Some three years since the launch of a US$57 million five-year industry development blueprint, there are signs of a quickening of pace in Singapore's production and post production media sectors. However, some perennial issues remain, while new challenges beckon on the horizon. Industry insiders talk to David Lee about how 2005 has been and the confluence of factors needed to drive growth moving forward.The mood is perceptibly buoyant. Production houses and post facilities that have survived the what-seemed interminable drought years brought on by the Asian financial crisis, post-9/11, SARS, and other tumults seem to at last be basking in greener vistas as the sun peers through the ephemeral storm clouds.

"2005 was a watershed year for us," says Tan Chih Chong, executive producer of Sitting in Pictures. "We managed to push through a concept with Discovery Channel, and with their help, enlisted Ian Wright as the presenter for the series. With the success of one series, we gained the confidence to further develop ideas that we had placed in the back-burner."

Likewise for award-winning post facility ten:one. "2005 has been an exciting year for ten:one and Most Wanted Pictures," enthuses Rob Tinworth, its director. "We have invested in HD shooting and editing equipment that has allowed us to work on some of the best productions in the region. 2006 looks set to be another busy year.

"2005 was a record year for Eternal Minds, we added leading international brands like Nokia, Pioneer and Razer to our portfolio together with AXS and SMRT on the local side. We expect 2006 to be another breakthrough year," declares

Daniel Sim, managing director of the five-man animation outfit.

Plowing the market

Besides an improvement in the general business climate, three years on, perhaps the Media Development Authority(MDA)'s labors are also starting to bear fruit. Wearing the twin hats of industry regulator and promoter, Singapore's MDA launched its Media 21 blueprint in July 2003 amidst much anticipation and fanfare, pledging to invest some US$57 million over five years to nurture the fledgling industry.

"As far as the post production and TV program production sectors are concerned, the Singapore media industry has made sound progress in several aspects, namely in content development, market development, talent development and capability development," says Dr. Christopher Chia, MDA's chief executive officer, as he reflects on the impact that Media 21 has made thus far.

And indeed, 2005 saw local companies intensifying partnerships with international players to produce and export content. These include House of Harmony, a German-Singapore telemovie that was screened to nearly 7 million German viewers, as well as Secrets of Battleship Yamato, a US-Japan-Singapore TV documentary shown on WGBH Boston and Discovery Networks Asia. In the offing are One Last Dance, a China-Singapore action film directed by Max Makowski to be released in second quarter of 2006; Master Raindrop, an animated TV series co-produced by Singapore's Big Communications, New-Zealand's Flux Animation, and Australia's Yoram Gross; and Milly Molly, an animated TV co-production between Singapore's Scrawl Studios, New Zealand's Milly Molly, and Australia's Beyond.

The rise of HD

Besides content and market development, promoting High-Definition (HD) TV production and post production is also firmly etched on MDA's agenda.

Indeed, there has been a noticeable promulgation of HD as more players come on stream with HD capabilities.

"This is a positive development in view of the rising global demand for HDTV programs and augments our position to develop as a media services hub," Dr. Chia observes.

One facility that has benefited from MDA's support in building its HD capabilities is Infinite Frameworks, an award-winning post facility known for its regional TVC work, with an emerging portfolio in HD projects. It is one of the first post facilities here to develop a comprehensive suite of HD technology, and recently added a Cintel Millennium II telecine with 35/16MM film to HD formats transfer capability to its stable.

Explaining how this technology upgrade plays into the company's business strategy, Freddie Yeo, Infinite Framework's general manager reveals, "We are looking to try and keep our local feature film post production work in Singapore. Instead of the traditional negative cutting process, we are encouraging our filmmakers to embark on a DI process involving the transfer of film to hi-definition and embarking on the color grading, VFX and online processes entirely on HD platform and mastering onto a MD master for final film out.

"Also, for TVCs, especially those that are going for a theatrical release, we would encourage the post and mastering to be done on HD so that the quality will be hugely improved compared to standard definition. Infinite Frameworks is the only facility with this capability in Singapore."

Another post facility that is pushing the technology frontier is Blackmagic Design, which celebrated its second anniversary in 2005. Despite its nascence, the company has invested in an impressive array of HD capabilities. "We are the only facility that offers all HD tape formats including HDD5, DVCPro HD, Varicam, HD Cam, HD CamSR and, if you want, HDV. We are also the only facility that offers High Definition Standards, format and Up Conversion and over 20 workstations capable of SD, HD,

2K or 4K. So clients can come to us for either Film Transfer, Color Grading, Offline or Online Editing, 2D/3D Animation, Visual Effects or Full DI," says Peter Barber, Blackmagic Design's director of creative services.

