文 | 空间秘探，作者 | 吴宇雯
Recently, the micro-short drama "Waiting for You for 3,000 Years" released by Hebei Cultural Tourism has exploded on social platforms, both in terms of creativity and shooting texture, which has surprised many netizens. At the same time, with the release of "Waiting for You for 3,000 Years", the thousand-year-old city of Handan, Hebei Province has attracted attention. In fact, micro-short dramas have been a popular track since last year, and at the beginning of this year, more micro-short dramas and cultural tourism "held hands", and "cultural tourism + short dramas" became a new traffic password, how long can this gust of wind blow?
The short drama "Hand in Hand" cultural tourism
Recently, the Hebei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Hebei Zhuang and Butterfly Culture Media Co., Ltd. jointly produced the short drama "Waiting for You for 3,000 Years", which tells the story of the first encounter between the male and female protagonists and promoted the occurrence of the story of "Guilty of Jing Petition".
As soon as this ancient and modern legendary story was launched, it won unanimous praise on various social platforms, and many netizens lamented the quality of the short drama, "Who shoots so high-level, don't die", "Give Hebei Cultural Tourism a big score, the recent promotional video is very good"...... This short drama uses a love story to introduce the urban cultural IP of Handan, "a city that has been waiting for you for 3,000 years", and after integrating the story of "Guilty of Guilt", it thickens the cultural heritage of the city. Many scenes in the play show the history and humanities, urban development and natural features of Handan, Hebei Province to the fullest, coupled with the high-end and rich texture presented, so that many people are full of yearning for the city of Handan. With the help of the power of film and television cultural IP, it has added a handful of firewood to the local cultural tourism, and everyone has gradually discovered that the deep integration of micro-short dramas and cultural tourism seems to be able to achieve the effect of "1+1>2".
With the gradual popularity of the "just go" travel method, the feedback effect of film and television content on cultural tourism has become more and more significant. At the beginning of last year, "Going to a Windy Place" has obviously become a useful exploration of the "film and television + cultural tourism" model, Yunnan's simple and quiet cultural customs and beautiful natural scenery have attracted many tourists, and the hit of the play has brought unprecedented attention to Dali, Yunnan.
Because most of the filming locations are scenic spots in Yunnan, and they have also done publicity work for local history and culture, ethnic culture, and local culture, Dali, Yunnan has become popular because of "Going to a Windy Place", which also happens to realize the double long-tail effect of film and television content and cultural tourism. For example, the broadcast of "Flowers" at the beginning of this year gave a "new life" to iconic landmarks such as Shanghai Yellow River Road, the Bund, and the Peace Hotel, with the popularity of travel searches for Peace Hotel increasing by 415% month-on-month, and the popularity of travel searches on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai increasing by 73% month-on-month. "A TV series brings fire to a city" has been significantly reflected.
But in fact, since last year, micro-short dramas have begun to "show their edge". In August last year, a self-created online short drama "Escape from the British Museum" became popular on the Internet, and people began to shift their attention to the micro-short drama market. According to the data, as of November 2023, a total of 4,000+ micro-short dramas have been filed in China, with an average daily turnover of 80 million domestic short dramas, and the scale of China's micro-short drama market will reach 37.39 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 267.65% year-on-year. A new "100 billion market" is about to emerge.
A "sought-after" cultural tourism micro-short drama
During this year's Spring Festival, the explosion of the short drama "I Was a Stepmother in the 80s" on the online platform once again made everyone fall into the charm of the short drama. At the same time, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and relevant departments have launched relevant policies for short dramas and cultural tourism, so that micro-short dramas that have received "state support" can "show their talents". With the cultural tourism market in full swing, the cultural and tourism bureaus around the country have tried their best to "do their best", and short dramas and micro-short dramas have become their new ways of imagination and new "weapons".
In January this year, the General Office of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television released the creation plan of "Travel with Micro Short Dramas", proposing to create and broadcast 100 excellent micro short dramas with the theme of "Travel with Micro Short Dramas" in 2024. At the same time, 8 creative directions are also proposed in the plan, including rural revitalization, historical and cultural cities, intangible cultural heritage, cultural relics, feelings and spirit of family and country, Chinese stories, urban civilization and natural landscapes, which make the creative direction clearer and more focused for the micro-short drama.
With the creation plan released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, cultural tourism micro-short dramas have become a "regular army", and a series of cultural tourism micro-short dramas have appeared in front of the public.
