The Platform Center for Social Design, with the support of the National Media Group, analyzed the films of 2022-2023 in the context of their value impact on the modern viewer and compiled a rating of the top 25 films with a social effect.
88% of Russians in 2023 highly value the quality of domestic film content. Over the past year, this indicator has grown by 6 percentage points, while 71% believe that Russian cinema can produce content comparable in level with Western.
Unconditional and potential leaders of the rating
The rating takes into account two indicators: viewer ratings on online platforms and the influence index (it allows one to measure the viewer's emotional response, their involvement in the story, the impact of the picture on their perceptions and even actions).
The undisputed leaders of the rating have become six films and TV series that appear to meet the real needs of the audience more than others. Among them are "The Righteous", "Distant Loved Ones", "Troubles teens 4", "Off the Rails", "Cheburashka" and "Zero". It was these paintings that exemplified the balance of viewership (high rating on online platforms) and social influence.
The top 6 are united by high audience ratings due to the ability of pictures to change attitudes. This is influenced, among other things, by the presence of an important idea and a new perspective on a topical issue. "The Righteous" (91%) and "Distant Loved Ones" (82%) scored the highest on the former point, while "Zero" (83%) and "Troubled Teens 4" (81%) scored the highest on the latter. The hero and his or her story also influence viewers: the strongest empathy for heroes was experienced by those who watched "The Righteous" (89%), "Zero" (83%) and "Distant Loved Ones" (82%). At the same time, the change of the hero, his path in the last movie impressed viewers the most compared to the other leaders (84%).
These films and TV series, according to viewers, will remain in memory for a long time, which indicates an accurate hit to their target audience. They are also ready to recommend them to their surroundings, which will strengthen and expand the effect of the pictures in the future.
The rating also highlights eight potential leaders: "Dropper", "Black Spring", "Giza", "13 clinical", "Aunt Marta", "Mira", "Alice can't wait" and "Disobedient". With high audience ratings, these films and TV series have more moderate impact indicators compared to the undisputed leaders. And this indicates a high potential for further strengthening of the social effect.
Also included in the rating are: "Two hills", "Identification", "Life on call", "Flock", "Eve, it’s time to give birth!", "The End of the world", "Newcomers", "Monastery", "In Two", "Young man", "Chekago".
Among all the participants in the rating, the respondents identified examples of reference films, believing that more of them need to be produced. The top ten includes the top 6 film products from the list of undisputed leaders, as well as "Mira", "Kapelnik", "Monastery" and "Disobedient". It is they, according to the audience, that meet family values, demonstrate the history of the country and pride in its achievements, and also show a willingness to rethink the lessons of the past, both historical and cultural.
Russian viewers want to see more social impact in movies
Over the past three years, Russians’ attitude towards domestic cinema has become better. This indicator has grown by 11 percentage points since 2021. The key drivers for positive changes were: improving the quality of filming, special effects and graphics, as well as deep elaboration of the themes and plots of Russian paintings.
At the same time, viewers also see potential points of growth for Russian cinematography in the future. According to viewers, modern cinema still lacks films with useful themes aimed at educating viewers, especially children and young people (30%), as well as content with an honest and realistic plot (28%) and socially important topics of concern to society (20%). This indicates a growing interest among viewers in the social impact of movie content.
58% of respondents believe that cinema should purposefully change people, develop positive values, and set examples of correct behavior. In recent years, viewers' demand for the educational function of cinema has remained stable. It grows along with the age of viewers and is most manifested by parents with underage children.
As a rule, viewers want to see in movies the same topics that concern them in real life. And this becomes another challenge for creators of content with a socially significant effect: on the one hand, they have to show familiar problems from a new perspective, and on the other hand, they have to interest viewers in new topics.
57% of respondents believe that films on socially significant topics should encourage to appreciate the family, 39% — to be proud of their homeland, to be a patriot. These queries are most relevant to the audience over 35 years old. Whereas people under the age of 34, more than the older generation, want films to teach how to counteract family violence, fight stereotypes and talk about interaction with people with health problems.
At the same time, there are also extra—age requests: 25% of respondents want cinema to encourage them to give up bad habits, 24% — to be more attentive to children, and 23% - to take care of the elderly.
CEO of NMG Svetlana Balanova said:
"It is very crucial to us to hear and understand our audience. Therefore, we are conducting a study of the audience's request for socially transformative meanings in the content. Perhaps the main trend reflected by the new study is the growing demand of the audience for the value content of the content. People rate the quality of scripts and production very highly, at the level of Western projects; in this sense, domestic content fully meets the needs of the audience. Now the viewer's attention is drawn to the subject of the content — meanings and values. The leaders of the rating were films and TV series reflecting our traditional, and by and large, universal values — friendship, love, humanity, support. At the same time, the content that carries these meanings is absolutely commercially successful and in demand among viewers."
The study was conducted in February-April 2023. The survey was attended by 1,200 viewers and 50 experts in the field of film production. As part of the study, 10 in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups with viewers were conducted to compile a rating of the top 25 Russian paintings in terms of their value impact.
The full version of the study is available at the link: https://pltf.ru/2023/07/06/rejting-filmovs-soczialnym-effektom-2023/