that some themes have been bored by the audience. In fact, there isno. "

The word bonus sometimes means wisdom that goes with the trend, and sometimes it also contains a certain speculative flavor. It is reflected in the film and television market, which is a tendency to invest in themes, actors, etc.-"I will shoot whatever theme is red, and I will use whoever actor is hot", which is the business operation with the lowest fault tolerance rate in the traffic age. The bonus theme of online movies has gone through various stages, such as monster, thriller, love, comedy and action, and the creators have mobilized their keenest sense of smell to find new outlets.

However, the phenomenal appearance of tales of mystery in Yinyang Town has pushed people to think back. Is the word theme bonus really absolute?

"It is not unusual to make new breakthroughs in new types." In Zhang Tao’s view,Looking for new themes does not mean the decline of the old ones.On the contrary,"We return to the theme of the initial prosperity of online movies, and make breakthroughs at this origin, which can bring new confidence and inspiration to the industry.".

So how to achieve a new breakthrough on the original "old" theme?

"The first thing that needs to be reflected is that there are already successful tracks with various themes on the market. When there are already successful works there, why are there still many films that have not been successful? Is it from word of mouth or from sub-accounts? "

How does the experience fall on the standard of the subjective word "good work"? When we define a work as "good", what is our dimension? At least in Zhang Tao’s view, many undesirable phenomena in the current market are rooted in the creators and creative mentality.

A very superstitious mentality is driving many people’s creation. Superstition about data, "business elements" and "templates", but no confidence in the story and quality of the core.

Eight years after the development of online movies, Zhang Tao, as a creator who has been "underground", still meets many strange phenomena that make him laugh and cry.

"For example, many people especially like to insure themselves by adding various elements, regardless of whether it is suitable or not, and finally make a four-unlike.There is an antique theme, saying that it is necessary to make antiques+monsters. I asked what is the relationship between the two, and the other party told me that it is not enough to add commercial elements of monsters. Deviation from the beginning, the final result can only be deviation."

"Recently, I also saw a project. The producer wanted to make some different settings and different upgrades, but the manufacturer was afraid of the trouble. According to his own experience, first,’ let’s make this film without losing money’, and then’ in the existing film of this type, it will be fine if we can’t make it.’"

All kinds of seemingly safe but lazy thinking patterns lead to the high repetition of online movies and the proliferation of "parallel imports", which consumes the trust and goodwill of the audience, and then leads to the decline of explicit dividends of many types and themes.

Zhang Tao thinks that the most basic principle line of every creator should be at least that each work is better than the previous one, so that the audience and the market can see the growth of creation.

"It is difficult to grow and upgrade, especially within the same type of theme. My request to myself is that if I shoot a folk theme next time, first of all, it will be two grades higher than" tales of mystery of Yin and Yang Town ".When can I do this and when can I shoot it again? I think the audience is really kind. If you use snacks a little, he can see that it is good. "

Zhang Tao believes that the dividend has always been there, only to see if you are willing to concentrate on it. "When we go back to the original point, we will find that what we have been talking about is broken and broken, but we have never done it.We may put more of our core strength, including human and financial resources, on various elements such as marketing and actors-these are also important, but they only help.”。

In the final analysis, deepening the text and focusing on the content itself is the only magic weapon to seize the theme dividend.

“Folklore horror"and“Horrible folk custom"

Creative consciousness behind word order differences

"Yinyang Town, don’t be close to strangers, and the living can’t get out."

A few words like ballads have bred an undercurrent and treacherous atmosphere in tales of mystery of Yin and Yang. At the beginning of the film, when the background of Yinyang Town is explained, "Three shadowless people came to the coffin shop in rainy days, and the greedy boss gambled with the ghost", the combination of dictation and video, and the double laying of hearing and vision created an immersive viewing experience.

As the first-generation online student director, Zhang Tao has made genre works such as trilogy "Taoist Coming out of the Mountain" and "The Last Teacher of Mr. Yin and Yang" very early, and has rich experience in the operation of such themes. The screenwriter directed "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town", which is not only a continuous cultivation, but also a return to the original heart.

"The project is big or small, and the vulgarity is also elegant."Zhang Tao said, "As long as it goes deep into the people, as long as it is supported by the audience, it is a good content."

For this new work, he particularly emphasized that tales of mystery in Yinyang Town is a folk thriller, not a folk thriller.

"Folklore and thriller, the front and back positions of these two keywords actually determine the tone of the whole film. In other words, if I shoot a thriller folk custom, it may have 30% more horror than the current tales of mystery in Yinyang Town. However, these legendary stories that we have heard from childhood and the tonality that we call deeply rooted in the people will be weakened accordingly. I want to be a folk thriller, because from 2015 to now I haven’t seen one that truly shows the folk flavor of China. "

When defining the theme, Zhang Tao made a market survey of his works and audience. In his view, the two high-frequency factors of Western-style thriller-religious elements and bloody vision-have been relying on their old sources, while the attraction of Western-style thriller in China audience is declining, while Chinese-style thriller is still on the rise. On the one hand, there are tacit psychological forms and cultural symbols between Chinese people. On the other hand, the changes of domestic audience’s psychology in watching movies and the demand for thriller elements and rhythms can only be truly controlled by local creators. These all constitute the basis for Chinese thriller to be further explored and deeply cultivated.

