Posts about film cameras in Red reach tens of thousands of likes, which is a high number in Red. Analogue film is different from digital ones, they also different types of user experience and aesthetics, especially the colour. Some analogue camera sellers mention that film cameras become trendy in recent years, especially among young people. There is a resurgence of film cameras. According to Pengpai News, the customers are mostly young people between the ages of 20 and 40, and they are also more than happy to share the fun of playing with film cameras online, as demonstrated by AJ, who has been in the camera business for seven years. It is also mentioned in the article that there are also more and more post-00s around now who play with film cameras.
On some online social media platforms such as Douban and Red, there are many young players gathered in mainland China. Popular celebrities and stars, such as Lisa of Blackpink, Mizuhara Kiko, and Ouyangnana shares photos taken by film camera on social media, which also push analogue film cameras to the stage.
Besides the impact of popular cultures, some people in this industry suggest the reason young people love playing with film cameras more is that the post-95s and even post-00s grew up with digital cameras and mobile phones and did not play with film cameras in their childhood, so they are more curious and have a sense of novelty about film cameras.
As for the industry aspect, in 2017, film manufacturer Ilford announced that film sales had grown by more than 5% in almost every year for the past three years, with more and more young people joining the ranks of film shooters. According to a 2014 survey conducted by Ilford, more than 30% of the users surveyed were under the age of 35 and 60% of them had only been exposed to film in the last five years. Interestingly, 84% of those surveyed said they were self-taught with the help of books and the internet. In 2017, Kodak announced the reintroduction of the long-discontinued classic positive film Ektachrome E100, which, according to PetaPixel, Kodak officials said, was reintroduced because more and more people love the effects of analogue film photography. The film market has rebounded in recent years and manufacturers see new opportunities for traditional photography.
I am also a new film camera user starting to get familiar with analogue photography in recent years. When I was buying my first film camera, I am searching for information among various apps for information like RED, Douyan, and later on among platforms such as Xianyu, Taobao, and Dazhongdianpin for purchase and to develop. There is a lot of information flying within the Internet, and I found it time-consuming to organize that information and to get useful recommendations, since some information online is not wholely trustful, and some of them are constructed since sponsored. Meanwhile, I was also feeling helpless when I find some problems during camera use, like why the camera is not working sometimes, and sometimes these specific questions cannot be founded in Red and Douban. In that situation, I feel like I really need a film community for communication.
Therefore, I design to build a beginner-oriented website that includes all these functions, including cameras and film buying which would be categorized and recommended to beginners, finding nearby shops to develop a community for communication, and a beginner introduction section providing basic unique information.
As for the design process, please check my journal for more information.