Digital world, changing online to presence (new language)
How many audiences can watch a play? The latest answer is 50 million.
On the evening of June 12, the Capital Theater staged the 70th anniversary commemorative version of “Tea House” by Beijing Renyi Institute. The hospital opened 8K high-definition live broadcast for the first time, setting a record of 50 million views. The audience who rushed to the theater in the rain completed a grand performance together with users from all over the world.
Following online concerts and online concerts, the live broadcast of Renyi’s drama has once once more refreshed our imagination of “online” and allowed us to see more possibilities for cultural life in the digital age.
What kind of experience is it to watch a drama live online? In the live broadcast room, some people were intoxicated by the superb performances of the actors, and some people put forward higher requirements for sound effects and cameras. Drama, with particular emphasis on live experience. Objectively speaking, with the existing technical conditions, online viewing cannot fully achieve the immersive effect. But because of “online”, those viewers who were not able to arrive at the scene saw “what the stage of the drama looks like”, and some viewers relived their good memories through live broadcast. Through the form of “online”, people gain the possibility of “being present”.
From “online” to “presence”, it is not only the possibility created by the progress of digital technology for the current cultural life, but also the direction that the cultural industry can focus on in the future. Not long ago, the “Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the National Cultural Digital Strategy” was issued, and one of the key tasks proposed was to “develop new scenarios of digital cultural consumption, vigorously develop new digital cultural experiences that integrate online and offline, and combine online presence”. In the digital age, getting a sense of “presence” doesn’t mean you have to be there.
According to the 49th “Statistical Report on Internet Development in China”, as of December 2021, the number of Internet users in my country reached 1.032 billion, the Internet penetration rate reached 73.0%, and the proportion of Internet users using mobile phones to access the Internet was close to 100%. From the perspective of media evolution, “online” originally meant surfing the Internet to obtain information. With the penetration and popularization of the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things, “online” has become the basic description of the connection between people and places in the digital age. . Only those content that meet the needs of users and have sufficient technical support can attract people to participate in it, so as to obtain a sense of “presence”.
Of course, no matter how technology evolves, good content is still essential. Online gigs have become more common in recent years. Taking the National Centre for the Performing Arts as an example, since the launch of its first online performance on April 11, 2020, it has launched more than 120 online performances, with a total of over 3.4 billion hits on the entire network. “Tear down the walls of the theater” and “add digital wings to literary and artistic works”, whether it is the desire to popularize art or the needs of industrial development, it is inseparable from the support of digital technology. The popularity of Beijing Renyi’s live broadcast this time has given us further inspiration: no matter how the technical form changes, in the digital world where there is no shortage of information, content is still king. Really good work, no shortage of traffic.
