DSE writing on a social issue: filming movies in HK

4. Learning English through Social Issues

Some people believe that filming movies in the city centre should not be allowed. Others support it. Write a letter to the editor of the Hong Kong Daily giving your opinions. Provide three reasons to support your point of view.

Let them come to shoot Hong Kong in their movies

In a highly commercialized city like Hong Kong where white collars have almost no time to rest after a hurried lunch, what better thing is there to relax them than let them watch real actors and actresses perform live in front of them for free! Yes, let them all come and make Hong Kong the Hollywood of the East. Show young children and aspiring movie stars and movie makers the actual process of movie making so when they find out what movie making actually is, they would think of entering this creative business, whether to be a movie star, a director or a producer.

If you say it is a bad influence, at least, let our star-dazed dreamers see how bad it is, such as, how time consuming it is for an actress, no matter how famous or nameless, to wait for her turn to act under the broad day light, to repeatedly say the same words, say the same line, do the same action again and again and again just to let the photographer record her most natural voice and capture her best move under the right light source. It is life education for free. Such a lesson may help nurture another great generation of actresses and actors, who knows?

Another advantage is free promotion for Hong Kong. As we know, not all foreigners know everything about Hong Kong, when I was in the United States, I asked my host family if they knew where Hong Kong is, some said it was a part of Japan and some said they had never heard of the place. If a big movie made in Hong Kong is shown around the world, then these people living in small towns might have a chance to see Hong Kong as it is. Then, if they are interested enough in our place, they may buy the next plane ticket to pay us a visit. You can imagine the big business that follows if they spend a week as tourists here.

Last, a film best documents a place. Now, if we want to tell our children how Hong Kong looked like when we were children, where do we go? We go to youtube to show them some old Cantonese movies because they captured a lot of places there – city sights, natural scenery, etc. Hong Kong is a fast vanishing city and most people do not have the time, money and artistic people to document every street and building, and in a wink, all these old buildings will be torn down in the name of ‘economic progress’. Then, our children will have no way of knowing how we once lived if we do not let movie people film them.

I sincerely hope the government will tell tourists in our travelling brochures that Hong Kong is not only a fun place to visit, but also a great place to shoot great movies!  (484)