Furongguo Review丨Only when there are new expressions in creation can there be new breakthroughs in the market——Observation on the 2024 summer season (Part 2)
2024-08-21
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
Zhou Zezhong, all-media commentator of Hunan Daily
As the longest and busiest film season in China, the importance of the summer season is self-evident. Judging from the results, this year's summer season is not satisfactory, but the directors' exploration of new themes and innovation in expression are still worth summarizing and reviewing.
Looking at blockbusters, the most innovative works are "Under the Alien" and "Decryption". The former dares to step into the "live-action comic adaptation movie", and has a good grasp of special effects and traditional culture; the latter uses the "dream" of the protagonist Rong Jinzhen as a fulcrum, and uses scenes such as amusement parks, digital vortexes, and reed lighthouses to build a fantasy coded world. In terms of the word "heart", the two films are impeccable. The problem is that movies not only need to be innovative in production technology, but also have storylines and narrative structures to support them. If the audience still has "question marks on their faces" after coming out of the theater, it is inevitable that the box office will be lost, and the innovation will be "wasted".
Looking at new works, the youth power of Chinese films is growing rapidly. This summer, a number of new works directed by new directors, such as "White Snake: Floating Life", "Tao Cang", and "Falling into the Mortal World", are eye-catching. They are all directed by new directors, and at the same time "bet on" the excellent traditional Chinese culture, taking elements such as Peking Opera, Xu Xian and White Snake, Cowherd and Weaver Girl as entry points, striving to inject new ideas into old themes and highlight personalized expression. It is the in-depth excavation of cultural connotations and the accurate grasp of the psychological needs of the audience that have won these films a good reputation and allowed the audience to see the infinite possibilities of Chinese films.
Faced with the dismal summer season, how will future creators solve the problem? Should they follow the crowd, firmly grasp themes with strong topics, transplant the concepts of short, flat and fast into film creation, and make more commercial films that can mobilize the audience's emotions? Or should they use innovation as a driving force to convey a new film industry aesthetic to the audience? Choosing the latter undoubtedly requires greater courage and wisdom, but it is possible to stand out in the fierce market competition.
From another perspective, isn’t the summer season an opportunity to reinvent ourselves? In the reality that the box office is not as good as expected, the greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity. Only by constantly exploring and breaking through themselves can filmmakers gain a firm foothold in the fierce competition and bring more surprises and touches to the audience. I hope that in the near future, we can see more excellent works that have both commercial value and artistic depth.
