Domestic drama expedition.
Several have already sounded the horn this year.
At the beginning of the year's "The World", Disney smelled the potential of explosive models in advance before the crew started and bought the exclusive overseas distribution rights.
Another blockbuster "The Beginning" was bought by South Korean TV stations Asia N and A+Drama, and then Netflix also bought the broadcasting rights in Asia.
"Canglan Tips", which set the second place in iQiyi's popularity record.
The start of the broadcast is set overseas, and there is no finale in China, and Netflix can't wait to hurry up and put it on the shelves.
Going to sea has become an additional question in the competition for top students of national dramas.
But more and more domestic dramas are going to sea at the same time.
How far has it come?
Where did you go?
But the following is always missing.
Not long ago, Chen Kexin established an overseas creation company and said ambitiously: to make some Chinese dramas that the world watches.
"A Chinese drama watched all over the world".
Is this goal far from us?
01
Although TV dramas going to sea always give people a very high-end, contentious and mixed feeling.
But today, when the network is so convenient, going to sea is almost equal to zero threshold, which is not as rare as everyone thinks.
Because of the rise of video websites and streaming media, coupled with the support policy of radio and television for Chinese dramas to go global five years ago, 90% of domestic dramas have been released simultaneously at home and abroad.
No country wants to buy copyright?
Simple, you only need to create a channel on the YouTube pipe, and uploading your own video is also counted as going to sea.
It's easy to get out.
How many audiences are accepted, is the real problem.
At present, the places where domestic dramas are more open are still Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Vietnam, domestic ancient puppet dramas can always rush to the hot list.
△ Thai video platform MONOMAX is the top three most popular Chinese dramas
But a large part of the reason is also that the local production in these countries is not strong enough, and the production level of domestic dramas can be crushed.
In other places, domestic dramas are often squeezed to the bottom.
For example, in Japan.
At that time, the Japanese version of the poster of "The Biography of Zhen Huan" was also hotly discussed, is this a strong export of culture?
I'm afraid it's still far away.
"The Legend of Zhen Huan" is actually broadcast on a local channel of Fuji TV in Japan with only 200,000 users, and it is still during working hours, not prime time.
As you can imagine, the ratings are extremely limited.
"Langya List".
The news we saw on the domestic network was that "won the Korean ratings championship of the month".
When you think it is the national ratings champion of South Korea, in fact, the complete expression is that you won the ratings championship of the month of a certain Korean station.
Which station is it?
South Korea's China TV, a pay-TV station that broadcasts Chinese content around the clock, is mainly aimed at Korean-Chinese.
On the Asian film and television drama VIKI website, the number of subscriptions to "Langya List" is less than 10,000, while any Taiwanese dog blood idol drama can reach more than 10,000, and Korean dramas are basically more than 60,000.
There are also relatively good results.
According to "Fox Factory Entertainment Observation", in 2018, "Yanxi Raiders" was broadcast on Japanese TV primetime, and the YouTube broadcast volume exceeded 100 million.
But in the eyes of people in the industry, such a drama is only "good results", not a sensation.
Another embarrassment for domestic dramas overseas is.
Even if the data is good, it is basically a profit, and it does not earn much actual performance.
The head card of the national drama to the sea, the noon sun.
Chairman Hou Hongliang said that "Langya List" and "Ode to Joy" are both explosive models, "The broadcast on overseas new media platforms is very good, and the amount of clicks to share the bill is also considerable." ”
But when he shared these two gifted students with his counterparts abroad, people shook their heads.
Only you are willing to do such a loss.
Billing can be divided, but how can it not be charged copyright fees? If I don't give copyright fees, why should I take it out and broadcast it to them?
In other words, this form of "half selling and half giving" going to sea is basically only done by domestic dramas.
Because the domestic market capacity is large enough, I don't expect how much to sell overseas, just play.
For example, Huace Film and Television, which sold "Long Song Xing", accounting for 20% of the total export of mainland film and television dramas, accounted for only 2.4% of the total revenue in 2020, and 3.6% in 2021.
Of course, our voice has indeed improved in the past two years.
Last year, "Long Song Xing" sold an episode of Chinese drama with the highest price of 150,000 US dollars, and the sequel to "Qing Yu Nian" was booked by Disney+, and the overseas copyright fee was as high as 10 million yuan.
But such achievements are still lower than the international level.
As early as 2015, "The Big Bang Theory" was introduced to China, with a single episode exceeding $150,000;
In 2017, "Descendants of the Sun" was sold to iQiyi, setting the highest record for the introduction of Korean dramas in China: $230,000 per episode with a total price of 24 million yuan.
Is it because domestic dramas can't be played at all?
