In view of his long association with, and contribution to, "Police Magazine", OffBeat invites Mr Wong to share with our readers his feelings and expectations of the television programme.

In the 2003 Television Programme Appreciation Index (Second Quarter) Survey, "Police Magazine" has just scored the ninth place out of 96 TV programmes. At the RTHK TV Programme Reshuffle Ceremony last month, RTHK selected "Police Magazine" as its longest running TV programme.

"The news has brought me lots of satisfaction. The survey shows that 'Police Magazine' is popular with the viewers. Positive viewer feedback is also a solid proof that the programme is effective in helping the Police disseminate information, and in bridging the gap between the Force and the community," said Mr Wong.

"Police Magazine" was launched only as a 15-minute black-and-white programme known as "Police 15" in 1973, and had "grown up" to become a 30-minute full-colour production, with changes in the presentation format.

As a producer, Mr Wong has witnessed the transformations of "Police Magazine" over the years, notably from contents to presentation format.

He said: "In the 1970s, crime victims were encouraged to make an appeal before the camera so as to achieve more impact on the viewers. For example, in a missing person case, the missing person's family appeared on TV to appeal to the public, especially neighbours, to report the whereabouts of their loved ones to the Police. At that time, the presentation format was quite straightforward.

"Compared with 20 years ago, the programme nowadays has to meet viewers' higher expectations in terms of contents and quality. Anything below standard will not appeal to them!"

Case reconstruction

On the production work of "Police Magazine", Mr Wong is not deterred by a very tight production schedule. And he likes the present presentation format because it gives him more room for manoeuvring.

"In most cases, the Police officer-in-charge of a particular case will provide only a brief. Sometimes, there are only a few points for us to start with. After the briefing, we have to think it over and over again, analyse the case and draw up the storyboard.

"We have to reconstruct a case in an easy-to-understand way so that we can pass a direct and simple message within one or two minutes. And we have to make sure that there won't be any discrepancies between the real case and the drama. Of course, case reconstruction shouldn't affect the subsequent court trials.

"What's more, 'Police Magazine' is a rather serious programme. So, in the first place, we have to present information in such a way that it can effectively catch the viewers' attention. Only in this way that they would come forward to help the Police in combating crime.

"You may argue that the modus operandi of deception are more or less the same and that the only differences are time and location of the cases. But each case is unique. Presentation methods will be different. Each time there will be something new!" said Mr Wong.

Mr Wong pointed out that with the advance of technology, programme production had to keep pace with times with the increasing use of sound effects and digital video effects to enrich image quality.

Finding suitable actors

Mr Wong regards finding suitable actors for "Police Magazine" as the most important task of a director. In reconstructing a case, he has to ensure the stage props match the crime scene, and the actors look like the real culprits.

"Prior to location filming, we have to liaise with our agency to find film extras. We have to spell out our requirements clearly - age, height and even the hair colour. Furthermore, we have to tell them in advance whether there will be any action scenes."

Mr Wong likes to use "new faces" for the programme even if they are inexperienced. He doesn't mind spending time to teach them how to act.

"To strive for a good take, I won't give in for the sake of convenience. On one occasion, a film extra had 'NG' for nearly 40 times for a simple shot in a reconstructed street scam case. The storyboard was very simple and the actor only needed to utter a few words pretending to be a public officer. But he was too nervous to react. Forty minutes passed and he was still very nervous and felt dizzy. Finally he managed to finish the job after given some coaching and encouragement.

"I love using 'new faces' for the programme even though many of them don't know what filming is all about. We can have more flexibility in asking the 'new faces' to play different roles in a drama. Otherwise, some 'old faces' that are familiar to viewers may play the role of a thief one day and act as a crime victim in another episode."

Apart from "Police Magazine", Mr Wong also directs production of other Police TV programmes like "Crime Watch". After producing Police programmes for so many years, he felt "having one foot working in the Force".

Mr Wong, a filmmaker before taking up the director post of "Police Magazine", said it was important to keep a creative mind. "I have to keep a creative mind during production. When I go to a particular place for filming, I would think of different ways of adjusting camera lens and different ways of presentations," he concluded.

Mr Hiter Wong is pleased with the popularity of "Police Magazine"

"Police Magazine" has just scored the ninth place out of 96 TV programmes