House Films & Burger King Launch BKTV
In November and December, we partnered with Burger King 汉堡王 to create an in-store and web- based TV network, featuring original BK branded content programs -- BKTV.

The program block will be distributed in all BK restaurants in China as well as online. The programming will feature BK China news in addition to educational and entertainment programming and be available in all BK restaurants in China starting early 2012.

In addition to BKTV, House Films continues to produce new episodes of the “Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家” wine show sponsored by ASC as well as At the Movies with Sarah/ Sarah的电影世界 at The Shanghai Centre Theatre and Sarah’s English Challenge/ Sarah的英语挑战 episodes sponsored by Burger King.

Also two seasons of our Quest China & Quest USA 真人秀大挑战TV show will be broadcast on Xiamen TV starting in January 2012.

We have many exciting new projects in the works for 2012, so stay tuned for the latest updates.

Sept. and Oct. 2011

House Films goes to the movies
During September and October, we kicked off our new web show "At The Movies with Sarah, Sarah的电影世界", shot on location at the luxurious Shanghai Centre Theatre. In the show, producer/director Sarah Zhang shares with audience her favorite classic Hollywood films.In the first episode, the show features the legendary film "The Godfather 教父".

Also during this period, two of our shows were picked up for broadcast. SMG’s CBN(China Business Network) 第一财经channel distributed our "Connoisseur" 葡萄酒鉴赏家 wine show and Macau TV picked up the "Inside Macao" show we produce for TTV.

In October, we had the privilege of working on a film for a charity event sponsored by National Geographic and Intercontinental Hotel
Shanghai.

In other news, Sarah was interviewed by the Chinese business magazine Pioneer 创业人杂志 about our wine show Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家.We also produced a video for the famous "Decanter" wine magazine featuring an interview with Jeannie Cho Lee, the first Asian Master of Wine. Last, but not least, we finished a corporate video for ASC Fine wines.

July & August 2011

Production started for the 2nd season of the “Connoisseur” wine show
During July and August,House Films began shooting the second season of our popular wine education show "Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家", sponsored by ASC Fine Wines. Later, we were interviewed by CNN go about the show and our thoughts on on-line entertainment in China.

In addition to the Connoisseur wine show, we continue to produce new episodes of "Sarah’s English Challenge" show sponsored by Burger King. We also started shooting new hotels in Hangzhou and Suzhou for TTV.

On the corporate side, we provided production support for video shoots from the US as well as providing translation and China localization services for some of our local clients.
　

May & June. 2011

House Films’ Cinematic May and June
During May and June House Films has been involved in a couple of exciting cinematic experiences. First, Sarah Zhang was honored to be one of three judges for the first 48 Hour Film Project in Shanghai. Next, we worked on a promotional video shot during the Shanghai Film Festival for the new Wayne Wang film,"Snow Flower and The Secret Fan", produced by Wendy Deng 邓文迪,wife of media titan Rupert Murdoch and staring famous Chinese actress Li Bingbing 李冰冰, Korean film/TV star Gianna Jun 全智贤 & Australian star of stage and screen, Hugh Jackman. It is a high profile international production and the highlight of the film festival.

In May,we started to produce the 2nd season of our entertaining and educational, web-show,"Sarah’s English Challenge" sponsored by Burger King.

On the corporate side, we produced videos for a European bank establishing operations in China and ASC Fine Wines.

March & April. 2011

Sarah Zhang works to save the forests with Li Bingning and the United Nations.
House Films was honored to produce a TVC for United Nations Environment Program for "World Environment Day, June 5th. Sarah Zhang directed the spot which featured Chinese movie star Li Bingbing 李冰冰.

We also did a China-market localization for a Chateau Lafite wine video. On the corporate front, we produced several projects for international and local clients including Target Stores of USA and China Nanjing Southern Telecom.

At the end of April, Sarah was a speaker at a seminar about "Building Brands in Cyber Space", hosted by iTV-Asia.

Jan. & Feb. 2011

New year, new look, new website
The new year saw House Films working with TTV on a redesign of the "Inside Shanghai" and "Inside Hong Kong" shows featuring new graphics and show opens, as well as introducing New special features like, "My Hong Kong" hosted by Miss Hong Kong 2009 Sandy Lau. We also started to produce the shows in Mandarin Chinese in addition to the English versions, so Mainland Chinese tourists can get in on the fun.

