Is animation expensive?

We find that it is difficult to recover the production cost of an animated film that costs more than 3,000 yuan per minute, no matter how good the quality is and what the theme is. At present, the policy of domestic TV stations to buy domestic cartoons is very unfavorable to domestic animation investors. For example, if a cartoon of 1 1 minute is distributed in 100 TV stations all over the country, and each TV station pays the broadcast fee of 30 yuan RMB per minute on average (this is impossible in practice), then the cost can only be recovered if all the broadcast rights are sold and paid in full. You are well aware of the hardships. As you can imagine, the cartoon of 3000 yuan a minute is still like this. What about the film of 8900 yuan? Some people will say that we can recover our investment from related products. After argumentation and calculation, we find that this possibility does exist, but this situation has preconditions. The premise is that the total length of the film should not be less than 208 episodes, because the operation of any related products requires a long production and publicity cycle, and there is also a time lag in the broadcast of cartoons on local TV stations. If the length of the film is insufficient, it will not provide enough business time for the operators, and if the business time is insufficient, it will not be able to carry out business activities smoothly. Whether our current investment scale can allow the planning of 208 animated novels has become one of the bottlenecks in the market operation of animation. At the same time, it has become the main consideration in our planning. If this problem is not solved, there will be no market-oriented operation of animation, let alone the production of animation products. If we don't pay attention to this problem, the film we have worked so hard to make can only be unable to recover the cost. We believe that cartoons that do not consider the market are not good cartoons under the current circumstances. Only when the investors of animation can really use animation to complete the virtuous circle of management can domestic animation really develop.

Brief introduction of domestic rotor market;

According to the requirements of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, domestic cartoons are given preferential treatment. However, in recent years, with the increasingly fierce competition in TV ratings, the supervision and regulation of the competent authorities have become unbalanced. The tilt policy of local TV stations towards domestic cartoons almost no longer exists. The annual broadcast volume of Chinese cartoons is about 30,000 minutes. The actual production of domestic cartoons is less than 6000 minutes. The huge imbalance between supply and demand has led local TV stations to take some special measures to broadcast imported cartoons disproportionately.

There are three reasons that directly lead local TV stations to choose imported films:

1. Imported cartoons have a wide selection and high overall production level. (The ratings are guaranteed)

2. The purchase price is extremely low, and the copyright fee for national TV broadcasting of imported cartoons is less than 1 10,000 RMB per episode.

3. It is relatively easy for advertisers to advertise.

This choice of TV stations directly led to the emergence of some problems:

A) Production companies use the advantages of funds to dig and interpret the animation themes of China, which leads to the investment of domestic animation companies can not be used for the production of traditional cartoons in China in time, accurately and safely.

B) As foreign countries have recovered the cost of imported films, in order to occupy the China market as soon as possible, foreign producers will not hesitate to dump the broadcasting rights at a price several times lower than the domestic cartoon distribution price.

C) After occupying a certain market share, foreign producers integrate animation programs into fixed TV programs, and thoroughly and permanently broadcast self-made and imported cartoons. (Of course, this operation appears as a domestic cultural company. )

At present, the price of films (domestic films) bought by domestic TV stations has dropped again and again, reaching a record low below 30 yuan/minute on average. What is particularly serious is that there are less than 100 local TV stations that actually buy domestic cartoons. Under this market condition, even if an animated cartoon is shown in various cities at the same time (which is not feasible in operation), the recoverable broadcast fee is only 3000 yuan/minute. For domestic animation that often invests more than 1 10,000 yuan/minute, this return can be ignored.

The related product income of cartoons has always been an important return for investors. However, there are still some problems in promoting intellectual property protection in the domestic market. So far, no domestic animation works can really get the due return from the market. Serious losses occurred repeatedly in actual operation, which led to the loss of confidence of domestic social investment funds. This further makes the problem of "commercial film vacuum" in the market more serious.

