Micro-short drama, an online audiovisual format, is a hit in China and generates revenue for the media, according to specialists from the country speaking at a training seminar for the benefit of Burkinabe media.
Micro-short drama media are online audiovisual programs developed by Chinese media to take advantage of digital technologies and adapt to the new habits of content consumers.
Hailed by practitioners and researchers as a successful example of micro-short drama, the film “Escape from the British Museum” has recorded over 1.3 billion views on Douyin (Tik-Tok) in just one week after its release, recalls Zhao Jing, a journalist and radio presenter at Hunan Broadcasting System.
The program was also praised by state media such as CCTV and Xinhuat daily and received “extremely high attention and evaluation” in the Chinese journalist’s opinion.
The film addresses the theme of the return of works of art looted by Westerners during colonization. It tells the story of a Chinese art jade pot kept in a museu
m in England that transformed into a young girl to return to her home country through a Chinese journalist she met.
The dramatic micro-short film is defined as an online audiovisual program whose episodes have a short duration, from a few tens of seconds to around 15 minutes.
“It is short-lived, fast-paced, with a complete plot, strong conflicts, frequent reversals, strong emotional motivation and intense exciting points that can attract the audience’s attention in a short period of time. It has a relatively clear theme and main line as well as a relatively continuous and complete storyline,” Zhao said.
The micro-short media dramas are created around themes such as legends, landscapes and pastoral areas, urban life. They encourage telling stories of cultural heritage and highlighting the beauty of ‘made in China’, ‘China speed’, ‘China power’, or Chinese ecological civilization.
Economically, micro-short dramas in China have covered a market of 37.39 billion Yuan in 2023 with a projection of a market exce
eding 100 billion Yuan in 2027 according to Chinese specialists.
Source: Burkina Information Agency