As we all know, the film industry reform in China has entered a critical period, and the film system reform has entered a critical stage, which has touched the critical period of the original interest distribution and power pattern change. In recent years, the contradictions in the film production, distribution and projection industries have become more and more prominent. In a sense, the film industry has become the forerunner of the whole cultural industry reform. However, the reform process is not smooth and there is still a long way to go to meet the needs of the development of the film industry. People of insight in the industry have realized that the film development in China is facing some problems, such as the imperfect system, the formation of a benign mechanism, the need to optimize the investment model, the obstruction of the intermediary system, the shortage of excellent programs, the excessive tax burden and the unbalanced competition.
These contradictions have not been resolved. The main problem is that the film management is still in a state of further standardization, and the film market is still disorderly and chaotic. Previously, the film industry in China has been running through the whole industry with film distribution as a link. However, because distribution companies at all levels are set up according to administrative regions, distribution and projection units at all levels are under the jurisdiction of governments at all levels, which inevitably forms different subordinate relationships, especially interest mechanisms. The self-interest protection mechanism of administrative regions and film enterprises hinders the benign operation of the film market mechanism. For example, the film industry, which is fragmented by cities and counties, has been seriously restricting the development of the film industry and the normal development of the film economy. The concentrated expression of these situations is the recent contradiction between publishers and cinemas.
Last month, five major film distribution companies, China Film, Bona, Stellar Beauty, Light and Huayi, issued a notice to the cinema, demanding that the proportion of nine films in the Lunar New Year file should not be less than 45%. As we all know, the distribution of movie box office is that production companies, cinema companies, distribution companies and cinemas share the net box office together, that is, the distribution is made after deducting movie special funds and taxes from the total box office. Usually, the net box office accounts for more than 90% of the total box office. The production companies and distribution companies participating in the split account share about 43% of the net box office, and the cinemas and cinemas share 57% of the net box office. This time, the producers and publishers offered to increase the proportion by 2%. The above five companies are both producers and distributors, and want to win two more percentage points from the cinema. Speaking of it, this is also reasonable. Originally, it was to encourage the downstream development of movies and support the construction of cinemas. But now the movie screen has made great progress, and the upstream production and distribution industry has some difficulties. They want to earn 2% more. Suppose the annual box office of China movies is 654.38+0.5 billion, and 2% is 300 million, which is not too much for key film companies.
But in the downstream cinema's view, this 2% was robbed in vain. You earned, I lost. For cinemas with good box office, the damage is not great, but for some cinemas with difficult operation, it is enough, unless it is passed on to the audience, it will become more difficult over time. The two sides argued endlessly. In the eyes of the audience, why doesn't the film industry make the cake bigger and share more? Why are you in such a hurry to divide the money?
Fortunately, on 25th of last month, 30 cinemas of Huayi Brothers Company reached a step-by-step agreement on three films: 1942, Zodiac, and The Demon of Journey to the West. Zhao Jun, general manager of Guangdong Film Company, as a representative of cinemas, announced that 30 cinemas in China, such as Wanda, Xinyinglian and Shanghai Lian, have started new cooperation with Huayi Brothers. Huayi and cinemas are divided step by step: the box office within 300 million yuan is 43: 50. Qin Hong, general manager of Star Pictures, also announced that "Feast of the King" will be divided into cinemas according to the ratio of 43: 57 in the first week, 4 1: 59 in the second week and 39: 6 1 in the third week.
It is not difficult to see that this step-by-step accounting conforms to the development trend of the market mechanism, and also indicates that the new accounting method of China films is developing in a mature direction to adapt to the market mechanism. This is also conducive to promoting the marketization of China's film industry. It is gratifying that the contradictions in the production, distribution and projection industries have been temporarily resolved to adapt to the direction of the market mechanism.
Although we are trying to resolve the conflict between film producers and cinemas through consultation, this contradiction reflects the paradox of the domestic film market in recent years: a few films are profitable while most films are not, while most cinemas are profitable. The deep reason for this contradiction lies not in the cutting of the proportion of accounts, but in the fact that the development of China film market has been in a single mode of relying on products to drive profits for a long time, and it is urgent for all parties in the industry to establish a communication platform. Trade associations should play their due roles to standardize and promote the healthy development of the industry.
Second, when social capital enters the film industry and the film industry with imperfect market mechanism at present, there are outstanding problems in the connection with the industry.
