Feng Xiaogang Film Study

The system of Chinese films has reformed substantially in the 1990' s. As the principles of socialist market economy have been gradually imparted in the minds of the people, Chinese film makers not only concern about the quality of their films, but also start to attach much importance to the profits of them. Therefore, the attribute of the film as goods has been favored precedently. Feng Xiaogang' s films, which successfully give prominence to the attribute of'the film as goods, have been focused by Chinese film makers and the audience. In this thesis, by studying Feng Xiaogang' s strategy of marketing of his films and his techniques of creation, the author attempts to analyze and conclude his films' connotations and characteristics in such aspects as marketing, themes, and film language. In marketing, Feng insists on selecting film stars, studying the audience' s psychological expectation while watching movies, and stressing the propaganda and release of films. In themes, based on respecting the market and the audience, his films can exhibit the ordinary life of the common people, convey the consciousness and value of them. In film language, his films follow the ordinary audience' s ways of watching movies and meet the demands of them in entertainment by simple and sincere life images which are made by such techniques easily identified with by the audience as the linearity of narrative structure of cause and effect, shot and reverse shot, continuity editing etc. The thesis can be divided into three parts, among which Feng Xiaogang' s film conception, marketing and film language are rarely mentioned.