Send us a text Until the 1990s, Hollywood movies were making the vast majority of their revenue in English-speaking countries. Nowadays, these countries comprise only half the market. The main reason for the change is the appearance of new markets, including the most important one of all: China. What problems do foreign film professionals and their teams face while vying to tap into the Chinese market? How do cultural disparities and regulations fit into the equation? What is the current lay of the land in the Chinese film industry from the perspective of a director or a producer? In this episode, our guests provide their firsthand experience to answer these questions. 一直到90年代，好莱坞电影的绝大部分收入都来自英语国家，现在英语国家只占其收入的一半。 主要原因是新兴市场的出现，其中最重要的是中国。 现在每个人都渴望进入中国市场，但要说明一点，因为中国的法律法规及文化的差异，这件事很容易吗？ 如何才能顺利进入中国市场？ 在第一集中，我们的客人将就这个问题表达他们的想法。 Featuring Dominique Othenin-Girard : Director Tammy Tian : International Co-Production Manager Sky Wang : Director Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! From this interview, we have found three takeaways 从这期访谈中，我们总结出三个主要观点 1) China’s movie market is not mature enough - 中国电影市场尚未成熟 Although the quality of Chinese production has improved over the last few years, there are still some issues that need to be solved: - Revenue sharing of movies has to be negotiated. It is not automatic like in the United States. - There are no clear, established rules on the movie set. Therefore, shooting can still be unorganized. - The lack of a movie-rating system makes it hard for some movies to be shown in theaters. 虽然中国影视作品的质量在过去几年已经有所提升，但仍存在一些待解决的问题： - 每一部电影的收益分成都需要经商议决定，并不像美国市场一样拥有约定俗成的规则 - 电影场景设置中没有明确的准则，因此拍摄起来可能没有条理 - 缺乏分级制度导致部分电影很难在院线上映 2) Trust is the foundation of international collaboration - 完成一部电影需要极大的勇气和信念 Having trust in your co-workers, whether you are in the office or on set, and their collaborative ability is incredibly important — and with money and investors involved, transparency and communication are equally critical. Also, because working methods are not always the same, you sometimes require to “act as an example to show how it works,” as the director Sky Wang suggests. 因此信任在国际团队的共同合作中非常重要；又因为涉及到资金，它同时也需要大量的透明度和沟通交流。所以无论你是在办公室还是在拍摄现场，信任和理解都非常重要。另外，因为工作方法并不总是相同，所以你有时需要“演绎一个例子来说明它是如何运作的”导演王天尉说。 3) Forget about co-production? - 也许我们该忘记“联合制片”这件事 As Zhang Yimou’s historic box office flop, The Great Wall, showed, there is no magical formula to make a hit at the box office. A safe way could be for Western technicians and advisers to help Chinese film companies remake Western stories with attributes that would resonate with Chinese moviegoers. 张艺谋的《长城》让我们发现，并没有什么诀窍能让电影收获高票房。最安全的办法或许是通过西方的技术人员和顾问的介入，来帮助中国公司翻拍一些兼具世界性和中国特色的故事。 Recommendation Sky Wang’s film called Lost in Apocalypse (末世人间道). With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support.

Send us a text Anthony Kuhn, who works at NPR, has been working on how China is using its soft power, and that’s actually one of the main reasons the Middle Earth podcast started: to investigate how politics and culture can be linked. The culture of a country doesn't come out of thin air. Rather, there is a political and business side to it. Featuring Anthony Kuhn : Journalist | 记者 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Show notes You can now listen to one of Anthony’s reports on China’s soft power here. The film Anthony talked about was 厉害了 我的国 (My Amazing Country), by state-media company CCTV and China Film Group Corporation. Anthony's Weibo moment of fame, mentioned in the show, can be seen here. With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support.

