Annotated bibliography

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Barraclough, E., 2016. The rise of China’s film industry. [Online]

Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2016/02/article_0004.html

This script from “Rising in the East” tries to explain the incredible growth of Chinese film market in recent years. The success of box office of Chinese film industry has already drawn lots of attentions from the others, even like Hollywood which has dominated the world film market for half a century but will face the fact that it is losing the position as the biggest film market in the world. This source, not just giving the numbers and data, but also trying to discover the details behind this growth. It indicates the existence Hengdian World Studios which is the largest film lot on the planet and its great contribution on the industry. It tells about the story of a one-time Chinese food deliveryman in New York, Dennis Wang, now the chairman of Huayi Bros which is one of the largest studios in the country. In the interview with Wang, he shows his very ambition of making English-language films to compete with Hollywood in next five years as a move of expanding the business. It also includes interviews with other popular figures in the industry like director Lu Chuan, who directed a very controversial film ‘City of Life and Death’ about the story of the capital Nanking after being occupied by Japanese Imperial Army during the WW2. In this short but interesting interview, issues like censorship, ideology and history which are all sensitive but inevitable for the industry are mentioned. In sum, the people being interviewed here are all significant contributors and participators of the Chinese film market. Studying their opinions with the data will be helpful.

 

Williams, Holly, 2016. Rising in the East. [Online]

Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-china-film-industry-booming/

This article written by Emma Barraclough tries to give a full-scaled image of the booming film industry in China. She divides her main arguments into three ‘subplot’: Movie ticket sales surge, Government policy and Technological ecosystems. The first one is also about the success of box office, while what I find interesting is the second and third part. In the part of government policy, the author gives credits to the government for the efforts of intellectual property (IP) protection, which she thinks is significant for making China creative in terms of culture in order to compete with those developed countries. This is something I don’t usually see from the foreign comments on the government policy in China. There are many criticisms both inside and outside the country saying the censorship system of films and TVs restricts the creativity. However, it is worth discussing now that whether the government always plays a negative role on this. The third part introduce some new trends of watching films nowadays in China. The BAT (search engine Baidu, ecommerce business Alibaba and social media company Tencent.) tries to offer more choices for people to watch films: not only buy ticket for cinema, but also watch online through their platforms. This will certainly make the competition more intensive and various. Is this the future of film in China? A debate can be started for this.

 

Bibliography

Barraclough, E., 2016. The rise of China’s film industry. [Online]
Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2016/02/article_0004.html
[Accessed 1 August 2016].

Rosen, S., 2015. How Hollywood and the Chinese film industry are eyeing each other off. [Online]
Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/how-hollywood-and-the-chinese-film-industry-are-eyeing-each-other-off-20150603-ghfly9.html
[Accessed 1 August 2016].

Sun, R., 2016. Hollywood and China: A Fad or Future of the Film Industry?. [Online]
Available at: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-china-a-fad-future-887134
[Accessed 1 August 2016].

Williams, Holly, 2016. Rising in the East. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-china-film-industry-booming/
[Accessed 1 August 2016].

 

Week two reading log

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Chris Lederer & Megan Brownlow, ‘’A World of Differences’: Special Report: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2016-2020’. Price Waterhouse Cooper

 

This report focuses on assessing the global growth of E&M (Entertainment and media companies) in recent years and also looks ahead its future in 2020. The data allows us to view and analyze the trend of this industry in different countries and regions in terms of sectors, business modules and ages etc. The overall industry growth is lagging behind the global GDP growth, as introduced at the beginning, but if looking into a closer examination, E&M is so diverse and dynamic in specific regions and sectors. For example, the Internet as a strong sector compared with traditional entertainment (pp.9) and developing countries as dynamic markets compared with large economies (pp.8).

The report also gives some interesting prospects, like the young people contribute to the growth, cultures and tastes will remain local while industry is growing globally and US’s leading position in box revenue will be challenged by China. Regardless how likely these will eventually come true, as media workers we must be aware of them and ready ourselves for the multi-shifting global media industry. Specifically, if you wish to start your career in a country which has strong local culture and tradition (like China), it is necessary to study and adapt yourself to it first. If you are creating content for young consumers, you have to know what are the most popular trends around them and make your product suitable to it.

