Date: March 4, 2021

Source: Nanfang Metropolis Daily

Author: Zhou Yu

At the beginning of spring in the Year of the Ox, the film industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is booming after the recovery of Chinese film market. Journalists from Nanfang Metropolis Daily have interviewed Prof. Li Xuewu, dean of JNU’s College of Arts, and Associate Prof. Zhang Tao, head of the Department of Film and Television, to share JNU’s mode of talent training in film and television.

1. Daily training, more than 10 short films for undergraduate students.

   In December 2020, the network drama I’ve Fallen for You starring Yu Shuxin and Liu Yichang, was the box office champion among the video app iQIYI’s revenue-sharing dramas, receiving a sharing amount of 75 million yuan. Zhou Tong, a 2013 JNU graduate, and Dai Mengyin, a 2012 JNU graduate, both directing majors, directed the drama.

     

   

   (I’ve Fallen for You)

   The Arts College of JNU/Zhuhai Film College, the first professional film college in South China, trains professionals in directing, producing, cinematography, animation and distribution for the Chinese film and television industry. The Film College has four departments: Film and Television Fine Arts, New Media Arts and Music, Li said, and the Department of Film and Television now offers majors in directing drama, and film and television and literature of theater, film and television.

   

     

   （Prof. Li Xuewu）

   In December, the short animation Dedication of Love by Fan Chengxiang, a graduate student in film, was named an Outstanding and Innovative Work in the fourth Socialist Core Values Short Animation Creation Activity.

     

   

   (Dedication of Love)

   Zhang argues that students cannot understand textbook theories until they truly involve themselves in film and television production. Therefore, undergraduates in the Department of Film and Television are required to create a short film each semester, starting from the second semester of their freshman year at JNU.

   

     

   （Prof. Zhang Tao）

2. At the end of every term, leading teachers in the college comment on students’ final assignments -- a unique tradition that because of the large amount of work and details, usually lasts a month with several rounds.

3. Practical Training

   When the Looking China ·Youth Film Project 2020 released its list of the seventh Golden Lenses Awards in January, Ou Shucen, a first-year graduate student at JNU, was awarded first prize for her short video Light, and her classmate Chen Jianwei won Best Artistic Presentation for his work Dear Aziz, both of which epitomize the college’s talents-training mode.

   

     

   (Fight)

     

4. (Dear Aziz)

   Led by the Guangdong Department of Education, teachers, including Li and Zhang, and their graduate students completed the documentary series Cultural Inheritors in Guangdong. During production, Zhang guided students in completing a variety of tasks, including log-keeping, backing up digital imaging source materials, data collation, film editing, title and trailer designs, toning, special effects and live recording.

   

     

   (Cultural Inheritors in Guangdong)

   The college has launched multiple collaborations with governments and companies in recent years, presenting works including Papa, I Thought You Won’t Cry;I Will Wait for You in Spring, and Remain True to Our Original Aspirations. On commission from the Guangdong Provincial Committee’s Policy Research Office, Li and his team researched the development of Guangdong’s contemporary film and television industry. In October the report was awarded first prize by the Chinese Collegial Association for Visual Art.