Send us a text This is the second part of a two-part series about how the internet changed the way to consume and create content. Last time, the panel comprised people who earn a living by creating only on the Chinese internet, but today we meet the other side of the fence, the more “capitalistic” one: those who make, sell, or deal with advertisements. Featuring Kenneth Cheung : Data and Branding Consultant Tera Fang : Fashion Influencer Eloi Gerard : CEO and founder of CrowsNest Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! 1) Forget about TV advertisements In 2012: 20 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet. In 2017: 57 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet, and only 31 percent on TV. The online advertising market represented $47 billion in 2016, and will increase to around $90 billion in 2020. As a comparison, it’s more than the film industry at $7 billion, but less than the tobacco industry at $160 billion. The main reason online advertising is booming in China compared with in Western countries is because the television channels there are all state-owned and don't really have an agenda about a specific type of audience they want to attract. 2) Without data, you are nothing The “BAT” companies (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) have much more data about their users than Facebook or Google because they own multiple platforms and services, making it easier to track down the kind of product you would want to buy. Therefore, brands and advertising agencies with smaller budgets can more efficiently target potential clients on the internet. If “data privacy” starts to be a thing in North America, Europe, or developed Asian nations, China’s general public seems to care a bit less about this. But the Chinese internet is not the Wild West because some data, like credit card transactions, is illegal to buy. You can still find it on the market, but that would be totally illegal and risk prison time. 3) On the internet, hire a Key Opinion Leader For some reason, in China, even the most basic commodity like a burger or a car needs to have a spokesperson to represent the product. And as the Chinese internet is massively used by young adults in search of authenticity, users often try to link their products to one of those Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) to boost their products. If you are one of those KOL whose Weibo follower count is greater than the population of some small countries, you should consider starting your own brand at some point. Being famous is not enough — you have to be able to one day sell something of your own or you will be forgotten. 4) Technology will keep replacing jobs As incredible as it sounds, artificial intelligence could slowly replace editors as they edit pictures and films. Just by saying to the computer “This advertisement should look like X,” the AI could potentially perform the task much faster than any human. Also, as the adult-video industry and Xinhua have proven recently, it is possible to digitally re-create someone’s face on screen. One day, stars might not even have to go to a studio to shoot their advertisement; they will just rent their face and someone else will walk in front of the camera. With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support.

Send us a text China has only 55% internet penetration, but almost every person online is using a smartphone, therefore a lot of phone-optimized content (video, news, silly applications to make your selfies look beautiful) is created every day. As of this month of recording, October 2018, Bytedance, the Chinese company owning news aggregator Toutiao and short video app Douyin/Tik-tok, is now THE most valuable startup in the world, more than Uber or Baidu. ​虽然中国只有55％的互联网普及率，但几乎每个网民都使用智能手机，因此每天都产生大量内容（视频，新闻，很傻但让你看起来很漂亮手机APP)。截至本期节目录制时(2018年10月)，“字节跳动”这家中国公司公司——旗下有新闻聚合器APP“今日头条”和短视频应用“抖音”/“Tik-tok”(抖音视频国际版)——现在已经是世界上最有价值的创业公司，超过了优步或者百度。 So, as I work on a television project I wanted to talk to those who just create articles, funny videos, and news on the Chinese internet. How do they make a living by creating online content? How do they find followers? And how big is the competition? 鉴于我正从事电视行业，我很想与那些在中国互联网上写文章、创作有趣的视频和新闻的人聊一聊。他们是如何通过创作线上内容谋生的？是如何吸引受众的？这个行业的竞争有多大？ This episode will be a two-part series on how the internet is changing content creation in China. Next month we will look at how today’s advertisements are light years away from what was done just 5 years ago. 这一集是关于互联网如何改变中国内容创作的第二部分，下个月我们将关注现在的广告作品与5年前的巨大差异。 With Erman : Weibo & Wechat influencer | 微博和微信( 就是曼仔 )影响者 Ben Jonhson : Douyin celebrity at the 和歪果仁说英语 channel | ‘和歪果仁说英语’抖音红人 Tang Yiqing | 唐宜青 : – Founder & CEO of media app “Juzi Yule” | 社交软件‘橘子娱乐’创始人兼CEO Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! From this interview, we have found three takeaways 1) Whatever you do, do it with heart, and glory awaits – 无论你做什么，精诚所至，金石为开 As you will create content solely in Mandarin, there are so many people in China waiting for quality content that fans will soon flock your account and be your die-hard fans. No need to overthink a strategy or work on something you don’t like just because it is today’s fashion. Content is king and you should first focus on what you like and what you are good at to share with the world. 如果你用普通话来创作，你的潜在受众将有很多，大家都在期待高质量的内容，粉丝很快就会涌入你的帐户并成为你的铁粉。因此没必要过度考虑策略，或者做一些你并不喜欢、但是现在很火的内容。内容为王，你应该首先关注自己喜欢以及擅长的内容，把它分享出去。 2) When do you start running ads? – 什么时候开始投放广告? As your brand will need time to develop, don’t start too soon to partner up with commercial clients. The question is not really if your followers will dislike it or not, but more that you need first to reach a good level of content creation that will allow you to get a lot of followers. When you have created enough videos and articles, then you can move on to phase two: Partner up with a brand and sell their product. Some people might hate it, especially when you do a “soft ad” which looks like real content, but the common people will understand you need to make a living and will forgive you. 3) Don’t try to cheat to become famous – 绝对不要试图靠撒谎来走红 There is a huge temptation to buy “zombie fans” or fake comments. First of all having a million fans for only a few likes and comments will definitely make your account look shady. Also, from time to time the platforms will purge fake accounts and might even punish you for it, so don’t accept weird propositions from strangers to sell you fans. Also you should rest assured that if you start working with a brand to help sell their product and... With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support.