CRI听力:Profitable Short Films

Ever since "Old Boys" was first uploaded to the Internet on Oct. 28, 2010, it has been forwarded more than 4 million times. On Youku.com, a popular Chinese video sharing platform, the short film has been viewed over 8 million times.

However, this popular short film took only 16 days to produce with an investment of just 700,000 yuan. Short films, produced on shoestring budgets but bringing in high profits have started to attract interest from serious investors. Here is Wang Yifei, General Manager of Beijing Herun media.

"Currently, a short film only needs several million yuan in terms of investment. Short films with this amount of investment are high quality productions. There are also some short films that can be made with just several hundred thousand yuan."

Wang Yifei says that most short film investors consist of media companies, video sharing websites, as well as big corporate groups. And the profit to be made from these short films comes in the form of advertisements and increased customer awareness of the investing enterprises.

"Through these popular short films, the enterprises wish to reach more target customers. As far as I know, some car manufacturers have invested more than 10 million yuan into short films. There are also some consumer goods enterprises targeting short films."

Although some investors profit from short films, the profit is likely to be considerably less than that made from a good film or television series.

As more people have shown interest in short films, more companies have become involved in producing them or investing in them. The question of how to outperform competitors is the question that most short film production companies are trying to solve. Xu Li is producer of a short film series.

"This form of new media provides a platform without limitation. How to be outstanding among so many competitors? Making a short film into a series is one possible way. A short film series must be better than making a single film, especially in terms of effective communication."

Industrial insiders say the production method of short films nowadays almost reaches the level of production for television series. From photography to editing, all the stages are carried out by professional teams.

The production of short films focuses more on content, as the cost of making short films is comparatively low. This is why audiences rarely see special effects in short films. Furthermore, most short film plotlines are close to the everyday life of normal people. Xu Li talks about her understanding of short films.

"Small indicates a concept of being concentrated. The content should be more elaborate."

Thanks to the increasing effectiveness of short films, many large enterprises have started to produce their own short films in an effort to promote their brand and image.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Wan.