Saturday, August 27, 2011

Beyond box-office success, film industry faces challenges in storytelling, production

The prosperity of China's film industry became apparent this past year, but insiders believe the sector still faces challenges stemming from the insufficient production talents and substandard narratives.

The film industry recorded 10 billion yuan, or 15 billion U. S. dollars, in box-office receipts this year, in contrast to two billion yuan 5 years ago.

"Money isn't the problem -- the film market is eager for creative talents, " said Wang Zhongjun, chairman of Huayi Brothers Media Group, the nation's first private film company listed on the growth enterprise market.

China's film industry is continuing to grow rapidly over modern times. Last year, once the global market experienced an enormous downturn in the economy, the sector generated 6. 21 billion yuan in box-office sales, up 42. 96 percent over the year before. This year, the expanded the amount of film screens nationwide to six, 200 -- 1, 533 more than the usual year earlier.

The burgeoning movie industry has sparked a "back to the cinema" revival in several cities. Domestically produced blockbusters boasting big casts, for example "The Founding of the Republic, " "Aftershock, " and "Let the Bullets Fly, " each recorded box-office receipts of more than 100 million U. S. dollars.

The film industry also saw a personal business, Beijing Poly-bona, become its first movie publishing company for auction on NASDAQ.

While attending the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival, which concludes Sunday in Shanghai, media mogul Rupert Murdoch asserted undoubtedly film workers all over the planet wish to knock on the door of the Chinese film market.

But industry insiders warn that future success shouldn't be assumed.

Big box-office numbers don't explain everything, as the quantity of screens has grown and market demand from customers has been cultivated, " based on Ren Zhonglun, president of Shanghai Film Group. "The challenge originates from the caliber of domestic films themselves, because they've yet to enhance. "

Quality is partly depending on high-production technology, industry insiders believe.

Feng Xiaogang, a well-known director who works best for Huayi Brothers, asserted Chinese movies don't lack capital but production technology.

When Feng shot "Aftershock, " numerous disaster scenes needed to be processed abroad. "As China is lacking talents of specialized production involving audio and visual effects, imported equipment with more than 5, 000 functions would go to waste as technicians are only able to use perhaps 500 of these, " Feng said.

The dearth of technological professionals has plagued the for a long time. The amount of university students pursuing directing or performing art degrees dwarfs the amount of those who work in film production and technology.

But at night technological shortcomings, to be able to attract greater audiences and contend with Hollywood blockbusters, Chinese films have to elevate their storytelling ability.

Award-winning director Barry Levinson, who's the jury chairman of the Shanghai Film Festival, discussed the strategy for telling a gripping story, that they believes may be the fundamental component of an effective movie.

He asserted the allure of the good movie works well storytelling, as the 100-year good reputation for world movies shows.

"Avatar" and "Kung Fu Panda" (I and II) made an incredible number of U. S. dollars on the Chinese market. What stirred Chinese viewers most was not only their technological effects however the stories they told.

Mark Osborne, one of the directors of Kung Fu Panda (I), said previously when Chinese animation filmmakers would like to learn something from Hollywood they ought to learn to tell a fascinating story.

He said Hollywood's story-telling technique is not unique to the Usa but a universal approach to attract human souls.

According to Yin Hong, professor of film and tv studies with the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, no more than 100 of the 500-plus movies China produced this past year have met acceptable art standards.

He noted that Chinese films haven't yet found a cultural and artistic technique for telling a Chinese story having a global perspective as well as for expressing universal cultural values through the word what of film.

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