The summer has come and gone and it has been a beautiful one in Hong Kong. We did not even have a typhoon! (well only weak ones, nothing like the big guys that can lash the city with winds of extreme force, as a measure, a Typhoon number 10 has gusts that can reach 220 kms/hour).

So, as the weather is going to become even more clement, it is time for us to unveil a new ad campaign  to invite you to sign up with our walks.  As always, the main idea behind our private guiding  services is to provide an insider’s view of the city, to make you see, feel, hear and focus on things and people like you probably would not normally…In short I want to make you discover the city like never before and like nobody else can. The ultimate goal is a bit of dream, to provide joy and happiness in the encounter… I always have a been a bit of an idealist!!! So here goes a smiley made of 888 pics taken all over the city. Can you spot the Fixer?

I used to go all the time to the Cathay in Wan Chai ( which closed in 1997 is now a residential building) but my first and favorite was the Queens theater in Central. It was so convenient to grab a film right in the heart of the business district.. and going for a lunch time flick felt like a rebellious act ,a way to find peace in the busy-ness of hectic HK.  This is where I had my first local experience of Hong Kong films and a taste of the local culture.  I truly open my eyes to HK ‘ s local culture when I watched  ”Young and Dangerous” ( Gu wak zai: mafia boys, literally smart boys) with Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan ( more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_and_Dangerous_1) And that was at the Queen’s theater.

Before that, I am afraid my knowledge of HK was still stuck on the Bruce Lee’s image, which is important of course, but is just a small part of the local psyche. And my first HK’s sex emotions also happened at the Queen’s : that was when my sensual world was turned upside down with “Sex and Zen II” ( more on the excellent site HKCinemagic http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=1235)..ahh Mirage Lady ( well she turns male at the end but still, Shu Qi…) .

Anyway, it is at the Queen’s theater that I decided to learn Cantonese. Before each film, there was a government warning preroll forbidding the audience to smoke in the cinema hall. Before the very british translation was on, there was this very funny sounding Cantonese statement that I could not make sense of. At all! So I thought that, since I was going so often to the Cinema, that would be a great way to start making out what is a syllable, what is word ,  a phrase and try, as a modern Champollion to make sense of it all by matching the words with the following english version. The smoking ban announcement was my Rosetta stone!

So, fifteen years later, and hours of intensive learning after, here it goes:

FONG TSENG FU YU HEI YUN CHEUNG LOI, YIM KAM KAP YIN, WAI LAI DJE, ZHEUI GO FAT FUN GONG BAI NGH CHIN!

This was translated, in a very Oxford voice,  as “Government warning, smoking in cinemas is now prohibited, offenders will be liable to a fine of 5000 dollars”

Of course, now , it is forbidden to smoke everywhere in Hong Kong ( there is even talk of banning smoking on the streets) so the warning has disappeared.

And just as the smoke in the cinema hall, the building itself has vanished. The 46 year old iconic Luk Hoi Tong building at 31 Queen’s Road  has met the wreckers ball, and I was one of  its last client. Out with old, and on with the new…..still, the new development will be a gleaming 27 storey office tower… no more cinema in Central!

here I am , in an article of the South China Morning Post, covering the disapearance of Queen's theater

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blue umbrellas, originally uploaded by eshadowshk.

In case of rain in Pandora

There is this deco that I particularly fancy: a sort of cross between traditional Chinese symbolics of the God Wealth ( a happy one that is! and the world famous Japanese “Chiu Choi Mao”, the cat that calls for fortune. Behold:

So, what do these red decorations mean? I have been asking myself the question many times, and found it was an excellent way to IMPRINT some new characters deep into in my gwailo brain.  Since these characters are everywhere to be seen, that provides an opportunity for repetitive contextual learning: I see, I don’t know what it means, I see, I understand what it means, I see,  I hear the words in my head, I see, I say them outloud, I see, I finally remember them. 

To help you in this vast and complex task, here is the most famous and most important , the king of, the can not do without, the ubiquitous, in a word, the Avatar of all Faï Chuns: KUNG HEI FAT CHOI !

The Avatar of Chinese New Year wish

恭 Kung ->  respectful, reverent 

喜   Hei   ->  happy, celebratory event

發   Fat   ->   grow, spread, develop, generate

财 Choi  ->   wealth

Now you can start wishing well in  Na’vi… euhm Cantonese…..

More to come in following posts!

So, you are all cordially invited to meet us, Kae ma Douce and I, at the Alliance Française of Jordan Rd. on the 10 th (Thursday) at 7 pm . We’ll try to make the God of wealth  (choi San) happy. So if you want to be rich with the Tiger, join us!

We will give away 30 CNY hampers (beautifully hand crafted by Kae) FOR FREE! First come, first serve!

Hi, hey Hong Konger. A Happy New Year to you! Let 2010 wash away the annus horribilis that was 2K9. Have you noticed that, as we have just exited the Christmas and New Year festivities, we are entering, almost without a break, into the Chinese New Year ones. The choruses, which are rather nice when sung Robert Zemeckis “A Christmas Carol”, do tend to get annoying when looped in our favorite supermarkets and shopping malls. Maddening really. Well, now is the time for us be bathed into the excited Er Wu melodies that Park’N Shop plays over and over again. Please please, Mr. Li Ka Shing, could we at least get another tape from one year to the next?

