Interview with Yan Yusong of Langang Pictures to deeply interpret the concept of "Shadow Wandering"

In the context of the growing film and television market, Langang Interactive, which started from games, announced the establishment of Langang Films to establish a trinity ecological strategy of "Shadow Roaming". In Yan Yusong's view, not all works are suitable for adapting from games into movies. Once a suitable IP is found, we must create high-quality hits from the three perspectives of "Shadow Wandering".

Original title: Everyone wants to get through "Shadow Wandering". Listen to what the president of Langang Pictures has to say.

With the growing film and television market, Langang Interactive, which started as a game, has also followed the trend and announced the establishment of Langang Pictures and officially entered the film and television industry. Wang Feng, CEO of Blueport Interactive, said at the press conference,"In this life, if I don't make movies, I will definitely regret it too late, like a salted fish."

Langang proposed here to establish a trinity ecological strategy of "shadow roaming" to further open up the three parts of film and television, animation, and games. In fact, not only Langang thinks so, but major players such as iQiyi also propose "movie-game interaction" to fully tap the value of games and film and television IP.

However, if you look closely, there are not many examples of domestic and foreign games being adapted into movies and successful. Therefore, what concept and strategy Langang Pictures has naturally aroused the reporter's curiosity.

With this question, the partner of Langang Pictures (the first from the left is Yan Yusong)

, the reporter chatted with Yan Yusong, the president of Langang Pictures, and listened to the voices from within Langang.

Reporter: Many film and television dramas choose to convert their IP into games, and have achieved certain success. Langang is now converting games into film and television dramas. Will there be a situation where the quality of the adapted film and television works is low due to insufficient game richness?

Yan Yusong: In fact, any product needs to have an accurate judgment when converting each other. Not all film and television works can be converted into games. When Wang Feng chatted with me, he said that in fact, many projects have been coming to my door proactively. For example, Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" wanted to make a game when it was first developed, but after conducting a game evaluation, he found it difficult to do it. "Mermaid" was also a hit, but the situation was the same, so I had to reluctantly give up.

If you convert from games to film and television works, there are not many successful ones at home and abroad. In addition to some international blockbusters we have seen, such as "Warcraft", which is about to be released soon, and the previous "Tomb Raider". The domestic film and television works converted from games are basically TV series, and I have not seen any movie that has done so successfully. Comparing the two, things like "Immortal Dynasty" and "Ancient Sword and Qi Tan" are actually considered successful.

Reporter: What was the reason why Langang chose the IP of "Sword of the Sky" to adapt the online drama? What is the current development progress and timetable?

Yan Yusong: From a domestic perspective, basically successful examples of games being converted into film and television works are adaptations into TV series, and they are costume dramas, mainly Xianxia fantasy.

Before I took over the film industry, I conducted an in-depth research on all Langang's resource products. The style of "Sword of the Sky" is China, with elements of fantasy and Xianxia. Moreover, the worldview and value settings of "Sword of the Sky" have been constantly upgrading, and there are also a large number of regular players. Many celebrity friends around me are also playing this game, which shows that this work is relatively accurate for domestic audiences. Combined with these factors, we think it is more appropriate to regard him as the first attempt of Langang Films, and the possibility of success is greater.

On the other hand, what kind of film and television works best when converting games into? It's a TV series. TV dramas have continuous voices and discussions. A 50-episode TV series can be broadcast on TV for a month. Synchronized network linkage, there will also be continuous audience discussions and topic fermentation on the Internet. Our games will be promoted simultaneously during this time period, and the three parties will work together to achieve the best results.

"Sword of the Sky" Development Schedule

Reporter: Wang Feng said at the press conference previously that the film industry's products are mainly for the post-95s generation. Langang Pictures 'future audience may also be expanded from game IP. Is this audience enough to support a good box office or good revenue?

Yan Yusong: The main players in the domestic game market are basically between 14 and 30 years old. The post-95s generation is also about to graduate from college. The post-90s is already 26 years old, and the post-00s is 16 years old. Looking at the data of the film and television industry, the age group is mainly born in the 1990s. As the main force of movie viewing, these young people have supported the "bull market" of China's film industry. This group of people is highly coincident with the audience of our Langang. Fantasy Xianxia IP like "Sword of the Sky" is facing them.

Of course, movies, animation, and games still need to be subdivided. The age groups of each branch of the population are different, but the overlap is the highest in this age group.

Reporter: The concept of IP is very popular now. What is Blueport's consideration in this regard?

Yan Yusong: We have always emphasized the need for the trinity of "shadow roaming". In fact, now that you take an IP, it can immediately become a hit, but this means little to us. Nowadays, many IPs, such as an online novel or even a song, suddenly become popular. To be honest, you can create your own IP now. However, whether these IPs can be turned into movies or games still needs to be further considered.

A novel that many people are reading is an IP, but it may not turn into a good movie. When we do all projects today, we must conform to the overall temperament of Blueport, so that the three can get through. In our current market, movie revenue mainly comes from box office, while TV series mainly comes from copyright sales. But in foreign countries, the use of IP is not limited to copyright sales or box office. This only accounts for 20% of revenue, and the rest is all derivatives. This is what Blueport needs to do now to fully explore the value of IP.

Why pack it like this? Because the game market exceeds the movie market by too much. China films grossed 44 billion yuan last year, but let's say it will be 60 billion yuan this year. Do you know how much the game market is all year round? Hundreds of billions of yuan. So what Blueport is doing today is to get through the three and take advantage of this share. Blueport is a very good company.

