Industry scholar Zhang Rui: Content shortage is the main bottleneck for VR, large companies face the dilemma of innovators

Enter the VR era and enter the channel where content is king. We are in a position where video websites are slowly occupying the dominant position, and video websites have begun the OTT era. Such an era should be when video communication has begun to become ubiquitous. VR has made the ubiquity more obvious, artistic scenes have become wider, and channels have become more and more., what is most lacking now is content.

Original title: Zhang Rui: Facing the dilemma of innovators, VR cannot subvert the audio-visual transformation of the film industry

: This article is the author Zhang Rui's speech at the VR/AR salon hosted by TOP SHOW Club at IC Coffee on Zhongguancun Creative Street. The main points:

1. The shortage of content is the main bottleneck of VR;

2. The emergence of VR has greatly changed the audio-visual language of movies, and it is completely different from the original from script structure to shooting to post-editing;

3. Not all content is suitable for VR;

4. Big STUDIO is facing the dilemma of innovators;

5. Explore the path of China's film industrialization;

6. Scenes will undergo major changes, and VR scenes are inappropriate in cinemas;

7. Film copyright re-engineering business model;

8. VR cannot subvert the film

industry. China's film industry has grown rapidly in 5-6 years, and it can catch up with the box office of Hollywood in the United States in two years. VR will make major changes to the Chinese film industry.

1. Content shortage is the main bottleneck of VR:

throughout the industrial development stage, there has been a discussion on whether content is king, channels are king or relationships are king. This discussion has been spiraling upward, sometimes content is king, sometimes channels are king, enter the VR era, enter the channel where content is king. What era are we in now? As video websites are slowly taking over the dominant position, video websites have begun the OTT era. In this era, video communication should begin to become ubiquitous. VR makes the ubiquity more obvious, artistic scenes more extensive, and channels more and more. Now what is missing most is content.

Second, the emergence of VR has greatly changed the audio-visual language of movies. From the script structure to shooting to post-editing, it is completely different from the original:

how to write scripts and tell stories is different from the previous structure, and everything including shooting techniques and post-editing are completely different. The change to the entire film industry is not a continuous technology but a disruptive technology. To use VR to make films and television, we must pay attention to changes in audio-visual language.

3. Not all content is suitable for VR:

commercial movies have been developed for a hundred years, and actually include all subject matter content, and it can display all subject matter forms on this screen, which is also the main reason why it has existed for a hundred years. That is to say, it has been updated, its technology has been updated, and its means of release are also updated, and the form of adapted programs is updated, so it has been surviving. Unlike radio and newspapers, it is now facing a downward spiral., movies are rising.

But can VR be suitable for all content forms? Not really. For example, is a comedy suitable? The definition of VR is this. It is an immersive experience. It should be used as a supplement and development of new media for narrative stories. It is suitable for a part of content. If you start a business or invest in content, you should consider which segment you should do. It's not that you want to make a VR movie. You are different from Lanting Digital Company. He wants to make a commercial brand.

I think making VR is different from making big movies. Making movies in genre films, facing the majority of the audience, I make a city newspaper and make it a very vulgar one that all citizens are willing to watch. The most popular domestic movies are youth films. VR content should be segmented, taking into account the characteristics of the Internet, and we should segment the vertical areas of the market. The finer the better. To a point, I saw a work done in a certain country last time at the National College Student Competition. I was very shocked at the time. The VR simulation of laboratory machinery and equipment. Most people can't do this because they understand models and VR. This has a pattern. You can't make VR movies in theaters across the country. That's another way to play.

4. Big STUDIO faces the dilemma of innovators:

VR is a non-continuous technology for film and television, but is a very big crisis for big studios. It allows the rise of marginal companies and allows Hollywood to seize opportunities in the United States and China's Big Six and Eight Big Eight to seize opportunities. Last year, there was a popular book "Innovators 'Dilemma", which mentioned that there are two types of innovation technologies, one is continuous technology and the other is discontinuous.

I think VR is a discontinuous technology. The entire big video industry is facing major crises and opportunities, which will allow some marginal videos to rise. If the United States 'Sixth National Congress, including the Eighth National Congress of China, can seize the opportunity, it is okay to digest it. It can also seize the opportunity, but it is definitely a discontinuous disruptive technology.

The creative center of the future will move forward, the creator and audience will have to participate in the script stage, and film production will enter the era of the whole people. Future production will be more intelligent (drones and robots)

5. Explore the path of industrialization of China's films:

Hollywood is industrialization, and China is a small workshop. With VR, there is not much gap between China and the United States. There is a small gap between China and Haolaiwu film industries. Can we use VR corners to overtake? You can't be optimistic when you have an opportunity. Hollywood in the United States is very active. They invest in VR. When they bring industrialization to VR production, VR production will be more industrialized. We must be vigilant about whether we can overtake in corners. Americans are very active.

In 2009, the entire media industry in the United States proposed a ubiquitous plan. This is related to VR, which extends the ubiquitous plan. Now, the extension channels for the entire video industry should include distribution in large movie theaters, including IPTV, and Internet TV, online video, and mobile TV should add VR. After VR becomes the next ubiquitous channel, it will explode in an all-round way, with content becoming king.

6. The scene will undergo major changes, and VR scenes are not suitable in cinemas:

will they face regulators in the future? Anyone who wants to enter the living room will have to face regulators. For VR film and television channels, platform terminal competition is in the hands of IT oligarchs and a few innovators. The market space in this field is not large and is not suitable for every company.

7. Business model of film copyright re-engineering:

Hollywood's business model is like a waterfall, making profits. This model has also established the status of Hollywood in the United States for a century, but this model is difficult to break. China is only imitating and tracking this model. This model has not been fully realized in China so far. The China film model is in the first stage so far and has not been realized in the later stages. The most popular in the past two years has been iQiyi's monthly VIP subscription, which has not been realized in China. Moreover, movie IP has been very popular in the past two years. Can big movies create a big IP?

The combination of VR and traditional TV and movie business models. The following picture shows the famous Taiwanese TV program called "Kangxi Comes", which uses digital kingdom digital technology to conduct live broadcasts and filming. Future variety shows, whether VR can be used to shoot in the living room. Some VR content will appear in the content display, including movies, and some plots in the middle can be penetrated. This is feasible. Your business model uses the existing traditional TV and movie models to cut in.

Other business models, now common exhibition halls and museums, including VR film and television gamification and offline experience halls. You can do some cultural relics, museums as exhibition halls, including many laboratories.

8. VR cannot subvert the film industry

. From a film perspective, I think subversion, at least the subversion of the film industry, is a bit early. There will be subversion in terms of disciplines and ideas. The immersion brought by VR may produce a communication science related to immersion, or a subversion of the entire construction of film education such as screenwriting, photography, editing, etc.

When we talk about 3D movies, they have actually been around for decades, including VR that took shape in the 1960s. The kaleidoscope I played with when I was a child was similar to VR glasses. This thing is not subversive to the entire industry. As an immersive video experience is at most a supplement to transmission channels. It is to be seen how much impact it will have on this industry. It is impossible to say that the industry is gone.

We say that broadcasting has a history of more than a hundred years. It is impossible for the Beijing Film Academy to close down with VR glasses. Why is KK famous? He is a technical scientist and used a lot of biological theories to explain this thing. This industry will definitely not be subverted, but it will produce many new ideas. In terms of education, I will strengthen VR education to at the very least cultivate talents who understand both VR shooting and traditional shooting.

(Author Zhang Rui, associate professor at Beijing Film Academy and director of the Big Data Institute)

Editor: kong