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We have also seen superheroes evolving We don’t want them to watch it because it’s a
MR. NGUYEN HOANG HAI,
Chief Content Officer
CJ CGV Vietnam
“Our first introduction to the
concept for the Sep movie
immediately sparked our
desire to be part of it and to
distribute it. The evolving
Vietnamese entertainment
landscape and rapidly-
expanding cinema
infrastructure needs well-
produced local projects.
While movies like Sep meet
the audience’s ever-growing
demand for quality local
entertainment, Planet Tota’s
approach to production also
introduces the industry to
new avenues of production
possibilities. Such
progressive steps are a
necessity to steer the
industry in the right
direction, and it also helps
garner international
attention for our high-
potential but relatively
little-known Vietnamese
film industry.”
40 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | APRIL 2021
into a specific genre. It was no longer a sub- Vietnamese effort; we want them to watch it
genre under action/sci-fi, which was good because it’s a good movie, and then feel proud
news. Viewers are not enamored by superpow- of the fact that it’s a Vietnamese effort.
ers alone anymore. They have accepted the ex- Also, the responses to the concepts ex-
istence of an alternate world where characters panded our ambitions. More needed to be
have superpowers. That means that someone worked on and much had to be in place to allow
punching through walls or flying or doing some- sustained development. Content consumption
thing else extraordinary can’t be the high-point behavior was presenting new facts we had to
or focus of a story. And that makes the story look into and find avenues to capitalize on. So,
key. Think of it like a romance movie. It’s about besides the project, we had many other fronts
love, but can be told in many different ways. to look into.
Only a good story will win over viewers.
Another factor was my personal affinity to- % Adopting Unreal Engine’s virtual produc-
wards these movies. The thought of making a tion pipeline for a movie is a first for Viet-
superhero movie preceded the thought of mak- nam. Anything first has its challenges. How
ing movies. This is why, when we eventually de- has it been so far?
cided to get into movies, we included Sep in the We chose it because it was in line with how
roster. We did a few consumer tests around our we wanted the development to be structured.
concepts. People loved the other concepts, but As mentioned, it did warrant learning and the
when they were asked which one they would structuring of processes. That was okay for us,
want to see come to life, they always picked but was a deviation from the standard produc-
Sep. We acted on their wishes, and did some tion norms and its merits had to be presented
production tests and developed more test ma- to key collaborators. Filmmaking, after all, is a
terials around the concept. It fared really well large team effort and needs collective align-
despite them not knowing anything else about ment. Getting people away from their comfort
the project. We further expanded the research zones is one of the hardest things to do, and it
base a bit, to gauge a wider audience reaction, had to be done. We had to think long and hard
and it was all extremely positive. All of that was to evaluate what would be the best way to pres-
too much to ignore. ent the merits of the platform.
Platform and technology is a tool with many
% Why did you wait to put Sep into benefits. But it’s not about what you have, but
production? what you do with it. We didn’t want to sell the
Quality is sacred to us. We were confident tool and its benefits, nor what has been
about the story we wanted to tell, but at the achieved globally using that tool. We knew that
time we didn’t get any assurance that it would people would see that as a Hollywood luxury
be presented well following the usual post-pro- and possibility. That’s why we led much of the
duction process. We don’t take money to be a pre-production parts ourselves, and only
guarantee of results at all, but project cost was started reaching out to people when we had a
indeed another important consideration. Well- lot of development work to show. Alignments
placed ambitions have to thrive in an awareness were instant, as people could see our vision,
of grounded realities. It’s a Vietnamese movie, and it helped remove their understandable fear
and Vietnam is the core market. We can lead associated with new technology. It did delay
with the best scripts and briefs, but ultimately some conversations, but at the same time it
what matters is what comes alive on screen helped instill belief and conviction and we man-
and how much it costs to bring it to screen. aged to get credible participation on all aspects
We found our solution in adopting the vir- and fronts. There are amazingly talented people
tual production pipeline, but it required much rallying behind this effort and that in turn gives
research and learning and a lot of prep work. us confidence about a good result. So, waiting
It got us reaching out internationally for and working more at our end turned out to be
knowledge and seeking the necessary coop- a good decision.
eration. It also entailed structuring and re-
structuring our processes accordingly. In all, % From what I hear, at every step of the way,
it ended up amplifying our effort signifi- you had to take on much of the work just to
cantly, but we were okay with that since it get the project going. And there’s much more
also brought along the much-needed assur- to be done. How does it feel?
ance of quality. Lofty dreams need unparalleled commit-
I emphasize quality because an audience ment (laughs). We all have to bear the burden
doesn’t care about the cost of a movie or how of our own ambition. You can’t just dream and
it’s made. This is a business consideration. Our wish for things to happen - you have to follow
movie is for an audience that is aware, ex- through and ensure it does. We were okay,
posed, and demanding, and not ready to settle since things were moving forward. Also, all that
for anything less, and we can’t blame them if we were doing was not just enabling Sep but
we fall short of expectations and disappoint also laying the foundation for things to follow,
them. They are justified in their expectations. so it was an incremental gain.