中國電影的國際化戰略

Chinese filmmakers are walking a tightrope between localization and globalization. Finding a happy medium is surprisingly like cooking fish, Raymond Zhou learns.

As China's film industry rockets into the stratosphere of amazing box-office returns, the international market becomes increasingly enticing. Yet, only a fraction of its revenues come from outside China, and even that is often the result of counting in the foreign receipts of co-productions, which technically do not go to the Chinese pocket. Chinese film companies, however, are moving up the learning curve. At a Beijing International Film Festival forum, CEO of Bona Film Group Ltd Yu Dong maps out three stages that Chinese films have to take to launch a global entry.

"None of the steps can be skipped," he emphasizes.

The first stage, according to Yu, is what he jokingly calls "dumping". Movies are bundled together and sold to foreign television stations, video websites and, in the old days, video distributors. The Chinese companies receive a pittance, e.g. $20,000 for 10 movies, or a mere $100,000 for the whole year's inventory. "There is little room for price negotiation. If you don't use the low-price strategy, they'll go buy Korean or Japanese movies instead," he says. "You have to remember there are some 5,000 movies produced annually throughout the world. China accounts for roughly 10 percent, the US 10 percent, India more than 20 percent. And I'm not counting the 100-some pornography films from Japan."

Whoever buys the Chinese stock will have to find ways to make money out of it. So, whatever platforms they can find they will use to release some of these movies, which means exposure for Chinese stories and Chinese actors, says Yu. "This will help cover 80 to 150 markets across the world."

For phase two, Chinese companies will participate in the investment of some projects with global reach and, in return, will place Chinese situations and Chinese actors inside the stories. The cameo appearances of several A-list Chinese stars in these big Hollywood franchises have caused controversy in China, with some members of the Chinese public complaining about the short shrift given to these big names, but Yu holds a different view. "No matter how small the role, it is worth it," he says, citing the example of Wang Xueqi in Iron Man 3. "This is 2013's biggest movie in the whole world, and the global audience got to know this Chinese actor," Yu says.

The third stage will involve Chinese productions with international participation. Yu says Wolf Totem, which has just wrapped production, is a perfect example. It is based on a Chinese best-seller, but is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, a French director with a track record for incorporating wild animals in his stories. It has reportedly pre-sold $8 million in the European market.

This project is spearheaded by Zhang Qiang, an executive of China Film Group. "It tells a Chinese story with Chinese characters and Chinese emotions, backed up by Chinese investment, but it has potential global appeal," says Yu. Yu's Bona is mulling similar projects, to be co-produced with Fox Film Corporation, which has a financial stake in his company. "We may even produce movies with dual language soundtracks, a Chinese one for the domestic market and English for the international market," Yu says.

Yu is aware he can do only one or two such co-productions each year. For regular movies, those in the mid-budget or small budget with no possibility of hiring international talent, he wants to have his teams engage in international cooperation and use that experience to serve the domestic market. "By 2020, China will surpass North America and become the world's largest film exhibition market, and our output will reach 1,000 feature films a year. Only then will we be prepared to set Stage Three as our target," says Yu. "Only then will we be able to make international films with Chinese emotions and become part of world cinema."

Zhou Tiedong, until recently president of China Film Promotion International, a company that is heavily involved in what Yu Dong calls "phase one" of Chinese films' global ambition, offers a different take: "If you do not have a good story, international buyers would not touch it even if it is free. The film industry is built on collecting pocket money from each individual moviegoer. In the US, the average price for a ticket is still around $8 apiece. That means selling your story to millions of such individuals."

According to Zhou, Wolf Totem is no longer a narrowly defined Chinese story. It is about wolves and man's relations with wild animals and nature. So, it is global in its core. "The crux is in the positioning of your story. You can position it for the domestic market or beyond it. Of all the movies made in the US, most are for domestic consumption. There are only 50-some global movies that reach the international market and they represent Hollywood as we know it."

Zhou insists that, to reach a global audience, we should not only tell stories about China, but more about Chinese people. "We have not learned how to penetrate the cultural surface into the depth of humanity. Our products are often made with what I call 'strong cultural discount', and that will hamper the acceptance of foreign audiences. Stories about human nature but with Chinese cultural characteristics, such as Wolf Totem, have the potential to succeed on the wider market."

Zhou uses the analogy of fish to explain his point. If a fish has too many bones, only people who are ardent lovers of fish as food will eat it. But if you remove the bones and make it into fish balls or fish fillets, even those mildly interested may choose it. A Chinese film has to go through a similar process to find a wider audience. "When we make a global film, we must preserve the flavor of fish, so to speak, i.e. the Chinese elements that culturally identify us. But if you examine any film that sells across the world, you'll find it does not contain things that will be stuck in your throat. It can always go down smoothly. Any race, culture, age, language group will be able to relate to it. In that sense, you have to tell a global story or even a story of the whole cosmos."

However, there can be endless gradations between total localization and total globalization in terms of a film's positioning. When it comes to the treatment of a film story and its details, there are thousands of decisions and each one will require a careful balance. Very often there is no right or wrong, but collectively a film may come across as heavy on one end or the other. Occasionally, a film may capture both the domestic and the outside market, but it may also be caught in the middle, failing to appeal to either side.

