Lo Che Ying

Lo is an experienced anime producer and began independent anime creation in 1977. His works won the first prize at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film Festival for four consecutive times and he was promoted as panel member. In the next year, he joined the Radio Television Hong Kong to work as cartoon producer until 1993. Over recent years, he spent efforts on promotion of the anime industry in Hong Kong and planning of anime exhibitions. Recently, he worked as the curator of the 50 Years of Hong Kong and Taiwanese Animation. He currently worked as Secretary General of the Hong Kong Animation and Culture Association.


DigiCon6 Asia: boosting digital content creativity

04 2020 | Issue 38

Starting from 20th February, two new short animation films were available for watching online. Even though each short film only lasts for less than one minute, their art design and animation show great quality. The two films showcase a futuristic Tokyo to the audience through the stories of several distinct characters, making viewers longing for more.

 

The animations I am talking about here are the anime commercials of VEGA laptops from NEC Corporation’s LAVIE series. The anime series titled CREATTOKYO have two parts, namely VEGA: The Fight and VEGA: Liberation. Shunsuke Nakajima is the director and screenwriter of the animations. However, the two animations were produced by different companies. The former animation was produced by seasoned Japanese animation production team Shirogumi Inc., while Point Five Creations from Hong Kong was in charge of the latter. The cooperation between the two companies was facilitated by DigiCon6 Asia, a digital content competition organised by Japanese TV station TBS.

 

To my knowledge, we have introduced DigiCon6 Asia in this column several times. Last year, we witnessed the 21st DigiCon6 Asia, which was also the first time for the event to stage its grand final and award presentation ceremony outside Japan. The three-day event was held last year in Hong Kong in late November. What’s more, productions from Hong Kong achieved their record-breaking performance at the 21st DigiCon6 Asia as well.


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Photo courtesy of DigiCon6 Asia's website

 

As a matter of fact, TBS had already started planning to hold DigiCon6’s grand final outside Japan two years ago. Given DigiCon6 is an influential event in Asia, the organising committee was choosing between Hong Kong and Singapore for holding the event. After a round of meeting and coordination, the organising committee decided to hold the 21st DigiCon6 Asia in Hong Kong. The local co-organiser in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association (HKDEA), acted swiftly. Besides applying for subsidies from the Hong Kong S.A.R Government, they were also busy with selecting the right venue and mobilising personnel. In addition, HKDEAalso planned to add extra features and shows to the event, which would make 21st DigiCon6 Asia even more exciting and rich in content than the previous ones held in Japan. Of course, all these initial ideas needed to be approved by the organising committee in Japan before proceeding into actions. Luckily, the two sides had smooth cooperation. The final plan for the 21st DigiCon6 Asia was set in May last year. Tai Kwun, an art museum in Central, Hong Kong, was selected as the event venue.

 

However, an unprecedented social movement broke out in Hong Kong last year since June. After several months of social unrest, it has become quite common for people in Hong Kong to encounter emergency situations when commuting and in their daily life. Media outlets’ continuous report on the movement had turned Hong Kong into a very dangerous city in many foreigners’ eyes. The co-organisers in Japan and Hong Kong, therefore, paid close attention to the development of the movement. In fact, they had both considered the possibility of delaying DigiCon6 Asia to another date.

 

DigiCon6 Asia still turned out to be fine, as if it was destined to happen. The organising units believed that as long as there were adequate plans for the event then DigiCon6 Asia should be able to take place in an orderly manner. Most of the filmmakers and participating units (almost 20) from Asia confirmed to attend DigiCon6 Asia in Hong Kong, which greatly boosted the organising committee’s confidence in preparing for the annual event.

 

The 21st DigiCon6 Asia was successfully held in Hong Kong from 28th and 30th November, lasting for three days. On the first day, two animations were selected out of the gold award-winning productions from 14 regions for the highest honour by an international panel of seven judges. In addition, Hong Kong-based famous animation director Raman Hui, who was also on the panel, led the Asian Master Summit to share stories of the production process of Monster Hun One & Two, two popular films directed by him.

 

On 29th November, most of the producers that had won a gold or silver award were at the screening room of Tai Kwun, sharing their production with the audience there. That was a rare opportunity for not only the exchange of opinions on the animations but also the exchange of different lifestyles and culture. This interesting activity was part of DigiCon6 Asia’s themed activities.

 

On 30th November at 4pm, the award presentation ceremony of the 21st DigiCon6 Asia officially kicked off. The organising committee had arranged a number of performances for the audience, including local band Nowhere Boys’ songs. Superpowers, one of the songs that Nowhere Boys performed, was written specifically for the 21st DigiCon6 Asia. The song was easy to sing and unveiled the opening of the award ceremony. The climax of the ceremony was the announcement of two major awards. Another World, produced by Point Five Creations from Hong Kong, took the highest honour back home as expected. Tea, an amazing production from Uzbekistan, also won a gold award. In addition, another animation named Lionverse from Hong Kong won a silver award for best technique. A special award category, Tai Kwun Award, was created to pay tribute to the venue partner Tai Kwun. The Tai Kwun Award was given to local production “So Sad Show”—from Six Paths of Samsara. Overall, animations from Hong Kong did a great job at the 21st DigiCon6 Asia.

 

Point Five Creations’ success at DigiCon6 Asia even won the company the rare opportunity to produce commercial animations for NEC Corporation. I believe this is a new adventure provided by DigiCon6 Asia for Point Five Creations. There is going to be more animations coming out of this in the future.