The story is adapted from a popular online article. It has a fast pace, many twists and turns, and focuses on the word “cool”. Have you ever seen these micro-short dramas?
Last month, “Escape from the British Museum,” a mini-series with only a few minutes in each episode, took the internet by storm.
There are no stars in this work, and the main creators are only two UP owners from Station B (Bilibili). Although there are shortcomings in shooting and production, the short story, fast pace, and burning theme quickly resonated with the audience.
“Escape from the British Museum” makes micro-short dramas popular again. In the past two years, more and more people have begun to follow this kind of series that only lasts a few minutes per episode. The “2023 China Online Audiovisual Development Research Report” released by the China Online Audiovisual Program Service Association shows that more than half of the 1 billion short video users of users have watched micro-short dramas of less than 3 minutes, among which the proportion of young users aged 19 and under is close to 60%.
The characteristic of these micro-short dramas is obvious, that is, “straight to the point” – no foreshadowing, straight to the point of enjoyment. As a stress-relieving meal drama, it is still very attractive.
Major platforms have entered micro-short dramas one after another
The rise of micro-short dramas is even more astonishing. In August this year, more than 400 online micro-short dramas were announced for registration in the national key online micro-short drama planning. Two years ago, there were only 398 micro-short dramas registered for the whole year of 2021, which was not enough for one month of registration this year. quantity.
In order to encourage micro-short dramas, major video platforms have also entered the game and launched a series of support plans, including but not limited to Tencent’s “Mars Project”, Youku’s “Fuyao Project”, Mango TV’s “Damang Project”, Douyu Yin’s “New Program Plan”, Kuaishou’s “Xingguang Short Drama”, etc.
Compared with traditional dramas, micro-short dramas have obvious advantages. For investors, micro-short dramas have low cost, low risk and short cycle. Some insiders have said, “It may take six months to one or two years for a long drama to gain profits, and the investment is tens of millions, and some projects even exceed 100 million. However, for micro-short dramas, the process from production to cost recovery is The time is very short, the shooting time of a micro-short drama is usually about ten days, and then it may be possible to receive profits several times higher than the cost in 45 days.” Tencent Video’s “Invitation”, Youku’s “Lock Love” , Mango TV’s “Feng Yue Chang”, these micro-short dramas that have become popular this year, all have a box office of tens of millions.
The plot focuses on the word “cool”
For the audience, micro-short dramas with short stories, fast pace, and exciting plots are more suitable for the fragmented era of mobile phone viewing. Although many of the protagonists in micro-short dramas are short video UP hosts or new actors, their looks are generally not bad. Most of the stories in micro-short dramas are adapted from popular and refreshing novels. As a screenwriter summed up, “There is no foreshadowing, all conflicts, no continuity, all reversals.” The main word is “shuang”. It takes 3 minutes to get divorced, 4 minutes to deal with the domineering president, and 5 minutes to hold a wedding. Such plots are not uncommon in short dramas.
Duration is the biggest feature of micro-short dramas. Since each episode is only a few minutes, you can finish the entire drama in one night or even during a lunch break. It is precisely because of this feature that the micro-short dramas that have become popular in the past two years have relatively single themes. Most of them focus on sweet pets, and the keywords are still inescapable: “rebirth, revenge, counterattack, boss, daughter, wealthy family”. words.
What do you think of these micro-short dramas?
