As an important form of online literature and art, short online videos have achieved rapid development driven by network traffic, which also lays hidden dangers for their long-term development.
"Flow or quality" seems to have become a dilemma.
Online short video is to move towards high-quality development, and it is urgent to break through from the predicament.
As a literary form "born from the Internet", short online videos have a natural cohesion with Internet traffic
Network traffic refers to the number of popular visits that open a website address within a certain period of time. It is an indicator used to describe the number of users visiting a website and the number of pages viewed by users.
In the Internet era, network platforms rapidly expand the digital market space by acquiring customers and accumulating traffic, and this has spawned traffic dividends.
When flow is linked to money, flow economy becomes a new economic form.
The advent of the Internet era has changed the entire cultural ecology. The in-depth development of the Internet and new media technologies has changed the form of online art and literature, and has spawned new types of art and art such as online short videos. While promoting online short videos to show various appearances, they also promote The concepts and practices of flow economy have undergone profound changes.
In the Internet era, the spread and popularity of online literature and art cannot be separated from the blessing of traffic, and the amount of traffic has therefore become an important indicator for measuring online literature and art.
Statistics show that as of June 2021, my country has 1.011 billion Internet users, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 71.6%, forming the world's largest digital society. This has laid a solid network social foundation for the steady development of online literature and art.
Conversely, the rapid development of online literature and art has also accumulated potential for network traffic.
The number of short video users in my country has reached 888 million, accounting for 87.8% of the total netizens. There are still 638 million people watching live broadcasts. Short videos and live broadcasts are becoming a new way of life for the whole people. The huge number of online short video users contains huge network traffic. Potential.
As a literary and artistic form "born from the Internet", online short video has a natural cohesion with Internet traffic, and the two can usher in a common "dividend period" by promoting each other.
It can be said that it is the renewal and iteration of the Internet and new media that have changed the traditional form of literature and art, spawning short online videos, and "Internet + culture" has released new kinetic energy of literature and art.
And with the development of digitization of text, networking of reading, and vertical screen viewing, as well as the emergence of new literary and artistic groups such as online writers, contracted writers, freelance writers, independent producers, independent actors, singers, and freelance art workers, Online variety shows, online videos, online dramas, online animation, online music and other forms have sprung up, and the potential of online traffic has been fully released.
Relying on network traffic, countless online video works can be spread quickly, and the short online video industry has achieved explosive growth.
However, while the traffic economy brings huge profits to the network short video, can it really bring innovation and progress to the network short video?
Focusing on speed and slowness, form and content, appearance and value, leading to dilution of quality by traffic
Cultural products realize value through market behavior, of course, must consider economic benefits, but once online literature and art act as a slave to the market, trapped in the logic of capital, and even stained with copper, it will cause inherent tension in flow and quality.
In order to win eyeballs and earn traffic, some short online videos tend to take a fast, formal, superficial, and utilitarian path. They relax the quality requirements in the process of chasing traffic, which leads to the diluting of the quality and the winning of traffic. But it loses quality.
For example, Internet short videos generally have the problem of focusing on speed and lightness.
The flow rate is measured per unit time.
From an economic point of view, the production of high-quality products often means high cost, long time and slow results, while the production of low-quality products has low cost, short time and quick results.
Driven by the traffic economy, in order to make products as quickly as possible, "slow work and fine work" seems to be out of date, streamlined mass production has become fashionable, and "short, flat, fast, thick, shallow, and rotten" network short video products emerge in endlessly. Some nonsense, shoddy, and far-fetched methods have created some cultural "junk".
Driven by economic benefits such as platform promotion, live broadcast rewards, and traffic monetization, some high-quality short videos have been slightly processed by "porters" and "scissors" without permission and become tools to attract traffic.
Under the turmoil of "remake culture" and "remake fever", some of the badly played "old stalks" and "old stalks" appeared on the Internet like variations, showing boring and boring artistic effects.
There is also the issue of emphasizing form over content.
Traffic is calculated based on the amount of clicks.
In order to get more rewards and achieve the purpose of realizing traffic, it is not uncommon to rely on "selling ugliness" to harvest traffic.
Some search for novelty and beauty, blindly kitsch, and low-level fun, and use short videos as "money cows" for chasing profits. Some even appear to ridicule the sublime, distort classics, subvert history, and vilify heroes in historical nihilism.
