star short drama market "selling feelings" encounters "unsuitable climate"? | short drama new observation ⑦
2024-09-07
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cover news reporter liu ye
this summer, the short play "afternoon rose" produced and starred by li ruotong was broadcast. although "little dragon girl" was in charge, the popularity of the play was mediocre. not only li ruotong, but also stephen chow's short play "golden pig and jade leaf" started high but ended low. the first season had 280 million views on the douyin platform, and the second season had 150 million views, a difference of nearly half. is the star effect no longer effective in the short play industry? what impact will the entry of film and television stars into micro short plays have on the industry? on september 6, with these questions, cover news interviewed a number of short play industry practitioners and short play users.
li ruotong and stephen chow did not show star effect
huang xiaoming's "big sister" continues to dominate the charts
for those who grew up watching the return of the condor heroes, whenever they hear li ruotong's name, they can't help but think of "auntie" and the image of the aloof and aloof "little dragon girl". short dramas have a huge ability to attract money in the sinking market because of their "smooth plot, fast pace and straightforward plot", but short dramas were once criticized for their "low artistic value" due to their low entry threshold and fast production speed. so, when li ruotong entered the industry, it was no wonder that netizens commented that "auntie came down to earth to shoot short dramas".
the horizontal screen short drama "afternoon rose" starring "auntie" tells the story of a full-time wife "chen lin" who returns to the workplace after her husband is laid off and strives to overcome the dual difficulties of life and work. the drama is shot horizontally, each episode is about 6 minutes, and is filmed according to tv drama standards. but in terms of popularity, the performance of "afternoon rose" is not impressive: the broadcast is nearing the end, and it has only 120 million views on the main promotion platform. the topic is not hot, and it has never been listed on the dataeye short drama hot list.
li ruotong starred in the short drama "afternoon rose" but received mediocre popularity
it is not only "little dragon girl" who is not popular in the short drama industry, but also "master xing". the horizontal screen short drama "golden pig and jade leaf" in the "9527" theater is produced by stephen chow and supervised by yi xiaoxing. the drama is set against the background of "pig killing" and tells the story of trainee lawyer ye xiaolai and anchor zhu hao to clear the fog and pursue the truth. although it is supported by a strong film and television team, the number of views of the drama has dropped from 280 million in the first season to 150 million in the second season.
are there any short dramas produced by celebrities that have good data and guaranteed production standards? the answer is yes. in august this year, the vertical screen short drama "sister one" produced by huang xiaoming focused on the topic of human trafficking. it tells the story of shen mei, a "sister one" with explosive fighting power, who retired with her daughter 20 years later and returned to the arena because her barbecue stall was repeatedly provoked by human traffickers. as soon as the drama was broadcast, it became the first dark horse of the month: the recharge on the first day exceeded 10 million, and it topped the dataeye short drama hot list for three consecutive days.
why are celebrities not able to adapt to short dramas?
high-traffic short dramas still rely on the word "cool" to win the world
"the fact that it is not popular in the short drama market may be related to the subject matter, the audience, and even the length. dramas about full-time housewives returning to the workplace are not uncommon, and they are mainly aimed at middle-aged women, who may not account for too large a proportion of the short drama market." short drama director xiao yang said when analyzing "afternoon rose."
who are the main users of skits?
according to the "china internet audiovisual development research report (2023)", the proportion of users aged 19 and below who watch short dramas is 57.9%. when comparing the user portraits of popular tv dramas, online dramas, and short dramas in the first half of 2023, meiland data found that users of generation z (15-29 years old) accounted for 64.8%.
the younger generation is undoubtedly the main audience of small screens.
young users don’t pay much attention to the tedious struggles between family and work, but why are stephen chow’s comedies also failing in the short drama market?
mr. li from chengdu is a fan of stephen chow. he shared his impressions of "golden pig and jade leaf" with reporters: "the rhythm is well controlled, but this drama bears the name of 'master xing', but the content has little to do with 'master xing'. in terms of the plot, it is not clear whether it is suspense or comedy. in addition, the early publicity relied too much on stephen chow, and everyone's expectations were too high."
stills from the drama "golden pig and jade leaf"
at the same time, some of the reasons for the decline in popularity of "golden pig and jade leaf" can also be found in the comment section of "a gathering place for internet hot topics, people who don't go online can't understand the plot at all", which means that the drama has integrated the hot search topics on the internet in the past two years, such as "working people rectifying the workplace" and "discharging nuclear waste water" into the lines, and "it's not a tribute, it's a crude misappropriation and consumption of sentiment", which refers to the repeated appearance of elements of stephen chow's works such as "9527, axe, and 'seven dolls'" in the scenes of the drama.
