GROWING PAINS

It might have been a long time coming, but it is certainly having an affect. The Malaysian government is now pumping millions and millions of dollars into the film industry. Realizing the importance of film, the government's National Film Development Corporation (Finas) invested US$14.9 million in 10 films last year. It also put money into the creation of the Digital Mix Stage Studio, has hosted workshops and encouraged the opening of more cinemas in the country.

In just a little over a decade the Malaysian film industry has grown from when seven films were produced in 1999, to 26 local releases in 2009. This boon has continued to the TV sector as Finas has collaborated with the likes of Discovery Channel, National Geographic and History Channel to produce several documentaries on Malaysia. More than 10 documentaries were produced in 2009 through this collaboration alone, and the production pipeline looks solid. The government seems prepared to continue investing in local film and TV work, and paired with a decently performing advertising market, this can be only good news for the post sector.

"A lot of changes have happened lately, and they are [happening] fast," said Moon Chan Kien, managing director of MFX, a design, animation and VFX studio. "The growth of digital technology and digital media had catapulted immense changes that affected the role we play in the process, just like how digital tools and media have affected the entertainment and advertising business."

Moon feels that the Malaysian post-production sector is growing so fast, although there is a tremendous increase in local and foreign work for production, animation and special effects, there is "not so much" for post. "Post and production [companies], sacrificed and investment for current gains, [and] we are paying the price now after a decade of greed," he said. "In the last ten years the established post houses were offering ‘How much you have and whenever you want to pay' as their edge to prevent competition from entering. This has backfired on them, while they stop investment due their marketing strategy, new shops have sprung up and these are now the choices of the day for the professionals who are building a portfolio."

Kelvin Theseira, producer at VHQ Post, echoes Moon's sentiments. "The industry in general has changed and with the availability of new media and new channels for advertising that have take the edge off TV advertising."

According to Theseira, the biggest issue facing post companies is shrinking budgets and shorter timelines to get jobs done. "The current trend is to look for cheaper and faster ways to put out work. This include excluding shoots and going for motion graphics and 3D to make TVCs."

Farouk Aljoffrey, film director at Planet Films, is another who agrees that the recent spate of budget cuts has affected the post industry. He believes that production companies are squeezing post houses in order to keep their margins high, which means the back end of production is suffering. "This in turn affects the post industry's ability to hire good talent from overseas," Aljoffrey said. "It also means that good Malaysian talent will/have left for better paying jobs overseas. As long as production companies buckle under client's budget cuts, the post industry will suffer most of all. Without the exchange of ideas, technology and the ability to bring in good people, the industry will remain stagnant."

Dawnn Chung, chief operating officer for Asia- Pacific Videolab (APV), puts on a slightly more positive slant. She is of the opinion that while the industry is very small and competitive, it is in "rather good shape". "Close to 20 post production houses has set-up their operations as in the last six years," Chung said. " However, there has also been a few businesses that have closed their doors during that period as well."

The pace of technological advancements in the post sector and the increasing globalisation and inter-connectivity within Asia is something that some post houses have struggled to keep up with. Regional business and regional operations, as opposed to purely local-based companies, are becoming the norm and provide tough competition. "The body of work here is not so post/VFX driven as it used to be," Aljoffrey said. "This does not necessarily apply to hardware but to good talent. It is difficult to attract good talent to Malaysia as the volume of work is too low, compared to Indonesia and Thailand, and the work itself is not cutting edge in terms of vfx. There are good ideas but those are simple scripts that are performance based." Planet Films started working across the region six years ago and has established presences in India, Indonesia, Singapore and even the Middle East. Aljoffrey feels that although the region is getting small, that is not necessarily a bad thing for Malaysian post houses. "There is so much work out there and a regionally networked production company will do very well in the coming years," he said. "Each market has their own idiosyncrasies so one has to know how to work with different sets of rules in order to make good. Asia is becoming like Europe, directors will want to be repped in as many markets as possible to maximize their exposure to good work. And agency creatives are going to be spoilt for choice. So each director or production company must be able to shine and bring something different to the game."

While the Malaysian government has poured huge amounts of money into the local film and TV industries in recent years, this could prove to be somewhat dangerous thing for the post sector. Post-production houses must resist the urge to become complacent and rely purely on government handouts. MFX's Moon warns local post outfi ts must build and prepare for when government funding stops. "When the free money runs out and when new developing countries will be cheaper out there, these foreign studios and local businessman will pack up and move, like when Disney pulled out of Sydney," Moon said. "Then what will be left behind, is a lot of outdated hardware, expired software and a young workforce who was exploited and left behind with very little new tech skills and no creative skills because it was not required at their place of work to earn a decent living."

Moon believes that temptation to simply write a proposal and get government grants or finding from governments in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, is very strong but advises the post industry to remember the dot come bubble burst back in 2000. "We must build skills that will justify our existence when there too many players and no work," he said. "We have become specialized in real flow, character animation and designing complex effects."