Debates like the one described in this story, which I moderated, happen every year as we move along - and up - the learning curve.隨着中國電影行業的飛速發展以及相應的高票房回報，國際市場愈發誘人。然而，中國電影在海外市場獲利甚微，甚至這些少得可憐的收益也常常都是進入了外國合資方的口袋，而不是進入中國製片方的囊中。但中國的電影公司正在努力學習着如何在國際市場上運作。在今年的北京國際電影節論壇上，博納影業集團有限公司總裁於冬表示，中國電影的海外推廣無外乎三個階段。

他強調：“沒有一個是可以跳過的”。

於冬將第一階段打趣地稱之爲“低價傾銷”。中國將電影捆綁銷售給海外電視臺、視頻網站以及過去的視頻分銷商。在這個階段，中國企業獲利甚微，舉例來說，10部電影僅獲利兩萬美元，或全年僅有10萬美元入賬。他說：“在海外推廣中，價格談判的餘地很小，如果你不依靠低價傾銷，國際買家就會引進韓國或日本電影。要知道全世界每年製作約5000部電影。中國大約只佔其中的10%，美國佔了10%，印度佔20%以上。當然，這裏沒有把每年日本製作的約100部色情電影算在內。”

中國投資方將不得不探索新的盈利模式。因此，他們將利用任何一切可利用的平臺來宣傳中國電影，這意味着中國電影和演員的曝光率將大大增加。於冬說：“這將幫助中國電影覆蓋至全球80至150個市場。”

第二階段，中國的電影公司應參與有世界範圍影響力的電影投資，以此將中國電影和演員推向世界。一些中國一線影星在好萊塢系列電影中客串出演，此現象在國內引起了爭議，一些國人抱怨這些影星遭到了忽視，但於冬對此持不同看法。他以王學圻在《鋼鐵俠3》中的出演爲例，說：“無論是多麼小的角色，這都是值得的。這是2013年全世界最火爆的電影，全球觀衆都由此認識了這位中國演員”。

第三階段，中國電影將參與國際競爭。於冬認爲近期殺青的《狼圖騰》就是一個完美的例子。首先它的劇本是改編自中國暢銷書，但卻是由法國導演讓·雅克·阿諾（Jean-Jacques Annaud）執導的，他曾經拍攝過記錄野生動物的故事。有消息稱，《狼圖騰》在歐洲市場已預售了800萬美元。

《狼圖騰》是由中國電影集團公司副總裁張強牽頭的。於冬說：“這是一個有中國角色和中國人情感的故事。它由中方投資，但它具備全球吸引力。”博納集團也正在考慮投資類似的電影，他們讓福克斯電影製作公司入股，合拍電影。他說：“我們甚至會針對國內市場和主打英語的國際市場，來拍雙語電影。”

對於定期拍攝來說，中等成本電影或小成本電影無法吸引到國際人才。於冬意識到每年他能接手到的國際合拍機會只有一到兩個。而他想要其團隊能參與到國際合作中從而獲得寶貴經驗，並將這種經驗運用到國內電影的製作之中。他說：“到2020年時，中國將超過北美，成爲世界上最大的電影展覽市場，屆時我們的電影產量將達到每年1000部。只有到那時，我們方能進入第三階段，也只有到那時，我們才能製作出帶有中國情懷的國際化電影，並且真正意義上立足於世界影壇。”

對於於冬所描述的低價傾銷，作爲充分參與了此階段的親歷者——中國電影海外推廣公司，其總經理周鐵東對於於冬的觀點提出不同看法：“如果你沒有一個好劇本，國際買家不會碰它，即使它是免費的。電影產業的收入來源於每位長期電影觀衆手中的零花錢。在美國，電影的平均票價維持在每張8美元左右。這意味着你的電影能夠賣給數以百萬計的人們。”

周鐵東認爲,《狼圖騰》不再是僅限於一箇中國故事的定位。它是關於狼與人，野生動物與自然的關係。可見，其主旨是全球性的。“關鍵在於故事的定位。你可以將其定位在國內市場，亦或是超越國內市場。美國幾乎所有的電影都是定位在國內市場。目前爲止他們只有約50部是主打海外市場的國際化電影，而我們所知道的好萊塢正是由這些電影所代表。”

周堅稱，我們的電影不僅要向全世界講述中國的故事，更要講述中國人的故事。“我們還在學習如何將所要傳達的信息從文化的表層滲透到人性的深度。在我們的電影中存在一種現象，我通常將其稱之爲“巨大的文化折扣”，這種現象將阻礙外國觀衆對我國電影的認可。諸如《狼圖騰》這樣的帶着中國文化特色的講述人與自然的電影，具備在更大的市場上取得成功的潛質。”

“爲了進一步解釋他的觀點，周鐵東使用魚來作比方。如果一條魚的魚刺太多了，那麼只有食魚愛好者纔會去吃它。但如果你把刺剔除，並把魚製成魚丸或魚排，這樣即使是那些對於魚興趣一般的人也有可能去吃它。爲了進入更廣闊的市場，中國電影不得不經歷這麼一個類似的階段。“當我們在製作國際化電影時，我們必須保持住魚的味道，也就是說，必須在電影中保有中國文化元素。但如果你去觀察任何國際化的電影，幾乎每部電影都剔除了會卡住觀衆喉嚨的文化魚刺。這樣一來，任何種族、文化、年齡、語言的觀衆將都能欣賞，電影方能獲得國際化的成功。從這個意義上說，你必須能講述一個面向全球的故事，甚至是一個面向整個宇宙的故事。”

然而，就電影定位而言，在本地化與國際化之間似乎有無數個可分層次。在人們談到電影故事的製作及其細節時，會產生成千上萬的決定，而且每一項決定都需要同時兼顧好本地化與國際化。通常，不存在對或錯，但存在電影製作在某一端上用力過猛的情況。有時，電影可能同時佔據國內和海外兩塊市場，但它也可能陷在中間，未能討好到任何一方。

正如我在文中所探討的，隨着我們學習國際運作，製作水平持續上升，那麼這種成功每年都能夠上演。