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in 2014, the annual box office of chinese films was only 29.6 billion yuan, and ning hao's "lost in thailand" was the only domestic director's work that grossed over 1 billion yuan. that year, chen sicheng and tian hanyu directed their respective "debuts" "beijing love story" and "ex-files", han han and deng chao had just entered the ranks of directors with "see you tomorrow" and "the breakup master", and guo fan and lu yang were also well-known in the industry for "my deskmate" and "knife of the assassin". at an event in june of that year, this group of young creators had a common name - "the new force of chinese film".

in the following ten years, the chinese film market provided audiences with more than 7,000 feature films. chinese films have achieved a transformation from "handmade workshops" to industrialization. a group of creators who are sensitive to the laws of artistic creation and the process of industrial operation have drawn inspiration from the changes of the times, the progress of china, and the call of the people, and have come to the center of the industry stage. ten years ago, the reason for domestic audiences to go to the cinema was often to watch a hollywood blockbuster. ten years later, the top ten box office in the chinese film market are almost all domestic films.

during this period, on the big screen, sound and images flow, light and shadow change, information technology and new forms of entertainment are making great strides forward, and the appreciation level and viewing tastes of domestic audiences are quietly changing; in front of the monitors, creative talents are changing from generation to generation, and film practitioners are also groping forward in mutual adaptation with the audience.

in 2024, many young directors have emerged and joined the ranks of the new forces of chinese film. they are more familiar with audience needs and media rules, have independent aesthetic qualities and keen observation of the times, and have the persistence to concentrate on creation and the courage to pursue their dreams.

faced with the new market environment, audience groups and public opinion field, the new forces remain firm in their belief in knocking on the door of the film palace. it is precisely because of them that chinese films still demonstrate their endless vigor and vitality.

01

from "handmade workshops" to high-tech and industrialization

back in 2015, china's annual box office revenue exceeded 40 billion yuan for the first time, jumping to about 43.8 billion yuan. in that year, tian xiaopeng made "the monkey king: hero is back", wu jing made "wolf warrior", han yan made "go away tumor", and yi xiaoxing made "never expected"... they handed in their first assignments in their film director careers.

at that time, chinese film creators self-deprecatingly called themselves "handicraft workshops". the top two domestic films at the box office that year were "monster hunt" directed by xu chengyi and "mojin: the lost legend" directed by wuershan. these two films introduced the industry to the concept of film industrialization for the first time.

in the ten years since then, with the support of the industry, this group of film creation forces has thrived. as a generation that grew up with the marketization process of china's film industry, the new forces are more familiar with the concepts and industrial processes of the film industry, and use typified creations to suit the interests of young audiences. they have not only influenced the industrial structure and production concepts of chinese films, enriched the aesthetic paradigms and image innovation of chinese films, but also raised the level of globalization and industrialization of chinese films.

this summer, wuershan's industrial production experience accumulated from "the lost tomb" and "the legend of the condor heroes part 1" was further optimized and improved in the crew of "under the alien". the cooperation of multiple departments of the crew made "comics shine into reality". the action team designed unique and tense movements for each alien, integrating popular culture elements such as dance and sports on the basis of traditional chinese martial arts; the photography team used a wide-angle lens single-camera shooting, combined with cnc robotic arms, high-speed photography and other shooting methods, to present comic-like pictures and surreal shots; the lighting team achieved precise control of the light source of the whole scene, and the "supernatural power" effect simulated by the interactive light during shooting not only helped the actors to "immerse" in the performance, but also made the light and shadow changes of the environment and characters in the later visual effects more natural.

"decryption" directed by chen sicheng is also amazing. from the start of filming in october 2023 to the release in august 2024, the entire process of shooting, post-production, submission for review, publicity and distribution of a sophisticated large-scale film took only 10 months. after the release, the gorgeous special effects and exquisite pictures in the film were praised by many audiences, and industry insiders were even more impressed by the meticulous planning and preparation of the "decryption" crew, the orderly and efficient production management, and the skilled and tacit collaboration of departments.

