Keep upright, innovate and forge ahead! Focus on the 2024 National Film Work Conference
Special feature of 1905 film network The 2024 National Film Work Conference was held in Beijing from April 18th to 19th. Guided by Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the New Era, the conference thoroughly studied and implemented the cultural thought of the Supreme Leader and implemented the spirit of the important instructions of the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader on film work.
Hu Heping, Vice Minister in charge of daily work of Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Responsible comrades in charge of film work in the Propaganda Department of the Party committees of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, responsible comrades in the film department, and representatives of state-owned and private film units and film professional colleges attended the meeting.
Management departments at all levels, front-line experts and scholars in the industry, industry associations and enterprises have jointly studied the latest ideas of the supreme leader’s cultural thoughts and industry management, and exchanged and shared the film work experience in 2024. In this programme, Professor Zhifina from China Academy of Art is invited to focus on the 2024 National Film Work Conference with us.
As a participant, Zhifina came to ""as soon as after the meeting and conveyed the spirit of the meeting to everyone. "This is not only a learning exchange meeting, but also a deployment summary meeting. Participants share their feelings about the development of the industry with rich emotions and express their opinions on promoting the development of the industry." Zhifina said.
The meeting pointed out that although China’s films have made good recovery achievements, there is still a certain gap with the development of high standards. Film workers should fully respect artists, doers, consumers and reformers, respect the laws of industry, market, management and communication, respect the reality of industry development, social development and international environment, be innovative in content and inclusive in extension, carry forward the main theme and spread positive energy with an open attitude.
The meeting focused on three key words: reform, consumption and creation, summed up the reasons and achievements of the film industry’s recovery since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and made clear and comprehensive arrangements for the future film work.
Reform is the first priority.
The current policy framework of the film industry was formulated in the era of lack of domestic film development. According to the data, in 2003, there were 1800 screens and 1024 cinemas in China, with a box office of 990 million. By the end of 2023, the number of cinemas in China will reach 14,000, with 86,310 screens and a box office of 54.915 billion yuan. In the past 20 years, the number of cinemas has increased by 14 times, the number of screens has increased by 47 times, the film output has increased by 10 times, and the number of people watching movies has increased by 37 times. Obviously, the policy aimed at the era of scarcity is no longer applicable to guide the current situation of excessive hardware development in the industry, and the policy reform of the film industry is imminent.
On how to reform the film market, Zhifina put forward the "three respects" principle of respecting the laws of art, market and management.
Respect the law of art
First of all, respect the laws of art. Film workers should re-understand the open connotation of the main theme and respect artists and creators.
Respect for industrial laws
Second, respect the laws of industry. In-depth reform of marketization and industrialization of the film industry. At the distribution level, more film resources can reach the audience by means of sub-line distribution, sub-regional distribution, focus distribution, classified distribution and sub-fare distribution. In terms of publicity, traditional film companies should learn to make use of the communication advantages of the Internet, so that publicity can be effectively converted into movie attendance and more audiences can enter the cinema.
Respect the management law
Third, respect management rules. The management department should change the thinking of political achievements, actively accumulate experience, speed up the administrative examination and approval, take the survey data of movie audiences as a guide, put the focus of the reform on promoting audience consumption, and avoid using the "three axes" policy of making movies, building bases and holding festivals.
It is urgent to promote consumption and expand domestic demand.
Another key point in the meeting is to increase the audience under 25. The data of three surveys of movie audiences in 2011, 2015 and 2021 show that the average age of movie audiences has increased significantly. Zhifina explained: "I participated in the three surveys of movie audiences and found that the movie audience did not flow on a large scale. From 2011 to 2021, it was still a group of audiences, so how to attract new young audiences into the cinema is an important issue."
In order to promote the consumption of the film and television industry and expand the internal demand of the film industry, we must first ensure the content quality, formulate a reasonable price strategy, let the audience buy cheaper movie tickets, attract new audiences to enter the market, and reduce the average age of the audience. Secondly, we should improve the publicity and marketing mechanism of the film industry, so that the audience can truly understand and fall in love with the film.
Creation is the foundation of film.
Film creation that responds to the needs of the audience is the foundation of filmmakers. At this stage, the movie audience’s demand for watching movies has expanded to absorb emotional value and emotional resonance. Zhifina thinks: "Movies should provide more power to warm people’s hearts. A good movie can affect people’s life." The current film creation should fully respond to the needs of the audience and strengthen the emotional connection with the audience.
Only by adhering to the development principle of "keeping integrity, innovating and accelerating reform", embracing new technologies, opening up new markets and enhancing the sense of responsibility and mission can China’s film market flourish and remain invincible in the long-term competition.