What will the animation job market be like in the next five years? What kind of art majors will dominate?

☆★☆★☆★ The sales of traditional comics are declining and online comic magazines are now appearing☆★☆★☆★

Reprinted from - Xinhuanet

Reading comic magazines is A must-do homework for many comic fans every month. In order to be closer to readers living in the Internet age, many comic magazine publishers in Japan have launched online versions of comic magazines in the past two months.

At the end of April, the Japanese animation publishing house Futabasha launched Comic Seed, which is known as "the world's first free comic online magazine". After entering the website, readers only need to click the mouse on the computer screen. You can flip through comics and the feeling is not much different from reading a magazine. The June issue of Comic Seed has 206 pages, including multiple comic strips. This virtual magazine also includes previews and advertisements for the next issue of comics. The back cover also gives readers a small gift: a free downloadable comic desktop.

Shimano Koji, director of Futabasha Comics Publishing Department, said that online magazines do not require printing and binding, so the overall cost is half that of printed magazines. The publishing house hopes to create a business model that will make money from advertising and the publication of print comics by expanding the readership of the free-to-read magazine.

The comic magazine Blood launched in April by SoftBank Creative, a subsidiary of Japan's SoftBank Group, has three forms: a traditional print magazine, an online version and a mobile version. It is reported that the mobile version of Blood magazine implements a membership registration system, with a monthly fee of 315 yen (1 US dollar is equivalent to 112 yen). The content is the same as the online magazine. It can currently be read on a certain operator's 3G mobile phone.

The "Yomiuri Shimbun" cited relevant statistics on the 20th and said that sales of Japan's traditional comic magazines have fallen for 10 consecutive years. Sales in 2005 were 242 billion yen, down 5% from the previous year. Sales of paperback comic books surpassed comic magazines for the first time in 2005, reaching 260 billion yen.

According to a survey by the Internet Life Research Institute, a subsidiary of Japan's Impress Group, the Japanese e-book market in fiscal year 2005 is estimated to have doubled from the previous year, with sales reaching nearly 9 billion yen. One important growth point is digital comics that can be viewed on mobile screens. (Compiled by LSMH)

☆★☆★☆★ The coming digital era of comics☆★☆★☆★

Reprinted from - Mysoon.com www.mysoon.com

"Have you heard, ×× Comics Magazine is down!" Such news has been popping up from MSN or QQ from time to time for a while. It was a little scary at first, but I got used to it after being afraid.

The current situation of Chinese animation is so subtle that it has not been seen in more than ten years. On the one hand, there is constant good news. The country is eager to develop the animation industry. Large-scale cartoon exhibitions are popping up all over the country. Animation majors in colleges and universities and vocational training have been launched one after another. The situation is very good. On the other hand, most of the soldiers who are fighting on the front line of originality are in danger. The predicament of running out of food makes me look back and feel confused. Original magazines have collapsed one after another, and most of the surviving ones are in poor operating conditions. The author's stage is getting smaller and smaller, and getting the opportunity to be published does not mean that he can get the royalties as scheduled and in full. More and more industry members are beginning to consider where to go...

This is the best of times and the worst of times for our original creations.

If we still don’t want to give up the dream of comics, what should we do? Get some funding and hope to create one or two successful original publications? In the current sluggish market, this method of treating a headache and treating a sore foot has been proven and continues to be proven to be difficult to work. Give up the futile work, find an animation school and concentrate on teaching apprentices, looking forward to tomorrow? How much confidence do we have in being able to lead our students to success if we fail to achieve success?

Raise your head and look beyond comics. Our lives are rapidly becoming digital. Computers, broadband, mobile phones, MP3, MP4, PDA... more and more electronic elements have entered our leisure and entertainment, which is an irresistible trend. Our comic appreciation habits have also changed involuntarily.

How many former believers in paper comic books now use picture-viewing software and press PageDown; how many regular customers who used to go to comic shops every day are now concerned about anime websites

When anime fans watch anime, Do you have an in-depth understanding of it? Some people think that anime fans only need to watch anime and that they don’t need to pay attention to the information and knowledge in the anime industry. This concept is wrong! So what is a true anime fan? This is the beginning of animation. Therefore, we need to understand the core values ??of animation culture.

I think the core value of animation culture is to convey messages or emotions. For example, "Fullmetal Alchemist" ("Fullmetal Alchemist") not only expresses the message of "equivalent exchange", but also expresses The respect for the principles of good alchemy and the longing for the resurrection of the mother are very strong and obvious in terms of emotional color and transmission; this is true in more than one anime work, "Cardcaptor" ("Cardcaptor", also translated as "Star Dream Pretty Girl") ") is the same. The emotion it expresses is that "I" love performing acrobatics, and at the same time it expresses the message and idea of ??asking people not to give up and to strive for self-improvement.

