Blossom tells the story of Dou Zhao (Meng Zi Yi), who loses her mom at a younger age and, resulting from household upheavals and a troublesome destiny, turns into disillusioned with love and familial bonds. She fights in opposition to her stepmother, protects her household property, and goes to reside within the countryside the place she commits herself to her research to change into self-reliant.
On a wet evening, Dou Zhao encounters Tune Mo (Li Yunrui), who’s disguised as a service provider, within the village. Utilizing her intelligence, she helps Tune Mo shield the orphaned descendant of Duke Ding Guo, who was honored for his achievements in suppressing bandits. This incident entwines their fates.
Tune Mo, hailing from a noble household, finds himself entangled within the mysteries of his household’s downfall, whereas Dou Zhao faces malicious rumors of an organized marriage orchestrated by her stepmother. To navigate their difficulties, the 2 resolve to marry. As soon as suspicious and distrustful of one another, they steadily come to know each other and change into one another’s confidants.
Nonetheless, as new storms loom on the horizon, Dou Zhao and Tune Mo work collectively to confront the crises, save their households, and shield the peace of the nation. Collectively, the husband and spouse united for a lifetime, carve out a lifetime of true happiness, one which they’ll really name their very own.
Blossom, produced and created by Yaoke Tradition, is directed by rising director Zeng Qing Jie, with younger author Jia Bin Bin dealing with the script. The collection stars Meng Zi Yi and Li Yun Rui in lead roles, with Snow Kong and Xia Zhi Guang as supporting actors.
Presently airing on Tencent Video, the present has emerged as a darkish horse within the historic drama market. Guduo interviewed the producer of Blossom, Zhang Ying Ying, to be taught what went on behind the scenes of the C-drama.
Speaking about what impressed her to make Blossom, she stated, “Creating visually lovely costume dramas has at all times been my dream,” Zhang shared. “When different children used to observe cartoons, I used to immerse myself in classics like The Legend of the White Snake and My Truthful Princess. Whereas they performed with dolls, I practiced wielding a peachwood sword.”
It is usually revealed that the choice to solid rising stars comparable to Meng Zi Yi and Li Yun Rui was pushed by their suitability for the roles, and likewise resulting from some previous connections. As a producer at Yaoke Tradition, Zhang Ying Ying had beforehand labored on The Legend of Heroes.
“Zi Yi performed Mei Chao Feng in that collection. Her portrayal of a personality with magnificence, and energy, who confronted tragedy, and a powerful aura satisfied me that she might play the good and unbiased Dou Zhao. Li Yun Rui’s temperament, mixed with the horse driving and archery abilities he honed in Elevating from Zero, made him an ideal match for the younger basic Tune Mo.
Snow Kong gave a powerful audition, and her sweetness and vivacity gave Miao An Su a definite and memorable allure.”
Director Zeng Qing Jie makes his debut in long-form dramas with Blossom
Zeng Qing Jie, well-known for his hit quick dramas (that air 10-20 episodes with every episode spanning 10-20 minutes), made his debut in long-form dramas (that air as much as 50 episodes with every episode spanning 45 minutes) with Blossom. Zhang Ying Ying was the primary producer to method him with the concept of collaboration on a long-format drama.
“Director Zeng is a really good director. Even with the restricted budgets of quick dramas, he cleverly makes use of digital camera methods to compensate, skillfully avoiding areas the place inadequate funding may in any other case present. He excels at capturing the subtleties and pressure in relationships, notably between women and men. His distinctive improvements and his mastery in creating a powerful sense of ambiance are really uncommon in at the moment’s market.
“My function is to assist him maximize his strengths and shield his artistic imaginative and prescient. Then, utilizing our personal method and the skilled capabilities of a long-form drama manufacturing firm, we coordinate different facets, comparable to overseeing the general plot pacing and logic from a macro perspective, and assembling a top-tier manufacturing group. Our boss additionally confirmed nice braveness and belief in supporting us as we ventured into this progressive try,” Zhang shared.
Producer Zhang credit Blossom‘s success to its extremely expert manufacturing group
Blossom owes its success to the dedication of an skilled manufacturing group. “Profitable viewers approval would not be attainable with out the craftsmanship of all the group. This A-grade [high quality] venture is supported by the group we ceaselessly use for S-grade [elite] long-form costume dramas. We have spent all our finances on manufacturing and visible presentation,” Zhang stated.
The collection’ costume supervisor, Liang Ting Ting, a Golden Horse Award winner for Greatest Costume Design for Brotherhood of Blades, has deep experience in Ming Dynasty clothes and styling.
In the meantime, the artwork director, Shao Chang Yong, a recipient of the Magnolia Award for Greatest Artwork Path for works like Nirvana in Fireplace, and Like a Flowing River, utilized his mastery of “restrained aesthetics” to Blossom. His method imbues the set design with a refined, modern Chinese language type that emphasizes elegant minimalism and nuanced visible storytelling.
The music for all the manufacturing of Blossom was composed by Hu Xiao’ou, a music producer identified for creating soundtracks for hit dramas comparable to The Knockout and Misplaced within the Stars. Hu additionally served because the music director, with the China Worldwide Philharmonic Orchestra performing the compositions. The music is rooted in conventional Chinese language types, enhanced with fashionable parts.
