Horizontal screen "give way" to vertical screen, don't give way to aesthetic experience and ideological pursuit
According to the 46th "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status" released by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2020, there are 940 million Internet users in my country, of which 932 million are mobile phone users. The proportion of Internet users using mobile phones to access the Internet It was 99.2%, and the proportions of Internet users using desktop computers and laptop computers were 37.3% and 31.8% respectively, ranking second and third.
These figures indicate that ordinary netizens use their mobile phones to access online videos more often.
The social background of the development of online video in my country has moved from the early personal computer era to the mobile Internet era.
1. 95% of users watch online videos through mobile terminals
The mobile Internet has changed the receiving equipment of online video. The most intuitive change is that we have switched from viewing traditional movies, TVs and personal computers on the horizontal screen to the vertical screen on the mobile phone.
In the history of more than one hundred years of film development, horizontal screen has always been the standard format for video playback, and traditional TV sets have also established the industry standard for horizontal screen playback.
With the advent of the mobile Internet era, vertical screen video has gradually emerged.
In 2010, only 5% of online videos in the United States were played on mobile phones in vertical screen. By 2015, one third of online videos were played on mobile phones instead of computers or TVs.
With the popularization of smart phones and the decline of Internet access fees, more and more users watch online videos through their mobile phones.
In 2014, among the 430 million online video users in my country, 70% of them watched online videos on their mobile phones.
In 2020, the number of online video users in my country will double to 880 million, and 95% of them will watch online videos through mobile terminals.
In the era of mobile Internet, mobile phones have surpassed personal computers, tablet computers and widescreen TVs, and have become the first choice for users to watch online videos, thus affecting the aesthetic characteristics of online videos and users' receiving habits.
In order to satisfy users' receiving habits, major production companies and Internet platforms have tried to produce video content such as vertical screen dramas, vertical screen MVs, vertical screen interviews, vertical screen variety shows, and vertical screen advertisements.
TV and computer monitor manufacturers have also introduced rotatable TVs and vertical screen displays. With the wireless screen transfer technology of mobile phones, the vertical screen content originally played on the square inch of the mobile phone is placed on the 55-inch large screen. The display and vertical screen content Matching makes it convenient for users to watch videos in vertical screen.
2. The vertical screen video has the creative characteristics of focusing on funny and social, light on story and scene
The traditional video imaging aspect ratio is 4:3 or 16:9, and the horizontal screen is more in line with the physiological characteristics of the symmetrical arrangement of the left and right eyes of humans.
The horizontal frame is suitable for expressing the visual path of left and right movement. According to the principle of golden section, the characters are placed in one third of the frame, so that the characters can fully interact with the scene, and the scene becomes an indispensable element in the picture, which plays a role in rendering the atmosphere and performance. The role of characters and advancing the plot.
Vertical screen video has changed the aspect ratio of the traditional picture. The height is much larger than the width, which is not in line with people's usual habit of observing the world.
The vertical screen video expresses the imagination of the picture in the vertical direction, and the scenes that can be displayed are limited. It is good at expressing the movement in the vertical direction, such as a person standing upright or a person walking from a distance.
In a vertical screen, more than three characters are rarely presented at the same time, and the portraits of the characters are rarely presented. Therefore, the relationship between the characters in the vertical screen is simple, and it is suitable for live broadcast and life-oriented scenes.
In the vertical screen video, the status of the scene has declined, and the picture lacks a sense of space and depth.
The action pictures and exquisite props shot by traditional film companies with big money can not show their advantages on the mobile terminal. Instead, the characters occupy a larger frame. After some actors have finished filming the vertical screen drama, they laughed at themselves and "will never shoot the vertical screen drama again. Because it looks big."
Compared with the horizontal screen video, the vertical screen video frequently uses close-up shots and relies on the dialogue actions of the characters to promote the development of the plot. The story progresses at a fast pace.
Mobile phone screens are far smaller than movie and TV screens. In order to impress the audience in a square inch, actors need to have unique shapes and exaggerated interpretations.
