Cultural and entertainment market, it must be called IP. The direction of IP is controlled by the network text. Network literature 20 years, it looks like a 20-year-old boy, cold face plus exuberant hormones. Everything is as alluring as the hero in the novel. However, under the pretty face, there are also hidden “growing pains”.
In the market under the general mentality of quick success and instant profits, IP network after almost blind development, to a considerable extent there is a “disorder disorder” trapped. Even, some excessive speculation, began to overdraw people’s expectations of IP network.
On the one hand, it is the strong demand of the market, and on the other hand, it is increasingly out of order. How to cultivate high-quality IP and rationally develop IP has become an urgent issue for the online literature and even the film and television industry to think about. Network literature is an important source of IP. For example, popular movies and TV dramas, such as Three Lives Three Times Three Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, Ghost Blows out The Light, River God, and the popular online game Jade Dynasty, all turn to network literature to “find their roots”.
With the continuous popularity of IP network text, its importance also becomes more and more important. A strong IP has two great abilities, one is influence and the other is inheritance. Influence is in space, while inheritance is in time. In youku autumn fair, Ali Literature CEO Yu Gan redefined the value and meaning of IP with the analogy of one horizontal and one vertical.
Yu Gan put forward the 3+X IP incubation methodology. In his opinion, the cultivation of high-quality IP needs to carry out more comprehensive and detailed systematic operation on the basis of transmitting positive energy in life, good world outlook and making readers enjoy it.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it had everything before it, it had nothing before it, it was on the way to heaven, it was on the way to hell. IP has changed the entertainment market, so what will change IP?
Online literature suffers from Growing pains
The biggest expectation for online literature is undoubtedly whether it can provide enough appealing IP for the market. From the super seasonal network drama “Tomb Raiders” in 2015 to “Lao Jiu Men” in 2016, to the 2017 hit TV series “Three Lives Three Times Ten Miles of Peach Blossom”, “Sky Of Choice” and so on, IP dramas emerge one after another, and IP has become the standard of major dramas. According to entgroup, 76 percent and 62 percent of the TOP50 most-streamed TV dramas and network dramas from 2014 to 2017 were IP adaptations.
The film and television industry’s competition for IP makes the value of web articles rise all the way. However, as the market capital is inclined to IP works, the emergence of all kinds of film and television works is rapidly consuming the stock of IP of high-quality web articles. Many industry insiders bluntly, network literature as long as ten years of precipitation of excellent works in two years were “consumed”.
In fact, the net text IP works that exploded in the market in the past two years almost all have more than ten years of creation time. The smash hits The Ghost Blows out the Light series and The Tomb Raiders were both written in 2006, Nirvana in Fire came out in 2007, and The Journey of Flower and Ten Li Of Peach Blossom came out in 2009. In recent years, although there are many new web articles every year, the speed of new IP does not fill the gap of old IP consumption.
In addition, under the general market mentality of eager for quick success and instant profits, extensive IP development mode has become a difficult problem of IP network article development, IP network article from “magic medicine” to “poison”. “IP+ small fresh meat + Special effects of five hair” has become an established routine. The IP that is rapidly developed and cash out lacks sufficient fermentation in both production and popularity, which ultimately leads to the loss and waste of excellent IP. To make matters worse, the uneven quality and excessive speculation of producers began to overdraw people’s expectations of IP.
As the price of web articles continues to rise and the content supply is insufficient, how to exploit the value of existing IP and cultivate potential IP has become the key to breaking the situation of IP articles, and also the focus of the entertainment industry.
Good IP has three elements
“Positive energy is the standard of good IP, and it is positive energy that needs to be nurtured from strong to great. A great IP carries responsibility and mission.” Yu Gan hopes to spread the art of writing to further places so that more people can enjoy the beauty of writing. And thousands of years later, people can understand the passion of our generation through words. Therefore, good IP also has the value and responsibility of inheritance. That is to make human society towards the direction of positive energy development. Yu gan then put forward three criteria for good IP.
“First, the central idea and storyline of the work must convey the positive energy in life and promote the truth, goodness and beauty in life; Second, cultivate a comprehensive and multi-perspective world view, which can show a more powerful derivative vitality of the work; Third, the creativity, style and narrative method of the work should be pleasing to users.” Yu Gan put forward three elements of IP high-quality web text is not difficult to understand.
The first is that “positive energy” is at the heart of a good IP. The Ordinary World, White Deer Plain, Nirvana in Fire, Spider-Man, Lord of the Rings… At all times and in all countries, those IP works that you and I blurt out are actually “positive energy” works. They are loved by people precisely because they contain “positive energy” such as justice, positivity and optimism. “Positive energy is the basis of a good IP, a strong IP will have a huge influence and heritage, in the development of mobile Internet today, new technology can make these two capabilities more incisively and vividly.” “From strong to great, it is positive energy that needs to be nurtured. We hope that future generations can understand the magnificence of our time through words,” yu Gan said.
