ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING

Going places with animation

By Yeo Chun Cheng

The global digital media industry is rapid­ly growing and Singapore is perfectly poised to carve its share out of this lucrative market. Currently, there are about 40 animation and special-effects companies in Singapore, up from fewer than 10 in 2003.

According to a Deloitte study in 2008, Singapore’s animation sector is estimated to contribute S$100 million (US$81 million) to the inter­active digital media sector by 2015, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 16%. Indeed, clear growth strategies have been identified under MDA’s Singapore Media Fusion Plan (SMFP), a $230-million five-year blueprint launched in 2009 that charts the growth of Singapore’s entire media industry.

With its robust intellectual property  regime, sound business infrastructure and favourable economic climate, Singapore has been able to attract world-class animation studios to set up regional bases here.

Since 2005, the presence of some big names such as Lucasfilm Animation from the US, Sunwoo Entertainment from South Korea and the Southern Star Group from Australia has seen high-quality work produced out of Singapore from these leading studios. This has boosted Singapore’s visibility on the global map, attracting more animation talents to conduct business here.

Steven Read, technical director of Academy Award-winning best animated film Happy Feet, was one such example. He co-founded One Animation studio in Singapore, which eventually co-produced a pre-school series, Rob The Robot, with Canada’s Amberwood Entertainment.

The arrival of these globally renowned players has certainly benefited our own local talent in the industry, as new employment opportunities emerged and capabilities were enhanced from exposure to international projects such as the Clone Wars and Rango.     

Going places
Homegrown companies are moving up the value chain from primarily working for fees to creating and developing proprietary content with original production. Very soon, we will be able to see Dream Defenders, Singapore’s first wholly owned intellectual property for a 3D stereo­scopic animated series debuting on 3net, the world’s first 24-hour 3D network.

Another encouraging example is Sparky Animation collaborating on the award-winning Dinosaur Train animated series together with The Jim Henson Company.

Recently, Scrawl Studios has also secured a vote of confidence from Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, parent company of Cartoon Network, with a multi-year agreement that will provide Turner with the first-look rights to new and original productions. Prior to this landmark deal, Scrawl Studios had announced its slate of projects, where it will collaborate with international producers, to co-produce up to five animation titles with a total production value of $19 million for global audiences.

Growing the industry
MDA has also been providing support at various stages of the value chain, to help local animation firms overcome time and cost challenges in what is typically a technologically advanced yet labour-intensive and time-consuming industry.

Beyond facilitating co-investment as well as business matching with international partners at trade events such as MIPTV and MIPCOM, we also help industry players to increase productivity. This was done through nurturing young talents and supporting companies to invest in new technologies that will enable them to improve production efficiency or to take on stereoscopic 3D production.

For instance, MDA’s Interactive Digital Media Programme funding had supported Sparky Animation for the research and development of its proprietary crowd animation system. The technology greatly improved the company’s production effi­ciency and gave it a competitive edge, enabling it to produce 40 half-hour episodes of Dinosaur Train in about a year. Season One of the series was sold to over 20 territories worldwide, and was among the top five programmes for children aged two to five on the US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Kids Channel in 2009, and Season Two is scheduled to premiere at the end of this year.

Singapore also provides a conducive environment to nurture young budding animation talent for the workforce. We recognise the need to nurture existing talents who will not only develop their niche in animation locally and internationally, but to also inspire future talents to push the boundaries and innovate.

New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and DigiPen Institute of Technology, both internationally reputable institutions in this field, have joined our growing pool of institutions in Singapore to build up and mentor our young talents in the animation field. At the same time, students and industry professionals keen to pursue undergraduate and post-graduate courses at reputable overseas or local tertiary institutions are also assisted by MDA’s Media Education Scheme (MES). Several of our MES scholars have gone on to clinch awards at prestigious events such as DigiCon6 in Tokyo, and even work with big names such as Dreamworks and Pixar.

Maximising potential
Animation is by nature a long-range sector, yet Singapore’s animation scene has come a long way despite having started only less than 10 years ago.

Riding on the momentum of coming up with quality productions, the next step forward for Singapore animation companies would be to expand revenue streams by capitalising on their IP rights through licensing and merchandising. Sparky Animation is one company that has seen recent successes in this area;  shortly after the launching of the Dino­saur Train toys worldwide, another of its co-production titles, Mr Moon, has also been licensed for merchandising. 

We are confident that Singapore will not only continue to create quality and innovative content primed for the international market, but also produce some of the brightest creative talents to ride the next wave in the ever-expanding global animation industry. 

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