Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 356 The Reasons for the Decline of Shangmei Factory
The sharp whistling of the wind continued to echo in the screening room.

The flickering fluorescent light on the screen illuminates the young faces.

The children looked at the queen on the screen waving her hands and casting ice spells with shining eyes.

Little Xiulin tilted her head high, and her pair of small hands in gloves studded with rhinestones waved involuntarily, just like the Snow Queen casting a spell in the picture.

Chen Shiping looked at her with a smile on his face. Her childhood must have been very happy.

When he was a child, he also wanted to be a hero or a warrior.

Unfortunately, no one made him a wooden sword or pistol.

There are some regrets that cannot be made up for even when you grow up, so just have fun in your childhood.

Nowadays, children will lie at the door of the convenience store after school, staring at Bao Gong on the apricot meat packaging bag, drooling and saying that they want to eat Bao Gong meat every day when they grow up.

But when you grow up, you will feel that things that are too sweet or too sour are just flavors and no longer have the taste of your childhood.

Childhood longing turns into regret in a sigh.

Chen Shiping couldn't help rubbing her head as he watched the dancing Xiulin.

"Don't touch my crown~"

Xiao Xiulin complained quietly as she straightened her crown.

Chen Shiping raised his hands in surrender, turned his head, looked at Tao Huimin, and laughed.

Many parents in the cinema were like Chen Shiping, but while they were attracted by the movie, they couldn't help but look at their children.

This is a happy era.

At this moment, everyone in the theater is very happy. This may be the meaning of the movie.

The movie on the screen soon ended, and the lights in the theater came on amid the reluctant calls of a group of children.

The ending theme song is still playing, and the princess’ ethereal voice is still echoing.

Many viewers who stood up and were about to leave stopped and continued to look at the screen.

The ending of Frozen is different from other movies, it is in the form of a MV.

The Snow Queen was running, dancing and singing in the snow.

This song is similar to the original Let it Go except the lyrics are in Chinese.

Chen Shiping felt it sounded a bit strange, but other audience members did not feel that way because they had never heard the English version.

Little Xiulin also climbed onto the chair and "released" spells while singing along loudly.

The other children turned their heads and looked at her in surprise, asking why she could sing!
You are indeed the Snow Queen and Snow Princess of my childhood!
Of course Xiao Xiulin can sing, she listens to it every day at home.

Chen Shiping looked at little Xiulin who was singing loudly and picked her up and put her on his shoulders.

Amid the envious gazes of the other children, Chen Shiping carried the little princess and pulled the queen out of the cinema.

Many children grabbed their parents and shouted, "The Snow Queen is gone, I want to follow the princess!"

The parents were all at a loss whether to laugh or cry, but they secretly cursed Chen Shiping for his lack of martial ethics.

You even made an animation for your daughter. What should we ordinary parents do?
But the movie was really good, and many parents were still savoring it when they walked out of the cinema.

The theme song kept replaying in my mind, and I followed my heart.

The princess sings so beautifully!

At this time, on the other side of the capital, the premiere had just ended. As the only celebrity among the entire film production crew, the princess was there.

The song at the end of the film did not come from the movie, but was sung live by the princess.

The princess liked the movie very much and sang very attentively, but she was a little annoyed that she had become a singer for film and television dramas.

Chen Shiping likes to ask her to sing the theme song.

But she also likes this song, so she follows her heart and doesn't need to pay attention to the rumors.

It’s just a divorce, what’s wrong with me being happy about it!
This song really fits her current mood. The media has been asking her about her divorce during this period, and this song is a perfect response!
Singing is about expressing one's mood, and the princess sang very well now. The audience at the premiere all sat there with their eyes closed and enjoyed the beautiful singing.

The movie is good, the songs are nice, it is really a very good movie!
At this time, further north, many audiences from Northeast China also walked out of the cinema.

Many children looked up and asked their parents a question.

“Is there really an ice queen in Changbai Mountain?”

"Is there really an ice and snow palace in the middle of Tianchi?"

"Did the Snow Queen really stop the volcano from erupting?"

Parents: “emmm” who is this screenwriter, tell me how to answer!

It seems to be Chen Shiping! Never mind, since he wrote a good script, let them tell the rest.

Many parents hugged their daughters and said with a smile: "Yes, there is really a queen in Changbai Mountain. The palace is huge. I went there when I was a kid."

At this time in the Shanghai Xinxing Cinema, several people from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio were silently looking at the screen that had turned white, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Frozen is very well made, both the story and the pictures are great, and the ending song is also great.

