【Hot spot observation】
For more than two years, the repeated outbreak of the new crown pneumonia has brought a great impact on the entertainment industry.
Performance venues are limited and closed, and performances are suspended or cancelled, often catching industry practitioners off guard.
Because performances have been greatly reduced, the income of performers and staff of many grass-roots cultural and art troupes has fallen sharply, which even affects their normal life and creation.
Under pressure, the main players in the industry have bailed out and rescued themselves. Among them, opening a "second theater" online for "cloud performances" has become the main choice.
After more than two years of exploration, more and more performing arts institutions have opened up the "Second Theater", and more and more actors have participated in the "Cloud Performance".
From offline to online, it is not only the transformation of performance space, but also the change of artistic production method and the recombination of creative elements.
In addition, how to convert online performances into specific box office, how to protect copyright, these practical problems also need to be solved.
From helpless choice to active exploration
For more than two years, a large number of performances have shifted from offline to online, from opera to opera, from comic dialogue, sketches to parties and concerts.
Initially, the industry launched online performances, which basically put the videos of offline performances directly online, and the dissemination effect was very mediocre. This is actually a helpless choice in an emergency.
In the context of the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the "cloud" has become a new space for people to work and live.
For performing arts organizations, online performances are no longer an occasional expedient, but a normal choice for performances.
How to use technical means to create new performance forms, new marketing models, and new relationship between performances online not only determines the sustainability of online performances, but also affects the transformation and upgrading of the performing arts industry in the post-epidemic era.
In order to free online performances from the role of substitutes for offline performances and develop into an independent performance form, performing arts organizations, communication platforms, and technology companies are all actively exploring.
For example, the National Peking Opera Company, together with China Mobile Migu Company, has launched the classic Peking Opera "Dragon and Phoenix" for two consecutive years in the form of "technology + art". , and launched the "Cloud Drama Fan Festival" to create a "digital theater" based on the latest digital technology.
The National Theater, China Unicom, and Huawei have cooperated strategically to build my country's first "5G Smart Theater" integrated with theaters. The audience can enter the "5G Smart Theater" to watch the performance from multiple angles without leaving home Bystanders become participants.
In the past two years, the National Centre for the Performing Arts has launched more than 100 online performances, with 3 billion online hits on the entire network, and has formed a complete industrial chain from topic selection, filming, recording, production to broadcast promotion.
It is worth mentioning that in opening up the "Second Theater", not only the state-owned academies but also commercial platforms are actively exploring.
Recently, Douyin Live launched the "DOU Has a Good Opera" program, which is recruiting for national opera troupes and professional opera actors. It plans to help at least 10 theater troupes and 1,000 professional opera actors build a "Second Theater" in 2022.
Prior to this, there have been many rookies in the art world, famous Liyuan artists, and well-known literary and art troupes who have broadcast live operas on new media platforms.
According to the "2022 Douyin Drama Live Streaming Data Report", 231 of the 348 drama genres in my country have been broadcast live on the Douyin platform.
In the past year, more than 800,000 Douyin operas have been broadcast live, with a cumulative audience of over 2.5 billion and an average audience of 3,200 per game.
Find the best fulcrum for the fusion of art and technology
Whether it is an offline performance, an online performance, or a combination of offline and online performances, content is inseparable, and high-quality content is always the key to the success of the performance.
Therefore, no matter what method is used to open up an online "second theater", we must insist that "content is king".
Content is the foundation, and technology is the support.
5G, 4K, 8K, VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), XR (Extended Reality), MEC (Edge Computing), FTTR (Fiber To The Room), Smart Line, High-tech Video, Slicing Technology... Open the Support Line The list of technologies on the show, the variety of new technologies is enough to be dizzying.
For the audience, these new technologies will bring a viewing experience that is completely different from the physical theater.
Online performances supported by new technologies can break through the space and time constraints of offline performances, lower the threshold for audiences to enter physical theaters, and help turn potential audiences with viewing needs into huge online audiences.
For performing arts organizations, new technologies will transfer theaters from offline to online, not only the conversion of scenes, but also the reordering of the methods, elements and values of content production, which will form new supply and stimulate new demand.
In short, from offline to online, it is not a simple splicing of digital technology and performing arts content, but on the premise of adhering to "content is king", creating a new viewing experience of "1+1 is greater than 2", looking for technology and The best fulcrum for the fusion of art.
In the process of opening up the "Second Theater", the platform is most easily overlooked.
At present, there are two main platforms on which the "Second Theater" relies.
One is a self-built platform, such as the Classical Music Channel of the National Grand Theater and the "5G Smart Theater" of the National Theater; the other is a third-party platform, such as the National Peking Opera Theater's "Dragon and Phoenix" online broadcast relying on China Mobile's microphone. Goo platform, some theaters and famous drama artists rely on live broadcast platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou to conduct online live broadcasts.
Different platforms have their pros and cons.
The self-built platform has a large investment in capital and technology, but it has autonomy. More importantly, it can freely carry out "secondary creation" according to the characteristics of online performances, especially the platform of the National Theater "5G Smart Theater", which provides a wealth of creations. technical means.
The advantage of using a third-party platform is that it is free, but the form of online performances will be limited by the technical conditions of the platform.
In addition, relying on a third-party platform, the performance revenue must be shared with the platform, and there may be potential disputes over the copyright of the work.
Cultivating compound talents with one specialty and multiple abilities
As a new thing, there are still many problems to be solved urgently in the construction of "Second Theater".
Currently, most online gigs are free, but free gigs are clearly not sustainable.
The National Peking Opera Company's "Dragon and Phoenix" has been trying online paid live broadcasts for two consecutive years.
Douyin Live also plans to open paid performances for actors and troupes who are in need and have professional performance capabilities.
In the long run, paying to watch online performances is the trend.
However, since the audience has not yet formed the habit of paying to watch, it may take time for the paid model to fully develop.
High-quality online performances require certain hardware conditions.
Actors only need a mobile phone for online live broadcasts, but for large-scale singing and dancing, symphony, gala performances, etc., a physical theater is required first, and it must be equipped with lighting, sound, cameras, etc., which is more demanding than offline performances.
The problem now is that many art troupes do not have their own theaters, and renting theaters for live broadcasts is difficult to afford the high rent.
The lack of compound talents is a bigger challenge.
Whether it is live broadcast online or opening up a "second theater", the essence is the integration of art and technology, and it requires compound talents who understand both art and technology as well as equipment.
Unfortunately, there are very few such talents at present.
How to solve the talent problem?
In March this year, Tian Qinxin, director of the National Theater, put forward the suggestions at the National Two Sessions that are worth learning from:
First, set up digital performing arts-related disciplines in higher art colleges.
From the perspective of digital industry development, set up cutting-edge majors such as digital photography, digital management, and digital image art, cultivate strong political quality and a solid theoretical and practical foundation for digital performing arts, master network new media theory, and have a broad international perspective of network communication. Able to compound and innovative talents.
Second, build a joint training framework for digital performing arts talents.
Relying on the high-quality courses of higher art colleges and the platform resources of national literary and art troupes, colleges and troupes can set up digital performing arts subject teams and jointly apply for topics; jointly promote the research of digital performing arts, and develop digital performing arts products; implement the training of high-level applied talents with professional degrees The plan is to create a new model of digital performing arts compound talent training.
(Author: Fang Li, a researcher at the Beijing Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Secretary of the Party Group of the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology)