At a time when short videos have captured the attention of the entire nation, short dramas have become the most watched "new species" in China's film and television industry. The "battle" in the first quarter of 2025 has already begun, and high-quality production is still an unavoidable keyword this year. Behind this is the current situation of the collective internal rollout of large platforms, film and television companies, and professional film and television talents and teams. From an industry perspective, high-quality production means professionalism and increased investment, but there are also many variables in this direction.
Recently, Professor Wang Rui, director of the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy, accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper. From the perspectives of both a scholar and an industry observer, he outlined the survival logic and development dilemma of this emerging field. In his view, the debate on "quality" actually implies a collision of values between traditional film and television standards and new media forms.
Wang Rui revealed that many students in the advanced training class have devoted themselves to the creation of short micro dramas, but undergraduate and graduate students have not yet been involved on a large scale. This gap in the talent echelon may, to some extent, confirm the grassroots nature of the industry - compared with the early micro film boom when production companies took the initiative to "poach" people from schools, today's short micro dramas rely more on the spontaneous resource gathering of the market. According to his observation, the current short micro dramas generally have the characteristics of "random production, tight cycle, and rough film", which is still far from "fine products".
Professor Wang Rui, Director of the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy
Wang Rui is cautious about the hotly debated topic of "high-quality" in the industry. He believes that if short dramas are measured by the standards of movies, they will naturally feel inconsistent with the norms. However, vertical screen narrative and fragmented communication are new species and may need to establish their own aesthetic system. Wang Rui proposed that true high-quality production depends on the natural drive of audience demand iteration. "So it is important to know what the audience will demand in the future. If the audience thinks that the current short videos with vertical screens of several minutes are exciting, funny and satisfying, then we must move in that direction."
This market determinism runs through the entire interview. Facing the industry's questioning of "making quick money", Wang Rui believes that diversity is what the short drama market needs more at present. As long as the bottom line of values is maintained, making quick money is also a market choice. The diversity of cultural products is like the natural ecology. Peonies and wild flowers each have their own value. "Everyone should allow diversity. This is more important than giving money." But when talking about the "seven-day shooting" phenomenon, he also expressed concerns that how to find a balance between efficiency and quality will become a long-term issue for the industry.
It is worth mentioning that Wang Rui has repeatedly stressed that supervision should focus on controlling values rather than aesthetic guidance: "The core responsibility of the competent authorities is to prevent the spread of spiritual opium." When asked whether colleges and universities will offer short drama majors, he made it clear that Beijing Film Academy will still stick to basic education: "We are teaching children to understand what a good movie is and sowing a seed in everyone's heart. It depends on whether this seed finds a suitable environment for growth."
【dialogue】
The needs of the audience come first
The Paper: Have you ever come across micro-short plays in your daily life?
Wang Rui: I know that students in the advanced training class are all filming, because they talked to me when they came back to school. There may not be many undergraduates and graduate students involved in this. There was a period of time when micro-films were very popular. At that time, many production companies went to the school to find students and found our department to recommend short films of about 10-15 minutes. After a period of popularity, no one made it anymore. It was mainly due to market problems. People who watched micro-films gave up after watching them for a while. Now I sometimes see short videos or short dramas with vertical screens, and there are also horizontal screens, but I don’t watch many of them.
The Paper: Can you summarize your feelings after watching the short play?
Wang Rui: First of all, the production is relatively casual, which may be related to the funds invested in each drama and the shooting cycle. The time is relatively fast and the funds are relatively tight, resulting in a rough overall production. I think it may not be time to produce many high-quality works at this stage. When the audience is relatively fixed and the audience has needs, higher requirements will be put forward for the short drama industry. But now it is definitely on a large scale. We have a student who came back from Hengdian and was in the advanced training class that year. He said that Hengdian was almost entirely shooting short videos and short dramas for a year.
On March 14, 2024, at Hengdian World Studios in Jinhua, Zhejiang, the crew of a short drama was filming a short drama with a costume theme. Visual China data map
The Paper: In your opinion, what is high-quality products?
Wang Rui: I think it is objectively impossible to define the high-quality of short videos, because what we now call high-quality, the so-called scheduling of pictures and shots, and all the standards for performance and narrative, are all based on movie standards. If it is not good enough under this standard, it is not high-quality. But why can't micro-short dramas be something completely new? Just like the earliest micro-movies, so many years have passed, and it is difficult to clearly define the concept of micro-movies. Movies have strict regulations and cannot be shorter than 90 minutes. So how short is a micro-short drama? How short is a micro-movie? This needs to be slowly summarized during the development process.
