Crime drama
As soon as Levi's words came out, everyone's interest grew: Everyone discussed what kind of TV series to shoot, but Levi didn't say anything. Could it be that he was thinking about this? In such a short time, he already had an idea.
"What I've been thinking about these past two days has always been crime dramas or medical dramas. As early as the birth of detective novels, Van Dyne talked about how detective novels can attract people. The most important one is, It must be a homicide case because the homicide case attracts the most attention and will instinctively arouse people's fear and revenge so that the novel can gain readers.
This rule is applicable no matter how long in the past. The Buddhist scriptures say that life and death are great. Horror is an unshakable principle. The thing that can move people the most is always someone dying. Because there are dead people, there is the pain and suffering of life and death, and human emotions can be released to the maximum.
Moreover, the audience will continue to watch it out of concern for people whether they will die or not. This is why crime and medical dramas are the most popular. So, I have been thinking about TV dramas in this aspect, and I have a Thought," Levi said aloud his thoughts.
His thoughts were too detailed and even slightly surprising when he said them. A few people would be skeptical. Bob shrugged, "It's a good idea for you to think about this, but Nick, let me remind you first: a TV series is not about telling just a story but a series of stories. You have to figure out the importance of creativity."
"Of course, I understand." Levi smiled. He still knew about this aspect.
There is a big difference between TV series and movies. TV dramas are different; as long as you have an idea, you can submit it. American dramas are different from movies. If you want to shoot a movie, you must have a suitable script before you can contact investors. In the subtitles, besides the director, screenwriter, and others, there is also a significant role: the original creator. This character has a crucial position in American dramas.
An American TV series may have five or six, or even a dozen screenwriters, but there will only be one original creator. Characters that are unique to this TV series and not available in movies are often essential in a TV series. With a good idea, the original creator can apply to become a TV series producer and participate in the share.
"I thought of something that no one has done yet: We shoot crime dramas, but we don't shoot cops or detectives."
"No cops or detectives? Shoot criminals?" Bob asked rhetorically.
Levi put forward his ideas and wanted to see what level of producers his partners were. "No, we film the story of a professional, scientific team responsible for providing evidence to the police who detect the case." Levi waved his hand, "My idea is very simple, but there are several advantages: first, we don't get attached to the story between police and gangsters, but to portray a group of people who have not shown much in front of the audience so far. Second, modern professional detection methods can attract a large part of the audience. Third, there are more characters and rich plots, and more things to write. That's it; let's discuss it."
"Your idea has merit...but it violates the principles of detective novels." Bob hesitated, "Among the twenty principles of detective novels, readers and detectives have equal opportunities to solve mysteries. This is a detective novel's first principle. And there is only one detective, which is also one of the principles. One of these two is the foundation of detective novels, and the other is the guarantee of the fun of detective novels. If you have overthrown them all, how can you succeed?"
Short Bob was the first to break the silence. And as soon as he opened his mouth, he let Levi know that his partners also have excellent abilities: the creation of crime dramas is based on detective novels, and Bob immediately began to use the theory of detective novels to observe his idea; it's impressive. In particular, he can clearly remember Van Dyne's Twenty Rules, showing that Bob has profound experience creating crime dramas.
"Van Dyne's Twenty Rules also prohibits love stories. Now if you were to make a TV series without love stories, can you try to sell it? The Twenty Rules say that there should be no underworld organizations. Holmes has violated this principle with Moriarty," Michael immediately refuted.
"A love story must compromise with the market."
"Bob, I didn't violate these principles." Levi interrupted the argument again.
"The team's form of detection and high-tech means, how can this not be a violation?"
"Let readers and detectives have equal opportunities to solve puzzles - the key to this rule is to let readers understand. The key point of detective novels is to create suspense, but while creating suspense, it is easy for readers to lose interest in reading because they don't know anything and can't grasp the story's context. Therefore, it is necessary to give readers room to think and let them read on—this is why this rule exists. The high-tech method appeared to analyze the witness and physical evidence. It is the same as the process of reasoning and solving the case. It is layer by layer, showing the process of handling the case in front of the audience. Until all the evidence is connected in the end, the audience has the same opportunities as detectives to solve the case. Detective novels are done through reasoning, and I have to use high-tech means to do it."
Bob was stunned for a while; he was not dull, and after thinking about it, he understood Levi's thoughts. "Because this helps to show the process of handling the case more intuitively?"
