With the rise of ancient style short videos, whose "star dream" has been fulfilled?

With the rapid development of short videos, they have captured the time and attention of many users. At the same time, niche groups such as cosplay and Hanfu enthusiasts are also sharing on short videos. More and more short video viewers have become performers. With the rise of ancient style short videos, whose "star dream" has been fulfilled?

The "actress" in the video is dressed in ancient costumes, playing the zither and thinking in a Chinese setting, just like "Nie Xiaoqian" in "A Chinese Ghost Story" in person, or wearing ethnic minority costumes and being in the woods and mountains, just like "Anu" in "The Legend of Sword and Fairy"...

If it weren’t for the amateur bloggers and other users sharing the shooting details in the comment section, many people would probably mistakenly think that this was a leak from the set of a classic TV series. But the “truth” is that most of these ancient style short videos come from commercial services customized by professional photography agencies.

As short video applications gradually occupy the center of users' attention, more and more users have the need to make short videos in addition to watching them. At the same time, since the target audience of customized short videos, such as cosplayers and Hanfu enthusiasts, highly overlaps with the target audience of customized short videos, this emerging market is attracting the attention of individual enthusiasts, professional institutions and production teams. As more and more people become performers from short video viewers, will customized videos open up a new mass consumer market?

1. Consumption upgrade of personalized content

Thanks to the development of 5G networks and the advent of the video era, the user scale of the short video market has maintained rapid growth in recent years. According to the 49th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of December 2021, the number of short video users nationwide reached 934 million, with a utilization rate of 90.5%. It is expected that the number of short video users will reach 985 million in 2022, and the utilization rate will reach 92.4%.

Not only are there more and more users watching videos, but there are also more and more creators participating in short video production. The 2022 Douyin Hotspot Data Report shows that from January to November 2022, the average monthly hot creators exceeded 700,000, and the average monthly number of hot videos exceeded 1 million. Among them, professional operating organizations such as self-media and MCN contributed the vast majority of video content, and ordinary users, based on the purpose of "recording a better life", also became interested in high-quality video content production services.

Image source: screenshot of Xiaohongshu

Open Xiaohongshu or search for "Gufeng Video" on Bilibili, and you can see many short videos of ancient costumes posted by cosplayers and Hanfu enthusiasts. These videos usually emphasize Chinese costumes and scenes. In addition to some references to ancient costume TV series or Chinese style animation characters for character setting, there is basically no plot or dialogue. However, after camera editing, post-production color adjustment and background music, they can also fit the character image of the original film and television and create a sense of ancient costume atmosphere.

Jingzhe Research Institute has observed that there are two main types of ancient style videos: one is the derivative works produced by cosplayers and Hanfu enthusiasts during photo shoots, and the other is commercial services provided by professional institutions such as photo studios and photo studios. The former mainly focuses on outdoor scenes, while the latter, as photo studios and photo studios usually have studio settings, can better reflect professional advantages in lighting and scenery for indoor theme shooting.

Xiao An, a Hanfu enthusiast, told the Jingzhe Research Institute that many photographers and Hanfu enthusiasts would post invitations for photo shoots on platforms such as Xiaohongshu. In addition to photo shoots, photographers would sometimes invite people to shoot short videos. "As long as time and energy permit, I am happy to cooperate. Because every photo shoot has a cost for clothing and styling, if one shoot can produce more content, it is also a profit."

According to Xiao An, compared with static portraits, short videos have higher requirements for models and photographers. "Because videos do not have as much room for post-production adjustments as pictures, the model's appearance and posture will have a greater impact on the effect of the film. In addition, when designing the character's movements, the model's body coordination will also affect the shooting effect. However, some photography agencies provide paid services, and there will be special directors or editors to guide the movements. In this case, some problems caused by the model's lack of professionalism or lack of shooting experience can be solved."

2. Traditional photography agencies take the lead

According to the Jingzhe Research Institute, the professional institutions that Xiao An mentioned mainly refer to photo studios or photography studios that originally provided services mainly for photo shooting. The most well-known of them is "Feng Ling Film and Television" under "Panzi Nvrenfang", a leading domestic brand of traditional Chinese style photography. However, the brand has not been established for a long time.

Public reports show that in July 2022, "Panzi Nvrenfang" established the "Fengling Film and Television" brand to specifically undertake the ancient style short video business. The charge for each 30 to 60 seconds ancient style short video is twice that of flat photography. During the more than two-month internal testing phase for old users in Changsha, more than 300 sets were sold.

On October 22 last year, Panzi Nürenfang held a short video conference in Douyin's live broadcast room, announcing the official launch of its short video business Fengling Film and Television. At the conference, Yang Kang, president of Panzi Nürenfang Group, said that Fengling Film and Television has planned nine style lines, including classical restoration, light ancient style, and opera style, and a strong film and television creation team with Yip Kam Tin, a well-known costume designer and winner of the 73rd Academy Award for "Best Art Design", as the art director and costume and props director, Cao Dun, the screenwriter of the popular TV series "Dwelling Narrowness", as the script director and camera director, and Gao Xixi, who has directed well-known costume dramas such as "Three Kingdoms" and "Legend of Chu and Han", as the director.

However, Jingzhe Research Institute did not find any information about well-known industry experts such as Ye Jintian, Cao Dun, and Gao Xixi participating in user services in the official WeChat account of "Feng Ling Film and Television". Instead, there were a group of "star director/camera team", "star makeup artist team" and "millionaire post-production team" with many years of experience in the film and television industry. From this point of view, the well-known industry experts mentioned in the publicity did not really participate in the actual user services, so there is a suspicion of misleading consumers.

