On the Challenge to Traditional Film and Television Cultural & Creative Industry from the Fourth Media

Jiang Yan

(Communication University of China,Nanjing　Jiangsu　211172)



On the Challenge to Traditional Film and Television Cultural & Creative Industry from the Fourth Media

Jiang Yan

(Communication University of China,NanjingJiangsu211172)

People could enjoy the advantages that the new media brought about,but there is still a long way to go if new media wants to catch up with the traditional film and television production standard from the view of technique.However，it doesn’t mean that the traditional way of film and television production will survive forever.On the contrary,with the improvement of education level,the change and update of knowledge structure,people’s productive abilities will become closer and closer to the professional level and they will challenge the monopoly of the traditional film and television industry.This phenomenon is not impossible.As early as the 1960s,the information revolution made personal computer the main form of post production.Some artists who master this new way of creation tried to get rid of the complex techniques of post production.They tried to use the “third media” as a way of artistic expression so that the free creative style was emerging.

Ⅰ.The significant symbol and feature of the Fourth Media

The early third media is less for art than for the public when considering its technical purpose.From 1980s,the media creation function acted as the limelight in the computer display,with the power of the new technology,sensitivity,comprehensiveness,interaction and strong live feeling which the traditional media cannot compare with,become the main art media to keep pace with the installation art.At that time，the media had already subverted our understanding of the “third media” and worked towards the audiovisual technical reformation.It’s obvious that the most important reformation in the process of the computer development was the audiovisual revolution,which really showed up in the growth of the “fourth media”.

The high definition quality of TV programs is also a significant symbol of the “fourth media”.Not only does it offer clearer images and more tuneful sounds,but also provides the audiences the possibility of enjoying HD TV shows and cinematic sound effects.As for the programs from different regions,translation can be used to fulfill the appreciation effects on the basis of keeping the original style of the program.At the same time,the content of the “fourth media” is more expansive.Their services not only include traditional TV programs，but also includes electronic government affairs,culture,education,transportation,travel,health care,employment guidance,life,TV shopping,stock market information，SMS,MMS,email and so on.Today,we live in a era of integration of life and office.We can use the “fourth” media to gain different services and more information with less time.The expansion of radio and television services from the “fourth media” will fundamentally change the face of traditional broadcast television.

Of course,the most prominent feature of the “fourth media” is its impact on the film and television cultural & creative industry.The fast development of technology changes the means of information production,information communication,the exchange of programs and audiences’ choices,and will transform the monopoly system to a more sharing and open system.The momentum of the development of the “fourth media” is more obvious than the traditional one.At present,mobile radio and television industry increases hundreds of millions of dollars each year in Europe,and the income created in Asia is far beyond the other industries.This trend has changed the management mode of the third industry in the past,and shunted the creative industry of the film and television.Because it may at any time draw the audience away,and most of them are the young consumer groups with strong purchasing power.

Ⅱ.The influence to Traditional film and television cultural & creative industry from the Fourth Meida

The “fourth media” is also gradually changing people’s appreciation habits.Due to the progress of the audiovisual industry,the technology today has been applied to a expanded area.The “fourth media” is the product of digital technology and Internet technology.Digitization and two-way transmission network have opened up the international territory.The advantage of fast transmission of traditional TV has gone.The future speed of Internet will be faster than the TV net.Furthermore,we can discuss something immediately as soon as it happened and refer to the latest information,however,the traditional media will never do that.Because of the speeding up of the social pace,people prefer to express their attitudes and thoughts through internet,which causes the people’s greater dependence on the “fourth media”.What follows next is the diversity of the communication function.We used to be prevented from larger TV programs because of the immaturity of the network technology.Nowadays,high speed transmission signal is no longer an obstacle and and the conventional transmission is too far behind to catch up with it.And the speed is continuously going faster.