"in my opinion, film industrialization means high quality and efficiency, relying on refined operations and close teamwork to improve the standardization and regularization of film shooting." chen sicheng said, "decoding is an important step i took on the road to film industrialization. in the future, i will summarize the experience of shooting decoding, refine the complete film production process, and explore a more complete film industry industrialization system."

the achievements of the pioneers are also a benchmark for later generations. standing at a higher starting point, the new generation of creators actively embrace new film technologies and strive to create a more scientific and reasonable film production process through smarter and more efficient new film production tools, opening up new tracks and new space for the high-quality development of chinese films.

the directors of "white snake: floating life" chen jianxi and li jiakai previously worked as animator and storyboard artist (responsible for converting the text description of the script into pictures) at light chaser animation. "white snake: floating life" is their first directorial work.

on august 10, "white snake: floating life" was released. on the first day of its release, the film earned 94.29 million yuan in box office revenue. the film's exquisite display of details such as hair scales, character skin texture, and character clothing texture was highly praised by the audience.

behind the high-level visual effects is a complex post-production process. the total rendering time of the movie "white snake: floating life" is as long as 252 million core hours, of which 201 million core hours are for lighting rendering, accounting for 80% of the total rendering time of the movie. according to reports, the ratio of domestic film and television production time to rendering time was about 3:1, which means that a lot of time in film production is spent waiting for rendering to be completed. the person in charge of post-production of light chaser animation admitted: "to ensure that the movie is released on schedule in the summer, and at the same time to maintain or even exceed the consistent production standards of light chaser visual effects, we need to race against time."

in the creation of "white snake: floating life", light chaser animation reached a cooperation with tencent cloud to hand over most of the lighting rendering to the "cloud". relying on massive offline rendering computing resources, high-performance storage cfs turbo and cloud server cvm, more than 2000 computing nodes concurrently read rendering materials, shortening the film's rendering cycle by 43%, allowing the film to meet the audience as scheduled with excellent visual effects.

white snake: floating life is not an isolated case. at present, many domestic films with realistic themes, science fiction themes, and animation types are actively using scientific and technological means to improve post-production efficiency and management modernization, among which young and new generation talents account for a large proportion. the rise of young talents and the application of scientific and technological means have reconstructed the management model of all aspects of film shooting and production, greatly improved management efficiency, and laid a solid foundation for the industrialization and technological development of the film industry.

02

the evolution of moviegoers is both a challenge and an opportunity

ten years have passed, and the mainstream movie-watching population has undergone iterations. young audience groups have different tastes, consumption concepts, and appreciation levels, and have different individual needs. this is a challenge as well as an opportunity for young filmmakers.

this year, the second and third works of many young creators have been favored by the market. with the experience and polish of their previous works, they are familiar with the aesthetic characteristics of the young film-watching group and retain a clear and recognizable author style. as the "internet generation", they pay attention to audience preferences, emotional explosion points and media channels, dig deep into story structure, character settings and creative logic, and through research and observation of social reality, they explore hot issues, conflicts and the glory of human nature in life, and finally achieve emotional resonance with the audience.

at the beginning of the year, two films allowed the industry to see the ability and potential of young creators in creating movie-watching topics and guiding audience emotions.

the new year's day movie "the annual meeting can't stop!" is the third work of director dong runnian. when inviting actors, he invited dapeng and baike, two "first-generation internet celebrities who are working people", as well as wang xun, sun yizhou, tong moman, carnivore, wang hao, kong lianshun and other comedians from different schools and platforms.

"in recent years, talk shows and the 'annual comedy contest' have made many young and talented comedians loved and accepted by the audience. we approached them, hoping to invite comedians of different styles to come together and see what happens." dong runnian compared this invitation to an "experiment". he believes that the audience is always pursuing new things, and creators must adapt to such pursuits. "some 'experiments' may fail, but overall, pursuing innovation is not wrong."

"the annual meeting can't stop!" eventually earned nearly 1.3 billion yuan at the box office. the comedians assembled in the film were recognized and loved by many young audiences. dong runnian's "experiment" was successful.

then, jia ling's second film "hot and sour" was released on the first day of the chinese new year. on the day of the release, her appearance after losing 100 pounds was also exposed for the first time. soon, many topics about jia ling were on weibo's hot search. as the film materials were released one after another, jia ling's fitness results for the role were more clearly displayed to netizens, and the topic "jia ling's abdominal muscles" once rushed to the top of the hot search.

the publicity also boosted the market performance. on the first day of its release, "hot and sour" earned over 400 million yuan at the box office, and earned a total of 2.724 billion yuan during the spring festival holiday, ranking first in the period. when reviewing the spring festival period, many practitioners believed that jia ling's body transformation brought the most attention to this year's spring festival films.

in the summer, the box office appeal and market appeal of young creators also attracted the attention of the industry. the top two summer box office hits, "catch the doll" and "silent killing", were both works by young directors. when sharing their creative experience, they all agreed to respect the story and emphasize logic under the principle of strong typology.

