Zero-progress films expose talent gaps, the film market urgently needs "segmented types of work"

In the first half of last year, various film companies released more than 500 film lists. Currently, it seems that less than 35% of them have successfully started, and even half of them are at zero progress. According to the current film list plan, China films still lack two to three hundred directors

Original title: What does the China film market, which is not short of money, need to start with the subdivision of "types of work"?

"When China films are at a low point, lack of money is the biggest problem; when the industry enters the golden period of development, it is over-favored by capital, which becomes another problem." On the 19th, Liu Jia, a senior film market research expert, said that the advantages and disadvantages of excessive capital have deeply affected the China film market.

At this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, two phenomena can explain the above views. First, some people have made statistics. Last year, hundreds of new film companies rushed to release film listings during the industry summit. However, after a year, not only were less than 35% of projects launched, but even the names of many companies have long since disappeared. Second, Alibaba Pictures CEO Yu Yongfu reiterated the group's positioning,"not to become a film and television company in the traditional sense, but to call it Alibaba Pictures Infrastructure Company." This move was interpreted by the industry as "adjusting the strategy and focusing on 'water, electricity and coal' in the film and television industry, using their technological advantages to empower creators of other content."

Some so-called "new wealth" left the market, and some big shots "took a step back". On the surface, the fast-forward and fast-out of capital in the film market is a characteristic of the market economy-the tide is trustworthy; from the essence, it is the insurmountable nature of content creation. Among the more than 2300 domestic film and television companies, scattered soldiers are the vast majority, and creating a "century-old store" will not take a day's work.

Behind the zero-progress list is a talent gap.

If you make a table and compare the promises made in 2016 one by one, the results will be amazing. In the first half of last year, various film companies released more than 500 film lists. Currently, it seems that less than 35% of them have successfully started, and even half of them are at zero progress. Wang Changtian, president of Enlight Media, said the key,"According to the current film list plan, China films still lack two to three hundred directors."

In 2013, the second film "You at the Table" directed by young director Guo Fan when he was 33 years old earned 470 million yuan at the box office at a cost of 20 million yuan and was regarded as an important force of the new generation of directors. In 2016, his third work took over the science fiction film "The Wandering Earth", which invested more than 300 million yuan. In the view of famous producer and director Huang Jianxin, Guo Fan is a microcosm of the shortage of film talents in China."Famous directors and big directors both have contracts with big companies and have hundreds of millions of yuan in large-scale productions at hand. Therefore, urging new directors to jump and grow as soon as possible has become the only solution." Others found that of the nearly 3000 films filed last year, at least 200 have quietly adjusted to online movies and online dramas with smaller investment and more flexible monetization methods this year.

Not only are directors and producers unable to satisfy the intensive film list, but actors and post-production also have gaps to fill in everywhere. New companies, no matter how big or small, have this kind of distress: "There is money on hand, but I can't find anyone. The actors who are slightly more famous are all fully booked." Therefore, technical means such as "rolling scenes", body doubles, and image picking have replaced real actors in many film and television works, and are often criticized by the audience; while the screenwriter looks for "gunmen", the director only uses "name" and connives many shoddy products.

Highly industrialized, we need to start by dividing "types of work".

When Alibaba Pictures entered the film industry, it still lamented that "everyone has worked for BAT from then on". A closer look at the performance of Internet giant Pictures in the past year, Ali's "Ferry Man" is quite typical-with strong capital support, Wong Kar-wai was invited to supervise it and many stars were invited to sit down. However, the writers and directors he signed were not familiar with the rules of film production and encountered widespread negative reviews.

As a film company official who entered the venue with game IP told reporters,"We underestimated the movie and overestimated ourselves." More and more "rich people" are beginning to admit that movies cannot be perfectly unveiled on the big screen with just a few IPs and capital. From creativity to filming, a film requires a normal production cycle, and the China film market also needs to be subdivided into types of work before it can mature.

The science fiction film "Three-Body" is discussed every year. From the earliest high-profile release to the change of ownership of screenwriters, directors, and capital, the film has almost become a sore spot for China's film industry. Some experts summarized the reason why the early shooting materials of this film were "completely invalid"-the company that made the game was completely a layman in the film, and there was no post-filming professional advice at all, resulting in the inability to connect the front and post-filming. Even Hollywood's first-class industrial Light and Magic came and couldn't do anything.

Established production companies are also facing the problem of imperfect industrial chains. The remake of the red classic "Taking Tiger Mountain with Wisdom" can be regarded as a masterpiece in recent years. In the film, in addition to the "Jiapigou Battle" and other major events, which were filmed in real life in the snow countryside, 70% of the snow scenes were completed by "real life + special effects". Huang Jianxin, who is the producer of the film, revealed that these snow scenes had caused them trouble. "The UK produces a kind of paper snow that is highly realistic and environmentally friendly, but the cost is about 800 yuan/square meter. After we mobilized inventory from Asia, there is still a gap." When they were looking for alternatives, they found that magnesium sulfate is usually used in the country at a cost of about 50 to 60 yuan/square meter, but the pollution is serious. The filmmakers had to pay high freight rates to import paper and snow from distant Australia.

After capital enters the market, they often rush to create more conspicuous and more famous content. However, from pre-stage equipment to post-production, every screw in the kingdom of the film industry has its necessary value. Highly industrialized and mature, China films still need to wait rationally.

Editor: jessica