VOA文化艺术2024--Very Short Videos Are Changing Film Industries

On a film set in China, a 69-year-old actor is playing the part of a wealthy family leader.

In "Grandma's Moon," actor Zhu Jian celebrates his birthday with a costly¹ dinner party. And he is about to get a big surprise: One of the workers at the party is his granddaughter.

But there is another big surprise.

"Grandma's Moon" is not a movie or even a television show. Instead, it is a series of short videos, called a micro drama. Creators shoot them vertically² for easy watching on cell phones. Each episode is only minutes long.

Most of the people watching "Grandma's Moon" are middle-aged³ workers and retired⁴ people. Zhu said that these viewers do not go to movie theaters anymore. He added that it is so easy "...to hold a mobile phone and watch something anytime you want."

Micro dramas use story-telling methods like hooks and plot twists to keep millions of viewers watching on their cellphones. And these audiences are very willing to pay for more.

The cliffhangers at the end of each episode are critical to the success of micro dramas. Cliffhangers keep a viewer interested and wanting to watch more. Audiences must pay for the next episode to find out what happened.

Changing the industry

Reuters News Agency reports that China's micro drama industry is worth $5 billion. Micro dramas are shot quickly and with little money. The first few episodes are often free. But to watch the whole micro drama series, audiences may have to pay money to watch additional episodes.

Experts say micro dramas are successfully competing with China's film industry.

The micro drama leader is the app Kuaishou. The app is responsible for 60 percent of the top 50 Chinese micro dramas last year. That information comes from Endata, a company that studies media.

Douyin is owned by internet technology company Bytedance, which is also popular with micro drama fans. Other Chinese social media apps like Xiaohongshu and YouTube competitor Bilibili have announced plans to make more.

Micro dramas are now spreading to the United States.

"China discovered this audience first," said Layla Cao, a Chinese producer based in Los Angeles. Hollywood, she says, has not yet.

Popular Storylines story-telling techniques

Micro dramas are successful not only for their story-telling methods but also for their interesting plots.

Many popular micro dramas for Chinese audiences are stories about revenge or reaching higher social status. Their popularity is happening at a time when making money and changing your status in China is difficult. Youth unemployment is also high.

The micro dramas often "show people who one day are lower class and the next day become upper class ..." said a 26-year-old screenwriter. Writing under the name Camille Rao, she recently left a low-paid job in the traditional film industry. Now, she writes micro drama stories for American audiences.

Criticisms of micro dramas

China's Communist Party has been critical of micro dramas. Between late 2022 and early 2023, China's regulatory agency, the National Radio and Television Administration, or NRTA, removed 25,300 micro dramas.

In June, the Chinese government began requiring some creators to register micro dramas with the NRTA. The regulator did not answer Reuters' request for comment.

Actor Zhu added that the plot is often unreal or over-the-top; "...so it catches people's attention and a large audience wants to see them," he said.

Zhu said he loves classic films, like "Casablanca." And like many other film lovers working in micro dramas, he thinks they have limited artistic⁵ value. He said, "I see it as fast food..."

However, loyal fans of micro dramas disagree.

Huang Siyi is a 28-year-old customer service agent. She enjoys watching romantic micro dramas because "the acting⁶ is good and the male and female leads are good-looking."

She adds that it is easy to get hooked on micro dramas.

Explosive growth

Micro dramas can be made with little money. The amount of money needed to make them can be between $28,000 (200,000 yuan) and $280,000 (2 million yuan), the market research company iResearch reports.

In the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, creators are making "Grandma's Moon" with not much money and not much time. The show was filmed in just six days.

As micro dramas grow in popularity, actors' earnings⁷ have grown too.

Many Chinese micro drama producers have their eye on Western markets.

Micro dramas designed for the West are often made by production and acting crews in Los Angeles and shot on location. The stories are in English and often involve wealth, cheating partners, and miracles.

One of the apps that distributes micro dramas in the West is called LoveShots. In one of its latest micro dramas, a paralyzed woman miraculously⁸ regains⁹ her ability to walk. Then, she walks in to find her husband cheating on her.

Words in This Story

vertically -adv. straight up or at an angle of 90° to a horizontal surface or line

episode -n. an event that is part of a longer story or of history or a life but which is viewed as complete by itself

hook -n. a device especially in music or writing that catches the attention

plot twist -n. literary technique that introduces a radical¹⁰ change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction

audience -n. a group that listens or watches (as at a play or concert)

revenge -n. to get even for a wrong done

status -n. position or rank in relation to others

screenwriter -n. a writer of scripts and often shooting directions of a story prepared for movie production

miracle -n. an extraordinary event taken as a sign of the supernatural power of God

paralyzed -adj. rendered incapable of movement or action

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

3 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

4 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

8 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

9 regains   

复得( regain的第三人称单数 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• It will take a lot of repair work before the theatre regains its former splendour. 要想剧院重拾昔日的辉煌，必须进行大规模整修。
• He lays down the book and regains the consciousness. 他惊悸初定，掩卷细思。

10 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。