The princess sang beautifully, no worse than Li Wen’s 365 Days of Missing You.

Several people looked at each other and began to express their opinions.

"The Beijing Film Studio added elements of musicals to the animation, which is quite interesting."

"The painting style has elements of freehand ink painting, but it is more modern, the image design is more fashionable, and the colors are bolder and more brilliant. They are playing with something very new."

"I really don't know who came up with this idea. I feel this style is more suitable for the Lotus Lantern."

"It was created by Chen Shiping. He was the one who decided on all the color schemes and image designs."

"That's not surprising. He is a film master. His understanding of film aesthetics is unmatched by most people."

Director Chang of The Lotus Lantern has a lot of question marks in his head. Why do I feel like you are scolding me?
They were silent for a while, then suddenly laughed awkwardly and said, "But the Lotus Lantern is better. Ours is computer-made, a combination of 3D and D, and it's more Western in style, so it will definitely be popular!"

"Yes, maybe it will shine internationally!"

Listening to their conversation, Director Chang frowned, he felt something was wrong.

He always felt that the Lotus Lantern might not be that successful this time. In fact, ever since it was made, he felt that the Lotus Lantern could not compare to Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and the Demons and the Demons and the Demons and the Demons.

Those two are the pinnacle of Chinese animation, and The Lotus Lantern failed to continue the previous style.

But it’s already been done, so we can only hope that it will be popular after being integrated with Western style.

But when he thought of the style of Frozen, he felt a little unconfident.

Beijing Film Studio seems to be developing a new Chinese aesthetic style.

The Lotus Lantern always feels a little out of place.

If Chen Shiping knew what he was thinking, he might not be able to help but ask him a question.

Did you learn Disney's style on your own initiative, or was it suggested by others, or was it Disney who took the initiative?

The direction of Chinese animation has set a very impressive positioning since the movie "Havoc in Heaven".

That’s all ages!
However, after The Lotus Lantern, Chinese animation has been developing in the direction of childishness and has never looked back, and has lost its leading position in the animation field since then.

In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the world's three animation peaks were Chinese Animation, Disney, and Little Days.

Although China had only produced four feature-length animations before this, it still reached the ceiling in the animation industry.

From Havoc in Heaven to Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, to The Monkey King Conquers the Demons and The Magic Book, each one is a classic among classics. It has pushed the style of Chinese animation to the pinnacle of animation art and formed the Chinese school!

The Shangmei Factory used to be so great. Ever since the new factory director took office, things have been a little different.

The current director of Shanghai Animation Studio is also the vice president of Shanghai Film Group, the deputy director of the TV station, and the main planner of this year's Shanghai Film Festival activities.

Chen Shiping didn’t know what was wrong with Lao Jin. Perhaps it was after he joined the International Animation Organization and became a director that his horizons broadened.

In short, Shangmei Factory has not produced any good works for a long time since he took over.

Before him, although Shanghai Animation Studio did not produce many feature films, short animations emerged in large numbers.

The Nine-Colored Deer, the Snow Child, the Monkey Catching the Moon, the Super Soap, the Three Monks, the Ginseng Fruit, etc.

In addition, there are many animation series, including The Story of Avanti, Black Cat Sheriff, Shuke and Beta, Rubik's Cube Building, Calabash Brothers, The Adventures of the Sloppy King, etc.

However, after Director Jin took office, Shangmei Factory declined rapidly, but the animation company he promoted to set up was quite lucrative, outsourcing to others.

During the few years he was in office, he worked hard to produce a version of The Lotus Lantern.

Even so, they still abandoned tradition and tried to innovate. In the end, the movie didn't become popular, but the three theme songs became popular.

Where the hell can I go to seek justice?
A good factory is gone, short films are gone, animated series are gone, and feature-length animated films are gone.

There are historical reasons for the decline of Shanghai Animation Studio. In the 1980s, the older generation of animation masters retired, the unified purchase and sale policy was cancelled, and a large number of private animation companies were established to recruit people with high salaries to do OEM for foreign companies.

These are the reasons for the decline, but it’s not that Shangmei Factory missed the good times and it has the opportunity to turn the situation around.

Since the merger with Shanghai TV, Shanghai Animation Studio has the opportunity to survive by relying on series, and may even continue to make feature-length animations while taking advantage of the booming domestic film market.

However, the Shanghai Animation Studio stopped producing series and short films, and since 1996, it has been busy setting up a new company to outsource production to foreign countries.

After a few years, a Precious Lotus Lantern was made.

But the newly established company is really good, and outsourcing can also make money.