"catching dolls" is the third film co-produced by yan fei and peng damo. so far, the film has grossed more than 3.2 billion yuan, firmly ranking first in this summer's box office.

from "charlotte's troubles" to "the richest man in xihong city" to "catching dolls", happy twist's comedy style has always been present. yan fei and peng damo said that the jokes should serve the plot, and their creative principle is that gags and plots must create a sense of humor in the story structure and character setting. "when discussing the script of "catching dolls", we brainstormed a lot of gags and plots that were parallel to the main story. in fact, each of them is a wonderful joke or sketch, but later we felt that some of them were harmful to the rhythm and mood of the story, so we just took them out."

ke wenli, the director of "silent killing", holds the same view. "silent killing" is the second time that chinese audiences have seen ke wenli's work on the big screen. the plot suspense, character reversal, sensory stimulation, distinct author characteristics and strong image style are exactly the same as the previous "the accidental murderer". as a director and screenwriter of suspense films, ke wenli believes that "reversal for the sake of reversal" is not advisable. the audio-visual language of the film must be closely connected with the story in order to touch people's hearts.

"i suggest that creators often ask themselves 'why', why does this happen in this scene? why is this shot designed in this way? why does this character say this? and so on. by building this kind of logical chain and causal relationship, the work produced will be more convincing, convincing yourself, your colleagues, and finally the audience. this is especially critical for the creation of suspense films."

among the films released in 2024, there are also many young creators who turn their cameras to social life, more actively intervene in the times, observe reality, depict the joys and sorrows of life, and show the various aspects of the world.

focusing on mlm cases, grassland and earth is the second feature film directed by gu xiaogang. to gain a deeper understanding of how mlm organizations operate, gu xiaogang boarded a bus of an mlm organization. "i actually entered the mlm organization and attended their 'direct selling conference'. there, i witnessed how mlm personnel brainwashed and controlled participants step by step, which was very terrifying to me."

in order to present the mlm scene more realistically, gu xiaogang studied the operation mode and culture of mlm organizations, and even simulated the courses and products of mlm organizations in the crew. "in this creation, i think the biggest challenge is how to create drama on the basis of restoring reality. i hope that through this film, the audience can have a deeper understanding of the nature and harm of mlm."

liu bowen is somewhat similar to gu xiaogang. "laifu hotel", which focuses on the "home for patients", is also his second work to win the dragon mark. before writing the script, liu bowen led the main creators to visit hotels for patients in beijing, heilongjiang and other places. they learned about the operation mode of the "home for patients" from the hotel owner, stayed in the hotel for patients to observe the interaction between patients and their families, visited the hospital doctors to understand the details of the patients' medical treatment, and collected a lot of real and vivid materials. many of the vivid portraits of patients in the film have prototypes. "when shooting this kind of subject, i don't want to increase everyone's worries, but want to bring some sincere and warm things." liu bowen said that he hopes that "laifu" can give people a little "utopia" feeling, but at the same time it is realistic and real.

in liu bowen's eyes, their stories point to the dignity and meaning of life. "i hope my film is like a key, allowing the audience to understand these people after watching it." liu bowen also hopes that through these stories, he can trigger the audience's thinking and encourage everyone to face life with a positive attitude and live to the fullest.

03

adapting to the mood of the times and insisting on individual expression,

evolve with the audience

as a talent-intensive creative industry, young practitioners are the future and hope of the film industry. some young people released their first works this year, which was their first glimpse into the unique charm of the film industry. through this experience, they saw the complexity of the industry and the volatility of the market, and also enriched the creative pattern of domestic films with an open, diverse, fresh and unique artistic perspective.

wu rina is the one with the best box office performance. her first feature film, thelma & critic, was released during the may day holiday this year and earned 781 million yuan at the box office. the story of "spending money" is not new to chinese audiences. compared with the 2018 film the richest man in xihong city, which required the spending of 1 billion yuan within a month, thelma & critic, which spent 1 million yuan in 10 days after a misdiagnosis, does not seem to be "crazy" enough in terms of setting.

in wu rina's view, the key to "thelma and louise" is to resonate with the times. she believes that comedy pursues "a knowing smile" and requires creators to fit the mood of the times as much as possible, and the mood of the times is closely linked to the entire social and economic environment. when "the richest man in xihong city" was released, the mood of the times was more positive and upbeat, and after the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, reducing desires and conservative consumption have become the daily choices of more people.

