City & Tourism
Dayanzai, paper airplanes and the people who document the city tie together the year-long co-creation story of Weibo’s “Beijing Style.”
01 / Background
As Weibo’s “Beijing Style” Short Video Contest drew to a close, it needed a young, upbeat year-in-review film that looked back on “Ancient Capital, New Charm,” “Fashion & Vitality,” “The Flavor of Everyday Beijing” and “The Power of Sci-Tech Innovation”, and invited everyone to take part again next year. The film had to show the scale of the contest and its offline events, but the footage came from different themes, locations and creators, so it had to be organized into one clear thread that viewers could easily follow.
The work builds on event and city materials provided by the client, weaving together photos, video cards, supplementary scenes and the brand IP. Dayanzai acts as a city chronicler, moving between a robot exhibition, city streets, the launch ceremony and a concert; orange-red torn paper, off-white paper and Beijing culture stickers form a unified graphic package, so however the content changes, the brand identity stays in place.
02 / Creative Highlights
Dayanzai first holds up a phone to film a robot, then enters a papercraft space, before returning to the streets around the Drum Tower and the Trend Flash events. It observes, films and joins in, while the real subjects of the picture remain the crowds and scenes of the events; one character links different places, and viewers always follow its point of view.
The four theme words spin around Dayanzai, then gather into a paper airplane that flies to the right. The camera tracks in the same direction as dotted lines and work cards unfold, building into a multi-content collage; along the way, the relationship between themes, creators and works becomes perfectly clear.
A group photo from the event turns into a white-bordered print, then photo fragments assemble into the number of entries, before cutting back to “Beijing Style” and the four theme words. From capturing the scene to summing up the year, everything is told through paper, so even the numbers carry the texture of real photos.
The final section tilts up from a night market, workers and family life to the moon, then moves into a hutong at dawn. The closing run of quick selfies covers stall owners, workers, delivery riders, doctors, students and elderly chess players, bringing the year in review from the event venues back to ordinary people’s lives and naturally extending an invitation to keep documenting Beijing.
03 / Scene Breakdown
The opening poses the question with a burst of quick Beijing cuts: an aerial shot of the Central Axis at dawn, the eaves of the Forbidden City, trendy districts and old streets, ending on Dayanzai holding up a phone in a robot exhibition hall.
An aerial shot of the Central Axis in the morning light, with the golden characters for “Beijing” standing above the city; then eaves, tourists in hanfu, a glass-curtain-wall district and an old Beijing general-store street follow in quick succession, one per shot.
Standing in the crowd, Dayanzai films a waving humanoid robot on its phone; the camera cuts to its finger tapping the Weibo icon, and the picture is carried into a papercraft space.
Inside orange-red torn-paper frames, four theme cards for “Ancient Capital, New Charm,” “Fashion & Vitality,” “The Flavor of Everyday Beijing” and “The Power of Sci-Tech Innovation” appear in turn, each with a real video shot by a creator in the middle; the four words then circle Dayanzai once and gather into a paper airplane.
The corners of each card carry stickers such as the Temple of Heaven, the White Pagoda, a copper hotpot of instant-boiled mutton and a robotic arm, while the window in the middle plays creators’ restaurant visits, street shots and exhibition videos, each theme holding for about a second.
The four theme words circle Dayanzai once, turn into a ball of light that lands in its hands, and become a paper airplane that flies off to the right.
The paper airplane flies along a red dotted line, and cards of top influencers’ sightseeing videos pop up wherever it passes; the camera pulls back to a screen full of creators’ work, which finally splits into four windows playing at once. Voiceover: On Weibo, follow top influencers to unlock Beijing’s many wonders, as creators take up the baton.
On off-white paper, the paper airplane flies past a sticker of the White Pagoda Temple, and several video cards pop up one after another along the dotted line, all shot on location at Beijing landmarks by top influencers.
Dozens of screenshots of works stack into a collage wall, then cut to a four-way split screen, with four windows playing different creators’ videos at once and the handwritten words “Beijing Style” over the middle.
This section covers the year’s liveliest offline events. Like a little visitor just over a meter tall, Dayanzai mingles with the crowd, strolling around the Drum Tower, checking out the Trend Flash Festival sign, watching the launch ceremony from the audience, browsing the market and listening to a sunset concert, before posing for a group photo with everyone.
