Introduction: Interviews in Film and Television Studies

How online video platforms could support China’s independent microfilm (short film) makers and enhance the Chinese film industry

“…The first phase of it was desk-based, which involved three research assistants surveying Chinese film industry-related policies, trade magazines and Chinese language popular press with a particular focus on microfilms, as well as two researchers looking at existing literature related to online video distribution, business models, copyright and the role of new media platforms in the Chinese and so-called western online video market. According to Cornea (2008), however, relying only on pre-existing material is limiting because this "means that the academic is not only ignoring a rich field of inquiry, but does not have the opportunity to ask the kinds of questions that he or she might want or need to ask" (p. 118). In addition, in our specific case, the academic literature cannot keep pace with the fast-changing practices in this industry, so the second phase of this research involved a series of 27 semi-structured interviews carried out by researchers when the interviewees were willing to be interviewed in English and by the research assistants when the language used was Chinese.…”