The positive energy that erupts in the two-dimensional world

The positive energy that erupts in the two-dimensional world

——Observation of China's online animation market in the first half of 2021

Author: Song Lei, member of the China Literary and Art Critics Association and director of the Development Research Department of China Animation Group

In 2020, the scale of online audio-visual users in China reached 944 million, and the market size of the pan-network audio-visual field was 600.91 billion yuan, an increase of 32.3% over 2019. As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more users starting or getting used to consuming audiovisual content online. Among them, network animation is not only an important program form in the online audio-visual market, but also has become one of the most dynamic areas of the Chinese animation market.

The cumulative number of hits of the web animation "Douluo Continent" exceeded the 30 billion mark in June 2021, which is a milestone achievement. In the first half of 2021, Tencent, Station B, iQiyi, Youku and other online video platforms broadcast 53 new online animation works, and 228 online animations were recorded, far higher than the same period last year. At the same time, station B has more than 32,000 virtual anchors launched in the past year, an increase of 40% year-on-year, and virtual idols are becoming a new format that cannot be ignored in the field of online animation.

The main theme has attracted much attention

In 2019, the web animation "The Windsman", launched to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth, allowed the two-dimensional audience to re-understand Marx through animation. This is the first time that Chinese animation has borrowed Western characters to express our mainstream values. After achieving good ratings, more and more animations with the theme of the main theme began to choose network broadcasting, or even premiere.

Learn the current political animation "New Journey, Dance!" launched by the learning press. Through the discourse of young people, it explains current political theories such as "new development stage" and "new development pattern". The work is in-depth and simple, and in a relaxed and humorous style, it is warmly welcomed by netizens.

"The Dream of Green Water and Green Mountains in Xiajiang Village" tells the story of Xi Jinping and six other contact points for the zhejiang provincial party secretary at the time, the story of poverty alleviation in Xiajiang Village. Through the old Zhishu's memories of the past, the video UP master and the village boy's personal experience of the new life, the film compares the happiness of today's lower ginger and draws a blueprint for the future next ginger.

"The Diary of the King" tells the story of a young man who supports teaching and taking root in a poor mountain village. From poverty alleviation to rural revitalization, the changes in the picture are the true portrayal of China's thousands of villages. When the film was created, it investigated poor households in many places in northern Jiangsu Province, and was filmed in Yangchan Village, Shexian County, Anhui Province, which made the plot of this realistic theme work more realistic and more grounded. At the same time, the film also creatively takes a cat nicknamed "The King" as the protagonist, and sees the changes in the mountain village from the perspective of the cat, which is very childlike and imaginative.

New and old brands are frequently highlighted

In the first half of 2021, many well-known works of online animation launched sequels, and a number of new animation brands were born, forming a good ecology with frequent highlights of new and old brands.

In terms of old brands, Qingqingshu Animation launched "The Special Path of Kuiba", which continued the creative characteristics of paying attention to humanity and emotion in the "Kuiba" series, and network animation also effectively continued the vitality of this brand work. "Wu Liu Qi's Xuanwu Guo" continues to extend the plot around the life of a top killer, when the killer becomes sentient, the world is moved, and the unique two-dimensional hand-drawn style also makes the film attract countless fans. "The Bad Man Who Painted the Rivers and Lakes" launched the fourth season, this season can be called the peak of the entire series of works, the plot is suspenseful and full of tension, especially borrowing the customs and customs of southern China, portraying the female image of Xuan Meng, who dares to love and hate, and has a great righteousness, as well as a group of heroes who let young audiences find their own identity and vision. In addition to the above-mentioned adult-oriented animation, the children's animation "Deer Almond" also aired the second season, and Almond and her friends continue to experience the troubles of growing up, growing up in the process, and learning to tolerate and love.

