Helping "silver haired people" re-enter cinemas and film viewing services also need to be "suitable for the elderly"
2021-11-24
Dong Qinong, a retired teacher of Xiamen University in his 70s and President of kulangsu Volunteer Association, believes that, first of all, the "digital divide" of elderly friends has always existed. Although middle-aged and elderly friends aged 40 to 55 can buy tickets online, those aged 60 and over are less able to use smartphones. For the risks of bank card theft and fraud prompted by the police, many elderly people refuse to use bank cards and cannot use the mobile payment function bound to online ticket purchase. In addition, some cinemas are not perfect for the needs of elderly friends. For example, in terms of hardware settings, the wheelchair seat is not equipped with enough and the line of sight is poor, the "gap" of the wheelchair seat is located in the first row or in the corners of the aisle, the theater steps are inconvenient to use crutches, and there is no "disabled seat" in the seat selection legend. Finally, imported films have no Chinese dubbing, and some films have only 3D but no 2D version, which is also one of the reasons why they discourage cinemas. Dong Qinong often meets some peers who ask for help to get tickets in cinemas. "Young people will send the QR code of ticket collection to the elderly family, but they don't know how to operate the ticket collection machine. Some people can't even find the entrance of the cinema and the ticket collection machine after they go to the cinema." he said that this is not an isolated case. If young people can't teach by hand, most elderly friends can't succeed in getting tickets. In addition, the elderly have many complaints about cinema equipment: the seats in the cinema are cramped, the legs and feet stretch unfavourably, the screen brightness is high, 3D movies cause dizziness, nausea and eye fatigue, or the surround sound in the cinema is harsh. Dong Qinong believes that watching movies in cinemas is more suitable for young people at present. It costs 30 to 40 yuan for old friends to watch movies. For them, it was very cheap to watch movies for 50 cents in the 1970s, and the consumption was higher for some frugal old friends. Some old friends have no habit of watching movies and may have never been to the cinema. He suggested that cinemas can learn from KTVs, scenic spots and other leisure and entertainment, avoid prime time, and set special sessions for elderly friends: preferential prices in the morning or afternoon, and give preferential benefits according to different ages. Cinemas need to be upgraded for the elderly China's film industry urgently needs to make more aging transformation for elderly friends, which is also advocated by the 14th five year plan for China's film development at the national level. In 2020, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the special action plan for aging and barrier free transformation of Internet applications. Many mainstream app applications have launched modes such as "caring version", "elder version" and "simple version", increasing font, improving dialect recognition ability, removing complex and redundant functions, removing advertisements and induced buttons. However, some "elder versions" are only superficial. For example, app's film ticket purchase channel is still not friendly to the elderly. The broad sense of aging transformation is reflected in the humanized service of cinemas. According to Huang Yu, the shareholder of Oscar international studios, each theater has seats for the disabled, and the staff will also provide attentive services and help, such as delivering hot water; If the staff find that there are elderly friends pushing wheelchairs, they will help to send them to the corresponding cinema; If they need to buy tickets at the counter, or buy tickets in cash, or call to make an appointment, the staff will also assist in the on-site operation. Huang Yu believes that in the future, cinemas can open love channels for elderly friends, set clearer large font guidance signs, and staff can also participate in their smartphone teaching services. Zhang quanjun, the shareholder of Monroe opera theater, believes that the theater can optimize the hardware facilities and carry out more humanized "aging" transformation of the theater. For example, from the beginning of the design, Monroe emptied the first wheelchair space for the elderly and the disabled. He believes that in the future, cinemas can set up "special cinemas for the elderly", supporting more comfortable, spacious and flat channels and seats, reducing screen brightness and harsh sound effects. As for the government, each street community can also carry out the planning and construction of community elderly cinemas. There is much room for the elderly film viewing market In 2019, a film viewing report for the elderly group showed that 75.32% of the elderly friends hardly went to the cinema. If calculated according to the scale of 249 million old friends over 60 years old in China at that time and the minimum distribution ticket price of ordinary films is 30 yuan, if 20% of old friends in China can watch movies at least once a year, it will generate a box office of 1.494 billion yuan, which can not be underestimated. In addition, according to the 2020 annual inventory report of China's film market, the proportion of ticket users aged 40 and over has increased year after year, regardless of men and women. At present, the major Chinese film market monitoring platforms have not subdivided users aged 40 and above. The viewing needs of many elderly friends are also hidden under the ticket purchase accounts of their children and grandchildren. Some elderly friends are attached to the viewing activities organized by the neighborhood committee and the Party committee all year round, and some units will also issue film exchange coupons to the retired elderly. The above data support shows that the film consumption potential of the "new and old" group under China's social welfare system is a considerable incremental market. In 2017, the film "Fanghua" won wide resonance among old friends and contributed a large proportion of the box office. In 2021, the most popular film among them is "on the cliff". Changjin lake also accounts for a large proportion of the film viewing group of elderly friends. It can be seen that middle-aged and elderly friends over 40 are very interested in history (resisting US aggression and aiding Korea), war and military. Therefore, if people in the film industry dig deeply into the type and content, there is much room for the viewing market of elderly friends. For example, family fun (including cartoons) and family history themes are deeply loved by them. Zhang quanjun believes that it is the content that ultimately Prys old friends. First of all, films such as "Fanghua", "Hello, Li Huanying", "on the cliff" and "Changjin Lake" can attract them to take the initiative to enter the cinema because of their excellent quality and the type and theme closely linked to their mind and mood, which is suitable for the elderly. He believes that the promotion of cinema community is a good attempt. In the future, investors and directors can think more about the film content, and it is best to choose themes suitable for all ages. In terms of niche films suitable for the elderly, the competent authorities can give policy tax preference and leverage support in terms of special fund collection, so as to achieve the purpose of win-win benefits for businesses and elderly friends. Secondly, in recent years, with the increase of theme films, old friends gradually return to cinemas, hoping to produce more content at the source. Zhang aigong, an associate professor of the film school of Xiamen University, believes that at present, the cinema ticket price exceeds the bearing range of ordinary elderly friends. Unless it is a very expected theme, they will not go to the cinema to watch movies. First of all, in the final analysis, it is the problem of creation. There are few works about history, reality and social depth and breadth, which do not attract old friends who prefer such themes; Secondly, movies are sacred, serious and responsible in the eyes of old friends. This is the experience of watching movies in their early years. They can't accept movies as pure consumer products. With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, people's viewing methods have also changed to streaming media. How to grasp the viewing needs of more groups has become the key to the future development of cinemas. In the past, cinemas focused on young urban audiences. In the future, they can focus on the "new and old" groups. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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