Micro movies facilitate free grass-roots expression

Zhao noted that copyright trading may become another source of funding in the future, which is expected to relieve directors from commercial restrictions, stimulate creative ideas and promote productions with artistic tastes.

Micro movies are combining traditional filmmaking techniques with modern cultural trends to cater to public value evolution, which is a new medium amid China's century-old film industry development, said Cheng.

They add another dimension to the industry that last year saw box office receipts total more than 2 billion US dollars for the first time, making it the world's second largest behind North America.

"Chinese films always follow social and economic developments within and outside the country," said Zhou Xing, professor with the School of Art and Communication under Beijing Normal University.

Early Chinese films were profit-driven products with the techniques and artistic skills lagging behind the rest of the world. The intrusion of Japanese and the invention of sound motion pictures in 1930s pushed forward the all-round growth of the film industry in the country.

However, many films had been made to serve the need of politics after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The controversial model operas -- planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) by Jiang Qing, the wife of late Chairman Mao Zedong, were the dominating genres. After the disastrous decade, unfettered Chinese filmmakers began to learn the advanced experiences from all over the world and managed to find a Chinese way to make films with socialist characteristics.

"Chinese films began to demonstrate diversified ideas and styles in the late 20th century," said Zhou.

In the 21st century, the industry has witnessed substantial transformation from a monopolized business to a sector that pays attention to public opinions and market response, according to him.

A remarkable event occurred in 2003, when China abolished the rules that only 16 designated organizations could produce films. Commercial films began to enter the world market and caught intensive attention.

How to perfectly interweave national ideology with artistic criteria and public acceptance has been a serious concern of filmmakers and theoretical researchers, said Ding Yaping, director with the Institute of Film and Teleplay of Chinese Academy of Arts.

"A good movie should address social problems and expose intense contradictions," said Tang.

"People chose different film genres in various eras, but life is always the source for ideas," said Ding.

Avoid to preach in a mechanical way and eliminate empty and boring expression, and try to discover respectable deeds from ordinary life will help to make movies more popular among the audience, he advised.

Micro movies should never sacrifice quality for commercial profits. Priority should be given to the establishment of a set of quality rules for such a new sub-sector, said Wang Qian.

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