China 3D technology show to address knowledge gap

3D NEWS> CHINA 3D

Next month’s China 3D Expo will address the quality of domestic 3D production, forge ties between the west and the east, and debate the future of 3D TV.

Originally scheduled for early November, the China 3D Technology & Creative Exposition has been rescheduled to December 18th – 20th over security concerns during the recent transistion of Government. Part of a larger 12 day event, the expo will feature workshops, presentations and forums in a country that offers hope for the 3D industry after the western market has been slowing down.

Founded in 2010, the China 3D Expo is a government supported event aligned with The Beijing International Cultural Creative Industry Exposition (ICCIE) which itself has attracted 2 million people since 2006. In 2011, the 3D Expo attracted 20,000 delegates and it will be interesting to see whether the same numbers will be attracted to next month’s conference.

Do the number crunching and analysis and it is easy to understand why western 3D companies are so keen to establish a presence in China. The Chinese government is increasingly receptive to western films and a policy of only allowing western 3D movies a theatrical release has boosted international box office profits. For example the re-release of Titanic made more than its $18 million conversion costs back in the opening weekend of the Chinese release alone.

Domestically, 588 theatrical film productions have been produced in China – reaching the output of the Hollywood film business. However, of these 558 theatrical film productions, only a fraction made it to the cinema and they only count for 35% of box office whilst foreign films, which are limited to 34 per year and almost exclusively from the US, make 65% of box office currently. Only Painted Skin 2, made it into the top ten in Q1 2012, all the other big hits were of US origin and even titles which were a flop in the US, made it into the charts in China (John Carter number 7 with $42 million and Wrath of the Titans as number ten with $25 million.)

The Chinese government knows quality of production is essential and is encouraging international co-productions.  Chinese film studios have taken US film studios into their business as minority partners and every kind of foreign transfer of film making knowledge, production and post-production skills are meeting a large, very receptive audience. The latest example is the opening of CAMERON & PACE Group in Tianjin, a 14 million populated city close to Beijing, who have announced that their core business in China will be training, standard setting and knowledge transfer rather than film production itself.

3D as at the core of an exploding film market. First half of 2012 growth rate was 42% compared to 2011, after an already astonishing 29% growth in 2011 over 2010. If the Chinese box office maintains its 42% growth rate through the whole year, 2012 box office could reach $2.9 billion and China would be the second largest film market after the US, although behind India in terms of number of productions.  Since the further opening of the 3D film market to foreign productions, foreign films increased their box office share from 49% in 2011 to 65% in Q1 2012.

Painted Skin 2 became the best-selling ever domestic film, shot in 2D, converted to 3D and released to cinemas in 3D only, even though the conversion was described as 'terrible.'  

The purpose of the China 3D Expo is to build a cooperation platform for dialogue and exchange in the 3D industry domestically and internationally to strengthen the integration of 3D technology and cultural industries.  High level government officials from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), and People’s Government of Beijing Municipality will be attending. Academics, TV industry leaders and international guests from Warner Bros. China, CAA China and News Corp will also be present.

In an interview with 3D Content Hub, Bai Qiang, founder of China 3D Expo partner 3D China Ltd, clarified the goals for the event: “First, to emphasize on the importance of the quality of 3D film/video; second, to bring in good quality 3D content from abroad; and third to discuss about the future of 3D TV in China.  We hope that the Chinese 3D professionals can learn from their international counterparts and start working on improving the quality of local 3D content. We also hope that this expo could be helpful to the development of 3D TV in China”.

In the same interview Qiang emphasised that domestic 3D production needs to dramatically improve: “The domestic attempts on 3D have not been well received by the public, who do not believe that we can make good quality 3D movies on our own. I should qualify that I believe not all stories are suitable for 3D.  About two years ago, our company had the opportunity to produce a 3D Docu-concert film in China. From my point of view, movies that talk about arts and sports can really benefit from 3D technology.  There is still a long way for the Chinese 3D producers to go to catch up with the western filmmakers. There needs to be more interactions between 3D professionals at home and abroad and that is the reason why we are so dedicated in doing this 3D Expo – we intend to set up the platform and also organize training workshops to help the Chinese 3D producers reach the world-class technical level.”