Reporter: So when buying an IP like "Snow Girl", did I also consider getting through all three "Shadow Roaming" before I bought it?

Yan Yusong: That's right. "Snow Girl" is an IP that has been serialized for six or seven years in South Korea, has 16 comics, and is still fermentation. You knew this story was interesting when you first read it, and it is the same as our demands. The age group is the same. What we pursue is the same. So after this IP was introduced, his film and television transformation was easy to realize.

During the transformation process of film and television, our game department will immediately think about how to develop such anime into games. So when we talk about IP, we will calculate the maximum benefits of their film and television, the possibility of games, and the possibility of animation. We will segment the market to see how popular it will be, and then determine this IP.

After we buy back "Snow Girl", we will develop big movies and super online dramas, and then use Japan's top team to simultaneously make anime dramas and send them back to Japan. This IP is not finished with one use, but needs to be used across the board for a long time.

Our IP may become games, anime, novels, or it may be adapted into movies and television. In other words, if our film company gets an IP, it may make a super online drama, or a big movie or animation. The game company will also simultaneously make a very beautiful game for the entire industry chain. Even if this IP is purchased, you must get through these three points.

Reporter: In fact, when selecting these IPs, you need good vision and very professional talents.

Yan Yusong: I was in a meeting with iQiyi this morning. Zhang Yuxin, general manager of iQiyi's copyright management center, has made two hits, one is "You from the Stars" and the other is "Descendants of the Sun". When she acquired IP, she was already very clear about what China audiences liked to watch and what the positioning of her platform was. On this basis, the rest depends on her intuition and sensitivity. When Zhang Yuxin accepted the IP of "Descendants of the Sun", the actors for this play were not even confirmed. But she trusted her vision and instincts and signed it.

So sometimes, when judging whether an IP is successful or not, not only basic professional technical evaluation is necessary, but also some intuitive and sensitive factors are necessary. Of course, intuition can only be acquired after a lot of accumulation, learning, and communication with people in different industries. It cannot appear out of thin air.

Reporter: Are there any game companies in China that have adopted similar strategies to Blueport?

Yan Yusong: There are pioneers, but there are no ones with the same strategy. Tencent's Reading Group has a large number of IPs, and it now also has animation and games. This is the pioneer. Tencent Pictures is also doing these things, but can it really connect these three? Not necessarily; if it were a perfect game, they would have done film industry many years ago, but the two companies were completely separated. Their game IP was "Zhu Xian". Such a good IP was actually given to other companies; Youzu Network got "Three-Body", but everyone is actually waiting to see what they want to do.

So there are pioneers, but each company adopts different strategies, and there is no complete connection between games and film and television culture. Perhaps at that time, people thought that these two items were unrelated, but in fact the two have been completely integrated today.

Reporter: As a company mainly focusing on game products, what is the status of the film industry at the company level? In order to enter the film and television industry, what changes has Langang made in terms of personnel structure and resource allocation?

Yan Yusong: Film industry and games are now completely equal. Wang Feng said something before, which is everyone's consensus: We are not saying we want to split or transform. In fact, we want to make an upgrade when the game develops to its current state. In the future, Blueport Pictures will become two core businesses of Blueport, together with Blueport Games.

In terms of personnel structure, we adopted the form of partners, including me, Wang Feng, Ren Zhaonian and Qi Yunxiao. As the founder, Wang Feng is an expert and boss in the field of games. But he is also a polyhedron, Aquarius, a particularly romantic person. He understands games, music, and sings. He even watches more movies than me.

Reporter: What is the biggest difficulty facing Langang Pictures at present?

Yan Yusong: Still a talent. I think there are quite a lot of people in this industry, but there is still a shortage of really suitable talents. Especially now when we move from tradition to the Internet, there are still very few talents with great ideas. The shortage of people in this area has sometimes become a bottleneck. This is actually the same problem faced by all film and production companies in the industry.

Reporter: What countermeasures does Blueport have?

Yan Yusong: In addition to constantly recruiting talents and inviting our friends to do foreign aid, we have also established a "Youth League Plan" to cultivate the younger generation of directors, screenwriters and producers. The "Youth League Plan" is being implemented. A college will be organized to train young people. Training plans will be arranged once or twice a year after registration starts. We will select the most elite talents from them for our own use.

In fact, young people nowadays have many opportunities to try. Short Video may become a hit. For young people in the "Youth League Project", we will give them the opportunity to make various attempts such as online dramas. Once there is hope, they can be reused, just like the director of "Fuck Off, Tumor King".

Reporter: At the Langang Pictures press conference, CEOs of Alibaba Pictures and Xiaomi Pictures all participated. Will Blueport have further cooperation with them in the future?

Yan Yusong: Actually, in this industry, there are not many so-called competitive relationships. Everyone hopes to achieve a win-win situation. Huaxia, Ali and Xiaomi all have their own advantages, and Langang also has its advantages. There may be many projects that will be jointly invested in the future, but it is not convenient to disclose the specific core content yet.

Reporter: If you were to summarize Langang Films in simple terms, what would you say?

Yan Yusong: For Langang and Langang Films, what our core often talks about is making high-quality products and using high-quality products to make blockbuster products. Only 2-3 high-quality products are made every year. From R & D to post-stage to marketing, we must all focus on high-quality products, and we must make each IP a high-quality IP that can be operated for a long time. Just like those films in the United States, they will always be in a series. It is our goal to maximize the value of high-quality IP in the three aspects of "shadow roaming". We will also continue to work hard to build Langang Films into an interactive entertainment film and television company for the new generation.

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Editor: vian