Since 20 10, some domestic blockbusters have achieved great success at the box office, pushing the box office market in China to break through10 billion yuan. The film industry in China presents a rapid development trend, which brings surprises, excitement and enthusiasm for investment to film industry professionals and film industry investors, and has achieved fruitful results in the fields of production, cinema, film placement and patch advertising, distribution and marketing, and online video. Subsequently, film investment funds also rose rapidly. It can be said that the film investment fund is the inevitable product of the development of China film industry. Social capital invests in high-risk and high-return film industry through the operation of specialized teams, which will be one of the best development models for the docking of capital and industry. In recent years, the film and television fund in China has gradually emerged. In 2009, Yiyi Film and Television Investment Fund was established, and 20 10 Huili Film and Television Investment Fund and Star Domain Culture Media Fund were also established one after another. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than ten film and television industry investment funds currently being established or planned to be established. The involvement of film and television investment funds will undoubtedly have a great impact on China's film industry, and the financing and listing of film enterprises will greatly accelerate the process of capital affecting the film industry. When a group of professionals who are familiar with the operation of the film industry and skilled in capital bring a lot of social funds into the film industry, where will they invest their funds? Of course, it is a film company that can maximize profits by investing.
However, China's film system was originally established under the condition of planned economy. At that time, the main consideration was political propaganda and educational effects, not commercial profits. 1993 the film industry has carried out market-oriented industrial mechanism reform, breaking the monopoly of the film industry. But at that time, all aspects of the industry were not ready, and the initial reform caused disorder and chaos in the film market. Later, the reform of industry mechanism was further promoted and great progress was made. Some large companies that used to rely on institutional advantages, although reorganized, still have an advantage and have the upper hand in the competition; Some film companies that have developed rapidly and accumulated a lot of resources earlier also have advantages; Some famous directors with international fame and influence rely on foreign capital and sophisticated commercial operations to ensure and obtain high box office income with extraordinary hype; Developed provinces, big cities, cinemas, cinemas and movies occupy more and more market share. These dominant companies, big-name directors, big cities, big cinemas, big cinemas and so on. Naturally, it has become the main flow of investment funds, and the capital invested in these institutions has made huge profits. At the same time, the investment of capital has strengthened the greater influence of these institutions. Second-tier film companies, second-tier directors, second-tier cities, etc. It is difficult to attract a lot of capital investment, and only low-cost movies can be made, and it is almost impossible for low-cost movies to enter mainstream theaters. China Film Industry Research Report 20 12 by China Film Association points out that the output of China feature films in 20 1 1 year is 558. Although overall, film investment and financing is in a hot trend, nearly 300 films have invested less than 1 10,000 yuan, regardless of technology, directors, actors and scenes. The quality of movies is low, so most movies are difficult to succeed in the market, and some can't enter the market at all. It is said that more than half of the investment in film production can not be recovered. This state has caused a rather prominent "virtual fire" phenomenon in the domestic film investment and financing field. This is obviously not the healthy development trend of the film industry that we expect. This shows that there are still structural contradictions between the system and mechanism and the film market itself in the operation mode of film industrialization in China and China, and there is still polarization in the production, distribution and screening of films under the condition that the market mechanism of the industry is not perfect. Moreover, this polarization phenomenon also makes the whole industry present an abnormal prosperity. There are 500 films being made every year, and everyone is competing for directors, actors, screenwriters, producers and even photographers and assistant directors. Big companies take the lead, but they always take those people with them. The industry is seriously lacking in innovation mechanisms. Obviously, the current increase in the number of films does not match the improvement in quality. At the same time, the lack of improvement in quality will inevitably lead to the coarsening and non-specialization of many films.
Therefore, we must vigorously promote the system reform, create conditions to promote the mechanism of equal competition, and formulate corresponding policies, actively create the environment and conditions for second-tier enterprises, second-tier directors, second-tier cinemas and small and medium-sized cities, mobilize film resources to tilt towards the film industry policy, and attract more capital to invest in these second-tier and second-tier areas. Only in this way can we truly and effectively solve the outstanding problems in the connection between capital and industry between social capital entering the film industry and the film industry with imperfect market mechanism at present, and make the film industry in China more.
Third, the application of the rapid development of film technology is in sharp contrast with the spiritual height expressed in the film content.
