TV Series (China) for Magnolia Awards | Clear Up the Fog of Confusion and Unveil the "Soundless Battle"

In recent years, suspense dramas have seen rapid growth while being exposed in the limelight from time to time. Diversified in theme, these works, introducing crime, action, reasoning, sci-fi and other plot elements, have been innovating forms to create brand new viewing experience for the audience. Among the entries for TV Series (China) for Magnolia Awards at this year's Shanghai TV Festival (STVF), there are a number of suspense dramas submitted, presenting a new pattern of multiple competitions: ENEMY stages the "spy war" in ordinary life, DETECTIVE OF TRUTH reveals the magical "mind reading" in criminal investigation, WOLF HUNTER focuses on the anti-poaching battle on the western frontier, CRIME CRACKDOWN bluntly depicts the operations to crush the black and the evil, DOUBLE TAP seeks after the lost family bond and justice... These works, coming with intense plot settings, vivid characters, and deep concern for reality, unfold the "soundless battles" on the TV screen.

ENEMY

ENEMY, the first domestic spy war drama set in a modern city, tells the story of a group of national security officers who, with their superb investigative skills, find clues of spies in the ordinary daily life and thwart hostile foreign forces. The work groundbreakingly implants the narrative method of "life flow" into the theme of spy war and integrates overt battles against spies and counter-espionage into the civilian life that is down to earth, subverting people's inherent impression of the music of spy war. With cases derived from real life, the work reminds people that espionage is everywhere and lets the audience understand the hardships and difficulties of the counter-espionage work today.

DETECTIVE OF TRUTH

The work tells the story of a group of criminal police officers, who are well versed in psychology, clearing up an unsolved case twelve years ago with polygraph technology. Through the technical means of polygraph detection instead of the "God's perspective", which is commonly used in criminal investigation themes, it guides the suspect to explain the motive for committing the crime and allows the audience to follow the criminal police's case-solving ideas and find out the truth step by step. The work restores the real criminal investigation and case-solving process to a certain extent, and applies the psychological theory in an ingenious and precise way, thus leaving enough space for the audience to think and reason. In response to the "lie detection", the performers' management of "micro-expressions" in the drama is also quite interesting.

WOLF HUNTER

As the first domestic anti-poaching TV series, WOLF HUNTER zooms in on the heroic deeds of the veteran forest ranger Wei Jiang and the rookie police officer Qin Chuan to fight against the poachers. The work, coming with impressive visual effects, thrilling and compact fighting scenes, and ingenious framing angles, unveils the unsung heroes such as "Forest Police" and "Forest Rangers" before the public and pays tribute to all the "Forest Guardians" who dedicate their youth and lives in obscurity. Depicting the mysterious and magnificent natural landscapes, the simple and genial folkway, and the grand animal ecology of the western frontier, it tries to arouse the public's attention to ecological protection.

CRIME CRACKDOWN

CRIME CRACKDOWN, based on real cases such as the "Sun Xiaoguo Case" provided by the National Anti-Underworld Office, records the thrilling journey of a group of criminal policemen under the guidance of the supervision team to jointly eradicate the evil forces and their protective umbrellas. The work, with flawless playwriting and superior acting, brings into focus the tug-of-war between good and evil forces through the words and psychological fluctuations of the characters, and leaves vivid footnotes for the meaning and value of the special struggle to eradicate black and evil with a strong realistic texture. In the presentation of the plot, it opens the dust-covered case file for the audience with a genuine documentary method instead of deliberately pursuing dramatic effects, directly discloses the confrontation process between the good and the evil, and faithfully reproduces the indomitable actions in the national special fight against gangsterism and evil.

DOUBLE TAP

The work tells the story of the criminal police Li Huiyan who accidentally gets involved in the three-way network of underworld forces when investigating a kidnapping case of a middle school student. The work adopts the setting of two male protagonists and the parallel narrative method of two storylines. The rhythm is properly balanced, and the frame is delicate and appealing. Losing no merit of the mind-boggling and tense features of suspense dramas, it veils the story in a stern suspenseful vibe with the aesthetics unique to the Northeast, which is characterized by the vast snowfield and old industrial base, leaving the audience to feel like witnessing the complexity of human nature and the power of justice right on the snowy field.

The above works, wearing a suspense mask, bring together various cross-type elements to cater to the audience's aesthetic needs for multiple styles today. In terms of content selection and type-based exploration, they also further expand new contexts for suspense dramas and create new possibilities for the imagination. We believe that in the near future, with the improvement of the quality and production level of domestic suspense dramas, there will be more excellent works emerging and shining on the stage of the Magnolia Awards.

Which works can stand out and finally win the favor of this year's Magnolia Awards? Keep tuned to find the answer!