PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA
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Cantonese films are usually in black-and-white but some of the more ambitious productions have ventured into colour.
An average Mandarin film costs $500,000 (US$84,000), and a Cantonese production about $300,000 (US$50,000).
On the latest count there were 41 directors, 40 script-writers, 102 contracted and 26 independent stars, a 1,248 man technical force of carpenters, plasterers, brick-layers, painters, electricians, cameramen, sound-recordists and projectionists employed full-time in local film production. A further 800 employees are involved in full-time subsidiary activities with exploitation of locally-made pictures in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has 51 independent production companies, all making films for domestic consumption (Hong Kong and Asian countries -Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Macau and Bangkok).
Independent producer Terry Bourke's Sampan was a Hong Kong feature produced in 1968 specifically for worldwide distribution. Filmed in Mandarin with a cast of unknowns, Sampan had its world premiere in Hong Kong and international premiere on the island of Guam, a United States Trust Territory. Gem Productions (Guam) were associate producers of the film.
Shaw Brothers released the Taiwan-made Dragon Inn, also with a cast of unknowns, and it grossed $2,146,336 (US$357,723), a record high for Hong Kong. The Sound of Music ($2,048,312, US$341,388) had held the record for two years. Dragon Inn was an action-packed Mandarin swordplay film, and headed the box-office triumphs of these films in the wake of the James Bond and super-spy spoofs.
There are 102 cinema houses in the Colony. Hong Kong has 33, Kowloon 48 and the New Territories 21. The total number of seats available in all of them is more than 116,000. Plans have been announced to install Hong Kong's first Cinerama theatre.
Costs for location shooting in Hong Kong, where some unparal- leled scenery is to be found, are still considerably lower than in other leading international centres such as Spain, Italy and Mexico. Labour costs are extremely economical, yet international standards in services are consistently provided. This year the Argentine pro- duction Coffin From Hong Kong and Japan's Dusk At Dawn, among others, had extensive location work in the Colony.