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he insisted on filming despite being ill. for acting, only three joints of his body were left intact. huang jingyu has been risking his life since he came to the domestic entertainment industry.

if the complexity of huang jingyu's previous similar roles lies more in the interpretation of human nature under extreme circumstances, then zheng bei in "snow labyrinth" requires him to avoid the stereotyped police hero and become an ordinary person who grew up in daily life.

author|li an, editor | ding yu

when seeing the label "zhang yimou's first web drama produced by a producer", no one expected that "snow labyrinth" was actually a "suspenseful drama that goes well with meals". pork stewed with vermicelli, chicken racks, small barbecue... are all traditional northeastern dishes that must be served in every episode. the drug enforcement police are passionate about tracking and bravely solving unsolved cases, but they just eat when they get together every day.

huang jingyu, who is known as the "domestic entertainment military service", feels that returning to the northeast is more like an advanced comfort zone. while enthusiastically introducing what "northeast china on the tip of the tongue" is, he said that after filming "snow labyrinth", the entire crew had gained more than 100 pounds in total.

these elements that sound quite funny are not jokes, but are precisely the style of "snow labyrinth" - a drug-related suspense drama that uses a life-style approach - the daily atmosphere of the task force is relaxed and pleasant. there are people in the team who are responsible for appearance, force, and wisdom, but in the reality of northeast china, everyone is responsible for telling jokes.

in recent years, anti-drug works have emerged in an endless stream, and all of them have gained popularity and reputation. for example, "ice breaking operation" uses a father-son anti-drug operation as a dual-thread narrative, "ice rain and fire" uses a dual male lead model, differentiated perspectives and cross-narratives, and "yu zui" focuses on character growth. most of the works on this theme are mainly about drug production and trafficking in border towns, with multiple forces intertwined, and large-scale, fast-paced, and strong plots are the characteristics of this type of work.

the biggest feature of "snow labyrinth" that distinguishes it from other similar themes is the expression of life. the story takes place in northeast china in the 1990s. compared with the golden triangle region, there are fewer works showing the anti-drug front in the north. the content about the work of the task force in the play does not focus on the part of fighting with drug dealers, but creates a sense of contrast. on the one hand, they have to rush to the front line of drug control, and at the same time, they also shoulder various criminal investigation tasks such as cracking down on pornography and illegal publications, and cracking down on gangs and evil.in the small northeastern city of halan, the phrase "if you have any problems, find the police" seems more specific and detailed. the audience can not only feel the difficulty of the front-line work of anti-drug police, but also be inspired by their optimistic, humorous and positive attitude.

as another drama launched by youku white night theater, "snow labyrinth" achieved a viewership rating of over 1 on the first day of its broadcast in the prime time of cctv-8, winning the ratings championship in the same period. later, it became popular with topics such as #northeast suspense# #guangdong people who are controlled by northeastern food#. it seems to have expanded the boundaries of suspense dramas in another form.

bloggers have been trying to explore the diversity of suspense through different interpretations of works. this year, we had dialogues with the directors of two works of the white night theater, and also communicated with the creators of several excellent suspense works. we found that the creators have similar positioning of suspense, that is, suspense dramas themselves do not have clear genre characteristics, it is more like a way of telling stories. for the increasingly "picky" audiences, what is suspense is not important, what is good-looking and empathetic is the most important.

stories of the times

most drug-related stories are set in the golden triangle. although there are some southern plots in "snow labyrinth", the main story background is set in the northeastern town of halan, although this background setting is more inclined to anti-black or pure crime stories.

halfway through the show, some viewers said that as a drug-control suspense drama, the drug police and drug dealers in "snow labyrinth" seem a bit "amateur". the task force is not focused on drug dealers, but also has to deal with various petty thefts, and also has to take chemistry classes with the "teachers" from the south, and they have to go to the dining table at least once in each episode. the drug dealers are also complicated, some are taxi drivers and some are security guards. the one behind the scenes is a big sister who runs a pharmacy and is always thinking about cooking for her husband and children. these people are not what you imagine.

in addition, the main plot of "snow labyrinth" was not clear at the beginning, and the plot and progress were relatively slow, which made many viewers question "is this a suspense drama?" however, the "eating-friendly" and light-hearted comedy elements in the drama made people continue to watch it, and they really wanted to know what the story of drug control in northeast china is like. as a hot review on douban said: "this drama did not follow the high-intensity reasoning and suspense route i expected in the early stage, but it was just very interesting..."

in fact, the original intention of the creative team of "snow maze" was very simple. they hoped to add "something new" to the endless border drug control stories, leaving the stereotypical drug dealer gathering areas such as the golden triangle, and tell a northern drug control story.