In terms of new works, the "Pillow Knife Song" produced by the third animation tells the story of a young man's revenge journey that is gradually confused, the plot has a certain depth, and the cleverly designed martial arts action makes netizens directly addicted. "Mountain River Sword Heart" is based on the online novel "Qianqiu", and its protagonist always has his original heart and does not change his original heart no matter what kind of setbacks and tribulations he suffers, touching the opponent and also touching the audience. "Agent of Time" and "Kingdom of Secret Treasures" cleverly set up a worldview, bringing the audience into a new world with both familiar elements and fresh ideas. "Thoughts" is a female to network animation work, written and directed by female directors, bringing a new wind to the market.

It is particularly noteworthy that virtual idols have gradually become a craze in the field of online animation. Many animation characters act as anchors and carry out live broadcasts as virtual idols, and also produce online animation works with the main purpose of shaping virtual idol stars. Virtual idols are an important product form in the development of online animation media, and are very popular in Countries such as Japan. According to statistics, in 2020, the core industry scale of China's virtual idols will be 3.46 billion yuan, and the scale of virtual idols driving the surrounding market will reach 64.56 billion yuan. As a virtual idol that Generation Z is keen to consume, its market value cannot be underestimated, and its content needs to be guided by standardization.

Animation support on online video platforms has entered the stage of talent war

The support and investment of China's online video platform for online animation has gone through two stages: large-scale audition in the early 2010s and overseas animation procurement boom in the mid-1910s, and has gradually entered the third stage of refined audition in the past two or three years.

In May 2021, Tencent Video launched the "China Young Animation Director Support Program", which collects animation ideas for professional groups such as college students, independent animation directors, and animation companies, and provides financial support and resource support without capping. Coincidentally, Youku also cooperated with the Beijing Film and Television Animation Association to launch the "101 Nights" Young Animation Director Booster Program, which will support 8 projects, start with a million prize money and a cash prize pool of more than 5 million yuan.

It is particularly noteworthy that unlike the early "Tencent Animation Competition" and Youku's "Creative Plan", the new support plans of these online video platforms invariably focus on animation directors, not just animation ideas and animation projects themselves. This marks that the market competition of China's network animation has entered a new stage of talent war. Good ideas and projects are always available, but good people are the scarcest resource. Whoever can win the talent will win the leading position in the future war.

There is still a lot of room for improvement in the creation and operation of network animation

Although online animation presents a diversified situation in terms of themes, the level of creation is still uneven, and there are still many works in content that do not pay attention to the guidance of core values. For example, in "KryptonIan Gold Player", the idea of worshiping money is rampant, and if you have money, you can have everything and you can make rules at will, which is seriously inconsistent with core values. For another example, at present, there are a large number of homogeneous cool dramas with the theme of cultivation and cultivation of immortals in the Chinese network animation market. "The Lord of the Martial Gods", "The One-Step Escape", "The Spirit Sword Zun", "Devouring the Starry Sky", "Wudong Qiankun", "Fighting through the Sky", "The Snow Eagle Lord", "The Solipsism of the Solipsism", "The One-Worlds One-Lord", "The Star Martial God Recipe", "The Shuluo Sword Zun", etc., most of these works promote the hierarchical concept of people divided into three, six, and nine grades, advocate the American hegemonism of the supremacy of strength, and there are problems of beautifying violence and indifferent to the idea of rule of law. Watching such animations a lot, it is difficult to say that it will not have a negative impact on the minds of teenagers.

In fact, domestic online video platforms often consider more from the perspective of the market when creating online animation content, and rarely have value-oriented censorship. That situation should be reversed.

From the operational point of view, the operation of network animation can also learn more from overseas advanced models. For example, a very important feature of overseas network animation is channelization, which is operated by animation companies that open exclusive channels on the video platform. This model is worth learning from Chinese online animation enterprises and platforms. For example, Japan's "Devil's Blade" adapted a subsequent plot into a film screening after the launch of the animated series, achieving a record excellent box office performance. Such as "Douluo Continent" such as the domestic network animation famous fan, may not always be in order to carry out weekly changes, such as "small dance sacrifice" such a heavyweight plot, if the layout in advance to launch the film version, with the help of the "Douluo Continent" brand audience base, in the film market to get a good income is absolutely expected. (Song Lei)

Source: Guangming Network - Literary And Art Review Channel