Chapter 491 The upcoming summer season
Chapter 491 The upcoming summer season
For a film company or the film and television industry, the industrialization of film has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, the standardization of the production process can greatly protect the interests of film and television companies.
Advanced production management systems, such as Galaxy Group's Good Production Software, can help directors and producers extend their reach to all aspects of the crew, greatly enhance their control over the crew, and reduce the possibility of embezzlement of funds by some crew members.
The modular production of screenwriter teams, such as the script factory model of Marvel and Galaxy Group, with the division of labor among world view architect + plot point master + dialogue doctor, has increased the creative efficiency by at least 5 times compared to traditional screenwriters.
The dynamic 3D storyboard preview system simulates the shooting process in advance to reduce the possibility of loss in subsequent production.
There are also virtual production technology, digital rendering material farms, and derivative product ecosystems...
All of these have greatly improved the production efficiency of film and television dramas, reduced production costs, eliminated potential risks in the shooting process, and at the same time achieved the accumulative and repeatable nature of production experience, greatly improving the training and learning efficiency of newcomers.
As for the disadvantages, the film industrialization system, since it contains the word "industrialization", means that the production of films is modeled after the assembly line in a factory.
However, film is a creative art. Once it enters the industrial process, it will first fall into the vortex of conservatism.
According to industry statistics from Galaxy Group's data department, in recent years, whether in the Chinese film and television market or the international film and television market, IP-based and sequel-based works have always occupied the top of the film rankings.
Putting aside the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] and [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], the [Harry Potter Series], [Pirates of the Caribbean Series], [Transformers Series], [Fast and Furious Series], [Kung Fu Panda Series]...
It can be seen that the reliance on sequels has led to a shrinking of innovation. The proportion of original scripts on the market has fallen to 14.7% and is still declining year by year.
In the future, the reboot of movie series and the remake of old movies, especially the remake of foreign-language movies in China, will inevitably become the new mainstream.
Then there is the “homogenization trap” of genre films.
According to the experience extracted and summarized by the screenwriting department of Galaxy Group from the popular movies in recent years, "big scenes + big stars + comedy" is undoubtedly the panacea formula for a movie to become a hit.
Of course, different markets will cause the proportions of this panacea formula to vary.
For example, in China, the panacea formula shows a trend of "big stars > comedy > big scenes", and the same applies when "big stars" are replaced by "traffic stars".
In Hollywood, the main trend is still "big stars = big scenes > comedy".
This naturally led to the collapse of the film genre.
Among the film and television projects that film and television production companies are keen to invest in, science fiction, fantasy, and comedy have formed a siphon effect of the top genres, accounting for more than 60%.
Ancient fantasy and urban romance have become mid-tier safe-haven choices due to their high rates of costume and prop reuse and advertising placement, accounting for 30%.
As for the desert of the tail type, there are only niche themes such as history, realism, documentaries, drama films, dialect films and ethnic minorities.
In addition, the industrialized production process of movies, coupled with the vortex of "homogenization trap" and "IP sequel", will lead to the convergence of aesthetic styles.
According to statistics from the costume and props production factory affiliated with the Galaxy Group, the diversity of costumes in fantasy dramas has decreased by 55% in recent years. The colors and styles of costumes in TV dramas are rarely adjusted according to the historical background of the works. Basically, the costume and props companies in the film and television city use whatever they have in stock in their warehouses.
As a result, the artistic styles of TV series and movies shot at the same time are often almost the same.
These drawbacks will also cause the audience to fall into a cycle of aesthetic fatigue.
Although there is no widespread data to support this point, Wang Hao, who has the memory of later generations, knows that this is also the reason why the works of the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] will gradually go downhill in the future.
After all, industrialized audio-visual bombardment also has marginal effects.
When the density of explosion scenes and big scenes increases from one every 10 minutes to one every five minutes, and then to one every two minutes.
When battles and conflicts continue to occur and the overall story remains at a tense stage, the duration of the audience's emotional peak will be shortened, and the expectation for the next work will also be reduced.
