Film Market Research Articles

Politics of the everyday: Taiwanese-language cinema of the 1950s–1960s

This paper addresses the social and cultural values of Taiwanese-language cinema (or Hoklo topolect films, taiyupian) of the 1950s and the 1960s. Although this cinema was composed primarily of commercial films that were produced cheaply to make a quick profit, it clearly struck a chord with local audiences to be able to reign supreme in the domestic film market for over a decade. As the rise of taiyupian coincided with the island’s transition from a rural to urban economy, it can be argued that these films articulated and mediated a Taiwanese experience of approaching modernization—politics of the everyday—at the time. This paper makes use of the recently digitalized taiyupian to analyze the cinema’s representation of, and perceived challenges to, modernity, such as the breakdown of kinship systems, the threat of moral corruption, and the pursuit of materialism. Through plot design and onscreen solutions to family crises, the films reveal the struggle of their makers and their intended audiences to reconcile different sets of conflicting values in a changing society.

Research on Influencing Factors of Film Derivative Consumption Demand Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

The scale of Chinese film market is expending day by day, and it has become the second box office market in the world. However, the development of Chinese film derivatives is still in its infancy. In order to further promote the development of Chinese movie derivatives market, movie derivative is studied as the research object, and the system of factors influencing movie derivatives consumer demand is established. Then, the use of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) determines the weight of each influencing factor. Finally, according to factor weight, relative suggestions are put forward to enhance film quality, to do a good job in derivatives development, to promote the movie derivatives development, and to promote the industry of movie and cultural creativity.

Target Hollywood! Examining Japan’s Film Import Ban in the 1930s

AbstractIn the 1930s Hollywood enjoyed a popular following in the Japanese film market, accounting for almost 90 per cent of imported sound films. Against a backdrop of emerging political tensions and war in China, the Japanese government announced in 1937 that it would place a ban on Hollywood film imports. This was a move that ushered in a new era of protectionism for Japan’s emerging film industry. Following this decision, Hollywood studios engaged with Tokyo and sought an agreement to ease the new restrictions. After a period of intense discussions, the Japanese government agreed to lift the ban albeit with certain conditions. This paper examines protectionism in the Japanese film market and considers the impact of political forces, both domestic and international, on the decisions made. It will show that economic factors were mostly behind the decision to implement the ban and therefore facilitated the reaching of an agreement between the two sides. Furthermore, the interests of the domestic film industry who would benefit from the import of Hollywood films helped lift the ban.

The rupture in Hong Kong cinema: Post-2000 Hong Kong cinema(s) as both a transnational cinema and a national cinema

This paper traces artistic and ideological discrepancies between the young generation of Hong Kong filmmakers and their predecessors – the established generation who contributed to the glory days of Hong Kong cinema during its economic boom. By tracing studies of national cinema and transnational cinema in the last three decades, the author argues that current Hong Kong cinema has split into two: a transnational cinema represented by the established generation of filmmakers; and a national cinema that is driven by the emerging generation who struggles for better preservation of Hong Kong local culture and their own cultural identities. To conduct the research, 47 people were interviewed including13 established filmmakers, 16 young filmmakers and18 film students from 3 universities in Hong Kong. The three groups of respondents generally represent three perspectives: that of the established film practitioners, who have a vested interest in the current co-production era; that of the emerging young film practitioners, who above all crave a flourishing local film market and whose productions exhibit stronger Hong Kong cultural identities; lastly, that of the, who were predominantly born in the 1990s and have the most extreme views against mainland China and whose filmmaking ideologies and practices foreshadow the future of the industry.

A Study on the Institutional Transformation of Korean Film Policy Regime - Focusing on the relationship between social democratization and the growth of the film industry