In fact, there has been no shortage of high-quality and explosive domestic dramas over the years, but just as trading is always a market, it is difficult to rely on a drama to break the circle overseas.
02
Squid Game.
Phenomenal Korean drama, there is no need to repeat the results obtained.
But its success is not unique and accidental.
It is based on years of overseas cultivation and development of Korean film and television dramas.
Long before "Squid Game" was launched on Netflix, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho had become the first person to eat crabs, and cooperated with Netflix in the movies "Snowpiercer" and "Okja", breaking into the mainstream cultural circle in the United States.
Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" made history by winning the Oscar and was proud of Hollywood.
Li Cangdong's "Burning", Korean actors Steven Won, Sandra Wu, who are loved in American dramas, and even K-pop, which has become popular around the world...
Korean symbols in all aspects have opened up the acceptance of Korean dramas by overseas audiences.
Then overseas audiences before getting to know a domestic drama.
What is your overall impression of Chinese TV dramas?
It can be said that it is about equal to the ancient puppet of Chinese style.
According to statistics from Tving, a streaming media with the second highest market share in South Korea, although the number of national dramas introduced every year is stable, more than two-thirds are costume dramas;
In the list of popular Japanese Chinese TV dramas, except for "Gold Fan Family", the rest are all ancient costumes: "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Do You Know Whether You Know It or Not", "Ruyi's Legend", "Langya List", "Chen Qingling".
Then, if you don't like to watch costume idol dramas, overseas audiences are likely not to click on a domestic drama.
You say this is a stereotype?
But the impressions left by others are often accumulated by the information they are exposed to.
Domestic dramas, of course, are more than ancient puppets.
Even ancient puppets belong to the bottom of the chain of contempt in domestic dramas, and masterpieces of suspense, science fiction, crime and other genres are more respected by netizens.
But here's the problem.
The same type of success is often difficult to replicate, so it is impossible to accumulate word of mouth and audience.
Looking back, the peak of national dramas going to sea has invariably stepped on new growth points.
But these growth points often disappear inexplicably.
In 2015, Netflix bought the rights to "The Biography of Zhen Huan", which was the first time that a Chinese drama was broadcast on a streaming media platform in the form of a fee.
Everyone talked about how to translate the lines into English, although in terms of content presentation, this was still an awkward out-of-the-loop.
Seventy-six episodes were cut into six, an epic palace fighting drama, and became a promotion of the big heroine.
But this still lays the foundation for costume dramas to enter the European and American markets.
In the same year, the ancient order was circulated, and the peak of costume dramas stopped at "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Langya List".
In 2019, the cool drama mode of "Yanxi Raiders" was popular all over the world, and the Google TV series hot search list was the first, and with it, it was the strictest ancient order.
In 2017, Internet dramas exploded.
"Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", "Crime Without Evidence", "River God", high-level, fast-paced crime suspense, Netflix all received it alone.
This is not accidental, these dramas were created by Youku in order to go overseas and reach a long-term cooperation with Netflix.
The producer of "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night" said: "When we were creating, we wanted to create an American drama temperament. The fast-paced narrative and well-designed lens language have attracted many fans who like American dramas. ”
In that era of traffic and sky-high salaries, these three dramas all deviated from the law of explosive models, returned to the basics to polish the script and performance, but unexpectedly won word of mouth.
△ Li Xian, who finished playing "River God", is not yet a flow, and the real explosion has to wait until the "current boyfriend" of "Dear, Beloved"
But this is the final highlight of the Internet drama.
The scale of domestic dramas can never go back.
The next season of American dramas is cut or continued, often explained to fans early in the morning.
But what about domestic dramas?
Just don't give a bitter word, so that many overseas fans who are waiting for "White Night Chase 2" scratch their hearts:
"In 2017, these people said that they would make a sequel, and now it is 2022."
"I don't know how many times I've rewatched this show, I need to update the news, and whether there is a second one."
Netflix's past experience in creating "Black Mirror", "Love Dead" and "Squid Game" tells us that the most tried and tested genres in the global market are still science fiction, crime, and suspense.
For example, "Chang'an Twelve O'Clock" is broadcast in 50 countries, which is the first time that a foreign drama has entered the monthly paid area on an overseas video website.
And the biggest label on it is not fast-paced, high-density, strong suspense, comparable to the texture of a movie.
The national drama went to sea and once found the right way.
With the texture of American dramas, packaging local stories and piercing the reality and humanity common to the world.
In 2020, the Misty Theater was launched, and "Hidden Corner" was broadcast on the mainstream Korean TV channel Channel A, and successively landed on Japan's WOWOW TV and Australia's SBS TV.
We once thought that domestic crime dramas had ushered in spring.
But later, the Misty Theater was muted one after another.
The science fiction genre is a desert.