Regional pressures and the lure of better pay overseas means some Malaysian talent is leaving the country. Local schools and higher learning institutes continue to produce a large pool of talent annually, but at the elite end many are decamping for greener pastures. "Good Malaysian directors are now working for Indonesia, China, India etc," Aljoffrey said. "Same goes for compositors, colorists, designers etc. The only difference is that you can still hire the directors for jobs in Malaysia, but once the postproduction guys leave town, there's no getting them back. They get paid at least 50% more and have a better lifestyle. Basic finishing can be done here and there is one good compositor in the country."

Daniel Tang, of audio shop Addaudio, puts the talent issue this way: "There is some fantastic talent in Malaysia, some really exciting ideas. Whether the powers that be - funding, censorship, producers, exhibitors etc - will allow them the resources and avenues to achieve their ideas, that's another matter."

Encouraging clients to spend more. Educating clients on the value of quality post-production work. Retaining talent and aspiring to do more creative work, as well as keeping up with technological change and industry evolution - those are the main challenges the Malaysia post-production sector is facing.

Competing with new companies that skimp on price and promise the earth is another factor that post houses must content with. "There are too many businessman, young and old, who are looking at short term goals in our industry," MFX's Moon said. "We can never understand how a studio with three or five independent workstation can produce work faster and cheaper without cheating than that a studio that have invested in infrastructure and pipeline to allow efficiency and creativity to flourish. To join them by matching reduction of cost and timelines will be selling off our future for current monetary gains."

Like most industries in developing Malaysia, post-production has its fair share of problems and constraints to deal with. The path to growth and a prosperous future is a bumpy one, with its own obstacles, but it is clearly achievable. "The future for post production is Malaysia is promising," APV's Chung said. "With the technological advancements and studios now keeping closer tabs on the costs and returns, we can compete in the world by offering quality film processing, post work and visual effects here. We just need to open our doors to consider all the possibilities."

Optimism about the future is shared by Addaudio's Tang. "We remain positive about the prospects," he said. "It's a great country, great talent and we're here for the long term." VHQ Post's Theseira believes the underlining spirit of the post industry will be the key factor in what he describes as a "bleak" future. "The future looks bleak but I'm sure behind every Telecine chain is a sliver lining," he said. "Why? Post-production is a creative industry, we can, have and will evolve as the market changes and come out triumphant."

MFX's Moon is of the view that post houses must take the lead in the creative process as the tools and needs of clients change the wider industry. He champions the industry's focus in the future as one that plays a greater role in decision-making and leadership. "We are the magicians, anything that they can't achieve on set, we have to provide the solutions, the clients and especially the directors and production houses who expect a lot more, but a lot of companies out there are not insisting on development and creative cost in their quotes," Moon said. "Setting up factories and making money by projecting Asia is cheaper and faster is a risk to our future. To risk our ethics and honour of our industry will not to allow us to climb up the top of food chain."

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SPOTLIGHT: ASIA PACIFIC VIDEOLAB

In the 22 years since APV was first established, it has grown into one of the most respected post houses in Malaysia. Today, APV offers a range of post-production services from film negatives processing and telecine to animation and visual effects. Asia Image checks in with COO Dawnn Chung to find out where the company is headed.

Asia Image: What's APV's bread and butter?

Dawnn Chung:It's mainly TVCs at the moment.

AI: APV hasn't worked on a feature film since 2004. Are there plans to work on more films or branch out from doing mainly TVCs? Chung: We do have expansion plans. We're not exactly focusing on feature films at the moment, but it's part of our plans. We have a f lm processing lab which is Kodak certified, and we're the No. 1 lab in Malaysia for the past 10 years. This year we're going to work closely with FINAS and MDEC to get more feature film projects. With the technology advancements today, there are so many platforms we can go into, so we're looking at everything as whole and not just focusing on TVCs anymore.

AI: There isn't a big enough demand for such high-end work in Malaysia.

Chung: That actually goes well with our expansion plans, that's why we're planning to go regional. We don't want to focus on local TVCs anymore. Since joining APV six months ago, I realised there is so much potential, and we shouldn't limit ourselves locally - we should be regional. In line with that we're seeking reliable partnerships to make us a one-stop solution centre. Currently, we have about 90 percent of [what's required of] a full post-production facility.

We're lacking in a few items, but instead of pumping in huge amounts of capital, we think we'd actually be better off seeking a reliable partner. The world today is all about collaboration, relationships and networking, so we figured we might as well capitalise on that.

We're looking both in Malaysia and in the region. We prefer a regional partner, but if they have a base in Malaysia that's even better, as they'd have a network both locally and regionally. Part of our expansion plan is an upgrade of our equipment. In the next six months, we're looking at purchasing [new software and equipment] such as Smoke on Mac, which is good for both editing and finishing. These upgrades will better prepare us for future demand.

AI: How much are you planning to invest in this expansion?

Chung: Anywhere between 500,000 to 2 million ringgit.

AI: What is APV currently working on right now?

Chung: Our current projects include Pantene Iris TVC for Passion Pictures, Warid Glow for Applebox Asia, Hello for Avalon, a Standard Chartered TVC for Passion Pictures, Celcom Sukses for Mojo Films, Kuwait Finance House for DTT, Maxis Word Cup, Roadeo and DBS bank for Planet Films, and Estranged music video for Playhouse Pictures.

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