Most messages can also educate people, and the messages of "Steel" and "Changing Star" are also truths. This is the core value of animation culture.

I believe everyone also knows that the anime "Little Snow Elf Sugar" ("ちっちゃな雪士いシュガ-", also translated as "Little Angel Sugar") is a healing animation, and healing animation has one characteristic ——Express some emotions or ideas about the soul, and get some spiritual comfort when the reader is in a bad mood. "Little Snow Elf Tangtang" expresses Shaka's trauma about Tangtang leaving her. From this animation From the works, we can see that the core value of animation culture at that time was to heal the human soul (healing).

In addition, the core value of animation culture is to enhance people's thinking and depth. For example, in the animation work "The Bond of Reasoning", every detective in it contains an idea and logic, which is fascinating. Constantly thinking about and understanding the mystery is actually like a question and a test in the process, testing us, thus strengthening people's thinking and depth.

In addition, animation works can also increase the knowledge of doujinshi. I also realize the core value of doujinshi. The original intention of Tongrenyi is to give a group of animation fans space to create animation works so that their animation works can be shared. In my humble opinion, I think anime fans have a sincere heart, as if their thoughts are burning! This spirit is worth preserving. Do you think the core value of anime culture (doujinshi) is to ignite a burning passion?

Cosplay is also a part of fan culture. Do you know its core value? As far as I know, the meaning of Cosplay is to play the role of anime characters. Cosplayers all want to satisfy their feelings for anime characters. This is the core value of anime culture (Cosplay).

Some people say that words are unparalleled in conveying ideas, but in fact animation can already do the same thing as words. People who know how to appreciate it will find that there is no difference between the emotions conveyed and the words. Therefore, the core value of animation culture is a tool for conveying ideas.

In summary, some core values ??are gradually fading away, while some are still the only ones left. Because of this, we should protect the core values ??of animation culture. (Compiled by LSMH)

☆★☆★☆★ Animation Industry: The Quagmire of Dreams☆★☆★☆★

Source: "Computer World"

In The animation industry, spurred by the increasingly perfect macro policies and hardware conditions, is shrouded in a wonderful halo on the one hand, but also has to face embarrassment and helplessness...

In 2005, China's animation industry showed A scene of red fire appeared. By the end of the year, 15 national animation industry bases had been established with the approval of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, including Shanghai Art Film Studio, CCTV China International Television Corporation, and Sanchen Cartoon Group, while the national animation teaching and research bases included Communication University of China, Beijing Film College and 4 other institutions. In addition, the Ministry of Culture has also established three national animation and game industry revitalization bases, respectively in Shanghai, Sichuan, and Liaoning.

The animation industry is known as the sunrise industry of the 21st century, with an untapped market value of more than 100 billion yuan in China. However, in 2004, the total revenue of my country's animation industry was only 11.7 billion yuan, and the market prospects are broad. Within two months after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television launched "Several Opinions on the Development of my country's Film and Television Animation Industry" in 2004, more than a dozen domestic and foreign private capitals entered the field of China's original animation with large-scale funds.

As of the end of 2005, there were 210 domestic enterprises and institutions currently producing or about to produce animation products. At the beginning of 2006, Beijing's "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" outline report proposed that Beijing should vigorously develop cultural and creative industries, among which animation and Internet games are one of the six central goals for key development.

In contrast to the bustling industry development scene, animation companies are embarrassed by being cash-strapped. At the end of April, at the Second China International Cartoon and Animation Festival held in Hangzhou, many companies complained that although the country has introduced a series of policies to support the development of the animation industry in recent years, it is rare to hear of investors or producers making money. Got the money.

“There are many people making cartoons now. We have to look at this wave of films that have been put on the market to see if they have made money after a few years. We can only use the money earned to reinvest in the industry. , can show that this industry has really taken off," said Xu Zhou, who has worked at Shanghai Art Film Studio and Hong Kong Jade TV Station and Shenzhen Jade Animation Company, and is now the general manager of Shanghai Beisen Animation Company.

The industrial chain is broken

“From Dalian to Shenzhen, from Shanghai to Chengdu, animation industrial parks are being built everywhere, and animation has been popular for several years. Everyone says that the animation industry is very profitable. But how to make money? Many people don’t know. When this industry is moving towards marketization, it is still very blind,” said an expert from the Shanghai Information Industry Association Animation Industry Committee.

