組別：英文組
類別：論文類
The Surge of Taiwanese Movies-
What’s in It for Us?
周曼麗老師指導
(98年外語群科專題競賽小論文優勝作品)
Abstract
The boom or the surge of Taiwanese movies has caught the attention of people in Taiwan and abroad in recent years, particularly since 2008. Most of the Taiwanese movies made in these years give the audience a review of Taiwanese history and culture, and then extend to personal memories, inner feelings and emotions. The influences and the sensations these movies have brought to us are so great that as movies fans, we are interested in learning about how this phenomenon happened and we are curious to know what the prospect for Taiwanese movies will be in the future. Therefore, using a questionnaire as our research tool, we conducted a survey on 160 students in our school to gain a better understanding of the situation of Taiwanese movies. The survey indicates that the major factors that contribute to the recent buoyant box-office records of Taiwanese movies are the plots, or the stories of the movies, and recommendations, or word-of-mouth that precede the movies. Through this study, we are able to understand the past and the status quo of Taiwanese movies. Moreover, based on our research findings, we feel optimistic in making some tentative suggestions about the future of Taiwanese movies. But most important of all, we hope that after reading our research paper, more people will begin to pay close attention to Taiwanese movies and enjoy them to the fullest, if they haven’t already done so.
Key words: boom, surge, phenomenon, buoyant box-office records, plots, precede
Table of Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………i
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………..ii
- Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………….1
I.1. Motivation of the Study…………………………………………………………………………1
I.2. Background of the Study ………………………………………………………………………1
I.3. Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………………………..1
I.4. Background of Taiwanese movies…………………………………………………………..2
I.5. Research Questions………………………………………………………………………………2
- Methods………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
II.1. Participants………………………………………………………………………………………..3
II.2. Instruments………………………………………………………………………………………..3
III. Findings & Discussion………………………………………………………………………………….3
III.1. Results of Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………..3
III.2. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………7
- Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………….8
- References……………………………………………………………………………………………………9
- Introduction
I.1. The motive of the study
In the past few years, Taiwanese movies have become more and more popular, and some have even been a huge box-office success. Some Taiwanese movies are playing not only at home but also abroad. Moreover, foreign companies have started to invest money in Taiwanese movies so that they can gain profits and have the movies shown abroad. Why have Taiwanese movies achieved such prosperity within such a short time? This is a phenomenon that amazes many movie goers including us. And so we are interested in finding out the answer by means of this research.
I.2. The background of the study
Up until a few years ago, the markets of Taiwanese movies had not been prosperous. Western films, especially the American films made mostly in Holly-wood dominate Taiwanese movie market. Many people didn’t want to go to the theater to watch Taiwanese movies. However, Cape No.7 appeared at the time when the market for local movies was down, bringing a breath of fresh air into the local market. At the beginning, the maker of Cape No.7 didn’t spend much money on the advertisement. But thanks to BBS and the Blog communities, a lot of people came to know about it. Since then, not only has it become one of the most popular Taiwanese movies, but it has received more and more attention from people at home and from other countries. Take the most talked about movie last year, Seediq Bale for example. It is a masterpiece by Te-Sheng Wei, the director of Cape No.7. Seediq Bale has won lots of appraise abroad and overseas just like his last film. It seems to us that the recent success of Taiwanese movies cannot be a pure coincident or a matter of luck. Hence we are enthusiastic to find out what lies behind the recent success of Taiwanese movies and what makes them different from the previous Taiwanese movies, which have long lost its appeal to the new generation of movie goers like us.
I.3. The purpose of the study
We want to make use of this study to inquire into this sensational phenomenon of Taiwanese movies to find out what lies behind the success of them in general. Moreover, we hope by the research findings of our study we can encourage movie goers to watch Taiwanese movies in support of the local film industry. Last but not least, we would like to provide some insights into what are considered “a good movie” from the movie goers’ points of view, and hopefully, by this we can encourage conscientious and ambitious movie makers such as Te-Sheng Wei to make more good movies for the benefit of all the movie fans including us.
I.4. The background of Taiwanese movies
The first Taiwanese-produced film ”Rebel Without a Cause” (誰之過) was produced by Liuxi Yang, and Willington Lee in 1925. Though many movies were released since then, there were still a considerable number of films which were made to serve the purpose of political propaganda. After the civil war, the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland China gradually became stable and, which helped to lay the ground for the promotion of Taiwanese movies. Since then, many types of movie were released, and the local audience had more choices
However, during the time right when the curfew law was lifted by the government, due to the economic depression and the freedom of speech, many directors started to make movies with the intents to deal with the “taboo” materials, and to examine or review the values in Taiwanese society. One successful example of such movies of that time was “City of Sadness” directed by Hou Hsia-hsien. The movie acutely reflected on Taiwanese history and its experience through Taiwan Restoration, or Retrocession, and the 228 Incident. It was then that Taiwanese films began to receive awards from around the world.
