Middle Earth - China's Cultural Industry Podcast

Send us a textBefore the Beijing Olympics, foreign media groups seeking to sell or co-produce science-themed media content in China had a difficult time finding partners. Paul Lewis, an independent producer and former president of Discovery Channel Canada, was nevertheless able to co-produce two science programs in partnership with Chinese state media outlets: "Daily Planet Goes to China" and "Factory Made/Made in China". In this episode, Paul discusses how rapidly the Chinese media landscape has evolved, and the implications for science-themed content. FeaturingPaul Lewis: Producer | 制片人   Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!  Recommended watching- “Factory City” episode of Factory Made/Made in China (Discovery Channel, 2009)With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves  for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support. The Wo

Send us a textVirtual reality (VR) is a new medium that many a technology guru has predicted will revolutionize cinema—or would, if it weren’t for the pesky problem (among others) that VR interface still requires the viewer to wear what essentially amounts to a “head box.” Nevertheless, VR markets around the world are slowly but surely expanding. Many of the major film festivals (Sundance, Venice, and Cannes, to name a few) now feature a special VR section. Overall the industry is indeed growing—especially in China. For context, here are some key figures: The value of China’s VR market in 2016 was around USD $500 million (mainly hardware). The value of China’s film market in 2016 war around USD $6.9 billion. The value of China’s film market in 2020 is projected to be USD $10 billion. The value of China’s VR market in 2020 is projected to be USD $6.5 billion (half in hardware, and the rest split between games, films, enterprise applications, theme parks, etc.).  FeaturingEddie Lou : Founder Sandbox Immersive F

Send us a textMaking a feature film can be a long and painful process — especially when you’re shooting an indie film in below-freezing conditions 16 hours per day for 14 days. But that is exactly what the creative team behind "The Last Sunrise" (最后的日出) was able to do, and along the way, they generated useful insight into China’s science-fiction movie scene and the realities of filmmaking in China on a shoestring budget. Featuring Wen Ren | 任文 : Director | 导演 Elly Li|  李昳青: Producer, Co-writer | 制片人，编剧 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Four main takeaways from this episode:    1) Chinese science-fiction productions tend to be optimistic about the future. While Western science-fiction productions are dominated by dystopian tropes, in contrast, Chinese sci-fi tends to paint a far more benign portrait of how science will usher in

Send us a textIn case traveling to the nearest Chinese temple may be a bit inconvenient, modern-day Chinese astrologers still have you covered — inevitably, there’s an app for that! In this episode, astrologer Wen Jun explains how she works, the kinds of clients who seek her out, the differences between Chinese and Western astrology, and other aspects of fortune-telling in the modern age. 通过一个app了解占星的艺术世界上最古老的工作已经可以在网络上进行了。文君，一个占星师，她解释了一些问题包括她如何在网络上进行工作，她的客人，以及东西方关于占星的不同之处。 FeaturingWen Jun | 文君 : Astrologer | 占星师 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Two main takeaways from this episode:1) There are a number of popular Chinese fortune-telling apps on the market today. Wen Jun works for the popular astrology app Ce Ce Astrology 测测星座. One of its main competitors is another popular app, Stars Network 星星网络. 2) Contemporary Chinese astrologers

Send us a textWhen prodded to think about documentaries at all, most people imagine features films that are shown in festivals and cinemas. What this picture misses is the fact that the majority of documentary filmmakers make their living producing documentaries for television. Does this mean that documentarians in China are all but guaranteed to make money in the country, with its billion-strong audience? 当我们谈论纪录片的时候，很多人会想到在节日和电影院放映的故事片。但实际上，大多数纪录片制作人都是以电视纪录片为生的。中国的亿万眼球能给他们带来财富和名誉吗？  FeaturingSteven Seidenberg: Script writer and consultant | 编剧、顾问 Zhang Nan | 张楠: Director PANGO Pictures | 导演，盘古影业 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Three main takeaways from this episode 1) Documentary storytelling is not the same everywhere. 纪录片的叙事方式在不同的地方并不一样。 Chinese documentaries often feature strong narration with impressive visuals, often called the

