On August 8, the award ceremony of the "5th Short Video Competition of Shanghai Television Artists Association and the 3rd College Students' Short Video Competition" was held at the Shanghai Art Hall.

In order to give full play to the dissemination advantages of short videos and continuously promote the creation of excellent short video content, based on the successful hosting of four short video competitions, the Shanghai Video Association launched the fifth "Short Video Competition and the Third College Student Short Video Competition" in March this year. This competition is divided into two competition units: society and colleges and universities, and works are collected from all over the country.

The competition is themed "Beautiful China" and is divided into two sections: "Narrative of the Earth" and "Ode to the Birthday of the People's Republic of China". The "Narrative of the Earth" section aims to promote the international dissemination of Chinese culture, advocate the communication of Chinese culture through daily storytelling, enable the world to better understand China, and show the Chinese story and the ideological and spiritual power behind it. The "Ode to the Birthday of the People's Republic of China" section celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and aims to show the image of prosperity, development, civilization and harmony, hard work, and openness and tolerance in the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China through the unique perspectives of the contestants.

The competition was officially launched in March. After three months of solicitation, it attracted more than 40 domestic film and television production institutions and short video creation enthusiasts from 22 provinces and cities such as Beijing, Shandong, and Guangdong, as well as enthusiastic participation from students from 143 universities such as Communication University of China, Tongji University, Beijing Film Academy, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Zhejiang Media College, and Shanxi Media College. A total of 3,696 entries were received, including 3,160 in the social competition unit and 536 in the university competition unit. These works cover a wide range of themes and diverse forms, covering multiple fields such as life records, artistic creation, and social hot spots, fully demonstrating the unique perspectives and innovative spirit of contemporary creators. The jury, composed of industry experts, senior practitioners of film and television production institutions, and university professors, repeatedly reviewed the ideological, artistic, and innovative nature of the shortlisted works, and finally produced 67 awards.

Among them, the social competition unit selected 6 "Best Works Awards", 8 "Excellent Works Awards", 10 "Good Works Awards", and 16 shortlisted works; the university competition unit selected 10 "Top Ten Works Awards" and 10 shortlisted works. In addition, the competition also selected 1 Best Creativity Award, Best Visual Award, Best Production Award, Best Series Award, and 3 Excellent Communication Awards. The organizer also awarded the Excellent Organization Award to 8 units based on the organization of the competition.

Group photo of winners

The judges believe that this year's entries have diverse themes, diverse types, outstanding styles, and novel perspectives. The authors pay more attention to social issues and cultural heritage, especially the creative trends, technological innovations, and cultural values shown in the works of college students, which reflect the social responsibility of young students. Among the winning works, some show the charm of intangible cultural heritage from a unique perspective, some use magnificent pictures to show the beauty of the earth's scenery, and some use delicate lenses to reflect the prosperity and development of the scene... These short video works not only have the love for the motherland, but also explain the development story of China in the new era, and show the vivid practice of Chinese-style modernization. The contestants use delicate lens language to record the myriad scenes of the beautiful China, and reflect the development achievements of the new era through the ordinary lives of small people.

"If Koi Also Surfs", which won the top ten works, was inspired by CCTV's "If National Treasures Could Talk" series. Wang Shuoyu, a representative of the main creators and a student of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said, "At the beginning of the topic selection stage, when we discussed with the teacher, we were thinking, there are all kinds of novel documentaries now, so how can our documentary be made more interesting? Our teacher said that if you shoot fish, why can't you make this documentary from the perspective of the fish?"

When editing in this direction, the team wanted to let the fish introduce itself in the first person, but they found that doing so not only did not produce a good effect, but also made the film too subjective, losing the objective authenticity of the documentary.

"Later, when we were in the creative writing class, the teacher talked about CCTV's documentary series "If National Treasures Could Talk". I myself like this documentary very much. In this documentary, they introduced each national treasure through a 'short and sharp' introduction, in a unique and innovative way that caters to the times. Our documentary was inspired by this and we want to share it with everyone in a small and precise way. It turns out that koi has such a story, and documentaries can also be made in this way." Wang Shuoyu said.

The work "Meeting Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Grid", which won the Good Work Award, is very special among many works. This work is about the special theme of prisoners within the walls learning intangible cultural heritage skills and inheriting intangible cultural heritage.

An Chenliang, a representative of the creative team, took the stage and said, "The main purpose of shooting this short video was to allow the public to have a deeper understanding of the law enforcement philosophy behind our prison management and the results of the criminals' reform. From the documentary, everyone can not only see the reshaping of the personal values of criminals, but also the embodiment of the details of our spirit of the rule of law, which is very clear. What changes have been made to them? In the process of introducing this intangible cultural heritage correction project, the criminals were able to look back on their own reform and imprisonment experiences through understanding and studying Chinese traditional culture during their creation, and deeply confessed and repented their crimes, thus planting the seeds of keeping righteousness and doing good deep in their hearts. This is a new direction and new exploration of our reform concept."

Su Yixin, a student at Shanghai Normal University, who won the Best Communication Award for "The Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai: First Sighting in Film and Television", said when talking about why she chose this theme, "First of all, the Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai is on the Bund. I think it is a very representative landmark building on the Bund, and the Waibaidu Bridge and the Bund next to it are places where many people check in. Secondly, I am a graduate student majoring in drama and film directing. I am interested in movies. After consulting our mentor Professor Gong Yan and Mr. Gong Weiqiang from the Shanghai Audio-Visual Archives, we also learned that the Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai has many completely different identities. For example, Premier Zhou Enlai once took refuge here; it is the filming location for many movies; at the same time, it is also a stock exchange in Shanghai... I also think that the different identities of the Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai are very suitable for the dissemination of short videos and should be very popular among young people."

