“I wanted to take a look at it, but now I’m waiting for updates every day.” This is a short comment received on Douban for “Story of the Tang Dynasty”.
I don’t know how many people opened it just because one of the shots looked good, because the iQiyi membership had not expired, and because the drama was boring.
Leaving aside the comments about the main actors, “The Story of Tang Dynasty”, which scored 7.7 points and topped the Douban recommendation list, is undoubtedly a dark horse in the current TV drama market.
This result, it is estimated that even the film party did not expect it.
There is no traffic to help out, there is no overwhelming publicity matrix, and it is all about the spontaneous revelry of netizens. What does “The Story of the Tang Dynasty” rely on to harvest the audience?
“The Story of Tang Dynasty” is adapted from the novel of the same name, and the inspiration of the novel comes from the strange novels “Youyang Zazu” and “Douyizhi” in the Tang Dynasty. Folk miscellaneous talk, there is the height of the temple, and the far away from the rivers and lakes, ethereal and mysterious.
Some studies have shown that the peak of phantom novels was in the Tang Dynasty. Due to various reasons such as economic development, the exchange of Western culture, and the advancement of papermaking, a large number of phantom novels emerged in the Tang Dynasty. It has become popular, from brush oil lamps to willow wild cats can be transformed into demons, causing chaos in the world.
Image source from: Sina [email protected]｜ Falling Heart｜
Some scholars have counted the images of monsters in various dynasties. Only 25 kinds of monsters appeared in the literary works of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, while in the Tang Dynasty, more than 40 kinds of monsters appeared.
Image source from: Sina Weibo @Chu Wu
As the lines say, “The splendid Tang Dynasty is like a mirror, one side is singing and dancing, and the other side is full of ghosts.”
The strange novels of the Tang Dynasty have jointly built a world of demons and beasts that is different from the world. Therefore, compared with other dynasties, the Tang Dynasty feels more mysterious and fantastic. With the Tang Dynasty as the background of the story, it is innately attractive. and appeal.
When Wu Chengen wrote “Journey to the West” in the Ming Dynasty, he chose this way. “The Record of Weird Events in the Tang Dynasty” not only chose this way, but also combined various elements from the strange novels of the Tang Dynasty into the novel and the script.
“Youyang Zazu” records a “human face flower”, which grows “two thousand miles southwest of the country of food, and the flowers bloom like a human face.” It only takes up 34 words.
In “Tang Dynasty Strange Stories”, it was expanded into a whole case, and the face flower was also called its original name. In addition to its weird appearance, it also has the effect of beauty and beauty, as long as it is applied after dipping in water. Face, wait for nine to eighty-one days, and the skin will become pink and tender like a girl, and ladies are eagerly sought after.
Source of the picture: Sina Weibo @New drama can not stop
“Independence” records a monster named Jiang Tuo, which is actually the Chinese alligator we are talking about now. It will turn into a human after licking human blood, so it leaves a folk custom: you can’t put your own blood Drips into water and shore.
This story was told by Wei Fenghua, the original author and screenwriter of “Story of the Tang Dynasty”, on Weibo. Regarding the story of Jiang Tuo, he changed the order and changed the Tuo into a human form and rewrote it into a human pretending to be the god Tuo. With the “Tuoshen Case” behind.
Image source from: Douban @momo
Many of the monsters and customs in the “Story of the Tang Dynasty” can be verified from the novels of the Tang Dynasty. trend.
Image source from: Douban @momo
“The strange and the detective are naturally intertwined with the suspense, and they can be combined with half the effort.” The screenwriter Wei Fenghua said this. He was aroused by various monsters in the play, and looked forward to catching up every day. The audience should think so too.
In the filming of “ghosts”, “Story of the Tang Dynasty” spent a lot of thought, first of all, let’s talk about the appearance of the most out-of-the-circle cat demon: the county magistrate chased the black cat to the courtyard, but what he saw was wearing a black cat. The beauty of silk and satin is like a musician in Dunhuang frescoes, bright and eye-catching.
Pei Xijun, the daughter of Pei Jian, the minister of officials, thought that her sweetheart had died in battle, and decided to hold a ghost marriage on the Zhongyuan Festival.
Image source from: Sina Weibo @changlinsuyao
The maiden send-off battle, the bride wears a red and blue veil, which is a little colder and weirder than the ordinary wedding dress. Compare with other brides in the play, you can see the difference.
Image source from: Sina [email protected]｜ Falling Heart｜
The standard of Tang Dynasty stories is the beauty, and the beauty of the beauty must be plump, the face is like a hibiscus, and the skin is lustrous, highlighting the aesthetic characteristics of that era. But “Story of the Tang Dynasty” prefers to film female characters as both human and ghost.
The actor who plays Feitian in the play has eyebrows that look like the popular Hanyan eyebrows in Chang’an two years ago. The center of the eyebrows is pointed and the tail of the eyebrows is raised, but the tail is not scattered, but sharp corners are drawn, which looks more charming and has The shrewdness of the monster.
Drawing tin on the forehead is also a makeup style that women in the Tang Dynasty liked.
But whether it’s the characters or the makeup, it’s not the most eye-catching part of the show, it’s the combination of the characters and the scene.
Image source from: Douban @momo
Ghost marriages have to go through a ghost market, which is outside the curfew system. Most of the goods in circulation need to be traded secretly, and it is also a good place for criminals to hide. Both in terms of nature and name, ghost markets are gloomy and terrifying. of.
Image source from: Sina Weibo @changlinsuyao
After walking into the ghost city, the sky was gloomy, and the cyan mist was “embellished” with dim yellow lanterns and red wedding sedan chairs, which made people creepy.
Image source from: Sina Weibo @changlinsuyao
Many people will add a sentence after the screenshots of Po come out: “Mix the materials”
In many film and television works, the capital of the Tang Dynasty was prosperous, with bright lights, warm yellow lights and red pavilions, which can highlight the atmosphere of the prosperous world. It’s colder, more restrained, with wet air.
“Twelve Hours in Chang’an”
“Story of Tang Dynasty”
Take a look at the lights in “The Twelve Hours of Chang’an” and the lights in “The Record of Weird Things in the Tang Dynasty”, and you will understand.
The orderly arrangement of candles in the dark night, the blue-blue skin reflected in the moonlight, the row upon row of pavilions, the well-designed gardens and the intricately patterned costumes combine these elements with bizarre stories. It constitutes what people call “Chinese horror aesthetics”.
Image source from: Douban @momo
Some people say that “the biggest feature of Chinese horror is the use of quiet and majestic Chinese mansions to set off the horror atmosphere, plus elements of religion and superstition.”
Image source from: Sina [email protected]｜ Falling Heart｜
But the ambition of “Story of Tang Dynasty” is not within the mansion.
At present, many costume dramas spend their funds on the cast, but “The Story of the Tang Dynasty” has “left over money” on the actors, moving it to art and special effects, and the special effects rendering in the long-range shots will not be fake. Gas, the fur on the monster’s body can be seen clearly.
The plot is not embarrassing, the special effects are not watery, it is slightly scary and it is over, so you can rest assured to enter the pit.
Before entering the pit, look at the scriptwriter’s Weibo post #tangweixiaoclass#, and then look at the director’s Weibo saying “The difficulty is beyond imagination, continuous shooting for 213 days”, and then jump to Douban to find this year’s broadcast Countless movies and TV dramas have appeared.
For audiences who haven’t been taken seriously for a long time, “Story of the Tang Dynasty” came quite timely.