Towards a New Journey of Film and Television and Internet Audiovisual development

At noon on June 8, the 2021 Shanghai International Film & Television Festival Internet Summit High-level Symposium was held in Putuo District. In this exchange focusing on “Shanghai Creation”, Cheng Wu, He Song, Lu Chao, Tian Ming, Wang Haigang, Ye Feng, Yang Wenhong, Zhang Qiang, Zhang Lina, Zhao Yifang (in the sequence of pinyin of names) and other leading figures from Internet platforms and film and television production companies shared how to innovate and create under the pattern of accelerated industrial development, and jointly promote the further high-quality development of Shanghai's Internet audiovisual and film industry with distinctive features and outstanding themes.

In Shanghai, innovate industry ecology

"Both China Literature and Tencent Pictures are all cultural enterprises rooted in Shanghai. Over the years, we have been fortunate to participate in and witness the digital upgrade and innovative development of Shanghai's cultural industry." At the forum, Cheng Wu, Vice President of Tencent Group, CEO of China Literature and CEO of Tencent Pictures, shared the role of innovation in promoting the development of Shanghai's cultural industry from three different dimensions.

In Cheng Wu's view, the rich and innovative content at the source is the cornerstone of the innovative development of the Internet audiovisual industry, and even the development of the entire creative cultural industry. The innovation of the content conversion mechanism and the creation of the IP industry chain are critical. Taking China Literature as an example, the platform has not only exported successful works such as "Joy of Life", "My Heroic Husband", and "DouLuo Continent" through deep coupling with the film and television industry. In the future, new stories and IP will continue to emerge to provide ecological content support for the development of the audiovisual industry. He said that Tencent Pictures, NCM, and China Literature Pictures have formally formed a "troika", which will jointly promote the deep coupling of IP "sources" such as online literature and animation with the film and television industry, and will link more businesses and partners, to constantly improve the IP industry chain, and create more Shanghai cultural boutiques and Chinese cultural symbols.

Also looking forward to integration and innovation to open up all aspects of the ecology, there are also Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Group, which has already settled Alibaba Pictures and Taopiaopiao in Putuo. Zhang Lina, Vice President and Chief Editor of Youku, said that Shanghai has a strong film and television atmosphere. Youku not only actively cooperates with Shanghai’s production and broadcasting organizations to create e-commerce evenings, online dramas and online variety shows, but also explores the linkage between these works and trendy derivatives. "Shanghai has a natural gene in making designer toys, so we plan to launch some derivative products in Shanghai." She also said that many of Youku's projects have already been produced in Shanghai. In the future, she also wants to further link the production management and other cloud systems to achieve the whole process linkage of broadcasting, purchasing and production.

Migu Video, which is constantly exploring new 5G technologies, is also thinking about using technology to bring changes to the industry. He Song, General Manager of Migu Video Co., Ltd., revealed that after the outbreak of the epidemic last year, Migu has been exploring fields such as ultra-high-definition live broadcast, 8K live simultaneous interpretation, and new experiences of content playback on the cloud. "Migu is rooted in Shanghai and facing the world. We hope to attract more resources, continue to explore how to interact with the audience, and even change the form of film and television creation."

In Shanghai, accelerate industrial construction

Accelerate the construction of the "1+3+X" film and television industry development pattern, comprehensively promote the digital transformation of the Shanghai film and television industry, and empower the development of the Internet audiovisual industry with new infrastructure construction... Every year during the Shanghai International Film & Television Festival, there will be good news about the construction of the Shanghai film and television industry.

After cooperating with Shanghai in building the Yangtze River Delta International Film and Television Center, Huace Group actively deployed in Shanghai and brought many key businesses such as copyright operations and career training programs in one move. Zhao Yifang, Founder and President of Huace Film and Television Group, specifically mentioned that the copyright business of Huace Group has been integrated in Shanghai and started operations. Information about this project will also be further disclosed during the Shanghai International Film Festival. The content of copyright will be expanded to 50,000 hours, and a global copyright big data operation platform will be built to solve the industry's copyright pain points, and establish a secure copyright management and storage, copyright operation and rights protection, as well as a digital platform for copyright transactions and financing."