A low camera skims the ground as passersby’s legs walk past Dayanzai, with the Drum Tower behind; a denim-clad leg sweeps across the lens, revealing the “Beijing Style Trend Flash Festival” sign, where visitors are taking photos.
At night, the big stage screen displays “Officially Launched,” and Dayanzai sits in the audience filming on its phone; the next shot cuts to the market by day, where it stands among the queuing crowd looking at the stalls.
An open-air band plays in the setting sun with Dayanzai in the audience; then it holds up its phone for a selfie with a group of young people in front of a racing-themed set, and the photo freezes into a white-bordered print.
The group photo flies out of the frame, photos of works spell out “nearly 70,000 works,” and the screen flips to “Beijing Style” and the four theme tags. Then the picture leaves the paper and returns to real Beijing: children, streets at night, a cashier, a sanitation worker and a night-market vendor.
Every character is made up of photos of works; once the words fold away, “Beijing Style” sits in the center with the four theme tags around it.
A few children run past a gray wall, and a boy raises an old camera toward the lens in the glow of a night market; cut to an old Beijing street corner at night, where a mother leads a child holding a balloon across the road. Voiceover: This year, Weibo connected every discovery.
A convenience-store cashier smiles as she scans a customer’s code, a sanitation worker sweeps the roadside as night falls, and a night-market vendor hands a huge puff of cotton candy to a child in their father’s arms.
The camera tilts up from the night market to the moon; as the moon fades, day breaks and the camera settles back on a hutong. A young person with a backpack pushes open a door and sets out, creators with gimbals and phones head into the streets, and a string of selfies from ordinary people follows; finally Dayanzai walks past a red wall, ending on the Weibo and “Beijing Style” Short Video Contest end card.
The camera tilts up from the bustling night market to the moon in the night sky; the sky slowly brightens, and the camera tilts back down to the gray-tiled roofs of a hutong.
A young person shoulders a backpack and pushes open a red door in a hutong to head out; the next shot shows a group of young people with gimbals and phones, filming as they walk. Voiceover: In the new year, let’s keep connecting what we love.
A market vendor holds up a bunch of cilantro, then a bun-shop cook, a construction worker, a delivery rider, a student, a doctor and elderly chess players take turns waving hello in selfies, as the caption reads “Find your own #BeijingStyle# on Weibo.”
Dayanzai walks with visitors past a red wall lined with blossoms, and the picture closes into Weibo’s round logo, ending on the Weibo and “Beijing Style” Short Video Contest end card.
04 / Storyboards & Final Frames
In the order of the finished film, all images are final stills from the project review document: live-action shots were generated as images first and then turned into video, the papercraft sections left green-screen windows, and creators’ real work was placed into them in the finished film.
Shot 1.1
At dawn, looking north along the Central Axis from high above the south of the city, with the Forbidden City at the center of the distant frame. Buildings and roads follow Beijing’s real layout, and the golden characters for “Beijing” stand above the city.
Shot 1.2
First, eaves seen from a slight low angle with blurred leaves in the foreground; then the Forbidden City plaza, where tourists in hanfu take photos and walk around. No one faces the camera directly and their movements are natural, like street scenes captured on the fly.
Shot 1.3
Young people walk through a glass-curtain-wall district, then the shot cuts to a pedestrian street with an “Old Beijing General Store” sign, the camera pushing forward all the way.
Shot 1.4
Dayanzai, with its back to the camera, films a waving humanoid robot on its phone, then opens Weibo and enters the papercraft space.
Shot 2.1
Orange-red torn-paper frames on off-white paper, with each theme’s stickers in the four corners: the Temple of Heaven, the White Pagoda, a copper hotpot and a robotic arm. The middle is left as green screen, where creators’ real videos are placed in post.
Shot 2.2
Four paper theme words circle Dayanzai’s waist, two in front and two behind, then become a paper airplane.
Shot 3.1
The off-white paper extends beyond the frame so the camera can track right with the paper airplane. The dotted line and video cards were laid along the route in post.
Shot 3.2
Dozens of creators’ works stacked layer upon layer like a scrapbook page covered in photos, showing videos that top influencers and creators shot themselves all over Beijing.
