Short short play "saves" Hengdian ensemble

In 2023, the micro-short drama track was very popular, and Hengdian also became the filming location for many micro-short drama crews. Many extras in micro-short dramas satisfied their "acting addiction" and also provided many extras with a way out. This article will introduce it in detail, and you can take a look if you are interested.

It was a little after 9 o'clock in the evening and special extra Yang Shuping had just finished work. "I've been very busy recently because it's close to the Spring Festival and there are more plays than people in Hengdian."

On January 22, a heavy snowfall made Hengdian World Studios (hereinafter referred to as "Hengdian") a hot topic. The entry #Hengdian Snowing Hot Drama# attracted many crews and creators to interact. This also showed the current situation of Hengdian where many crews are gathered. Big-budget crews such as "The Dream Returns", "Fox Spirit Matchmaker: The King's Power", "Seven Nights of Snow", "The Legend of Canghai", "The Offering of Fish", "White Moon and Brahma Star" and so on are all stationed in Hengdian.

A person in charge of Hengdian Film and Television Crew Service Company told Times Finance that there were about 42 crews shooting in Hengdian in the past week (January 29-February 4), and about 30 crews stayed behind to shoot during the Chinese New Year. According to him, the company is mainly responsible for crew reception services and the operation of the shooting base (including the actors' guild).

In 2023, the micro-short drama track was very popular, and Hengdian also became the filming location for many micro-short drama crews. Many extras indulged in micro-short dramas. The above-mentioned person in charge said that there are more than 130,000 extras registered with the Hengdian Actors Guild, of which nearly 10,000 were newly registered in 2023, reaching 9,549.

"This is indeed related to micro-short dramas. Previously, some promising and special extras had little room to play in dramas, but micro-short dramas have created opportunities for them to play major roles with a lot of scenes." Last year, Yang Shuping played major roles in several micro-short dramas, including the second female role in a female micro-short drama.

As the Spring Festival is approaching, an extra revealed to Times Finance that their wages will increase from January 16, from 120 yuan/day to 180 yuan/day. "The time is about 40 days before and after the Spring Festival, and it will last until the Lantern Festival."

1. The number of tourists and film crews reached a new high

In 2023, the keyword for Hengdian is "recovery". The number of film crews and tourists reached new highs, and the construction of shooting scenes that had been shelved for three years was also put on the agenda.

Data released by Hengdian showed that the number of tourists received by Hengdian reached 19.8 million in 2023. This year, the warming trend is still continuing. During the New Year's Day holiday, Hengdian Film and Television City received 153,200 tourists, an increase of 62% over the same period in 2019.

Tourists are coming in an endless stream, and the number of film crews stationed in Hengdian is also increasing. The above-mentioned person in charge told Times Finance that in 2023, Hengdian received about 489 film crews (excluding short dramas), a record high, and the trend of large-scale production crews has clearly rebounded. The highest record in previous years was 398. Especially since May 2023, the number of Hengdian film crews has increased significantly, and the increase in service objects has also driven the work rhythm of the entire Hengdian Film and Television Crew Service Company.

Generally speaking, Hengdian has a complete reception process for all crews, covering the entire process from filing review, location scouting, contract signing, intention payment, personnel check-in and other services, and certificate processing. In addition, the increase in micro-short drama crews has also brought more workload to the company. "The shooting cycle of micro-short dramas can be as short as a week or as long as ten days, but during this period, the process of staff serving the crew is the same as that of large crews that took several months to shoot." However, the threshold for Hengdian to receive crews is that they need to be filed. At present, many micro-short dramas have not yet done this, so the number of micro-short drama crews received is still small.

In the past few years, the film and television industry has been in a period of adjustment due to factors such as funding and the epidemic. After the epidemic policy was adjusted in 2023, Hengdian also took a series of measures to attract crews.

The above-mentioned person in charge revealed that, on the one hand, Hengdian lowered the price of shooting scenes, not only adjusting the price of Hengdian Film and Television City’s own scenes, but also integrating the surrounding social scenes into the Hengdian Film and Television City crew’s scene arrangement system, and coordinating the use of scenes, which also further standardized the operation and price system of social scenes. Affected by this, the combined price reduction of Hengdian Film and Television City’s own scenes and social scenes exceeded 20%. In other words, in 2023, the price of many crews renting the same shooting scenes as before has dropped by more than 20%.

On the other hand, Hengdian has introduced preferential policies for film crews. For different types of crews, it has set up government financial subsidies, studio exemptions, hotel accommodation concessions, etc., which are refined to the "one drama, one discussion, one batch system". "During the epidemic, it was difficult for Hengdian to invest too much effort in scene planning and updating. Many projects that were planned before the epidemic were postponed until last year, so Hengdian ushered in the start of many projects in 2023." The above person in charge said.

2. Group performances in hundreds of short plays in half a year

With the increase in the number of film crews, the extras in Hengdian felt the long-lost busyness.

Chen Yuanlai is an extra who "accidentally" entered Hengdian. He came to Hengdian for tourism after graduation, but eventually stayed here and worked his way up from an ordinary extra to a special guest.

Source: Provided by the interviewee

According to his recollection, the busiest times in 2023 were the two crews that joined in early summer and autumn. "During these two periods, I tried to work non-stop for more than 20 days. Sometimes I slept less than 4 hours in two days. I could only secretly sleep on the set before my scenes started."