The second is a good “world view”, is that the work should have a suitable derived world view, it must be a variety of dimensions and different levels, the world view determines the DIMENSIONS and levels of IP comprehensive development. “Whether a story can be derived or not has a lot to do with the world outlook,” yu gan said. “If the world outlook is not good, it is not suitable for derivative. DC and Marvel are two giants of comic book companies with the same name in The United States. Founded in the 1930s, DC and Marvel can become the top IP in the world today, because the grand world view constructed in their works is very key. For example, in recent years, game of Thrones, Tomb Raider, the Three-Body Problem and other popular IP, also because the works have an attractive world view.
The third criterion, which is probably the least explicable criterion for a good IP, is to be liked. The premise of good IP is that the work has a good user base. The creativity, style and narrative method of the work should be satisfied with the users, which is one of the most intuitive and efficient judgment methods. Whether it is the Four Great Classics of China, or American superheroes, or Disney, which is popular among children all over the world, these IP are always alive and can be reused for multiple types of derivatives, especially in derivatives. Their common feature is that they have a huge mass base, known to all. And in contrast to today’s network IP, can be said to be pleased to see is really not much.
Compared with classic European and American fantasy, Japanese comic and American comic, Chinese web novels are still in their power period, because most Chinese web novels lack grand setting, let alone create rich virtual world. Therefore, to a certain extent, the three criteria of good IP proposed by Yu Gan are the screening criteria of high-quality IP, and also the direction of joint efforts of network literature platforms and network literature authors.
Systematic operation to create potential head IP
“Good IP needs to have positive energy, a good world view and love to see, on this basis through scientific and technological innovation to carry out systematic operation, in order to ensure the sustainable output of high-quality IP.” If positive energy, worldview and enjoyment are the core elements of good IP, whether online or traditional literature, then in youku Autumn collection, The “X” added by Yugan to the “3” standard is the methodology to build IP for online articles.
“On top of these three basic elements, there needs to be a systematic operation through technological productivity. For different derivative platforms, Internet technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and personalized distribution are used to implement targeted derivative schemes. Ultimately, more mid-waist and potential head pieces become a good IP with the potential for derivative.” Yu said.
In the author’s opinion, the X proposed by Yugan — “carry out a more comprehensive and detailed systematic operation according to the characteristics of film and television, games and other segments” can be further elaborated from two aspects.
On the one hand, “X” means that the IP of web articles is no longer just finger IP, but includes a larger number of potential head IP, which can be derived through systematic operation, which is good for the IP market and the author of web articles. There is no doubt that big IP has the power to develop various types of works, but people often neglect that big IP itself is also gradually cultivated and grown from potential IP in the process of constantly developing various types of works. For example, Nirvana in Fire and Three Lives Three are not hits in the field of online novels, but they have become the so-called “head IP” through meticulous creation and reasonable development.
Yu do “X” is put forward, on the other hand, systematic operation need according to the properties of the film and television, games and other niche, combined with the article the characteristics of the work itself, a more comprehensive, detailed assessment, this means that the article IP refinement operations to hatch as well as a more mature secondary upgrade, for article platform is a bigger challenge. To open the pan-entertainment industry chain, such as literature, film and television, games and music, with one IP, is only the “optimal solution” in theory in most cases. In fact, domestic IP characteristics do not have the foundation of multi-direction crossover, and blindly seeking perfection is not only difficult to blossom, or even lead to each point can not do a good job, “unsuccessful crossover to IP is actually a kind of harm.”
In fact, in the development of “Sansheng III” IP, we can see ali literature and ali entertainment behind the understanding and practice of “3+X”. Episodes of “Ten Miles of Peach Blossom” were viewed 14 billion times on Youku, followed by “Three Lives three Times Three” produced by Alibaba Pictures, which earned 500 million yuan at the box office. In addition, Alibaba Pictures has licensed related derivative products to brand merchants, with total sales of more than 300 million yuan. With the new infrastructure of Ali Entertainment, the “potential head IP” in the world of three Lives three Times has been gradually transformed into a real “head IP”, forming a full-link derivative ecology
As an important source of IP, network literature can be derived into “Marvel movies and drama games”, or “magic medicine turns poison”. It may step on the heaven of “flowers blooming like brocade”, or it may go to the hell of “disorder and disorder”. Ali literature proposed the “3+X” network IP incubation methodology, not only clear the quality network IP screening standards, network writers, network platform indicated the direction of joint efforts, but also pointed out the past network IP development of thinking errors, stressed the platform for network IP refined operation, In addition, more potential head works can become IP through systematic operation to fill the market demand for IP. Perhaps, 3+X will become a glimmer in the IP fog of web articles, pointing out the way for web articles. Even, start a prairie fire, also unknown. Maybe we already have the key to change the IP.
Liu Kuang, meditation on the Internet, wechat official account: Liukuang110