After five days of prosperity, the first China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, the largest in China, came to an end in Hangzhou recently. It seems that the animation industry in China is showing a thriving development trend. This new culture with strong vitality is widely welcomed by the younger generation and may dominate the future fashion. But if you dig deeper, bottlenecks will also appear-
Talent: An Awkward Topic
The lack of integrated use of talents and the resulting brain drain have become the source of the embarrassing situation of the original animation industry in China. The animation industry in full swing also highlights the imbalance between supply and demand in the relevant talent market, which also indicates new opportunities, which in turn has spawned an investment boom in animation education. Many well-known universities, such as Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Broadcasting Institute, Zhejiang University and China Academy of Fine Arts, have specially set up animation departments and trained a large number of high-level and high-quality talents.
However, the problem of talent shortage is still very prominent. Wang Zhongling, deputy general manager of Beijing Founder Yule Culture Development Co., Ltd., said that Jilin Art Institute and other institutions trained the first batch of animation professionals in China in 2004, with more than 300 junior college students. However, due to the low treatment of the animation industry, it is not as attractive as advertising, print media design, architectural design and other industries, so only 20% of the talents remain in the animation industry. He said that in 2006, there will be 260 college graduates majoring in animation in Peking University Founder Software College, but according to his prediction, among these 260 people, no more than 20% will stay in the animation industry.
Zhang Dayou, head of Beijing Founder Company, said that with the quiet rise of animation industry in China, a large number of foreign animation companies entered China. While exploring the animation market, these foreign animation companies attract talents with rich profits, which makes domestic animation companies generally unable to establish a complete technical team due to "ischemia".
It is understood that the animation talents currently cultivated in China are mainly low-end producers and high-end pure researchers, and the structure is unbalanced. There is a big gap between pre-planning and creative talents of animation, which makes the fast-developing animation industry in China encounter bottlenecks. An animation producer said that there are excellent talents in the mainland, but they have not been excavated. Guo Feng, conference director of the Hong Kong Comic Association, appealed: "Don't let the United States create our Mulan, let alone fabricate the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and sell it to China. Many people of insight pointed out that the rapid development of animation industry in China urgently needs a large number of creative talents with artist temperament, and the cultivation of such talents should start from an early age.
Capital and Policy: The Most Realistic Reality
According to experts, the animation industry in China, especially the animation industry, has fallen into a vicious circle: lack of funds-it is difficult to improve the quality of works-the return on investment is low-investors lose confidence-and funds are even more scarce. The urgent task is to find an operation mode with small investment, quick effect and high return rate, so as to restore investors' confidence in the animation industry as much as possible and improve their investment enthusiasm. Liu Yanyan, editor-in-chief of Comic Dealer, suggested that the way out and hope of China animation lies in Flash. This kind of animation form with low cost, wide communication channels and easy operation is most suitable for the development of animation in China.
Liu Yanyan believes that Hollywood-style investment of millions of dollars can't be done in China, and this way is not needed. On the contrary, the model of the famous work "The Voice of the Stars" by Japanese animation newcomer Xing Haicheng is worth learning from China. From the drawing shooting to the later editing and dubbing, only he and his assistant completed it, and the total cost was only 700,000 yen (about 5,000 yuan), but it well expressed the author's creative intention and showed the author's unique style. He said that only by jumping out of the vicious circle of commercial operation first can the animation industry in China enter the right track of steady progress.
In addition to the funding bottleneck, there are also policy issues. Wang Zhongling, deputy general manager of Founder Company, said that there are many management departments in the animation industry, including the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Press and Publication Administration and the Ministry of Education. Many departments want to be "competent" departments, and share a piece of the animation feast, thus forming different policies. For enterprises, the "policy signal" is too confusing, which affects the development of animation enterprises.
Piracy: Black Boy of Native Original Animation
In the process of animation industrialization in China, many people will mention the cartoon image of "Blue Cat", which is almost regarded as the most successful template. Up to now, "Blue Cat Naughty 3000 Questions" has completed more than five seasons 1700 episodes, and is currently broadcast on more than 700 TV stations. Its industrial chain has extended to more than 6,600 products in more than a dozen industries such as books, audio and video, stationery and toys.
However, with the popularity of products, "Blue Cat" has been targeted by pirates. According to the statistics of Chen San Group, the profits of pirates are about 9 times that of genuine ones. The huge market involved in the "Blue Cat" brand has also been eroded by infringers, and counterfeit "Blue Cat" products have been found in markets such as clothing, schoolbags, stationery and children's shoes. However, the animation work "I'm Crazy for Singing" of Meiying Factory has only developed audio-visual and book products so far, but some small commodity wholesale markets all over the country have long been filled with all kinds of goods printed with the characters in "I'm Crazy for Singing", such as key chains, pencil boxes and notebooks.
Founder said that the new film released in Japan on Friday night 18: 00 can be downloaded to the Chinese subtitle version online on Saturday afternoon. An officially authorized cartoon (big 32 packs) is RMB in 9.8 yuan, and a pirated cartoon (small 32 packs) is RMB in 4.2 yuan; The price of a genuine animated DVD is 15 ~ 20 RMB, while the price of a pirated DVD is the most expensive only in 8 yuan. If you buy in large quantities, you can even drop below 6 yuan.
He said that the evil consequences of piracy will not only make genuine manufacturers lose money, but also have a far-reaching impact. In the long run, it will lead to the loss of domestic animation original personnel and inhibit people's creativity. The reason why the state restricts the introduction of foreign works is also to protect local originality.
Quote: External heat and internal cold belong to virtual fire.
Recently, the animation boom is getting higher and higher, and the Yangtze River Delta region is even more eager to blow the "animation typhoon". According to incomplete statistics, there were no fewer than ten comic-con exhibitions held in the Yangtze River Delta region from July to August last year. In this regard, many experts pointed out: "Comic-con exhibitions are held frequently, but the form and content are basically the same, indicating that the industrial chain is not perfect and it is a' virtual fire'. ″
According to the analysis, the development of animation industry is generally from animation serialization to stand-alone computer, to animation, and then to the emergence of animation derivative products. Wang Zhongling, vice president of Founder Company, said that according to China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, the animation industrialization in China is a bit too hasty at present.
Zhang Songlin, vice president of China Animation Society, said that a mature industrial market must have a complete and smooth industrial value chain. The chain model of animation industry basically includes such a series of links: the creation and production of film and television cartoons-the broadcast and screening of TV stations and cinemas-the publication and distribution of animation books-the distribution of audio-visual products-the authorized agent of copyright formation-the development and marketing of derivative products. In these links, animation creation and production are dominant. Without excellent comics and famous comic stars, all development and management are empty talk.
Some people compare original animation and derivative products to the relationship between chicken and egg. "Good chickens can lay more eggs. Animation is successful, and its derivative products can sell well, so it should not put the cart before the horse. For Wei, the boss of Beijing Chensan Film Library Company, Blue Cat is the success of production first, and then the market effect and industrial development brought by continuous broadcasting. It is understood that "Blue Cat" was put into the market two years after its production, and it has been broadcast for four years now. At present, on this basis, Chen San Group has formed three pillar industries: publishing, stationery, shoes and clothing.
"Relying on the brand of' Blue Cat' is just a drop in the bucket, and China animation needs to constantly shape a new brand image." Wei lai believes. Brand image is the first step, and the subsequent industrial development is the greatest value. It is reported that the brand value evaluation of "Blue Cat" has exceeded 2 billion yuan.