Ignite Creation Ltd
- HKGCC Membership No. :
- HKI0309
Wowing Audiences
“With visual effects, nothing is impossible in the movie world. Visual effects can make audiences believe that everything is real in the film,” said Fion Fu, General Manager of Ignite Creation.
Two award-winning visual directors – both of whom won the best visual effect award in the Taipei Golden Horse Festival – work at the company with its founding members who have a strong background in film and television production.
Company founder and Creative Director Calvin Tong has been working in the film and television industry for more than 15 years as producer, script writer, director and editor. He has also served as first assistant director for some large film productions.
In 2004, Tong set up a company named MMM Creative Workshop to provide video production and engineering project recording services for government departments and companies. “To have more room for creativity, Tong gradually diversified into the production of television commercials, web videos, and short films,” Fu said.
Last year, Tong started looking for people who specialize in visual effects, video editing, script writing and photography to join the company. In September 2012, he moved the office from Kwai Chung to Kowloon Bay and renamed the company Ignite Creation.
With a strong team, the company will soon create the visual effects for a new movie, called “Lost on a Red Minibus to Taipo,” directed by Fruit Chan. Originally a web science fiction book written by a Hong Kong netizen, the film started shooting in late May 2013. It is a story about the passengers and the driver of a red minibus travelling into a mysterious world. “Special visual effects will help to create a moody, mysterious world in the film and make people believe that the world actually exists,” Fu said.
The company also offers television ads and commercial web video production services. “The demand for commercial web video is increasing in Hong Kong due mainly to the widespread use of the internet among young people and the relatively low cost compared to television commercials,” Fu said.
With the high cost of television advertising, the use of advanced filming equipment and top artists, a 30-second television commercial can cost over HK$1 million, Fu said. “The expenditure on television advertising and hiring a top artist are without a doubt skyrocketing. Also, every shot for a television commercial has to be very high definition to ensure it can show perfectly, even on a 60-inch or above home television,” she explained.
While a web video and a television commercial may require the same amount of production time, the former is significantly more affordable. “Many people are using mobile phones, or at most a computer to watch web videos. That means advanced filming equipment is not necessary, compared to television commercials. Meanwhile, commercial web videos tend to use models rather than top artists, which further reduce the cost of internet advertising. As a result, a commercial web video may cost as little as HK$100,000,” Fu said.
She believes that web video is a good platform to entice young people, who are frequent users of internet social networks such as YouTube and Facebook.
Some commercial web videos or television commercials are produced like short films. “Short film production requires story-telling skills, which is the strength of our team members,” Fu said. The company was recently involved in the production of a short film called “Bulletman” for a mobile service provider to promote the speed of its 4G service.
The company has customers from both Hong Kong and the Mainland. “On the back of robust demand for commercial web video productions, Hong Kong accounts for 70-80% of our total business, which is far beyond our expectations,” Fu said.
Fu forecasts the company’s revenue will increase year by year. “With our creativity and experience in film production, I hope we can grow bigger and even produce our own movie in the next decade,” she added.