It's just that the originality has been lost.

The current development path of Shangmei Factory is also based on cooperation, relying mainly on working for others.

But he was unwilling to work for Chen Shiping, and Chen Shiping got extremely angry every time he thought about it.

The decline of Shangmei Factory is not without human factors!

Later, many people at Shangmei Factory said that the decline of Shangmei Factory was due to the lack of support from above.

In fact, it was the decision-making itself that went wrong, but who would admit their mistakes?

In fact, many factories have this problem. They always say that they have no funds, but when they have funds, they don’t work hard.

Talking too much brings tears to my eyes.

They achieved excellent results during World War II.

It is clear that even during the most difficult times in the country, animation art was able to be pushed to its peak.

How come it stopped working after the economy improved?

It's really hard to explain why the problem is.

Maybe outsourcing is more worry-free.

I can rehash some old stuff in the future and make some money by filming a Black Cat Sheriff movie or a Calabash Brothers movie.

At this time in the capital, Chen Shiping drove his wife and children to have a big meal.

The car radio was playing a music program. When it came to the song request segment, an audience member called in and requested the song "Follow Your Heart".

The princess has so many fans that some people couldn't wait to request songs as soon as the premiere of Frozen ended.

Who made it so that there were no records or tapes of this song to sell?
Chen Shiping also wanted to sell it, but these days, who would buy a tape with only one song on it?

Just license the copyright out, anyone who wants to release it can do so, even if they want to pirate it.

If the song gets spread, won’t it also boost the popularity of the movie?

Before Chen Shiping arrived at the station and was about to turn off the radio, someone on the radio station selected Zhang Xinzhe's "Love Is Just One Word".

Not to mention, some of the songs in The Lotus Lantern are quite popular, more classic than the animation!

Chen Shiping finds it funny to think that ten years later, some people still remember the song, but no one remembers the movie.

Shangmei Studio has some talent in making songs. Two years later, the animation series I Love Singing also won a platinum record.

It's pretty awesome.

If it doesn't work out, maybe switching careers and running a record company will work.

At this time, the publicity and promotion team of China Film Group was working overtime to write manuscripts and make plans.

The movie has been released, and the publicity and promotion activities must also keep up.

Frozen itself is an animation suitable for all ages, but audiences didn’t realize this before, and most of the people who went to see the movie were parents bringing their children.

Now we need to target young people with our publicity, and the key is to get young people into the cinema.

Various tweets about Frozen need to be written, print media need to report extensively, and the Internet cannot be ignored. Although there are only a few netizens, the main group consists of young people who are receptive to new things.

In addition, surrounding children's clothing, toys, stickers, dolls, and songs should all be vigorously promoted.

This is the big battlefield for building IP!
At the end of this year, the first cultural and tourism project will be officially launched, and IP development must explore a mature plan.

Chen Shiping only gave some suggestions and ignored the rest.

Busy having dinner with my daughter!

It was not until the next day when Chen Shiping went to work that he received the box office results for the premiere of Frozen.

On the day of its premiere, the box office in mainland China was 5.8 million, and the statistics for other regions have not yet been released.

Not counting the box office in other regions, the box office in mainland China alone could reach 60 million.

If Chen Shiping remembers correctly, the highest box office of "The Lotus Lantern" in mainland China seemed to be more than 20 million.

The market is different now. Even if we double it, the box office will only be more than 40 million.

The Lotus Lantern is a traditional cultural story. Shangmei Factory has accumulated a good reputation over the past few decades, so it is not surprising that it has achieved such results.

However, in the end it only grossed 20 million, which shows that the follow-up was weak and there were problems with the quality of the film itself.

Many plots and episodes are too adult. Chinese audiences are not the precocious children in Europe and the United States, so they will not like to see these.

All age groups, not just adult age groups!

It is really interesting to go to the Mei Factory. The Lotus Lantern is of a certain age, but then it continues on the path of youth and never returns.

Chen Shiping is not very interested in the movie box office, and would like to take a look at everyone's comments on Frozen first.

【Frozen: A new aesthetic style that breaks away from traditional ink-and-wash animation.】

[Frozen is fun and innocent, yet also contains elements of inspiration, struggle, and love that adults like. It is loved by people of all ages! ]

[Many parents were too engrossed in watching a movie and lost their children! ]

Chen Shiping couldn't help but twitch his lips when he saw the last piece of news. This must have been the work of the publicity and promotion team.

However, this news can indeed attract many adults to go to the cinema.

You can't even take care of your kids? How can a movie be this good?!
(End of this chapter)