'Labour of love' TVC to plug Taiwan's merits

The film -- described as "a labour of love" by Saatchis Taiwan chief executive officer Christopher Fay -- is designed to create a separate identity for the island in European and American markets, where people often struggle to locate Taiwan on a map and can confuse it with other parts of Asia. "Think how easy it would be to do a film about Taiwan and consumers in the West would not be able to tell the difference between this and Hong Kong or China," Fay said. Saatchis started the camera rolling more than 12 months ago, after persuading the Taiwan Government it needed a promotional video with a markedly different cinematic style to both distinguish it from better-known Asian destinations and break free from its own reputation as an IT manufacturing base and political hot potato. The shoot, which encompassed all the island's major regions, cultures and festivals, took longer than anticipated, however, as more and more Government officials became involved with the project. "Each time we had a meeting we just didn't re-edit something, we went out and shot some more," Fay said. Aiming for a unifying voice rather than separate postcard presentations, the agency enlisted the aid of celebrated Taiwanese cinematographer Chen Huai'en -- best known internationally for his work on City of Sadness which took a Gold Lion at Venice Film Festival -- who worked for eight months on the project. Another four months was spent shooting additional footage and on soundtrack work. The film, completed in time for the annual round of travel fairs, will mainly be shown to travel agents, but will also be broadcast on international inbound flights to Taiwan. "We honestly believe this will have as big an impact as any advertising we have done," Fay said.