Very Short Videos Are Changing Film Industries

2024-10-19

00:00 / 00:00
复读宝 RABC v8.0beta 复读机按钮使用说明
播放/暂停
停止
播放时:倒退3秒/复读时:回退AB段
播放时:快进3秒/复读时:前进AB段
拖动:改变速度/点击:恢复正常速度1.0
拖动改变复读暂停时间
点击:复读最近5秒/拖动:改变复读次数
设置A点
设置B点
取消复读并清除AB点
播放一行
停止播放
后退一行
前进一行
复读一行
复读多行
变速复读一行
变速复读多行
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1
  • On a film set in China, a 69-year-old actor is playing the part of a wealthy family leader.
  • 2
  • In "Grandma's Moon," actor Zhu Jian celebrates his birthday with a costly dinner party.
  • 3
  • And he is about to get a big surprise: One of the workers at the party is his granddaughter.
  • 4
  • But there is another big surprise.
  • 5
  • "Grandma's Moon" is not a movie or even a television show.
  • 6
  • Instead, it is a series of short videos, called a micro drama.
  • 7
  • Creators shoot them vertically for easy watching on cell phones.
  • 8
  • Each episode is only minutes long.
  • 9
  • Most of the people watching "Grandma's Moon" are middle-aged workers and retired people.
  • 10
  • Zhu said that these viewers do not go to movie theaters anymore.
  • 11
  • He added that it is so easy "...to hold a mobile phone and watch something anytime you want."
  • 12
  • Micro dramas use story-telling methods like hooks and plot twists to keep millions of viewers watching on their cellphones.
  • 13
  • And these audiences are very willing to pay for more.
  • 14
  • The cliffhangers at the end of each episode are critical to the success of micro dramas.
  • 15
  • Cliffhangers keep a viewer interested and wanting to watch more.
  • 16
  • Audiences must pay for the next episode to find out what happened.
  • 17
  • Reuters News Agency reports that China's micro drama industry is worth $5 billion.
  • 18
  • Micro dramas are shot quickly and with little money.
  • 19
  • The first few episodes are often free.
  • 20
  • But to watch the whole micro drama series, audiences may have to pay money to watch additional episodes.
  • 21
  • Experts say micro dramas are successfully competing with China's film industry.
  • 22
  • The micro drama leader is the app Kuaishou.
  • 23
  • The app is responsible for 60 percent of the top 50 Chinese micro dramas last year.
  • 24
  • That information comes from Endata, a company that studies media.
  • 25
  • Douyin is owned by internet technology company Bytedance, which is also popular with micro drama fans.
  • 26
  • Other Chinese social media apps like Xiaohongshu and YouTube competitor Bilibili have announced plans to make more.
  • 27
  • Micro dramas are now spreading to the United States.
  • 28
  • "China discovered this audience first," said Layla Cao, a Chinese producer based in Los Angeles.
  • 29
  • Hollywood, she says, has not yet.
  • 30
  • Micro dramas are successful not only for their story-telling methods but also for their interesting plots.
  • 31
  • Many popular micro dramas for Chinese audiences are stories about revenge or reaching higher social status.
  • 32
  • Their popularity is happening at a time when making money and changing your status in China is difficult. Youth unemployment is also high.
  • 33
  • The micro dramas often "show people who one day are lower class and the next day become upper class ..." said a 26-year-old screenwriter.
  • 34
  • Writing under the name Camille Rao, she recently left a low-paid job in the traditional film industry.
  • 35
  • Now, she writes micro drama stories for American audiences.
  • 36
  • China's Communist Party has been critical of micro dramas.
  • 37
  • Between late 2022 and early 2023, China's regulatory agency, the National Radio and Television Administration, or NRTA, removed 25,300 micro dramas.
  • 38
  • In June, the Chinese government began requiring some creators to register micro dramas with the NRTA.
  • 39
  • The regulator did not answer Reuters' request for comment.
  • 40
  • Actor Zhu added that the plot is often unreal or over-the-top; "...so it catches people's attention and a large audience wants to see them," he said.
  • 41
  • Zhu said he loves classic films, like "Casablanca."
  • 42
  • And like many other film lovers working in micro dramas, he thinks they have limited artistic value.
  • 43
  • He said, "I see it as fast food..."
  • 44
  • However, loyal fans of micro dramas disagree.
  • 45
  • Huang Siyi is a 28-year-old customer service agent.
  • 46
  • She enjoys watching romantic micro dramas because "the acting is good and the male and female leads are good-looking."
  • 47
  • She adds that it is easy to get hooked on micro dramas.
  • 48
  • Micro dramas can be made with little money.
  • 49
  • The amount of money needed to make them can be between $28,000 (200,000 yuan) and $280,000 (2 million yuan), the market research company iResearch reports.
  • 50
  • In the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, creators are making "Grandma's Moon" with not much money and not much time.
  • 51
  • The show was filmed in just six days.
  • 52
  • As micro dramas grow in popularity, actors' earnings have grown too.
  • 53
  • Many Chinese micro drama producers have their eye on Western markets.
  • 54
  • Micro dramas designed for the West are often made by production and acting crews in Los Angeles and shot on location.
  • 55
  • The stories are in English and often involve wealth, cheating partners, and miracles.
  • 56
  • One of the apps that distributes micro dramas in the West is called LoveShots.
  • 57
  • In one of its latest micro dramas, a paralyzed woman miraculously regains her ability to walk.
  • 58
  • Then, she walks in to find her husband cheating on her.
  • 59
  • I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Anna Matteo.