"Yes. The adaptation of detective novels into TV dramas has always been the biggest problem. The detective's thinking cannot be directly presented to the audience. If you can tell the audience detective thinking every step of the way, novels are fine, but film and television dramas are not. This is a problem of show versus tell. It is too bad to express your psychological activities through voice-over. In TV dramas, the detective process can only hint to the audience, but the audience may not understand it and will likely be thrown off. This is a big problem. But with high-tech tools, the thinking process can be omitted, and the high-technology language can be used directly. It is understandable to express to people who do not understand high technology, which puts readers and detectives on the same starting line."
"But you played tricks, and in this way, all the evidence is presented before readers couldn't get past the detective's progress."
"No, you are wrong again. The people in the TV series have to find evidence to prove their arguments, and the audience can directly demonstrate their ideas through reasoning: the difference between professional case-solving and amateur reasoning can create a balance. "
"I think it's a little tricky to do this... But if it can solve the problem that the detective drama is not well thought out to the readers, it doesn't matter." Bob clapped his hands, "Then why are there multiple detectives? Instead of one? You have to admit that this violates the principle, right?"
"No, the principle is that multiple detectives cannot compete because each other's information must be displayed in front of the reader, and it is easy for the reader's information to surpass the detective's. But what I did is different, for multiple detectives to cooperate. What I do is develop the plot. There are multiple detectives to investigate so that some of the content of solving the case can be revealed through dialogue. The talent displayed by the detectives in the past when they solve the case can only be reached at the last moment. Before that, he could only show his uniqueness through his handling of things, detection methods, and personal charm. For example, Sherlock Holmes often analyzes some things around him because it shows that the character is different. It is difficult to achieve satisfactory results in film and television works because if you don't give those close-up shots with too many details, the audience will not notice, and they are not on the same starting line. If you do, it will destroy the integrity of the work. However, if multiple people cooperate, they can show their talents in different aspects by comparing them with their teammates' performance in different aspects, which can be more intuitive. Suppose the two cases are carried out alternately, and two groups of people work simultaneously on those cases. In that case, it can diversify the shooting methods, which will not be monotonous, and can even attract people's appetite."
Bob didn't say a word, but Michael said, "I understand your thinking a little bit: through science, the unique method replaces reasoning, making the case-handling process intuitive and, at the same time, letting people know that solving the case does not depend on genius detectives, and making the case more real. The communication and interaction of team members in solving the case improve character charm, and using this method will reflect the high IQ way of solving crimes. Maybe this idea will be excellent; at least, it is novel enough to be more interesting than the current crime drama."
What does a crime drama script need to be successful? First, it needs to be crimes divorced from reality that cannot resonate with the audience, and the audience will only see things like murder as a joke. Second, there must be suspense. The process of solving a case that is too simple will make the audience feel bored.
There are many crime dramas every year, but the available content is similar. They will mostly be similar to either 'Hunter' or 'Law and Order.' Otherwise, it is solving a case by a genius detective or a police case that is almost real and slightly beautified. The point of view of the former depends on the actors' charm, while the latter's point of view depends on authenticity.
As for the two, the former is often complained about being divorced from reality, and it is too fake for the protagonist to go to heaven and earth to be omnipotent. The latter is often considered not attractive enough, and it is impossible to see how much talent is needed to solve the case, and sometimes even the police force is not required, and a single bullet is not fired for a whole season. There is no oppression of life and death, which is not attractive. The way Levi said this is to make up for both problems.
Relying on science to solve the case - authenticity and high IQ and difficulty, both of which are used. This is close to life, and it is also a complicated crime-solving technique.
In the development process of TV dramas, some things are epoch-making developments. 'Colombo' pioneered flashback reasoning, and 'Star Trek' let people know that spaceships don't have to be flying saucers or cylinders. 'ER' pioneered the core ideas of professionalism and humanity in medical dramas. At the turn of the new century, the development of crime dramas also entered an era of innovation. Since CSI introduced professional, scientific detection methods to solve crimes, people began to use the two sharp weapons of teamwork and science to solve crimes.
What are the top TV shows? It is the leading TV drama that creates the era. From CSI to CM, from Bones to NCIS, after the emergence of CSI, almost all TV dramas cannot escape the influence of CSI.
Since they have to shoot a TV series anyway, it must be the most influential: Levi believes such a TV series can help him become famous overnight.
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