Amazon, which won 3 Oscars: In the future, it will focus on homemade films and provide a relaxed creative environment

In 2015, as soon as Amazon Original Film Production Studio was established, company CEO Bezos proposed a "small goal": to produce or buy 12 films every year and win an Oscar.

Original title: Amazon won three Oscars and taught China's film and television industry a lesson

. Global Internet giant Amazon is already a veteran with nearly 10 years of experience in the distribution and production of film and television content.

In 2015, as soon as Amazon Original Film Production Studio was established, company CEO Bezos proposed a "small goal": to produce or buy 12 films every year and win an Oscar.

For other newly established film companies, this is just like Wang Jianlin's "100 million yuan" goal for ordinary people, which is basically out of reach. But now that a year has just ended, Amazon has not only bought all the films, but also won three Oscars in one go.

In 2016, Amazon bought the distribution rights to "Manchester by the Sea" at the Sundance Film Festival for tens of millions of dollars. This film, which was purchased for a lot of money, did not disappoint Amazon. In the Oscar competition, it won two heavy golden statuettes: Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. The Iranian drama "The Salesman", which Amazon bought the distribution rights in the United States, also won this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with almost no suspense.

Many people were surprised by Amazon's Oscar. Those who suddenly discovered that Amazon was also making movies and television couldn't help but marvel: "So Amazon is no longer the website that sells books and detergents!" This is not surprising. Few people in China who are generally unfamiliar with foreign video websites have seen Amazon's series. Moreover, who pays attention to the producer and distributor when watching a movie?

In fact, Amazon has long been soft on heavyweight film and television awards. Although it only took a year from starting making a movie to winning the Oscar, it is already a veteran with nearly 10 years of experience in publishing and producing film and television content. You know, Amazon has only been selling books and detergent for just over 20 years.

In 2008, Amazon's streaming media website PrimeVideo was established. Amazon members have since opened up a new privilege in addition to free shipping-they can pay to watch videos online. The purchase method includes free membership coupons for ordinary people, which is similar to the current iQiyi.

Two years later, Amazon brought in a group of star-studded bosses to establish Amazon Pictures. 2014 was the year when Amazon Pictures started. During this period, it produced two original dramas,"Transparent Life" and "Mozart in the Jungle", which were impressive. It is definitely a clever idea to shoot a comedy first if you lack production experience. However, the results are quite good. These two comedies are not only deeply loved by the audience, but also won the American Film and Television Golden Globe Awards.

The success of homemade dramas has given Amazon the prospect of original content production. In 2015, the company established an original film studio, signed a large number of well-known directors, and invested in them to shoot original films. We all know the story after that: Amazon made a big purchase at the Sundance Film Festival, which is known for its low budget, purchasing the distribution rights to five films including "Manchester by the Sea"; later, among the shortlisted and screened films at the Cannes Film Festival, there were also six films produced and distributed by Amazon, including "The Salesman","Miss" and "Patterson".

"Manchester by the Sea" and "The Salesman" made Amazon an "Oscar-winning streaming site" overnight. Although the Oscars are awarded to movies, not Amazon, Amazon's stock also rose by 1.20% at US$832.33 per share with the announcement of the Best Picture Oscar nomination for "Manchester by the Sea".

I have to say that Amazon's winning the Oscar has a lot to do with their distribution method. Unlike competitor Netflix that only buys distribution rights on streaming media and video-on-demand platforms, Amazon adopts a more traditional movie theater distribution method while shortening the window period.

In other words, Amazon usually releases theater movies, and will also vigorously promote them to attract audiences to watch them in theaters. At the same time, the "window period" between movies going offline in theaters and appearing on online broadcast platforms has also been shortened from the traditional 39 to 52 weeks to 4 to 8 weeks. In other words, movies released by Amazon can be seen on Prime Video a month or two after they are rolled off the movie theater.

This kind of distribution method has high requirements on the quality of the film and more efforts are needed in publicity. Buying films that may win prizes at the film festival becomes a double insurance for quality and publicity. This is also a good thing for Amazon's own membership system. Movies with high-quality and high-reputation can not only ensure viewing, but also increase the number of members.

Amazon uses the same strategy when it comes to original movies. They introduce traditional film directors and producers, actively cooperate with the traditional film industry, and strive to avoid Internet elements affecting film quality. According to the plan, Amazon requires original films to "focus on unique stories, voices and characters" and budget between $5 million and $25 million each. In addition to signing a bunch of famous directors before, Amazon Original Film Studio wants to do nothing more than small-cost independent art films produced by famous directors.

Independent art films have a good reputation, and of course film festivals will actively pursue them. So of all 16 movies produced or distributed by Amazon from 2015 to 2016, 4 had IMDB scores above 8, and half had scores above 7.

In an interview with the media, Bezos said that Amazon will reduce the number of movies it purchases in the future, increase homemade films, and provide film and television workers with a more relaxed environment than traditional studios, giving masters more freedom to create. This kind of thinking may have important reference value for domestic capital that has also entered the film and television industry in large numbers in the past two years.

Editor: Nancy