As it slowly formed and developed, it formed its own industry standards. We now instinctively use the standards of movies to demand it. Then the points just mentioned are definitely problematic, because first of all, the length of the short play is there, which determines that it is greatly limited in narrative. It is difficult to tell a story in a short time. And the quality can only be produced under the demand of the audience. If the audience only watches it when they are bored on the subway, and they watch it on their mobile phones, how high can your quality be? The tools and methods of viewing are already greatly limited. So what the audience will demand in the future is very important. If the audience thinks that the current short videos with vertical screens of several minutes are exciting, funny and satisfying, they must go in that direction.
In the market, audience demand comes first, because there is a market only when there is demand. When TV series were first produced, the filming was mainly done by TV station personnel, and even the scenes were classrooms. Compared with later TV series, it was not as professional. That was because TV at that time was not as good as it is now, and the equipment was crude, so it could not attract people. Later, it was completely digitalized. The equipment used for filming movies was similar to that for filming TV series. One shot can be divided into many levels. Why is the investment so large? Because the market for TV series has grown. TV series were once very good, and the remuneration of TV actors even became sky-high. Why would production companies be willing to spend this money? That's because they can earn money.
The same logic and path applies to short dramas. In the future, whether the investment or production will be more sophisticated and attractive depends on the market performance. If the producers can make back the money, the budget and sophistication will be increased. This is the essence of the high-quality production.
The Paper: If you think so, will the free model inhibit the development of micro-short dramas to some extent?
Wang Rui: I think paying to watch short dramas and paying to read online novels are similar. My feeling about paying to read novels is that the novels are poorly written, but you want to know how the plot develops later, which seems to be quite addictive, so you pay to see if the content you want to watch later is interesting, which can make you spend money. We are used to watching things for free, and paying is actually a habit that can be developed slowly. And is free really free? You may not spend money, but when the free click rate reaches a certain level, advertisers will spend the money for you. I think they can think of a more reasonable way to make money.
Everyone is very happy about the Spring Festival movie season this year, because they can make money. The previous downturn was because the movie model for making money is based on box office, so it is very dangerous. Even if the Spring Festival season is so high, it cannot be said that the summer season will be so good. No one dares to say. Now whoever can come up with a way to make money, whether it is free or paid, will benefit the industry, because if there is no output after investment, the industry will be doomed. In fact, short dramas have an advantage in the number of people. Smart phones are very popular and everyone has one. I think as long as there is a market scale, it can be done.
Allowing for diversity is more important than giving money
The Paper: The combination of high-quality production and art is also a hot topic at the moment. From purely exciting dramas to the current promotion of depth and artistry, what do you think of this development trend?
Wang Rui: Last year, our school held a job fair for graduates. A kid was hired by a company. When he came to the department to talk about it, he said it was a short video company. Everyone looked down on him. He said the company's headquarters was in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and it had become very big. You see, foreigners also watch those big cool movies, where a very rich, powerful, or capable person is initially considered by others to be extremely incompetent and low-level, and the audience always wants to wait for the opportunity to vent their anger. This model has been copied many times, but there are still people watching it.
In a sense, this is very vulgar, but why do people still read it? I think the trend of any art, how it will change in the future, may be related to demand. If we think that the online cool articles are written in a crude way, it is because you are setting requirements based on literary standards, then they must be written very badly, even worse than what a third-rate writer would write. But the reason behind these things is, what kind of people are reading it? I think this is very relevant, and it is not a problem of human guidance.
If the demand of the audience watching short dramas is to watch them during their breaks, then the so-called combination with art is actually unnecessary. I think the main responsibility of management for this kind of thing is to supervise the values. If it is really ignored, the spread of wrong values will cause far more harm than the money. If the authorities want to guide, they can focus their energy here and only see whether the values are not good. As for whether the production is fine or rough, it mainly depends on whether it can be "sold". These artistic or aesthetic promotions may not be very effective. If you promote them, some people may deal with them because the producers do not get any benefits. Regardless of whether it is a short drama or a movie, it is still a cultural product. If you sell it in any way, it is definitely wrong and will only quench your thirst. However, as for the fact that it is still very rough when it is made into a movie, it actually has nothing to do with people outside the industry. One day, no one watches the very rough stuff and the click rate is 0, while another fine drama sells at a very high price. Then, without guidance, all practitioners will naturally go there.
The Paper: In addition to the so-called "people in the industry", there are actually many outsiders in the short drama industry. What impact will this way of making quick money have on the industry's ecology in the long run?
