Viet Nam News By Hồng Vân The global cinema industry has seen massive success from crossover flick Avengers: Infinity War, which became the fourth highest grossing film of all time. The Avengers features characters from films like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy and is the ‘most ambitious crossover event in history’. Since 2016, Vietnamese crossovers have attempted to rake in some of the huge viewership, even if they don’t aspire to the same high cinematic standards. The crossover based on blockbuster TV series Quỳnh Búp Bê (Quỳnh The Doll) has racked up more than 1.6 million views on its fanpage since its release two months ago. This is not a bad number for a 6-minute video that was published online and made within two days. It did a good job in hooking viewers yet is considered a fun music video rather than a movie. The video … [Read more...] about Crossover movies should be more than just a gimmick
Just watch movies
YOLO digital bank expected to make a breakthrough in mobile financial service
Viet Nam News VPBank recently launched a digital bank called YOLO in which users can access not only daily services such as taxis, movies, hotel bookings and food and beverage orders, but also banking services including savings and loans associated with Master Card. Director of YOLO Shameek Bhargava talks with local media about the unique digital banking platform that VPBank is proud to add to the market Can you tell us about the background of the digital bank? The idea of forming YOLO originated from the desire to create a digital platform capable of reaching and serving millions of new customers quickly – a digital banking platform that has the potential to thrive and break through what we see as the traditional banking model. With such big ambitions, we have used a completely new, independent technology platform that is different from current banking platforms which use the traditional core banking system. This platform allows us to grow faster than existing technologies … [Read more...] about YOLO digital bank expected to make a breakthrough in mobile financial service
Kay Nguyễn:the screenwriter’s story
Viet Nam News Standing behind the success of The Tailor (Cô ba Sài Gòn), Tèo Em, Siêu sao Siêu ngố and several other movies, screenwriter and director Kay Nguyễn tells Khoa Thư the story of the country’s emerging commercial cinema scene and how a screenwriter can catch the new wave. Inner Sanctum: What led you into filmmaking? My cinematic journey has just started and it seems like a flower bursting from a seed sowed 30 years ago. I started watching movies at five after my grandmother died and we moved from the place where my dad and I were born. Our new life was turbulent and entertainment was a way to forget. Some years later, after graduating from high school, I got a scholarship to study arts in the United States. I tried to study film, too, but was left behind by my American fellows as they had started recording and editing 8mm films at the age of ten. Struggling to keep up with them, I chose screenwriting because … [Read more...] about Kay Nguyễn:the screenwriter’s story
Cinematic success with social responsibility
National pride and success have become synonymous with the song “Viet Nam oi” written in 2011 to cheer on the Vietnamese contingent at the 26th Southeast Asian Games. However, not many people know that the song’s writer is also a successful startup founder in the cinema industry, whose life has been driven by inspiration. “While most enterprises consider profit their highest priority, I focus on the impacts of my work on the community,” said Bui Quang Minh, founder and CEO of the Beta Media Joint Stock Company. Returning to Viet Nam with an MBA from Harvard Business School, Minh decided to start a business in his own country and make a difference to society. At that time, he found out that the number of cinemas per capita in Viet Nam was still very low compared to the region; moreover, modern cinemas only focused on the high-end segment with relatively high ticket prices compared to the income of the majority of Vietnamese people. This fact inspired Minh … [Read more...] about Cinematic success with social responsibility
Spam messages plague phone users
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI – Congratulation! You are this week’s winner. Send DKG to 9183 to receive a top-up card worth VNĐ200,000 (US$8.56). This is just one of the many text messages that pop up on the phone screen of Minh Hương in Hoàn Kiếm District every day. These advertisements encourage users to try multiple services, from data packages to top-up cards, and from English courses to new real estate projects in town. “It’s totally insane,” Hương told Việt Nam News. “They (the network providers) promised to start blocking all spam calls and messages from 2017, but nothing seems to have changed,” she added. Hương has two phone numbers with the biggest network providers in the country, Vinaphone and Viettel. While spam from Viettel invite her to join Keeng, a music social network, watch movies online or use a new mobile money application, Vinaphone advertises data packages, quiz … [Read more...] about Spam messages plague phone users
TV rights infringements hurt Vietnam broadcasters, viewers on the fence
