Narrowing the gap between Chinese and Korean films requires three or five years of content adaptation to conform to Chinese emotional values.

"find Koreans to make movies together", which seems to be a shortcut for newcomers in the film industry to "become famous in World War I." More and more Chinese film companies are going to South Korea to find scripts, directors, supervisors and production staff. Industry insiders say that the Chinese film market has developed too fast in the past two years, but there are not enough good ideas. In fact, many Korean ideas are some nutrients and supplements to China, especially in commercial films, which will be very mature in terms of structure and rhythm.

"find Koreans to make movies together", which seems to be a shortcut for newcomers in the film industry to "become famous in World War I." More and more Chinese film companies are going to South Korea to find scripts, directors, supervisors and production personnel.

there is a popular reputation in the industry: < strong > Korean production teams are professional, dedicated, and cheaper than Chinese teams, and Korean scripts are high-quality and mature < / strong >. But one exaggeration is that cooperation between China and South Korea may also lead to "a crew with more translators than producers", and that different rules between the Chinese and Korean film industries may also lead to disputes.

A few days later, the Sino-Korean cooperative film "Bad guys must die" will be released soon. In this film, Huayi invited Feng Xiaogang and Jiang Di-Gui as supervisors, and the new director Sun Hao also went to Jiang Di-Gui's crew to study during the filming of "Longevity Chamber of Commerce." the recent release of "I am a Witness", the owner of Fang's new clue, Qi Ji, a former South Korean CJ China subsidiary, produced "I am a Witness", which was adapted from the copyright "Blind permit" she bought from the South Korean moon watcher company.

despite the risks, South Korea's resources still provide opportunities for many new companies and teams in the domestic film industry.

< strong > Korean film rights have made this new company famous in World War I < / strong >

"I heard that the cost of hiring a Korean production team is lower than that of a domestic production team of the same level. Is that so?"

when the reporter threw the question to Qi Li, the boss of the new clue, she was reluctant to make a comparison from this perspective. "I don't like to look at things from this point of view. A lot of things can't be measured by money." Qi Zhi's New clue Company is the first producer of the film I am a Witness, which has just been released. The film, adapted from the South Korean film Blind Card, grossed 210 million at the box office.

what is more important than the box office is the significance of the film to Qiyi-"I am a Witness" is the first film she has controlled since she founded the new clue company. Yang Mi and Lu Han were also invited to star (Yang Mi's company Jiaxingtian won 40% of the investment), and was distributed by Light Pictures (Youth Light, which is also invested by Light).

as a new clue, I am a Witness has obtained such good industry resources, which is closely related to Qi Xi's background in South Korea. Before creating the new clue, during her seven years of work at CJ China, she worked on Chinese-Korean co-productions such as the breakup contract.

after starting her business, she bought the rights to adapt a number of South Korean films. In addition to "Blind Certificate," the new clue is about to put the Korean film "hide and seek" on the Chinese big screen. In addition, the company also has an original work. South Korean teams will also be invited to undertake part of the production.

"< strong > there will be cooperation only when there is demand. In the past two years, China's film market has developed too fast, but good ideas are not enough. In fact, many Korean ideas are some nutrients and supplements to China, especially in commercial films, which will be very mature in terms of structure and rhythm. < / strong > "Qi said."

since last year, Qi Li has been discussing the purchase of adaptation rights with the copyright owner of the "blind card". "when I talked to the Korean Moon Man Company about the adaptation of the film early last year, there was basically no such suspense theme in the domestic market. At that time, Hollywood companies were also asking the Moon Man for the right to remake the" blind card. "at that time, their first choice was Hollywood, but the subsequent negotiations were not successful, and then they decided to cooperate with us to do the Chinese version."

< strong > all the capital comes from China, and the Korean team accounts for the entire crew 1Accord 3 < / strong >

if the cooperation between China and South Korea in I am a Witness represents the way in which a new company is rising rapidly, then the cooperation behind "villains must die" is somewhat accidental.

back in 2013, Huayi Brothers co-produced the film "go Big Ming" with a South Korean company. It was reported at the time that "Big Ming go" eventually won 110 million at the box office, but because it joined the South Korean team, it increased the cost of production. The film didn't make a lot of money.

since then, Huayi Brothers has not been very interested in Sino-Korean co-production, more often in Chinese-funded films, using Korean actors, such as "Assembly", using Korean special effects teams. even many of the props in the film are from South Korean companies.

this time the villain must die, produced by well-known Korean filmmaker Kang Di-kyu, starring South Korean actress Sun Yizhen and filmed in South Korea. One of the major features of the film is the integration of Korean suspense genres and Chinese comedies.

but in terms of capital structure, it is an out-and-out Chinese film, and several investors are Chinese companies.

when it comes to cooperation with South Korea, newcomer director Sun Hao said that it starts with screenwriting.

starting in 2012, Sun Hao and Hu Jingbo began to write screenplays. "in fact, I first wrote it in Hokkaido, Japan. When I was filming if you are the one with director Feng Xiaogang, I observed the status of Japanese staff. It's so similar to many Japanese films I've seen before, and it's very interesting." When it was finished in August 2012, the Diaoyu Islands incident happened. In October, my partner temporarily decided to change the story of Jeju Island, South Korea, out of consideration of reality. This decided to shoot the film in Korea.