Although the traditional film and television cultural & creative industry can take various protection measures in order to keep the contents confidential,it’s not easy to protect the copyright when the information culture popularizes today,and the power of morality becomes weaker than before.It will be a necessity for the “fourth media” to discuss the protection to the profits of the products of the creative industry of the traditional film and television culture.Property rights protection is a double-edged sword.On the one hand,it can help the creative products gain a lot of economic benefits.On the other hand,it can lose copyright.No one can ensure that the law in the future must protect the author who created the copyright.The “fourth media” challenges the management of the creative industry of the film and television culture as well.At present,international society brought forward three different ways to conduct the management of new media.First,the international internet institute completely controls the new media,using the means of agency or buyout,selling the products to audiences via Internet.Second,cooperation.It will include co-production,joint broadcast,the connection of creative industry of film and television and network.The division of labor and cooperation will be formed,to get the profits of the creative products.Third，the film and television industry creates their own websites,forming an integrative,vertical marketing mode.Through the maintenance of copyright law,they will make the integration of producing and marketing so that they can monopolize the broadcast resources and achieve the objective of competition.

Traditional film and television cultural & creative industry,whether independent or cooperative,or completely run by network,always ends up with the cost of a plenty of capital resources.Thus,a new way of management has to be established to adapt to the future competition.Objectively speaking,the emergence of the “fourth media” increases the cost of film and television cultural & creative industry,passively introduces the film and television product to the mechanism of commercial web,and also becomes an important part of future new media.The pioneer of “the fourth medium” Roy Ascott says:“The most distinctive features of ‘new media’(the fourth media) art are connectivity and interactivity”.When the audiences are used to the features,they will naturally become the participants of “new media”.〔1〕This gives confidence to a lot of amateur creators,they quickly engage in the communication of professional film and television works.Undoubtedly,this is the most terrible thing.Objectively,the communication of new media is becoming more and more mature,but it doesn’t mean its production is improved.The fact is that we need to figure out what is the fundamental since the audiences’ appreciation level is not that high.This completely puts the status of film and television works in the alternative,which is really a nightmare for traditional film and television industry.

In Asia，especially Japan,South Korea and China,although the creation of web film and television shows is at the very beginning,the network investment is promoting the case everywhere.More and more professionals are entering into this industry under the promotion of the new media.We have to admit that it is the best way to meet the challenges.At present,many websites start trying to make a batch of original film and television products such as “exclusive broadcasting web shows”,“micro-films” and “animation films adapted from online games” and the like.These products reflect the usual network features,but they goes the fine way instead of leaving the impression of “copycat”.Besides,a lot of famous directors and celebrities begin trying and exploring the new media film and television production.For example,Piao Zanyu,South Korean director,directed a thirty-minute thriller movie named Night Fishing.It is said that it was shot only by two cell phones and the director took only 10 days to finish the film.Right after that,One Step Away,major self-made web show of Youku in 2011,directed by six directors like Zhang Yadong,Luo Yonghao,Miao Wei,Bao Xiaobo,Zhang Chen,Lü Huizhou,negotiating the fields of music,production,education,drama,media and advertising and etc,covers six short films which describe the connotation of happiness in different dimensions.The emergence of the “fourth media” short films encourages the creation of the film and movie enthusiasts and offers more opportunities for their works.It is easier to resonate from their civilian perspective.Meanwhile,it provides a broader prospect for the new media advertising revenue.

What’s more,Roy·Ascott considered that：“For the ‘new media’ creators in the 21st Century,the problem of construction is more important than that of presence.Our interests in the international network,bio-electronics,wireless network,intelligent software,virtual reality,neural network,genetic engineering,molecular electronic science and technology and robotic science and technology and so on concern not only the creation and circulation of our products but also the new definition of art‘Appearance Aesthetics’,which has now taken the place of ‘Configuration Aesthetics’.”〔2〕The purpose of “Appearance Aesthetics” is only to add enough information on the basis of “Configuration Aesthetics” which is completely in conformity with the tolerant feature of the network.However,for the traditional professional elements of film and television creation,we haven’t seen any further changes in “Appearance Aesthetics”theory.Does this give traditional movie and TV industry a respite?From the above conversation of Roy·Ascott,we seem to get an impression like this:the production of traditional film and television creative industry will gradually fit the “fourth medium” creation into it,which also indicates that the demand for the film and television creative production will upgrade to a new level.The art of film and television will come up with a new trend,meaning that the traditional film and television creators will be transformed into or be substituted by media technology experts and illustrate a new look of future film and television creation.