"In fact we have the most comprehensive High Definition infrastructure of any creative facility in the region," Barber avers. Not content to rest on its laurels, the company is in the process of adding 4K film scanning services to become a full DI facility.

Yet another facility that is gearing itself up for HD is VHQ Post Singapore. "Although HD transmission is still at embryonic testing stages throughout the region, we expect it to be the finishing standard of the future," predicts William Woo, its head of production and VFX supervisor. The facility already boasts HD capabilities, but Woo adds that "considerable expenditure has been allocated to upgrade the entire facility in the near future."

Battling the bugbears

Even as sentiments are upbeat, however, industry bellwethers and niche players alike continue to struggle with perennial issues.

When it comes to TV programming, it seems commissioning editors continue to put their bets on safe choices. "It's perhaps a one-sided point of view but it seems we are still stuck in the reality-TV era and pop idol–styled programs. The local broadcasters are milking every dollar they can while the iron is still hot, good move in the business sense, but it has also stagnated the type of programming available," observes Shaun Yeo, creative business director of boutique production house Reel Loco.

"I think it is challenging to try and convince commissioning editors and the relevant authorities to take chances with info-entertainment programs that do not fulfill a particular educational criteria or agenda that has been pre-determined," adds Steve Loh, executive producer of Scribe Media, which has been producing a documentary for National Geographic. "Often, an open approach with a keen eye on the international markets is the strongest ways to go in terms of content."

Offering another perspective is Jean Yeo, creative director of Ochre Pictures: "We are excited as we believe—and hope—that there will be a return to good old the narrative genres after the flood of reality programs both acquired and locally produced and the lack of quality local content."

Yet another surefire issue that gets industry players all riled up is budget and time, or rather the lack thereof. "Cheap, good, fast," says Reel Loco's Yeo, are the company's usual challenge with clients. "We hope a mutual understanding can

be developed between clients and vendors that good work needs time."

Reflecting this sentiment in the post production market is ten:one's Tinworth, whose company spent 2005 ramping up its HD capabilities. "The toughest hurdle for 2006 is the constant battle against the budget. As the cost of documentary production increases with the transition to HD, the budgets to make these productions are being squeezed further and further."

Budgets aside, the intensifying competition between regional creative and media magnets, all jockeying for the top of the totem pole also weighs heavily on the minds of local players.

Ar t iculat ing the key challenges, Bernard Tay, head of production and executive producer at VHQ Post Singapore offers, "Post facilities in other regional locations have been able to depend on their respective buoyant markets for local advertising and broadcasting clients. This in fact provides for a substantial ‘pie' in their own domains and hence the regional work becomes the ‘icing on the cake.'

"Relative to these regions, Singapore's market is small. A small market coupled with downward pressure on pricing means, in reality, the local ‘pie' is only an ever diminishing one. Key to the continued success of Singapore post houses lies in the ability to attract foreign work. We will always need to differentiate ourselves from the others by consistently providing high value-add to produce outstanding results."

"We need to create our own content and put more into R&D, developing new cut t ing-edge techniques and technologies rather than just importing them from overseas," quips Eternal Mind's Sim. "For example Eternal Minds is currently in its early stages of putting together a digital stunt double/actor replacement workflow, and while we import quite a bit of knowledge from overseas, we develop our own too."

Throwing his hat into the fray, Infinite Framework's Yeo asserts, "One of the first things that can help Singapore elevate itself into pole position is to keep the high profile TVC work here. Too much work flows out of Singapore and sometimes it's not because of a lack of skill set and ability. Some of the top regional works with very high profile are conceived in Singapore but none of it produced here.

"We must first be able to earn the trust of our own people before we can start thinking about being a regional leader," Yeo proclaims.

And for the production houses, breaking ahead of the pack means coming up with stellar content and leveraging on the Singapore brand name. According to Ochre Pictures' Yeo, "To achieve greatness, we need great products—not one, not five, but many—to make an impact on the international market before Singapore can be known for our creativity. So we need to believe in our creators, take risk and invest in them. And even if only 10 out of 100 succeed, we will have an international standing."

Adding his view, Reel Loco's Yeo offers, "Funding and money are key, but they should not restrict creativity and breakthrough in better programming. Money aside, I feel it's more important that commissioning editors are ready to take risks and put their bets on non-mainstream programs."

"It all begins with a good concept," agrees Sitting in Picture's Tan. "And beyond that, there would also be the contacts—with broadcasters, distributors, talent so forth. Singapore is after all a small market, and it takes a good networker to be able to align all these together. As the market matures, Singaporean producers are now moving out of Singapore, attending more markets, meeting more people, and they are slowly but surely taking place."

