With the development of 5G, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, etc., the digital wave is surging, enabling thousands of industries and bringing profound industrial changes. So, as far as the film and television industry is concerned, how does digital technology integrate and infiltrate, and what sparks have collided? Recently, Zhu Liang, vice president of iQIYI and head of the Intelligent Production Department, took the company's exploration of the integration of film and television technology as an example to share the way of the development of film and television industrialization in the digital era.

Tamping the base and platform, the film and television industry becomes an inevitable trend

"The digital transformation of all walks of life has become a general trend, as has the film and television industry. The digital economy will help the film and television industry to accelerate its industrialization and bring about the overall upgrading of the film and television industry." Speaking of the digital trend of the film and television industry, Zhu Liang believes.

Different from other industries, the film and television industry produces products with complex cultural creativity, with strong periodicity and high uncertainty risks. With the continuous emergence of high-quality works, the audience's vision and aesthetics are also rising. In addition, the time scarcity is increasing, and their demand for high-quality content and creative content is stronger. In this situation, improving the controllability of film and television projects and improving the content output rate have become the key to the film and television production industry, which provides a stage and space for digital transformation.

For example, film and television works are artistic creation, with creativity and randomness in art and uncertainty brought by various subjective and objective factors. In the past, the risk expectation and management of film and television works mainly relied on personal experience. Now, with the help of big data technology, it can provide data reference and reduce the unpredictability to a certain extent.

The above is only one aspect of the integration of film and television industry and digital technology. In general, the digital transformation of film and television industry includes two dimensions. First, informatization, through the digital integration of information, to open up information islands and promote communication between links; The second is intelligent production, which deeply integrates blockchain, AI, 5G, etc. with film and television technology to improve the quality and efficiency of content production.

Under the demand of improving quality, increasing efficiency and reducing cost, good content not only needs to be produced, but also needs to be produced efficiently and continuously. This demand determines that the film and television industry must complete the industrial transformation and upgrading, and its benefits are also obvious: use technology to improve forecasting ability, and help AI and big data to improve project controllability; All information is on the cloud, which can improve efficiency and avoid resource waste; Use various technical tools, such as intelligent production tools, virtual production, etc. Therefore, film and television industrialization has become the key to improve the efficiency of production, production, overall planning and other links in the film and television industry.

"If art is a palace and a superstructure, then industry is the foundation and an important cornerstone to support the superstructure," Zhu Liang said. As a large platform for content incubation, production and distribution, iQIYI has an urgent hope for improving the quality, efficiency and cost of content production. It has become an active practitioner of industrial upgrading. It works with partners to explore the way to develop film and television industrialization.

Technology enables and intelligent production creates "new productivity"

With the continuous deepening of the integration of the Internet and film and television technology, the intellectualization of film and television production is becoming the development focus of the global streaming media platform. Enabling production with science and technology is an inevitable requirement for the in-depth and healthy development of the content industry, and is also the mission of iQIYI as an enterprise driven by scientific and technological innovation.

It is reported that iQIYI Intelligent Production deeply integrates the production rules of film and television content with the capabilities of the Internet content platform, carries out hierarchical design of capabilities, and provides empowerment for the platform's own projects, partners, and the entire film and television industry. IQIYI intelligent production is divided into three levels: decision-making level, management level and production level. It provides targeted system solutions for the needs of personnel in each link.

Among them, PBIS (Production Business Intelligence System) is oriented to the decision-making layer and based on big data to assist business investment decision-making; IIPS (intelligent integrated production system) is aimed at the management level to open up the information island between production links, so that producers and management can grasp information at any time to assist in management; IPTS (intelligent production tool set) is oriented to the production layer, serving the actual needs of the frontline, improving quality and efficiency, and providing new creative capabilities, such as virtual production.

For example, iQIYI used the independently developed "film and television production management system" when shooting "Tiger and Crane Demon Master Record" and "Ning'an Like a Dream". This system provides intelligent tools, project monitoring and management for film and television projects throughout their life cycle. It includes script disassembly, production and shooting plan, notice issuance, financial management and other links into online management to help achieve digital connectivity of the crew information. Among them, the efficiency of script disassembly has been increased by 20 times, and the efficiency of editing and staging has been increased by 10 times.

During the shooting of "The Wind Rises in Luoyang", iQIYI built a "bad well", which was retained as a digital asset through live scene scanning, and produced a 4K movie and television level virtual production test film "The Wind and Cloud Rises Again" and a pure virtual motion capture animation MV "Mind", which for the first time ran through the process of "real scene scanning - asset reconstruction - virtual filming - refined warehousing - multi service reuse". In addition, it also released a blind box of digital collections themed "The Wind Rises Luoyang", which was used in projects such as "The Wind Rises Luoyang" VR, to achieve "one fish eats more".