Ⅲ.The integration and cooperation between the Fourth Media and the traditional culture of film and television

Today,with the development and transformation of the“fourth media”,people cannot be able to set themselves free from professional film and television production technology.The reasons are as follows:first of all,the use of “fourth media” has not reached to a unprecedented degree.It is still far from the practical application of traditional professional film and television products in the aspect of the communication speed and receiving equipment.〔3〕What the audience can do so far is to participate in the comment of the film and television culture and experience the primary stage of the production;second,the creation of film and television production is a result of collective wisdom which needs professional knowledge and experience rather than accomplishes overnight.There are big differences between the creation and physical capacity of an individual and the scale production of real film and television production.It is a good thing for the film and television cultural & creative industry that the audiences and enthusiasts are trying to produce film and television by using the “fourth media”.It provides more and more knowledgeable audiences and stimulates the elaboration and accuracy in the production of film and television.Therefore,the traditional film and television cultural & creative industry is not that desperate.But how to transform and conform to requirements and technologies of the “fourth media” may be a turning point for the stakeholders of the film and television industry.

No doubt that the art of“fourth media” will get more and popularized and commercialized.Also,it is invading into the traditional film and television market.However,the major problem of the competition between the “fourth media” and the traditional film and television industry is not on the basis of which is more professional and higher in technology but on which has more room for cooperation;it is also not about which is more modern but to tell people the need of new technological revolution in the process of production and communication.

The best way to compete is to face the reality and then find the right direction to move on.But the best way for the future is the cooperation between the film and television industry and the new media.The traditional film and television cultural & creative industry should hold more cooperative attitude and make more compromise to take their responsibilities in the new time.The renewal of ideas is the most important in the fourth media’s challenges to the traditional film and television industry.New technical language and communication lasts and survives in accordance with people’s appreciation habits.For the time being,the new media still cannot decide the future film and television product because the film and television products made by new media are based on the traditional production structure,especially the creating style and form of the fourth media.

Besides,the producing technology of the new media is also not mature enough to compare with the traditional film and television creation which still has its absolute advantage.The producing technology of the short films online has really great gap in the contrast of the traditional film and television.Finally,the market of film and television industry has been worldwide,the property rights are legally protected and the “fourth media” needs to follow the rules of the traditional laws.But things change.The “fourth media” will enter into the world of every single man comprehensively and completely in the future.

When we are still talking about the success of the fourth media right now,people have began to define the “fifth media” which will be more mixed and broader in form.E-magazine,e-newspaper,digital broadcasting,mobile television,building advertisement,cell phone film,network streaming film,touch screen media,blog,podcast,microblog and the like will get into and control our life in the future.It’s difficult to describe what the future newer media will be like,but it must be a technology product which is newer and easier for application and a part of which is the film and television creative culture.Maybe it will be the same as the traditional art shown in the museum one day one day.〔4〕We are looking forward to that.Now we have a kind of unspeakable happiness or sorrow for the future of the film and television cultural & creative industry which is developing and continuous.Maybe it’s like history.We need to remember and respect it rather than to slander and despise it because it has always been striving for enriching our vision.

References:

〔1〕任斌：《艺术与数字技术相结合的新媒体》，《西北大学学报》，西安，2008年11月38卷第6期。

〔2〕刘晰、胡筱潇：《新媒体艺术的不适症》，艺术银行，北京，2012年2月28日。

〔3〕彭燕：《全球社交网络广告收入将于2013年突破100亿》，媒界360， 北京，2011年10月8日。

〔4〕《文化创意产业联盟报告》，中国文化创意产业协会，北京，2014年。

The emergence and development of the “fourth media”will become the focal competition power in the subsequent development of the film and television cultural & creative industry.This paper,on the one hand,will illustrate the characteristics of the “fourth media” in the terms of history;on the other hand,it will emphasize that the economic benefits of the traditional media have been replaced by social contact media.The advantages of the “fourth media” are obvious and it will keep developing.We hope that the “fourth media” market in China could improve constantly with strategic vision and integrate into the world market.

fourth media;film and television cultural & creative industry;micro film

About the author：Jiang Yan,Master of Film Studies,Teacher of the school of Communication University of China,Nanjing,research areas:Film theory,Film and television communication.