CATDOLL: Shanghai Film Festival animators talk about the serious low-age animation audiences do not buy

On June 18, the Shanghai Film Festival held the only forum on animated films. In this forum with the theme of "Thoughts and Breakthroughs in Chinese Animated Films", participants started with the hot word "animation IP", discussed the current status of domestic animation IP and film and television adaptation, and talked about the problems encountered by Chinese animated films in their own eyes and possible improvement directions.

From creation and production to promotion and distribution, the Chinese animation filmmakers who participated in the forum discussion are at various links of the animation industry chain. They include Original Force Animation CEO Zhao Rui, Pure Art Animation CEO Hugo Martel, Tencent Animation General Manager Zou Zhengyu, "Boonie Bears" director Liu Fuyuan and Shanghai United Cinema Line General Manager Chen Guo.

They are slightly pessimistic about the current domestic animation films and their market. In their view, China still lacks high-quality works, and the potential and value of animation genre films have yet to be fully explored and developed.

Chinese animation cannot meet the needs of all age groups, and the market and investors have no confidence in it

Chen Guo, general manager of Shanghai United Cinema Line, revealed a set of data at the forum. According to data from the first half of this year, there were 18 animated films released in China, 14 of which were domestic films, with a total box office of less than 500 million yuan, but the total box office of the films has reached about 18 billion yuan. Compared with last year, this year has doubled and is growing at a faster rate. The obvious fact shown by the data is that (domestic) animated films account for a very low proportion of the box office, and the audience is not very interested.

There are many reasons behind this. One of them is that the content of domestic animation is too low-age, ignoring the demands of audiences of other age groups. According to another set of data cited by Chen Guo, the average age of Chinese audiences (going to theaters to watch movies) has been declining in recent years. Last year's statistics showed that the average age was only 21 years old. However, although young people in their 20s have become the mainstream viewing group, animated films have not paid enough attention to this group. While young people's entertainment demands and pursuit of animation art continue to increase, the content of domestic animation has always remained at a low-age level, only catering to children's preferences.

In addition, Liu Fuyuan pointed out that from the perspective of animation film production, Chinese animation has reversed the priorities of art and technology. In animation studios such as Pixar and DreamWorks, technology always serves art and is used to satisfy and express the imagination of creators. However, in China, it seems that the continuous upgrading of animation production software has promoted the progress of art, rather than the two going hand in hand and improving together.

Even when promoting animated films, the filmmakers chose to use technology as the main promotional point, such as how many servers were used to render the characters' hair, the plants and clothing in the scenes. "But a truly good work should make people forget these things, forget what technology you used, and just feel that it is a good work," said Liu Fuyuan.

Animation industry practitioners who attended the discussion believed that the unsatisfactory box office performance of animated films was essentially due to the fact that China still lacked high-quality works suitable for all age groups, and people could not see the benefits that animated films could bring.

When an animation is of poor quality or has childish content, it will not satisfy the entertainment needs of adults, and adult consumers with a certain degree of judgment will not buy it. Film investment companies will lower their expectations of it, and control investment and save costs. In the long run, both film companies and the market lack patience and confidence in animated films, and fall into a vicious cycle.

In order to find a breakthrough to improve the current situation, Zou Zhengyu, Zhao Rui and Hugo Martel each gave their own simple suggestions: break the equation between animated films and young children; cultivate more screenwriters and directors who can tell stories, and build a team with high completion and execution capabilities; while protecting the animation and film IP, enhance the brand value of the animation company; and base on the needs of the local market and local audiences, and practice more.