During the Spring Festival in 2005, a cartoon received a ratings of 4.17% on CCTV, and CCTV acquired 51 of its copyrights for 2.3 million yuan. The average price per minute is as high as 6804 yuan. For cartoons, it is rare for TV stations to purchase broadcast rights at this price.

This cartoon is the first series of "Zhu Bajie Falls from the Sky" launched by Wuhan Jiangtong Animation Co., Ltd. "In the past, the main investors in cartoons were the state. The reason why this film has caused such a big response is because it is one of the few cartoons that has been successfully operated by private capital. But so far, we still have not recovered our investment." Chairman Zhu Youlan said.

In recent years, a number of cartoons with wide influence and mature market operation have indeed appeared in China, among which "Blue Cat Naughty Questions 3000" is one of the best. Today, it has completed 6 series with more than 2,000 episodes, creating the cartoon image of "Blue Cat". The industrial chain has extended to more than 6,600 products in more than a dozen industries such as books, audio and video, stationery, and toys. . There is a "Blue Cat Bar" on Baidu Tieba, and there is a Blue Cat exclusive store on Taobao. Like celebrities, Blue Cat has its own "Blue Cat Club".

Shanchen Group, the production company of the Blue Cat series, is also known as the only profitable company among Chinese cartoon companies. Even so, the Shanghai expert is not optimistic about the profitability of domestic animation companies. "There may not be any cartoons that make money in China, and if there are, they are fictitious. Because the initial investment comes from the state, media promotion may be free. If all resources are included in the cost, Blue Cat may not be profitable."

The question is why does this happen? The animation market is generally divided into three levels: first, the broadcast market; second, the cartoon book and audio-visual products market; and third, derivative products. Among them, the last level has a longer cycle than the first two levels, the market is wider, and money is also made at the last level.

According to international practice, more than 70% of the profits of the animation industry come from audio-visual publishing and derivative products. In our country, many cartoons themselves have little influence, and even if they have launched derivative products, they are still unknown.

From the perspective of capital investment, early planning, mid-term production, post-processing, marketing, derivative products, etc., a complete industrial chain has not yet been formed.

First of all, producers and investors are still relatively cautious about this industry. "You must be persistent when investing in animation. Only by persistence can you see returns." Xu Zhou said.

With the encouragement of policies from the state and governments at all levels, a group of private capital has already intervened in the animation industry. Taking Hangzhou as an example, Guangsha Group, Hengdian Group, and Zhongnan Group have all established film and television animation production companies here. Hangzhou Zhongnan Construction Group invested 48 million yuan to produce 500 episodes of the "Eye of the Sky" cartoon, each episode is 7 minutes long, with a total length of 3,500 minutes. It is reported that Zhongnan also plans to invest 200 million yuan in animation production and 3.5 billion yuan to build a "Chinese Cartoon City" to expand animation derivative products into wider areas such as theme parks and children's clubs.

“The investment cycle of cartoons is very long. From project establishment to successful launch, a good cartoon will take three years or even longer. During this period, the company will not get anything. Many companies cannot afford the income, so some people say that animation is a business for the rich, so they must endure it," Zhu Youlan said. Because it is based on creating original animation products, original animation requires a particularly large amount of capital. Jiangtong Animation has also encountered many difficulties, but Zhu Youlan said that she is very confident in recovering the cost.

Secondly, there is little recycling in the broadcast market. In the past, because the country did not pay special attention to this industry, for a long time our country's animations were imported. In order to enter the Chinese broadcasting market, foreign cartoons are broadcast on Chinese TV stations at very low prices or even at a premium, causing domestic manufacturers to stay away. This is the calculation of foreign cartoons. I don't make money from broadcasting. As long as the popularity is high enough, there will be no market for downstream derivative products such as books, audio-visuals, toys, etc.

In June 2005, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television proposed a draft of "Specific Measures to Promote the Development of Animation Creation in my country", which involved 18 items, of which two are more important: TV station 17: Domestic cartoons must be broadcast during the prime time period from 00 to 21:00, and the ratio of the number of overseas cartoons introduced by production institutions to the number of originals should be 1:1. Although it has not been officially promulgated, this regulation still gives great confidence to domestic animation.

In recent years, the broadcast prices of domestic cartoons have also improved slightly. According to Zhu Youlan, a cartoon broadcast nationwide can now be sold for 3,000 yuan per minute on all satellite channels combined. Two or three years ago, this figure was only 500 to 1,000 yuan. In worse times, some TV stations still sold The price has been quoted at one or twenty yuan per minute. But compared with the production cost of 10,000 yuan per minute for cartoons, this number is still very small.

