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Khim Loh, Managing Director and Galen Yeo, Creative Director spoke recently at the Creative Content Production Conference held at Suntec on the topic of “Is there More to Branded Entertainment than Product Placement?”
The Conference was held in conjunction with the region’s biggest broadcast event Broadcast Asia. In the lively opening discussion moderated by Tony Chow of Off the Fence Asia, Khim Loh shared the talk with Gerald Smith of Endemol Asia and Wilma Galvante of GMA Network, Philippines. The talk covered a wide range of issues facing both channels and industry players alike in the evolving landscape of television – where branded entertainment is becoming more prevalent. Khim called for Asian broadcasters to be more innovative and open minded when in comes to incorporating commercial messages.
Galen Yeo gave the audience an overview of how Branded Entertainment has evolved over the years – from Gilette World of Sport to Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – and the various challenges that independent producers face in creating branded content. We also gave an overview of some of the branded / sponsored shows that TMVC has produced over the years including SPG TV; Style Doctors; Sony Style and The Pill that Changed the World – among a dozen other examples.
The Moving Visuals Co. was recently commissioned by Starhub to cover Singapore’s inaugural film trade event – SCREEN SINGAPORE and program the official Starhub channel for the event.
Our roving hosts – Jason Godfrey and Leslie Hu What did the stars reveal? Both Lee Byung Hun and Singapore star Ng Chin Han would love to star in something “lighter” than their usual wham bang fare. Zhang Zi Yi on the other hand, was humble and grateful to have made it this far…
Other film luminaries included CSI actor Archie Kao; actor-singer Vanness Wu; and director Wong Jing – the Godfather of Hong Kong films. Having directed over 150 films and still going strong – the man premiered Treasure Inn, a martial arts comedy. Hong Kong celebrities An Ya Wu and Zhang Qi graced our shores to promote their new movie, the suspense thriller The Devil Inside Me.
We also had the privilege of interviewing Singapore’s industry figures including visiting director Yong Mun Chee about her feature debut “Where the Road Meets Sun.” Plus Kelvin Tong of Boku Films shared his thoughts on the state of the industry while Mark Shaw talked about the all-new Lido cinema, where the Closing Night Red Carpet was held.
TMVC also programmed a line up of feature films and shorts on the channel to tie up with the Asian Short Film Awards. Thanks to Objectifs and the High Commission of Canada among many others for their assistance. And thanks to all who worked on the show.
For more info on Screen Singapore, check out the official site.
The Moving Visuals Co. did a rare company outing to take a peek at Marketing Magazine’s 2011 Agency of the Year Awards. For the first time, the magazine was awarding Production Agency of the Year, for which TMVC won a Bronze Award, and was nominated for a Local Hero award.
It looks small, but it’s actually pretty heavy. Heavy enough to inflict serious damage if thrown at a window or a human being! But we’ll just use it as a paperweight…
Thanks to the judges for giving us something. And thanks to Live! Studios for snapping the group pix below. See everyone next year – hopefully!
How time flies. We’re already chugging full speed ahead into 2011, but offer you this last quick look back at 2010’s TV highlights:
FACTUAL
This was a significant year for us with some groundbreaking projects:
– MADAME MAO (Bio Channel): the first ever biography of Chairman Mao’s wife Jiang Qing. She was for years, THE most powerful woman in China since the Empress Dowager, yet nothing substantial had been done on this woman. This was a follow up to Making Mao – our other documentary tracing Mao’s communist propaganda. Thanks to author / biographers Ross Terrill and Ye Yonglie for their generous help and participation. And to the veritable Paul Pickowicz. Glad you liked it Ross.
– MANNY PACQUIAO (Bio Channel): Asia – and one of the World’s Greatest Boxers finally gets his story told outside of the usual HBO pre-fight specials. Manny’s story is truly one of the rags-to-riches Rocky tales. We filmed Manny’s mother and brother in his hometown of General Santos City and unveiled how Manny went from street urchin to the US $ 100 million dollar man. Will he fight Floyd Mayweather? Stay tuned.
– FOOD NATION (Okto): Our popular food series – which traces Singapore’s culinary history across Asia garnered a Finalist nomination in the New York Festivals for Mediacorp / Okto.
– THE PILL THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (History Channel): We commemorated 50 years of the Pill in this documentary special supported by Bayer-Schering Pharma.
– MODERN PILGRIMS (Channel News Asia): Our popular series traced pilgrimages to India (Buddhism) and Mecca (Islam). We make it sound easy – but lots of legwork was involved…
– OUR CHILDREN (MDA / China Education TV): Our first co-production with China’s CETV with Media Development Authority covering the lives of kids in schools.
KIDS
As usual, we gave Asian kids plenty to keep their eyeballs glued to the screen:
– GROOM MY ROOM – Season 6 (Okto) proved that you can’t keep a good thing down as kids clamoured to have their rooms redone. And we’re back for Season 7 in 2011!
– THE NEWS TRUMPET ( Mediacorp 8 ) was our first hand puppet news show. No toys were harmed in the process, but some hands were of course, exhausted by the end of the series.
– THE SPECIALS (Okto) was our first 75-min telemovie – conceived by the uber talents of Director Gavin Lim; Writer Nick Oh – with Oon Jit Fong and Debra Chong on deck. Filmed with support of Canon on their wonderful 7D.
– SUPER SCIENCE (TV IQ) was our first series of interstitials for Astro’s TV IQ (Hooray) and gave our motion graphic artist Davadrian and illustrator Dorothy a chance to flex their creative animation muscles.
LIFESTYLE
Our beloved genre remained steadfast in output:
– LEGENDARY CUISINES (Channel U) – No other show does what this does: dig up ancient recipes from folklore and brings them to life. Hosted by the impeccable Guo Liang.
– THE COUCH ASIA (Channel News Asia) – our highly successful talk show format expanded its reach from Singapore to Malaysia – covering personalities and celebrities there. Thanks to our hotel sponsors Fullerton Bay, Pan Pacific (Singapore) and Sheraton Imperial (KL, Malaysia) for their splendid rooms.
– SAME BUT DIFFERENT (Channel 5) – Host Chua Enlai entertained and gave us the inside scoop on how the things you buy might be similar – yet different. Or vice versa. Cars! Steaks! Beds! TVs! Nothing was spared.
– ARTS FORWARD (Okto) – We have a particular soft spot for anything to do with the arts. They are probably somewhat of an endangered TV species, but Singapore continues to charge on by investing $$$ into arts education. We took stock of this remarkable situation.
A BIG THANKS to all who worked on the projects and made it possible – production teams, guests, channels, etc!
Next in Part 2: Promos! And the Chinese Department!
