Looking at the current film and television creation industry in China, it is not difficult to find that cross-border behaviors abound in various fields. More and more singers, writers, journalists, advertising industry practitioners, etc. have "transformed" into the film and television industry and become directors, Producers, actors and other creative staff. Not only that, short videos are popular and micro-short dramas are on the rise. Some works can be produced with just a mobile phone, and some can be shot with an investment of tens of thousands of yuan, making "everyone can become a creator" a reality. . At the same time, the development of digital media technology and artificial intelligence technology has broken down the original technical barriers. Work that originally took a long time to complete for professional screenwriting and editing can now be completed quickly with the help of technical assistance tools. Some software even requires only uploading simple descriptive text or pictures to generate a beautiful video.
However, the excitement of the market cannot conceal the shortcomings at the creative level, and phenomena such as low-quality and homogeneous content are common. This is inseparable from the "fast food" of the creative process. For example, the shooting cycle of some micro-short dramas is only a few days. Some shoddy content is edited into clips and released on short video platforms. After being pushed by streaming companies, it attracts users to click and pay to watch, thus gaining huge traffic and box office revenue. This way of obtaining economic benefits through financial product-style operating logic has spun the myth of getting rich overnight in the industry, causing some practitioners to form the misconception that "low-quality works can still have high returns." Therefore, as emerging forms of online audio-visual content continue to emerge, the film and television industry needs to reflect on the relationship between traffic and quality. The wide dissemination of content is not equivalent to the artistic value of the work itself, and the amount of commercial income cannot be directly equated with social benefits. Even if digital technology continues to empower creation, there will always be a threshold for creation.
First of all, film and television creation is never just a flash of inspiration, but a process that requires resource integration and investment from multiple parties. As far as the creative process is concerned, every step of the process, including script selection or adaptation of existing IP, selection of the main creative team and personnel from various departments, shooting and post-production, requires capital, manpower and time costs. The directors, photographers, lighting engineers, art designers, etc. who are responsible for implementing these tasks require certain technical thresholds for each type of work. The level of investment in these resources can affect the final quality of the work to a certain extent. For example, many netizens are currently complaining about the shoddy production of micro-short dramas, which is precisely caused by low creation costs and insufficient resource investment. Of course, resource investment does not mean "throwing money around" or "big production theory", or having to hire traffic stars at high prices, but it means abandoning the opportunistic approach that is solely oriented to commercial interests, "spending money wisely", and truly making the most of it. Resources are invested in script polishing, content innovation and production level improvement.
Secondly, high-quality masterpieces also require creators to understand technology, understand the laws of art, have common sense of life, industry knowledge, and even need to master professional knowledge in medical, legal and other fields. For example, although the current domestic workplace dramas cover more and more fields and the professional groups on the screen become more and more diverse, some "flaws" make some workplace dramas become "child's play". Common sense mistakes and technical flaws such as firefighters playing with fire extinguishers and lawyers not understanding laws and regulations have led to some workplace dramas being labeled "amateur" and "absurd". The essence of this phenomenon is that the creators do not have workplace experience and do not understand the rules of film and television creation. They only rely on behind closed doors and imagination to create, which is inevitably divorced from real real life. For another example, in the early days of online movies, due to low entry barriers, the overall quality of some of the main creative staff was not high. They excessively pursue the commercial interests of "small for big", use gimmicks in their creations to gain attention, and add a large amount of vulgar content such as violence and thrillers, lowering industry standards and disrupting market order. Therefore, there is a threshold for creation at the artistic and aesthetic level. This not only guarantees the artistic value of the work, but also respects the audience's audio-visual experience. It is also the basis for further realizing the conceptual expression and deepening of the theme of the work. Creation must not only attract the audience in the sensory dimension, but also lead the audience in the ideological level and promote the construction of a healthy and orderly industry ecology.
The threshold of a higher level is the awe of creation, which is a serious attitude towards the pursuit of art. It is firstly reflected in practitioners’ ambition to stick to their own work without any regrets for a long time or even throughout their lives. Many artists of the older generation are like this. Director Guo Baochang spent 40 years polishing the classic masterpiece "The Gate of the Mansion", depicting the efforts and determination of the traditional Chinese medicine family in the Gate of Mansion to revitalize the Chinese pharmaceutical industry with delicate brushwork that penetrates the back of the paper. For example, Niu Ben, who is nearly 90 years old, has played mostly minor characters in his more than 70-year acting career, but he can portray the characters vividly in a few scenes and a few lines. As the first actor in China to play Premier Zhou Enlai, Wang Tiecheng only created this one character in his life, but with his sincere and delicate interpretation, he became the most difficult artistic memory for the audience to let go. It is precisely because of their reverence for creation that the older generation of artists have truly taken artistic creation as their ambition and artistic value as their original intention, spent their entire lives pursuing truly handed down works, and polished every aspect of their works with the spirit of craftsmanship. Every detail. They will not be tempted by temporary benefits and easily change careers and cross-border. They always focus on their own work and provide rich and unique nutrients for film and television art. This is the highest threshold for creation.
At a time when the film and television industry is developing rapidly and new forms of online audio-visual content are constantly emerging, creators should adhere to these thresholds to ensure the artistic thickness and ideological depth of their works, and to promote the healthy development of the entire industry. Only in this way can the industry and the audience look forward to more high-quality works.
