Internet mini-series become popular again, high-quality content is the key

【Hot Spot Observation】

"I love to watch those ancient short dramas with my mobile phone. Each episode has a few minutes, and some have a story, and some have a main story. There are so many choices. It makes me feel that the commuting time is not that long. "Zhang Meng, who works in Beijing, has a one-way commute of nearly two hours a day.

During this time when she was bumping on the road, she was more willing to use her mobile phone to watch some time-length, fast-paced content, "especially after a busy day, I really don’t want to use my brain anymore. The plot is simple and clear, and the protagonist is eye-catching. A short play is very suitable for me." Zhang Meng said.

This kind of "short drama" in Zhang Meng's mouth has a professional name-network short drama.

The State Administration of Radio and Television’s key online film and television drama information filing system has clarified its format standards: a single episode is less than 10 minutes; it has the characteristics of the film and television drama program form and the plot, performance and other elements; it has a relatively clear theme and is produced with a more professional method Series of original online audio-visual programs and so on.

On major short video platforms, from simple humorous jokes to more and more sophisticated scripts, the themes of online micro-shorts have encompassed diverse categories such as campus, city, reasoning, and workplace.

Its more subdivided themes and exquisite service design have become new growth points for short video platforms to increase user stickiness.

In addition to grassroots content producers, various short video platforms are also constantly investing in self-produced original micro short dramas.

At present, the content of short dramas in the early stages of development is mixed. While bringing huge traffic, there are also problems of routine plotting and vulgarization of some of the content.

What exactly are we watching when we turn on our mobile phones to watch the mini-series?

What impact will the entry of professional forces have on the development ecology of micro-short dramas?

What are the areas that need to be paid attention to during the rapid development of the short drama?

The reporter conducted interviews with relevant industry insiders, experts and scholars.

The "sweet spots" are dense, making it hard to get rid of it

　　"Every episode is a climax", "The story is flipped layer by layer", and "I can't stop it"... When it comes to online short dramas, these descriptions are often inseparable.

　　"These short dramas have omitted the foreshadowing and brewing process, and they feel more like cutting out the climax plots of the previous episodes of dozens of minutes of TV series. It is not when I am very focused on the way to get off work. But this kind of short drama can attract me to watch it continuously by scratching the screen of my phone." Zhang Meng said.

　　In recent years, a number of creative and high-quality micro-shorts on the short video platform have received good response in terms of word of mouth and traffic.

Such as "Wonderful Museum", "Life Starts on Me", "Say Goodbye Before Being Tricked", and "Huge Reward", etc. They mainly focus on light-hearted and pleasant themes, or use subtle stories to explore human nature, or promote education based on reality, although some only It can show the visual effects of "five-mao special effects", but the imagination and creativity contained in the play can't help but make people admire.

Although the single episode is short, the compact plot can still attract users to scroll through several episodes in a row.

　　In the opinion of literary critic Hu Yifeng, behind the popularity of micro-short dramas is the concentrated expression of the audience's needs in the network environment. "Cultural life in the network environment is more fast, small and new, and emphasizes the social nature of artistic activities. The short story is simple in plot, concentrated in content, and networked in line design. It creates a pleasure of appreciation in the rapid presentation of conflicts, which is in line with the fast-paced life of distracted attention and the appreciative psychology of this kind of life construction."

　　The short drama is not only different from the traditional horizontal screen film and television drama, but also different from the short video sequence.

Due to time constraints, content creators will naturally open up their minds and do "burden". The non-professional nature of some grassroots bloggers makes the content more "down-to-earth".

Bai Yicong, director of the Youth Work Committee of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association, believes that short dramas are products that adapt to short video platforms and thinking, and correspond to the audience's demand for story content in short video scenarios.

"Although the fast-paced, high-density plot advancement has certain requirements for the narrative ability of the script and the setting of the characters, it is essentially an instant. The logic of long videos is completely different."

　　Many people believe that the length and form of the short drama are destined to be unable to express deep themes, especially as more and more dramas choose to shoot and play in portrait mode, the number of characters in the scene is limited, and it is difficult to create a rich spatial hierarchy. Sense and express complex relationships between characters.

"Technical factors are especially worthy of our attention. Vertical screen images are for mobile phones. If possible, we all want to choose larger screens to watch videos. Therefore, watching TV dramas on mobile phones is usually only available when commuting in cities. Behavior. Different cultural products meet the different needs of users. It is enough for the short drama to meet the needs of users, and other cultural products can meet the other aspects." said Chen Yang, an associate professor at the School of Journalism of Renmin University of China.

In this regard, Bai Yicong agreed, "No matter what occupation or education, people need adjustments in life, and short dramas and short videos are actually filling these gaps in public life."

Users have higher and higher requirements for the quality of short video content

　　The 48th "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status" released by the China Internet Network Information Center shows that as of June 2021, the number of short video users in my country has reached 888 million, accounting for 87.8% of the overall Internet users.

It can be said that short videos have become one of the main content forms that people consume in their leisure time in the past two years.

　　"The period of barbaric development of short video has passed, and users' preferences for short video content have also evolved to higher and higher requirements for content quality." Li La, deputy general manager of Tencent's short video community product department, judged.

Many people in the industry regard the web short drama as a "new outlet" for short video platforms to transition from the user bonus stage to the ecological deep cultivation stage.

　　Both short video platforms and long video websites have set their sights on micro-short dramas. Through platform splitting, cooperation customization, user payment, live streaming and other models, the incentives for high-quality short video production have been increased, and more content teams are encouraged to join the game. .