When asked why he chose Shanghainese, Su Yixin said, "The most important thing for us in shooting this short video is the Shanghainese flavor. How to make the best use of the Shanghainese flavor is also the key to the success of our film. The local dialect is the cultural carrier of a city. I think that by using Shanghainese in this film, we may attract more different audiences and take better care of the needs of audiences of different ages. We also hope that through this film, more young people can understand, like and love Shanghainese and Shanghai's film culture."

At the award ceremony, Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles Party Leadership Group member and full-time vice chairman Gu Haohao, Shanghai Television Association Chairman Wang Jianjun, Shanghai Television Association Vice Chairmen Song Jiongming, Wang Leiqing, Chen Liang, Cao Kefan, He Jie, Liang Junxia, Shanghai Writers Association Vice Chairman Yang Yang, Shanghai Critics Association Vice Chairman Li Zhenlin and other leaders and guests presented awards to the winners.

Wang Jianjun delivered a speech on behalf of the Shanghai Television Association. She congratulated the winners of the competition and said that the Shanghai Television Association will continue to deepen the short video competition as a brand event, focusing on comprehensively building a Shanghai model of cultural confidence and self-reliance and striving to build a best practice site for Xi Jinping's cultural thoughts. It will connect the fundamental responsibility of "doing human work" with the central link of "creating and producing excellent works" to guide short video creators to further stimulate innovative vitality.

In order to promote the innovative development of short videos and bring them new glory, the organizer held a special forum at the award ceremony with the theme of how to show "Beautiful China" through short videos. Based on the new phenomena, new developments, and new topics in the short video field in the new era, experts and award-winning representatives of this competition were invited to discuss the innovative development and future trends in the short video field, and how to use high-quality short videos to promote cultural dissemination, showcase Chinese culture, and tell Chinese stories well.

After the selection work was completed, the Shanghai Television Association invited a group of literary critics with high reputation in the industry to conduct literary reviews on the winning works, and published more than ten review articles in the news media, which aroused widespread attention from the society. Through the winning works, the experts deeply analyzed the integration points of short video creation and social concerns, keenly analyzed the essence and highlights of excellent works, and adhered to the bottom line of cultural quality and mainstream values while taking into account the viewing needs of the majority of users, giving short video enthusiasts creative inspiration and giving the audience a healthy and correct spiritual orientation. These publicity measures have fully exerted the driving effect and aggregation function of the competition, guiding short video creators to sing the praises of struggling life, portray the most beautiful characters, and tell Chinese stories well.

In order to further leverage the advantages of literature and art and volunteer services, the organizers held nine public lectures on short video creation during the competition, inviting industry experts with rich experience in film and television creation and profound academic attainments to visit universities such as Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai University Shanghai Film Academy, and public places such as Tushanwan Museum, Pudong New Area Nanmatou Community Cultural Activity Center, Songjiang District Shangyi Book Cafe, Jing'an District New Era Civilization Practice Center, and Shanghai New International Expo Center. Through typical case analysis, appreciation of excellent works, and sharing of practical experience, the organizers helped short video creation enthusiasts to further expand their professional knowledge and improve their short video creation capabilities. The lectures were interactive and enthusiastic, with more than 2,000 audiences participating, including party and government officials, college students, community residents and other short video enthusiasts in various fields. WeChat public accounts such as "Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles", "Civilized Jing'an", and "Pudong Community Education" and new media platforms of relevant universities reported on the lectures, achieving high participation, wide coverage, enthusiastic registration, and good feedback.

Later, Shanghai TV Association will cooperate with Dragon TV, Kankan News, Shanghai Radio and Television Station Documentary Humanities Channel, ShanghaiEye website of Shanghai Media Group International Communication Center, Oriental Pearl Mobile TV, BesTV, Bilibili, iQiyi and other media platforms to widely publicize and broadcast the award-winning works, and recommend outstanding works to represent Shanghai in higher-level competitions such as the "Asian Micro Film Festival". Through this competition, Shanghai Television Artists Association will further strengthen the cohesion and cultivation of short video creative talents, guide short video creators to strengthen cultural confidence, adhere to the principle of keeping the right path and making innovations, and continuously create and spread more and more short video works that reflect the style of the times and tell good Chinese stories, and create a Shanghai model of cultural inheritance and innovative development with practical actions, show the values and spiritual power contained in the splendid Chinese civilization, and contribute Chinese wisdom to the development of Chinese-style modernization.

This event is guided by Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, hosted by Shanghai Television Artists Association and Shanghai Student Affairs Center, and co-organized by Shanghai Radio and Television Media Integration Center, Shanghai Radio and Television Oriental TV Center, Shanghai Radio and Television Documentary Center, Shanghai Radio and Television Arts and Humanities Development Foundation, iQiyi, Shanghai Urban Leling Culture Communication Co., Ltd., BesTV Network TV Technology Development Co., Ltd., Shanghai Oriental Pearl Mobile TV Co., Ltd., Shanghai Network Audiovisual Industry Association, Shanghai Radio, Film and Television Production Industry Association, Tourism Times, and Shanghai International Exhibition (Group) Co., Ltd.