Reading log week one

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Klaus Schwab, 2016, The Fourth Industrial Revolution (World Economic Forum), pp.14-26, 47-50, 67-73, 91-104.

 

This article introduces the concept of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, which according to the author will soon happen, some are already happening, to change the ways of living of mankind. Unlike the first and second revolutions which mainly changed the ways of producing goods and improved our material life, the fourth revolution, as a further development of the third revolution (Internet), will be digital and change the ways of working and communicating.

The Article first introduces some new technologies like 3D printing and advanced robotics that will lead to and drive the revolution, and then explains a concept called ‘human cloud’ which I’m especially interested in because I think this is pretty much what will happen in the future media industry. As the author said, ‘a virtual cloud of aspiring workers located anywhere in the world… Where providers of labour are no longer the employees in traditional sense but rather independent workers who perform specific tasks.’ (pp.48), will become the new working mode of media industry.

Nowadays, media are strongly connected with the Internet, millions of digital contents like video, photo and even social media are produced and shared online. Although films and TVs are still a big part of media industry, but will it be able to stay away from the rapid changes led by the revolution? I don’t think so. Of Course many people still like to go to cinema and watch shows on TV, but the revolutionary technologies will eventually change the way and it is inevitable. As a result, when those technologies change the way of people using media and most things are online or on the cloud, we as media workers would have to adapt ourselves to the new working mode mentioned above.

Website page

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Now at the end of this semester, it is time to reflect on what I have learnt and achieved so far.

 

In the first half of the semester, what we focused on are the basic theories and skills that would be very helpful for us to practice our own projects later. It includes the basic functions of EX-3 camera like how to adjust exposure, white balance and focus which are the things I frequently used during my shooting. We also got a basic of understanding on the sound recording, which I think is the most challenging things for me because I always forgot how to make the sound mixer work. As a result, I must say the sound part of my short film is not satisfying at all, even I did lots of postproduction works to fix the soundtracks but it still has lots of problems with the sound. Therefore next year, I will pay more attentions on sound recording to improve my relevant skills.

 

For the short film I have done, there are lots of things to say. Before I started to shoot, I never thought it would be such challenging and after I finished it, it looks completely different from what I expected. As mentioned in my previous posts, at the beginning I was struggling should the story itself be easy and logical enough to understand if I decide to make it experimental at the same time by some unusual approaches like using subtitles and voice over. But soon I realized that I can’t make it both reasonable and abstract at the same time, which means I can only focus on practicing the experimental devices, or telling a story which makes sense like normal drama. As a result, I decided to focus on the devices rather than plot. A story of a man who might have mental problems is not able to speak when wakes up on Sunday morning, which he call it ‘lost my language’. Actually, there are many ways to understand what happened to him: a bad dream, consequences of alcoholic hallucinosis, or due to some reasons he has to repeating the day. All of these can be possible, and even myself don’t know which one is true. But what I do know is, in terms of practicing the devices I haven’t used before, this film (or whatever you call it) is something I was meant to make. Indeed, it is abstract, ambiguous, and even wired. However, I value it because I have proven my ability to turn the ideas in my mind to reality, even just partly, but it is still a good feeling to do that.

 

This course has offered me an amazing experience. I should say thanks to Robin and all the others who helped me to improve myself. I may not be a filmmaker eventually, but the skills I have learnt through this course is something always useful in my future career. Goodbye and see you next year!

 

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something about collaboration

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Collaboration is always important in teamwork, and we have done a lot of teamwork through the semester.  I must say I have met many wonderful people in this class. They are all passionate, talent and creative which I can’t be more sure after watching their films again and again. Through working with them, I see the weakness I have and the strength I can learn from them. It is a double-win for all of us.