Our wine/lifestyle website went live at the end of February, check out www.wineshow.cn and will feature exciting new shows including the second season of our popular "Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家", as well as exciting new lifestyle content.

On the corporate front, we supported Reed Business Information to finish an interview shoot and also produced an on-location "green screen" shoot for Pepsi.

Nov. & Dec. 2010

House Films enhances our luxury lifestyle content
November and December saw House Films start a new show for TTV: "The China Luxury Showcase" which will feature top international luxury brands available in China. The show will air in 4 to 5 star hotel rooms in Shanghai and Hong Kong on the TTV in-room network, reaching thousands of upscale travelers every day.

In addition our wine show, "The Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家" will be getting a website www.wineshow.cn Fans will soon have another way to interact with the show and connect with our wine brand and other luxury sponsors. The show’s Sina Weibo 新浪微博 fan base continues to grow passing 20,000 upscale fans at the end of 2010.

On the corporate video side, we produced a video media kit for English First, shot a project for Accenture and also finished an presentation video for China International Petroleum & Petrochemical Technology and Equipment Exhibition.

Stayed tuned for more original contents from House Films after Chinese New Year of 2011.

September & October. 2010

Wine, Burgers and American TV shows
Sarah’s English Challenge: Burgers and American TV shows
In October, Burger King signs on to sponsor our new web show: "Sarah’s English Challenge, Sarah的英语挑战". In the show, contestants watch clips from famous American TV shows and must compete to translate expressions and lines from the shows into Chinese. The show is shot on location at a Burger King restaurant in Shanghai and it’s hosted by our director/producer Sarah Zhang.

Wine
The months of September and October saw our Sina Weibo (Mini Blog) 新浪微博for our wine education show The Connoisseur葡萄酒鉴赏家’s fan base explode to over 12,500 and growing at about 150 new fans per day. In October, we started a new feature by reviewing wines for our Weibo fans, the wine lovers in China.

July & August. 2010

House Films goes Red for Expo 2010
During the 1st week of July, House Films shot a project over 7 days and nights at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, using the 4K Red One Camera. With a cast of over 100 and crew of over 25, working with client BRC, we shot all the action at the USA Pavilion and the China Information & Telecommunications Pavilion, working through extreme heat and rain and gloom of night to deliver the project to our client.

"Inside Shanghai" expands to Hong Kong
As well as continuing to shoot "Inside Shanghai 在上海" show, House Films has expanded its relationship with Tourist TV by handling post-production of their new "Inside Hong Kong" show scheduled to start airing in 4 & 5 star hotel rooms in Hong Kong over the next few months.

Free The Connoisseur!
Or maybe we should say get your free "Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家" show DVD in September in any of the following magazines: ASC Wine Magazine, Mr. Modern, & Restaurant Review. If you’ve wanted to share the wine fun with friends and family, don’t forget to pick up those magazines. Also our Connoisseur wine show has attracted about 5000 fans on China’ Sina Weibo (micro-blog) 新浪微博。http://t.sina.com.cn/1680433742
　

May & June. 2010

Gang of Five and the good-looking Gardener
Like the weather in Shanghai, things have been heating up at House Films for the last couple of months. Starting with the release of our fitness reality show "The Gym 健乐男女" in early May, we followed up with the release of our first sitcom "Gang of Five 五人帮" http://u.youku.com/user_show/id_UMjU5NTA5OTQw.html in early June. In addition to these two new shows, we continue to shoot our Tourist TV show " Inside Shanghai", we have also had the opportunity to work with Fisher Price Toys again, helping their toys to speak Chinese.

We hav,e had the pleasure of interviewing the rising young American heart-throb Jesse Metcalfe (the good-looking Gardener on Desperate Housewives) for Hollywood Reporter TV.

Finally, we have been given the great honor of producing a 6 day "Red Camera" shoot of the USA Pavilion and the Chinese Communications Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, the last week in June. It’s been a crazy busy May and June in the city of Shanghai.

March & April. 2010

Hooray for Hollywood
House Films started pre-production and production on a couple of new shows during March and April. In March, we kicked off a new partnership with Thoughtful Media based in Hollywood, California, working as their China production partner on some exciting new web shows, including a youthful comedy called "五人帮 Gang of 5", scheduled to debut the first week in June.

In April, we started production on a new show "Hollywood Close-up" that brings the latest Hollywood entertainment news to China.