Indeed, spreading its wing internationally has been a key strategy at decadeold Oak3 Films. "I remember my first MIPCOM trip in either 1999 or 2000," shares Zaihirat Banu, Oak3's director. "I was probably one of the very few Singapore producers in Cannes. We did not have a booth or a presence then. But now, Singapore has a large booth and presence in Cannes.

"As independents we do not have the muscles to exercise such valuable promotion and marketing or to be physically present at all important markets. However, through MDA's grants and initiatives, we are able to be at more markets and Singapore's creative scene is slowly but increasingly gaining recognition."

Peach Blossom Media is one local player that is approaching internationalization with a different tack: it successfully obtained a listing on London's OFEX, which it claims makes it the first Singaporean company to do so.

Explaining the rationale for this move, Ong Toon Hwang, Peach Blossom's vice president of business reveals, "Ofex admission will strongly lift Peach's brand name and market presence in the U.S. and Europe, and provide access to London's public capital market to fund Peach's rapid business growth and expansion as a creator of highly original and entertaining animation, and enable us to expand rapidly in our key markets—U.S., Europe, Asia and China."

Owning IP

An emerging issue that is beginning to find resonance in the production industry is that of intellectual property (IP) ownership. Production companies have been increasingly vocal about the importance of IP ownership to their long term growth.

"Our source of revenue has always come from production itself but these are short-term revenue," explains Oak3 Films' Banu. "Co-ownership of content gives the company another avenue to exploit the revenue generated by the content and the possibility to export the same content onto different platforms."

Indeed, obtaining rights to IP helps production houses build what some in the industry refer to as the long tail effect, which in essence helps these companies augment their revenue stream as well as sustainability without having to constantly rely on traditional production work.

Ochre Pictures' Yeo is another industry veteran who views IP ownership as vital to sustained growth: "The key is for independent production companies to own rights to the IP of their content. The way to do this is for the governing bodies to make it a lot easier for producers to own their IP, whether through legislation or incentives."

Agreeing, Sitting in Picture's Tan says, "We look towards the growth of our IP in the coming years, and as such exploit them to help us diversify our revenue stream. This diversification will spread across content ownership as well as development of licensing and merchandising of these IP."

Looking ahead

For what it's worth, tough times have forged more resilient players, and with the MDA putting its weight behind the industry, companies here now have the gumption to venture further a field and into hitherto green territories. At the end of the day, however, unless the entire industry synergizes together, achieving a real breakthrough for Singapore will likely remain a Sisyphean task.

Indeed, this sentiment is perhaps best encapsulated in the aspiration that Infinite Framework's Yeo has for the industry, "that clients, agencies, production companies, post facilities and audio houses, producers, directors, DOPS, etc. trust and respect each other more and feel a strong desire and responsibility to want to grow our local industry together."

Asia Image recently caught up with MDA's CEO, Dr. Christopher Chia, to get his observations on the industry's state-of-play. Below are excerpts of the interview.

Competition is keen with players from the region all fighting more aggressively than ever for a bigger slice of the pie. Where does Singapore stand in all of this?

Amidst the competition, Singapore will leverage on its strengths to develop the local media industry. These include a multi-cultural and multi-lingual social framework, an IP regime that is one of the best in Asia, a reputation as an Asian financing and business hub, and excellent infrastructure. Singapore will build on these key value propositions to attract international players for business, investment and partnerships.

What would MDA like to see more of from industry players?

Developing Singapore into a Global Media City requires the collective effort of all the industry players and the government. Over the last three years, efforts were spent on setting up the infrastructure and creating a conducive environment for the media business to thrive. MDA encourages industry players to take full advantage of these favorable conditions and adopt an international outlook in growing their companies.

Today, more of our local media companies are participating in international trade events like MIPTV and Cannes Film Market. This is a good sign that Singapore media companies have set their sights on the world market. We look forward to seeing more local companies adopt such an international outlook. At the same time, our media companies are taking on a very much more visible presence in our BroadcastAsia and Asia Media Festival events in June and December respectively. These continue to attract many exhibitors from around the world and these events in themselves are amongst the busiest in Asia.

Looking ahead for the next 12 months, what do you think are the key challenges and issues in the development of the post production and TV program production media sectors?

To compete on the global stage, the Singapore media industry faces what we term as the 3M challenges: Money, Markets and Manpower. In response, the MDA will focus on attracting more private investments into the media industry, creating overseas demand for Made-by-Singapore content and nurturing more media talents and professionals.

What initiatives can players in these two media sectors expect from MDA in the next 12 months? Can you provide a sneak peek?

MDA will continue to encourage the local media industry to develop high quality content for the world market. We will help our media enterprises grow with key resources such as talents, private-sector financing, intellectual asset management, marketing and branding, and distribution. In the next few months, the MDA and industry will also ramp up its global marketing efforts of Singapore media content and services in the international arena.

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