Famous film directors have devoted themselves to online dramas. What is the boundary between movies and online dramas?

As it becomes increasingly difficult for these directors 'films to attract audiences into theaters, they turn to the muddy waters of online dramas. It remains to be seen whether China's "House of Cards" will appear.

Original title: Can famous directors such as Chen Kexin and Wong Kar-wai still surprise the audience with the appearance of a movie?

During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, at a forum called "Creating China Films with Craftsman Spirit," most media and audience attention was attracted by Feng Xiaogang's theory that "this audience cannot do it." But the debate between the other two guests on the scene, Hong Kong director Peter Chan and well-known scholar Dai Jinhua, on "whether film directors should join the Internet" was a real concern and reflection on the current reality.

In the United States, where the film and television industry is extremely developed, it has long been common for famous Hollywood directors to make TV series. There are Spielberg's "Company of Brothers" and Martin Scorsese's "Atlantic Empire" first episode. In recent years, the most famous one is "House of Cards", a collaboration between online video platform Netflix and David Fincher. Recently, David Fincher announced that he would once again cooperate with Netflix on a new series called "The Psycho". The popularity of "House of Cards" in China and the United States has undoubtedly made more people realize the huge potential of Internet TV dramas. Amazon, another Internet giant, has also launched original online dramas on its own platform, and even created an online online drama screenwriter and writing software to try to absorb more good original scripts.

Internet giant Amazon is also launching original online dramas

, and when domestic film directors are also trying to cross borders and enter the field of online dramas, even though most of the works have not yet been released, doubts have emerged one after another. Directors will think that embracing the Internet is the general trend and a way to explore new creative models. Critics will think that this is a film director who is not doing his job properly. At a time when excellent films in China are becoming increasingly scarce, he is still diverting his energy to make online dramas. Some more sharp-tongued people, such as Professor Dai Jinhua, believe that film directors 'filming of online dramas is a certain degree of depravity. As the audience becomes increasingly reluctant to enter the cinema to watch movies, filmmakers are more committed to online movies and online dramas. The embrace is likely to become the last straw to crush the movie.

But obviously, compared with the life and death of movies, each platform cares more about whether they can survive. Since the IP online drama "Tomb Robber Notes" was launched on iQiyi in July 2015, it is also the first online drama in mainland China to adopt a differentiated broadcast model for members. iQiyi provides members with a one-time full-season viewing model. This model, which relies on online dramas that combine large IPs and small fresh meats to attract users to pay, seems to be a new way for major video websites. At this point,"Tomb Robber Notes" has launched the rise of domestic super online dramas.

Although domestic video websites cannot be compared with global Netflix, based on the huge domestic audience base, the results of the payment model that has begun in the past two years have also added a lot of confidence to the online drama industry. The "2016 China Video Payment Market Research Report" released by Yien.com shows that in 2016, there were 239 paid dramas in China, an increase of 564%, of which 112 were paid and homemade dramas on major domestic video websites. At the same time, the number of paying users on video websites in 2016 reached 75 million. The above data proves that the current payment model of video websites has begun to take effect. Statistics show that last year alone, it brought billions of yuan in revenue to the entire industry. At the same time, Netflix also had more than 100 million subscribers worldwide last month. Whether domestic and foreign platforms rely on original dramas to attract paying users, they have formed a clear and fixed business model.

In the ever-increasing money-burning war of domestic online video websites, online dramas are undoubtedly the top priority. While maintaining cooperation with major satellite TV stations to create online and Taiwanese linkage dramas, in order to attract new paying users to the greatest extent, major video websites have invested more resources in homemade and solo online dramas.

The two super online dramas "River God" and "Ghost Blows Out the Lamp" that were launched almost simultaneously last month. In addition to being originally adapted from well-known IPs, the biggest feature is the filmmakers 'blessing on the online dramas. Iqiyi and Gongfu Pictures 'deputy director Xian Gongfu collaborated to create the super online drama "River God". The original team of the movie "Dragon Seeking Technique" participated. Wang Qinan, the script consultant for the movie "Dragon Seeking Technique", served as the super online drama "River God". The producer of Tao Kun, who has produced films such as "Wind","Painted Skin 2", and "Ghost Blows the Lantern", serves as the producer. As a producer, Wang Qinan believes that Gongfu Pictures has entered the field of online drama because they have more experience in film production and will have the best people in the entire production level and industry. At the same time, long-term cooperation with outstanding people in the industry will also give them a better taste in making judgments.

Penguin Films produced "Ghost Blows Out the Lamp" and hired director Guan Hu to take charge of the guide tube. This director, who started his career as a TV series and later gained reputation in the film field, has not participated in the filming of a TV series since 2013. Guan Hu also said in an interview that in the past, he was looked down upon by others when filming TV series and TV movies. But in the face of today's hot situation in the online drama market, he still chose to give it a try, and he also had his own views on online dramas: "I think the scale of online dramas is unlimited now. If you don't embrace it, you will definitely be eliminated by the times." As domestic online video platform giants, iQiyi and Tencent Video both tried to rely on the IP of the world's dominant singers to launch a new round of super online drama war this summer.