"considering the current economic situation and people's living and psychological conditions, our plot setting can resonate more with ordinary audiences." wu rina said, "thelma and louise is the kind of comedy that ordinary audiences can laugh at and still empathize with after they walk into the theater."

unlike wu rina, who was born as an actor in happy twist, long fei belongs to the "academic school". after graduating from graduate school in hong kong, he went to various domestic film festivals and venture capital platforms. "stop and go" is the third project he and screenwriter huang jia have invested in. in 2021, "stop and go" stood out at the first surprise film festival and was recommended to matt films, which invited hu ge and gao yuanyuan... since then, long fei has been busy, communicating with producers and actors, coordinating various departments, from post-production to publicity, he has completed the full process of theatrical movies for the first time.

during this period, various suggestions came one after another, such as strengthening the film's genre attributes or adding love elements to the script. "i can actually understand these suggestions. after all, we are newcomers and the market is risky, while genre films are more secure and easier to win audiences." but long fei still insisted on his "life-stream images". "i believe that characters can impress the audience, and i believe that life details can attract the audience. i know this is risky, but i still want to try this film style."

in 2024, "stop and go" won three major awards at the 14th beijing international film festival: "temple of heaven award" for best film, best supporting actress, and best screenplay. on june 8, the film was released and earned over 100 million yuan at the box office.

looking back on this creative experience, long fei is glad that he persisted and that he encountered a good opportunity. he shares his experience with later generations, "when what you make is different from traditional films on the market, and the investors are also looking for something like this, that is the best time."

but not every young creator can become a blockbuster. for most newcomers, it is often difficult to get started. shan dandan and li kuo persisted longer than long fei. before "galaxy writer", they had been screenwriters for many years, but it was not smooth. li kuo said: "galaxy writer is like our jedi counterattack. if this film fails, we may quit this industry forever."

after ten years of screenwriting career, shan dandan, li kuo and screenwriter gao qun turned their attention to the most familiar real life. they decided to tell the inner ups and downs and self-deprecation of screenwriters who faced the client. li kuo summarized the expression of "galaxy writers" as follows: "in the final analysis, it is not about being unappreciated, but those ordinary creators who have some talent but are not geniuses are stuck in an awkward gap. just like us, who have been screenwriters for ten years and have not had a work with our name actually released, how can we live out our own value."

since the story is about the lives that the three of them are familiar with, the script creation was "unprecedentedly smooth" and took only one and a half months. looking back on the creative process, shan dandan admitted that when making this film, they did not think about the box office, the market, etc. "we only have a special pursuit of one thing, that is, the audience's laughter. when creating, the only fantasy is how happy the audience will laugh, whether this joke is funny or not, this joke is not awkward, this is our most 'utilitarian' thought, just to make the audience laugh."

the film uses the "three-minute xiaomei and dazhuang" method popular on short video platforms to dismantle the hollywood screenwriter term "save the cat" metronome. many viewers found it novel when watching the movie, and industry insiders also smiled knowingly when they saw this.

"as a new director, we are very excited to try something that no one else has done," said shan dandan with a smile. she also believes that this is a model that is accepted and liked by more than 200 million users in china, and the audience will definitely understand it. "everyone is a director of their own life. especially after the popularity of tiktok, everyone's understanding of film techniques has become more and more professional. if the audience has taken this step, then we should also progress with the audience."

on march 30, "galaxy writer" was released and eventually earned 4.25 million yuan at the box office. although it received wide acclaim in the industry, its market performance was not as expected. shan dandan was not entangled. she said that the release of the film itself was a victory. "as a new director, we will embrace all the comments from the audience. they are the meaning and experience for us to create the next film. the process may be difficult and bizarre, but i believe that one day there will be rewards."

arts/ji zhengpeng

edit/tan yu

editor/du simeng

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