"Jingu Liang Wen Huang", once occupied the childhood memories of several generations of people with film and television adaptations, and now only Wen Ruian is left, and the night rain in the rivers and lakes is lonely.
Mr. Wen Rui'an's creative career began with a modern poem "Moon" in the third grade of primary school, but he is more well known for his martial arts works, including the constantly remade "Four Famous Catches" and the adaptation of the large-scale online game "Against the Water Cold".
The decline of a generation of martial artists is the question wen Ruian is asked the most, and another question that is constantly being asked by fans is "when will the pit be filled".
"The golden age of Chinese martial arts fiction has passed," Wen Ruian said, and the conversation quickly turned sharply, "the golden age has passed, but the diamond age has arrived, just in the 21st century." ”
Those who know that they cannot do anything and do what they should do are the martial artists in Wen Rui's peace of mind. Wuxia can be seen in the works of Xuan Fantasy and Xian Xia, and even in foreign films "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games", the shadow of Chinese martial arts can also be seen. Wuxia has not disappeared, its spiritual core has always been there, but sometimes it has evolved and changed into something else.
Why it is said that now is the era of better martial arts, another most direct proof is the increase in income. Wen Ryan mentioned, "I had no contribution fees for the previous ten years, Jin Yong gave me a thousand words and 18 pieces, a bowl of noodles and a cup of coffee lived for more than ten years. "Now, at least online literary platforms provide creators with one more choice to grow in the platform content ecology and obtain corresponding income."
If the creators of the novel are divided into pyramids according to their influence, a small group of people standing at the top of the pyramid can also have rich film and television adaptation licensing fees in addition to obtaining manuscript fees. In the first two years, when the IP fever in the film and television circle was high, it was not uncommon for the film and television adaptation rights of a novel to sell for a seven-figure price, but a few years later, film and television investment entered a cold winter, coupled with the failure of a large number of IP dramas, so that this boom quickly subsided. Even so, the works of martial artists such as Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Wen Ruian are still sought-after products that have been repeatedly adapted, and several adaptations have come out almost every year.
Wen Rui'an's "Four Famous Catches" has been adapted into movies and TELEVISION series many times. In addition, for games, online movies, vr, Wen Ruian is also willing to actively try. Although "Against the Cold Water", which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to be adapted into a game, did not meet expectations in terms of actual performance.
Ip's film and television, gamification attempts have great contingency, in contrast, cooperation with online literature platforms is a relatively safe method. On December 16, NetEase Literature signed the exclusive copyright of the complete works of Wen Ruian to jointly incubate martial arts IP.
Fan Shaoqing, general manager of NetEase Literature and Comics Division, believes that in a benign content ecology, head, waist and tail authors are indispensable. "Just like a train, the head author is the locomotive, the waist author is a solid load, and with the huge bottom support, this train can run normally."
The exclusive signing of Wen Ruian's complete works is the embodiment of NetEase Literature's strategy of obtaining head IP.
However, what is a better platform model is not only one answer. This year we observed that in the matter of free or paid, head or waist, there are quite a few reading platforms trying another option: free, bringing together a large number of waist authors.
36Kr recently chatted with Wen Ruian and Fan Shaoqing, general manager of NetEase Literature and Comics Division, about martial arts creation and how a benign platform content ecology should work.
(The following is an excerpt from the interview, slightly abridged)
36Kr: A question that everyone is very concerned about is that young people don't watch martial arts anymore, and the golden age of Chinese martial arts novels has passed?
Wen Ruian: The golden age of Chinese martial arts novels has passed, and the diamond period of Chinese martial arts novels is now, in the 21st century. Fantasy novels, Gong Min novels, are all branches of martial arts, "The Lord of the Rings", "The Avengers", you can also see the bridge section of martial arts, why do you think this is not a martial arts? The golden age has reached the diamond age, in fact, everyone is taking the bridge section inside the martial arts, which is the treasure of the martial arts.
36Kr: If Xuan Xian Xiu Xian and even foreign films can be regarded as martial arts, in your opinion, how should martial arts be defined?