the reason for this choice is that, on the one hand, most of the main creative team are from the north, and most of them are from the northeast. they are more interested in this land and have more creative enthusiasm; on the other hand, they also hope to show the anti-drug story of a specific period, focusing on the heroic and fearless spirit of anti-drug heroes while exploring the "drug problem" that is rarely explored in the same type of subject matter: the strong contrast between the weak anti-drug theory in the early years and the severe anti-drug situation in the country. the northeast in the 1990s became the best choice.

after actual research, the screenwriter team found that methamphetamine began to appear in mainland china in 1991, the ministry of public security established the narcotics control bureau in august 1998, and the northeast china in september 1999.china criminal police collegethe anti-drug major was set up, and the first batch of undergraduate students majoring in anti-drug were recruited in china. such research results allowed the screenwriter team to find the difficulty of drug control in that era - lack of relevant knowledge and experience. therefore, there was a plot in the film where gu yiran (played by wang ziqi), who had professional knowledge of drug control, was invited to give a lecture to everyone, and many large and small cases related to drug knowledge were also generated.

from this perspective, previous anti-drug themes were based on the familiarity of drugs, showing the life-and-death struggle between drug police and drug dealers, while "snow labyrinth" is more like a drug-related science drama starting from scratch. the audience follows the task force to learn about drug-related knowledge from scratch and gradually understand the development of the police's anti-drug work in the 1990s. at the same time, in order to restore the sense of time and region for the entire work, "snow labyrinth" uses a lot of words to show the daily life of different characters in the task force.

captain zheng bei (whose family owns a restauranthuang jingyu ), whose daily means of transportation is the truck that delivers chicken racks to his home; zheng nan (lin boyang), who works in a hair salon, has big wavy hair, retro red lips and fashionable suits, which fits his identity as a star-chaser at the time; "uncle" who takes care of the task force's daily life is a typical northeastern name... as for accents, except for gu yiran from the south and the southern drug dealers, everyone speaks fluent northeastern dialect.

it is reported that the supervisorzhang yimouduring the preparation process, many suggestions were given for these life-like details. for example, when the northeast is changing from winter to spring, the heat from the ground rises from the gaps in the underground manhole covers, giving it a steampunk feel... these ultimately make "snow maze" different from similar works in terms of its "temporary temperament", and also require the audience who are looking forward to seeing hardcore anti-drug actions in the show to readjust their expectations and perspectives of following the show.

comfort zone

from the box office of nearly 3.7 billionoperation red sea》 to the highest douban score of 8.6ice breaking operation", the northeast actor huang jingyu became the only choice for the "military service" track, and also cultivated the viewing habits of a group of audiences. many audiences who like criminal investigation or military themes will have great expectations for his starring works.

even though "snow labyrinth" uses light comedy and lifestyle to achieve subject matter innovation, it is still a comfort zone for the lead actor huang jingyu.this time the story is set in the northeast in the 1990s, which is more comfortable for huang jingyu, a native of the northeast. he plays zheng bei, the leader of the criminal investigation team. he is an experienced "old policeman" at work and a warm-hearted brother in life. he has the upright side of the northeast people, but also has the inner shadow brought by his childhood abduction experience.

if the complexity of huang jingyu's previous similar roles lies more in his interpretation of human nature in extreme situations, then zheng bei needs him to avoid being stereotyped as a police hero and become an ordinary person who grows out of daily life. a lively ordinary person does not need a dramatic and tense performance. he must have the characteristics of a criminal policeman while blending in with the crowd and the environment.

therefore, the audience who were impressed by his past handsome roles such as gu shun, li fei, lin luxiao, etc. need to get to know huang jingyu again through zheng bei - an ordinary northeastern policeman. drug enforcement is not his best area. his mission as a policeman is to maintain the justice in his heart in the mixed ha lan.

zheng bei also reflects the characterization standards of most police characters in "snow labyrinth": anti-drug police officers are able to fight a desperate battle with vicious criminals in the anti-drug battlefield when they put on police uniforms; when they take off their police uniforms, they worry about trivial matters and are "living beings" with a life full of joys and sorrows.

the same principle applies to the portrayal of drug dealers and villains in the drama. the drug lords who used to wear suits and sunglasses and spend a lot of money, or the drug dealers who looked bad at first glance, have become "ordinary people" walking in the crowd and are not noticeable. the villains who have been stripped of the public stereotype are closer to the real bad guys in reality.the housewife who dresses simply and likes to drink dumpling soup may be the drug lord behind the scenes. the security guard who is brave enough to eat barbecue with the police may be a thug who regards the drug dealer as his father. "snow labyrinth" breaks the routine and pattern of drug enforcement and criminal investigation with its complex character relationships and rashomon-style settings in the case.