Thirdly, the industrial chain lacks professional division of labor. "I license a film to an audio-visual company. If it is a company that sells everything rather than specializes in animation products, my product may not be taken seriously and will be well packaged and promoted." Zhu Youlan said, in theory, , audiovisuals, books and TV broadcasts can recover the cost, but China lacks such professional companies, and related products may not be sold well.

Top-heavy

Hu Zhanfan, deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, said at the recently held 2006 National Film and Television Animation Work Conference that the animation industry is a comprehensive industry involving many aspects, and animation production is not The animation industry as a whole is just a key link in the industrial chain. The real success of animation operations lies in the overall planning, reasonable layout and coordinated deployment of its industry chain.

Hu Zhanfan’s speech has a background. Since 2003, the output of domestic cartoons in our country has nearly doubled every year. In 2005, it reached 42,700 minutes. In the first quarter of 2006, the actual output of cartoons in my country was close to 20,000 minutes. In sharp contrast, in the ten years from 1993 to 2002, the total output of domestic cartoons in my country was only 33,900 minutes.

From the perspective of output, my country's cartoons are showing a straight upward trend, but from the perspective of industrial structure, it is not so ideal.

On the whole, the vast majority of animation production companies in our country still play the role of processing overseas products. There is a serious lack of early-stage creative capabilities and late-stage synthesis capabilities, resulting in a situation where the two ends are small and the middle is large, lacking independent intellectual property rights and unable to obtain maximum profits. Industrial structure.

Someone once pointedly pointed out that the domestic animation industry is "first-rate painting skills, second-rate stories, and third-rate management." The expert in Shanghai pointed out: "The government strongly supports the development of the animation industry, which does not mean that everyone will 'make' animation. In fact, production is only a small part, and more is planning, creativity, and marketing."

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan, Europe and the United States and other regions took a fancy to my country's cheap human resources, and transferred their animation processing industries to China one after another, cultivating a large number of comic production personnel. At that time, the monthly salary of an animation company staff was even as high as 20,000 yuan. Around 2000, the international animation processing industry began to flow to countries with cheaper labor, and the profit margins of OEMs became smaller and smaller.

Hu Zhanfan said that the number of officially qualified original animation production institutions in China is currently growing at a rate of about 50 every six months, and many animation companies that originally only processed overseas cartoons have also turned to domestic original productions. However, the inherent obstacles of insufficient funds and the long production cycle of the industry make the original path of China's animation industry not smooth.

Haibeisheng Animation Company is a small company with only ten people. 50% of them focus on business, such as producing animated commercials for other companies, and 50% of their energy on making original animated art short films. The latter is invested in It is all subsidized by income from business. At present, Beisen Animation has produced two art short films. The first one is "The Wine Jar" which is less than six minutes, and the second one is "The Iron Stick Princess" which is 17 minutes long. General manager Xu Zhou said that the purpose of Besun Animation is to combine traditional Chinese martial arts content and scenes with high-tech 3D animation to innovate in the animation art form.

Beisen Animation spent 50,000 yuan to complete "Seizing the Wine Jar", which does not include labor costs, because all creative and production staff did not receive compensation. When it came to the film "The Iron Stick Princess", Beison Animation began to look for investors, but the process was not smooth. Initially, Xu Zhou negotiated with domestic investors, but “they were all slow and didn’t respond.” Contact with foreign investors is different. Many people are optimistic about their works and soon entered the stage of cooperation with current investors. Japan has invested 50% in this film, which was planned in 2003. After the Chinese side completes the production, the other side will get it from Japan to make a Japanese version. Both parties will enjoy the right to participate in the film festival and promote the short film within two years.

However, these two films have not been broadcast on TV stations. On the one hand, the TV stations have not set up corresponding columns. "Even if you give them for free, there is no place to broadcast them." Some TV stations can broadcast the program in the form of program introduction, but they have to charge a large amount of advertising fees. Xu Zhou was very troubled by this, although he just wanted to expand the company's influence among the masses and increase its popularity through TV broadcasts.

“In fact, there is a lot of idle capital in society. In foreign countries, from the introduction of a protagonist to the rolling broadcast of cartoons on TV stations, they slowly establish their influence. This process sometimes takes eight years. In the first one or two years, there will be no What is the return? It will take two or three years for people to buy derivatives, but not many can persist for three or four years in China." Xu Zhou believes that the lack of long-term vision and fear of market risks are the reason why many capitals are unwilling to get involved in original animation. important reasons for the market.