Of course, no matter whether it is pros or cons, the first thing to consider when it comes to film industrialization is whether it exists or not, and only then can we be qualified to discuss the question of whether it is good or not.
Moreover, even if there are problems, they will only be exposed and have serious impacts after they have developed to a certain stage. If we hesitate and slow down the pace of development because of this, it would be really foolish to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
As far as the current Chinese film market is concerned, only Galaxy Group's own film industrialization system has entered a mature stage. As for other large and small film and television companies, even with the selfless help of Galaxy Group, they can only be said to be still groping and trying.
It is still too early to consider the drawbacks of film industrialization at this time.
In contrast, Galaxy Group has successfully leveraged its advantages and is far ahead of its peers by relying on its mature film industrialization system.
"Is it the material for Ghost Blows Out the Light? This TV series will be broadcast in June, right? I will definitely watch it then."
After hearing Wang Hao's advice, Tsui Hark kept the relevant information in mind, but that was not the end.
"The TV series is broadcast on our own Xingkong Video website. In addition, the company has previously purchased the copyright of an online novel called "Zhu Xian".
[Shushan Swordsman Universe] is obviously a long-term project. During this process, you can first allocate some people and then select one of the new directors in the company to shoot a web drama with this IP to practice your skills. This will not only accumulate experience, but also test the tastes of today's young audiences."
When Tsui Hark heard the suggestions given by Wang Hao, he did not feel that there was anything wrong with it.
As Wang Hao said, the changing times, regional differences, and different environments and cultural atmospheres will naturally lead to great differences in the preferences of young people.
Looking back on the failure of "The Legend of Zu" directed by himself, the insufficient preliminary research and the failure to deeply understand the preferences of mainland audiences were indeed one of the important factors for the failure of the film.
The two of them sat in the office for a long time and had a very pleasant conversation.
Just as they were discussing enthusiastically, Lu Yang, a new generation director signed by Xingdou Culture, finally arrived. He entered the office under the guidance of his secretary and joined the conversation between the two of them.
As a young new generation director, Lu Yang's recently released film "Blade of the Assassin" has achieved quite good box office results, causing quite a stir in the industry and also making martial arts themes a little popular. The original plan of the Galaxy Group was to have him continue to produce "Blade of the Assassin 2" to expand the "Jin Yiwei Movie Universe".
However, plans cannot keep up with changes. Wang Hao has a new idea. He is ready to give this new force in the director industry more responsibilities and let him assist Tsui Hark and participate in the creation of "Shushan Swordsman Universe" as the deputy helmsman of the project.
After all, no matter from which angle you look at it, the [Shushan Swordsman Universe] has more potential than the [Jin Yiwei Movie Universe].
As Tsui Hark is getting older, his energy, active thinking and sensitivity to the market are inevitably declining. Lu Yang's joining as his deputy will undoubtedly inject new vitality into the project, greatly speed up the creative process and improve creative efficiency.
As for the [Jin Yi Wei Movie Universe], Galaxy Group is full of talents and signs many young directors from the three major film and television schools and various social channels every year.
Productions like "The Blade of the Assassin", as long as cost control is done well, are precisely the perfect platform to provide newcomers with practical opportunities and accumulate production experience, allowing them to grow rapidly in actual combat.
The three of them sat together and continued to discuss the creation of the [Shushan Swordsman Universe] for a long time. In the end, they roughly determined the specific framework of the first phase, and also basically finalized the direction of story development for the subsequent second and third phases.
However, there is no need to rush into this matter. According to the plan jointly formulated by Wang Hao, Tsui Hark and the company's project management department, the "Shushan Swordsman Universe" project is currently still in the initial preparation stage.
In the early stages of constructing this movie universe, the work is complicated and meticulous. Not only is it necessary to build a complete, real and grand world background, but it is also necessary to sort out the story timeline, set the characters, determine the art style of the costumes and props, and the overall story tone.
It will take at least a year to complete all these tasks, and this is because Galaxy Group’s film industrialization system has entered a mature stage, has sufficient talent pool, and has rich experience in how to create a film universe.
