"It Was a Shocking Shadow", "The Ancient Mountain is Still Negative to the Moon", "Where to Find the Shadow of the Present Night", "The Long Night of Lovesickness Like a Galaxy", "Waiting for the Idle Change But the Old People's Heart", "One Day to See All the Chang'an Flowers", "I Want the South Wind to Know the Evening Meaning", "A Mistake in the East Wind and Saying Cui Yu", "Tonight's Red Candle Doesn't See You", "The Wind Lives in the Dust and the Fragrance of the Flowers Are Exhausted"...... Now the title of the micro-short drama is so old-fashioned? Judging from the inventory, there are not a few costumes or romance-themed micro-short dramas that choose such literary and romantic drama titles, which seem to be different from the stereotypical drama titles that directly hit the highlights.

"Former name" focuses on tyranny and wife

The main hit is a "cool and clear"

Judging from the current situation of the short drama market, the scale of China's micro-short drama market reached 10000 million yuan in 0 years, a year-on-year increase of 0.0%, and it is expected to exceed 0 billion yuan in 0 years, showing an amazing growth momentum and huge potential. As an emerging form of film and television, the online micro-short drama market is booming, and its titles are also showing a diversified evolution trend. From the straightforward and simple in the early days, it has gradually shifted to diversification and literature, which not only reflects the changes in the short drama market, but also reflects the changes in the audience's aesthetics and needs.

早期的短劇劇名，往往以直白、簡單的方式呈現，直接點明短劇的核心元素或主題。在短劇發展初期，為了快速吸引觀眾眼球，創作者多採用簡單粗暴的方式起名，如《我養的小白臉是大佬》《閃婚後被千億總裁寵上天》《霸總狠狠愛：小嬌妻帶球跑》這類劇名。“總裁”“大佬” 等熱門元素被直接植入，讓觀眾一眼就能瞭解短劇的題材與大致走向。

Now there are some short dramas that are still named this route: "I'm tired of the president's wife", "The real daughter in the countryside is the ancestor", "When we say goodbye, let's not entangle", "I, what's wrong with cultivating immortals for many years", "After the contract was terminated, I got married in a flash and became the top of the music scene", "After pretending to be blind, I mistakenly attacked the paranoid boss", "Attracting her into the room and becoming a thing in the palm of your hand", ...... The names of these popular short dramas are more in line with the familiar way of opening, and basically from the title of the play, you can judge the main plot direction, as well as where the main highlights and cool points are.

At the time, this straightforward way of naming did capture the attention of some viewers in a short period of time and satisfy their curiosity about a specific type of story. But there is also a phenomenon: in order to attract attention and chase traffic, some micro-short dramas do everything in their titles and plots, often attracting audiences with exaggerated and vulgar titles. In response to this phenomenon, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television strictly prohibits micro-short dramas from appearing in problems such as pornography, vulgarity, bloody violence, low style, and aesthetic vulgarity.

Now the title of the play follows the ancient style of literature and art

Look for unique selling points to attract your audience

But I don't know when the titles of micro-short dramas have taken the route of ancient style, and it is not a problem to use ancient poems. For example, "Long Night Lovesickness Like a River of Stars" is about the heroine's rebirth and revenge; "Where to Find the Shadow of the Qing Tonight" is about the weapon designer who crossed into the second lady of the general, and pulled each other with King Xuanwu, and had a secret feeling; "This Life Wishes to Be with Jun Molu" is about the rebirth of the heroine and no longer repeating the mistakes of the past.

The title of "The Ancient Mountain is Still Negative to the Moon" that once rushed to the top of the short drama hot list is based on the famous sentence "The Ancient Mountain is still a life covenant" in Su Shi's poem "Drunk and Down, Presenting Elements on the Table" in the Song Dynasty, the original sentence means "Although it has lived up to the promise of returning to its hometown", but in terms of plot, it seems to have little to do with the title of the play, the play revolves around several young people who stand at the crossroads of life, fully showing their inner struggles and collisions in the face of life choices.

With the standardized development of the short drama market and the improvement of the review standards of short dramas, the titles of short dramas have begun to show a trend of literature. Creators are no longer limited to a single subject matter and elements, but try to integrate different elements together to create a more novel and unique title. Short dramas such as "Dyeing", "Writing" and "Giving Her a Handle" no longer follow the previous model naming routines, and leave a deep impression on the audience through meaningful and unique titles. There are also some short drama titles that have begun to incorporate cultural elements, drawing inspiration from poems and songs and historical allusions, such as "Mr. Dongpo's Rush to the Exam" uses historical figures to arouse the audience's reverie of ancient and modern stories, making the titles of short plays more culturally rich and artistic.