Send us a text China’s video-game industry is a hugely popular business in a nation where over half the population regularly plays. In 2015, the size of the video-game market in China officially surpassed that of the U.S., making the Chinese video-game industry the biggest and most profitable in the world. FeaturingAva Deng - translation manager Ava’s email Sebastien Francois : Overseas Operations Manager Max Wang : Narrative Designer Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Four main takeaways from this interview1) China already had a huge game culture in the 1990s. 中国自上世纪90年代起就已经有了规模庞大的游戏文化。             Many urban children and teenagers had the option of playing games in cheap computer bars or on devices like the SUBOR console (小霸王 - xiǎo bà wáng). The console was often filled with pirated copy of games that were sold for around $50 on the W

Send us a textUntil the 1990s, Hollywood movies were making the vast majority of their revenue in English-speaking countries. Nowadays, these countries comprise only half the market. The main reason for the change is the appearance of new markets, including the most important one of all: China. What problems do foreign film professionals and their teams face while vying to tap into the Chinese market? How do cultural disparities and regulations fit into the equation? What is the current lay of the land in the Chinese film industry from the perspective of a director or a producer? In this episode, our guests provide their firsthand experience to answer these questions. 一直到90年代，好莱坞电影的绝大部分收入都来自英语国家，现在英语国家只占其收入的一半。 主要原因是新兴市场的出现，其中最重要的是中国。 现在每个人都渴望进入中国市场，但要说明一点，因为中国的法律法规及文化的差异，这件事很容易吗？ 如何才能顺利进入中国市场？ 在第一集中，我们的客人将就这个问题表达他们的想法。 FeaturingDominique Othenin-Girard : DirectorTammy Tian : International Co-Production Manager Sky Wang : Director Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. I

Send us a textAnthony Kuhn, who works at NPR, has been working on how China is using its soft power, and that’s actually one of the main reasons the Middle Earth podcast started: to investigate how politics and culture can be linked. The culture of a country doesn't come out of thin air. Rather, there is a political and business side to it. Featuring Anthony Kuhn : Journalist | 记者 Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch! Show notesYou can now listen to one of Anthony’s reports on China’s soft power here. The film Anthony talked about was 厉害了 我的国 (My Amazing Country), by state-media company CCTV and China Film Group Corporation. Anthony's Weibo moment of fame, mentioned in the show, can be seen here. With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves  for graphic design & Sean Calvo for music support. The World of Chinese MagazineA magazine about C

Send us a textThis is the second part of a two-part series about how the internet changed the way to consume and create content. Last time, the panel comprised people who earn a living by creating only on the Chinese internet, but today we meet the other side of the fence, the more “capitalistic” one: those who make, sell, or deal with advertisements. Featuring Kenneth Cheung : Data and Branding ConsultantTera Fang : Fashion InfluencerEloi Gerard : CEO and founder of CrowsNestMiddle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!1) Forget about TV advertisements In 2012: 20 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet. In 2017: 57 percent of advertisement spending was on the internet, and only 31 percent on TV. The online advertising market represented $47 billion in 2016, and will increase to around $90 billion in 2020. As a comparison, it’s more

Send us a textChina has only 55% internet penetration, but almost every person online is using a smartphone, therefore a lot of phone-optimized content (video, news, silly applications to make your selfies look beautiful) is created every day. As of this month of recording, October 2018, Bytedance, the Chinese company owning news aggregator Toutiao and short video app Douyin/Tik-tok, is now THE most valuable startup in the world, more than Uber or Baidu. ​虽然中国只有55％的互联网普及率，但几乎每个网民都使用智能手机，因此每天都产生大量内容（视频，新闻，很傻但让你看起来很漂亮手机APP)。截至本期节目录制时(2018年10月)，“字节跳动”这家中国公司公司——旗下有新闻聚合器APP“今日头条”和短视频应用“抖音”/“Tik-tok”(抖音视频国际版)——现在已经是世界上最有价值的创业公司，超过了优步或者百度。 So, as I work on a television project I wanted to talk to those who just create articles, funny videos, and news on the Chinese internet. How do they make a living by creating online content? How do they find followers? And how big is the competition? 鉴于我正从事电视行业，我很想与那些在中国互联网上写文章、创作有趣的视频和新闻的人聊一聊。他们是如何通过创作线上内容谋生的？是如何吸引受众的？这个行业的竞争有多大？ This episode will be a two-part series on how the