I'm shooting short dramas for the "young lady" in Japan.

 

Are the Japanese starting to watch short dramas?

In February last year, a short drama called "Ojousama no Pawahara Taichi" (Eliminating Power Harassment by the Young Lady) was launched on a Japanese short - drama platform.

The shooting location was in Japan, the actors spoke Japanese, and the audience was young Japanese people. The plot was about a CEO's daughter disguising herself as an intern and entering her family's company. During the work, she dared to slap the well - connected boss, talk back to the obsequious senior colleagues at work, and successfully exposed the true face of the "vicious second female lead", the fake daughter. With the exciting plot of the young lady's counter - attack, this drama became one of the most watched and well - received Japanese local short dramas on the platform in the first half of the year.

"Ojousama no Pawahara Taichi", image source: Internet

It's hard to imagine that the Japanese are starting to watch short dramas.

In the past, when we mentioned Japanese dramas, we thought of shows like "Tokyo Love Story", "Hanazawa Naoki", and "Revenge of Others" which were emotionally delicate and well - produced. But now, almost every young Japanese person has a short - drama app on their phone. Whenever a popular new drama is launched, the names of these apps will rank high on the Japanese Google Play and App Store lists.

The overseas expansion of short dramas is not a new thing. Leading overseas short - drama platforms like ReelShort, TopShort, DramaBox, and Shortmax have long established a foothold in the North American market, making the North American overseas short - drama market extremely competitive. To find new opportunities, starting from the first half of last year, many platform operators set their sights on the Japanese market, which is closer to China and has a more similar culture.

At first, most of the short dramas that entered Japan were dubbed dramas, that is, dramas translated from Chinese short dramas, which gave rise to the profession of short - drama translators. Currently, the market price for short - drama translation in Japan is relatively transparent, usually 350 yuan per drama or priced by the minute. Moreover, as the number of short dramas going overseas gradually increases, the opportunities for translation also increase. Many young people take it as a part - time job or a side hustle.

However, because the routines of short dramas are too similar, either being about domineering CEOs or overly dramatic plots, "Every time I translate content that is completely unnutritious," a part - time translator told "Post - wave Research Institute", "I can only endure it for the sake of making money."

But the Japanese watch them with great interest.

Nagi, who has been involved in real - estate investment and brand overseas expansion in Japan since 2015, observed that at the beginning of 2024, a dubbed drama called "A Glorious Return in the Year of the Dragon" became a hit in Japan. The plot was about a chairman hiding his identity. When he accompanied his girlfriend home for the Spring Festival, he was looked down upon by her family. Finally, his identity was exposed, and it was an exciting drama full of reversals. "It was very localized stuff from Chinese rural areas, and everyone was wearing bright red scarves," Nagi complained. But with the double buff of "pretending to be ordinary secretly" and "humiliating others severely", it still attracted many Japanese people to watch. "The audience will feel really excited after watching it. It really captures human nature."

At the same time, Nagi also realized that the "addictiveness" of short dramas can attract young Japanese people. "The scripts and payment points of short dramas are all based on human nature. Human nature is universal, so whether it is a high - quality production or not, it can attract Japanese people with weaker wills."

After the dubbed dramas received a good response, the "ambitions" of some platforms began to expand to self - produced dramas. So - called self - produced dramas are local adaptations of popular domestic scripts that have been proven successful in the market. Generally, domestic platform operators invest, and then local Japanese companies undertake the production, with Japanese actors performing and the shooting taking place in Japan.

This has brought a series of new career opportunities. Many young people with a background of living in Japan have decided to enter the industry.

The requirements for "Japanizing" short dramas are not high

In the middle of last year, seeing the promising future of the short - drama market, Nagi started to cooperate with Chinese short - drama platforms as a production contractor to assist in the local shooting of short dramas. "After all, the domestic short - drama market has become so competitive. Japan is so close to China. In the future, there will definitely be people competing in the Japanese market."

As a production contractor, Nagi has a lot of work to do.

First, before shooting, the script needs to be adjusted locally.

Due to cultural differences, when remaking domestic scripts, there are often some plots that are unreasonable in Japan or unacceptable to the Japanese.

Nagi once read a script where the plot was that the female lead locked her step - father and step - mother in a mental hospital for electro - shock therapy in order to take revenge on them. But in Japan, a mental hospital is not a place for punishment but a place for people with depression to see a doctor and take medicine. "They would find this plot very strange. Why lock them in a mental hospital? They can't associate it with a punitive measure." Later, at Nagi's suggestion, the plot was changed to sending the step - father and step - mother to the family's villa and then promising never to see each other again.

After the script is finalized, Nagi also needs to select actors and shooting locations in Japan.

To save costs, when selecting actors, Nagi will match them according to the script's settings and the actors' looks, and then invite actors who usually have little work and are willing to earn money and gain fame through short dramas to participate by sending emails on LINE or to talent agencies. When it comes to choosing locations, the one with the highest cost - performance ratio needs to be selected through comprehensive comparison.

The shooting scene of a short drama, provided by the interviewee

Different from the high requirements for the script and cost, the requirements for directors in Japanese short dramas are not high.

Due to the lack of professional talents, the threshold for the industry is very low. Nagi has contacted some domestic directors who went to Japan to shoot short dramas. "There are actually very few who shoot well." Ayao, a short - drama photographer from Tokyo, also revealed that as a 2021 graduate majoring in film and television post - production, he has no knowledge reserve of directing and doesn't know how to direct at all. "But if I say I want to be a director now, I can be the director of the next drama." All he needs to do is to gather a group of people for art, lighting, photography, etc.

And it's not difficult to gather these people. In the Chinese crew resource group in Tokyo, there are many freelancers waiting to join a crew.