The spin-off drama "My Way Home" is windy" in this year's Spring Festival, and since it was launched on the platform, it has been deeply loved by everyone, and the number of broadcasts on the drama platform has quickly exceeded 100 million, and the highest number of views of a single episode is nearly 20 million. This short drama tells the story of the protagonist's return to his hometown in Sichuan from the city and combines the pastoral nature with the intangible cultural heritage food of Sichuan, behind which the story of the protagonist's self-growth is conveyed to the public, it also promotes the intangible cultural heritage food culture of Leshan, Sichuan and shows the cityscape. This drama was also selected into the recommended program list of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for the 2024 Spring Festival High-quality Micro-short Drama Promotion Conference.
In addition, "Mr. Gu's White Moonlight" in Luoyang, Henan, "The Legend of Tiannan Lingquan" in Jianshui, Yunnan, "Another Me" in Wuyuan, Jiangxi, as well as "Tianya Little Nyonya" focusing on national tide culture, "Jinyue Ansheng" about traditional opera culture, and "Flying Youth" dedicated to the development of rural agricultural tourism...... After the release of the micro-short drama creation plan, micro-short dramas have sprung up.
However, in addition to the micro-short dramas that have been filmed and broadcast, local cultural and tourism bureaus and relevant departments have also launched many policy supports for micro-short dramas, providing a more solid "soil" for the creation and development of micro-short dramas. Mango TV's "Big Mango Project Studio" has released a new strategy for mango micro-short dramas, and has launched a number of micro-short dramas on the platform, such as Macao-themed "The Secret Between Us", "I Wait for the Sea Breeze to Embrace You" in Quanzhou Fishing Village, and "Your Island Has Arrived" in Changde Peach Blossom Spring, involving the characteristics of Macao, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong and other places, leading the public to experience cultural tourism in various places.
The Guangdong Provincial Radio and Television Bureau has made every effort to promote the collection of micro-short dramas, jointly discussed and promoted the development of online micro-short dramas, and added a special selection project for the theme of "following the micro-short dramas to Guangdong" to encourage the production of micro-short dramas in Guangdong Province; at the same time, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area has also established a short drama film and television industry base; the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau has issued a creative plan of "following the micro-short dramas to travel and travel to Beijing", aiming to create a number of micro-short dramas through the in-depth integration of Beijing's various cultural characteristics in the form of micro-short dramas.
As of March, 14 micro-short drama projects have been reserved, and more than 110 project outlines have been evaluated and demonstrated; in April, Asia Television Digital Media Co., Ltd. released the "Kunpeng Plan", which will open classic IP for adaptation, and invest 1 billion yuan per year for the creation and shooting of micro-short dramas. Under the guidance of the cooperation and policies of all parties and localities, the creation of micro-short dramas based on cultural tourism in the mainland is becoming a new trend, or there will be a blowout growth and development.
Why choose a mini-series?
When "cultural tourism + micro-short drama" has become a new track in the industry, the local cultural and tourism bureaus have once again "involuted" to allow more professional teams to enter this track and support the creation of micro-short dramas. However, from the help of film and television to cultural tourism to the combination of micro-short drama form and cultural tourism, what are the advantages of micro-short dramas?
First, from the perspective of form, the characteristics of short time and fragmentation are in line with the behavioral rhythm of contemporary young people. Micro-short dramas are generally narrative short videos with a single episode duration of less than ten minutes, which are small in size, short in duration, and fast-paced, which are in line with the current young people's pursuit of fast-paced and fragmented entertainment, and have become the public's "subway reading", the new "electronic mustard", which can be relaxed and pleasant without spending too much time.
The second is that from the core point of view, the plot is compact, the structure is simplified, and the content directly allows people's emotions to be cathartic. Due to the short duration of the micro-short drama, it will try to quickly enter the theme in a limited time, reduce foreshadowing, and capture the core story, so it is also called a "cool drama" by the audience, but because of the time constraint, the audience's curiosity will drive them to continue watching, quickly drive people's emotions, and meet the psychological needs of users.
In the situation of the explosion of traditional micro-short dramas, the creation of cultural tourism micro-short dramas is nothing more than adding certain cultural and tourism elements to these micro-short dramas, so as to achieve the effect of promoting local characteristics. But as more and more "players" enter the game, it is actually difficult to stand out by relying on such a simple "routine", judging from the cultural tourism micro-short dramas that have been launched on the market, in fact, the combination of the two, through different plots, can stimulate more accurate and richer cultural and tourism elements, truly achieve diversified content, and attract audiences.
The first is to tell about intangible cultural heritage crafts and promote classical and traditional culture. "A Dream Pillow Galaxy" tells the story of the intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Su Fan, integrating the culture of Jiangnan water towns into the development of Suzhou city, and adding elements such as gardens and Kunqu opera in Suzhou. There is also "Memories of Wu Xian Technique", which covers the five unique representative intangible cultural heritage items of Wuxi, and uses a small plot to let the audience understand the representative culture of Chongqing's intangible cultural heritage.
