A Study On The Theater Characteristics And Narrative Of IQIQI’s "Theater Of Mist"

In 2020,iQIYI launched "Theater of Mist",an upgraded version of "Strange suspense Theater" in 2018.It improves users’ viewing experience with premium content and a brand new theatre operation model.Compared with the previous " Strange suspense Theater ",this theater is more theatrical and has more unified narrative features.In 2020,the theater broadcast a total of five productions,namely "The Game in 10 Days","Hidden Corners","Doomed","Eyewitnesses" and "The Silent Truth".Zhihu gave an average score of 8.12 for the five dramas.The reason why "Theater of Mist" can achieve such a high achievement and cause great discussion among the audience is inseparable from its theatrical characteristics and unified narrative style.This paper will take the works of "Theater of Mist" in 2020 as the research object,takes narratology as the theoretical basis,and adopt the method of literature analysis and case analysis.The paper studies the development context,theatrical characteristics,narrative content and narrative strategy of "Theater of Mist",in order to provide direction for the creation and transformation of future suspense network TV series.Relying on Baidu and acquiring PPS,iQIYI provides a large platform for the development of online homemade dramas.Look at it in terms of time span,the development of online homemade dramas of suspense genre of iQIYI can be divided into three stages:2014-2015 was the exploration stage,the number of works is small,representing as "Tomb Raiders".For developing stage from 2016 to 2019,this stage,number of homemade play in suspense class network,iQIYI created "Suspense Theatre",representing as "Sin of Unlicensed".The period from 2020 is the upgrade stage.At present,"Theater of Mist" belongs to the upgrading stage.The characteristics of i Qiyi "Theater of Mist" are reflected in the fact that all the works are short plays with 12 episodes.The whole theater is highly industrialized and can be copied efficiently.i Qiyi also made a series of exclusive Settings for "Theater of Mist" :exclusive logo and posters;"Serialization + seasonal broadcasting" is adopted to expand the effect;Choose the collective packaging of all works and cooperate with advertisers.In the narrative content,there are themes such as the mapping of social reality,the disclosure of psychological problems and the redemption of human nature.Through the content of the play,the hero and the marginal characters good and evil are shown.In terms of narrative plots,contradictions and conflicts are presented.In some works,the fate of the characters is hinted at at the beginning of the title,the details of the story development are metaphorical,and the open ending is set at the end to deepen the theme.In terms of narrative structure,they all multiple narrative structure,the double-crossing narrative structure of "The Game in 10 Days",the "1+N" narrative structure of "Hidden Corners",the umbrella narrative structure of "Eyewitnesses",and the interlocking chain narrative structure of "Doomed"."The Silent Truth" is an onion peeling narrative structure with multiple threads.In terms of perspective,all works do not always use a single focus.In terms of time and space,montage,split screen and different colors are used to show different time and space.The meaning of "Theater of mist" to the industry is: to form a new creation mode for good content;Redefine the relationship between platform,users,and content;Add domestic boutique short drama set marketing model.According to the style and characteristics of "Theater of Mist",the author puts forward his own views on the future development of online homemade dramas.Creators should pay attention to content creation.Meet the needs of the audience from different angles;Production platform for the overall control of the work to form a unified style.Only in this way can we promote the better development of future network homemade dramas.