Currently, there are film directors who have clear news that they will participate in the production of online dramas

. The above is just the tip of the iceberg. Since last year, many domestic film directors who once regarded the big screen as their only position have successively turned their attention to the Internet and TV dramas, trying to turn the theater The war in the theater continues to the audience's living rooms and electronic screens. In June 2016, according to foreign media reports, Wong Kar-wai was filming a two-season online drama. Although no specific information was revealed, the first season is expected to be completed in 2017. At the iQiyi World Congress and the Shanghai Film and Television Festival in June this year, film directors such as Han Sanping, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kexin, and Tang Jili all made their appearances and expressed their "optimism about the development of online dramas." This time they did not just give verbal support. Some of these projects have been launched one after another.

Han Sanping and Feng Xiaogang will serve as the producers of the online dramas "Legend of War" and "Sword Dynasty" respectively. Both online dramas are adapted from novels or animations of the same name and have already accumulated a large number of fans as IPs. When talking about the development of online dramas, Han Sanping believes: "Faced with the development of online dramas, filmmakers did not resist, but actively joined them. Many young directors and screenwriters want to engage in movies, but I advise them to make more online dramas. That is the creation that is more suitable for young people. Online dramas are products that are in line with modern cultural and entertainment consumption concepts, and also provide huge space for creators." Feng Xiaogang expressed his attitude more cautiously: "On the one hand, we benefit from the new thing of online dramas; at the same time, we can't just focus on traffic, but still focus on content and performances."

Even Stephen Chow, who is an IP himself, has joined the trend of filmmakers participating in online dramas. Also in June, New Culture announced that the company and iQiyi had officially signed the "Exclusive License Agreement for the TV Series" Mermaid "and the" Exclusive Investment Agreement for the Internet Series "Journey to the West". Among them, iQiyi exclusively invested 288 million yuan in the online drama "Journey to the West", and New Culture is responsible for the shooting and promotion of the online drama. For the TV series "Mermaid", iQiyi paid a licensing fee of 420 million yuan to New Culture. The movie versions of "Journey to the West" and "Mermaid" were both domestic box office champions that year. The former also launched a sequel this Spring Festival. Although Stephen Chow himself will only participate in the production of these two online dramas as a producer rather than a director, the investors are obviously full of confidence in the word "Stephen Chow".

It seems that many major directors have unanimously chosen to participate in the first online drama as producer. Ordinary people may not understand the role of producer producers in the current film and television industry. Wang Qinan, the producer of "River God", believes that the producer is more about how to nurture the project during the production process and help the director complete the project. The domestic film and television industry will pay more and more attention to the role of the producer. Xu Jinglei, who also participated in an online drama called "Classmates 200 Million Years Old" this year, ultimately chose to serve as the producer of this drama despite having considerable experience in directing. She also expressed the hope that she would use her many years of experience in the film and television industry to help the director rather than becoming the director herself.

Although the specific details of the work have not been disclosed, Hong Kong director Peter Chan can be said to be a pioneer in filmmakers 'testing of online dramas. As many directors going north in Hong Kong, although his director and producer works in recent years such as "Dear","Partner in China","July and Ansheng", and "Like You" have not produced a billion-dollar blockbuster works, their overall reputation and box office are relatively stable. He belongs to a rare Hong Kong director who has achieved a good balance between art and business among directors who go north. Director Chan Kexin's attitude towards the Internet highlights his pragmatist side. As a film director, he firmly believes that the future solution for films lies in the Internet. On more than one occasion, he used "July and Ansheng" to be watched by about 4 million people who bought tickets in theaters, and 60 million people watched it a week after logging on to the video website, to prove that there are in fact a large number of people. Audiences are willing to watch movies online rather than walking into the movie theater.

Chen Kexin obviously thinks more clearly about movies, the Internet and online dramas than many directors who have been pushed into this trend. Chen Kexin believes that this is the reality that filmmakers need to face. Although the number of cinemas continues to increase, it does not mean that more audiences will enter cinemas. For young people born in the Internet age, cinemas are no longer watching movies. The only holy place. He even pushed this problem to the extreme. When a movie does not need to be shown in a movie theater, it is no longer limited by duration. By then, the boundary between movies and online dramas will be blurred, and he calls it "free-length movies."

The changing trend of the audience and greater freedom in shooting made Chen Kexin firmly choose to embrace the Internet and make up his mind to shoot online dramas. At the same time, he once mentioned in an interview that his desire to make online dramas actually originated from the American miniseries he loved in the 1970s, but due to objective conditions, the rise of the Internet now gives him the best chance to realize this idea.

As far as the two super online dramas created by filmmakers are concerned,"River God" is supported by Gongfu Pictures 'complete cinematic system. Although the broadcast volume is not particularly prominent, its compact plot and movie texture The picture has earned it a good reputation of more than 8 points on Douban. Director Guan Hu's "Ghost Blows Out the Lantern" is exactly the opposite. It received nearly 1 billion views in less than ten days after its launch, but it failed to pass the Douban score. Although it was joined by a major director, it still failed to replicate last year's "Ghost Blows Out the Lantern". The situation where it was applauded and popular. But this is only the beginning. As it becomes increasingly difficult for these directors 'films to attract audiences into theaters, they turn to the muddy waters of online dramas. It remains to be seen whether China's "House of Cards" will appear.

Editor: Xiongwei