본 연구는 역사적 제도주의 관점에서 한국 영화정책 체계의 제도적 전환을 기술하였다. 비교역사적 방법을 통해 역사적 시기를 구분하고 시기별 차이와 정책실행 결과를 살펴봄으로써 한국 영화산업이 성장할 수 있었던 정책 변수와 동력을 찾고자 하였다. 한국 영화정책 체계는 1961년에서 1984년까지의 정부 주도적(government-led) 시기, 1985년 영화시장 개방부터 1998년까지의 제도적 전환기, 1999년부터 현재까지의 시장주도적(market-led) 시기로 구분할 수 있다. 1980년대 이후의 사회 민주화는 검열제도를 비롯한 불합리한 규제를 폐지하고 진흥 중심의 정책 거버넌스를 구축하였으며, 민주화 운동을 경험한 세대가 영화계에 진출하여 정책 활동에 참여할 수 있는 정책 통로를 제공했다. 정책 체계의 제도적 전환은 정책의 가능성과 행위자들의 전략을 변화시켜 시장개방의 위기를 딛고 산업이 성장할 수 있었던 간접적이지만 결정적인 동력이되었다.This study took a comparative historical approach to the Korean film policy regime from the perspective of historical institutionalism. Through this, this tried to find out what the policy variables and forces were that helped the Korean film industry overcome its market opening in the 1980s and subsequent downturns. The Korean film industry has made an institutional transformation from a government-led system to a market-led system in the wake of the market opening that began in 1985. The opening of the film market caused a crisis in the Korean film industry, but it also served as a crucial junctures in dismantling the institutional equilibrium of the policy system established under the leadership of the authoritarian government since the 1960s. Social democratization after the mid-1980s became an indirect but decisive driving force for the success of the film industry, setting the backdrop for industrial capital and up-andcoming personnel to cooperate in the film industry. The change in the political system served as an opportunity to abolish unreasonable regulations, including the censorship system, and to establish policy governance centered on promotion and support, and to provide channels for people who experienced democratic movements to enter the film industry and participate in policy activities. An internal variable that produced unintended consequences of policies by refraction of external environmental changes in the Korean film industry s market opening is the change in the political system caused by the democratization of Korean society.

Industry drivers of multinational companies’ externalization choice: a conceptual framework and application to Korea–China film co-productions

Purpose This conceptual paper aims to explore under what conditions multinational companies (MNCs) are more likely to internationalize through externalization modes. Design/methodology/approach This paper complements previous studies by proposing three industry-specific factors that affect MNCs’ decision for externalization. It then applies this framework to the case of Korean MNCs’ strategic choice when entering the Chinese film market which is highly regulated by the government, to illustrate how such a framework works in practice. Findings This paper suggests that MNCs are more likely to choose externalization entry modes under the three industry conditions: when the business grows fast, when there are best practices of industry standard and when the business requires multi-competence. It also shows that the three conditions explain well the growing Korea–China co-productions in the Chinese film market. Practical implications This paper provides useful implications for the government’s regulatory effectiveness. The protectionist policies of the host government are valid only in an industry where the three conditions are met, as they increase the possibility of domestic firms’ participation by encouraging foreign MNCs to shift their entry mode from sole venture toward alliances with domestic firms. Originality/value This paper enriches the entry-mode research by indicating that MNCs’ externalization decisions need to consider these industry-specific factors. In addition, it also contributes to the understanding on why some countries maintain their high attractiveness for foreign MNCs, whereas other countries do not, given the similar level of restrictive government regulations.

Chinese Blockbusters and Culture Self-Confidence

Along with the market-oriented development of the Chinese economy in the reform-era, the country’s once highly-political revolutionary arts and cultural realm has been transformed into commercialised mass culture. Specifically, the accelerated market-oriented restructuring of the Chinese film industry since 2000 has turned China into the world’s second largest film market. At the same time, it has also led to the recent emergence of domestic commercial blockbusters that both bolster official values and enjoy successful market returns. Encompassing titles such as Wolf Warrior II (2017), Operation Red Sea (2018), The Wandering Earth (2019) and My People, My Country (2019), these films, not short of spectacular Hollywood-calibre visual effects, express the culture self-confidence of a rising Chinese nation as they reflect the cultural taste of a rapidly expanding new Chinese film audience.

Predicting and ranking box office revenue of movies based on big data

Predicting box office revenue (BOR) of movies before releasing on big screens successfully becomes an emerging need, as it informs investment decisions on the stock market, the design of promotion strategies by advertisement companies, movie scheduling by cinemas, etc. However, the task is very challenging as it is affected by a lot of complex factors. In this paper, we first provide a strategic investigation of these influential factors. Then, we put forward a novel framework to predict a movie’s BOR by modeling these factors using big data. Specifically, the framework consists of a series of feature learning models and a prediction and ranking model. In particular, there are two models devised for learning features: (1) a novel dynamic heterogeneous network embedding model to simultaneously learn latent representations of actors, directors, and companies, capable of capturing their cooperation relationship collectively; (2) a deep neural network-based model designed to uncover high-level representations of movie quality from trailers. Based on the learned features, we train a mutually-enhanced prediction and ranking model to obtain the BOR prediction results. Finally, we apply the framework to the Chinese film market and conduct a comprehensive performance evaluation using real-world data. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of both extracted knowledge and the prediction results.

