Background on the Chinese Film Industry
The China Film Bureau is a branch of the governmental ministry. This branch bears direct responsibility to the government. From this branch, all other film units are derived. In terms of overall structure, the China Film Corporation should be noted. It is the sole agency that deals in the distribution and exhibition of films. The Film Art Research Center contains the China Film Archive as well as a study center. The Beijing Film Institute (also referred to as Beijing Film College) is the main center that trains personnel for work in the film industry. It should be noted that the Institute has its own studio that produces around 8 films per year. It covers academic and production aspects of directing/editing, photography, acting, sound, production and design, as well as Literature, screenwriting and general film studies. Finally, there are the processing labs, Film Equipment Corporation and the Coproduction Unit, which is deals with all film productions with foreign filmmakers.
There are 22 major studios spread out with groups of smaller studios throughout China's 29 provinces. Of the 22 major studios, 16 have governmental approval to turn out professional feature films. Most of the16 major studios are associated with their locations: Beijing, Changchun, Emei, Guangxi, inner Mongolia, Kunming, Pearl River, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tibet, Xian, Xiaoxiang, Xinjiang. Ba Yi Film Studio is a military studio devoted to making instructional and entertainment films for the People's Liberation Army. There is also a Children's Film Studio established and staffed by the Ministry of Culture. Ba Yi makes about 8 features per year, the Youth Film Studio in the Beijing Film Institute makes about 3 features per year. The Youth Film Studio is of special note because it is a professional studio in which faculty can make films.
The remaining studios are more specialized: Central Documentary and Newsreel, Beijing Scientific and Educational Film Studio, Shanghai Scientific and Educational Film Studio, Beijing Agricultural Film Studio, Shanghai Animation Studio, and Shanghai Dubbing Studio. There is also a studio in Hong Kong, Shenzhen Film Studio, involved in exports to Chinese abroad.
The smaller studios outside major cities were originally implemented to decentralize film production units. They deal mainly in documentary and news reel footage specific to their locale. Although the films are usually of less professional quality due to equipment and training, current reforms may change that. Hanzhou's studio, for example, is presently applying for permission to legally make feature length films.
The main aspect to keep in mind in the structure of the Chinese film industry is its centralized governmental support and control. This vertical/monopolized control is comparable to the earlier stages of the American film industry in the 30's perhaps. At the same time, one has to keep the political and economic characteristics in perspective as well. Though one should also note that film production was well under way in China shortly after the appearance of early Melies and Lumiere Films. Furthermore, the artistic climate of China prefigured the appearance of films with Chinese shadow plays and scroll paintings. Finally, one should note that China makes about 150 films per year which is on par with the number of feature films that the United States produces (about 167).
How did the structure of the Chinese Film Bureau affect film production?
Notes by J. Cuasay
The best way to go about answering this question is to describe how one enters the film industry and goes about making a film. Furthermore, a comparison of how films were made during the period of 1966-1976 and how films developed out of the "new wave" of the fifth generation shows the contrasts or extremes within the Chinese system.
From 1966-1976, the "ten chaotic years" of cultural repression, only 8 films were produced. These were mainly opera films that showed little innovation. It was a step backwards into a "dark age" in which government control under the cultural revolution proved oppressive for creativity and production.
Normally, the Chinese system involves a set of difficult exams taken for entrance into a film school. While on one hand this means that very few people are admitted, it also means that those who pass represent a very elite and talented group. Once admitted to the film school in Beijing, for example, these talented students can pursue whatever aspects of filmmaking they which to apply themselves to. This is true to such an extent that the specificity of career tracks are set from the start. Directors study directing, cinematographers start with still photography and hone down the visual aspects of the discipline. The overall effect is that talented students become proficient in their chosen areas. Because the government funds the film school, students who graduate can expect to find employment upon graduation.
It should also be noted that up until 1992, the structure of film production and distribution was such that a filmmaker could make films without regard to a profit incentive or method of evaluating product. That meant that creative aspects could be encouraged without recrimination. Taking the box office mentality out of the equation, combined with governmental support, seems an almost ideal situation for a filmmaker. Of course, when governmental forces step in and force its ideology against the creativity, that situation is no longer guaranteed.
In 1977 and 1978, following the Cultural Revolution, the Ministry of Culture attempted to revive the film industry. The government combined the industry of film with that of radio and television. This of course points out China's realization of mass culture and mass media. The continuing encroachment of outside international forces helped China gain recognition, but also plagued them with the nuances of foreign competition and the effects of foreign influences.
The Cultural Revolution was a wide sweeping, almost tragic phenomena. It disrupted the previous flow of talented students turned filmmakers by sending these students along with the rest of the population out to the rural areas to work the land or to join the army. This meant that a whole generation of would be filmmakers had their lives and careers placed on hold with no immediate sense of when, if ever, they would return to their filmmaking world. (This group that had their film careers disrupted by the Cultural Revolution is termed the fourth generation. Along with the fifth generation, the two are different from the preceding generations in that they had a strong academic upbringing in the discipline.)
At the same time, this period of history had an effect on the formation of the fifth generation of filmmakers. These filmmakers were the first unified group to attend and graduate from Beijing with a similar formative background in the Cultural Revolution and the devastation it wrought on the film industry. What is most notable about the fifth generation is that it was the first time that each filmmaker was able to craft a sense of individual vision in his or her work. This is perhaps why the fifth generation is compared with the French New Wave. It shares with that movement the similarities of having a well trained, intellectual and technically proficient group of individuals, who shared the same bitter effects of the cultural revolution.
The first three generation form a type of old school that relied more on foreign influences in the form of Soviet Cinema and Stanislavski acting. They were also influenced by American films of the 30's and aspects of Chinese theater. Directing as an art form developed in the 30's but was disrupted by World War II. After Liberation, a small group of filmmakers went to the USSR to study. The resulting effect is that the fifth generation benefited by these developments while not having their careers placed on hold by the Cultural Revolution. It terms of seeking a sixth generation, this still remains to be seen. At the present time, China has to deal with the international character of film both as an art and an industry. At the same time, it has to struggle to maintain its own inner convictions, its Chinese "essence" amidst a rapid insertion into the postmodern age.
On top of such theoretical or aesthetic principles, the structure of China's Film industry is in the process of reform. This means less centralization with governmental authority and more autonomy at the local level. The effect is that graduates of film school are no longer sure of employment. Even if they travel farther out to studios outside the cities, they may still have to wait their turn to make their films. On top of that, the box office return now plays more of a role as does the confusing influx of mass media advertising and the pressures of foreign competition and trade.