In Bejing the Olympic Games had an incredible effect on the ads world.During a few months, maybe one year, lots of agencies have born ready to satisfy on the place the requests of any sponsor coming from all over the world and eager to exploit the visibility window of the games to achieve a world-wide fame. Though without any promotional tradition background but with the best in terms of technology and multimedia, lots of interesting experimentations have grown up. First of all these agencies have a different internal organisation (no copy art, webmaster, pr, media planner, etc). Among them there are playwrights, directors, producers, dancers, state TV businessmen and lots of other people with no direct experience at all. The result has been really great!…. something like an old 70’s long-commercial, where famous actors act in real but short show, or excellent “short film” with interesting plots, good acting and photography, brilliant dialogues, not to talk about the numerous web serials (some of them still present on the web) that though with very low budgets have obtained huge visibility. All these products were so beautiful that they were proposed in all the stadiums, sports buildings, competition fields, etc, to amuse the public during the technical breaks.

Products born to advertise something that become products to amuse somebody. The most extreme vanguard was “Style Experience”, an interactive movie on line produced by the French “Pernord Richard” to promote its cognac “Martell Noblige” (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2VsKIQ-_c0), a present to James Bond that cooperates with other prestigious brands to propose something quite different from a “poor commercial” and so near to a good “short film” that maybe we can call “AdverMovie”… and the product placement is really happy….

Sometimes it happens that the limitations and restrictions provoke creativity, as it happens in poetry: so fixed and stiff in its metrical phonetic schemes so disruptive and universal in its expressive way. The same rule of poetry has influenced the Hong Kong producers to test new things or to elaborate old things. Its’ the case of ““All’s well End’s well 2009”, that is the most classic of all the holyday’s movie Far East productions, distributed in the Chinese and New Zealand theatres at the end of January, on the New Year’s Feast, that meant the moment of maximum presence at the theatres in a whole year. If it’s true that the spy stories are not allowed, as the action movies, a great paradox as exactly in those places it was born and reached the maximum expression (see Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan), it becomes almost unavoidable to propose innocent though nice, funny, well-done sentimental comedies.

Fourth production, 12 years after the previous “All’s well End’s well 1997”, the story is about a traditional family really concerned about traditions , such as to marry the daughters in a chronological order. This introduces a series of situations and characters a little bit stereotyped though true. It comes out a portrait of a modern Hong Kong, more “western” than others Countries of the West itself, though besieged by the Chinese Government and culture, of which it is an integral part. Thus, luxurious european cabriolets go around with girls wearing their traditional kimonos and young hippies spend their time playing to Happy Online. A comedy that goes through a heavy though unavoidable use of product placement, for objects and products that describe such a strange and controversial society much more than the one when Hong Kong was “made in Hong Kong”. Now that Hong Kong is “made in China”, the light stories, the design objects and the products of quality are really a breath of oxygen and maybe hope too.

p.latini@oratorio.biz

A few months ago (on April the 19th 2008) at “Udine Far East Film 10”, was screened PK.COM.CN (www.fareastfilm.com), a Chinese film shooted in a POP way inspired to MTV videos and to downtown youth live in Hong Kong. In general the film has been much more appreciated here than in its home country, where this frenzy to live in the web and this wish of young people to become “more occidentalized” is still not well accepted by all teenagers. What’s interesting about this movie is a question proposed by the most important web movie magazine in Hong Kong, about a verbal mention, well placed in a scene as the critics themselves have admitted. The scene is as follows: while two guys are surfing in Internet, on the PC the homepage of a well-known Chinese web portal (ww.sina.com) appears and one of the actors says to the other that “on the web site of sina you can find lots of stuff”. To resume: the scene presents a product placement (the home page of the web portal on the PC screen) and a verbal mention (the name of the portal entioned by the actor himself). Caustically the critic hopes this operation could be worthwhile in terms of money for the film. However, after the criticism, the journalist has not analysed the other chances that the director and the screenwriter could have to go on with the story. The plot infact, as the editorial staff itself has affirmed, got need of that scene to explain the rest of the movie. It’s useful to know that product placement in China as well as in the United States and India is lawfully allowed. The three main movie districts in the world belong to a bonded area and this, from one side, allows the directors a larger freedom of expression, and on the other increases the financial chances though probably, in a negative way, this gets birth to less prestigious projects but much more defined for those Companies interested in Product Placement. From this point of view Tv has been a pioneer and a teacher for years with programmes such as Soap Operas, Tv-selling, sponsoring, ecc.   

So nothing new under the sky, only more opportunities.

p.latini@oratorio.biz

 As happening in Bollywood even Hong Kong movie landscape is changing. At least this is what happens for the movies that are sold worldwide and that until now have been divided into two categories: the action movie about martial arts (Bruce lee and Jacky Chen at first place) and the historical movies where a few action scenes have always been present.

From sometime onwards, besides the more sophisticated production distributed only in the

téatres d’essay, it has begun a occidental-style strategy both in plots as well as in the marketing planning. It’s the case of “Connected”, produced and directed by Benny Chan Muk-Sing with actors of good and very good visibility such as Luis Koo and Barbie Hsu.

It’s a remake of the Hollywood “Cellular” of 2004 (by David R.Ellis with Chris Evans and Kim Basinger) and even in this resembles the Indian covers that look at the American movies.

In this case it is interesting to note that besides the product placement of Motorola, two other International brands such as Tissot and Pepsi have been involved. A great entrance in the entertainment Chinese market probably due to the good relationships between the cast and the three brands. Barbie Hsu is in fact the testimonial in China for Tissot while Luis Koo is the same for Pepsi but all over Asian market.

p.latini@oratorio.biz