Leading the National Day screen, Douban scored 8.8, which was praised as "the most crying TV series" by the audience … During the National Day, the era report drama Together, which showed the anti-epidemic course of China in 2020, triggered a hot discussion on the whole network. This 20-episode TV series, organized and directed by the State Administration of Radio and Television and produced by Shanghai Radio and Television, Yaoke Media and Shanghai Shangshi Film, was broadcast in the prime time of Oriental TV, Zhejiang TV, Jiangsu TV, Guangdong TV, Hunan TV and Beijing TV on September 29th, reappearing the long-lost grand occasion of "one drama with four stars".
Recently, Sun Hao, vice president of Yaoke Media and producer of Together, was interviewed by Variety Daily, and shared many behind-the-scenes stories and experience in creating TV dramas in clusters.
Off-season shooting
An arduous creative test
From the establishment of the main creative team in February 2020 to the scheduled broadcast on the eve of the National Day, the "Together" team showed the society the rapid response ability of the TV drama production industry. In March, the screenwriter went deep into the front line to collect the wind; In April, the first story began shooting; May-June, concentrated shooting; In August, the whole drama was finished.
Sun Hao introduced that "Together" faced many difficulties from the beginning of the project. In addition to the tight shooting time, the crew also needs to deal with the test of off-season shooting. When it was turned on in April, from south to north, the cities in China entered the spring one after another, and the temperature gradually increased, so it was impossible to restore the winter appearance at the beginning of this year in each location, not to mention the Wuhan winter scene, which occupied a large part in the whole play.
The crew used many methods to restore the natural scene. For example, in the scene of Jerry on the bridge in Wuhan People, in order to reproduce the cold and humid scene in Wuhan, the creative staff covered the railings with snow and sprinkled a lot of water on the ground, trying to restore the real situation from the nuances. Off-season shooting has also had a certain impact on actors’ performances. In the "Mask" unit, the scene of Hai Qing and Jianfeng Bao at the seaside, they are wearing down jackets and coats, but the clothes inside them are actually soaked with sweat. The scene of William Feng bowing at the roadside was filmed in Ningbo, when the local temperature was over 20℃. "It is a test for actors to perform in winter clothes or even protective clothing." Sun Hao said.
The realistic pressure of epidemic prevention and control is also one of the difficult problems that the crew needs to face. "Search: 24 hours" mainly reflects the epidemiological investigation process during the epidemic, and the location is in Beijing. Soon after the filming of this chapter, it encountered a new epidemic situation, and the tightening of national prevention and control management directly affected the follow-up filming. Ensuring the health and safety of the crew and the main creator has become the primary task of the crew outside shooting.
Multi-party cooperation
Accumulate collective creative experience
As one of the few collective creative works in the industry, the shooting and production of Together is regarded as a bold attempt, and the unit narrative mode draws lessons from the successful example of the film My People，My Country. The volume of 20 episodes, one story every two episodes, is even regarded by some viewers as a film work in the form of TV series.
Sun Hao said that how to use the volume of 20 episodes to show many human brilliance in the process of fighting the epidemic is another difficult problem facing the team. In order to make the series have a broader coverage, the creative team consciously collected a large number of news reports during the anti-epidemic period at the early stage of planning, looking for stories of prototype characters, trying to establish a specific relationship between prototype characters as much as possible, and covering all aspects of fighting the epidemic. "The drama not only tells the story of the medical field, but also includes many groups involved in the fight against the epidemic, such as disease control, social workers, public security, and the army. I hope that through ten stories, it will cover all the fields involved in the fight against the epidemic and make the content more substantial."
The collective creation form of Together has accumulated rich experience for the creation of similar themes in the future. Sun Hao believes that "Together" can trigger a heated discussion among the audience, which is inseparable from the depth and breadth of the theme itself. The COVID-19 epidemic is the biggest public event in 2020. With the concern of the whole people and the advantages of theme, it can not only attract a large number of audiences, but also bring many creative people together in this project, thus promoting the collective action of the industry.
In addition, the support of the competent authorities and cooperative units ensured the smooth progress of the filming. "The State Administration of Radio and Television and Shanghai Radio and Television have carried out a lot of coordination work from the beginning of the project, so that the existing creative clubs can get together to create. The directors of many units are also participating in other major theme projects of the General Administration. Without their coordination, it is difficult for us to adjust the schedules of so many creators together. "
Dialogue producer Sun Hao: Unit drama will become a creative trend.
Variety Daily: How to determine the broadcast order of each unit of the play?
Sun Hao:The narrative of the whole play is carried out according to the timeline of the epidemic. The first unit "The Turning Point of Life" is the starting point of the story. The time background of the story is from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2020. The second unit "The Ferry Man" takes place before the Spring Festival, and so on. But we made some fine-tuning later. The last unit of the original plan ended with the resumption of work and production shown in "Mask". In order to pay tribute to the people of Wuhan, the unit of "Wuhan People" was finally put at the end.
Variety Daily: In the future, will unit drama become the mainstream creative form of works with major time-sensitive themes?
Sun Hao:Unit drama will be a trend. On the one hand, major topics need to be combined with a large number of realistic contents, and stories and characters need to be presented quickly, and the creative mode of unit drama is more in line with this requirement; On the other hand, the General Administration has been advocating the creative direction of "small and big", and it will be the future trend to concise stories and characters in a small space and present more creative forms.
Variety: From the producer’s point of view, what is the difference between Together and your previous dramas?
Sun Hao:You can use the word "both" to describe it. To make a long play of a script, the producer only needs to devote himself to the story. However, "Together" has different teams, and the story style and temperament of each unit are different. As a producer, I should take into account both the original intention of creation and the creative intention of the director to protect the creative space of the main creation as much as possible. In addition, the requirements of the competent authorities and broadcasting platforms should also be considered.
Variety Daily: Does Together have an overseas broadcast plan?
Sun Hao:"Together" is broadcast simultaneously on TVB TV station in Hong Kong, China, and there are also broadcast plans on TV stations in Southeast Asia. At present, "Together" is still being promoted on the overseas YouTube channel of Yaoke Media. As of October 10th, the number of video hits has exceeded 3 million. In addition, Yaoke Media continues to promote the distribution of Disney and HBO Red.