The consumption craze for "film and television + cultural tourism" is now becoming a trend, and a good drama has become a "pioneer" in the cultural and tourism industry by many places. However, if the action is triggered by the heart, the source is ultimately a good work.

  Yesterday, the 2025 TV Series Director Advanced Training Class opened in Shanghai. The five-day training course can be called a "master class". It is led by Zheng Xiaolong, president of the TV Drama Director Committee of the China Guangfa Federation and Yan Jiangang, vice president and secretary-general. 11 mentors including Wang Xiaoping, Mao Weining, Lin Nan, Bao Dexi, Huo Tingxiao, Chen Minzheng are all leaders in the industry. They will share professional courses on director, screenwriter, editing, art, photography, styling, visual effects and other professional courses and industry trends. In particular, this training class not only gathers wisdom, but also focuses on the work. As one of the co-organizers of the event, Qingpu District took advantage of the opportunity to promote unique film and television shooting resources and preferential policies, and deepened its thinking on the leverage function of the film and television industry "one industry will flourish and one industry will flourish" through exchanges with industry big names and young creators.

  Good and popular dramas drive cultural and tourism consumption

  The total study time of this training class is 36 hours, and the four major modules of "director practice, technical cutting-edge, creative experience, and case review" are full of practical information. "The Legend of Zhen Huan" directed by Zheng Xiaolong, "The Flowers" directed by Wong Kar-wai and Bo Dexi are all phenomenal works of domestic dramas. They will tell the secret of the birth of popular shows in the course. Bao Dexi revealed that the behind-the-scenes creation and shooting process he told about "Many Flowers" "a lot of content is disclosed for the first time in China."

  It is worth noting that the long-tail effect triggered by phenomenal TV dramas is not only reflected in the creative level. A good and popular drama drives cultural and tourism consumption is the general trend in recent years. Taking the works of the instructors of this training class as an example, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" written by Wang Xiaoping and directed by Zheng Xiaolong has been broadcast for more than ten years. Not only are it used as an "electronic pickled vegetables" by young people today, it also brings popularity to the filming location, and has produced film and television cultural and tourism products for middle-aged and elderly people to "imitate shows" in the past two years. "The Road to Life" directed by Yan Jiangang is popular in 2023. It comes from Lu Yao's novel and also feeds back to the writer's hometown. The "Life Film and Television Base" in Qingjian County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province is now a popular tourist destination for people to trace the style of northern Shaanxi in the 1980s. "Flowers" starring Bao Dexi became a phenomenon in early 2024, and all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation in the play have become a powerful engine for temporary consumption. The latest case comes from "Station" produced by Zheng Xiaolong. During this year's Spring Festival, the number of tourists received by A-level scenic spots in Panzhihua City increased by about 20% year-on-year.

  The key to letting good stories divert traffic to travel is "good stories". Zheng Xiaolong sent a message to his young colleagues: "The basic ability that a director must have is to think, have his own unique cognition, and have a better understanding of human nature, including dark and bright." Yan Jiangang said that the important task of a director is to transform the text into charming visual content. "The director's literary foundation is crucial. Without the accumulation and nourishment of the characters in thousands of classic Chinese and foreign literary masterpieces, it is definitely not possible to be a performing director."

  Use cultural and tourism IP to tap potential and more good stories

  Shanghai has built a broad platform for the intersection of resources for domestic and foreign filming sites, digging deeper inwardly, and through the intelligent collision of industry and academic circles, it explores how a small incision in a film and television work can leverage a more considerable consumer market. Over the years, Shanghai has taken the lead in establishing the Yangtze River Delta Film and Television Filming Base Cooperation Alliance, refreshing and refining the list of Shanghai film and television filming sites every year and promoting short videos. It has formed the industry-famous "Shanghai Experience". The purpose is to form an industrial agglomeration effect, so that a movie and a drama will make a building, a street, a scenic spot, and a city...

  In fact, "photographed in Shanghai" has never been new. Over the years, excellent Shanghai-made TV series such as "Glory and Dream", "Flowers", "City in the City", "Thirty Only", "An Family", and "Ideal City" have turned their cameras at Shanghai again and again. Because in major revolutionary themes, Shanghai, with red footprints all over the city, is not only the place where the story takes place, but also the "hidden protagonist". In the real-life story, Shanghai is the darling of the camera, and it is a place to endorse a better life and innovative dreams. It can be said that Shanghai, which has an open, innovative and inclusive urban character, continues to open up the infinite possibilities of film and television filming. Shanghai in film and television works has in turn output thousands of words of "reading the city".

  For this reason, Qingpu, the organizer of this training course, simultaneously launched the "film and television + cultural tourism" experience route, covering iconic scenes such as Zhujiajiao Ancient Town and "Flower Flowers" filming site. It also takes advantage of the opportunity to promote cultural and tourism resources. In the region, not only has three national cultural sites, Songze Site, Fuquanshan Site, and Qinglong Town Site, but also stands an ancient town cluster that can be called the "most Jiangnan" in Shanghai: Zhujiajiao Ancient Town has built nests for many years to attract phoenixes, and has continuously introduced and cultivated cultural IPs such as "Kunqu Peony Pavilion", "Water Hall", "Wandering Night of Hanfu", and "Super Immersive Art Season". Liantang Ancient Town is an important carrier of Shanghai's red culture and a hometown of folk culture and art in Shanghai; Jinze Ancient Town has the reputation of "The First Bridge Township of Jiangnan" and inherits the bridge and temple culture. In recent years, it has also held innovatively "Jiangnan Cultural Life Festival" and "Water Town Music Festival", and other cultural images of the new Jiangnan are constantly highlighted.

  In the view of the famous screenwriter Wang Liping, the Jiangnan culture accumulated over 6,000 years of history has given the film and television industry a unique humanistic expression. There is reason to look forward to more young creators using cultural and tourism IP to explore good stories. "When it comes to the fate with Zhu Jiajiao, it has to be traced back to 2000. I wrote a TV movie "Brothers". The director is Mr. Zhang Ge, who directed "Morning in Shanghai" and "Jigong", starring Chen Long." Wang Liping said, "The first scene after the film is Zhu Jiajiao, a small bridge and flowing water family. More than 20 years have passed, and life is changing around it, but the film and television dramas have left behind every bit of the Jiangnan water town, and it is still the way it is in memory, and it is still so heart-warming." She looks forward to a new drama that integrates Qingpu red culture, Shanghai culture, and Jiangnan culture in the future. The budding is in this training class. Reporter Wang Yan

[Editor in charge: Susan]