On the corporate front, we produced a new project for Accenture China highlighting one of their clients in the garment industry.

In April, we also started shooting our newest reality show "The Gym" www.thegymshow.cn  as we continue producing the up-scale tourist information show "Inside Shanghai" for Tourist TV.

January & February. 2010

The Tiger Cub Roars
House Films started 2010 with our first official production for Accenture, a multi-day shoot in Beijing, Dalian and Shanghai. As the only officially approved Accenture video production partner in China, we look forward to a long and exciting relationship with the ultimate "High Performance" company.

February saw House Films working on a documentary project on alternative energy in China for Dorst Media Works, a Washington DC based film production company, as well as a 3 camera shoot of the Beijing performance of the Broadway musical "Fame".

We also continued production on TTV's monthly tourist information show "Inside Shanghai" for the February and March episodes, as well as started screen-tests for our newest reality show production "The Gym 健乐男女".

House Films is happy to announce partnering with Modern Sky 摩登天空. The largest Chinese music company will provide the music soundtrack for "The Gym" show.

November and December. 2009

House Films finishes 2009 in a flurry of activities
The last two months have seen House Films bursting with activities, wrapping our November and December episodes of "Inside Shanghai"as well as episodes 1-6 of our wine show "The Connoisseur 葡萄酒鉴赏家" being delivered. We also started casting for our new fitness reality show, "The Gym 健乐男". Production starts in late January 2010. www.thegymshow.cn

In addition, we are finally wrapping our documentary project for Concordia School International School in Shanghai, as well completing HD shoots for Ford and ASC Fine Wines/Suntory in Shanghai and True Innovations in Dongguan. Rounding out our busy schedule was a 6 day Mandarin voice over record for Intel through Italian localization firm Binari Sonori.

September and October. 2009

ShangHigh Life
It's been a luxury life for House Films over the last two months whether it's been sampling world- class wines while shooting our wine show "The Connoisseur", or visiting 5-star restaurants, luxury hotels and unique upscale fashion and design stores for our new "Inside Shanghai" TV show. We have been hanging out with celebrity chefs including Jean Georges Vongrichten and David Laris to drop a few names and generally experiencing the best life style Shanghai has to offer.

In addition to the glamorous life, we've continued our months-long project shooting Concordia School, now going Green with geo thermal technology, green walls and new green roof on their brand new high school building, as well as doing a shoot in Dalian, China for Hewlet Packard.

July/August . 2009

House Films goes on the road and starts production on several new programs
House Films started the summer with a corporate video project for Italian gym equipment brand TechnoGym. HF worked with Richard Hsu of Hsu + agency on the brand building video. Later that month, we did documentary project in July about a 17 year old boy from the US traveling through China re-tracing the movements of his grandfather, who was with the US 14th Air Force stationed in Kunming during World War 2, also known as "The Flying Tigers".

In August, we started production on a TV show "Inside Shanghai" about the exciting city of Shanghai for Tourist TV, shooting some of the coolest locations in the city. In addition we closed sponsorship deals with new sponsors for our wine show "The Connoisseur" and started pre-production on an exciting new reality show about health and fitness sponsored by TechnoGym and the show is fittingly called "The Gym".  An exciting summer is leading into what looks like a busy fall.

May/June. 2009

Ric and Sarah shoot Ted and The Connoisseur

House Films had the opportunity to shoot the first official TED event in China, TEDx Shanghai, which highlights people with ideas worth spreading to the world. The event featured some great thinkers and artists based in China. As one of the event sponsors, House Films had the opportunity to work with some great people representing several organizations based in China and abroad including Christine Lu of The China Business Network, Sage Brennan, Jung Goh, Richard Hsu，Ogilvy & Mather PR, and Tudou to name a few. The TEDx videos will be available on Tudou throughout China and the world in a couple of weeks.

We also developed and produced the first episode of a new web-based wine show "The Connoisseur", working with M1NT, the private millionaire’s club and ASC Wine, the largest wine distributer in China. Produced in Mandarin Chinese, the show brings a light-hearted look at learning about wine to the upscale Chinese consumers.

The above-mentioned projects were co-directed and co-produced by Sarah Zhang and Ric DiIanni of House Films, all post production was done in-house @ House Films.