it seems that most of the actors in "snow labyrinth" are in their own acting comfort zone, but in fact, each character and the actors behind them are trying to break the acting comfort zone based on the genre innovation of the series. zhang xueyao, the only female police officer in the special case team, is set as a sanda master. xie keyin, who plays zhang xueyao, is not a martial arts actor. she started fighting training a long time before the official start of filming. in a fighting scene of a competition, she even "rolled" with the opponent actor. other actors who need to "fight" in the play will also practice with the martial arts teacher on the overpass of the shooting hotel on a daily basis, stretching their legs, punching, and exchanging moves.

telling a story that happened more than 20 years ago, snow labyrinth also incorporated universality that empathizes with today's young people during the creation stage. for example, gu yiran, an expert who "airdropped" from guangdong to ha lan, came to popularize more advanced criminal investigation and drug control methods, but also caused interpersonal relationship problems. for example, in the obscure chemistry class, the classroom reactions of the task force members indirectly showed people's natural rejection of things they don't understand, and their resistance to challenges in familiar fields.

for creators and audiences, subject matter innovation means challenging habits. while challenging the actors' comfort zones, it also challenges the viewing habits that have already been formed in this genre.

what is suspense?

in april this year, youku's suspense theater was upgraded to the white night theater, which has launched works such as "new life", "pale fire" and "border water past". "snow labyrinth" follows "border water past" and is the only work on drug prevention.these works all gained attention when they were broadcast. in addition to sharing the suspense gene, their biggest commonality is that they all have a certain degree of creative innovation.

"new life" uses the rashomon narrative technique that is common in movies but not often used in tv dramas to unfold a logically rigorous and airtight story about fraud; "pale fire" uses the camera narrative shooting technique to break the concept of traditional tv dramas based on scenes and constructs a new kind of literary suspense; "waterside stories" breaks the traditional tv drama chasing routine from the beginning of the entire set of audio-visual language, and has gained high popularity and good reputation.

"snow labyrinth" continues to innovate. in 2017, the director of the drama, lv xing, was well-known to the audience for the hit drama "undocumented crime". this drama, adapted from the novel of the same name by zijin chen, received 170 million views in half a month, and the main topic reading volume on weibo was as high as 170 million. "undocumented crime" did not adopt the unit drama model that is quite popular in suspense crime dramas, but revealed the murderer at the beginning and completed the story's deduction in a way that is more like a social school of reasoning. this was already regarded as a certain degree of innovation in suspense works at the time.

seven years have passed, and the market for suspense dramas has undergone significant changes. various platforms have made plans for this track. iqiyi's misty theater, tencent video's x theater, and youku's white night theater have successively launched different popular works.

director lu xing witnessed the market situation change from "other suspense dramas have it but i do" to a market environment where audiences are no longer surprised by all kinds of crime spectacles. so he chose to try the method of genre superposition in "snow maze", superimposing genre elements of life dramas on the suspense story.

because he understands that current innovation needs to be closer to the audience's empathy and feelings, so there are endless delicacies and endless chats in the play. the chicken rack shop is a place that can represent the characteristics of life in northeast china. lu xing uses the chicken rack shop to build a stage space, carrying the era and regionality. another big difference between "snow labyrinth" and previous drug-related criminal investigation dramas is the sense of comedy mixed in it. from the lines to the relationships between the characters, there is a faint sense of humor that runs through it smoothly.

in fact, after trying to dialogue and communicate with different creators of suspense dramas many times, we found that the creators have similar positioning of suspense. in their view, suspense dramas themselves do not have clear genre characteristics, they are a way of telling stories.

for example, during the filming, director lv xing asked the actors not to treat "snow labyrinth" as a suspense drama. although suspense is a way of telling stories, it cannot be achieved through performance. he believes that facing problems in life, it is very scary to deal with them in an imaginary suspenseful way. the actors only need to relax, get familiar with each other, and live together to complete the suspense in the narrative.

just as suspense is a way of telling stories rather than a genre, it has become an impossible task to create a new subject or genre in the current film and television drama market. for creators, a better way to create is to find new creative angles in past themes, or to combine different genres to give the audience a new experience; or to change the perspective to create a space that was rarely seen in previous suspense dramas, and to achieve differences in the story's perception through character relationships that seem familiar to the audience.

from the creator's perspective, suspense is not a genre and has no clear definition, but a good suspense drama can definitely resonate with the audience. for increasingly "picky" audiences, it doesn't matter what suspense is or how to innovate it. being able to truly find a point of empathy is also the key to a good drama.