In the era of mobile Internet, the earliest vertical screen videos are all content produced by ordinary users, and are dominated by funny stories.
Compared with the horizontal screen video, the vertical screen video has a thin narrative and simple relationship between the characters. It emphasizes the appearance and expressiveness of the characters, and uses the form of spoof to create a comic effect, resulting in the characteristics of vertical screen video typified creation and layered communication.
The length of the vertical screen dramas that have a certain reputation in China is controlled within 5 minutes.
The micro-movie "Meet You" shot by Zhang Yimou's team is less than 4 minutes and 30 seconds long; each episode of "Life Starts Me" broadcast by iQiyi is less than 3 minutes; Douyin and Kuaishou, which started with short videos, Provides a large number of short videos with a length of less than 1 minute.
The length of time, the vertical screen video occupies a small storage space, users can directly forward the entire video on social media, thereby enhancing the impact of the vertical screen video.
At the same time, many vertical screen video applications have adopted the "swipe up to set" operation mode, which can be operated with one hand, which facilitates the user's habit of swiping as long as they have time. Those can be in the first few seconds. Vertical screen videos that attract audiences and are convenient for viewers to like and share are easier to spread, which in turn strengthens the creative characteristics of vertical screen videos that emphasize funny, social, and light stories and scenes.
3. Fragmented receiving habits and massive content to fill user time
Vertical screen video is booming in response to the demand of mobile Internet.
The place to watch vertical screen video is not necessarily a fixed home or office location. In public transportation and restaurants, users can see online videos with their heads down at any time, and even pedestrians walking on the road while watching short videos are common.
The mobile Internet has tapped and released the hidden user time in the past, and mobile phone users have become accustomed to multi-threaded work, that is, processing multiple tasks at the same time, watching online videos interspersed with other activities.
The user’s attention drops and it is impossible to concentrate on watching online videos for a long time. Fragmented reception of vertical screen videos has become a new user habit.
In the traditional video era, ordinary users have a limited number of videos.
With the development of Internet communication technology, the speed of data transmission has increased, and the bandwidth capacity has increased. There are more and more videos on the mobile Internet, which far exceeds the actual needs of ordinary users. Mass content has become one of the characteristics of online video platforms.
In 2019, there was only one video application, with more than 300 million daily active users and a total of 12 billion short videos uploaded.
Based on the length of each video for 1 minute, it takes 22,000 years for a person to watch all 12 billion short videos without eating, drinking or sleeping.
The purpose of uploading massive amounts of content on the platform is not to meet the diverse needs of users as in the traditional video era, but to increase user stickiness and allow users to stay more on their own platforms, gain user attention, and realize traffic monetization.
Complementing the massive content, the importance of the platform has surpassed the importance of the content in the mobile Internet era.
In my country, per capita Internet users aged 15-19 use 83 mobile applications, and Internet users over 60 also use 44 mobile applications per capita.
Every mobile application is an entrance, no matter how high-quality content is, if the entrance cannot be captured on the platform, it will be difficult for users to reach it, let alone create influence in the user community.
Currently, various Internet companies are committed to developing into platforms.
Whether it is a comprehensive platform or a vertical platform, online video relies on the platform entrance to meet with users. The bargaining power of the platform is increasing, which in turn restricts content creators.
Fragmented receiving habits and massive content fill user time, making it difficult to improve the quality of online video.
In the vertical screen era created by the mobile Internet, from a commercial perspective, high-quality content is expensive to produce, takes a long time, is difficult to copy, and is not economically cost-effective.
The low production threshold of low- and medium-quality content can attract users to stay in video applications and occupy users' time. As for the aesthetic experience and ideological pursuit of users from online videos, it is not the primary consideration of video platforms.
4. Regardless of landscape or portrait, the pursuit of creation cannot be changed
If it is said that in the era of personal computers, even if the dissemination of online video is realized by "moving" movies and TV works to the Internet, then, in the era of mobile Internet, online video is facing unprecedented challenges.