March/April. 2009

House Films meets Kung Fu Panda
In March and April, we had fun working on projects for the X Media Lab Suzhou "Wealth of Animation" event, where we got to interview the top people from the world of animation including John Stevenson, director of "Kung Fu Panda"; Eric Rollman, head of Marvel Animation; Zareh Nalbandian, CEO of Animal Logic, which is the team behind "Happy Feet" and visual effects for The Matrix; Asenath Wald, head of 3-D for the Oscar nominated "Waltz with Bashir" and other animation luminaries from around the globe.

Next we wound up back at grade school, starting the shoot on a multi-month documentary project for Concordia International School of Shanghai. Concordia College in Nebraska was the school that Sarah attended when she first moved to the US from China and working with them here in Shanghai is a very rewarding experience for her, like finding an old lost friend. It's also great meeting the dedicated teachers and talented students. We look forward to continuing to work on this project over the next few months.

January/February. 2009

The Year of the Ox started with a bull run

To start, we produced a 2 day multi-camera HD shoot for Applied Materials in the city of Langfang outside Beijing during the height of the Chinese New Year celebration. The project was directed by David Baxter from Delphi productions in San Francisco.

We then shot an HD documentary project for US based Richfield Productions from Washington DC highlighting the CEO of JD Power China. The project highlights a day in the life of a Mandarin speaking American business executive in the age of globalization. The project was directed by Sarah Zhang of House Films.

In late February, we produced a short documentary interview series for the China Business Network’s SXSW party at M1NT, Shanghai. The party is sponsored by Symbio. The interviews highlight the business environment in China for expate business people in the fields of IT and new media. The video will be screened at South by South West, the film, music and interactive festival in Austin, Texas in March. The project was directed by Ric DiIanni of House Films.

November/December. 2008

The year ends with High Performance

November & December found House Films producing a new TV show pilot about cars and car culture, titled "High Performance", hosted by our favourite host David Wu 吴大维. The show combines great cars & comedy, putting a fun new spin on an old format. The program was shot at the track of Shanghai March3 Motorsport Center over two days, using 4 HD cameras and was finished in full HD and Dolby 5.1 surround sound. The pilot episode will be screened for the sponsors in early January.

Thanks to all our clients, crews and venders for a great 2008. Hope 2009 brings as many new and exciting challenges.

October. 2008

 Aida comes to Shanghai

In October, we followed up our "Venture" episode on the Broadway musical "Aida" 百老汇音乐剧"阿依达" by being asked to video tape the entire show’s performance at the Majestic Theatre in Shanghai. The performance was covered with multiple cameras during the show’s run and all post production was handled in House at House Films.

Later in the month, we were asked to produced a video documenting the International Aquarium conference held for the first time in China and hosted by the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium 上海海洋水族馆. We shoot both video and still photos for the 6 day event. Over 80 hours of video tape and 5,000 still photographs were edited down for the final production.

Also in October, Quest China 大挑战, the 2^nd season of our reality TV series started to air on Channel Young of SMG’s SiTV, every Sunday at 8 pm.

September. 2008

New-media business show in Shanghai: Venture
In September, we produced the 1st episode of our new-media business interview show TV show – Venture.

In the 1st episode, producer Sarah Zhang interviews executives from the Nederlander Group of New York as they bring the Broadway musical of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida 阿依达 to the stage of the Majestic Theater in Shanghai. The show was shot at the Majestic theatre and was a 2 camera shoot directed by Ric DiIanni. The show will start its broadcast run on over 4000 Jinjiang taxi screens of I-level Media in Shanghai on September 15th. Watch the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj0aGLCbBAs

House Films goes green for Ernst & Young – using our portable green screen, we shot interviews with several E & Y executives at their office in Shanghai, sending the footage off to the US for them to be inserted into a completely different environment through the magic of digital post production.

August 2008

The Olympic fever hits House Films
We had a busy month of August at House Films, starting with a shoot for Applied Materials in China’s western city of Xian, a shoot in Beijing during the height of the Olympic action for Flint, a London based production house, and another shoot in Beijing the day after the Olympics closing ceremony for The Ritz Carlton Hotel, interviewing chef and author Jen Lin Liu in her Hutong restaurant/cooking school and we rounded out the month with two shoots in Shanghai, one for Macro- Media’s TV Guide and another for the Travel Channel USA, highlighting the smallest luxury restaurant in the world, the tiny two-seat restaurant at the top of "3 on the Bund", called "The Cupola".

