Streaming: The development context and opportunities of Taiwan sports documentaries during the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

<p>在疫情期間，講述籃球的《最後之舞》（The Last Dance）紀錄片掀起一股觀看風潮，本研究藉此契機，梳理臺灣運動紀錄片發展的歷史脈絡與社會條件，再則透過文本分析及深度訪談，發掘未來可能的發展方向及策略。研究發現，臺灣運動紀錄片拍攝項目雖以「棒球」居多，但整體上仍具備多樣性與獨特性；議題則多偏向於偏鄉青少年教育困境及運動輸贏「價值」，不若國外同類型影片的取材廣泛。而在臺灣訂閱式影音串流平臺間，因為強烈的商業考量，被播放的本土運動紀錄片重覆性極高，因此實難做為發展臺灣運動文化的常態播映管道，一如在主流院線播放；拍攝、行銷等關注者應當依據影片特性及目的，將規模較小且具專業特色的影音串流平臺，以及社群影片分享平臺納入推廣選項，以達到觸及更多網路觀眾之目的。</p> <p> </p><p>The popularity of the basketball documentary The Last Dance during the pandemic was the inspiration for this study to examine the historical context and social conditions for the development of sports documentaries in Taiwan. This study explored the possible directions and strategies of future development for Taiwanese sports documentaries through textual analysis and in-depth interviews. The findings indicate that baseball was the most popular type of sports in Taiwan’s sports documentaries, although the overall types of sports presented in the films were diversified and unique. The issues presented in the documentaries centered mostly on the education for rural youth and the values of winnings and sportsmanship and were not as diversified as those in the foreign sports documentaries. Due to business concerns, the available Taiwanese sports documentaries on the Taiwanese subscription-based streaming platforms overlapped highly. For the purpose of developing sports culture in Taiwan, subscription-based streaming platforms and mainstream movie theaters should not be the primary venues for Taiwanese sports documentaries. Filmmakers and marketing professionals should consider the characteristics and objectives for each documentary film and include small-scale documentary streaming platforms and social media video platforms as options of screening venues in order to reach more online audience.</p> <p> </p>