After the short-period of success came the slump of Taiwanese movies. The decline of Taiwanese movie can be traced back to 1992, when Taiwan was trying hard to join WTO and ignored the screenland. After joining WTO in 2000, there were many problems in getting the funding for movie making, and hence Taiwanese movies were really at the lowest tide.
Nonetheless, in 2007, because of the global financial crisis, the American film industry lost the advantageous position it had maintained in the local market, giving Taiwanese films a chance to pant and revive. In 2008, the director of “Cape No. 7” (海角七號), Wei, used commercial and international way to shoot the movie. And the movie he directed became a box-office success locally and abroad, and it has since been regarded as the most well known and legendary Taiwanese movie. Meanwhile, it has also claimed many prizes. The huge success of the movie helped the Taiwanese audience to regain their confidence in Taiwanese movies.
Since Cape No. 7, many other Taiwanese movies gained great box office success, such as “Orz boys,” ”Winds of September,” “Candy Rain,” and so on. Among them, “Monga” was released in 2010, “You Are an Apple of My Eyes” was released in 2011, both of which are regarded as the key indicators of box office of Taiwanese movies. After undergoing the financial depression for twenty years, Taiwanese movies have improved a lot and successfully brought about a new fever in local movie demographic.
I.5. Research questions of the study
In this study, we want to find out why Taiwanese films have become more and more popular, and what elements of them will draw the audience to the movie theater. The participants of this study are mostly high school students in our school, and some of them are friends from the Internet. The research questions asked in the questionnaire are as follows.
RQ 1. How often do you go to see the movies?
RQ 2. Where do you see a movie usually?
RQ 3. What are the reasons that attract you to see a Taiwanese movie?
RQ 4. Would you go to see a movie in the movie theater just to show your support for Taiwanese movies, even if it does not appeal to you?
RQ 5. What do you think are the elements that make a movie good or popular?
RQ 6. Which Taiwanese movies have you seen recently?
RQ 7. What do you think are the common characteristics shared by successful and popular Taiwanese films?
RQ 8. What types or genres of movies do you favor or prefer to see?
- Methods
II.1 Participant
In order to gather individual opinion about Taiwanese movies, we designed a questionnaire and distributed it to the students in our school and to our friends on the Internet. About three hundred people did the questionnaire. They age between 15 and 18.
II.2 Instrument
We began our study by reading journals and doing a comprehensive research on the internet to get the background information and the related commentaries on Taiwanese movies. After that, we conducted a survey on three hundred teenage students by use of the questionnaire we designed. Using a quantitative method, we tried to analyze the findings we collected from the questionnaire.
III. Findings & Discussion
III.1. Results of Data Analysis
We can learn from this figure that most high school students go to see the movies once a moth, followed by two or three times a year. This finding tells us that high school students may not go to the movies very often, because of their limited financial resources. However, as they grow up and becoming financially independent, they have a potential to become the box office contributors for Taiwanese movies.
According to the statistics, most teenagers watch movies on the Internet for free.
This is probably because it is free and convenient to watch movies at home by Internet. However, still a great percentage of the participants choose to go to the theater to see the movies, perhaps to show support for their favorite movies or for the better facility the theater provides.
The inviting sneak previews and good public review or comments are the major reasons that attract the audience to see a movie. Hence, the newspapers, magazines, the Internet and the other media are important promotion tools for movies.
According to the statistics, we can know that the audiences would not go to see a Taiwanese movie just to show their support. The movie has to be really good in itself in order draw a crowd to see it .
To our participants, the most important element that attracts them to a movie is the story or the plot, followed by the actors or actresses with good acting skills or performance.
The finding here suggests that the stories in the recent successful Taiwanese movies, which were most seen by our participants, have fulfilled the public demand: The most seen movies in the listing are generally perceived to have a unique story and refreshing actors or actresses in them.
“Cape No. 7” has the highest ratings in recent box-office Taiwanese films, followed by “Monga” and “You are the apple of my eye.” They are all about stories that are positive, touching and inspiring.
The romance movies and comedy are the most selected by our participants, followed by . Though there is no accounting for taste, and every genre of movies may have its own supporters and fans, it seems that these two types of movies are most favored by teenage students.