Find the right direction in planning, and have to dig deep into the text to be truly "effective". "Some projects, PPT is particularly beautiful, you will see that the whole lineup is very luxurious, but as soon as you see the story outline, you will know that this project is hopeless. I call it invalid collocation. These factors, in the final analysis, are all your so-called designs and ideas on the foundation. When you go back to the story outline, you want to build a 30-story building on the foundation without digging down 1 meter. It can’t stand the market scrutiny. "

"In the limited budget and limited shooting cycle, the most important thing you should do is to let the audience recognize the story. But our circle has been putting the cart before the horse for many years, and it has not been reversed yet. "

in factIn Zhang Tao’s view, polishing the script is the most cost-effective thing."A script may cost up to 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. Doing a script well is the most economical way to maximize the limited investment."

A core of film and television texts is to "show, not tell". For example, in the tales of mystery at the beginning of tales of mystery in Yinyang Town, the blacksmith plunged into the hot metal furnace, the carpenter was stuck in the branch, the fisherman was frightened in the water, the butcher was thrown into the oven, and the teacher plunged into the ground and knelt in front of grandma’s temple, without mentioning the five elements, but it implied that Jin Mu was in hot water.

It is also based on the intention of the text that "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town" finally presents a nested narrative effect of short stories in the framework of big stories. It has a fast pace and a large and orderly amount of information, pulling the audience’s nerves at all times, not only giving a good drink to the senses, but also stopping at the right time, so as not to let the audience fall too deeply into blind horror.

Zhang Tao has been exploring the route of "thriller comedy": "With comedy in horror, people laugh, more viewers will be willing to come in, and our audience base will be increased. Thriller comedy, although these two words are slightly contrary, I think it can be successful and coexist. The market also needs this element. "

It is out of this thinking that the appearance of tales of mystery in Yinyang Town, though an "ancient theme" of online movies, will make the audience feel refreshed. The appearance of Bao Hulu and the mayor’s daughter in the film is not only the need of the plot, but also the neutralizer of the film’s tonality. Even if it is funny, it is not simple.

In the choice of actors, the main creation also aims at "fit", anti-flow bonus thinking, and does not force the luxury lineup of actors. Facts have proved that Li Liqun, Jin Qiaoqiao and other actors not only fit the characters with temperament, but also add a lot of color to the film effect with their superb acting skills. In terms of sound effects, there is a proper blank space before the climax of the film, and the horror atmosphere is rendered to the climax. "Tonamiyama is more secluded". Compared with the oppression blindly, quietness also has its own unique horror. The film’s five-month post-production, full-length live shooting, exquisite real details and special effects shots all made the audience feel the sincerity of the creative team.

Tales of mystery in the Town of Yin and Yang may not have jumped out of the original genre framework, but it was very neatly completed, and it was honestly decorated from the picture to the logic, but it became a boutique explosion. From the barrage, at the end of the 97th minute, "Looking forward to the second part" became a high-frequency barrage word, which was the most direct recognition of the audience.

"It’s a matter of course." Director Zhang Tao said frankly,"Digging any theme to the deepest place can produce explosions."

Industry cold winter?

“Sunshine is always there, and the market is always there!"

So far, tales of mystery in Yinyang Town not only has the most direct box office success, but also has many amazing data behind it-for example, it has achieved a record-breaking novelty rate of nearly 40% just as a platform for iQiyi.

It is not difficult to imagine that after "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town", folklore and thriller will usher in a wave of follow-up in the industry; And people’s forgetfulness is always the biggest, and the actions that have consumed this theme bonus may be staged again.

"Practitioners shout the film and television contempt chain every day. Is this contempt chain caused by the audience, the platform or the practitioners themselves?It is not the traditional film and television circle or the audience that can defeat us in the end, but ourselves."

In the past three years’ development, online movies have been further recognized and recognized by the audience, and people from other content fields have also begun to try online movie creation, which shows that online movies are gradually entering the mainstream vision; At the same time, the industry recognizes that online movies have their own development rules in addition to the basic laws of film and television creation. No one thinks that it is easy to "reduce the dimension" in this field, which is also a manifestation that the online movie industry is more respected and respected.

However, Zhang Tao felt that it was far from time to be "smug".

Compared with the rapid evolution of the internet environment and a change in two or three years, in his view, after eight years of development, the field of online movies still stays in the "2.0 stage" and the growth rate is not fast.

"The ecology of our industry may not even be sub-healthy."

In his view, this "sub-health" state, on the one hand, is a problem of market ecology, without examining its own problems and focusing on creation, but relying too much on platform policy, subsidy investment, audience turning around and theme tide; On the other hand, there is a problem of people’s hearts. "Everyone should build a healthy ecological circle and support each other and move forward side by side."

"I can’t remember that the industry has shouted several times in the cold winter.The so-called winter is actually created by yourself.It is said that the platform accounts are low, and the film is not good. Do you want the platform to post money? What we should worry about is the content, whether it is shooting or filming, and whether it is uncomfortable to watch it.Tales of mystery in Yinyang Town is just a normal embodiment of’ intention’, but why it is so popular, I think it may be because the supply of good content is insufficient, so this so-called achievement is really not enough for us to be complacent."

The popularity of "tales of mystery in Yinyang Town" is not only the industry enlightenment of "self-breakthrough of ancient themes", but also a straightforward praise for the content made with heart.

In Zhang Tao’s view, online movies are still developing rapidly, the theme bonus has always existed, and the cold winter of the industry has not really come. "The sun has always been there, and the market has always been there".

"Give us another year in 2022, and our online works will make the audience and the market see more obvious changes. I dare to make such a guarantee for our works."

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