Documentary Films in China

1
Documentary Films in China

• Channel Zero Media
• Cherelle Zheng
• 2006/11/02

2
Chinas Documentary market is different from that
of all the other countries---No government or
private fund No foundation that supports TV
stations dont make pre-saleNo professional
producers in the real sense
The Unique Environment
3

Market share 95 of the total sales comes from
TV documentaries 5 comes from the home video
market and other channels Cause China is
still a huge piracy market
4
Viewer analysis High income, Well educated
High social status. Above 30 years old More
men than women. Male documentary audiences
prefer topics on current political events and
environmental problems, while women prefer more
humanitarian topics.
5
Those within the system (people work for
state-owned TV stations,) have limited space
utilizing their creativity and individuality.
Furthermore, in the sense of property rights,
who possess the documentaries and how should the
profit be divided are not clearly defined. The
content is often related with propagandas.
Budget approx. 60008000 per hourFinance
fund by the TV stationEquipment BETACOM, a few
DVs
Documentary professionals in China
Those outside the system are the so called
independent filmmakers. An independent
filmmaker has to play multi-roles (producer,
director, cameraman, script writer, post-editing,
etc.) in a production. The documentaries often
focus on lives of common people. Budget
approx. 4004000 per hour, usually 700 or
2000 per hour Finance self-financed or
supported by relatives and/or friends Equipment
mainly DVs, some HDVs
6
There are 3200 channels in more than 300
television stations in China, all of which are
state-owned. Most documentaries are produced
by the TV stations themselves. Basic structure
of a TV station head of station----editorial
office (affiliated to it the program center)
----channel supervisor----crews of different
programming slots----department of
advertising.Those who have influence on
decisions concerning the buying of documentaries
head of station, editorial office, channel
supervisors and the crews of programming slots
The bigger the TV station, the larger the
decision making power of people at the bottom
of the structure. Some doc programming slots of
big stations can decide to buy documentaries
themselves. The smaller the station, the more
concentrated the power.In smaller stations, the
decision making power lies solely in the hands of
the head of station.
Chinese TV Stations
7
Mostly are weekly program 30mins per doc
programming slot . There are about 60 of these
programming slots nationwide, among which less
than 20 has purchasing ability. Foreign
content Discovery, National Geographic Channel
and other wildlife documentaries mostly daily
shows, 3060mins per program slot. Sales
options funded by advertising clients. In this
case, one Documentary film broadcast with certain
advertisements, and theadvertising clients
provide the fund.Broadcasting time mostly
after 2300 in the midnightNot many audience
Documentary film content and broadcasting system
in China
8
Provincial Stations 112 per minute, usually
4 per minuteCCTV and Phoenix TV 8003000 USD
per hourSuccessful CaseSisters 20 episodes,
45mins per episode produced between
20002003Produced with one camera by one person
immediate cost 40,000 (not including wages
paid to the crew)In 20042005, Domestic sales
gain 400,000 Reason for Success20
episodes, 45mins per episode----format similar to
TV drama series. The form enables it to fit
perfectly into the evening slot, which is the
golden slot for TV drama shows. Thus it enters
the TV drama market, the most mature field in
Chinese TV broadcasting industry.ProblemIn
order to compete with TV dramas, the director
added a considerable amount of scenes that were
acted out, so that the film became more dramatic.
It was not purely a documentary any more
Purchasing Price
9
Popular documentary topics in ChinaNature,
wildlife, environmental protection, famous
people, international issues under spotlight, etc.
10
Difficulties concerning co-production1. High
charges by the government if a foreign shooting
team enters as a shooting team, the fee is 50 USD
per day per person. The team is required to have
a production assistant, which brings additional
cost. The money-saving solution is to enter as
tourists or business people, rent equipments in
China and hire Chinese professionals as staff
members. 2. Cultural conflicts the elasticity
of the Chinese is profoundly different from the
strictness and preciseness of the western working
style. 3. Chinese documentary professionals as
a whole awaits improvement.
11

Thanks ?