I should thank Lisha and Mona first, who help me a lot shooting my film. As I said to everyone in the first class, I have no experience of shooting a film or documentary at all, not to mention the camera and tripod. They teach me the skills they have learnt in last semester while shooting, and explain the things I was confused in class. It is impossible for myself to do a film especially I have to be the actor as well, so after setting up the camera and showing the storyboard to them, they helped me to shoot most of the scenes in my film. As a director, I firstly experience the challenges of getting everything under my control and making sure everyone knows what he or she is doing. Sometime I have pictures in my mind, but it is really hard to share it with others. When I work with other guys in class exercises, I keep telling them the ideas I have and let them know what I am thinking and wondering, of course, in a good manner. I don’t think someone might get angry because I said some of my opinions which he or she might disagree, since we are all going to be professional. For me, I never refuse to listen when working with others, no matter who he is because I don’t take any personal opinions on anyone when working, and I believe most of the people in this class have the same thought with me.

Anyway, communication and collaboration both play significant roles throughout the semester. I enjoy the time working with my colleges and I expect to work with most of them again in future.

Week 12 reflection

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Here it is, this semester is about to end. I have got my project 3/4 finished, and I am trying to make it a completed film, but not sure if there will be enough time to do the rest of it. Anyway, I have already learnt a lot. After talking to Robin about my problems, I find my way now: if it is gonna to be something, it should only be that thing. My film talks about a story that a man lost his language ability due to the loneliness he suffers. This thing doesn’t in real world.  Some people may have autism due to some reasons, but no one will experience the same thing that man experiences in the film. So why I am trying to making sense at all?  It is totally a world I invent, which means things can happen just because I want it to happen. With this privilege as a film maker, I am able to focuses on something else rather than the plot. For example, like the use of subtitles, images and voice over, I should maximize and emphasize the certain effects of them on audience. Once I decide to use these experimental elements, I should already give up the ordinary narrative and structure of the story. Trying something new rather than doing the things you already know how to do. I think this is just the aim of this course and in terms of doing that, I achieved my goal.

download images Out-Loud-Voice Xiaochen #1 Xiaochen #2

Week 11 class reflection

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This week in class we talk about how to use PR to achieve some specific effects on our footage. For example, adding color correction, subtitles and transitions. These things are extremely useful for us and fortunately I have already learnt these skills when I was creating some MVs during my high school. But apparently there are still many things I need to know about PR, AE and AU. I should find some tutorials on YouTube just like I did before and spend time on it.

 

Here is a screenshot of my PR file. Actually, it is not completed yet..

 

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Week 10 reflection

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This week is a busy shooting week. I have done lots of shooting with Mona, Lisha and other my colleges. But to be honest, the result is not satisfying for me. I start to realize how ambitious and difficult the whole thing is and I lack the ability to control it. For example, the problems happened in class happens again, the sound mixer doesn’t work well, which means I need to re-record the conversation latter in studio as well as the environment sounds. I also start to ask myself, what sort of film I am making? It should be not like the ordinary drama, but I worry about if it is too abstract so that people can’t get it. But if I focus on making sense for the story, it becomes strange especially the subtitles and voice over, which seems unnecessary at all if I want to tell a ordinary story of an ordinary man. So I start to consider which way I will go: the abstract and experimental film which is ambiguous form the beginning to the end, or a half-drama and half-documentary film which tells a clear and logical story.  There is not much time to consider, I should meet with Robin next week and discuss this with him.

Week 9 reflection

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This week I have done the first part of shooting, and I show them to Robin and get some very useful advice: I should slow it down. This is gonna to be a film reflecting a man’s complicated inside world and because of that there should be enough time for audience to understand what is happening. I can make more shots on him and focus on his body language and expression. Slow the whole thing down and give time to audience. This is the most important thing I should remember when shooting next scene on weekends.

 

Besides, the class this week focuses on the lighting stuff. I was absent because I had sore eyes and felt ill, but after watching the video my classmates shot in class, I have learnt a lot. The lighting is such a complicated technique which requires time and efforts to improve. I really wish I can practice the skill with those equipment used in class, but most of my scenes are outside and maybe I should get familiar to capture the natural light first before I start to focus on the inside lighting equipment. Hopefully I will practice them in next semester.

Week 8 reflection

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This week I draws some storyboard which I think will be helpful when I start to shoot next week. It includes the shots I may have in the first and second scene, but I am sure some of them will be changed later during the shooting according to the situations on the day.

 

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