Streaming websites are using short online videos as testing grounds to understand young audiences. Han Bingbin reports.

The idea of inviting veteran filmmakers to tailor-make short films for the Internet demonstrates the industry's desire for deeper insights into young audiences' preferences and the Web's power to discover new film talent.

Over the past four years, Chinese online streaming-website giant Youku's Master's Micro Film project has lured the industry's most respected film directors, including Ann Hui and Gu Changwei.

This year, participating directors include 61-year-old director and producer Huang Jianxin and the pioneer of Hong Kong cinema's new-wave movement, Ho Yim.

Their creations, as well as those of international award-winning directors Tsai Ming-liang from Taiwan and Iranian Mohsen Makhmalbaf, started streaming on Youku.com in April, following a ceremonial release during the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

"I was looking at the comments on my way here. There's an excitement I never felt in making traditional films," Huang said during a recent talk with young directors.

He was discussing his short film adapted from online fiction, Insomniac Diary - a fable-like love story about the romance between a man with insomnia and a narcoleptic woman.

"The audiences' feedback comes back directly. Everyone was talking about it from a different perspective," he says.

Liberated from box-office pressure, these veteran filmmakers are encouraged to experiment boldly with narration and editing to appeal to audiences who watch films on cellphones and tablets.

A difference from theatergoers is that these viewers may not watch the entire film, Huang says.

An advantage is the Internet's "impoliteness" makes audiences' likes and dislikes clear and easier to evaluate.

Yim says it reminds him of Hong Kong cinema's olden-time tradition of midnight screenings, where audiences were more casual and straightforward. They revealed their thoughts through laughing, crying or cursing. Many directors then took this opportunity to assess the audiences' reactions and re-edit films accordingly.

A growing craving for insights into young audiences' tastes inspired Huang's team to arrange five rounds of test screenings for the feature-length movie he produced, The Taking of the Tiger Mountain. All targeted viewers born after 1980.

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark re-edited the revolutionary epic five times.

His efforts paid off - the movie took more than 880 million yuan ($142 million) at the box office. It became the fifth-highest grossing film in Chinese history. It was his first revolution-themed film set on the mainland.

"When we make films in the future, we may also try editing a short version, test run it online and see if the direction is right," Huang says.

More mature business operations will make micro films more sustainable, China Film Archive's researcher and film critic Zuo Heng says.

For example, the concept has obviously become more influential after being presented through a themed project such as the Master's Micro Film, he says.

"It's definitely a phenomenon to be treated seriously. It will exist for several years more and become many young filmmakers' first step into the industry," says Zuo.

As Chinese online-video behemoths like Youku and iQiyi take firm strides into the movie industry, their eagerness to take full advantage of their "Internet gene" suggests they're more interested in nurturing their own films and talent than co-investing in other projects.

More than 200,000 videos from around the world are uploaded every day on Youku. They're all viewed as potential wells of inspiration for feature films.

Youku's young directors project also focuses on filmmakers who have revealed their potential through short creations.

The effort has helped 48 upstart directors since 2009 by offering financial assistance and inviting veteran directors as mentors. This has produced 18 Internet series and 60 short films that have been viewed more than 2 billion times on the website.

One of the site's most-viewed short films, Old Boy - a nostalgic take on the shared memories of China's post-1980 generation - was adapted into a full-length feature film last year.

It marked Youku's first movie attempt.

The streaming site has also revealed plans to this year adapt another of its popular online miniseries, Joy Show, into a full-length feature produced by Huang.

The Master's Micro Film project will be upgraded in October in collaboration with the Busan International Film Festival, Youku's movie and TV center's literature supervisor Zhang Dong says.

The project will incorporate four young directors to be mentored by masters. Youku will choose the best to direct a full-length feature film.

"I hope young directors will try their best to demonstrate what they're good at in their creations so their potential could be seen," Huang says.

"This also means they shouldn't be afraid to expose their weak points at the same time. In a word, don't be mediocre."

Contact the writer at hanbingbin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 04/09/2015 page8)