Wang Rui: This can only be seen clearly over a relatively long period of time, and it also depends on the angle from which it is viewed. If you say that making rough films in order to make quick money will eventually lead to the death of this industry, then that is definitely wrong. But if it really makes money and a large group of people can make a living from it, then it is reasonable. Whether it is making quick money or slow money, in addition to the attributes of the commodity, the values conveyed by cultural products cannot be wrong. As long as the values and aesthetics are not vulgar and harmful, it doesn’t matter what kind of money is made, whether it is slow money or fast money, that is the idea of every investor. If everyone in this industry is profit-seeking and makes a quick buck and leaves, and eventually destroys this industry, then there is nothing we can do.
In fact, I think the same thing about movies. Why are there fewer and fewer viewers? It's because there is less innovation. There used to be a movie or a plot that was very exciting, and it was copied here just to make money. In fact, it has had a great impact on the film industry. The money earned during the Spring Festival this year was actually beyond the imagination of investors. I didn't expect that "Nezha 2" would have such a high box office, which is enough to explain the problem.
From "Nezha" in 2019 to "Nezha 2" in 2025, the special effects of Shen Gongbao's hair show the efforts of film and television people to strive for excellence.
The Paper: In order to make money, the production cycle of short dramas has become shorter and shorter, compressed to 7 to 10 days. Some teams also use very standardized processes to do it. Will this lead to a contradiction between artistry and industrialization?
Wang Rui: There is actually no obvious contradiction between art and industrialization. Our country's film industry has been growing bigger and bigger over the years because it has also become industrialized. The counterpart of industrialization is art films. I think whether it is a movie or a short drama, the best state is diversity, with everything.
We can’t think of an ideal path for movies right now. We can’t control them too strictly, but we can’t ignore them either. If people “crash” on their own, they might ruin the business. How to control them in a way that “achieves both” is actually a big issue.
With the development of technology, something new will appear every once in a while. If the short plays are completely wild, will there be any chance for trial and error? Maybe they are all shoddy and popular for a while, and then everyone will give up on it. For such an important topic, I think there should be a group of people who specialize in this research, including the government and experts, to see if there is any way.
Now there are many good innovations under the "micro short drama +" model, but we must also prevent possible problems. For example, if the local cultural tourism joins, if the cultural tourism pays, it is equivalent to guidance, giving me an additional 1 million and requiring it to be filmed beautifully, then those who make micro short dramas will compete, whoever does it better in line with the requirements will earn the money, this kind of guidance may be effective for a period of time, but it may be difficult to be a long-term thing. In the long run, the more important issue is diversity. All creations are the same. It is healthiest to cultivate a variety of forms. Peonies are particularly beautiful. If you plant 100,000 acres of peonies, it will not be so beautiful. It is beautiful because there is only one among many flowers, but at the same time, other people may prefer roses or chrysanthemums. If they all grow the same flowers, it will be over. Everyone should allow diversity, which is more important than giving money .
In my opinion, in the arts industry, we can think of each line as a plant. If you water it after it dies, it may not come back to life. It takes many years to recover. Another point is fairness, which is the bottom line of providing an ecological environment. Only in a fair environment can the industry grow freely. It is particularly important to study what kind of ecology can make the industry flourish.
How to balance commercial demands and humanistic care
The Paper: Micro short dramas are now labeled as "fast food culture". Can this form of production produce works with film history value? If so, what conditions are needed to support it?
Wang Rui: I can’t say absolutely that there are none, but it is very difficult to produce such works. We have also watched various short film competitions in the world before, such as Cannes and Berlin. In addition, Thailand’s commercials are also very famous. They are only a few minutes long, but they tell a very good truth, which makes many people cry. However, the problem of “shortness” has always been there. It is equivalent to giving you a large room, which is easy to decorate because there is space, but if you give you a very small room, it is difficult to put the necessities of life in it, and it is even more difficult to make it reasonable and beautiful. The length of micro short dramas is a big limitation, which determines that you have to express something very attractive in a short time. Now the best way is to shoot a joke, shoot a joke, and you will be amused at once, and the task is completed. But if you want to make it very profound, like many aphorisms, short and reasonable, such things do exist, but it is very difficult.
Under normal creative conditions, these screenwriters and directors would not want to shoot a rough film, but why do they do this? This is the rule of the industry. Others finish shooting within 7 days. If you shoot for 14 days, I will have to spend more money, which means I will make less money. This is a big premise. Now it is difficult to shoot a short drama that is very profound and touching because there is no such demand and no such honor. Filmmakers can work hard because there is film history and major film festivals. For artists, it is an attraction. If you shoot, there will really be people who can understand and respond.