At present, Kuaishou platform has accumulated more than 20 million fans of the "Kaishou Little Theater". As of the end of June this year, there have been more than 800 shorts with over 100 million views on Kuaishou platform. Douyin even referred to the shorts as " "Tomorrow's Drama", will launch more than 30 boutique micro shorts in 2021; Weishi has successively launched the "Mars Mini Drama" brand that focuses on serial micro shorts and the micro short drama creation support program "Mars Project"; Long-term video platforms such as Youku, iQiyi, and Tencent have also launched a series of vertical-screen micro-short dramas.

　　"At present, the quality of short dramas cannot be compared with long dramas. In addition to the inability of products to compete with mature products in the initial development stage, it is also related to the lack of professional teams and financial investment." Chen Yang analyzed.

The promotion of the platform will bring capital, technology, talents and other resources, and will correspondingly raise the industry threshold. Some grassroots Internet celebrities may become "professional players" under the platform incubation, and the content production of some ordinary users may gradually move towards it. Decline.

　　Compared with traditional web dramas, short production costs are low, the filming cycle is short, and the launch is fast, which also brings a new "method of survival" for professional teams.

Bai Yicong gave an example: "For some small-scale teams and newcomer teams in the industry, they don’t have the opportunity to shoot such a big thing, and they don’t want to shoot that kind of pure jokes. Miniseries may be a good opportunity. "For long-length video producers, the form of micro-short dramas can also be used as a way to "test the waters" of new themes. "For example, I think a subject matter is quite good. Is there any audience watching it? Micro-short dramas can be used very small. First, get feedback from the audience to test the possibility of the long drama."

　　In Li La’s view, the possibilities of short dramas are multifaceted. “It allows participants in all links of the video industry chain to see potential huge opportunities. We hope to attract as many as possible by building an open platform. The creators of "Join in to jointly promote the construction and development of the micro-short drama ecology."

With the entry of more and more professional teams and celebrities, it provides more possibilities for improving the production level of short dramas and promoting the production of high-quality goods.

Hu Yifeng pointed out that this will strengthen the industrial attributes of the short drama. "In this regard, the key is to strengthen ecological governance, industry management and professional guidance."

Break through routines, avoid homogeneity, and pursue high-quality products

　　"I don't care who she is yours, hitting a woman in front of me is violating my taboo." "Second lady, you lost half your life for him, he turned around and married another woman, and had a face Wedding invitation." "I just gave you a little push, and didn't use any force, how can I pretend like that!" These are all lines that appear in the short play.

　　"In fact, you will find that the trend of these plots is the same pattern as the logic of many online articles. It feels like a'video version' of online articles." Zhang Meng said frankly. Behind the frequent "sweet spot" episodes, the sense of routine is very strong.

　　Content IP film and television is currently the most important direction of major platforms in the process of entering micro-short dramas. Many companies producing micro-short dramas have turned their attention to online literary works.

"Most of the online literature is simple and popular, and it is in line with the short rhythm of the short drama. Moreover, the readers of online literature are very young. From the user's point of view, it makes sense for the short drama to choose online literature." Chen Yang believes that the micro The short play "Bao Tuan" network literature conforms to business logic, but how to find the best in network literature and transform it into short videos requires careful polishing.

　　At present, although the themes of the short dramas cover youth, idols, inspirational, love, workplace, women, etc., when expressing these themes, different characters and different stories are often used as "counter-attack" and "master boss". "Rebirth" on these modes.

"The short drama still follows the typified model, which is not only affected by the inertia of online literature, but also related to the path of'imitating the winners' brought by the pursuit of profit. Taking the free ride of online literature is conducive to quickly reaching out to the audience. Establish a friendly relationship." Hu Yifeng believes that in terms of long-term development, if you want to break through routines and leave boutiques, short dramas must be based on life and seek more material from real life, including online life.

　　In addition to the strong sense of routine and the patterned plot, what is more noteworthy is the content of "swimming the ball" in some short dramas-very sexually suggestive on the cover and shooting techniques, and does not shy away from the violent scenes, conveying Using English letters and typos instead of sensitive words to evade censorship, such as "violence control violence" thinking, presenting campus bullying, etc., these contents are tentative on the edge of the bottom line, and many netizens exclaimed, "Can this really be broadcast?"

　　In August 2020, the State Administration of Radio and Television added a quick registration and filing module for online micro-short dramas in the "Key Online Film and Television Drama Information Recording System"; the "Regarding Issues Concerning the Content Audit of Micro-Smies in Online Film and Television Dramas" issued at the end of 2020 "Notice", puts forward clear requirements for the content review methods of common web short dramas and key web short dramas, and stipulates that the content review of web micro short dramas has the same standard and the same standard as traditional time-length web film and television dramas.

According to the notice, the key web short dramas supported by the platform need to be reviewed by the local provincial radio and television administrative department to obtain a record number before going online. The content produced by ordinary users is reviewed by the platform and registered and broadcasted by itself.

　　Hu Yifeng suggested that special attention should be paid to the guiding role of professional forces in the development of micro-short dramas. “First, we must compact platform responsibilities, resolutely crack down on vulgar content, and purify the short video ecology. Secondly, we must not allow algorithms to "violent law enforcement". Allow them to strengthen certain tastes and preferences, and also create conditions for excellent works to stand out. In particular, they should give full play to the guiding role of professional forces, strengthen the research and comment on short dramas, and clarify the standards of excellent works. Achieve praise and derogation, turbulence and clearness."

　　"In fact, no matter the length, the content is the most important thing. If the storyline of the short drama is tasteless, no one will watch it simply because it is short." The key to a good work is to find the connection point between this form and high-quality content.

(The stills of the Internet short series in this article are all video screenshots)

(Our reporter Li Xiaomeng, our correspondent Cui Ruofan)