III.2. Discussion
- Most students see movies once a month. We consider the frequency for high school student is high. It seems going to a movie is a popular pastime for students with limited financial resources. These students will become major box office contributors when they have become financially independent in the future. This tells us that Taiwanese movies have a huge potential demographic, as long as they are good enough to draw the crowd.
- Not only the Internet, but also the movie theater is the major place for students to see movies. Therefore, we can assume that movie goers will go to see the movies they like in the movie theater even though they are free on the Internet.
- In recent years, the most seen movies is “Cape No.7” (海角七號) , followed by “Monga”(艋舺) and “You Are The Apple Of My Eye” (那些年我們一起追的女孩). These three movies not only are big box-office success in Taiwan but also gained international acclaim overseas. This coincides with the finding from our surveyed participants. We believe the teenage students are a mirror of the greater demographic in society.
- The main reasons that attract high school students to see Taiwanese movies are the word of mouth on the Internet and mass media, and the trailers, or sneak previews played on TV and on the Internet. The trailers give the audience a chance to learn about the plots, the shooting skills, and the performers featured in the upcoming movies, making them very attractive to the audience. In addition, word of mouth from people spreads fast, as people tend to talk about entertainment news in their social conversation, and thus inspire others to see the movies they think are good or interesting. Thus, in addition to the promotional reports in the newspapers, the magazines and on the Internet, the production of attractive trailers are very important in drawing the crowd to the theater.
- The majority of the students in our survey will not go to a movie simply in order to support the Taiwanese movie industry. They will not spend time and money watching a movie they don’t think is interesting. So in order to attract them, the movies have to be good, with a compelling story and favorable reviews to arouse their interest and attention.
- The high school students think that a good movie is one that has a good or compelling story, depicted by good actors and actresses, filmed at an interesting location or site. Our findings that the recent successful Taiwanese films have met the expectation of the public.
- High school students think the biggest quality that Taiwanese movies have in common is touching and encouraging plots. Indeed, the recent best-selling Taiwanese movies, such as Cape No.7, Seediq Bale, You Are the Apple of My Eye, etc., are all tear-jerkers. This indicates that if a movie meets this quality, it will have a better bet in becoming the next box-office hit.
- Finally, we asked the high school students what type of movies they expect to see in the future. The result shows that romantic love stories and humorous comedies are the most chosen. Indeed, most of the recent successful Taiwanese movies are not only about love affairs but also have some funny snatches or scenes to make the audience laugh. This finding suggests that Taiwanese movies can move on in this direction to create more box-office success.
- Conclusion
The main purpose for us to do this study is to gain a better understanding of Taiwanese movies and to find out about high school students’ opinions on Taiwanese movies. Through this study, we have acquired some important findings, and we present them in the following.
First of all, many high school students see movies as their recreational activity, for seeing movies can reduce their stress from their schoolwork. Most of them see a movie once a month. Due to their financial limitation, they cannot see the movies more often, but they are the prospective and potential force of support for Taiwanese movies, as long as the industry continues to make good movies such as Cape No. 7. Secondly, the main reasons that draw the movies fans to the movie theater are the attractive movie trailers and favorable public previews on the Internet or from the mass media. Therefore, if the film producers want their movies known to more people, they should make good use of the trailers and mass media to achieve better marketing result.
Moreover, even though high school students are proud of the huge success of Taiwanese films at home and abroad, just as they are of Jeremy Lin, the recent athletic superstar, they will not go to see a Taiwanese movie just for the sake of showing their support for locally made movie. This means that movie producers cannot take the recent prosperity of Taiwanese movies for granted and let up their efforts in making good movies. Taiwanese movies still need to have touching and inspiring stories, good directors and performers, and other supporting elements, such as those in Cape No.7, to keep the movies fans going to the theater.
Finally, we believe that the viewpoints manifested through the participants in our survey are not limited to high school students only, but can apply to the broader demographic in Taiwan. Their opinions echoed the general public and clearly point out the reasons of the revival of Taiwanese movies in recent years. The research findings in our study have satisfied our curiosity for this sensational phenomenon in Taiwanese movies. Above all, based on the findings of our study, we are confident and optimistic in offering our suggestions for Taiwanese movie producers. Hopefully, they will continue to make more wonderful movies that we as movies fans can all enjoy together for years to come.
- References
- 雲林青年(2011/11)。用想像力編織星空-林書宇導演 從傷痛中說故事
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3.翻滾吧!台灣電影 (中時行銷資料庫) 取自 http://marketing.chinatimes.com/ItemDetailPage/MainContent/05MediaContent.aspx?MMMediaType=cti_customer&MMContentNoID=66232
4.維基-台灣電影簡介 取自 http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%8B%E7%89%87