■ Movies and short plays are essentially content products, and they are all connected with users. High-frequency interactions with users based on short video accounts can better help incubate and operate ip
■ There are no obvious media restrictions in current IP development, whether it is Animation, literature, online dramas and short plays, as long as the IP has a certain influence and a fixed audience, they can expand into movies.
Since this year, the popularity of short plays has not diminished, from vertical screen to interactive, from original to derivative, from From 1 minute to 5 minutes and 10 minutes, micro-short plays show all-encompassing content forms. In addition to original scripts, some derivative short dramas launched by popular film and television drama IPs are also gradually occupying a place in the market.
's short drama "My Return is Windy" has been played 180 million times; the 13-episode "Beyond It!" "Ah Juan" has been viewed more than 110 million times; "Tianya Little Nyonya" has only been updated for 6 episodes and has been played nearly 15 million times - these short dramas are all derivatives of popular film and television IPs. Film and television IPs are trying their hand at making short dramas. Is this a good business?
Long and short linkage is the general trend
Last year, the anti-fraud movie " or " raked in 3.848 billion yuan at the box office, and the overwhelming short video announcements during the summer season left a deep impression on people. The spin-off short drama "The Disguise Game", also produced by Bad Monkey Pictures, was launched less than a year later. It tells the story of the protagonist Shen Zhi'an who is obsessed with the anchor "Cat" and steps towards the abyss of being deceived. The suspenseful online drama "Tang Dynasty Strange Stories" became a dark horse after it was aired in 2022. The second season of the drama has not yet been released, and the spin-off vertical screen short drama "Su Wuming from the Tang Dynasty" has been launched first. The spin-off drama follows the original cast and tells the story of the protagonist Su Wuming who accidentally travels to modern time and space and continues to solve crimes.
"In the blank period before the release of the sequel, the emergence of related micro-short dramas can play a very good role in paving the way. This is a way to maintain the popularity of the IP, and it can also make movies, long series and short dramas interact with each other. Borrowing power." An industry insider told reporters that compared to long films whose development cycles are at least two to three years and whose box office revenue is determined by one month of release, short dramas can give film and television IPs a longer life cycle. In particular, the "end" of a professional film and television production team is also a guarantee of the quality of short drama production.
short drama "My Way Home is Windy" is a spin-off of the hit drama "Go Where the Wind Is". It tells the story of Xu Youfeng, a 28-year-old North drifter who returns to his hometown of Sichuan to fulfill his competitor's last wish and gets acquainted with intangible cultural heritage delicacies. The story of Xie Guitu, the inheritor of Sichuan cuisine. The spin-off drama not only has the same protagonist’s surname as the original IP, but the female lead Liu Meihan also appeared in “Go Where the Wind Is.” For this reason, some viewers are also looking forward to the formation of "Wind Universe".
According to Qian Lili, the person in charge of Douyin’s premium short dramas, long- and short-term linkage IP derivatives will most likely become an important direction in the future. “Movies and short dramas are essentially content products, and they are all connected with users. High-frequency interactions between video accounts and users can better help incubate and operate IPs." For example, "Beyond! "A Juan" is a live-action short drama derived from the IP of the animated film " Lion Boy ". It tells the story of the protagonist A Juan who comes to the big city with the dream of "opening a lion dance hall" and encounters all kinds of people in the process. people and things. "Shooting a short drama version and linking it with the length of the movie IP can reach more users and keep the popularity and freshness of this IP. The single episode of "Beyond It! A Juan" is 10 minutes long, which is also an opportunity to explore the creative space and An attempt to explore the boundaries of creation."
"Short plays, as a content form, will undergo quality upgrades like other content forms." Qian Lili said that during the cooperation with some institutions, he discovered that high-quality short plays The format of the play is similar to that of the movie. "First of all, they are 90-120 minutes of narrative. Secondly, the popular short play also follows the classic three-part format of the movie, but it is different from the rhythm of the movie. In In terms of lens language, vertical screen shooting is more in close-up and medium-close shots. Its light and shadow, focus on character performance, including emotional foreshadowing and logical extension of the story will all be different."
Formation of "ip universe" development awareness
From movies, long series to new forms of short plays, on the one hand, it can certainly enhance the popularity of IP and expand its influence; on the other hand, there is also the risk of "acclimatization". From a ip to the "ip universe" is not as simple as imagined, nor can it be solved by making a few related long and short dramas. "Su Wuming from the Tang Dynasty" only scored 6.2 points, far lower than the 7.9 points of the online drama version . The exploration of the popular format of vertical screen and short length makes it difficult to unfold the weird cases and meticulous reasoning in the feature film, which has become the reason for many netizens to give negative reviews.
"The online drama adapted from a popular movie is more interesting than the original There are reasons for capital to try. "Young filmmaker Boyun analyzed the audience's willingness to pay. He believes that movie audiences have the highest willingness to pay for content. Many movies have launched online dramas, and the audience for movie IPs is also very likely to pay for online dramas. But the Internet The willingness of drama audiences to pay is weaker than that of movies, and it is hard to say whether it can be transformed into an audience for short plays or stage plays. "Whether it can be cosmicized is a question of traditional film and television formats. At present, the cultural industry is under the impact of AI, and it can wait for the bullets to fly for a while. "
Due to differences in business models, whether it is a short drama derived from film and television IP, or a self-made or customized micro-short drama on the platform, different payment models will be adopted. An industry insider told reporters that some micro-short dramas are free to watch in order to improve the film and television IP Popularity; some are "commercial", with commercial brand advertisements embedded in micro-shorts; most vertical-screen shorts adopt a pay-per-episode viewing model. For different commercial purposes, the content of the shorts naturally varies. There is a focus.
"There is no problem for online drama IP to establish its own film and television universe. After Internet capital enters the film and television field, it also takes universal development as a phased goal. Du Liang, a lecturer at the School of Film and Television Media of Shanghai Normal University, believes that there are no obvious media restrictions on IP development at present. Whether it is animation, literature, online dramas, or short plays, as long as the IP has a certain influence and a fixed audience group, it can be applied to movies. Expansion. "For example, China's animation audience is relatively concentrated. After works such as " bears " were remade into movies, their market influence continued to increase. If web drama IP can successfully transform niche preferences into mass media, it can also establish a new position in movies. Therefore, it is important to form a good awareness of universal IP development, which is also relatively lacking in the current domestic film and television industry. "
As a part of the "ip universe", short plays are also regarded as an important channel for training young creators. "Before there was the format of short plays, managing a big project, whether it was a movie or a long play, The bar is very high. "Qian Lili said, "Most short dramas are produced by professional content workers. It is unlikely that one person will complete all the work. It is a systematic and organized cooperation, and the individuals involved include a large number of young creators. "
text/Zhong Han Zhang Yi
editor/Ni Jianing
