2024.0402

Number of words in this article:2393, reading time is about 4 minutes

introduction：随着AI技术引入，视频拍摄制作的成本将大大降低。

** Author| ** First Finance and Economics Chen Hanci

"In the vast galaxy, ancient Oriental myths and legends flow. They are the endless reverie of our ancestors about all things in heaven and earth. When AI meets myths, let the light of technology illuminate the magical journey of modern science fiction..." Accompanied by the opening up of Hongmeng, six Chinese mythical heroes, including Nuwa, Pangu, and Chang'e, came from ancient times and traveled through time to meet representatives of modern technology such as "Chang'e-5" and "Tu Youyou". A dialogue was held.

One month after Sora was born, the full-process AI (art, camera division, video, dubbing, agriculture) micro-drama "Chinese Myth" subverted the creation of traditional domestic AI content, quickly became hot searches, and triggered short drama game concept stocks. Open high.

The comment area exploded, and some netizens were deeply shocked,"Open the video, I am willing to believe in the myth" and said that they would save it for children to see. Some netizens think that there are still some gaps compared with Sora. The video time is shorter and seems very mechanical.

"Sora's leapfrog technological revolution has created advantages for any team in the world, not just China. They have the cost of being able to take risks and a strong belief in technology, some of which our environment does not have. As our AI technology grows, we also need a healthy investment and public opinion environment. Going back to the thing itself, what we need to consider is, does AI really help our work? How can I help?" As a co-producer of the micro-drama "Chinese Myth", Shenyang, a professor at the School of Journalism at Tsinghua University, said in a recent interview with First Financial and Economic Reporter.

AI+ is to be integrated with the industry

"We have maintained close exchanges of theory and practice with CCTV for a long time. Last year, the teams from both sides started communicating." Shenyang said,"The core is what can AI change us? How to combine AI with China's huge industry, so that we will have our own advantages."

From this perspective, it is of positive significance to create a Chinese mythological AI series and promote Chinese traditional culture and intangible cultural heritage.

"Chinese Myths" is divided into six episodes, namely "Mending the Sky","Chasing the Sun","Running to the Moon","Reclamation the Sea","Water Control" and "Taste the Hundred Flowers". It was launched in cooperation with CCTV Radio's Audiovisual New Media Center and CCTV Radio's Artificial Intelligence Studio in conjunction with the Metaverse Culture Laboratory of the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University.

"Artificial intelligence, data work is the foundation. The laboratory has been doing it since 2014, and there is a lot of data, and CCTV itself has a huge amount of data. The big data model is best to connect public data with the internal data of each unit.“

Mutual support allows both sides to polish the details of "Chinese Myth".

"Now that Wensheng text, Wensheng pictures, and Wensheng videos are becoming increasingly mature in technology, and AI generation of music has also made breakthroughs. What is needed most is patience to polish products. For example, when AI initially gave people the impression that Nuwa was a beautiful woman, with less fairy spirit, we gave some directional hints. After AI accepted it, there were more anti-gravity effects in terms of dress, shape and environment, creating an atmosphere of fairy spirit." Shenyang said.

But if AI micro-dramas are just a simple repetition of every myth in China, causing visual impact and technical freshness, then AI's creative development and innovative transformation will not be reflected.

"The characters in Chinese mythology are all arduous and diligent to build their own homes. Today, we still need these spirits in the process of development. For example, China's aerospace industry and the exploration of the extraterrestrial world by probes landing on Mars are different from the tools used by the ancients, but the inner spirit is still consistent. So, we remind the AI ,'Think about the past, think about the present, think about the future', and the AI will generate a lot of content that he thinks is reasonable." Shenyang said.

This is also one of the characteristics of the AI micro-drama "Chinese Myths" series. For example, Nuwa, the avatar of mankind, was created with colorful stones to repair cracks in the sky. Now, in the face of environmental crises such as the ozone layer hole, humans around the world are jointly "mending the sky", with the ozone layer hole has been gradually repaired, and mankind once again saw the dawn of hope.

The connection between the two stories and the combination of videos, music, commentary and other punches has achieved good results. Netizens said they hadn't watched enough. More than four minutes were more like a trailer and wanted to watch the feature movie.

It is difficult for AI to "create" high-quality short dramas

"One of the big problems now is that the time it takes for AI technology to generate videos is relatively limited-the longer the time, the more difficult it is to maintain image consistency. Therefore, Sora is relatively strong at this point and can automatically generate one minute. Of course, because after they were born, the industry has followed up on their basic principles through understanding, comparison, understanding, such as computing power training, etc. After a period of research, everyone will continue to mature on the video model." Shenyang said.

This is also the reason why "Chinese Myths" chose AI micro-dramas. The production cost is not as high, the time is short, the spread speed is fast, and it is easier to impress people.

The First Financial Reporter learned that if the "Chinese Myths" micro-drama is produced in the full process of filming, editing, and soundtrack in the traditional way, the cost will be seven times that of the AI micro-drama.

This means that with the introduction of AI technology, the cost of video shooting and production will be greatly reduced. Coupled with the audio-visual effects of micro-short dramas, the currently popular producers of short dramas began to think about how to use AI technology tools to create short dramas throughout the process.

"Currently, technologies such as virtual production and AIGC (Generative Artificial Intelligence) are widely used. These technologies significantly reduce input costs and improve production efficiency." Liu Deliang, head of the Xinyuan New Cultural Tourism Research Institute, believes that the online audio-visual industry is undergoing earth-shaking changes, and micro-short dramas are a dark horse in this change. AI technology has brought new development opportunities to micro-short dramas.

At the 11th China Online Audiovisual Conference held recently, Tao Kun, general manager of Gongfu Pictures, told the media that virtual shooting technology has brought a certain degree of cost reduction and efficiency improvement to the film and television industry, and has also provided creators with more creative techniques.

A research report released by Chinese data consulting firm Ai Media Consulting in November last year showed that the size of China's online short drama market last year was 37.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 267.65%.

Some experts believe that the market size is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan this year. In the next five years, micro-dramas may become an important force in leveraging the 100 billion market.

Yien data shows that in 2023, the number of domestic short drama related companies will exceed 300,000, and many companies in the upstream, middle and downstream of the industrial chain perform their duties.

At the same time, many A-share listed companies have made intensive statements, actively deploying micro-drama business, and exploring a series of new ecosystems of "short drama +".

According to the information disclosed by the company, short drama business concept stock Chinese Online (300364.SZ) held two investor research activities on November 3 and November 5, 2023, attracting a total of 369 people from Haifutong Fund, Guangfa Fund, Nuoan Fund and other institutions to participate.

With the standardized development and improvement of quality of short dramas, production costs have also risen.

First Financial Reporter learned that at the beginning of 2023, the production cost of a short drama was about 200,000 to 300,000 yuan; with the popularity of audiences and the popularity of the market, the production cost of a short drama has now increased by about two to three times.

In the field of production processes, AI technology has been widely used, but the industry still needs a way to go if it wants to rely on AI to fully automatically generate high-quality short dramas.

Zhang Hongzhong, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing Normal University, believed at the China Online Audiovisual Conference that the logic and production methods of image production are being changed by large models. Faced with rapid changes, creators must fully prompt and train large models. At the same time, aesthetics has also become an important basis for selecting large models to generate content, which is also where technology cannot replace humans.

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