Due to the above two reasons, the animation industry in China experienced an unprecedented decline in 2002. The main investors have been reduced from three in the past to two at present (CCTV and Shanghai Meiying). Beijing TV has stopped investing in cartoons. The rest of the social investment also shows a trend of gradually decreasing and holding money to wait and see. Take Beijing as an example. In 200 1 year, there are about 10 animation production enterprises with a scale of more than 50 people in China. By the end of 2002, there were four domestic animation production companies with more than 50 people in Beijing.

The development of animation industry in China has always enjoyed the preferential policies of government departments. However, with the development of market economy and the reduction of restrictions on foreign cartoon broadcasting, the cartoon market has been impacted to a certain extent. The low-cost dumping of a large number of foreign cartoon broadcasting rights has caused huge economic losses to the sales of domestic cartoons in China, and at the same time instilled western values and worldviews into young people in China. Due to the considerable differences between the East and the West in economic, cultural and social environment, this way of thinking and entertainment habits instilled from childhood have caused many teenagers serious ideological problems and behavioral mistakes. At the same time, cartoons with our excellent national culture have not been invested, planned and produced because of funds, market and other reasons. In the long run, it will be difficult for us to see the cartoon image of China with black eyes and yellow skin on the TV screen in China!

Some people question whether an animated film of 3000 yuan/minute can be filmed. Here, we can tell you with great certainty that "I don't know, I'm shocked" can not only be made, but also seems to be profitable.

Of course, this kind of cartoon is a low-cost movie, so the production in all aspects can't be as bad as the so-called conventional animation ... management level is the key to successful budget!

A process:

1/ planning 2/ screenwriter 3/ art design 4/ styling design 5/ shooting 6/ director, executive director 7/ producer 8/ original painting 9/ animation 10/ modification 1/ coloring 12/ synthesis 13/

B. Description in working procedure order:

1/ Because it is its own film, the planning fee is very small;

2/ screenwriter, each episode 1000 yuan, because of long-term cooperation, so I don't feel less;

3/ Artists usually give him the background picture, so artists are generally free;

4/ styling design, a film is generally around 20 thousand, because the styling is relatively simple, the cooperation time is long, and other jobs can be introduced to him at ordinary times, so I am quite satisfied with this.

5/ beat, generally calculated by episodes, each episode (1 1 min) is about 1500 yuan;

6/ director, executive director, each episode1000;

7/ Producer, responsible for many things, including making enlarged drafts and saving them, 500 per episode;

8/ original painting per second 15 (low difficulty, some 20).

9/ Animation 65438+ 0.5 each;

10/ modify 5 yuan per second;

1112/13/Coloring and linking to form an output clip of 800 yuan per minute;

14/ dubbing, 200 per person per day;

15/ 16/ Music, animation, movies ranging from 25,000 to 50,000 (52 episodes)

How's it going? Shocking, right? Some of them can be saved:

1/ 15% used together with each episode (you must use it across episodes, and you will see it when you use it with the same episode ...)

2/ The opening and closing points can be 1.5 minutes without drawing, but the money is also calculated according to the rules.

3/ Wait

In this way, the movie is about 30 thousand per episode, which is considered rich ... 1 1 minute! The film quality will not be bad. The film made by my friend was once rated as one of the two best films of that year by the American Film Festival in Shanghai.

Therefore, comrades who can't do 3000 should review well. Is the addition process too complicated? Is it a loss according to the so-called market? Special reminder: I mean long-term production companies, and it is difficult for small companies to make films at this price. We all know that shopping on the street is the cheapest! In order to reduce costs, reputation is the key ... and, if you don't send it out, not only will the price go up, but the quality will not be guaranteed. Finally, your original painting will be unstable. There is a simple reason. Your company has always had a job to ensure the stability of your original painting. If you send it out, you won't get a job. Once you ask the original painting to think that you can come back to take the job anyway, you might as well go out and look for a job first and come back if you fail. Your unit price will not come down. ...

I think, under the premise of issuing official invoices, it is good that the profit of cartoons reaches about 20%-25%. Animation companies can't be too dark. We should try our best to let investors recover their investment, so as to enter a virtuous circle. When our company has the strength to invest in low-cost movies, we must enter the market ourselves. ...