Ayao came into contact with "short dramas" through the resource group. In 2023, he saw a recruitment notice for a "funny short - drama photographer" in the resource group, with a daily salary of 1,500 yuan. At that time, Ayao had never seen a short drama and didn't know what a short drama was. He just said he could bring his own equipment worth 2,000 yuan and was hired.

Although it was called a "funny short drama", it was not a short drama in the strict sense but a short advertising video for a dating app. The plot was about a female college student pursuing an old man, and finally the old man successfully married the female college student. The cost was only 100,000 yuan. The director directed the play, operated the camera, and edited the video by himself. Ayao was the photographer.

The shooting threshold is not high. The director operated one camera, and Ayao operated the other. No special skills were required. Just point the camera at the actors' faces. "You can shoot with a mobile phone or a camera," Ayao said.

Although it was not standardized and professional, it allowed Ayao to master the shooting skills of short dramas. So when short dramas began to sweep across Japan, Ayao was able to shoot in various short - drama crews with ease. Later, as the shooting demand increased, Ayao even established a small studio specifically responsible for the shooting and overall planning of short dramas.

So far, Ayao has participated in the shooting of three short dramas and has also served as the director of one drama. The crew structure is very simple. There is no lighting, sound recording, art, or props. Ayao has to serve as both the director and the photographer and is also responsible for contacting the actors. He can earn 3,000 yuan a day.

"What else do you expect me to do?"

If you want to shoot short dramas in Japan, cross - border cooperation is inevitable.

It's either Chinese directors teaching Japanese actors how to act, or Chinese directors collaborating with Japanese cameramen, or Chinese cameramen working with Japanese lighting technicians. But due to cultural differences, almost every short - drama practitioner has experienced a period of maladjustment.

First of all, the work rhythms don't match.

The shooting of a short - drama crew usually takes 15 hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The continuous high - intensity work makes the Japanese very uncomfortable. Ayao once cooperated with a Japanese lighting technician. At first, the technician did a decent job. But after a few days, he started to be perfunctory and didn't work hard. He started to use large - area lighting, and the shots had no texture at all. "It would be better not to use any lighting than his large - area lighting," Ayao complained. "The Japanese just do the minimum required." But Ayao was too embarrassed to scold him for fear of hurting the relationship.

The same goes for Nagi. As a production contractor, she has to mediate between Chinese platform operators and Japanese teams every day.

The shooting scene of a short drama, provided by the interviewee

Chinese platform operators focus on a fast - paced work style. From shooting to editing, they only give a maximum of three months for production. In these three months, Nagi has to find Japanese actors, book Japanese shooting locations, and recruit a shooting team. But considering the work efficiency of the Japanese, "It's very tiring for us to meet the Chinese requirements, but the platform won't give you more time to prepare for this."

In the most extreme case, Nagi completed the production of a short drama in only 45 days. She had to urge the crew and negotiate business matters. After the production was over, Nagi felt "exhausted and tortured herself a lot".

Secondly, there are differences in cultural backgrounds.

Erica, a short - drama producer for a platform, started working on the Japanese market last year. The script styles are mainly about wealthy heiresses and domineering CEOs. But every time when choosing costumes, the Japanese prop team always prefers the Uniqlo style, emphasizing simplicity and plainness. Erica always has to tell the prop team, "We need to make it more dramatic and exaggerated."

Erica's short - drama actors

In a crew that started shooting at the same time as Nagi's, Chinese platform staff flew directly to Japan for shooting. The main director was Chinese, and all other positions such as the assistant director, cameraman, and lighting technician were held by Japanese people. The main director controlled the main camera, and the assistant director assisted, mainly learning the shooting rhythm from the main director. But because this assistant director had a certain influence in the industry, the main director was too embarrassed to assign tasks to the assistant director, and each communication required a lot of effort.

Moreover, during the cross - border cooperation of Chinese directors, there may be problems. Once, a domestic director lifted an actress's skirt during a rehearsal for the sake of the plot. The actress immediately called the police, and her agency broke off cooperation with the platform. So later, when Nagi was looking for a director, she would give priority to Chinese people with a Japanese background, as they would better understand the rules of the Japanese entertainment industry.

Moreover, short - drama shooting focuses on low - cost and high - return. To save the budget as much as possible, almost every crew has a shortage of manpower, and the staff also have to take on multiple roles on set.

This has also made most young people reluctant to take on short - drama shooting projects from Chinese production companies. "It's very tiring and doesn't pay well. It's better to shoot an advertising video. It's easy and pays more. Why suffer in short - drama shooting?" Nagi said.

During the shooting of the previous drama, Ayao served as the photography director. But because the props kept going wrong, Ayao had to pay for the props himself and iron the clothes all night. Later, the prop staff told him that the hourly wage at a 7 - Eleven convenience store was 1,300 yen (about 60 yuan), and he had to work 15 hours a day on set with a daily wage of 15,000 yen. "What else do you expect me to do?"

The competitive Japanese short - drama market

Since last year, the competition in the short - drama industry has also heated up in Japan.

First, some Japanese local enterprises began to enter the short - drama market. According to Nikkei Chinese Net, in September last year, Japanese Internet company DMM.com announced its entry into the short - drama industry, with an annual investment of 2 billion yen. FAN, under the Japanese talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd., also launched a short - drama platform called "FANY:D" in December, planning to launch about 50 projects per year.

Then, Japanese TV stations such as Nippon TV, TV Tokyo, and Asahi TV also started to layout the short - drama market and invest in short dramas.

The entry of capital has given Japanese short - drama platforms more funds and opportunities, and has also brought a lot of competition to Chinese short - drama overseas platforms. "The Japanese