Wen Ryan: He who knows that he cannot do anything and does what he should do is for the hero. Mainly this righteous word, justice, courtesy, chivalry, love, righteousness. Many people wonder if this is a martial art, whether the martial arts are fallen, just like Mr. Cha said that there is tolerance is great, and finally the hundred rivers enter the sea, and the Emei school is passed on to the Shaolin school, it does not matter, as long as the Chinese martial arts are carried forward, the spirit of Chinese martial arts can be inherited.
36 Kr: After Mr. Cha passed away, you wrote "Lonely and immortal, making the fox invincible", can you share your feelings with us at that time?
Wen Ryan: You must know that a master has passed, not an era has passed. If Jin Yong's martial arts we give up because we mourn him and become decadent, we will let him down.
36Kr: Fans are very eager for you to continue to "fill the pit", will there be a plan to fill the pit next? In terms of time allocation, do you want to spread more martial arts culture, or concentrate on creation?
Wen Ryan: Jin Yong is all-encompassing, so reading Jin Yong's books requires long-term affection. But seeing that Wen Ryan has to live a long life in addition to long-term love, because I have not finished writing my book, seducing everyone to live a long life (laughs).
I prefer to spend more time with my family and my two children, which is my greatest interest. If I have any spare energy, I will continue to write, give me a piece of paper and a pen and I can write. I don't say that you may not see it, but I am a very good person, and I can only sleep for three or four hours for several days in a row.
36Kr: From the perspective of the platform, has the audience of wuxia novels narrowed?
Fan Shaoqing: If you look at martial arts novels in the narrow sense alone, the reading crowd is not as large as before, but Xuan Fantasy and Xian Xia are all extensions of martial arts, and the audience of martial arts in a broad sense is still very large.
36Kr: How big is the proportion of martial arts novels on the platform, and does the platform take some measures to stimulate the creative end?
Fan Shaoqing: The proportion of martial arts novels is 5%-10%. The platform does not specifically target martial arts to stimulate the creative end, but more to guide the author to use martial arts techniques in character shaping or storyline laying out, so that the characters have a chivalrous spirit.
36Kr: From the perspective of platform content ecology, what is an ideal structure?
Fan Shaoqing: The huge level of creators is uneven, and the head, middle and tail authors are all needed by the platform. Just like a train, the head author is the locomotive, the waist author is a solid load, and with the huge bottom support, the train can run normally.
36 Kr: It's one way of thinking to use head authors to attract readers, but there's another way to bring together a large number of waist authors, and it's free.
Fan Shaoqing: In the past year, there have been many free novels, and online literature has shaped the business model of content payment in 20 years, and everyone has subverted this model in the past year. At least I personally think that free is still debatable, is this a step backwards for content consumption?
36Kr: We have an article that discussed free and paid before, arguing that the free theory of the Internet in the past 20 years has had some signs of "failure", why does it seem to be the other way around in the path of online literature?
Fan Shaoqing: The concept of free Internet is alive, and everyone has different views on a phenomenon. Why in the past year, everyone is exploring the free model, because the user dividend in 2018 has been overdrawn, and the paid users have been converted to the end, and those who do not pay can not use the free way to get it first.
36Kr: Content payment is a basic monetization method, and then it is still through the linkage of IP to obtain greater benefits. But what kind of impact will some policy restrictions on film, television and games have on the upstream?
Fan Shaoqing: The content payment business model of online literature has run through, and it can rely on content to raise content, and IP is a icing on the cake for it, not a charcoal in the snow. IP is not so simple, and even those that have been filmed and television are not necessarily IP, IP is a series of products developed around a character or a story. The user radiation circle formed by the text and manga film game is called the real IP.
36 Kr: The success of IP incubation is very accidental, is there a methodology to follow here?
Fan Shaoqing: There are three important points, first, the three-dimensional character shaping; second, the storyline must be twisted enough; third, the values must be universal. Whether it is fantasy, science fiction, history, or martial arts, doing these three points is not necessarily IP, but to become an IP must have these three points.