Narrative Strategies for Sichuan Chinese Opera in Cultural Documentary
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Abstract
Modern society is developing rapidly, while China's intangible cultural heritage is declining in popularity among younger generations due to obsolescence, complexity, and lack of appeal. This decline causes cultural heritage to struggle to maintain relevance and connection to contemporary life. This study addresses this issue with three main objectives: 1) to examine narrative strategies that lead to successful cultural documentaries; 2) to explore the production of Sichuan Opera in cultural documentaries; and 3) to evaluate audience satisfaction with Sichuan Opera in these documentaries. The study involves 400 participants for the survey on narrative strategies before documentary development and 500 participants for assessing video satisfaction after the documentary's completion. Both groups are evaluated online via the Douyin (TikTok) platform and selected using Taro Yamane's formula. Data collection methods include 1) a questionnaire on narrative strategies, 2) a quality assessment of the documentary, and 3) an audience satisfaction survey. The data is analyzed using statistical measures such as frequency, percentage, and standard deviation.
The findings reveal seven key elements of successful storytelling: 1) storytelling techniques, 2) visual storytelling, 3) interview techniques, 4) sound and music, 5) themes and motifs, 6) ethical considerations, and 7) engagement strategies. The documentary video is assessed as having moderate quality, and audience satisfaction with the video is also moderate. Therefore, effective storytelling strategies, coupled with high production quality, reflect in achieving higher audience satisfaction.
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