You can read the rest of the interview here. For an interview with Bai Qiang about his 3D concert film, Transcendence, click here.

2012 gets 3D re-release in China

In other news it was recently announced that American disaster movie 2012 will be converted to 3D and released for the Chinese market. In 2009 it generated almost 75 million US dollars on the Chinese mainland and the China Film Group Corporation have worked with Columbia Pictures to convert the $200 million budget movie into 3D.  

The conversion has been released exclusively for the Chinese audience and could be the start of more Hollywood conversions if successful says the distributor.

中文网 by Banghao Xi

由于中共十八大召开所涉及的安全原因，原计划于11月初在北京举办的中国3D技术与创意博览会被推迟至12月18日。在6天的盛会中，以研讨会、演讲和论坛为一体的博览会将解决中国国内3D制作的一系列质量问题，和探讨3D电视的未来方向。中国3D博览会的举办为3D产业各个商家提供了新的机遇，并使中外在3D行业间保持更紧密的联系。

自2006年以来，由中国当地政府和北京国际文化创意产业博览会共同主办的中国3D博览会已吸引两百万观众。去年3D博览会吸引了2万多客商，伴随着中国经济的高速发展和中国国内对3D需求的日益趋增，有理由相信今年的3D入场人数和客商将有望超过往年。因此，不难看出为什么欧美3D公司如此热衷庞大的中国市场。

近年来，中国政府正逐渐开放外国电影的引进，影院中播放的外国电影促进了国际票房的利益。例如重新发行的《泰坦尼克》仅在周末便从中国获得了一千八百万美元的票房收入。在国内，已有近六百部戏剧电影在中国制造生产，但是只有小部分能够在影院播放且只占到票房收入的35%，而以美国电影为主的西方电影却占据了65%的票房收入。在今年第一季度票房榜中，国内仅有《画皮2》跻身前十行列，其余均被美国等海外电影占领，即使在美国彻底失败的电影，同样在华拥有很好的业绩表现（位列第7的《异星战场》获得四千二百万美元的票房，位列第10的《诸神之怒》也拥有两千五百万美元的票房）。

中国政府已认识到电影制作质量的重要性，并鼓励国际电影联合制作生产。现今许多中国电影制片厂已邀请美国相关电影制片厂作为自身的合作伙伴，并对外转让其电影后期制作，从而满足中国观众的胃口。最新的例子便是CPG（Cameron & Pace集团）在中国天津举行的其集团所属中国公司的签约仪式，并对外宣传其在华核心业务将侧重培训、标准定位和知识传送，而不是电影制作的本身。

3D作为爆炸性增长的电影市场的核心，2012年上半年中国票房同期增长42%，相比去年同期增长速度进一步扩大15%。如果全年保持现有的42%增长率，2012年中国票房将达到29亿美元，中国将成为仅次于美国的全球第二大电影市场。因此，随着3D电影市场对外国电影厂商的进一步开发，外国电影市场份额已由2011年全年的49%上升到2012年第一季度的65%。

以2D模式拍摄，并转换至3D模式在影院放映的《画皮2》，尽管其转换模式被认为很糟糕，但《画皮2》至今仍作为最畅销的国内电影。中国3D博览会的目的是为国内外3D行业间提供一个对话与交流合作的平台，从而加强中国3D技术和文化产业的整合。届时，除了全国人大常务委员会、国家广播总局以及北京市政府的重要高级官员出席外，圈内也将有电视行业、华纳兄弟、CAA（创新艺人经纪公司）以及新闻传媒集团的国际嘉宾出席此次盛会。

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