The Power of Japanese Film Production Consortia: The Evolution of Inter-Firm Alliance Networks and the Revival of the Japanese Film Indsutry

After long-term downturn of sales of Japanese films and dominance of Hollywood films in the Japanese film market during 1960’s and 1980’s, Japanese film industry revived from the latter part of 1990’s with evolution of interfirm film production and distribution alliances. In Japanese film industry, many of successful box-office films are currently produced and distributed under inter firm alliances across industries, which are called as a “film production consortium. (FPC)” In many of these cases, several major television broadcasting companies tend to form film production consortia, organizing several major firms across media industries including a film distribution company, a publisher of an original text or comic, an ad agency, a talent agency and other supporting companies (i.e. a nation-wide retailer or a videogame company). This chapter attempts to describe origin, main functions, history, current conditions and implications of a production consortium, growth of interfirm alliance networks mainly within media industries and new roles of producers to drive it. It also tries to explain reasons of its evolution and analyzes facing problems. We will argue these topics in following four parts, referring typical cases and major statistical trends. First, film production consortia have formed interfirm film production networks and become valuable social capital for box-office film production, mainly providing original texts and comics, funding money, excellent talents, new moving picture technology, media-mix promotion and multi-use of characters and moving pictures across media for film production. Second, a film production consortium increased from the middle of 1990’s, formed by several major television broadcasting companies, showed outstanding box-office sale and developed new character business. Third, within these interfirm networks, producers learnt new alliance capabilities to sequentially organize different combinations of production consortium. Finally, we will discuss current conditions of film production consortium, arguing that it becomes popular routines and show some difficulties to produce novel film projects. However, in considering global managerial implications, a film production consortium may give new business opportunities of multi-use of films across industries.

Studi Aktivitas Pemasaran Film Independen: Kasus di Indonesia

The independent film industry in Indonesia is both interesting and unique sector because it has different characteristics from the commercial film industry. The study was conducted to identify independent film marketing activities through a marketing mix and the factors that can influence the marketing activities of independent films in Indonesia. This is a qualitative research using in-depth interview as the main method. Interviews were conducted to nine participants in the film industry representing three chains of production, distribution and exhibition that forms the synergies in the film industry. The main research finding is eight factors influenced independent film marketing activities: idealism, story line, expressions, aspirations, actualization, film distribution channels, promotional activities, and regulation.

On the present and future of Brazilian film studies: Some preliminary notes

This article consists of an overview of some of the most recent and influential academic work on the history and esthetics of Brazilian cinema, followed by some speculative notes on the future of Brazilian film scholarship. Based on recent trends and topics in the field of Film Studies in Brazil, I intend to demonstrate how the latest transformations in the Brazilian mediascapes and film market have stirred and molded new approaches to Brazilian cinema, notably amidst a new generation of film scholars. This overview covers Brazilian cinema and its related film scholarship from the “Retomada” years (1993–1994) up until some of the latest film releases (2019), or “Newest Brazilian Cinema.” Without the presumption of being an exhaustive account, this article aims to provide a panoramic and introductory annotated bibliography that will be useful for further studies and an inventory of current state-of-the-art film scholarship in Brazil.

Between ideology and entertainment: Gyeongseong (Seoul) cinemas under the colonial rule between 1934 and 1942

ABSTRACTUntil the mid 1930s, cinemas in the Bukchon (northern village) district of Gyeongseong (currently Seoul) such as Danseongsa, Jeil Theater, Joseon Theater and Woomigwan dominated the exhibition in Seoul under the Japanese colonial rule. During the colonial era, first or re-run theatres were dedicated to show foreign films, which both colonial Korean and Japanese audiences loved the most. This is in contrast to the situation in Japan, where its domestic films predominated. However, with more acute political conflicts emerged in the region, the Japanese authorities sought to control the colonial Joseon (Korean) film market by restricting the number of screenings and the availability of foreign films. The Motion Picture Control Regulations is seen as the first Japanese ‘screen quota’ in Korea; the Red and White distribution system was established in May 1942 in order to provide screens with domestically produced (both imperial Japanese and colonial Korean) films. Colonial screens were simply not capable of projecting imperial ideology, as it was heavily profit-driven. A conflict between the colonial Korean and imperial Japanese systems drove the industry during this period and in this article, I will examine the transition of the colonial policies on film screenings and challenges arising from the exhibition sector.

