A drama makes a city popular, People's City·Film and Television Appointment丨"Film and Television Culture and Tourism"
At 13:00 in the afternoon, director Yang Lei rushed from the airport to the Shanghai Exhibition Center on time, and appeared at the new drama press conference of Huace Film & TV Group with the major historical TV series "The Peaceful Years". As a judge of the Chinese TV series unit of the 29th Shanghai TV Festival, he also had to report to the conference affairs team. "I have spent more than a month intensively watching the shortlisted works of the Magnolia Awards." He said that for film and television people, the TV festival can bring everyone together and share what they have, "a year's sowing will be harvested at the TV festival."
In addition to the new dramas and new works, there is another coincidence - the "Three-Body Problem" directed by Yang Lei also has new news. That afternoon, the "Immersive Real Scene Experience Hall" based on the TV series "Three-Body Problem" opened at Madame Tussauds in Shanghai People's Square. The Three-Body Theme Science Fiction Hall, VR Large Space First Launch Flagship Store, etc. will be successively launched in Shanghai.
On the morning of June 24, the 29th Shanghai TV Festival officially opened. In the name of television, outstanding film and television people from home and abroad once again went to the annual "Shanghai Appointment". Walking in this city of the people, the film and television industry represented by "film and television culture and tourism" is "breaking the circle", which is giving birth to more diverse offline cultural experiences that benefit ordinary citizens. The wonderful things on the screen "radiate" offline, releasing the long-tail effect of high-quality dramas.
When talking about the Shanghai-produced TV series "Flowers" directed by director Wong Kar-wai at the beginning of this year, many people will think of Huanghe Road first. This "phenomenal" work of Chinese film and television has not only landed in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, triggering a wave of drama viewing and online discussions in the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, but is also expected to be launched on international mainstream platforms within the year. At the same time, the "Flowers fever" has also extended from online to offline, from the screen to reality, truly realizing "a drama brings a city to fire". In Shanghai, the originally quiet Huanghe Road has become a "net celebrity check-in place", the originally ordinary Shanghai snack "Pork Ribs and Rice Cake" has become popular again, "Bao Zong Pao Fan" and "Flowers Set Meal" are emerging in an endless stream, and the "Shanghainese fever" and "Cultural Tourism fever" continue to this day.
"Film and TV Culture Tourism" is becoming a phenomenon that attracts attention. Shanghai's rich tourism elements such as "eating, living, traveling, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment" are all presented in scenes in the TV series "Cheng Huan Ji". The drama team has joined forces with multiple real-life filming locations to launch the "Cheng Huan Ji Citybus", which "strings together" Shanghai's urban cultural tourism landmarks and characteristic public spaces. The "chemical reaction" generated by the interaction between film and television and reality has driven drama fans to go out of their homes and go straight to Shanghai, and film and television "check-ins" have directly become a new consumption growth point in Shanghai. "With offline real-life experience and cultural tourism consumption, the vitality of film and television works is more vigorous, and the long-tail effect of offline feeding back to online is more significant." Industry insiders said.
"The theme block of "The Longest Day in Chang'an" has attracted a total of 4.5 million tourists since its opening in 2022." Zou Linfeng, chairman of Shaanxi Culture and Tourism Co., Ltd., said, "A good cultural and tourism project can not only make a city popular, but also let everyone know a city." At the "Opening Forum of the 'Magnolia Dialogue' of the Shanghai TV Festival-Image Leadership, Cultural and Tourism Integration", domestic and foreign film and television actors, creators and cultural and tourism industry practitioners sat together to discuss how a drama can "make a city popular." In Zou Linfeng's view, the integration of cultural tourism and film and television is a reconstruction of the image of the entire city. "Every city has its own humanities, style, culture, and special food. Through the unique perspectives and lens language of TV dramas, film directors, and actors, it can be magnified and enriched in a short period of time, and can quickly attract the attention of people across the country and even the world."
