Music Documentary: The New “Gold Mine” of the Performing Arts Industry

If before, we only looked to the world and admired foreign bands and singers releasing music documentaries, recently, Vietnamese audiences have been able to enthusiastically welcome films of this type domestically.

The music documentary Anh trai say hi: The villain creates the hero attracts audiences thanks to the artist's charm. Photo: Producer

Engage your audience

“It was so crowded, I couldn’t squeeze in to watch. I don’t know where all these people came from…”, shared a fan when attending the premiere of the music documentary Anh trai say hi: The villain creates a hero in Ho Chi Minh City. Among them, many people came from provinces and cities around Ho Chi Minh City, even flying in from Hanoi .

Say Hi Brother: The Villain Who Creates the Hero is a 120-minute documentary about the journey of 30 artists with moments behind the scenes. This is the domestic documentary with the highest number of pre-booked tickets ever, with more than 45,000 tickets. According to Box Office Vietnam, as of noon on March 14, the film was in the top 8 for daily box office revenue, with more than 1.2 billion VND (278 screenings, 6,112 tickets sold). If counting weekend revenue (from Friday to Sunday), the film is in the top 6.

Compared to other types of films shown in theaters, music documentaries have the advantage of being able to easily organize supporting activities such as “blind screenings” and “blind bag-openings”, when the singers in the film will suddenly appear at a screening and interact with the audience. Therefore, many audiences have chosen to watch the film multiple times to have the opportunity to meet their favorite artists in person. “I just went to see the film for the second time, of course I know the content, but the important thing is that each screening has a different feeling. Like the last one, suddenly there were a few singers coming to interact with the audience, the atmosphere was very happy, everyone sang together from inside to outside the theater”, audience member Le Hoang Anh Thu (24 years old, Binh Thanh district) excitedly said.

The top 10 revenue on March 14 on Box Office Vietnam also recorded Vietnamese Concert Film: We are Vietnamese people by singer Hoang Thuy Linh, although the film only had early screenings for audiences in 5 cities (HCMC, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho ). This is also the film celebrating the 13th anniversary of singer Hoang Thuy Linh's career. The film is considered to have beautiful, eye-catching scenes, suitable for the tastes of young audiences.

The image of the performance is reproduced in the movie Vietnamese Concert Film: We are Vietnamese. Photo: Producer

Many challenges remain

The genre of music films or music documentaries has long been exploited in world entertainment markets such as Europe and America and has flourished in Korea in the past few years. In Vietnam, this genre of film has only appeared in the past few years, but is developing into a remarkable trend.

Before the two films mentioned above, My Tam made the documentary Nguoi keeper of time , Son Tung M-TP released Sky Tour the movie , musician Tran Tien had Mau co ua , Ho Ngoc Ha with Roi mot ngay Ha noi ve tinh yeu , Ha Anh Tuan had the experimental music film Short story and music documentary Nhung trac thuong lanh - The Healed Wounds, Den Vau with Show cua Den , Vu Cat Tuong made the documentary series The Stardom Secrets ...

One of the basic characteristics of this film genre is that revenue is entirely based on the artist's reputation as well as the size of the fan community. For example, the success of Anh trai say hi: The villain creates a hero is due to the large and enthusiastic number of fans. Not only do they invite each other to watch, they also organize "mini concerts" right in the lobby of the cinema, put up banners to support, buy gifts, buy lightsticks (cheering lights)... All are aimed at "fueling" the idol, increasing the "viral" (popularity) of the film.

Fans are a factor in the success but can also be the cause of the failure of the film. As with Anh trai say hi: The villain creates the hero, although it made an impression, the controversy and debate among the fans caused the film to cool down quickly. In recent days, on social networking forums, the fan community has been "divided" into fierce arguments, from some songs not appearing in the film to the difference in the appearance time of the "brothers". Most recently, some fans have even created their own text with inappropriate words, even distorting the slogan of the state document, causing negative public opinion that has more or less affected the work.

In addition, because the audience mainly comes from a specific audience, music documentaries have difficulty reaching audiences nationwide. Most music documentaries are currently only shown in theaters in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, where the largest number of fans are.

Finally, the issue is still the quality and content of the films. Because it is a fairly new film genre, many works are still clumsy in their presentation. A typical example is Vietnamese Concert Film: We are Vietnamese people, although praised for its visuals, the film has not created an impression or new content. The singer's career journey and emotions have not been fully exploited, the film does not have a clear climax or a truly calm, touching moment...

Documentaries in the Vietnamese cinema stream are a “food” that is not suitable for many audiences, so the fact that documentaries are currently attracting attention when released in theaters is a very encouraging sign. In the period when the Vietnamese music industry is developing brilliantly like today, the source of materials for this genre of film is very rich, with the potential to be exploited in the long term, bringing many values. The problem is what artists and producers will do to effectively exploit the “gold mine” of documentary films today.

TIEU TAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/phim-tai-lieu-am-nhac-mo-vang-moi-cua-cong-nghiep-bieu-dien-post786152.html