Shot 3.3
Four green-screen windows with torn-paper edges, which play four creators’ videos at once in post, with the words “Beijing Style” over the middle.
Shot 4.1
A low angle, with Dayanzai standing in the crowd in front of the Drum Tower. Its height was set at about 1.4 meters, roughly that of a child, so it blends into the crowd without stealing the scene.
Shot 4.2
Visitors gather to take photos with the “Beijing Style Trend Flash Festival” sign. Even the small text on the sign is crisp and legible as the camera pushes in.
Shot 4.3
A stage at night: the host announces “Officially Launched” into a microphone while Dayanzai films from the audience.
Shot 4.4
Dayanzai browses the market with queuing residents, and the signs clearly read as Beijing snacks.
Shot 4.5
A first-person selfie view, with Dayanzai at the far left of the frame and seven or eight young people behind it flashing peace signs and cupping their faces, frozen into a white-bordered print after the shot.
Shot 5.1
Every stroke of “nearly 70,000 works” is filled with photos of works, against a background of Beijing stickers such as gate towers and Tu’er Ye, the Rabbit God.
Shot 5.2
Once the words fold away, “Beijing Style” sits in the center, with the four themes turned into hashtag topics with # signs around it.
Shot 6.1
Captured from an oblique side angle: a mother walks along the sidewalk with a child holding a balloon, with a lit-up time-honored shop behind them.
Shot 6.2
An 85mm close-up: a vendor hands a huge puff of cotton candy to a child in their father’s arms, with blurred stall lights behind.
Shot 6.3
A red wall and a tree in full bloom at dawn; Dayanzai walks past with visitors, leading into the Weibo end card.
05 / Script Excerpts
06 / Results
We completed a roughly 58-second, 16:9 4K year-in-review film that brings together the city’s four themes, creators’ content, the Trend Flash events and an invitation to keep documenting ordinary people.
Case Study
A short video contest ran for a whole year: four theme categories, tens of thousands of entries and several offline events.
When it wrapped up, Weibo needed a year-in-review film to tell the story of the year clearly and invite everyone to keep filming next year.
We made a 58-second 4K short. Weibo’s Dayanzai serves as guide, real creators’ work takes the lead, and in the end the camera is handed to Beijing’s ordinary people.
01
Weibo’s brief was clear: 40–50 seconds in total, with about 10 seconds at the end looking ahead to the new year; all four themes, “Ancient Capital, New Charm,” “Fashion & Vitality,” “The Flavor of Everyday Beijing” and “The Power of Sci-Tech Innovation”, had to appear; and the style should be young and energetic.
One more line was key: No assembly-line, pure-AI template look; use as much real event footage as possible. The work creators submitted and the events held offline over the year were what this film needed to show.
We wrote several proposals, and the client chose one: open by posing a question with quick Beijing cuts, cover creators and offline events in the middle, wrap up with the number of entries, and end with ordinary people. That structure was broken down into 25 shots.
Later, to slow down the offline events section so it could be seen clearly, the runtime was extended from 50 seconds to about 58.
An aerial shot of the Central Axis cuts quickly to historic architecture, city districts and old streets as the voiceover poses the question.
02
To reconcile “use plenty of real footage” with “make it young and full,” our solution was a division of labor: AI makes the packaging; the content is real.
We made a papercraft card for each of the four themes: orange-red torn-paper frames on off-white paper, with stickers of the Temple of Heaven, the White Pagoda, a copper hotpot of instant-boiled mutton and a robotic arm in the corners. Each card leaves a green-screen area in the middle, where creators’ restaurant visits, street shots and exhibition videos were composited in post.
This approach has another advantage: when footage needs to change, only the content in the window is swapped, and neither the packaging nor the motion paths need to be redone. That is exactly what made the later revisions so quick.
03
Trend Flash Week was the liveliest part of the year: the Drum Tower streets, the Trend Flash Festival sign, the launch ceremony, the market and the sunset concert. The client wanted viewers to see how lively the events were, not a mascot having fun.
So we gave Dayanzai a “height”: about 1.4 meters, roughly that of a child, reaching only to adults’ waists in a crowd. In every scene it only does what a visitor would do: film on its phone, watch from the audience, wander with the crowd, and finally pose for a group photo with everyone.
