"The Usual Suspects", released 25 years ago, used the script, footage and even the performances of the actors to build a road that seemed to lead to the correct answer. The rich amount of information and the non-linear narrative structure greatly weakened the audience's sense of participation.
Because most audiences are led by the nose before the end of the film, not only do they have no sense of solving puzzles, but even feel boring because of the creator's "one-sided" narration. But when the audience thought they had reached their destination, the film suddenly solved the real mystery. We, like the pompous Detective David in the film, always thought we were in charge of the process, but ended up being taunted.
This way of limiting the angle of view and using images to "deceive" the audience is not unique to film history, but "The Usual Suspects" is one of the best in this type of film history. In addition to the tight script structure, enhanced editing and '90s Hollywood styling, it's Kevin Spacey 's superb acting that helps deceive the audience. If the audience is not already familiar with Uncle Kevin, and has begun to be vigilant about the credibility of his testimony when he becomes the narrator of the story, the effect may be better, but on the other hand, it just shows that his performance success.
Coupled with the potential trust in images and the habit of "what you see is what you get", the audience unconsciously began to believe in this stammering lame man, and even began to have positive feelings for him. It was such an amazing performance that not only successfully deceived Detective David, but also helped the film "deceive" the audience, and also won Kevin Spacey the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
When we turn our attention back to the current screen world, movies face a new problem, that is, the "dismemberment" of short videos for big screen movies.
The streaming media platform represented by Douyin first used some short video works created by users as the main content to fill the market gap outside of movies and TV. However, with the continuous development of streaming media, the previous short video content can no longer meet the needs of platform expansion, so a large number of short video content edited from existing film and television works have begun to appear.
These short videos are different from the long-standing movie remixes on major social media. Most of the movie mixes are created by senior movie fans or film and television companies. It has a traceable development history and a clear audience, and is a part of the movie fandom culture. The production of film mixes not only requires the producer to have sufficient film readings, excellent film aesthetics, and certain technical threshold requirements, but film mixes are also part of the film-obsessed culture.
However, most of the clips of film and television works currently flooded on short video platforms such as Douyin are far from secondary creations such as movie mixing, and can only be regarded as "dismemberment" of the original work at most. Because it has nothing to do with aesthetics, culture or even pure love for movies, it just cuts off the prelude, cuts off the branch lines, and omits all kinds of "unnecessary" shots, and only points out the twists and turns that can retain users in the shortest time. The plot fragments of the work are ignored in the pursuit and practice of the play structure, lens language, tone and light.
This kind of short video works can be roughly divided into two types. The first is the public account or video blogger born out of the interpretation of movies, and the second is to directly disassemble the film and television works into small fragments to avoid copyright without narration interpretation. question.
Whether it is the clips of film and television works on Douyin, or the series of short dramas that Quibi is pushing to pursue the "third-generation film style", they have not formed a mature business operation model, nor have they formed a positive impact on the current film market. As impactful as TV was born. But we should still pay attention to these products that are infinitely plundering the audience's attention due to the platform's blind pursuit of sinking the market.
Faced with the troubles brought by these new products, how should the film respond?
We can find a little inspiration and confidence in this "The Usual Suspects". As a suspense film, this film fully embodies the eight characters of "grass gray snake line, foreshadowing thousands of miles". According to some viewers, the soul of this film lies in the finishing touches, that is, the first 100 minutes are preparing for the last 6 minutes. Some viewers even said that this work was a good ending that saved a mediocre story.
But this is not the case, otherwise we only recommend the last six minutes. In fact, the real finishing touch of this film is not in the last 6 minutes, but the foreshadowing of the first 100 minutes.
We make a very simple proof, that is to "dismember" this film and make it into a short video work. First of all, if "The Very Suspect" is made into a short video of the movie plot commentary, according to the most common mode, that is, three short videos within three to five minutes, the amount of information that can be provided by a commentary of about 10 minutes is relative to that of one movie. Standard-length feature films are rare.
Many opponents will say that reducing the amount of information in some romance films will not cause too much damage to the film, but for suspense films, reducing the amount of information means losing a lot of foreshadowing. And these foreshadowings are scattered in every corner of the film, and there are many details. Until the moment when the answer is finally revealed in the film, the foreshadowing is lit like a long lead, setting off a grand fireworks. Only when the leads are long and firm enough, can the fireworks become more beautiful, and the audience's viewing pleasure will be more intense.
This is the so-called grass gray snake line, foreshadowing thousands of miles.
If you want to keep these foreshadowings and disassemble the film into dozens of short video works, this method will not work. According to the commercial law of short video release, it is ideal to keep the daily update for a week or even a month or two.
But the foreshadowing of the first 100 minutes of "The Very Suspects" is not simply to accumulate evidence, but to hide these evidences in different corners from the very beginning, using various methods to deceive the audience. Many viewers may not be able to grasp all the details after watching the film for the first time, and often need to watch it for the second or even the third time. Such a viewing experience is a brain battle of wits and courage.
Therefore, if all these details are taken out and made into short videos, it will not only damage the shocking effect of the reversal in the last 6 minutes of the film, but also destroy the tight structure of the film, and from the perspective of short video operation, it will not be able to retain users. time and attention.
With the current short dramas and film and television editing works grabbing the audience's attention, coupled with the abuse of words such as the era of fragmented reading that has been advocated, many creators hope to retain audiences by changing movies, such as Quibi's launch A series of short dramas, and even the filmmakers took the initiative to edit the film and television dramas, and then put the clips on the short video platform.
As an art, film has its growth laws and history, and it has also faced many challenges during its development, such as television, video tapes, and current short videos. In the face of previous opponents, the film certainly suffered setbacks, but it never completely failed.
Looking back, it is not difficult to see that there were many people who wanted to change the film, and they used various methods, both technical and artistic. But so far, the most direct and effective method that has been proven is to tell good stories for the audience. Movies that tell good stories are timeless movies that span time and are worthy of new audiences to watch. For example, today's recommended "" Very Suspect".
Because even after 25 years, even if we have seen many similar structures and techniques on the screen, even if many viewers have been changed by short videos, but when we watch this movie again, we will still Get a pure viewing pleasure in the last 6 minutes. This is the charm of the film, the vitality of the film, and the reason why it will still exist in the so-called fragmented reading era.
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