There is a kind of movie in the world called a platter movie.
Different from the general common feature films, from one to several protagonists throughout the film, the platter film has at least three or more protagonists, and these protagonists will interpret different stories separately.
To be strict, the real platter film is actually a short film by multiple directors, and then all the works are brought together to form a movie of about two hours.
As early as 1962, Jean-Luc Godard and several other French directors jointly concocted a "Seven Deadly Sins", which can be regarded as laying the foundation for platter films in the history of film.
Later, there was a kind of independent short story in the same world view, and even the characters in different independent stories will be related, the typical example is 2003's "True Love First".
Unlike the kind composed of multiple short films, this kind of platter film is generally completed by a director, which is a bit of a small cinematic universe.
Several of the more powerful Chinese directors have been invited to participate in the production of some international platter films.
Like Zhang Yimou has "Lumiere and the Forty Guides";
Chen Kaige has "Ten Minutes of Aging";
Wong Kar-wai has "Eros";
Jiang Wen has "New York, I Love You";
In foreign countries, such films are often partial to literary and artistic attributes, and are used for screening at film festivals.
Domestic platter movies have been in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the early years.
Hong Kong has a "1:99 Film Action" specially made for SARS, inviting 15 directors to shoot 11 short films, including du qifeng, Chow sing-chi and other unique directors.
In Taiwan, it was even earlier, because of the new film movement in the early 1980s, Yang Dechang and others' "The Story of Time" was successful in 1982, and a year later, Hu Jinquan and others' "The Great Reincarnation", Hou Xiaoxian and others' "Son's Big Doll" kept pace.
When it comes to platter movies, Taiwan has the most experience on both sides of the strait and the three places.
With the development of the market, the mainland platter films have gradually explored a routine to cater to the market.
In 2007, "Love Call Transfer" was a great success. Although it is not a platter movie, because it is still a story that runs through by one character as a whole, some people have seen the market potential of plattered narratives.
Less than a year later, the real domestic platter "Fate Call Transfer" came.
This film gives full play to several major characteristics of domestic platter films, multi-director collaboration, short shooting time, low cost, and big stars.
With the afterglow of "Love Call Transfer" and the market space of the New Year file, the box office of "Fate Call Transfer" is higher than that of "Fuse" and "Boy's True Color".
The following year, "Love Call Transfer II: Love Left and Right", which also became a platter, ended the "Call Transfer Series" due to poor word of mouth, but the box office was more than 30 million, which was also a commercial success at that time.
Platter films have thus opened up a gap in the mainland market.
Or rather, it is the domestic romance film that has found a shortcut to making money.
In 2010, "Love in the City", co-produced by Hong Kong and the mainland, won 133 million at the box office, breaking the box office record of the domestic platter. In the middle of the year, there was another "Unmanned", which may be that the publicity was not done well, the title of the film did not make it clear that this is a love film, and the box office is only more than 10 million, which has become the negative teaching material of the domestic platter.
Even Feng Xiaogang's "Non-sincere Do Not Disturb 2", which specially opened the branch line of Sun Honglei and Yao Chen, became a quasi-platter movie.
Followed by 2012's "Love", 137 million;
2014 Beijing Love Story, 406 million;
The domestic platter seems to have entered a new climax.
These movies are all a routine, a love story, a gathering of stars.
At that time, the star effect was more important in the market than word of mouth, and the platter model allowed more stars to get together.
Because the shooting time is short, it will not delay these stars for too long, as long as the money is in place, it can basically be achieved.
Without enough stars, the platter model doesn't work, and in 2015's "City in Love", the director and actors have no familiar faces, and the result is only more than 50 million at the box office.
Therefore, the domestic platter in the early years was not a "plate", but a star.
The reputation of such films is very mediocre, and it is obvious that they do not win by quality. When the market began to pay attention to word of mouth, the platter of "love + star" gradually faded out of the market.
The turning point was in 2015.
"All the Way Surprise", which also has many first-line stars, was released in the late Stage of the New Year, and the result was only nearly 70 million box office, which is really a street hit.