"The Three-Body Problem" is also a representative work of "film and television tourism". As one of the most well-known global cultural IPs in contemporary China, Shanghai has successively produced radio dramas and audio novels of the "Three-Body Universe", two series of animations, and the TV series "The Three-Body Problem" that caused an international sensation; the creation of the offline "Three-Body Problem" IP is also accelerating. The immersive science fiction experience of "The Three-Body Problem: Beyond Gravity", a real-life entertainment on the west bank of Xuhui, Shanghai, was opened to the public in April last year, and its box office has always ranked at the top of the best-selling list of online platforms. These offline projects have fed back and promoted the continued popularity of the "Three-Body Problem" IP and promoted its film and television development. At present, the Three-Body series of extra-episode TV series are being prepared in full swing. The first "The Three-Body Problem: The Great History" will continue to be directed by Yang Lei and Yu Hewei, Zhang Luyi and other original creators, and is scheduled to start filming in the second quarter of 2025.
Screenwriter Wang Liping was curious about the first impressions of Shanghai cuisine from the two screenwriters and leading actors of the BBC's gold medal drama "Secrets of Number 9" who came to China for the first time. "Xiaolongbao, absolutely delicious, I drool just thinking about it, the soup inside is very delicious, but we have to be very careful when eating it." This is the answer of British actor, screenwriter, and director Steve Pemberton.
The Shanghai TV Festival is an occasion for Chinese and foreign film and television professionals to gather and exchange ideas, and for excellent domestic and foreign film and television works to shine together. It also witnesses the implementation of the results of domestic and foreign cooperation in Shanghai. "Secrets of Number 9", which has continued for 9 seasons, launched the world's first offline resident performance version at the Shanghai Grand Theater's small theater at the end of last year. The 175 performances that have been ticketed are hard to get. "The world premiere of the stage play is in Shanghai, and we are also very excited to go to the Shanghai Grand Theater to communicate with the audience." Steve Pemberton said that the story was written for 9 seasons, and each episode had to start from a blank sheet of paper, without any continuous scenes and characters. "At the same time, each episode was shot in different places, from Manchester to London. The location of the shooting is very important to the character because this is where the character lives."
Chinese and foreign film and television people negotiate and exchange ideas at the Shanghai TV Festival
"A book, a drama, and a city are actually two-way journeys to each other." Fu Binxing, president of Huace Film & TV Group, said that last year's TV series "Where the Wind Goes" promoted the "out-of-circle" of the ancient town of Dali, Yunnan. "The screenwriters visited many cities when they were creating the series, and the trip to Fengyangyi Village in Dali, Yunnan, inspired them." When the TV series was filmed, the daily passenger flow in the village was less than 20 people. When the series was broadcast, the number of tourists during the peak period reached tens of thousands. "In addition to using our influence and traffic to make a place popular, we also need to work with the local government and cultural and tourism departments to truly retain the traffic so that fans of the series can experience this place for a long time."
This time, Huace released a number of new dramas and AIGC application research results, including "Peaceful Years", "National Beauty", "Our Rivers and Mountains", and "Guarding Tibet". Many dramas were created with the "going global" effect in mind. "At the Cannes TV Festival, we also brought the national flower featured in "National Beauty" - peony artificial flowers to the scene, which was loved by audiences around the world." She said that in addition to spreading the drama to the world, it is also necessary to bring China's beautiful lifestyle and cultural elements to foreign audiences who are interested in Chinese dramas through popular dramas.
This year, the number of countries and regions participating in the Magnolia Awards has increased from 49 last year to 57, covering all five continents. The Magnolia Awards Jury has a strong international lineup. Six foreign judges from the United Kingdom, France, India, the Netherlands, and Japan will work with Chinese judges to select high-quality works for the industry and audiences, and play the leading role of the Magnolia Awards in the industry. Yan Jiangang, Chinese director and chairman of the Magnolia Awards TV Series Jury, said that the ten Chinese TV series and ten overseas TV series nominated this year, whether in terms of timeliness, breakthrough or innovation, have given him and the jury great surprise and touching moments. "TV series have shortened the distance between us and the world and expanded our understanding of cultural integration. Those colorful, profound and mysterious stories all show the unique charm of TV series."
On the afternoon of the same day, the launching ceremony of the "See the World and Learn from History" overseas excellent historical and character drama exhibition and broadcasting activity was held in Shanghai. The activity selected nearly 20 excellent overseas TV series and documentaries such as "Shakespeare: The Rise of Genius", "Roger Federer: The Road to Champion", "Pompeii: The Story of the People", "Moment of Victory: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty", etc., which will be centrally broadcasted on provincial TV stations such as Shanghai, Hunan, Guangdong, and Sichuan, as well as online platforms such as Youku, Tencent, Bilibili, and Sohu from June this year.