The only "Three-Body Problem" that was written into the schedule by Tencent has also become a missing person.
On the other hand, Netflix has threatened to launch its first season next year.
This shows that the appeal of Chinese stories is never absent.
But again, it fell into the hands of someone else.
When modern dramas are generally out of character, even serving domestic audiences well seems reluctant.
Then in the eyes of foreigners, the biggest label of national dramas can only be the sweet pet of the boss.
First of all, the top three national dramas in YouTube playback are actually explosive four or five years ago.
"Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms", "A Smile is Very Loving", "The Legend of Chu Qiao".
Aiyou Tengmang established the National Drama Export Alliance five years ago, and opened overseas channels in 2019, but after half his life, the most popular is still sweet pets.
△ Source: Fox Factory Entertainment Observation
03
The biggest opponent of national dramas going to sea is still Korean dramas that are blocked from the door but brush their sense of existence.
Among the popular TV dramas on MyDramaList, the largest overseas Asian film and television rating website, Korean dramas still account for the largest proportion, and the genre is quite diverse.
"Flower of Evil", "I am a relic organizer", "Witty Doctor Life", "My Uncle", "Very Lawyer Yu Yingyu".
After 2016, Korean dramas lost the Chinese market.
But we all feel that Korean dramas and Korean stars can't come to make money, and they must beat their chests.
But behind the scenes, they have completed another industrial upgrade.
Many subjects that are already good at have been excavated into a fresher way of shooting.
Idol drama "Twenty-five, twenty-one".
Not satisfied with industrial saccharine and star routes, invited two powerful idols to quietly tell a special era, the story of youth and perfection, which was called the next "Please Answer 1988" by netizens.
Legal drama "Very Lawyer Yu Yingyu".
In the past, the subject of prosecutors was how sharp and how it came from.
But this time, focus the camera on minorities.
With an autistic genius who is loved by everyone, integrated into practical care, it heals the whales who also crave the sea.
As a result, it rushed straight into the number one spot in Netflix's non-English original series.
Crime drama "Juvenile Court".
Extreme cases, juvenile delinquency.
You think that Koreans shoot reality, there is only a gap between the rich and the poor.
This time he refreshed your cognition again.
It is you who weave a protective net for juvenile delinquency.
We sigh one at a time.
Why are people focusing on society and little people, and we are still in costume romance and mother-in-law?
It is difficult for Chinese dramas to break through at the creative end, and there are naturally reasons for subject matter restrictions.
But the downgrade of industry and aesthetics is even more headache.
Stars who are highly dependent on dermabding special effects have a salary that is not proportional to their acting skills, only the plot of obedience and special effects piled up, and the core is empty.
Standardized, assembly line, but the vivid details are missing.
Many people may disdain the explosion of "Squid Game".
But looking closely behind the scenes, I have to admit that the work under it cannot be simply copied.
In the play, a sugar cake of less than ten minutes appeared, and an expert from Seoul National University was invited to make it by hand on the set for three days.
Not to mention that in order to create a sense of immersion, every game is real play, and every prop is restored to the extreme.
Of course, it is a good thing that national dramas go to sea in batches.
But what is even more alarming is.
Can the quality of Chinese dramas meet the expectations of overseas markets?
Because what can be seen with the naked eye is that this year's national drama market, regardless of the theme or narrative, has entered a rotten mentality.
Ancient costumes, eliminating history, intrigue, palace fighting.
Still can't stop the top stream from returning is still an ancient puppet.
If only homogeneous domestic dramas go overseas in front of overseas audiences, how far can they go?
And the type that really hopes to go out.
Either it wasn't photographed.
Or it was filmed, but it was still difficult to move an inch.
"The World" was officially announced to have been bought by Disney, and the most voiced voice on the Internet was not congratulations, but accusations that Disney was uneasy and kind, and wanted to see China shabby and old.
Whenever a Chinese story goes abroad.
We immediately go into a state of allergy.
Nervously checking which parts are not "Chinese" enough, not "Weiguangzheng" enough.
Small eyes are squinting, catering to stereotypes;
To show poverty is to expose one's own family ugliness, which is not conducive to "educating foreigners".
Film and television dramas are originally delicate and silent things, just like cultural interaction, to get rid of prejudice, we must sincerely go to each other.
Domestic dramas have to go further.
The first thing that is needed is a wide inland sea.
There are no narrow standards, no unpredictable reefs that run aground, and can accommodate more ships coming in.
How far can domestic dramas go?
Perhaps this is a problem that is too far away.
For domestic audiences, what they are most concerned about now is:
Domestic dramas stand up first.
Let me count the drama shortages, where are the dramas worth chasing.
The picture in this article is from the Internet
Editorial assistant: Chiesto store hostess