Others, in order to pursue traffic, rely too much on technology "empowerment", which has caused the pursuit and even worship of technology, leading to some short online videos keen on technology investment, and exaggerated filters, strange makeup, and coquettishness created through some technologies. , To show off with "exaggerated and dazzling skills".
Some pursue luxury, excessive packaging, "old wine in new bottles", and others are fascinated by the so-called "art for the sake of art".
Focusing on beauty and devaluing value is another issue that requires vigilance.
Traffic is based on the amount of attention.
The development and changes of online short videos have shown many characteristics. One of the important manifestations is that the value of beauty is very important.
Many short online videos use a breaking-the-conventional method to gain attention and get out of position, and hype traffic stars to "cultivation", and "big beauties" and "little fresh meat" are sought after.
Under the influence of this trend, a morbid aesthetic trend has come, and some short online videos have gradually surfaced.
Many online literary and artistic creators regard the picture of the work and the appearance of the actors as the first element to attract the audience, and shelved the ideological value requirements of the work.
Many online short video works seem to be exquisite in appearance, but in fact they are hollow in their thoughts. This practice of sacrificing the original and the last has fallen into the "gold and jade outside, but in the middle of failure", and has become a vain vase.
High-quality content and excellent quality are the lifeline
Internet short videos use network traffic to obtain "savage growth", and how to "grow up healthily" is even more of a big problem.
Blindly believe in "traffic supremacy" and "fan economy", although you can obtain immediate immediate benefits, but in the long run, it consumes the vitality of short videos.
Blindly engaging in "flow flooding" seems to increase the sense of internet and "sweetness", but in fact it loses the sense of texture, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of online literature and art.
Compared with traffic, quality is the lifeline of short online videos.
In fact, flow and quality are not contradictory.
We should abandon the deliberate pursuit of network traffic, focus on creating high-quality network art content, win abundant traffic with excellent quality, and make excellent network art works that demonstrate the core values of socialism become the "king of traffic."
Excellent short online video works can achieve ideological and artistic success, and can be welcomed in the market.
To win traffic with quality, it is necessary to handle the relationship between form and content.
Due to the in-depth development of text digitization, book visualization, network reading, and intelligent expression, literature and art in the Internet age are facing profound changes, and literature and art and even social culture need to adapt themselves to adapt to the changes of the times.
But no matter what changes, the Internet is the form of culture, and culture is the essence.
All creative techniques and methods ultimately serve the core content and cultural expression, and they are all for a clearer, more unique, and more thorough way of talking about people and things.
Only by maintaining cultural strength and returning to the "authentic" of online literature and art can we enrich and expand the world of its meaning.
Deviating from this principle, skills and methods are worthless.
Literary and artistic creation is a deep innovation that combines concepts and means, and content and form. It is the integration of various artistic and technical elements, and the docking of mind and creativity.
We advocate changing themes, forms, techniques, and styles, and promote mutual learning in concepts, styles, and genres. However, content is always fundamental. We must vigorously promote the production of high-quality online short video content. Only with content advantages can we gain development advantages.
To win traffic with quality, we need to handle the relationship between inheritance and innovation.
Innovation is the life of literature and art, and some of the problems that appear in online short videos have a lot to do with the lack of innovation ability.
Only when the spirit of innovation runs through the whole process of literary creation and production can we enhance the ability of literary and artistic originality.
It is necessary to protect the existing cultural accumulation and work resources, pay attention to the role of the stock, and be good at drawing inspiration and nutrients from the classics.
At the same time, it strives to build a short-board video production chain under the condition of integrating media, and dare to refresh the classics, reshape the classics, and even create new classics.
To win traffic with quality, we must fully demonstrate the power of the value core.
The correct value orientation is the lifeline of quality.
Only by possessing value can we win the future.
Network literature and art must be innovative and upright.
Complying with the mobile, social, and visualized trends of online communication, it is the general trend to use new technologies, catalyze new business formats, and create new models. However, the correct political direction, public opinion orientation, and value orientation are also consistent in content, especially not. There is a deviation in the question of "why person".
If there is no work that highlights the value of the times, no matter how lively and fancy other things are, it is only a superficial article, which cannot really penetrate the people's spiritual world, and cannot touch the human soul.
Online short videos should spread contemporary Chinese values, embody the spirit of Chinese culture, and reflect the aesthetic pursuit of the Chinese people. They are positive and appealing, and integrate ideological, artistic, and appreciative. They have gleaming beauty, eternal feelings, and mighty atmosphere. .
(Author: Chen Mingkun, Unit: School of Marxism, Renmin University of China)