The second is to pay attention to the natural scenery and show the natural advantages of the filming location. For example, the short drama "Return to Chongli", which focuses on ice and snow resources, can feel the beauty and charm of ice and snow in Chongli, "Summer Takes Out the Island of Love" shows the audience the scenery of the small island in Huizhou, Guangdong, and "I Wait for the Sea Breeze to Embrace You", which vividly shows the nature and urban style of Xiaoqiao Beach in Quanzhou, Fujian, Chengdong Street in Fengze District, Donghai Taihe Square, and Qingshan Bay Scenic Area in Xiakeng Village, Shanxia Town.
The third is to pay attention to local culture and focus on humanistic characteristics. The drama "My Way Home" promotes a variety of local Sichuan delicacies such as stilted beef, money eggs, Dengying beef, and roast duck, which makes the audience "salivate". There is also "Love Little Food Light" invested by Xi'an Qujiang Film and Television, which presents gourd chicken, dough, and stonefish from many places in Shaanxi...... It also integrates the cultural activities with unique regional characteristics of Qinhua rock.
Avoid becoming an "earthy" plot promotional video
The popularity of cultural tourism micro-short dramas has soared, and everyone has also found new traffic passwords, and they have joined this track one after another. We all know that this is the outlet, but is it really feasible to "follow the trend"? Although it is not a rare phenomenon to follow the trend in the market, how to step on this outlet is the key.
- Don't rush into the game and be short-sighted
Compared with the production of traditional film and television dramas, the production of micro-short dramas seems to have a small cost, and may be completed in a few days or weeks, and the production budget is relatively low. Not only did it be produced and filmed by individuals, but the Bureau of Culture and Tourism, which had a "professional team", felt that it was "easy". Recently, the frequent appearance of cultural tourism micro-short dramas has also let us see that the inevitable result of rashly entering the game is that not every film will reap the desired results, compared with the super high broadcast volume of "My Way Home" exceeded 100 million, "Linping, Set Off to Happiness" and "Take You to a Good Place" The broadcast volume of "Linping, Departure to Happiness" and "Take You to a Good Place" is only over one million, and the gap is very large.
Space detectives consult relevant information, the current production cost of traditional short dramas is about hundreds of thousands, and if you want to return to the cost, in addition to the production cost, the streaming on various online platforms is the biggest expense. In addition, the cost of micro-short dramas with cultural tourism themes is relatively higher. Generally, traditional short dramas adopt a payment model, which is based on the content to achieve the "payment point", which is commonly known as the "cool point", but if the cultural tourism short drama also adopts the payment model for the sake of income, there is no conflict "cool point", and anyone is willing to spend money on the cultural tourism micro-short drama that focuses on healing? To some extent, the slow pace and feeling of the nature of travel and the "cool and fast" of the micro-short drama may also be contrary.
- Content is king, not just a promotional video
One of the major characteristics of micro-short dramas is that the time is short, and the traditional micro-short dramas have created character conflicts and reversals in a limited time, so they have attracted many audiences, but cultural tourism to do micro-short dramas is more about feeling the cityscape and humanistic characteristics, and it needs a certain plot support.
The integration of micro-short dramas and cultural tourism needs to let the audience deepen their impression of the city through the imagination of the story, and the content is always the center. The reason why Hebei Cultural Tourism's "Waiting for You for 3,000 Years" is so popular is that he has portrayed the love story of the male and female protagonists "past and present lives", from the first meeting in the Warring States Period to the encounter after the crossing, and has launched a love affair for 3,000 years, which also confirms the historical core of the city "Handan" that has not changed its name for 3,000 years. But there are also unsatisfactory ones, "Coastline Jumping Chacha" in Siming District, Xiamen, and "The World is Another Me" in Wuyuan, Jiangxi, everyone's impression after watching only thinks that this is a traditional tourism promotional film with a "local flavor" plot, and it seems that it has not achieved organic integration.
To sum up, since the beginning of this year, with the support of more relevant national policies, the cultural tourism micro-short drama track seems to be thriving, but there is still a lot of homework to be done on this road of exploration. The outlets of the market are one after another, and we can't just think about the psychology of "small and broad" to do cultural tourism micro-short dramas, only by understanding the underlying logic before coming in, can we make high-quality cultural tourism micro-short dramas, promote the development of cultural tourism and micro-short dramas, and achieve a "win-win". At the current starting stage, although we enter the game with an optimistic attitude, the future is uncertain, and we should take precautions first.