07/22/2008
Content is King

Animation, Films, TV and Gaming. SME Nation gives Filipino artists the connectivity edge.


This is the age of media overload, where audiences cannot go a day without being confronted by a sensory onslaught from diverse and competing sources. The key is capturing a viewer's attention, and holding it. Once captured, however, that same content can now be used and distributed across multiple platforms. A television show can be streamed onto mobile TV, have a popular interactive website, and then sell merchandise. A movie can be the basis of a spinoff television series, and then a videogame. One well-known example is the Korean online RPG 'Ragnarok', whose popularity in the Philippines can only be described as a phenomenon. The game, starting on the Internet, was so successful that an animated series was created based on it. It then made a foray into the print market, as a series of graphic novels based on the original game were created. Level-up Games, the company responsible for bringing the game to Philippine shores, has been so successful that they expanded into India and Brazil, and are still going strong alongside PLDT.

The industry term for this media versatility is cross-platform appeal, and according to Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines' Imee Marcos, it is high time that the entertainment industry of the Philippines gets serious about generating some of its own.

The Philippines has no lack of experience when it comes to producing creative works. As a place for outsourcing creative work such as animation and computer programming, it is well known to Western corporations. And outsourcing has brought in much-needed revenue as well as a highly trained Philippine workforce mindful of international standards, especially for demanding Western audiences. Ms. Marcos suggests, then, that it's time to encourage producing some of our own content to distribute through channels we've already grown experienced in – to encourage the growth of OPC (Original Filipino Content).

In spite of our decades-long experience in producing multimedia, Imee feels that we are still shortsighted when it comes to distribution and fail to see the opportunity of taking a piece of the bigger cake. Producing OPC will enable artists to own full IP rights and sell it to distributors across the globe for a chance to earn more profit off their works and sustain the industry.

The Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines (CreaM) was founded in mid-2007 by producers and owners of intellectual property (IP) specifically to confront such issues. The independent producers of such multimedia tend to be Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Beyond concerning themselves with profits, they are determined to carve out a reputation for themselves as being producers of high-quality IP. One might describe CreaM as a group of aspiring entrepreneurs or SMEs with serious plans "to bolster growth and develop Original Filipino Content (OPC) in the creative industries, with the end goal of positioning the Philippines as the creative media producer of Southeast Asia." It seeks to provide independent producers of IP across different creative fields with such help as they can provide.

But what does CreaM actually do? It tries to be the independent producer's voice. It lobbies the government to address problems in the industry such as the stiff taxation and the lack of incentives and grants for the industry. It arranges international cooperation and exposure; facilitates workshops, competitions and lectures in order to develop the talent and experience of the independent producers. For example, they recently helped Intel put together a fifteen-day game development competition, the first of its kind in the Philippines. The competition both tested and showcased the talents of the young Filipino coders who participated. And it tries to arrange for them to obtain the resources they need to really show their stuff.

And what resources would we exactly need to attain this dream? Connectivity. "Insane bandwidth," as Ms. Marcos puts it, is needed to send terabyte upon terabyte of precious material for development, reviews, etc. The independent film-makers, game developers and sound producers that make up the membership of CreaM are SMEs that clamor more than ever for a robust and secure connection with which to transmit their IP, as they work with media that can be easily translated into digital format. In the gaming industry for example, prototypes to be reviewed by prospective distributors have to be coded and playable which end up being extremely heavy files. In order for buyers to even consider material, it has to be sent to them overseas. Solutions such as PLDT i-Gate will meet the demand animators, filmmakers, and game developers require and enable them to work more efficiently through its reliable high capacity connection. Through i-Gate, Filipino multimedia artists can start moving towards bigger goals like moving across platforms and venturing out into the merchandising industry.

Archiving is another problem the creative media industry faces. Sadly little is left of past work. "We hear about all the old titles, but as for the films themselves, students have never seen them," says Imee, referring to Filipino classics from the likes of director Gerry de Leon. New material being developed isn't excluded from this dilemma. Even if we had the technology for archiving, it would remain very costly. CreaM envisions a portal where members could upload their works and people could view them in good quality, unlike other avenues available right now.

It is not a far-off dream that Filipinos might one day see their own original, homegrown IP being proudly displayed. The feature-length animated film 'Urduja' is a triumph of Filipino artistry and animation experience, written, directed, produced and voiced entirely by Filipinos for Filipinos, and mastered to world-class standards. It isn't too much to hope that this is merely the crest of a rising wave of developing Filipino artistic talent.


Author: PLDT SME Nation
Source: PLDT SME Nation Page 01