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This article isPoison Eyes [First Review of New Drama]The sixth in a series.

In the current content market, realistic dramas are not uncommon, but it is difficult to tell the complexity of realism in a fictional setting.

《Waterside Past》 creates a fictional border world "Sanbianpo" - a place where barbaric rules are exiled, and where wealth and power stimulate the naked side of human nature. However, everyone and everything in this fictional place has the rough texture of extreme realism.

The story tells of Shen Xing, a young and naive worker, who goes to live with his uncle who has worked in Sanbianpo for half his life. However, when his uncle was collecting overdue project payments, he was involved in a local power struggle and disappeared without a trace. In order to rescue his relatives, Shen Xing breaks into Daban, where the power dynamic in Sanbianpo is more complicated, and becomes a subordinate of the local boss, Uncle Chai, and begins his desperate journey of "walking by the water".

Judging from the ten episodes released so far, "Border Water Past" has indeed reached the standard of a qualified suspense drama. In terms of character design,Guo QilinShen XingheFrancis NgThe two main characters, played by Wang Yibo and Uncle Cai, have a strong sense of contrast, and the ties between them complete the establishment of their respective character arcs; in terms of content logic, the endless events indirectly outline the customs and folkways of Sanbianpo, and the fast-paced gang conflicts also highlight the tension and excitement of the series.

However, if you want to win the public's attention and break away from the "general" standard, you need to establish an "alternative" innovation anchor. For "Border Water Memories", how to establish reality from fiction is the key to its innovation.

From the content level, the perspective of small people is the best way to tell fatalism, and it is also the most appropriate annotation to highlight the darkness of human nature. "Past Events by the Edgewater" is not limited to shaping the main story "Shen Xing Saves His Relatives", but also uses a lot of words to write about the greed, anger, and ignorance of other small people.

The man who took his wedding souvenirs to the Mokuang Mountain to gamble on stones eventually lost everything and became a madman on the street. Only Wang Anquan, who had cheated him, couldn't bear to put clothes on him; the sheriff of Maniu Town did a lot of charity and adopted a group of homeless orphans, but in fact he just trained them to be his own thugs and indulged a group of children to become cold-blooded killers.

When the intricate relationships between the characters are sufficiently dramatic, the audience will have a further understanding and imagination of the danger and ferocity of Sanbianpo.

From the production point of view, the production effect of "Waterside Past" also consolidates the realistic foundation of the fictional world. From the special design of the opening subtitles to the three ending songs that switch with the plot, these hidden details are in line with the unrestrained tone of the whole drama.

In addition, the production team also invited language experts to create the Bomo language, build a new language system, and create a set of social rules, customs, etc. In terms of setting, the key scenes that determine the development of the story, such as the Jiandong construction site and the Haishan mine, were built in real scenes.

The "three-side slope" built from the inside out has a realistic foundation, which gives the audience a strong sense of immersion.

However, in order to allow the audience to gradually understand Sanbianpo and have the excitement of playing a game, the production team chose to set the story in a single perspective. The audience's perspective always follows Shen Xing to understand the world rules of Sanbianpo and the complexity and unpredictability of border forces.

It is precisely because of this single perspective that the audience will place more expectations on the role of Shen Xing. This means that there are stricter requirements for the character and behavior logic of the role of Shen Xing, which also means that it is a huge acting challenge for Guo Qilin.

Especially in a series with so many veteran actors, the immaturity of the acting skills will be very obvious if you are not careful. According to the feedback from the current audience, the dissatisfaction with the series is generally concentrated on the character of Shen Xing. Some of the "lower intelligence" decisions made by Shen Xing in the crisis may be attributed to the lack of growth of the character in the early stage, but Guo Qilin's acting skills did not support this role well.

As the third work of Youku White Night Theater, "Border Water Past" is different from the previous two worksPale Fire》《newborn》have completely different story styles, but the three works all construct a "world". For example, the sparsely populated Qingshui Town in "Pale Fire" and the "Feike World" on the isolated island in "New Life". This constructed world view gives rich extension space for characters and stories, and also allows the film texture to have better space to play.

The rough but delicate texture of "Border Water Past" is indeed due to the trustworthy lineup.beginning》 is a hit in the industry, sparking public discussion on "infinite flow"; producer Cao Baoping created "Dog Thirteen》《Wading through the angry sea》 and many other masterpieces focusing on human issues.

However, what is more noteworthy is that this time "Border Water Past" is adapted from the representative work of the same name by the non-fiction account "Genius Catcher Plan". In the story, Shen Xing struggled on the border and experienced life and death, which were all taken from the author's real life experience.

Non-fiction literature has always been a treasure trove of inspiration for content creators. Non-fiction literature provides different industry perspectives, different life experiences, vivid story details and industry cognition, solving the problem of narrow perspective and insufficient experience caused by screenwriters' "closed-door creation".

However, this rough-edged reality story also faces many challenges. On the one hand, it is necessary to conceive how to develop the story into a popular film and television work, and on the other hand, it is necessary to ensure that the authenticity of the story can be safely implemented. The latter is precisely the main reason why many non-fiction literatures have been slow to advance.

The emergence of "Border Water Stories" may provide a good solution - to build reality in a fiction. But this solution requires a lot of energy and patience. Cao Baoping once said in an interview that although "Border Water Stories" is only a 21-episode series, the investment exceeds that of ordinary series. In the art and props departments alone, there are hundreds of people working at the same time.

It can be seen that although non-fiction literature is a treasure trove of content creation that needs to be explored urgently and can provide rich and fresh materials for the current market, it also requires a deep understanding of the real costs behind it. This is based not only on the understanding of content innovation, but also on the investment in production.