The Paper: Would schools like Beijing Film Academy consider offering specialized courses for such an industry, or a talent training program?
Wang Rui: Our department has no such plan at the moment. I think it will take time for short dramas to become an influential industry. We need to study and summarize this matter. First, this matter happened too recently. It may be difficult to say that we have formed a theory and truly understood it. Even in class, we only have a superficial understanding. Second, we are definitely not a technical school. We teach whatever is popular now. For so many years, our department’s courses have been about audio-visual language, which can be used to make movies, TV series, and short dramas.
The horizontal and vertical screens are probably mainly a matter of composition, which is also a matter of people's viewing habits. For example, Feng Xiaogang used a circle in "I Am Not Madame Bovary", but the effect did not look good after the film was made. Our visual teaching comes from painting. When you have a thorough understanding of this, you can change it. There is no problem.
The Paper: Many people who make short plays are now pursuing traffic first. From the perspective of colleges and universities, how do you view the issue of cultivating students to balance so-called commercial demands and humanistic care?
Wang Rui: This is not something eternal. After many years, people may not think that a good movie is a good movie, because the evaluation of a good movie is also changing with the changes in society. In the case of short dramas, the supremacy of traffic means that there is something wrong with the current state of the industry. Today's students are very clear about these things and know how to deal with and solve them. They can only adhere to the standards of art in their teaching plans. What else can we do? Since students entered our school, we have been talking about classic movies and good movies. We are teaching children to understand what a good movie is and sowing a seed in everyone's heart. It depends on whether this seed has a suitable environment for growth. Wen Muye's films are also very profitable and good. "Dying to Survive" is pretty good. If he had not been nurtured and trained for so long in school, he would not have been able to shoot it.
The Paper: AI-generated scripts and virtual filming technologies are being rapidly applied in short plays and movies. Do you think these technologies will reshape the creative process? Will colleges incorporate these technologies into the education system?
Wang Rui: Our school now has a special department to explore AI. We must not ignore any new technology. As for what it will become in the future, we do not have the initiative. In the short term, it can eliminate a group of screenwriters who are not very effective and below the standard in short plays or movies, and investors are happy to use it because it saves money and trouble. But in the long run, people will become more and more lazy and less creative. Screenwriters will not have the patience to think about details, and people's thinking ability will be reduced. Its shortcomings may not be apparent until many years later.
There is no need to promote it in courses now. The reality is that we cannot stop students from using it. It is difficult to say whether a paper was written by him or AI. This is a big question, and we can only say it based on our conscience.
The Paper: From the perspective of platforms and creators, how should we balance commerciality and value guidance?
Wang Rui: This is a very difficult question, and it is very complicated to explain in detail. If this problem can really be solved, it is no longer entirely a matter of management, but a matter of people's conscience. Just like a pancake seller, whether someone is watching or not, he must wash his hands before dipping the pancakes. However, the regulations stipulate that one person cannot be left in the kitchen of every restaurant to watch over the cooking. How can this problem be solved? Find a solution from spiritual products. In ancient China, people listened to books and watched operas. At that time, there were many more illiterates than now. How could there be loyalty, righteousness and honesty? It was the result of influence. Conscience does not come out of thin air, but is influenced by the larger social environment. People will always get better and better, take detours, and suddenly reflect on themselves after materializing. I think this is not something that can be done by human power, but the result of comprehensive factors and social environment.
If literary and artistic works are of the kind that skirt the line, are evil, and are only for the sake of money, how can they arouse the beauty in people's hearts? So this is a strategic issue.
The Paper: What advice do you give to young creators today to deal with this problem?
Wang Rui: In our teaching, we often cite classic movies as examples, and also teach music and painting. A creative person should have a clean heart, which is beautiful and noble. I think these can only influence people. Everyone's choice when facing the creative path in the future depends on personal cultivation. For all creations, techniques are the most basic. As for what to do with them after learning, it is difficult for the school to decide.
The Paper: What development trends do you think the micro-short drama market may have in the future?
Wang Rui: It is difficult to summarize. As a new thing, I think micro-short dramas have reasons to exist, because people’s time is fragmented now, and people rarely read a book now. All of this is the basis for the existence of micro-short dramas, but its future development is quite complicated. It is not enough to do well on its own. The people who watch micro-short dramas and their needs are also changing.