when Sun Hao took the script to Feng Xiaogang, Feng Xiaogang found his good friend Jiang Di Gui for more than ten years, and the two were co-producers. However, the film is fully funded by Chinese companies, and South Korea is not involved in the capital level.

the Korean team probably accounts for a little more than 3, less than half of the entire crew. "the art team as a whole is a Korean team, and more than 2UB3 of the production team are also Koreans, because they are familiar with the area when they go to Jeju Island to shoot, such as setting up sheds on location, booking scenic spots, and so on. These Koreans will solve a lot of problems. Other departments, such as the director team and the recording team, are the teams I brought from China. " Sun Hao said.

in order to understand the working habits and patterns of the Korean team, Sun Hao also spent a week on the film crew while Jiang Di-Gui was filming "Longevity Chamber of Commerce" last year. "the main thing is to look at the Korean staff how they work. I go to his studio every day to observe his mode of work and how he communicates with the Korean staff. During the filming of "the villain must die", director Jiang Di-Gui will also go to the scene to see the sample film, and he will stand from a pure Korean director's point of view to tell me what to do better. "

teams from the two countries work together, and there will inevitably be some friction. Some people in the industry complain privately that in some South Korean teams, sometimes the number of translators accounts for nearly half, and the communication between the teams of the two countries is the biggest problem. Apart from being unable to understand the language, Koreans sometimes compare the "axis".

Sun Hao told: "the Koreans are more serious and seriously say in two aspects that after the plane is set up, the Korean staff will regulate my lens very well, and those within my focus should be carefully regulated. But some virtual scenes outside my focus are probably fine, which saves me shooting time, but as long as your machine is set up, they will make it particularly neat. Seriously, sometimes if we go too far, we call it the axis, because very often I tell them that it is already very good, and there is no need to do it, but in addition, I do not quite understand the language, and sometimes I get angry with them. "

< strong > South Korean drama content adaptation, in line with Chinese emotional values is the key < / strong >

compared with these shooting details, the grasp of the content direction may be more important.

Qi Zhi said that the reason why he chose the "blind card" for adaptation was due to the consideration of content. Most Korean suspense films are relatively dark, but "Blind Certificate" is a rare Korean suspense film that is relatively sunny and will be adapted less.

in operation, different from the previous "breakup contract" in the script, "I am a Witness" not only retained 80% of the original content, but also invited Ahn Shangxun, the director of "Blind Card", to be the director.

< strong > the emotional values of Koreans are different from those of Chinese people. < / strong > Koreans are more traditional than Chinese, and their emotional values are more masculine. In fact, urban love needs more approachable themes. Unless you want to make an unapproachable, completely urban fairy tale movie, there is no realistic background. Otherwise, there are still some inconsistencies in culture and values. " Qi said.

< strong > Sino-Korean co-production is a transitional period for the growth of Chinese films. After that, it "may have become a Hong Kong film coming to the mainland that year." < / strong >

in fact, in terms of box office and word-of-mouth, Korean films have been lukewarm in China. However, since the signing of the co-production agreement between China and South Korea last year, a large number of Chinese capital has begun to flow into South Korea because of cost advantages, which has also attracted many South Korean film projects to come to China for cooperation.

in South Korea, directors and screenwriters are also known as "World Cup directors" or "Olympic Games directors". It means that because the Korean film market is small and there are few themes to be filmed, a script can only have a chance to make a film every four years from polishing to investor approval. On the one hand, the small market has led to the film production talent market is easily saturated, the competition is also very fierce.

"Korean technicians and actors are updated very quickly, such as photographers, clothing, lighting, props and other personnel, generally out of work by the age of 40-50, but they have basically received high-quality and intensive training before. This is exactly what domestic directors lack. There is a big gap in the demand for technical personnel in China's film market, and China has become a big market to absorb these new generations of personnel. " Said a producer of a Sino-Korean co-production.

on the other hand, due to the limited number of Korean movies, there are generally small and medium-sized films between 1.5 million and 3 million. On the contrary, China is now pursuing more and more big productions, and the average film production cost is 20 million to 30 million take-off. Adequate production funds are full of temptations for Korean filmmakers.

in fact, China today is very similar to South Korea from 1997 to 2000, and a new group of directors is on the rise. At that time, most of the director departments at the University of Southern California were Korean, but now they form the basis of Korean directors and filmmakers. The same is true in China today, and there are also a group of young people studying abroad.

"We don't want to keep using Korean directors and screenwriters, mainly because China still lacks literacy and attitude in all aspects, and we also bear certain risks and high translation costs. I want them to bring our own newcomers. On the other hand, the cost of the Korean production team is indeed lower than that of domestic directors and production teams at the same level. A film that costs 100 million yuan to make in China may be done in South Korea by 30 million. " The producer said.

from this point of view, the co-production of < strong > China and South Korea will also exist within a certain period of time, and so on for a new generation of domestic directors to grow up (maybe 3-5 years) < / strong >. At that time, the films jointly shot by strong and South Korea may have become Hong Kong films that came to the mainland that year, and gradually become a genre. < / strong >

Edit: vian