Looking at the current film and television creation industry in China, it is not difficult to find that cross-border behaviors abound in various fields. More and more singers, writers, journalists, advertising industry practitioners, etc. have "transformed" into the film and television industry and become directors, Producers, actors and other creative staff. Not only that, short videos are popular and micro-short dramas are on the rise. Some works can be produced with just a mobile phone, and some can be shot with an investment of tens of thousands of yuan, making "everyone can become a creator" a reality. . At the same time, the development of digital media technology and artificial intelligence technology has broken down the original technical barriers. Work that originally took a long time to complete for professional screenwriting and editing can now be completed quickly with the help of technical assistance tools. Some software even requires only uploading simple descriptive text or pictures to generate a beautiful video.
However, the excitement of the market cannot conceal the shortcomings at the creative level, and phenomena such as low-quality and homogeneous content are common. This is inseparable from the "fast food" of the creative process. For example, the shooting cycle of some micro-short dramas is only a few days. Some shoddy content is edited into clips and released on short video platforms. After being pushed by streaming companies, it attracts users to click and pay to watch, thus gaining huge traffic and box office revenue. This way of obtaining economic benefits through financial product-style operating logic has spun the myth of getting rich overnight in the industry, causing some practitioners to form the misconception that "low-quality works can still have high returns." Therefore, as emerging forms of online audio-visual content continue to emerge, the film and television industry needs to reflect on the relationship between traffic and quality. The wide dissemination of content is not equivalent to the artistic value of the work itself, and the amount of commercial income cannot be directly equated with social benefits. Even if digital technology continues to empower creation, there will always be a threshold for creation.
First of all, film and television creation is never just a flash of inspiration, but a process that requires resource integration and investment from multiple parties. As far as the creative process is concerned, every step of the process, including script selection or adaptation of existing IP, selection of the main creative team and personnel from various departments, shooting and post-production, requires capital, manpower and time costs. The directors, photographers, lighting engineers, art designers, etc. who are responsible for implementing these tasks require certain technical thresholds for each type of work. The level of investment in these resources can affect the final quality of the work to a certain extent. For example, many netizens are currently complaining about the shoddy production of micro-short dramas, which is precisely caused by low creation costs and insufficient resource investment. Of course, resource investment does not mean "throwing money around" or "big production theory", or having to hire traffic stars at high prices, but it means abandoning the opportunistic approach that is solely oriented to commercial interests, "spending money wisely", and truly making the most of it. Resources are invested in script polishing, content innovation and production level improvement.
Secondly, high-quality masterpieces also require creators to understand technology, understand the laws of art, have common sense of life, industry knowledge, and even need to master professional knowledge in medical, legal and other fields. For example, although the current domestic workplace dramas cover more and more fields and the professional groups on the screen become more and more diverse, some "flaws" make some workplace dramas become "child's play". Common sense mistakes and technical flaws such as firefighters playing with fire extinguishers and lawyers not understanding laws and regulations have led to some workplace dramas being labeled "amateur" and "absurd". The essence of this phenomenon is that the creators do not have workplace experience and do not understand the rules of film and television creation. They only rely on behind closed doors and imagination to create, which is inevitably divorced from real real life. For another example, in the early days of online movies, due to low entry barriers, the overall quality of some of the main creative staff was not high. They excessively pursue the commercial interests of "small for big", use gimmicks in their creations to gain attention, and add a large amount of vulgar content such as violence and thrillers, lowering industry standards and disrupting market order. Therefore, there is a threshold for creation at the artistic and aesthetic level. This not only guarantees the artistic value of the work, but also respects the audience's audio-visual experience. It is also the basis for further realizing the conceptual expression and deepening of the theme of the work. Creation must not only attract the audience in the sensory dimension, but also lead the audience in the ideological level and promote the construction of a healthy and orderly industry ecology.
The threshold of a higher level is the awe of creation, which is a serious attitude towards the pursuit of art. It is firstly reflected in practitioners’ ambition to stick to their own work without any regrets for a long time or even throughout their lives. Many artists of the older generation are like this. Director Guo Baochang spent 40 years polishing the classic masterpiece "The Gate of the Mansion", depicting the efforts and determination of the traditional Chinese medicine family in the Gate of Mansion to revitalize the Chinese pharmaceutical industry with delicate brushwork that penetrates the back of the paper. For example, Niu Ben, who is nearly 90 years old, has played mostly minor characters in his more than 70-year acting career, but he can portray the characters vividly in a few scenes and a few lines. As the first actor in China to play Premier Zhou Enlai, Wang Tiecheng only created this one character in his life, but with his sincere and delicate interpretation, he became the most difficult artistic memory for the audience to let go. It is precisely because of their reverence for creation that the older generation of artists have truly taken artistic creation as their ambition and artistic value as their original intention, spent their entire lives pursuing truly handed down works, and polished every aspect of their works with the spirit of craftsmanship. Every detail. They will not be tempted by temporary benefits and easily change careers and cross-border. They always focus on their own work and provide rich and unique nutrients for film and television art. This is the highest threshold for creation.
At a time when the film and television industry is developing rapidly and new forms of online audio-visual content are constantly emerging, creators should adhere to these thresholds to ensure the artistic thickness and ideological depth of their works, and to promote the healthy development of the entire industry. Only in this way can the industry and the audience look forward to more high-quality works.
(Source: Guangming Daily Author: Li Xin)