"Let's Get Married", released in April, if it is not supported by the popularity of the TV series of the same name, I am afraid it will be difficult to reach 284 million. Moreover, the market is getting bigger and bigger every year, and the box office level of standing still is equivalent to a step backwards.
The "domestic platter 1.0 era" is over, and the creation of the 2.0 era is "No Questions Asked" that achieved a box office of 754 million in 2018.
The star is still standard, the difference is that the story of "No Questions Asked" is more solid than the domestic platter of the 1.0 era, and it is no longer just casually talking about love, and has higher requirements for the performance of the actors.
Even Huang Xiaoming has received a lot of recognition, which shows that his quality is superior.
Being able to cater to the market transformation in a timely manner, to be precise, is a market-specific, which is an important reason why domestic platter movies have always been so good sellers and can continue to stand in the market for more than ten years.
Then 2019's "My Motherland and Me", unlike "No Questions Asked", this is a more primitive type of platter film. It is a unified proposition, multiple directors each make a short film, and then assemble into a feature film.
The same feature is the nature of the gift piece.
Excellent creators ensure the quality of the film, which is the foundation of the domestic platter in the 2.0 era in the era of word-of-mouth.
The platter movie of 2021 seems to have begun a blowout because of the next city of "My Hometown and Me" and the icing on the cake of "King Kong Chuan".
"Coming all come" is set to be clear, but it was later withdrawn;
"There is her in the world" is set for May Day, and may also be withdrawn;
"My Father and Me" is set for the National Day and is still in preparation;
There are also two anti-epidemic themes in the filming and production stage, "Brave You" and "No Spring Will Not Come".
Even Hong Kong films also need to come to a "Band of Seven", but this one is a stronger literary and artistic flavor, and there are still some differences between the domestic platter of full-screen commercial films.
Just when the 2.0 era is about to enter the climax, the news that the platter movie has been stopped on the Internet has been reported.
Checked, the source does not seem to be officially released, no official media mentioned this news, and there is no real hammer.
Whether the news is true or not, it is true that platter movies are beginning to have a flood of momentum.
For three consecutive years, the National Day file has been released with "My Series and Me", and "Chosin Lake" replicates the practice of "King Kong Chuan", and the three anti-epidemic themes are all in a platter mode.
If these films are profitable, I am afraid that more imitators will appear later.
But one thing that cannot be ignored is that there are suddenly so many platter items, and there are special reasons.
If it were not for the large-scale shutdown of the Chinese film industry in 2020, "My Hometown and Me" and "King Kong Chuan" might not have come out to the emergency rescue scene; if it were not for the emergence of the new crown this year, the three anti-epidemic platter movies planned to be released later would no longer exist.
There would have been no flood of platter movies.
The nature of platter films in China has not changed.
In the form of a collection of multi-director short films, it is still a kind of "special" nature of the film. Most of the literary and artistic works are for the purpose of participating in the exhibition, or because of some anniversary, and the commercial ones in China are for gifts.
If there is no good, or special event, festival as a background, the market potential of this kind of platter is bound to be greatly reduced, unless it is a good quality.
Not every year is an integer year of National Day, it is impossible to have plague every year, so it seems that there are many domestic platters, but in fact, they are just the products of special periods.
There is no need to ban filming, and when the days are sparse and ordinary, the number of similar films will be reduced, and it will not flood. That is, whether it will become a standard of "special films" in the future, and it is really a hanging problem that there will inevitably be platter movies every anniversary.
As for another platter film similar to "True Love Supreme", most of them are completed by a director, and after so many years of development, they have not set off the flood of five or six head films a year, and it is estimated that the same will be the same in a few years and more than a decade.
It is true that this kind of film has a convenient and fast production, and it is easy to rely on the star effect to obtain the market advantage of the box office.
However, to make a high-quality film, it is not a simple thing.
All branch stories should have a unified style and theme expression, the characters should be shaped in a more limited space than ordinary feature films, and it is best to have a little connection between different stories...
From "Fate Call Transfer" to "Pampering", how many can really be called masterpieces?
The difficulty of creation is high, which determines that there will not be too many works with sufficient quality. And the shoddy, well-developed market will naturally be eliminated.
It's weird to be able to flood it.