The Jingzhe Research Institute also found that the two main members of Fengling Film and Television's "star director/camera team" - Fei Ge (real name Yang Fei) and Deng Wei are both photographers. In media reports in 2021, Fei Ge's identity is "a well-known photographer in the Chinese style photography industry, photography director of Panzi Nürenfang, and founder of Chinese classical style photography."

In addition, according to the public information released by the Hunan Provincial Photography Association, Deng Wei apprenticed at the Yueyang Photography Studio in 2003. Since joining Panzi Nürenfang as a junior photographer in 2005, he has been engaged in photography, sample film development and franchise technical photography training related work in the company.

Therefore, the professional resumes of Fengling Film and Television’s “star director/camera team”, such as “more than 5 years of experience in the film and television industry” and “experience in directing movies/well-known TV series”, cannot be verified through public information. Combined with the work experience of the above two team members, it can be judged that Fengling Film and Television is an early layout of “Panzi Nvrenfang” in the field of short video production based on the company’s existing business. As for its “professional team”, referring to the franchise technical photography training model once adopted by “Panzi Nvrenfang”, it is not ruled out that it was produced through crash training.

3. Find a new growth curve in the mass consumer market

It is understandable that traditional photography agencies are expanding new businesses, and it is even more necessary for "Panzi Nürenfang". As a leading brand of traditional Chinese photography, "Panzi Nürenfang" launched an IPO sprint in 2020 and completed a billion-yuan financing from Challenger Capital at the end of that year. In recent years, Panzi Nürenfang has increased its marketing investment, and has successively cooperated with popular costume IPs such as "Story of Yanxi Palace", "Legend of Fuyao", and "Knowing Your Destiny", and invited actors from the dramas to participate in the shooting of sample films for brand promotion, which quickly made Panzi Nürenfang popular. However, with the surge in brand voice, negative news about "Panzi Nürenfang" has also continued to emerge.

The Black Cat complaint platform shows that there have been 2,447 complaints against "Panzi Nvrenfang", most of which involve false advertising and unfair terms. There are also public reports that "Panzi Nvrenfang" induced minors to book a 7,888 yuan photo package by advertising "two sets for 168 yuan" at a low price.

Image source: Panzi Nürenfang official website

Industry insiders analyzed that the previous differentiation strategy of "Panzi Nvrenfang" focusing on traditional Chinese photography quickly increased brand awareness and accelerated its expansion through direct sales and franchise models. However, the operating model of traditional photography agencies has led to limited control of franchise stores, and revenue growth is overly dependent on the "late price increase" model in the terminal sales process, so it faced very great resistance during the listing approval process. As for the purpose of establishing Fengling Film and Television in 2022 to launch the ancient style short video business, in addition to complying with the growing demand for short video production, it is also trying to reduce hidden consumption and increase service added value through the standardized product form of video, and transform to a healthier business model.

In fact, in addition to traditional photo studios and photography studios, film and television industry bases such as Hengdian Film and Television City have launched professional video content production services for ordinary consumers.

At the end of October 2022, the news that more than a dozen retired aunts "remade" the micro-film "The Legend of Zhen Huan" at Hengdian Film and Television City topped the "hot search list". Behind this news is the special tourism project launched by Hengdian Film and Television Industry based on its own resources when facing the industry downturn caused by the epidemic.

Image source: Hengdian World Studios official website

According to media reports, the threshold for shooting micro-films in Hengdian Film and Television City is not high, but the price range is relatively wide. Generally speaking, there is a script and lines, and a group of 3 to 7 people shoot a 2 to 3-minute film, excluding tickets, for a price of 150 yuan per person. If the number of participants is between 10 and 25, and the "deluxe version of micro-film" that also includes boot-up, makeup and finishing in addition to regular shooting, the charging standard is 12,000 yuan per show, and the upgraded version of the experience is also increased to 10 to 15 minutes, and contains subtitles. With the popularity of the "senior version" of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", more and more tourists are traveling to Hengdian Film and Television City to realize their "star dream", which has successfully opened up new development ideas for Hengdian Film and Television City.

From the perspective of industry development, after the rapid growth in recent years, the short video market is gradually transitioning from the growth of user scale to the growth of content quality. From the fact that video platforms such as Douyin and Bilibili have successively launched their own editing software, it can be seen that short video production has developed from professional to popular.

For users, in addition to short video content of daily life, people's demand for high-quality, customized content services is increasing. In the previous article "First-line Interview丨Behind the Shooting: 10 Years in the Industry and a Monthly Income of 50,000, Not Just Relying on Technology", Jingzhe Research Institute also mentioned that the younger generation of consumers are more willing to pay for the sense of ritual and experience, and are also more inclined to personalized services. Therefore, as a content consumption upgrade, the professional production of short videos will undoubtedly gradually grow into a new content consumption market in the future.

However, just as traditional photo studios have long faced problems in revenue growth, short video production will also face challenges in achieving large-scale stable revenue due to the standardization of content services themselves. However, the transformation from relying on "invisible consumption" to achieve profitability to a business model that increases service added value has provided a new direction for the healthy development of traditional industries. With the upgrading of content consumption and the gradual formation of the market, players in the field of short video production will also release new development potential in the mass consumer market.

Author: Bai Lu

Source: Jingzhe Research Institute (ID: jingzheyanjiusuo), exploring and discovering the new economy