Sunday, June 25, 2006
BroadcastAsia is surprisingly informative, but sadly flat on new ideas. While there was certainly an exchange of information, this blog believes that most of these presentations are in fact rather stale and rehashed, far from the dramatic revolution that it heralded. Poignantly, one of the most prescient observations was that Singapore’s broadcasters are national broadcasters, they are hampered by the legacy of traditional trade, while at the same time burdened by the bottom-line. The juxtaposition of these two characteristics seems to combine the weakness of both a free media industry and a government funded industry.
Singapore media may not be the worst in the world, but it is still a long way from the best. Its Chinese channels of 8 and U simply cannot match up to the programs offered by China and specifically Hong Kong. The shows are increasingly drab and the flagship productions by Jack Neo and crew and becoming literally a very bad joke. The Channel 5 productions do not fare much better either. CNA is supposedly a regional best, but the series of informative programs offered by it belie its ranking. Since this blogger is a Chinese, this blog shall not comment on the Suria and Vasantham Central channels. The latter also airs Arts Central which is relatively interesting, due mainly to the lack of locally produced shows on that channel. Kids Central seems to the only exception (Gundam Seed!).
This unfortunate state of affairs is sadly mirrored in the Singapore movie industry. With little more than Raintree Productions to show for all its efforts, the Media Development Authority (MDA) seems increasingly to be running on an empty tank. While there is loud trumpeting on the millions that are being spent to bring the media industry to the next level, this blog believes that perhaps, the money is actually detrimental to the film in the end. This is due to several reasons, including but not limited to,
First, the money provided is normally not enough to film the entire movie. Thus the efforts of the production crew will include crevassing for funds. Even if we argue that this will not impede the development of the movie, the quality of the show may in fact be negatively affected by the need to use cheaper production methods, which may not produce the most desirable outcome.
Second, the MDA with its grants may crowd out investment from private investors. This is especially important when unproven directors start out with their first productions. Why should private investors want to aide these directors and at the same time compete with the MDA for a slice of a very small pie?
Third, productions are not only about money. Equally important are the creativity and script writing aspects. Given the bounds of government censor and societal paradigms in Singapore, there really is not much space to push the limits.
On the whole it is heartening to see that Singapore broadcasting today is not longer limited by the hardware aspects. If anything at all, the infrastructure is mostly present. The biggest problem is finding a balanced policy of competition and funding that is sustainable and able to reach a wide audience. Unfortunately, these are precisely the problems that are not tackled by BroadcastAsia.
9:36 PM