Since last year, micro-short dramas have been a type of drama that Hengdian extras cannot avoid, and Chen Yuanlai has also participated in some micro-short dramas. He told Times Finance that since 2021, Hengdian has had micro-short drama crews, and the number has gradually increased in the past two years. "Now there are many micro-short drama crews in Hengdian, and it feels like there are notices everywhere. As long as you don't mind the quality, it seems that you can get a role every day." However, due to the uneven quality of the dramas, Chen Yuanlai has only tried roles such as thugs, police, and assistants in micro-short dramas, and currently still mainly performs in dramas.

Unlike Chen Yuanlai, Sun Mingwen focuses on shooting micro-short dramas. In just half a year, he has participated in more than 100 micro-short dramas.

Source: Provided by the interviewee

At 7:00 p.m. on January 27, Sun Mingwen was still waiting to go to work. He was going to shoot a night scene for a vertical screen short drama, playing the second male villain. According to him, there have been more vertical screen short dramas in Hengdian since the second half of last year. After being exposed to vertical screen short dramas, he has been offered roles almost every day. Sometimes he can run 2-3 crews in a day. Because the vertical screen short drama has a short cycle and needs to be rushed, he often stays up late.

But this has brought him considerable income. Sun Mingwen revealed that the income from shooting vertical screen short dramas ranges from 800 to 1,500 yuan per day, and the monthly income can reach more than 20,000 yuan, which is a significant increase compared to the income of 8,000 to 9,000 yuan in most months of 2022. "I saved a lot more money in 2023 than in 2022, especially after more short drama announcements in the second half of the year, I saved more than 100,000 yuan in half a year." He revealed.

Yang Shuping, a special extra in Hengdian, also felt the popularity of micro-short dramas. In her fifth year as an extra, she has achieved advancement from an ordinary extra to a prospect, and then to a special extra. In the summer of 2023, Yang Shuping passed the exam and officially became a registered special extra in the Actors Guild. At this time, Hengdian also saw a surge in the number of micro-short drama crews, and she caught up with this opportunity. "I started to shoot a lot of micro-short dramas from then on, both ancient and modern themes."

The special guest status brought her the opportunity to play a major role, but the short drama had a fast pace due to limited costs. She said: "Once I slept less than 10 hours in 3 days, and by the end, my brain and body were no longer in sync."

3. Micro short dramas are changing Hengdian

The micro-short dramas, which are currently in the blowout period, have injected fresh blood into Hengdian and provided more job opportunities for many extras.

Sun Mingwen clearly felt the increase in the number of extras in Hengdian in 2023. "In fact, vertical screen short dramas have 'saved' many ordinary extras. In 2022, some extras could only work 7 or 8 days a month. After the micro-short dramas in 2023, almost every month was full of performances." In 2023, the number of registered extras in the Hengdian Actors Guild also increased by nearly 10,000.

Recently, Stephen Chow entered the short drama track with his own short drama comedy label "9527 Theater". His first micro short drama "Golden Pig and Jade Leaf" is expected to be launched in May this year. At the end of November 2023, the short drama "Billionaire Silly Prince" directed by Hong Kong director Wang Jing also started filming in Hengdian.

According to data released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the number of short dramas filed in 2021 was 398, and the number filed in 2022 was close to 2,800, a year-on-year increase of 600%. According to the "2023 Short Drama Report" jointly released by Yunhe Data, Tsinghua University Film and Television Communication Research Center, and Tencent Video, a total of 3,574 short dramas were approved for filming in my country in 2023, and the number continued to grow.

In order to accept the short drama crew, Hengdian has also taken a number of measures. The above-mentioned person in charge said that short drama crews generally have a smaller budget and will not spend too much on the scene, so the company can only try to meet their requirements wherever possible.

In April and May last year, Hengdian planned the Huaxia Culture Park, which has a history of more than 10 years, as a base for shooting micro-short dramas. In October, this positioning was further clarified. This was also the first time that Hengdian opened a dedicated area to support the shooting of micro-short dramas.

Although short dramas have been controversial, many extras feel that the quality of short dramas is improving. Sun Mingwen often plays villains in dramas. He clearly feels that many of the previous "marginal" and "unrealistic" plots have been removed, and the uncomfortable scenes and lines have also been reduced.

Yang Shuping revealed that when she first started filming the short drama, everyone would laugh at each other because some lines were simply impossible to say. In order to cut costs, the crew would directly let ordinary extras play the roles with one or two lines. But now, even for roles that have no lines and only require a few reactions to the camera, the crew will more often look for special actors from the guild.

Chen Yuanlai also believes that short dramas are transforming towards standardization. "From 2022 to 2023, short drama notices have higher and higher requirements on the performance ability and image of actors; in the group messages released in the notice group, the producers and directors are becoming more and more famous."

As the short drama ecosystem becomes more and more complete and the number of drama crews increases, Hengdian is also continuing to increase the construction of shooting bases. In 2024, it will build scenes on the 40,000 square meters of open space located in the era scene base to form a new Song Dynasty Imperial Palace area; it will also dismantle and renovate a number of old scenes such as Changle Street, and put a number of high-tech studios such as underwater studios into use.

Author: Zhang Xuemei, Editor: Li Qian

Source: Times Finance APP (ID: tf-app)