People's Diplomacy─Showing Taiwan in One Second

 There are a lot ways one could choose to “show” Taiwan. What’s the best approach? What should be the focus? Without doubt no two people will have exactly the same responses to these questions.

“We use alternative media and channels to broadcast the vitality of the daily life of the ordinary people of Taiwan to every corner of the globe,” says Manfred Peng, director-general of the Department of International Information Services at MOFA. One of the department’s key roles is to come up with creative ideas to promote Taiwan’s “soft power.” The idea behind the “Show Taiwan in One Second” contest was to use spontaneous video images to give voice to those things that the residents of our island hold most dear.

Film director Kurt Lu, one of the competition judges, says that diplomacy and filmmaking share at least one thing in common: creative marketing is essential.

The vision of the people

The technical bar was deliberately set very low for submissions to this contest. Anyone with a mobile phone could capture the things that, in their eyes, are the most beautiful expressions of Taiwan.

Perhaps the best example is first-prize recipient Lai Kaiwei. Lai, in his early 30s, did not study anything film-related in college, nor does he have any professional gear. He is simply someone who enjoys using his mobile phone to opportunistically record the scenes of life around him. Red Envelopes, the work which won him the top spot, shows elders giving out traditional red packets of cash to children on Lunar New Year’s Eve. The most touching footage is of a “memorial photo” on the table. (Professionally produced memorial photos feature prominently at funerals and on family altars.) Lai explains: “Grandmother died in a road accident in 2013, and our family always brings her photo to the table to be with us as we eat the New Year’s feast.”

Lai adds: “This is the first time I’ve ever looked at the life and people around me through a camera frame, and it’s given me a whole new perspective on things.”

By contrast Han Xiuyu, who clinched second and sixth places in the top ten, as well as three honorable mentions, is a film professional. His runner-up video, entitled Ants, shows a group of elderly people who scour the streets of Taipei looking for recyclable objects. “Early every morning I see them out there picking up recyclables, one object at a time, pushing their carts from Liuzhangli all the way to the recycling station at Linguang New Community. It’s the kind of thing that, when you see it, leaves a very deep impression on you, like watching worker ants toiling away,” says Han.

You might think that a contest using video images shot on mobile devices would favor the young. But older people are also represented among the winners. Xu Qiheng, a man in his 50s, grabbed fourth place in the top ten with Compassionate Hands, and got an honorable mention for Showing Concern for the Disadvantaged. He is in the habit of documenting, in an impromptu manner, what he sees on the street, and in fact a few years ago resigned his job to become an amateur photographer and maker of micro-movies. Compassionate Hands shows the director of the Tzu Chi Hospital in the Taipei suburb of Xindian comforting a typhoon disaster victim. Xu relates: “To me, it’s the compassion and warmth of people like this that are the most beautiful things about Taiwan.”

The micro-films from Show Taiwan in One Second are like sky lanterns: Each one is just a passing flicker of light, but together they form a stream that powerfully affects the viewer.

Authenticity and food for thought

Nicole Cheng, chief creative officer at United-Asatsu Taipei, who served as a judge for Show Taiwan in One Second, emphasizes that all the submissions that made it to the final round were very authentic and down to earth, and showed real love for Taiwan. But when you have less than ten seconds, if you want to really make an emotional impact then you need something unique or special, something that creates dramatic tension or gives viewers food for thought and imagination.

Film director Kurt Lu, another of the judges, was the person in charge of turning the winning submissions into the two music videos. They include scenes of crowded urban life, and remote rural areas; parks, alleyways, train stations, and subway stations; children, the elderly, new immigrants, and street people; stray dogs along with the volunteers who care for them…. Although each fragment lasts only a few seconds, and they seem independent of one another, they in fact have a common thread: this is the real Taiwan as seen by its own people.

“I was really stunned!” says Lu, remarking that so many of the videos document moments of real-life authenticity of the kind that he as a director could never re-create in a movie. “When you tell a real story, and do so with genuine attachment, that’s real beauty, that’s what really moves people.”

Karen Hung, vice president at Elite PR Group, who also was on the panel of judges, adds that in this era of “we media” (also called “self media”), a “co-created video,” in addition to being rich in human interest, is also a very impactful technique for disseminating information.

Do you also love Taiwan and want to “show” what is beautiful about it? Then just pick up your cell phone and capture the moments that mean the most to you.

The micro-films from Show Taiwan in One Second are like sky lanterns: Each one is just a passing flicker of light, but together they form a stream that powerfully affects the viewer.