If it was replaced by a completely new team, like Guo Fan and others in Wang Hao's previous life, they would have prepared "The Wandering Earth 1" from scratch, from the initial planning and conception to the final official start of filming, which would have taken a full two years.
Even so, their crew still encountered many difficulties after starting filming. They invested a lot of energy and high costs in the shooting and production process, and continued to improve while learning through trial and error.
Even with such a full commitment, the final completion of the film only reached 80%, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Now, the team of Galaxy Group only needs one year to prepare for the [Shushan Swordsman Universe]. Moreover, this is not the core elite team led by Wang Hao. They are confident that the final results will reach the top level of domestic fairy-tale themes, and at least be comparable to mature Hollywood works.
If this were to be made public, it would be enough to make other domestic film and television companies and practitioners feel ashamed.
Therefore, the project establishment work for the first work of [Shushan Swordsman Universe] will not be officially launched until the end of this year or the beginning of next year at the earliest.
After the project is established, a series of complex processes such as preparation, shooting and post-production will have to be carried out.
According to this pace, the first movie of the "Shushan Swordsman Universe" is expected to meet the audience in 2017.
“But before that, you can ask the screenwriting department to contact Xingyue Novel Network and find some people to write a novel with the same title.
After all, "Shushan" has now entered the public copyright library. If other companies follow suit, it would be a bit ugly."
At the very end, Wang Hao did not forget to give a reminder, to which Tsui Hark smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Director Wang. This is already in our plan. Currently, there is a web novel author who is involved in the creation of the entire movie universe. His pen name is 'Toad without a Tail'."
Wang Hao nodded when he heard this, and after handing the work over to Xu Ke and Lu Yang with confidence, he put the matter aside for the time being.
He still has full trust in these two people. As a genius in the film industry, Tsui Hark can be regarded as a senior predecessor in the industry. Although with the constant changes of the times, it is gradually difficult to keep up with the trend in some aspects, but now he has not fallen to the point of making "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero".
With Lu Yang, a newcomer full of vitality and innovative thinking, sharing the pressure, and with Galaxy Group's mature film industrialization system as a support, Tsui Hark should be able to have a second spring in film and television creation.
Putting aside the matter concerning the [Shushan Swordsman Universe], Wang Hao shifted his attention more to the strategic planning of the Galaxy Group for the 2015 summer season.
For China's film industry, there are actually only two key periods in a year.
One is the Spring Festival period, and the other is the summer period.
Among them, the former, due to Wang Hao's hard work over the years, has gradually cultivated a habit of watching movies during the New Year among a large number of audiences.
As for the latter, it is mainly due to the fact that students have more free time during the holidays, and watching movies naturally becomes their preferred entertainment activity.
According to the screening schedule obtained by Galaxy Group from the cinema chain, the Chinese film market will undoubtedly usher in a grand carnival during this summer season.
Thanks to the booming Chinese film and television industry driven by Galaxy Group in the past few years, and the opening-up strategy of the cultural market suggested by higher authorities in recent years, more than 100 films will be released in China this summer.
On average, there are more than 30 movies released in theaters every month, almost one movie a day, which is enough to show how fierce the competition in the summer season is.
Among these more than 100 films, 80% are domestic films, 10% are Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian films, and the remaining 10% are Hollywood films.
In addition, there are a large number of movies with rich themes, covering youth, comedy, animation, action, science fiction, horror and other genres.
Of course, among so many movies, there are not many that can really attract the audience's attention and make them go to the cinema just by relying on the title and the main creative team.
For example, in June, there were only three movies that interested the audience.
Among them are two Hollywood movies, namely "San Andreas" and "Jurassic World".
The former is starred by famous Hollywood action star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and is a disaster blockbuster similar to "2012".
The film mainly tells the story of a major earthquake that extends from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and the character played by Dwayne Johnson overcomes various dangerous situations in order to rescue his daughter.
As for the latter, just by looking at the name you can tell that it must have a lot to do with the once famous "Jurassic Park".
(End of this chapter)