Editor's Notes

Editor's Notes Michael T. Martin This second issue of Black Camera substantiates the journal's renewal and our project to "document, encourage, and invigorate research and study of black filmmaking as an art form, cultural and political practice, and historical activity." Featured are two provocative essays. First, Terri Francis reflects upon the "idea of a blues cinema sublime" (also known as black independent cinema) and its capacity to account for the "experiences and histories of black people in America, such as migrations, floods, and the precariousness of black life in a country where black folks' citizenship has ever been contingent or catastrophically in question." Here, Francis revisits the cultural debates about race, art, and politics among Harlem renaissance writers and Ralph Ellison's later interventions to examine black people's contemporary "experiences of cinema," suggesting that in a "blues cinema sublime" one finds the improvisational indeterminacies of black life. The essay by Matthew Pratt Guterl looks at Josephine Baker, the celebrated yet not unproblematic personage whose antiracist ethos stands in counterpoint to the divisive racial politics of the long history of the twentieth century. Examining her first feature film, La Siréne des tropiques (1927), Guterl situates Baker in French colonial culture during the interwar period and, in doing so in this larger frame, reveals Baker's engagement with modernity and world affairs. Next is a Black Camera interview with the Angolan filmmaker and writer Ondjaki (Nadalu Almeida), reflecting upon the impact of the anti-colonial struggle and civil war on current conditions for film production in Angola, as well as the thematic concerns and practices of Angolan filmmakers. In discussing his documentary film, Hope the Pitanga Cherries Grow (2005), Ondjaki elaborates on the daily life of youth in Luanda, the city's dynamism, creativity, and élan, and the mobilizing significance of music and sports in the Angolan imagination and revitalization of society. In the issue, too, is the first installment of essays from Africultures—a [End Page 1] unique cultural entity and resource for the study of African societies and cultures with whom we have formed a partnership. The director of publications and prominent film critic, Olivier Barlet, contributes four distinctive and illuminating short essays that address key concerns, such as African filmmakers' "new" survival strategies "so that they can exist without renouncing who they are," the absence of a market for African films, along with Barlet's survey and periodization of African film during the past five decades. The Documents section comprises two programmatic statements penned nearly thirty years apart (1982 and 2009) that enunciate identical concerns and mission, which is—at the most fundamental level—to empower "the film practitioner with the right and capacity to make and exhibit films." In the Niamey statement, the consequential and enduring legacy of colonialism is acknowledged for the underdevelopment of cinema in African countries, and the call for the establishment of a "cinema market," "technical infrastructure," "training," and the financing of production are delineated, while in the FEPACI report, progress toward these objectives is assessed in the context of FEPACI's interventions, collaborations with other cinematic formations, and their mobilizing activities during 2009. The issue concludes with sections devoted to archival news, including a lengthy statement by BFC/A senior archivist, Mary K. Huelsbeck, regarding the Robert Kya-Hill Collection, along with book and film reviews and professional and research notes. The editor gratefully acknowledges the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington. [End Page 2] Copyright © 2010 Indiana University Press

Filmowa franczyza. Od tematu do widowiska telewizyjnego (na podstawie cyklu „Prawdziwe Historie”)

The TV series True Stories (Prawdziwe Historie) is an example of contemporary commercial cinema. It is located on the border of documentary film and an attractive version of fictional cinema. In specific circumstances, it can be treated as a commercial product, but not only in the sense of film production and distribution, but more broadly, as a recognisable brand on the domestic cinema market, containing all the elements of industry know-how, as well as significant and commonly seen features of a film style that guarantees both turnout and financial success. In a sense, therefore, this phenomenon can be considered in terms of a film franchise which offers creators, most often beginners, a proven business patent in the form of a coherent television series, but also giving the possibility of a safe feature debut and the space for creative exploration.

Weimar Wallace: Three Early German Screen Adaptations of Novels by Edgar Wallace (1931–1934)

Abstract The article analyzes three little-known films from the early 1930s which are based on novels by British crime thriller writer Edgar Wallace. It presents the films and their genre as a case study for crime cinema and politics in the transition from the Weimar Republic to Nazi Germany by contextualizing them within the rapidly changing film market after January 1933. The series of popular Weimar Wallace films ended abruptly with Hitler’s rise to power, which also put a stop to most of the country’s transnational cinema practices, including film adaptations of novels which were then considered as un-German.