With the increasing investment in the cultural industry, the film technology industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and innovative technologies such as 3D stereo technology, film special effects, post-production and 4K projection technology have been gradually applied to the domestic film industry. The quality of film developing and printing technology has been steadily improved; In terms of the technical quality of movies, SRD digital stereo movies now account for about 50% of the total, SR analog stereo movies account for about 36% of the total, and the number of mono movies continues to decrease. In terms of copying technology, most copies submitted for review meet the technical requirements of standard copies. Film technology research and development and scientific research achievements have increased rapidly, and the level of innovation has steadily improved. With the rapid development of film digitalization, film has created a new market application space. With the help of digital technology, the film multimedia and new media market is gradually developing in depth. In addition to the traditional city cinema, TV and home audio-visual, community and rural mobile screening, special film screening, and commercial segmentation application modes in the form of Internet and mobile terminals have also begun to appear. The standards of theater design and decoration, theater projectors, amplifier speakers, screens, chairs, decorative materials, mobile projection servers and other equipment and facilities have also been continuously improved. Obviously, China movies have entered a high-tech period.
But on the whole, China's films have made rapid progress in technology, and the pictures and sound effects are becoming more and more exquisite, but it can't hide that the pursuit of spiritual level is stagnant or even the standard is declining. The pursuit of cultural spirit in movies is almost unsatisfactory, and it is even considered to be deteriorating. Some people say that most of China's films, whether blockbusters or art films, have lost their spiritual heights since 10. Others say that China's films have a serious landscape tendency in recent years, and the directors are keen to let people watch movies in the form of tourism and guide people to see the strange scenery in the movies, regardless of the culture and spirit expressed in the movies. This is a huge crisis faced by China's films after the marketization of the film industry.
Movies need cultural spirit. Director Xie Jin once said: "A real artist should also be a thinker. He should speak out on some social issues through his films." Directors who are busy attracting audiences into cinemas with exquisite pictures and large-scale hype are used to joking instead of thinking. Their films lack spiritual, cultural and profound human thinking. In fact, for a film, the audience not only needs to feel the wonders of audio and video, but also needs aesthetic and cultural factors, and needs to show the height of cultural spirit. As Mr. Zhang Hongsen, deputy director of the Film Bureau, said: "China films must climb to a spiritual height, which is an indispensable and very important element of China films, or a very basic condition, whether it is a blockbuster or a small or medium-sized film." In Mr. Zhang's view, the current film "often appears in the form of entertainment, so it puts all public content and all cultural content in the cloak of entertainment, so cultural content and spiritual life become accessories or accessories of entertainment." Mr. Zhang emphasized that in the complicated and changeable atmosphere of the times, China films should establish spiritual coordinates and seek spiritual heights. He said, "If we banish the spirit on a large scale, lower our height and stay away from the soul in general, especially from everyone's inner world in a complex and rapidly changing social form, we will feel at a loss about the future of China's films."
Very well said, the film only has high technology but no spiritual height, and only beautiful pictures have no cultural connotation. Even if there is a high box office, it can only be a "virtual fire" rise, not a healthy development. This can't blame the audience for all kinds of sharp criticism and severe criticism of the film. If the spiritual factors of the film can't even reach the taste of the audience's aesthetic spirit, can it be free from the criticism of the audience? Can it be called the healthy development of movies?
Not long ago, the famous screenwriter Wang Xingdong made severe criticism in an exclusive interview. He believes that the phenomenon that China's current film and television circles "pay more attention to directors and stars than screenwriters" has made the industry taste the bitter fruit. In his view, it is difficult for China films to open the international market because they are not original. Many directors and producers "sell mouse meat by hanging sheep's head" and take the script created by the screenwriter, but they don't shoot it according to the script. He believes that people have now realized that the first round of competition in the film and television market is content competition, and the core is original competition.
In fact, the neglect of the screenwriter is a prominent manifestation of the spirit being neglected in China's films at present, and the contempt for the screenwriter further aggravates the superficiality and poverty of the film content and spirit, which needs to be changed urgently.
Fortunately, things are starting to change now. It is said that SARFT is going to spend 20 million yuan to support the script. The Chinese Writers Association set up a film and television committee to include the script in the scope of awards, which is a kind of institutional perfection and expands the support for originality. Mr. Wang Xingdong hopes to promote the screenplay award and subdivide it into the best original and the best adaptation.
At present, we should continue to take measures to change the lack of spiritual height in China's films as soon as possible. As Deputy Director Zhang Hongsen emphasized, the film industry should be "self-disciplined and keep a clear head" and "it is urgent and necessary to establish the confidence, courage and strength of China's film climbing spirit."