There are many reasons why the title of the micro-short drama is becoming literary. On the one hand, with the intensification of market competition and the strict review of micro-short dramas, creators urgently need to seek unique selling points to attract audiences. The literary title of the play is like a golden signboard, with its profound cultural heritage and unique aesthetic imagery, it stands out among many play titles and instantly catches the audience's attention.For example, "A Dream Pillow on the Galaxy" uses the poetic artistic conception of the ancients' romantic imagination of the galaxy. The title of the play suggests that the characters in the play have a beautiful and romantic pursuit and dedication in order to protect and inherit the intangible cultural heritage culture and build the city in a dreamlike time. On the other hand, the wave of cultural inheritance and innovation is also driving the development of this phenomenon. Ancient poems and classic literary works are treasures of Chinese culture, and the integration of elements into the title of the play is a kind of inheritance and tribute to traditional culture, and at the same time, it also gives new vitality to the short play. Like "Ancient Acacia", which draws inspiration directly from ancient poems, the eternal emotional theme of "Acacia" transcends time and space, and it is easy to arouse the emotional resonance in the audience's heart.

Fall into the embarrassment of "the text is not right".

Even stay at the "surface work"

To a certain extent, this literary naming method breaks the audience's impression of the "down-to-earth" of micro-short dramas, and when the title of the play matches the content, the literary title is undoubtedly the icing on the cake. However, although some of the short plays use ancient poems in the titles to create an elegant artistic conception, the content is very different from the title of the play, which greatly disappoints the audience. Many short dramas fall into the embarrassing situation of "the title is greater than the content", and under the gorgeous rhetoric are routine plots and flat characters, which further highlights the content dilemma of the short drama market. This contrast not only consumes the trust of the audience, but also reflects the impetuous mentality in the creation of short plays.

For example, the title of "Flower Shadow Under the Moon" integrates the imagery of "moon" and "flower shadow" common in ancient poems, getting rid of the straightforward and vulgar expression of the short drama title, and creating a poetic, quiet and romantic situation. For example, "The Ancient Mountain is Still Negative in the Moon" caused industry insiders to complain, "The title of the short drama is literary, using ancient poems, but the plot itself has not many highlights, there are many slots, and the special effects are fooled, the so-called richest man in the world is a little shabby, as long as the plot is cool enough, the audience will pay for it." ”

Although the title of the play is full of "literary style", the content of the short play is seriously out of touch with its title. The play takes the common betrayal, divorce, secret love and new love in urban emotional dramas as clues, and the theme expression only stays on the surface of emotional entanglements, without in-depth analysis of the human weaknesses reflected behind the betrayal, the root causes of marital dilemmas, and the self-growth of individuals in the predicament. The word "Chaoge" in the short drama "Chao Ge Fu" is full of classical charm, reminiscent of the bustling city and long history in ancient times, and "Fu" as a literary genre also adds a cultural flavor to it, but the main content of the play is far from the title of the play, mainly about the palace taboo love between the vengeful and bewitching queen mother and the black-bellied paranoid emperor, including elements such as the combination of double strength and sadomasochistic mother literature.

The reporter also noticed that while the titles of some short dramas are more literary, their content creation has not kept pace with the times, but has fallen into a quagmire and stagnated, but the plot content is full of loopholes, the logic is chaotic, the plot is old-fashioned and boring, and the characters are also very thin. Such content seems out of place compared to the carefully crafted title of the play. Therefore, simply changing the title of the play will not make the micro-short drama go to the next level in terms of artistic expression, and if you want to create high-quality short drama works, you also need to create original content. The producer of the short drama should not just stay on the "surface work", but also calm down, deeply cultivate the core area of the short drama creation, and put more energy on the expression and improvement of the plot. At the same time, it is necessary to create a positive, healthy and beneficial environment for short dramas, so that short dramas can truly become high-quality carriers for transmitting positive energy and enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the public.

The healthy development of the short drama market needs to go beyond this superficial literary packaging. While pursuing the literary beauty of the title, the creator of the short drama should pay attention to polishing the content, balancing the literary and popular, so that the short drama can go further and more steadily on the road of standardization and art. The title can be a delicate entry point, but it shouldn't be a fig leaf to hide the barrenness of the content. What really touches people's hearts is always the quality of the content and sincere expression. At the same time, in the process of chasing business and traffic, creators should also maintain awe of art and respect for the audience.

Intern Yi Xuemei

Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Zhang Nan

Proofread by Sheng Yuanyuan