The vertical screen’s challenge to online video appears to be a change in the playback terminal. Behind it is that the mobile Internet has surpassed the traditional Internet and reconstructed the existing communication methods and relationships.
Sociality has become the main idea for the development of online video in the future, that is, establishing social relationships between creators and users, and attracting ordinary users to spread online videos directly through social relationships.
Among the various applications frequently used by mobile phone netizens in my country, instant messaging applications represented by WeChat, Weibo, and QQ have the longest daily use time.
Immediacy, interactivity, and participation have become the characteristics of new interpersonal relationships in the mobile Internet era.
Correspondingly, these new features require online literary and art creators to change their previous views on audiences and re-examine the "author-reader" relationship in the new environment.
In the era of personal computers, the relationship between literary and artistic creators and recipients is not equal.
Creators have more voice, and audiences’ responses cannot be fed back to the creators in time. It is difficult for the audiences to interfere in the creation and modification of literary works. What kind of content the creator provides, the audience passively accepts what kind of content, even if the audience is There is dissatisfaction in literary works, and it is difficult to shake the status of creators.
In the era of mobile Internet, the relationship between creators and audiences has changed.
The audience publicly expresses their opinions, and these opinions can be seen by creators and others, which will cause pressure on literary creators and affect the content of literary works.
The authors of online novels respond to readers’ requests to change the plot of the story and the fate of the characters. The online variety show adjusts the content of the later stage based on the audience’s initial reaction while filming and changes. The online film and television series are adapted from online novels with excellent hits and reputation. The staying of Xiuli contestants, the participation of users in crowdfunding to publish books and music works... and other phenomena show that the audience's voice is increasing, and the rise of audience status means that the status of creators is relatively declining.
In this context, online video creators should take advantage of instant messaging applications to not only acquire users through social media portals, but also extend the time users spend on online videos through social networks, and attract users to participate in the production and production of online videos. Spread, create topics that are convenient for social media discussion, and cultivate phenomenon-level video works.
In order to show user-friendliness, video creators can simultaneously create horizontal and vertical versions for the same content, allowing users to choose independently according to the viewing terminal and preferences.
Horizontal screen and vertical screen video have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they will coexist for a long time.
Instead of complaining about the difficulty of production, creators should consider how to overcome the difficulties and explore the composition and lens language suitable for portrait video.
The fast-paced, short-duration narrative style of vertical screen video is not a kind of resistance to some horizontal screen dramas?
Vertical screen video should be refined.
Video creators need to have in-depth insight into user segmentation needs and provide precise content. Some programs may be more suitable for vertical screens, such as talk shows, single-player MVs, and one-on-one interviews.
Creators should find suitable themes, explore the verticalization and precision of content, match appropriate forms of expression, form a professional industry chain, establish industry standards for vertical screens, and produce excellent video content.
What needs to be particularly pointed out is that regardless of the horizontal or vertical screen, the fundamental pursuit of creation cannot be changed, including insight into the situation of the times, attention to real life, abide by the spirit of the rule of law, adherence to morals and ethics, and a good humanity. The praise of others.
In the era of mobile Internet, in the context of “connecting everything” and “always online”, online video cannot settle for a traditional position. Instead, it must use technical power to break through existing creative restrictions, tolerate content products with diversified styles, and promote cross-platform development. Create and build a more diverse digital environment.
Vertical screen video has changed the previous receiving terminal and the form of expression, reconstructed the social relationship between creators, users, and platforms, and the scene where users contact the video has also been transformed, thus creating a new way for the development of online video under new technological conditions. Opportunity.
(Author: Chen Yang, a researcher Associate Professor of the Department of Capital Development and Institute for Strategic Studies, Renmin University of China School of Journalism Department of the Marxist concept paper Research Center of Renmin University of China "Digital Cultural Survival's research under the guidance of the Marxist view," [19MXG14]. (Phase results)