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Airing outside series starting September, HKTV attempts to find new path to survival via ‘micro-movies’
Source: MingpaoWeekly, Issue 2427
Translation: llwy12
Ever since it was denied a free-to-air broadcasting
license, HKTV has found a way to survive by officially launching online as an
Internet shopping network and television station. Despite the critical acclaim for their
dramas, HKTV has essentially halted production of all TV series in the 6 months
since its launch due to the licensing issue.
In recent months however, Ricky Wong seems to have found a possible new
direction for his station’s survival: filming
‘micro-movies’ (微電影) for
the business partners selling products on HKTV’s Internet shopping platform,
HKTV Mall [TN note: there are various translations of 微電影 currently
being used in the industry, including ‘micro film’, and ‘short film’ – for the
purposes of this article, I am using the translation ‘micro-movie’.] With this route, HKTV can still push out new
productions while at the same time make more money to continue funding the TV
station side of things. Earlier, HKTV had
2 of its contracted artists – Adrian Wong (黃芷晴) and Bryant Mak (麥子樂) – collaborate with the creative
team behind hit series The Menu (導火新聞線) to film the station’s very first
micro-movie La Couleur.
HKTV’s very first micro-movie La Couleur is actually a
promotional piece for fashion brand EQ:IQ. At only 10 minutes long, the film is helmed
by Ben Fong (方俊華),
the chief director of HKTV’s hit drama The Menu, and stars Felix Wong’s (黃日華) daughter Adrian Wong partnered
with actor Bryant Mak and child actor Oscar (左珀僑). In a story about love and family, Bryant plays
a single father who encounters overseas-educated Adrian – originally strangers
from opposite worlds, the 2 of them become acquainted over a painting and later
on Adrian helps Bryant resolve a difficult issue with his son (Oscar);
throughout the process, the 2 of them end up falling in love.
Felix Wong
encourages his daughter to seize the opportunity
Despite its short length, the production of the film was
taken very seriously – in addition to the actual filming taking place over the
course of 3 days, the cast also spent 2 days rehearsing their scenes with the
director and the rest of the production crew.
With this being the first micro-movie of her career, Adrian Wong
expressed that this was a new and different experience for her: “Even my mom asked me, ‘Adrian, isn’t this a
commercial for a fashion brand? Why do
you need to rehearse for it?’ I
understand that the director (Ben Fong) has very high standards. This is my first time working with the crew
of The
Menu and I feel extremely honored, so I not only participated in the
rehearsal, I also took the time to discuss my role with the director.” Since joining HKTV, Adrian has participated
in the series Paranormal Mind (開腦儆探) and Incredible Mama (我阿媽係黑玫瑰), but this is her first time filming a
micro-movie. Because of its length, the
filming process for the micro-movie is more meticulous, so grasping the
character accurately is very important: “Since I was born and raised in Hong
Kong, having to portray a student educated overseas is a bit challenging, plus
the story is about art, so some of the dialogue can be a little abstract.” Adrian expressed that one of the most
memorable moments for her was filming a scene where she was wearing high heels
and had to chase after Bryant Mak – after running back and forth nearly a dozen
times, it was exhausting: “My mom and
dad didn’t visit me on the set to watch the filming, but they gave me words of
encouragement and told me it’s a great opportunity for me to polish my acting
skills as well as collaborate with such a professional team – they told me to
cherish the opportunity.”
Currently busy filming TV series As Long As Love is Forever
Present (只有情永在)
for Mainland China’s GDTV, Adrian revealed that her contract with HKTV will
expire at the end of June. Asked about
her plans after her contract ends, Adrian hopes to continue both her careers as
an actress and designer [TN: Adrian has
her own design business where she makes handmade accessories and sells them
online – her brand is called Oh My Deer]:
“I hope to get more acting opportunities, whether in movies, TV series,
stage plays, micro-movies, commercials, etc.
I’m currently in talks on a few outside TV series.”
As for fellow actor Bryant Mak, who has participated in
many micro-movies throughout his career, he feels that HKTV going down the
micro-movie path is a good thing: “I
hope that the company will continue to film micro-movies and show audiences
that they are willing to try different things.
Also, I feel that the fast pace of micro-movies will give audiences a
feeling of freshness.” Bryant revealed
that in the micro-movie La Couleur, it was his first time
playing a father and having to work so closely with a child actor: “A lot of people say that working with
children is very difficult, but this particular child (Oscar) is very
good-natured and very smart, plus he definitely knows how to act. Of course, sometimes he might fuss a little,
since he’s a child after all, but he very rarely has outtakes when filming – it’s
pretty amazing!”
Enough series to
last through next year
Having halted the filming of new series since its license
was denied more than a year ago, HKTV’s current inventory of completed series
is slowly being depleted. With only the
series Love in Time (還來得及再愛你), Doom+5 (末日+5), The Wicked League (惡毒老人同盟), Paranormal Mind (開腦儆探), P.4B (四年B班), Hidden Faces (三面形醫), and Night
Shift (夜班) left to
air, it is estimated that all of HKTV’s self-produced series will finish airing
in September. After that, they will
start airing outside-bought series, such as Mainland series Detective
Di Renjie Prequel (神探狄仁傑前傳) and Home Temptation (回家的誘惑) as well as Korean series Twinkle, Twinkle (閃閃發亮), etc. – with the number of
outside series they bought, it’s believed that HKTV will have enough series to
air through next year (2016). As for the
rumors that HKTV will resume new series production mid-2015, the station’s
assistant director of corporate communications, Jessie Cheng (鄭靜雯) clarified that they need to
resolve the judicial review decision handed down by the courts first, then they
will make a decision on what direction to take in terms of future series: “Some of the series that HKTV already aired –
such as To Be or Not To Be (來生不做香港人), The Menu (導火新聞線), The Election (選戰), etc. – were well-received by
audiences. HKTV has gained valuable
experience from these series and through audiences’ feedback, we’ve also learned
a great deal about the market’s attitude toward our series’ content, pacing,
overall production, etc. Based on all
this, we feel that remaining solely an internet TV station is not plausible in
the long term, as it limits the scope of broadcast and also potential
impact. Also, advertising revenue from
internet will always be far off from the advertising revenue gained from traditional
media platforms – relying on that revenue alone is not enough to sustain the
production of high quality programs.
Even though the courts ruled in our favor with the judicial review,
there is still no word on what will happen with our free TV license
application. In addition, we’re still
awaiting decision on the judicial review filed over the mobile television
services issue – the court proceedings were already completed on November 26th
of last year (2014), but still pending final outcome. After that, then we’ll be able to decide
whether to resume production as well as next steps.”