Investigating film-induced tourism potential: The influence of Korean TV dramas on Hong Kong young adults

ABSTRACTMore and more tourism destinations have begun to utilize the increasing influence of Asian pop entertainment media, in an attempt to diversify their products and tourists’ experiences. This paper investigates Korean TV dramas as the determinant of film-induced tourism using a survey of a sample of Hong Kong young adults (n = 220). The study confirms a moderate correlation between the characteristics of Korean TV drama and the behavioral intention to travel to these film destinations. The results show a moderate level of interest and a small potential market among the respondents only, which is not sufficiently strong according to the relatively low ratings, and the respondents show less inclination to realize their motivations to be a “travel action.” Two motivational factors are identified, namely inner conception and outer attributes, to mobilize the respondents to film-induced travel. Specifically, the respondents consider character fantasy, relaxation and romance, and vicarious experience as the strongest determinants in inducing more travel to film destinations in Korea. More respondents perceive themselves to be general or serendipitous film tourists, who regard filming site visitation to only constitute one part of their entire trip’s activities and travel experiences, and novelty and prestige as the main motivators. A relatively small group of specific film tourists focus on vicarious experiences, along with the romantic feelings of film characters and scenes. These results provide film destination planners and marketers with useful information about product and experience diversification, as well as an opportunity for market segmentation.

Film Marketing Technique in Bangladesh-is YouTube Trailer the Most Effective Tool?

In recent times, the film industry is becoming precisely phenomenon worldwide. But formerly gathering knowledge about this specific issue, film marketing theory,strategy, policy, and hierarchical procedure should maintain while practising. The research undertakes the historical analysis of films from the very past, several marketing policies and practice of Bangla movies and tries to identify their strategy of marketing. The questionnaire includes in-depth interviews of the audiences, and the sampling procedure is purposive sampling. The samples collected throughout the study explores the ethical issues of the essential film marketing techniques. Drawing on, the uses and Gratifications model of Active Audience Theory, this study discovers the methods and conclude that YouTube Trailer is the most compelling film marketing technique. Therefore, identification of the marketing strategy is supportive of the film to be blockbuster orsuccessful in the theatre, and marketing of a movie generates countless impact to be widespread in the audience.

Sylvester Stallone and the economics of the ageing film actor

ABSTRACTSylvester Stallone’s stardom has been inexorably linked to notions of youthful masculinity and an image that was constructed more than thirty years ago. Recent academic attention has been largely concerned with the ways in which age is gradually moving the star away from the idealised image that had previously defined his stardom. Exploring how he is negotiating the realities of ageing, the impact this has on the roles available to him, and his ability to endure the physical requirements of these roles has been the subject of much academic interest, with many concluding that the star is increasingly redundant. This chapter will offer an economic reading of the star and an examination of the ways in which the veteran actor has sought to, and in many cases, succeeded in, extending his celebrity status in a contemporary global media marketplace. By considering two aspects that are central to Stallone’s contemporary stardom, his harnessing of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to publicise new projects and to capitalise on earlier screen successes, and the his recent economic success in the Chinese film market, the chapter will explore how ideas of redundancy may have been applied to the star prematurely.

German surveillance of the Swedish film market during World War II

This article approaches the subject of German film policy in Sweden during World War II from a new perspective. While several film scholars have mapped the connections between the German and Swedish film industries in the past, less is known about the German surveillance of Swedish film criticism, Swedish cinema audiences and Allied newsreel competitors. Drawing on previously overlooked archival material from the German film company Ufa’s Swedish subsidiary, digital newspaper archives and previous research on German film strategies abroad, this article offers new insights into the ways Ufa monitored the film market in neutral Sweden.

A Casablanca of the North? Stockholm as imagined transnational setting in the British spy thriller Dark Journey

The article examines the largely forgotten British émigré film Dark Journey, its Swedish setting and Scandinavian release. The spy drama, which tells the story of German and French secret agents in Stockholm during World War I by mixing thriller elements with romance, raises a number of questions regarding the representation of spies in a Scandinavian context, Sweden as a contested film market in the later 1930s and the transnational production strategy of films made at the Denham studios in Britain. It is one of the films that helped the profession of secret agents to change its image from a dingy and unchivalrous activity to an adventurous, illustrious and cosmopolitan enterprise. Interestingly, the film offers a very positive portrayal of its German protagonist, played by Conrad Veidt, that is at odds with other Anglo-American spy films but not at all uncommon for Swedish spy fiction.