Anyway, Santa is definitely out and has been replaced images of by the Tiger and plastic firecrackers. New Year decorations are very important for HK people and you can’t help but notice that most doors take on a shade of red. I’d like to focus on helping you make sense of what you can see and hear in Hong Kong. So what do all this red papers with chinese words mean? They are called “Faï Chun”, “Writings of Spring”, and they all are ways to wish an auspicious new year. The most famous saying is, of course, “Kung Hei Fat  Choi”, which does not mean “Happy New Year”, but “Congratulations on the realization of your fortune”. Luck, is for most, money. And, this year, many will dearly need it!

However, there are many, many (dozens in fact) other proverbs, which come in handy when it comes to create smiles around you in this city. It all kind of becomes a game, which I truly enjoy playing. I tell you an auspicious phrase, you reply another, I tell you another one and so and so on, in a sort of  ”Batttle of the proverbs”. It is fun and when you engage in this kind verbal joust, making sure you join your hands in a fist and shake them vigorously from back to forth, you then generate a lot of good will. 

So, it could go like this (I take a male perspective as I am a guy!): 

You : Kung Hei Fat Choi!

She : San Tai Gin Hong –> body health: wish you a good health.

You : Man Si Yu Yi –> 10000 things/matters as you wish -> may all you that comes to you be as you wish.

She : Sam Seung Si Seng –> heart wish things/matter success: may all you wish for be a success.

You : Long Ma Tsing San –> dragon horse spirit: may your spirit be strong. 

She : San Yi Heng Long –> business success.

You : How about a drink tonight? 

She : My place or yours? 

Yes, that is the idea. When you understand the culture, you get ahead of the competition and you get the pretty girl (or boy…)…

So, oh, oh, oh, carry on well wishing all around and check out the next posts showing some of the most famous Faï Chun seen at this time of the year around town.

Il y a quelques mois, une équipe de production Anglaise fit appel à mes services pour le tournage d’une video d’entreprise. La “tournée” du tournage incluait de nombreux pays et lieux, Hong Kong étant une des bases importante de la société commanditaire, le groupe Grosvenor, géant immobilier lié à la couronne.  L’équipe avait besoin de soutien logistique et de l’assurance de pouvoir mettre en boite tous les plans voulus par le metteur en scène Robert Butcher. Comme toujours, en tant que Hong Kong Fixer, j’ai répondu de manière rapide à leur demande. Cela d’autant plus vite que le tournage devait se faire une caméra fascinante:  La RED ONE. Cela faisait des mois que je rêvais de mettre mon oeil dans le viseur de cette petite révolution de l’image créant le buzz dans le monde du film.  Car voila la RED offre la possibilité d’avoir des images de qualité Cinema 35mm pour un , disons, gros budget vidéo. La qualité du capteur ( jusqu’a 4K pixels de base d’image) , couplé a la possibilité de monter des optiques Cinema, offre la promesse d’un rapport qualité image/budget sans précédent. 

Phil and Fixer

Et puis, il y a le coté “projet fou” que je trouve éclatant: le fondateur de la RED, Jim Jannard, fut la risée des fabricants traditionnels de cameras (Arri, Panavision): “Comment, ce faiseur de lunettes de soleil (il est le créateur d’Oakley) viendrait nous prendre notre business?  Ah ah ah”.  Evidemment, on rigola moins lorsque Peter Jackson réalisa un court métrage de démo… aujourd’hui, la liste d’attente pour se procurer un kit est longue et les reealisateurs du récent festival I Shot Hong Kong n’avait que la couleur “Rouge” en bouche .. succès commercial total.. 

The Red Camera

La mission Red, fut un bonheur et l’équipe ravie. Nous avons vu Hong Kong en rouge et de Central au fin fonds des nouveaux territoires, c’est en Ultra HD que nous avons filmé la ville.

Phil just taking another shot of Central

Living cities HK crew: Alistair Pares, Robert Butcher,Max Yeoman,Ed Saunders,David the HK FixerPhilipp Barthropp

Pour en savoir plus sur cette cam: http://www.red.com/cameras/

Merci à Max pour cette opportunité et m’avoir fait confiance.

Once the words “That’s a wrap” had been said, the work did not stop. Far from it! Post prod time had arrived. The CG jobs were given to  the Duboi/Quinta company, a leader and pioneer in post production services. For the 3D tower shot, they used, for reference, pictures taken on the top of Hong Kong skyscrapers by Benoit Bechet who was guided by yours truly, the Hong Kong Fixer . 

Below is a draft video used for that shot. It was created by Jerome “Lardux” Billet, a wizard on all geeky things. The music piece is “Delirium Tremens” by Julius Bates. 

For more on Duboi and Quinta services ( they just worked on” Coco avant Chanel” by Anne Fontaine) 

http://www.quintaindustries.com/index.php/en/

Julius Bates’ Music and works  can be checked here: 

http://www.julesb.fr/

Le tournage du film terminé ( “That’s a wrap” ) , le temps de la post prod était venu. A cet effet, la société Duboi/Quinta  utilisa les photos de repérages de Benoit Bechet, guidé par your truly, The Hong Kong Fixer, sur les toits les plus hauts immeubles Hong Kong pour composer le plan . 

Ci dessous, la vidéo “brouillon” développée par Jérôme Billet “Lardux” sur le logiciel de rendu 3D Maya. La musique est de Julius Bates, capteur de sons de Hong Kong. Déployez vos ailes, ouvrez grand vos yeux…. ca y est , un rêve d’enfant se réalisant, nous volons…