Motion course was dealt with by Li Bao Liang, the martial arts choreographer behind The Legend of Heroes. The motion scenes strike a steadiness between energy and style, with fluid and dynamic physique actions.
“Our group has paid meticulous consideration to each side of the manufacturing. For each piece of music and each phrase within the lyrics within the drama, I labored carefully with Hu Xiao’ou to refine them. For the enduring scene within the first episode, we devoted vital effort to the visible results design and manufacturing within the post-production stage, striving to shine the presentation to its best possible,” she defined.
Blossom — a contemporary tackle period dramas
When Zhang Ying Ying first took on the venture, what intrigued her most was the feminine lead’s robust will to “reside life nicely” after her rebirth.
Zhang commented, “After Dou Zhao’s rebirth, her aim in life is not revenge or tormenting scumbags. As an alternative, it is about getting over the misfortune of her earlier life and residing nicely within the present one. That is why we did not dwell excessively on the struggling of the female and male leads of their previous lives. The primary episode rapidly strikes into her rebirth, as a result of this life is an important. If we had targeted on making her a protagonist pushed solely by revenge, I feel the story would have felt extra formulaic.”
Blossom downplays the ingredient of revenge
By downplaying the ingredient of revenge, Dou Zhao’s life is now not confined to the small, claustrophobic world of the home. As an alternative, it expands to a much wider perspective.
Zhang stated, “The sense of satisfaction we purpose to ship is that she turns into higher step-by-step on her personal, slightly than in search of revenge on others. In her present life, she has wealth, a profession, and love. She is unbiased, robust, and assured — a whole transformation from her earlier life.
“The core focus of Blossom is on the feminine lead’s independence and self-reliance, together with a mutually supportive and therapeutic relationship between her and the male lead. All different parts, comparable to court docket politics, and the male protagonist’s quest to hunt revenge serve the principle storyline with out deviating from it.”
After the feminine lead’s life imaginative and prescient unfolds, the imaginative and prescient of all the drama additionally unfolds accordingly. “Blossom goals to create the texture of the period’s ukiyo-e (floating world). We’ve consciously included many parts of conventional Ming Dynasty tradition. As an illustration, the feminine lead’s enterprise ventures contain papermaking, and the operatic parts that run all through the story from the very first episode carry cultural imprints of the Ming Dynasty. The screenwriter, Jia Bin Bin, was meticulous in crafting each the plot and dialogue, guaranteeing they’re wealthy in cultural depth and resonance.”
Blossom is rooted in actuality
“From the very starting, we labored with the director to place this drama as a grounded costume drama — actually not overly fantastical. From the royal nobles, princes, and generals to the widespread folks, every thing wanted to really feel grounded. The dialogue, cinematography, costumes, and props all needed to replicate the tone and texture of the Ming Dynasty. We have labored exhausting to make this drama go one step additional in all facets,” stated Zhang.
Blossom earns the viewers’s love
In response to the overwhelming enthusiasm of its followers, Blossom launched extra episodes yesterday [December 11], delighting viewers. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese language drama’s reputation on Tencent Video soared, breaking by way of a web site warmth index of 29,000.
Past Tencent, Blossom has persistently ranked first on main reputation charts, together with Guduo’s On-line Drama Reputation Index, Weibo Drama Affect Rankings, and Douyin Drama Leaderboard, whereas its Baidu index has surpassed 300,000, reflecting spectacular momentum.
Presently, Dou Zhao’s (Meng Zi Yi) character warmth index on Tencent Video has surpassed 10 million, and Tune Mo (Li Yun Rui) ranks first on Douyin’s character leaderboard, with Dou Zhao following carefully behind. The actors’ Baidu indices have additionally skyrocketed. Each lead actors have steadily climbed from enjoying supporting roles to leads, making Blossom a major stepping stone for his or her careers throughout this significant section of their rise.
For Tencent Video, Blossom has not solely added to the year-end buzz round costume dramas however has additionally bolstered the platform’s status for producing high quality interval dramas.
It just lately topped the Weekly Record of New Subscribers, attracted extra sponsorship from advertisers, and demonstrated robust income potential. For the manufacturing firm, Yaoke Tradition, the breakout success of Blossom serves as a strong testomony to its market perception and respect for the viewers.
Zhang stated, “Instances are at all times altering. I have been working in distribution because the period of ‘one present, 4 stars’ [broadcasting policy in China implemented to limit the simultaneous airing of the same TV drama on multiple satellite channels. Under this policy, a single drama could be broadcast on up to four satellite TV channels at the same time], and have witnessed the rise of streaming platforms and now the recognition of quick movies and quick dramas. Whoever adapts to the brand new market quickest will rise. We have to embrace change actively. The pacing of quick dramas and the stylistic improvements of short-drama administrators, and if there are facets of long-form dramas value studying from, we must always be taught from them.”
Regardless of the brand new developments, Yaoke Tradition additionally retains a few of its personal unchanging facets. “Right now’s audiences have extremely refined and complex tastes. They’re additionally very clever. In Blossom, we have embedded many refined particulars and foreshadowing that are not instantly apparent and may require nearer consideration to note however the viewers understands all of it. We must always have full confidence in audiences of at the moment’s instances. No matter how instances evolve, so long as we method our work with sincerity and dedication, audiences will at all times acknowledge and recognize it. That’s our biggest fortune as creators.”
Supply: Guduo Editorial Division