Nguyen Minh Tuan is a big football fan and was upset at the prospect of not watching the Vietnamese men’s team playing at the ongoing Asian Games in Indonesia. No broadcaster in the country had bought the rights to the event. But Tuan did not have to worry for too long. “Eventually I could watch it online with links on Facebook and YouTube and have not missed any of Vietnam’s matches,” he told VnExpress International a few days before Vietnam finally secured the 2018 Asiad broadcasting rights Tuesday. By then Vietnam had already beaten Pakistan, Nepal and Japan to top Group D to make it to the round of 16. And thanks to the “links” Tuan mentioned, many Vietnamese watched their players live. However, broadcasters are not happy. For them, Asiad 2018 is only the tip of the copyright infringement iceberg in Vietnam. On Saturday it was the turn of Italy’s Serie A championship. FPT Television has bought the TV rights for … [Read more...] about TV rights infringements hurt Vietnam broadcasters, viewers on the fence
Get your geek on: 130,000 head for San Diego Comic-Con
LOS ANGELES — Desk jockeys in eye-wateringly tight spandex will blur the line between fantasy and reality this week as they invade San Diego for the world’s largest celebration of pop culture fandom. The 49th Comic-Con International will revel in movies, TV and - yes - comic books, as fans in pitch-perfect monster, alien and manga costumes swelter in the southern Californian heat over five surreal days. Where fandom abounds, controversy is never far behind. And the big bone of contention this year is Disney’s decision not to bring its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to Comic-Con, despite a record-breaking year with Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp. "It’s going to be an interesting year this year," said SyFy Wire editor-in-chief Adam Swiderski in a video preview of the Wednesday to Sunday get-together at the city’s harborfront convention centre. "A lot of the big players like ’Marvel,’ ’Star … [Read more...] about Get your geek on: 130,000 head for San Diego Comic-Con
Are long music videos worth the watch?
Viet Nam News by Mộc Miên and An Vũ In recent years, the Vietnamese music scene, especially music for young people, has made great strides in production quality, especially music videos. This is an indispensable trend for artists, from senior artists like Mỹ Tâm and Đàm Vĩnh Hưng, to younger stars like Hương Tràm and Noo Phước Thịnh, in developing their images as well as elevating the quality of music videos. In this way, it is necessary to mention the approach to producing music videos, which is constantly being perfected, in terms of content as well as presentation. In the past, music videos were simple, with the main content used to highlight vocals and music. The videos of today are very different. "I see that music videos are now like short films, with complete stories that are consistent with the lyrical content of the song," said Nguyễn Ngọc Linh, a young music fan. According to … [Read more...] about Are long music videos worth the watch?
Greater Spending On The Internet
Greater Spending On The InternetBy Tuyet AnYahoo! and Kantar Media have just issued the results of a survey on Internet use in Vietnam, Net Index 2010. Spending on the Internet is on the rise and the prospects for e-commerce bright.Net Index 2010, undertaken by Kantar Media, surveyed 1,500 people aged 15 and over in four big cities, Hanoi, HCM City, Danang and Can Tho. Last year saw significant shifts in the number of users, websites, social stratification and expenditure on the Internet. Net Index 2010 offers insights into popular activities such as emailing, searching and chatting, and analyzes trends in Internet use, including social networking sites and other online channels.The survey in 2010 indicates that expenditure on Internet services in the four cities in 2009 rose by 20% year-on-year on average, VND210,000 per month in 2009 as compared with VND174,000 per month in 2008. The steepest rise was in Can Tho, from VND115,000 in 2008 to VND192,000 in 2009,which surpassed … [Read more...] about Greater Spending On The Internet
Watching a 3D movie save a life
VietNamNet Bridge – At half-past 10 in the morning, the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB pump) started running, making a steady sound.My heart was pounding, though, and I was half-afraid I would faint. I had never seen an operation first-hand before, and I was no medical student inured to the graphics of flesh, bone and blood.The room’s was filled with the clean hospital-aseptic tang and other odours, the iodine used to sterilise the skin, the subtler notes of the fluids.A state-of-the-art, minimally invasive surgery was about to take place, I reminded myself to get rid of the nervousness.Dr Pham Thanh Dat, the surgeon, had just finished establishing the CPB for the heart surgery. The patient, Nguyen Van Hao, 59, lay still on a stainless steel table, draped in a green sheet.A gloved palm went out and Doan Thi Yen, the scrub nurse, placed a scalpel on it. Dat made an incision of five centimeters on the patient’s thoracic. A soft retractor was then inserted into the … [Read more...] about Watching a 3D movie save a life