Similarly, the Xingkong variety show film and television production base project started in Shanghai in May this year has also attracted much attention. Tian Ming, Chairman and CEO of Xingkong Huawen International Media Co., Ltd., revealed that Shanghai has become the most important variety show production base in China. In addition to the Xingkong variety show film and television production base, Xingkong Media is also exploring in Shanghai to create a film and television music original park combining variety show IP, content and literature, which will "gather young people who love music together to form a vibrant and fashionable industrial landmark."

In Shanghai, record the real life

As of May 2021, 16 Shanghai-produced films including "A Writer's Odyssey", "Endgame", and “Sister" have been screened in theaters this year, with a total box office of 4.038 billion yuan, accounting for about 20% of the box office of domestically produced movies; the box office in theaters in Shanghai is 1.234 billion yuan, continuing to lead the country’s urban box office, and the number of screens ranks first among the country’s cities; and in the field of TV dramas and Internet audiovisual, Shanghai-made boutiques are in an endless stream: Works such as “Like A Flowing River” and "With You" have gained attention and reputation, and new works such as "Medal of the Republic" and "Brave Heart" are ready to be released.

Behind these achievements is the creators’ meticulous description of the real life, and the common goal of Shanghai film and television workers: we should not only to be satisfied with more and more "produced in Shanghai" and "made in Shanghai", but also further open up and link Shanghai's creative, investment, filming, production, distribution, and derivative industries, so that "Shanghai Works" will remain in the hearts of the people and let "Shanghai Creations" appear on the international stage.

Lu Chao, Chairman and CEO of Youhug Media, said that as a film and television creation company born in Shanghai with a team in Shanghai and adhering to the Shanghai style, Youhug has been exploring innovative methods to create influential realist works. Following word-of-mouth works such as "I Will Find You a Better Home", "With You", and "Cross Fire", the team has invested in the development of a series of new realistic themes such as "Ark Peace" and "Younger Generation", which specifically involve overseas rescue, manufacturing industry, aerospace, and other different themes, "Our focus is to reflect the development of the times, and the changes of the times."

Also focusing on realistic themes, there is XG Entertainment. Chairman Yang Wenhong revealed that the company is currently promoting key projects such as "City in a City" and "Mom's War". "In the next three years, we plan to produce more than a dozen works. Among them, reality themes account for 8".

In the eyes of these creators, it is not difficult to see that the real life in Shanghai in the new era is still a rich source of creation. From the "readable" outstanding historical buildings on the streets of Shanghai, to the results of water management in Shanghai, and even the tremendous changes in the development and opening up of Pudong, little things in Shanghai are waiting for film and television creators to explore and record earnestly.

In Shanghai, build a talent strength

With the determination to compose masterpieces of the times, Shanghai's film and television and Internet audiovisual industries are also calling for more outstanding talents. Zhao Yifang said that she plans to introduce and gather world-class educational resources, industry teachers, and industry master resources in Shanghai, and set up higher vocational education colleges. "We hope to strengthen the training of media, film and television skills and cultivate high-end application-oriented talents with the spirit of craftsmanship.

At the beginning of this year, the Shanghai headquarters of Mahua FunAge settled in Putuo Zhenru. This well-known comedy cultural brand is also exploring and thinking about sending more talents to the Shanghai film and television industry. Wang Haigang, co-president of Mahua FunAge, CEO of Mahua FunAge Pictures, and CEO of Mahua FunAge (Shanghai), revealed that through a series of variety shows, online movies and offline performance projects in Shanghai, more new comedians are growing up. " Mahua FunAge has presented nearly a thousand performances in various areas of Shanghai this year. This provides an opportunity for us to discover and cultivate talents. We want to stick to comedy, pursue the quality of the content itself, and make fine online movies and variety shows."

Xiaoguo Culture Media, which focuses on comedy talk shows, is committed to continuing to exert influence among young people. Founder and chairman Ye Feng revealed that from online content to offline performances, Xiaoguo uses ecology to grow good content, and thus attracts outstanding talents. "For example, in the next program, we will introduce foreign talk show talents to tell the story of China from their perspective."

It is worth mentioning that due to the gathering of diverse talents, the audiovisual industry in Shanghai is also extremely imaginative in creation. Dragonfly FM is the representative of Shanghai's leading audio company, and its founder Zhang Qiang revealed that although the audio market continues to expand, the overall category is still relatively limited, and the platform tries to connect talents from other categories. "We have been thinking about whether it can be derived like video to offer more forms of rich content? For example, the form of variety shows. So, we have also introduced producers who traditionally are engaged in the head creation of variety shows to jointly create new content."