July 2008

Flying fish in the Shanghai Sky
July saw House Films working with the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium to create a sky-born promo to run on the sky-ship that will be flying around Shanghai this September, hosting a large color video display. Shanghai residents will be able to look into the sky for a glimpse of the exotic creatures on display at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, the largest in Asia.

Fisher Price learns Chinese - After working with Italian Co. Binari Sonori, we translated spoken text used by Fisher Price for its educational toys into Mandarin Chinese, including song lyrics. Now, Fisher Price toys can speak Chinese.

May 2008

New projects for Target Stores, Accenture and SSIS
During the month of May, House films produced video projects for Target Stores, Accenture and Shanghai Singapore International School.

For Target, we shot and edited a 2 & 1/2 hours video that we then translated into both Mandarin Chinese and Korean and produced and authored a DVD with 2 subtitle options. In the process, we learned what a great company Target is. During our shoot, the earthquake in Sichuan happened and in less than 24 hours, Target pleged $500,000 to the earthquake relief effort. Target has no stores in China, but didn't hesitate to help.
(Produced and directed by Ric DiIanni and Sarah Zhang, Post Production and DVD authoring at House Films.)

We also worked with one of the great international consulting companies Accenture, interveiewing their president for an international video production.
(Produced by Ric DiIanni, Directed by Sarah Zhang)

At the end of the month, we started an HD production on a multi-day shoot for The Shanghai Singapore International School and had a lot of fun working with and spending time getting to know the students, teachers and staff from pre-school to 12th grade.
(Produced and Directed by Ric DiIanni and Sarah Zhang)

It's been a busy month, but we got to meet some great people and some great companies both international and local.

April 2008

House Films produces WHO video with Jet Li 李连杰

On April 28th, 2008, House Films shot with Jet Li 李连杰 for a video presentation highlighting celebrities from around the world  for the 60th anniversary celebration of The World Health Organization 世界卫生组织.
 
The project was shot in Shanghai, China in HD format.
 
We had fun on the set and it was exciting to work with Jet, an actor who has the number one box-office hit at the moment and continues to be the most internationally-recognized actor from mainland China.
 
This project is directed by Sarah Zhang and produced by Ric DiIanni with Leo Li working as the DP.

                 

March 2008
Quest China, Da Tiao Zhan on China's IPTV
Quest China, Da Tiao Zhan started airing on China's IPTV on March 21st, 2008.
Audiences in the following cities and provinces in China can watch Quest China, Da Tiao Zhan: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xian, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Harbin, Quanzhou and Anhui.

Some of the links:
上海  Shanghai : http://www.ctiptv.com/index.html
厦门 Xiamen:     http://iptv.oooxm.com/newshow.aspx?id=47
泉州 Quanzhou: http://iptv.qz.fj.cn/program/program.htm
福建 Fujian:       http://itv.fjii.com/d/dt200802-125.html
沈阳 Shenyang: http://www.sy.ln.cn/iptv/pub/wordfile/250.htm

For more info. about the show, check out:
www.questchina.tv

For a sneak preview of Quest China, Click here!  

In the same month, we shot a series of interviews with expat business people in Shanghai for the China Business Network. Sarah Zhang was also interviewed by Christine Lu, the founder of the China Business Network.

February 2008

Quest China 中国大挑战 is airing in China and Asia
As of February 2008,Quest China 中国大挑战, the first international reality tv show produced in China, started airing in China and the Asia Pacific region.

Audiences in Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia can watch Quest China 中国大挑战 through TVB8; audiences in China can watch the show on several broadcast and new media platforms including traditional TV stations, available now on the following: Chengdu TV, Dalian TV, Shanghai's IPTV and the Jinjiang taxi screens.

Journey to Suzhou -- At the beautiful city of Suzhou, we shot a project for Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd and had some time to check out some of the world famous Suzhou gardens.

Back in Shanghai, we shot series of interviews with people on the streets about their food and health habit for Pepsi USA’s research division. We also interviewed JWT’s CEO Tom Doctoroff about Chinese consumers’ attitude about health and diet.

January 2008

New year with a French twist
We took some time off from finishing up post production on our reality TV show Quest China, Da Tiao Zhan to celebrate the New Year, and then we went right into production, shooting on a very cold day in Shanghai at the very high-tech facility of French Co. Markem-Imaje, a newly formed merger of two of the top names in the bar-code industry. This project is designed to help the company get to know its newly formed family.