The Piano in a Factory: A People's Film Pick

By TANG YUANKAI

The plot features a laid-off worker and his unemployed friends making a piano out of discarded steel, in the hope of keeping his daughter who was about to be taken away by her remarried mother. Full of warmth and black humor, the film reflects the wisdom in "small potato" tales and an optimistic attitude towards life. "It's the dream of every poor dad to make a steel piano by hand for his daughter!" asserts Hao Jian, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy (BFA), says the film recalled to him his early days working as a welder. "Zhang Meng presses the points he pursues in this film with interesting audio and visual effects." Hao Jian especially likes the beauty of the style taken by the film, "It looks casual, calm, but is also bold." Audience reviews confirmed that The Piano in a Factory was the best domestic film made last year.

However, high ratings from audiences and critics didn't translate into box office success. It made only RMB 3 million in its first weekend, and in many cities it simply disappeared just a few days after its debut. One reason was the bad timing of the release – it was caught in the crossfire between Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Fortunately, word-of-mouth publicity and a suitable pre-marketing strategy saved the film from losing money.

The Piano in a Factory to some extent reflects the predicament of many low-budget and art films in China.

The Pareto Principle

In 2010 the total box office in China surpassed RMB 10 billion, 80 percent of which was attributable to blockbusters and megapictures, which accounted for only 20 percent of all films shown in China. By contrast, middle or low-budget films gleaned the remaining 20 percent of box office. Statistics show that most films were just cannon fodder, appealing to a very limited audience.

Last year China produced 530 feature films (animations not included), but only 260 were screened on the mainstream cinema circuit. In other words, about half of new films didn't have the opportunity to be shown in a cinema at all, though on average over 20 new films were screened per month.

The profit-driven cinemas and a lack of patience and foresight are the Waterloo combination of factors that plague many films. While The Piano in a Factory disappeared in just days in many cities, in Beijing it held audiences captive for over 25 days and was screened as many as 47 times a day. It is a real miracle that it eventually found its way out from under the siege of transformers and teenage wizards

"At the beginning, there were only two or three shows a day, but more and more people called to inquire about it, so we increased that to four to five shows and the momentum was maintained till the end of August," commented head of Wangfujing Hengdian Cinema who revealed that the attendance increased from about 30 percent of capacity to 70 or 80 percent, and even 100 percent in prime time screenings, with some people coming to watch it a second time.

"Some cinemas are still in the stage of primitive accumulation. In some cases, if a film could sell just one more ticket, one more screen would be assigned to it," said Zheng Dongtian, professor in the Director Department of the BFA. "So we find a common phenomenon: all cinemas screen the same film. The reason is rooted in our un-segmented film market. In a mature market, every film is made for a certain type of audience, which guarantees the investors' profits."

Zhang Hongsen, deputy director of the Film Administration Bureau, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), cites several categories used to classify Chinese films.

The first category is commercial films (40 to 50 films a year), featuring big productions and high profit margins coincidental with international practices.

The second category is art films (40 to 50 films a year), which can be sorted into several subcategories. Many art films are tailored for niche markets, obtaining funds from European or Asian sources prior to shooting. Then some "dying" films get sponsorship in the form of funds and other means, which do not require returns. What remains are the "dead" art films which are not screened but their value is recognized in other ways.

The third category includes 250 to 300 low-budget films. The lucky ones are screened in the mainstream cinema circuit. Those that don't break into this inner circle might recover the investment through other channels, by entering the Southeast Asia film market, or the website market. Some websites are willing to spend more money on purchasing films now, so the online market is becoming a prominent venue for producers. Television is also a key channel. Take CCTV-6 for example. The national film television channel spends RMB 700,000 on the television copyright for each film, giving opportunities to many low-budget films. Selling the video copyright is also a way of recovering an investment. Adding income from second-tier markets and regional distribution markets, half of all low-budget films can make ends meet, or even show meager profits. "The low-budget films, embodied dreams of ambitious young cineastes, usually appear adventurous, experimental and of course, amateur," said Zhang Hongsen, "but we should be tolerant of this to protect the enthusiasm of emerging filmmakers."

The fourth category, about 10 percent of the total number, is films with strong political or economic appeal. They are usually of middle to low budget, and publicize national image, regional culture or corporate culture. "Investments in these films are guaranteed. Together with sales, producers will not lose money."

"Some people think profit always stems from good box office sales, but there are many other channels," said Zhang Hongsen, reminding us that films are definitely not one-time consumables. "It's a complex calculation, not a simple case of addition and subtraction."

Finding a Way Out

Nowadays investments in Chinese films seem easy to come by. Wang Zhongjun, chairman of Huayi Bros. Media Group, has produced several megapictures. He declared that a good project can get financing "in a minute." However, the budgets of Chinese films are generally low. Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower was known as the most expensive film produced in China, but its budget of RMB 360 million would be considered mid-level in the U.S. Therefore many in the industry, including theorists, thought it meaningful to do some careful research on low-budget films, as this is the category that will contribute much to the development of Chinese filmmaking. They agreed that low-budget productions will find a way to compete with blockbusters.

Like The Piano in a Factory, Crazy Stone released in 2006 is a "model" of low-budget production. With an investment of about RMB 3 million, it drew the amazing box office of RMB 30 million. "The director is a carpenter who should know whether he is going to make a chair or a table," Crazy Stone director Ning Hao said, adding, "Crazy Stone is a chair. All I thought about was letting everyone sit comfortably." Therefore the film was destined not to let its audiences down.

However, many of his peers seem unaware of that. In addition to good quality, scheduling is a key factor to success. "A good film deserves a good schedule, just like a good girl deserves a good husband," quips Gao Jun, veteran distributor and deputy general manager of the Beijing Xinyinglian Cinema Circuit Co., Ltd, who feels it was in fact the release date of Crazy Stone that guaranteed its success. At the time no imported blockbusters or commercial megapictures were being shown.

Buddha Mountain, winner of the Best Actress award at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year, was not expected to be as big a box office hit as it was – RMB 26 million in the first three days. But it didn't surprise Gao Jun – its success stemmed from the clever choice of release date: early March 2011. This month is usually referred to as "late winter," a period which is ordinarily never chosen for the debut of an ambitious film. However, in this case it provided an opportunity to screen without rivals, and Buddha Mountain grabbed a two-week period to shine as box-office champion.

"The budget may be low, but publicity is absolutely necessary," Gao Jun pointed out. Buddha Mountain promoters made a careful market analysis and succeeded with its publicity strategy. "Leading stars attended all promotional activities, and audiences followed them into the cinema."