Through the year past, FTC has involved intensively in film making, education, visual effect technologies and film culture theme facility developments. Here is the chronicle:
Industrial HQ: December 2019: FTC helped its partner John P. Hughes’ China Development, incorporated his first entity with local business operations. It is JH Visual Tech NGB, Ltd. located at 8, Baoma Rd, Park8, Bldg.5, Jiangbei District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. The local painter is an established private-sector entrepreneur who is Park8 Business Campus’ investor and operator. Mr. Chen Huaizhong is a District legislator and local merchant association’s leader. Through 2020, even with the COVID-19 factors, the company has made progress in business initiation, toward a strategically planned vertical integration of creation, shooting, production, international distribution and skill training for media contents (films, network series and commercials). The corporate headquarters in Ningbo Park8 has a work space of 10,000sqf, plus it shares amenities with some 40 companies on the Park8 campus. The facility is planned with a capacity to host content productions, digital stage engineering, and up to 50-staff team of visual engineers and artists. The gaol is in Ningbo to make an international base, to industrialize films and media arts in China. (www.jhvfx.com)
Movie Theme Tourism: February 2020: JH Visual Tech NGB incorporated a sole-ownership JH Culture Tech NGB, Ltd. in Ningbo Cicheng Ancient Town. This corporate branched is dedicated to develop and operate a Maestri Garden brand franchise, featuring repurposed tourist and commercial complex in film themes. CiCheng is the first of the Franchise, located at 10 Sun Pavilion Rd, the complex has 150,000sqft of Ming Dynasty courtyard-style architecture. Under design and construction, the complex contains commercial zone, a restaurant, a 50-unit hotel and Maestri Academy conducting film science and art training. The grand opening is opening in Q3 2020.
Themed Tourism: August 2020: The second franchise of Maestri Garden QZh has landed in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. This facility is in the maintain rural side. Sleeping Dragon Film Theme Complex is a riverbank campus includes 13 townhouses to be repurposed from residence to hotel (200 plus units) and commercial zone, with entertainment facilities on the nearby island, and large-scale VR group experience (immersive dynamic rides) crossing the river. Then expand into the cross-river hill top is the Themed Culture Park, further spread out Yongchuan County’s local tourist attractions. This is the beginning of a 3-year multi-hundred-millions CNY development program. JH Films PEK licenses its brand and proprietary contents, conducts concept design and function designs. An FTC consulted IMEC USA, LLC (Integration Multimedia Engineering, www.lis-next.com) defines integrates systems that are best suitable to the contents that are designed and engineered by John Hughes’ associates in Los Angeles, North Forty Creative Services at Malibou Lake (www.n40.com/craig). IMEC USA has a China representative MATRIX Systems (www.lis-next.com/corp/cn-rep/) in Beijing, who used to be a 2010 Beijing company that FTC co-founded. MATRIX Systems is now conducting contracts with China clients, as well qualifications and management to China supply chains, a China domestic one-stop-shop serves new project by John Hughes’ clatter.
Content Distribution: October 2020: BON IO Distribution LLC (www.bon-iocom.com) is incorporated in DE, operating from Las Vegas. This is partnership led by FTC, brought in veteran film producer and distributor Rosemond Purdue and veteran film VFX artist and supervisor Craig Talmy. The latter in recent year has created 7-8 films in variety of genres. BON IO Distribution is uniquely operating from China locally, to distribute world film exports to China and for China films coming out. Linda Cai, an connected and productive Acting Producer of JH Films PEK, is operating in the China front. She has made some very promising business engagements under Rosemond’s leadership, sourcing and distribution of contents from UK, US and from China, in two directions, in scale of 100+ and 55+ bulk quantity, negotiating with China major network media enterprises.
Creation and Exhibition: August 2020: JH Visual Tech NGB, announced 6 feature films when it joins ZheJiang Provincial Delegation of HK FilmArt: Red Darwin, Bad Dogs, Lulu’s Magic Hat, Episodes, Torberg, 22-second Rule.
Film Making: In 2020: WildWorld Studio, LLC is incorporated by FTC. This partnership is to host Kevin Donovan’s Wild Wild World, a US network film edition, paired with a China theatrical film edition based in Kevin’s original story. The latter arranged the story into a Chinese script, designed to China market. Wild Wild World is a light-comedy action film features Africa natural adventures, with domestic pets and endangered Africa animals, and they talk. The China edition is under government filing in December. The two editions are financed and promoted separately in their own markets, but productions may license assesses, and may cross distributions in both Mainland China and the world. Both are directed by Kevin Donovan the veteran filmmaker who directed Tuxedo in 2002. The cast and crew members since have grown famous and popular in Hollywood. This time Kevin’s intention is to reunion some of these achieved talents. And he is using his experiences through past 10 years shooting films in Africa, and his cast and crew crowd are associated with WildAId (www.wildaid.org) organization (www.wildaid.org) now. And using John Hughes’ team associates for visual effect production (Craig Talmy, who masters animal talk VFX specialty, is visual effect supervisor and animation director). Wild Wild World looks already promising in China and the world market.
Virtual Production: December 2020: StudioX is the last business establishment assignment in 2020, a joint venture. The local partner is Xiangshan MidBridge Studios who builds and operates shooting stages right outside Xiangshan Global Studios who is one of China’s top 5 stage and backlot complexes. Hundreds of productions and millions of tourists are attracted into this Studio City. MidBridge owns 4 large stages (25000+ sqft each ) and 1 super-size (325ft x 325ft) stage. We have planned and budgeted to build a 75-ft in diameter, 160 linear feet wide, 270-degree circular LED Wall for visual background scenery and LED imaging lighting top. This is to fulfill practical demands in virtue film shooting and Realtime Visualization (VR-RV, www.jhvfx.com/tech/). This takes advantage of China hardware supply chain; John Hughes associates’ high-tech skills and knowledge in Visual Effect methodology; its VR content production experiences offered in Europe and Mid East theme parks; and recent Hollywood expert participations from leading technology resources. The facility catches up the newest achievements representing cross-generation digital stages, and virtual production methodology. It is the third of the kind in the world, and the first in China. Craig Talmy’s Red Darwin network series (planned for 3 seasons with 7-10 episode each) will for 3 years stationed in StudioX. Before it is built (projected to open for Virtual Film Production Tour during Chinese New Year 2021, and open for film shooting after March), the new stage have already attracted China and international film makers’ enthusiasm trying out the trendy Virtual Production here in Ningbo.
… to be continued 2021!