on the other hand, the content team of the high-traffic short drama "sister one" seems to know how to "hook" the audience in the short drama: first, there is the big sister who gave birth to a child at the scene of the group fight, and then there is the father burying his daughter's biological mother alive, not to mention the wonderful fighting scenes throughout the whole play... these plots that meet the preferences of mainstream users of short dramas are from director zhang xiaojun and screenwriter liu xiaotian. the former has created the phenomenal hit vertical screen short drama "wushuang", and the latter has nearly 20 years of online writing experience.
in addition, in addition to being "cool", "yi jie" also has other "adapt to local customs" features: vertical screen broadcasting, magnifying the characteristics of the characters, in line with the viewing habits of short drama users; the editing rhythm is fast enough to allow the plot to advance at a high speed; the plot is tense and exciting, with twists and turns, constantly mobilizing the audience's emotions...
"overall, "no.1 sister" is indeed a successful short drama in terms of data, but its success still belongs to the creators of traditional vertical screen short dramas," said xiao yang.
huang xiaoming promotes his short drama "sister one"
traffic is not the "baton" of creators
the trend of short plays becoming high-quality is inevitable
the 2023-2024 china micro-short drama market research report shows that the market size of china's online micro-short dramas will be 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 267.65%, and the market size is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in 2024. the growing market popularity of short dramas is attracting more and more professional film and television people to enter the market.
zhang xiaolong and lan xi played wen shichu and shen meizhuang respectively in "the legend of zhen huan". in january this year, the two teamed up again to star in the short drama "i open a bar in song dynasty", which has been played over 570 million times on kuaishou.
xu mengjie, who plays ding yixuan in the domestic youth drama "twenty do not understand 2", starred in the horizontal screen short drama "new year's day" which was launched in february this year and has been played 790 million times.
in addition, there are "the billionaire silly prince" directed by veteran hong kong filmmaker wang jing and "out of control love" produced by gao yalin, both of which are short dramas.
but it is undeniable that although the "high-quality short dramas" created by professional forces have more brand appeal and artistic beauty than ordinary short dramas, they are always a little bit behind in terms of data. will the "unfavorable environment" encountered by film and television stars and their teams in the short drama market make them modify their creative goals and take the "high traffic" route?
of course not.
as yi xiaoxing said when introducing the creation story of "golden pig and jade leaf" to cover news, "there are many short plays on the market now, and the content, form, and theme are actually very similar. so i think to solve this kind of similarity, we have to make something different."
the creative mode of short drama is very different from that of traditional film and television. while traditional film and television people adhere to their own creative concepts, they are also trying to adapt to the "playing methods" of short dramas: using horizontal screen shooting to show more elements, but speeding up the editing rhythm; using professional actors or even stars to perform, and appropriately reducing the plot foreshadowing; using tv drama or film crews to shoot, and at the same time shortening the work cycle; insisting on shaping characters, conveying values and the author's ideas, and also playing with memes in moderation...
the creative effect is ultimately reflected in the work.
in the comments section of afternoon rose and golden pig and jade leaf, there are many comments such as "well-made, very textured", "i didn't expect to see such a high-quality work in a short drama, no different from a tv series", and "the actors' acting skills are online". the comments section of afternoon rose even included content about the workplace and female childbirth, and this kind of discussion of social phenomena by the audience due to the plot is often only found in the film or tv industry.
in addition to the involvement of film and television stars and teams, more and more industry standards and increasingly stringent review systems are also driving short dramas to develop into high-quality products.
starting from june 1 this year, there are new regulations for the filing of short short dramas, requiring that short short dramas that have not been reviewed and filed shall not be circulated online. short dramas that are vulgar, violent, etc. cannot pass the review. in addition, many short dramas that exaggerate family and intergenerational conflicts and advocate wrong values have also been promptly removed from the shelves.
even traditional "cool" short plays have now taken a professional path. many short play practitioners confirmed to reporters that currently, short play writers and directors all have experience in creating online dramas, online movies or micro-movies, while actors who are not professionally trained or lack a lot of performance experience rarely get to play the leading role in short plays.
"previously, short plays were either about slapping or kneeling, and the content was vulgar and unhealthy. they were eye-catching but not very nutritious. but now, short plays have stronger storylines and the production has also caught up." mr. ming is a short play enthusiast. he spent several hundred yuan watching short plays in half a year, an average of more than ten yuan per play. in his opinion, the quality of short plays has improved visibly.
professional teams can create better works, and good works are more likely to bring long-term traffic. although traffic is important for film and television works, it has not become the "baton" of creators. for professional film and television people who are "not deeply involved" in the short drama industry, the significance of creating high-quality works, setting benchmarks, and pioneering is far greater than ranking on the list. as yi xiaoxing said before, "no matter how "golden pig and jade leaf" performs, if it can inspire later creators, then we will be very meritorious."