On the other hand, the lack of creative talents has also led to the lack of driving force in China's animation industry. As a practitioner, Zhu Youlan is deeply aware of this point. "There is no shortage of production talents. What China lacks more is creative talents. This is where we have difficulties. Personally, my exposure may be limited. Although I have recruited talents from home and abroad, the creative talents of animation are not as high as I imagined. It’s so good.”

Zhu Youlan’s feeling is correct. At present, there are less than 10,000 animation practitioners in the country, only 1/3 of South Korea, and most of them are low-end production personnel and high-end pure researchers. There are only about 2,000 animation major graduates in my country every year.

Chengdu is taking the lead in mobile animation. Although domestic 3G has not yet been launched, it has already used foreign platforms to test the market in advance and seize market opportunities. The more than 80-minute Flash animation "Girl, How Long is Your One Minute" created by Zhonghuaxuan is the first 3G animation work in mainland China to be launched in Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, you can use 3G mobile phones to pay for downloading in segments or watch the entire movie online. It generated more than 700,000 yuan in revenue in one month.

With the development of science and technology and the increase of receiving terminals, the animation industry has more and more carriers and forms. As long as there is creativity, there is the possibility of profit. Similar active exploration by enterprises has also added a wonderful aspect to China's animation industry. Compiled by LSMH)

☆★☆★☆★ The game between domestic and foreign countries in the animation industry☆★☆★☆★

Reprinted from - Observation and Thought

Recently, Vol. The second China International Animation and Animation Festival opened in Hangzhou. Animation industry projects with a total value of 1.4 billion yuan attracted businessmen from 8 countries and regions including the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmark. "Suddenly like a spring breeze," with the help of the government's strong preferential policies, the animation industry is becoming a new investment hotspot for domestic and foreign businesses. Faced with the strong competitiveness of international giants, how can Chinese companies seize food from the tiger's mouth?

The animation feast has attracted countless heroes to compete

In recent years, China’s animation industry has been making big moves and good news frequently. At the 2nd China International Cartoon and Animation Festival held in Hangzhou not long ago, Jin Delong, director of the Publicity and Management Department of the China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, announced exciting news to Chinese and foreign media: animation companies in China have now begun to make profits. When the news came out, the industry was moved by it, because it changed the situation of "Previously, China's animation market has been in a situation where there is a lot of thunder but little rain. That is, everyone knows that this is a rising enterprise, but they have to face the situation that once they get involved, they will lose all their money." The reality of returning. ”

Indeed, since 2004, China’s animation industry has made a breakthrough and accelerated its hot start. Over the past two years, three animation channels in Hunan, Beijing, and Shanghai have been launched one after another. Several animation online game bases in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Dalian, and Hangzhou have stepped up their construction. Large and small animation exhibitions and animation talent recruitment fairs have continued one after another. At the same time, the Chinese government has promulgated a series of policies to encourage the development of domestic animation and original animation, and has provided unprecedented policy support to the animation industry.

While the market continues to improve, animation products are gradually getting out of trouble. In 2005, before the animation work "Sanmao Wandering" was completed, copyright sales reached nearly 20 million yuan; since 2006, copyright sales have exceeded 30 million yuan. The output value of animation series such as "Blue Cat" may reach 120 million yuan this year.

Many merchants exclaimed: In mainland China, the feeling of animation is finally here!

The profits of the animation industry have always been optimistic about the profits of giant businessmen from various countries. Its main sources of profits are the two major sectors of TV or movie broadcasts and series product development. The success of an animation film and television work lies not only in the success of TV or movie ratings, but mainly in the ability to use cartoon images as a brand to develop and operate its derivative products, extending the industrial chain and sublimating fame into an unpredictable reality. Gold, silver and business operations. Among them, the development of various derivative products is the most important source of income for the animation industry, such as toys, beverages, health products, clothing, socks, shoes, stationery... can all be developed into animation derivative products. Due to the wide variety of derivative products that can be developed, the sales volume is large, and the profits are immeasurable, which can be said to be a huge profit. For example, the American online gaming industry has surpassed the Hollywood film industry for four consecutive years and has become the largest entertainment industry in the United States; the American Disney Company has invested US$45 million in the animated film "The Lion King" and has so far generated US$7.5 billion in broadcast revenue. . What’s even more amazing is that the revenue from its derivative products has reached US$2 billion. The annual output value of Japan's animation industry ranks sixth in the national economy, and the export value of animation products is higher than that of the steel industry