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If you don't make film and television dramas, or make short dramas, what else can a director do? Director Fu Hong gave the answer: do interactive film games.
In recent years, interactive video games have gradually emerged as a new form of entertainment that integrates elements of film, television and games. In this era of change, Entertainment Capital interviewed Fu Hong, the director of the interactive film game "Custom Girlfriend", who deeply analyzed his mental journey from traditional film and television production to interactive film and video games, as well as his observations and thoughts on this field. It tells about the emergence of interactive film and game projects, and the new opportunities and challenges brought to him.
"If you can create and have a future, there's no reason not to do it"
Entertainment Capital: How did you get started with interactive video games?
"Custom Girlfriend" director Fu Hong (the same below):
I was previously signed with a company with a leading drama series in China. The first feature film was an online movie made through venture capital during film school, and then he made several online movies, developed some dramas, and also served as a producer of theatrical films. During the epidemic, the film and television industry was sluggish, and I was also facing a new job and was considering whether to make short dramas. But I don't think it's too much in line with the context of the short play, which includes the way of creation and production.
In October last year, Hui Yi, the producer of the "Custom Girlfriend" project, came to me and asked me if I wanted to make an interactive video game, saying that it would last for two or three hours, and I could shoot long shots, I thought it was at least not a 100-episode short drama, there was some creative space, and it was very fresh, and I was looking forward to a new experience, so I took it, and I should unlock new genres. It could also be said to have saved me.
Entertainment Capital: Why do you like long shots so much?
Long shots can better maintain the unity of time and space, and can rely on the scheduling of the field to make the content richer, which is a new attempt for creators to shoot with full long shots.
Entertainment Capital: Do you understand the development of interactive skits?
In 2014 and 2015, Youaiteng had already begun to make similar attempts, but it was mainly based on concepts, mostly about 30 minutes to test the waters. I hadn't finished it at the time, and I didn't know much about it, but a lot of people around me were talking about it. I have a friend who runs a post-production company, Lao Kong, and they often say that interactive video games are the wind and should be seized. Later, when it came time to raise money, I really believed it.
Entertainment Capital: What's the Financing Situation Like?
At that time, we went back to Beijing to select actors after setting up a group in Xiamen, but because of the problems of scenes and art costs, we found that there was still a shortage of hundreds of thousands of funds. I asked a friend out to tell him about it, so he could see if anyone around him wanted to vote. In the process of chatting, my friend called the investment money. Another investor is the CEO of my former company, he worked in Bytes, he is very keen on the market, and he is also looking forward to film and games, and he also helped us solve some of the funding problems.
I have done so many projects, this is really the smoothest investment, and I have completed an investment of more than 2 million yuan in ten days. If we're going to make a movie, it's going to be hard. At that time, the producer Hui Yi sighed that the interactive film game made me feel for the first time, what it means that pigs can fly on the tuyere.
Entertainment Capital: What are the characteristics of your work?
Our film game is better produced than similar products on the market. Because we are cinematic cinematography, fine arts, lighting. Before the start-up, the photographer measured the camera twice, once to measure the machine, and once to shoot with actors. In the early stage, you can see the color tendency in the monitor, and the preparation is very perfect, basically according to the level of the movie.
Publicity is an unknown road
Entertainment Capital: Are there any production logics and rules for interactive video games?
Most movies will have hypothetical, but movie games have no hypothetical, and what they want to present to the player is the fact that the image is reality. will break the dividing line of the fourth wall. Interactive film and video games are more immersive, for example, the light and shadow will not be magnified in reality like a movie, and the subjective magnification in addition to the restoration of logical light sources will render emotions. Instead, the color is thinner, with small contrast, low saturation, which is more in line with the vision of the human eye, and the saturation is lower, creating a sense of immersion in the real space for players. We used a lot of 35 focal length lenses for shooting, which is closer to the senses of the human eye.
In the future, with the widespread popularity of VR glasses, the output end will be improved. Ready Player One will come to life.
Entertainment Capital: Is there anything different in the story?
In the game, the director is only one part of the idea of the game producer. Because of normal film and television production, the output after editing, color grading, and sound is unified from the post-production output, that is, the finished film. But after the output of the film game, it only becomes the material for the game producer and the program.
The script of the movie game is difficult and very logical, the movie script is to build a building, and the movie game script is to plant a tree. Because each of its different choices leads to different results. When we watch all film and television dramas, most of them need the audience to feel the protagonist's encounter, fate, and situation, but playing movie games is different, the protagonist of film games has to be a blank slate, that is, he can be substituted by anyone, not felt.
This means that if you do film games, you need to be objective all the time, maintain objectivity in the portrayal of the protagonist, and at the same time follow the flow chart, which is actually very demanding for the screenwriter. We were looking for a very good screenwriter at the beginning, who needed to build logic and bring in feelings, and it was easy for people to fall into subjective creation. At this time, he needs a mirror, a ruler to constantly influence him. Hui called this Gu raising, and he kept me, the screenwriter, the co-director, and himself in a sea-view house in Xiamen for more than half a month. We are fighting each other every day.
Entertainment Capital: Worried about cost recovery?
We rely on Steam for distribution, and now we are worried about the publicity and distribution. Because interactive video games are not traditional film and television promotion, nor are they gameplay. Still figuring out how.
Entertainment Capital: Which platform is right for you?
The game anchors of Station B and Douyin, maybe this is a more suitable path for us. Now a publicity company has given us the idea of setting up an official Douyin account, putting a trailer and a link to make an appointment, and directing users to the private domain.
Expect the market to heat up
Entertainment Capital: Do you pay attention to the market situation of film and games?
I've been following the market for a long time. Some are made by the film and television team, and some are directly done by the team of the mini program drama. There are also traditional game companies that are also trying to make video games, and the market is hotter. At the beginning, online movies were also all kinds of scuffles, and in 15 or 16 years, many people spent three or four hundred thousand yuan to start filming, and now it has basically become a cloud cinema model. The budget and lineup are also on par with theatrical movies.
This is a benign screening process that will lead to a more mature production system. It's a good thing for us, we have an advantage in production.
Entertainment Capital: What do you think of the development of skits?
The skit industry is quite complicated. At that time, I contacted an investor, and they were filming four or five short dramas at one time, with the same cast and the same scenes, to put it bluntly, it was a set of shots with a set of sets. I have also received a short drama script from a certain platform, the drama has already been broadcast, and the name of the script and the name of the person are the same, and they have not been changed. Xiaocheng dramas sometimes even become financial products for selling loose stocks. Interactive video games will also develop like mini program dramas in the future, but interactive video games have thresholds, and the users are vertical, mainly male users who are about 18-35 years old and have received a certain education.
Of course, the disadvantages are also obvious, the market is so big, there are more than 30 million domestic users, and we are now trying to push to foreign markets and Southeast Asia, which is quite difficult.
Entertainment Capital: What do you think of the current development of the film and television industry?
Movies are sinking more and more, and now there are more and more comedy movies. You used to see a lot of cartoons and crime movies, but now almost all of them are popcorn movies with comedy elements.
In the past, black humor was a positive term, but now black humor has become a derogatory term. Everyone says that reality is too bitter and needs to be entertained. are embracing third- and fourth-tier cities.