IQIYI's film review system provides a safe and powerful collaboration tool for cross regional collaboration of film and television variety shows. For example, the 3D adventure animation "Ice and Snow Guardian" was produced internationally. Through the iQIYIQIYUE online film review platform, the film was reviewed while being revised, which solved the problem of the time difference of up to 11 hours across 12000 kilometers, and the film review efficiency was more than doubled. Qiyue film review has been 100% applied to the comprehensive business of iQIYI Film&TV, and the efficiency of the submission process sheet project has been increased by 3 times. At the same time, as the designated tool of iQIYI platform for film review, it has greatly improved the review experience and comments of experts.

"Intelligent production is becoming the 'new productivity' for iQIYI to improve the quality of content. It is gradually incorporated into the whole film and television production cycle from project approval to film production, accelerating the standardized and systematic operation of film and television projects. New creative tools are also providing creators with new innovation capabilities, making imagination come true," said Zhu Liang.

Upgrade user experience end-to-end from shooting to broadcasting

From the perspective of user experience, the development of 5G and other basic technologies has removed the network bottleneck of improving the consumer experience of video applications, and brought about the popularity of online 4K/8K ultra clear video, immersive VR/AR/MR, ultra clear live broadcast, interactive video and other video forms, as well as the quality and diversity of video experience.

The popularity of large bandwidth and ultra-high speed networks has reduced the network bottleneck of video experience. In order to create an end-to-end high-quality experience and comprehensively upgrade the user experience, iQIYI, on the one hand, provides high-quality video products to meet the growing aesthetic needs of the audience; On the other hand, starting from shooting, the production standard is comprehensively improved.

Take the picture quality and sound effect that users most intuitively feel as an example. At present, 4K shooting has become the industry standard in the film and television industry, and support for 4K and HDR has become the standard configuration of high-end models of TV manufacturers. Therefore, the realization of standardized adaptation of content side construction and hardware terminals has become the "last mile" for online video to provide real theater level services. Recently, iQIYI took the lead in launching "Fancy Image MAX" on the TV terminal. At present, many TV equipment models have completed the adaptation certification. Open iQIYI Kiwi TV on the certified device, and select "Fancy Image MAX" to get a high standard video viewing experience. The characters in the play have their hair cut out, and the natural scenery is presented in high-definition.

Behind the improvement of user experience is a series of collaboration and landing support based on the producer's strict shooting in accordance with the 4K standard, strict acceptance and debugging of the video platform, and strict certification of user equipment. As a streaming media platform, iQIYI continues to promote the progress and implementation of high standard audio-visual standards from frame image to frame image MAX, and cooperates with upstream and downstream industries to comprehensively improve video consumption quality, striving to achieve standardized operation from the source to the broadcast.

The pursuit of video quality is endless. Zhu Liang said that in the future, iQIYI will cooperate with more partners to provide high standard audio-visual experience on more scenes and more terminal devices through the combination of hardware and software.

Reinforce the dam to reduce cost and increase efficiency in all links

Driven by the digital wave, the film and television industry is accelerating towards industrialization, bringing about the overall upgrading of the film and television industry. Relatively speaking, China's film and television industry is in the process of evolution towards industrialization, and there is still much room for efficiency improvement through digital transformation in all links, which will certainly be a process of sustainable development.

Zhu Liang told the reporter that iQIYI has been driven by scientific and technological innovation since its establishment, continued to explore the combination of cutting-edge technology and content creation in all aspects, reduced entertainment costs with digital and technological innovation, and made users more convenient to obtain more happiness. This is the biggest difference between iQIYI and traditional entertainment companies.

"In terms of digitalization, what iQIYI has been doing and will continue to do is continue to launch high-quality and good content and provide users with the ultimate user experience. As a platform party, iQIYI has the responsibility and ability to strengthen the content dam and help all sectors of the film and television industry reduce costs and increase efficiency." Looking forward, Zhu Liang emphasized.

Specifically, iQIYI has two key points: high-quality and good content and innovative user experience.

First, high-quality and good content. Promote the industrialization of film and television, improve the quality of content creation, reduce costs and increase efficiency. In terms of content creation, iQIYI team will give play to the craftsmanship spirit, pursue the ultimate quality, pursue innovative growth, and strengthen refined management; We will promote the accumulation, reuse and appreciation of film and television virtual production and digital asset library, explore multiple types of content such as 5G+4K/8K+VR, and promote the development of ultra-high definition content.

Second, innovate user experience. Through technological innovation, users can enjoy rich film and television content and high-quality viewing experience on multiple platforms. Multiple platforms, such as large screen, VR, Internet of Vehicles, smart speakers, etc., enable users to easily watch iQIYI videos wherever they are; New experiences, such as ultra-high definition video, multi type interactive experience (interactive video, bullet screen, chat together, vibration mode), provide more immersive and personalized viewing experience, so that users can deeply experience different stories.