The Follow-ups

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was based on the appreciation toward Mayor Hu. They built great friendships while Mayor Hu was still served as the Director of Government Information Office. Of course the Information Bureau certainly credited for “Life of Pi” shooting in Taichung. Ang Lee didn’t know what we were suffering originally but understood that we actually carried a huge pressure from both the media and the parliament afterwards. So he then wrote a letter specially to express his thanks to me. … Here not only the assistance from the city government, but also the attitudes and abilities of the local works towards production made the whole foreign crew impressed!

Shooting here though make him feel pressured but also honored”

David Lee also said, “Director Ang Lee and the film crew had been living in Taichung for ten months and was closely related to this city and the citizens. The assistance of Taiwan and also Taichung City along with the friendly citizens and environment, especially the fully-supports from Mayor Hu, all became unforgettable memories to the crew and director Ang Lee.

Hence he thanked Taiwan and Taichung City especially in the Academy Awards.”

Ruan Pei-Fen, as a journalist, also indicated that the media effects of Ang Lee and “Life of Pi” is internationalized. The contents addressed from the high box office, the news about Ang Lee personally, to the food and locations which they had during production in Taichung.

And these then became the focus and storylines of reports and also hot tourism spots. “There are hundreds of million people watching the Oscar Awards on that day. And when Ang Lee specially thanked Taichung in his thank-you speech as the Best Director owner, it was the glorious time for all the Chinese people and also Taichung City. We should like to ask: which kind of city marketing can reach the same accomplishment as Ang Lee and “Life of Pi”?”

5.3.4.2 The Follow-ups

As “Life of Pi” successfully marketed the name of Taichung to the world, it is still worth discussing about the follow-ups of this case, as a “city marketing” project of the Taichung City

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Government.

To offer fully supports and plentiful resources, constructing friendly environment were supposed to be the main strategy which Taichung City Government took in this case. In the concept of attraction marketing, the city government tried to offer as many incentives as possible to attract the international film crew to come to Taichung, by preparing friendly and convenient environment for the visitors/customers, here they were indicated as the film crews.

The ambition of Taichung City Government was to prove itself to the international film production companies and the film crew that the environment and conditions in Taichung City, not only the facilities, the technologies but also the film makers, are able to undertake and cooperate with the international-level film productions.

By interviewing the informants, we could then picture the effects of the assistance and incentives provided by the city government.

David Lee, as the personal assistant of Ang Lee addressed that for himself and also Ang Lee, it is for sure to recommend Taichung City to the other filmmakers. “We really appreciated that the mayor and the city government spared no pains to ensure the film crew had fully supports. Especially by providing a wonderful location for us, the condition of the Shui-Nan Airport at that time was as a God-given professional place in the downtown. For the crew members, they could focus on their operations without disturbance in the environment; and after works, they went out the studio, the urban area was in the neighborhood, there were parks, snacks, night markets, bars… that was the best working condition ever for the crew members.

But it’s a pity that the airport was dismantled due to the urban planning; so far there was no such professional place for film production, but we will still recommend the other film crews that Taichung is good for photography…. Taichung is the place with the best climate conditions in Taiwan where suits the best for film production. Besides, the convenience of the transportation, the High Speed Rail, all make it easy to travel frequently and extensively. The delicious and easy-to purchase foods, the cozy and convenient hotels, and the friendly citizens

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are all adequate features for filming.”

Jean Shih also stated that she believes the film crew will definitely wish to come back to Taichung if possible based on their filming experiences. “There were many film crews from different countries proposed to shoot in Taiwan before the wrap of “Life of Pi.” And indeed the crew continuously recommended Taichung to the foreign productions for scouting, and some are sure to visit Taichung. Ang Lee also mentioned that there was no such crew like this that everyone made appointments to gather again in Taichung when the film was wrapped.

They showed favorable impressions to Taichung and the delight they showed in the warp party did not exist ever before.

The statement of Jean Shih was then proved later in August, 2013 that Suraj Sharma, the main actor of “Life of Pi” was coming back to Taiwan and Taichung again for travelling with his brother before entering college. The Information Bureau received them and helped them to organized the tour and visiting in Taichung. As Suraj said in front of the media in Taiwan, he missed the foods and environment in Taichung so much and Taichung is his second home⁷. This again testified to the effect of Taichung City’s marketing strategies.

In addition to the “Life of Pi” effects towards the film crews, the attitudes and stands of the city council also changed after Ang Lee and the film won four Oscar Awards.

“It was really impressive that the attitude of the city council was totally different from Ang Lee had won the Academy Awards. Before the film was released, there were councilors queried the city government for wasting the public money, and sarcastically blamed the city government for not taking the responsibility to market the city image with the first-released poster. But when “Life of Pi” hit the blockbuster and won many international film awards, the councilors all wanted to leave the wave tank in the electoral district. It’s because the city government was planning to keep the wave tank as a start point to develop a cinematic

7 http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20130815/243160/. Retrieved on August 15^th, 2013.

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technology park; so the councilors were strived for the wave tank in order to benefit their electoral district. They even yielded the no palm to each other during budget examination.

There was a world a difference between their attitudes.”Ruan Pei-Fen said.

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Chapter 5

Conclusion and Suggestions