Happy Chicken (and other things)

[yukabacera]

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8832
I came across this entry with no Chinese title. A quick Google search brought up label photos of the same laserdisc used by the editor for the original submission.



Now, it should be obvious from the labels and the editor's synopsis and review that the two videos on this disc are completely unrelated. Side A contains an adult video called Happy Chicken, which was later released on VCD (with the same Chinese title and no English title) and DVD (completely different Chinese and English titles) while side B contains an idol video of actress Jojo Ngan, which was also reissued on VCD later on.

This is Happy Chicken: http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=12448
We also have this entry which shares three pseudonymous actresses with Happy Chicken. Food for thought: http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8754

What bothers me the most are the director and producer credits. I wasn't able to find any pictures of the LD cover, which might be the missing link, but it seems unlikely the idol video would credit either. The VCD version of Happy Chicken credits another (pseudonymous) director and no producer. So...
1) is Wai Chi-ho also a pseudonym? It doesn't sound like one to me, but the lack of other credits is suspicious.
2) should the Jojo Ngan idol video even stay in the database? I don't think videos like that meet anyone's definition of a film.
3) should the credits from the Happy Chicken entry be removed?

[calros]

1) Yes. The question is whose?
2) There is no rule in our DB of what a movie must look like to get in.
3) Maybe we should create new names with (2)

[bkasten]

Regarding this poorly done entry:
http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8832
This can be moved into the "recordings" section under the real "Happy Chicken/????" movie ID, where it will indicate "laserdisc" and call out a description of the second idol video (once I release the "recordings" feature).

Even I do not know the source of this entry. It was entered into the DB before 1999. And because I lack a transaction log for it, it may have been brought over from the previous site. I see Andrew (STSH) wrote a review of it, but the plot summary was not written by him.

Secondary sources do not back up these Producer and Director credits. And it's not clear to what the editor was referring (A-side or B-side of the LD). Let's see if I or others can some up with some credit caps from the "????" film and we can go from there.

As for these barely z grade idol videos being worthy of entry into the DB - I agree we are into a grey area...but I would prefer to tend toward inclusion, rather than not.

[yukabacera]

2) There is no rule in our DB of what a movie must look like to get in.

Of course - but my question was more along the lines of whether such a video could be considered a "movie" at all. For example, TV commercials also have directors, producers, actors and crew... some of them tell a story, they have award shows and festivals for ads... but are they films? Well, I don't care too much about it either way - I just thought it was something we should be clear on.

[...] but the plot summary was not written by him.

I thought it was him since it reads like his style, to me. But you would know better, obviously.

As for the credits (such as they are) - they're quite useless: https://files.catbox.moe/mhsk2m.png (large image so didn't embed)
I see now I have to correct myself - there is a (pseudonymous) producer credited. I missed it the first time I looked. These are the credits from the DVD version, so it would seem that the original Chinese title is actually ??????? - the VCD version has the same credits, just missing the title card. No idea about the laserdisc still.

[bkasten]

2) There is no rule in our DB of what a movie must look like to get in.

Of course - but my question was more along the lines of whether such a video could be considered a "movie" at all. For example, TV commercials also have directors, producers, actors and crew... some of them tell a story, they have award shows and festivals for ads... but are they films? Well, I don't care too much about it either way - I just thought it was something we should be clear on.

Yes, telling a story or documenting something is a good requirement for a film, and for inclusion here. And indeed some ads qualify as short films and would merit inclusion. I am not sure we really need to go to the lengths and depths of codification of film inclusion criteria for HKMDB. I will trust editor judgement here. But I am open to further constructive and well-argued suggestions.

In this particular case, this is something that should probably not have a distinct entry in the database, but can be listed and described as a laserdisc b-side in "recordings" (i.e., an adjunct to another movie on a particular recording/distribution). Once there, I will delete this entry: http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8832.