These scenes were generated with photos from the events as reference, and the text on signs and banners was corrected one by one; between locations, transitions use foreground wipes such as a trouser leg sweeping past the lens or a photo dropping into frame, so it feels as if Dayanzai is strolling from one place to the next.
Dayanzai sits in the audience, stands in the crowd, and finally holds up its phone for a selfie with young people.
04
The four theme words circle Dayanzai once and become a paper airplane. The camera tracks right with it, and video cards pop up one by one wherever the dotted line passes; further on, dozens of works stack into a collage wall, then split into four windows playing at once.
Close to delivery, the client wanted this section to give more room to top influencers and everyday creators. We didn’t start over: the paper airplane’s route and the card positions all stayed, and we only swapped the content in the windows for videos top influencers had shot on location at Beijing landmarks. The voiceover was also changed to “On Weibo, follow top influencers to unlock Beijing’s many wonders. Creators take up the baton, so Beijing’s stories are discovered and seen,” and re-recorded. The revision was finished the same day.
The paper airplane flies along the dotted line, and influencer cards, the work collage and the four-way split screen appear in turn.
05
For the year’s results, we used just one number: Nearly 70,000 works. Every stroke of every character is filled with photos of works, so viewers see not just a number but the works themselves.
Then the pace slows, and the picture leaves the paper and returns to real Beijing: a boy raising a camera, a street corner at night, a sanitation worker, cotton candy at a night market. The camera tilts up to the moon, day breaks, and a young person shoulders a backpack and pushes open a door to head out.
The ending is a string of selfies: a market vendor, a bun-shop cook, a worker, a delivery rider, a student, a doctor and elderly chess players. Here the year in review becomes an invitation: next year, it’s your turn to film Beijing.
Beijingers from all walks of life take turns greeting the camera.
06
Year-in-review films can easily become a pile-up of numbers and images. This film took a different approach: AI holds up the visuals, while real works and events tell the story of the year.
For Weibo, the four themes, top influencers and creators, offline events and the scale of entries were all covered in one minute, with an invitation for the coming year built into the ending.
For filmmakers, the structure most worth borrowing is the green-screen window: lock the packaging first, place the content later. Even when the client’s footage arrives late or needs last-minute changes, nothing already made has to be scrapped.
FAQ
The film’s packaging (papercraft cards, collage wall, four-way split screen) was generated with AI, with green-screen windows left in the middle so the creators’ videos and works supplied by the client could be composited in post. The offline event scenes were generated as images and video using on-site photos as reference. The result is visually consistent, while the content is real.
The proposal and storyboard were set in early August 2026, the full edit was ready in mid-August, and the final 4K film was delivered in early September. Midway, the client asked to replace a section of footage and voiceover; because the window structure didn’t need to change, it was revised the same day.
Every shot used the Dayanzai three-view turnaround provided by the client as reference, keeping the yellow T-shirt, black shorts and crossbody bag unchanged throughout. Its height was fixed at about 1.4 meters, roughly that of a child, so it reaches only to adults’ waists in a crowd, and it only does what a visitor would do, leaving the focus on the events and the crowds.
This film was delivered as a 16:9, 3840×2160 4K film at 25 fps, with voiceover and captions; a 1080p version was also exported during review for quick viewing on phones.
Approach
The film gives its time to the relay of records by top influencers, creators and ordinary people. Every papercraft card leaves a green-screen window in the middle, where real works supplied by the client were composited in post; when materials were updated, they were swapped straight into the existing paper airplane route and collage packaging, with no need to regenerate any images.
The supplementary scenes used real Beijing locations as reference for architecture, streets and event sets, combining AI generation with local retouching; in the papercraft sections, event photos were placed in one by one, each given a white outline, with the layering of stickers, paper and lettering carefully sorted out. The live-action-style images establish the city and the events, while the papercraft sections look back on the year’s works.
Dayanzai’s build, outfit and walking route stay consistent across scenes, and the streets, the sign, the launch ceremony and the concert are linked by walking through, filming and foreground wipes. The ending slows down, using the passage from night sky to morning light to turn from looking back on this year to looking ahead to the next.
More Work
Ideal for brand launches · public-sector communications · cultural-tourism campaigns · IP transformation · event openers · earnings visualization · social campaigns · AI workflow development
