Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my view on whether filming movies in the city centre should be allowed. Nowadays, there is a prevailing trend for movie makers to use the city centre to film movies, both locally and globally. I support to have movies filmed in the city centre.
First of all, filming movies in the city centre can help promote Hong Kong’s image, thus increasing visitors’ interest to come to Hong Kong. Renowned movies such as ‘Transformers’ and ‘Skyscraper’ have used our city’s unique and famous landscape, for instance, the glamorous sea view of the Victoria Harbour, the sky-high commercial buildings on Hong Kong Island as part of its major background in the movies. Tens of millions of viewers who watched the movies were able to appreciate the beauty of the unique city and were fond of exploring these amazing sites by coming here themselves, which in turn boosted the tourism industry. Moreover, local citizens can also know more about the city, thus bolstering their sense of belonging. Through discovering the streets and buildings of our hometown, we will be more familiar with and proud of our city by acknowledging our city’s energetic and diverse side shown on the screen, which in turn makes us more connected with one another and the city.
Apart from promoting the image of our vibrant city, letting movies be filmed in the city centre can also revive our ‘dying’ local movie industry. If more public venues are provided, movie producers can set the background of the plots more boldly, which allows and encourages more diverse themes as they can film in the city centre. Higher quality of movies is likely to be created, thus reviving our slumping movie industry. In addition, allowing movies to be filmed in the city is a gesture by the government to support the film industry. It is a great boost to the government reputation as well.
While it may be true that filming movies in the city centre might cause disturbance to those who live or work in the city centre because some streets are to be blocked for the shooting. However, it is also a fact that filming in the city centre only takes a few days. With the advanced technology nowadays, actors do not need to stay in the city centre to film the whole movie. In fact, with the help of the IT technology, actors just need to take a few shots in the city centre, e.g., talking and walking on the street and then the rest scenes are mostly made and developed by special effects, just like the scene from ‘Transformers’, where the Central commercial buildings were all on fire and collapsed. These scenes were mostly made by technology in the post-production process. Therefore, as filming in the city centre tends to take a short period, it is unlikely to cause really huge disturbance. It is believed that the advantages of filming in the city centre will certainly outweigh the drawbacks.
It is hoped that the government will be more open-minded and proactive to carry out the decision to allow our city centre to be filmed and thus promotes Hong Kong’s image more worldwide. I sincerely look forward to the movie industry reviving and becoming the ’Asian’s Hollywood‘ again.
Yours faithfully,
Chris
Chris Wong
Hannah Loo Hoi Ching 2018-9 5B