On 16 & 17 April 2021, *SCAPE hosted the National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) Conference, themed ‘Pivots and Platforms: Short Films in a New Normal’. With a total of five tracks, the Conference explored and discussed how filmmaking has evolved in a post-Covid-19 world. Invited panel speakers also shared insights into how filmmaking will transform in the new norm and how youth can be future-ready.
The Conference was held as a hybrid event where participants can watch from the comfort of their homes, or physically join in at *SCAPE. The Conference was made up of 12 panel speakers, 1 instructor, 2 mentors and 3 moderator and saw a registration of more than 204 participants, which was made up of mainly student filmmakers.
If you have missed the Conference, here are some of the highlights and learning points of each tracks.
- Film, TV, Web: Is there a Difference Anymore?
The film world, as we know it, is evolving even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Previously, before the Covid-19 pandemic, Mediacorp / commissioning bodies have started seeing a change in clientele, formats and demands. For instance, 90% of the time, people are consuming content on their mobile devices and that is bound to change what consumers want to watch. Web series and short videos has been on the rise for the last five years.
Over-the-top (OTT) platforms now offer audiences a diversity of choices and based on their viewing habits, it is very likely to see Film, TV, and Web series all at once. It is also very easy to navigate between formats. But at the end of the day, it’s still about stories because platforms can only serve what are deliverables.
Sapna Angural, Head of English Audience, Mediacorp, also shared that it is unlikely a producer will create content only for a specific channel. What platforms can do is to enable you to reach a different set of audience. Across languages, be it English, Chinese, Malay or Tamil, Mediacorp is now looking at short form content as their strategy, regardless of the platform. And they are beefing up resources on their YouTube and social content, whilst still having the nerve on expectations on TV although Sapna is convinced that term doesn’t exist anymore.
Pitches for Web Content
We all benefit from the enlarged audience that streaming services had brought in, but business models have changed. Hence, filmmakers and content creators alike have to consider the motivations behind their film, whether it’s to attract the biggest audience or to draw a lucrative business. Based on Gary’s personal experience, short films will be good to start for young aspiring filmmakers to mould their skills and to pitch content to partners such as Mediacorp.
Advice for filmmakers
Junjie, Development Executive of Original Production Warner Media (INSEAK), shared, “The problem with the short film ecosystem is that people put it out there and hope someone watches it, or if you make one film and make that one short film your calling card, it doesn’t work anymore. The age of a little-known filmmaker getting known overnight is gone. They need to also think how to market themselves. It is no longer enough to make one film: One and Done. You need to think hard on how get people interested in you even before you make your film.”
Gary, General Manager of mm2 Entertainment, said, “It’s the very determined young filmmaker who keeps knocking on their doors, that kind of drive and tenacity when you believe in your own story, that is very encouraging to the producers.”
Watch the video here to find out in depth about how our panel speakers start accepting pitches for web content, the use of Singlish on public broadcast, the pivot towards embracing other formats and more.
- Short Film Clinic
Short Film Clinic provides an opportunity for participating youth to speak to veteran filmmakers about their story ideas and gathered feedback from them. This workshop was mentored by directors Don Aravind and Wee Li Lin, who led one group of filmmakers each.
During the workshop, Don Aravind shared about the existence, the making and scripting to short films. He also shared the importance and discovery of themes as well as the importance of a logline. During the workshop, Don assisted the participants to re-write and discover their logline for their script. He also read each participant’s script and shared his thoughts. Beyond scripting, he examined the ideas into turning the scripts into practical filmmaking hoping the short film will be ready for next year’s NYFA.
In Wee Li Lin’s session, she talked about the importance of each film’s message/ thesis and discussed how the themes of the film emanate from this message. She looked at visual thematic and shared that a short film must be built up to the ending, which is the nature of most short films.
Some of the questions which filmmakers should consider are:
- How do our protagonists embody the message of the film?
- Do the protagonists have enough stakes, emotionally and physically?
- What is it the message that we want to reach out to the audience?
- How to make sure we are not repeating the same points (dramatically and thematically) in the scenes?
- Are your scenes sufficiently building up to the ending?
Wee Li Lin also read each participant’s script and commented based on the above points. She shared her feedback and allowed participants to comment on each other’s stories.
From this workshop, participants were able to able to learn from one another especially from film professionals as well as know the areas which they can work on to further improve their story ideas/ scripts.
- How to Market Your Short Films?
You’ve made your short film and you’re ready to show it to the world. But how do you market it?
Tan Si En, Producer and Co-founder of Momo Film Co., explained that marketing a short film is as much about the film itself as it is about the team of filmmakers. It is about maximising the reach of the short film that you put in so much effort to realise. Short film marketing is about persuading an audience that your film is worth seeing and marketing starts the moment you conceive the idea. Filmmakers should make a match between what their film has to offer and what the audience wants.
From this workshop, participants learnt about the factors to consider while marketing short films, from preparing your press kits, to thinking about the short film distribution plan.
- Continuing the Short Film Journey
Funding options are slim, and budgets are always a problem. The panel speakers shared how they continue making short films and the impact of Covid-19 on filmmaking. The panel speakers also shared some funding grant for filmmakers to tap on such as the grant offered by IMDA and National Youth Council.
Local Funding Opportunities
Kris Ong, from Momo Film Co., also shared that her boutique film agency has a distribution grant. Many short filmmakers run out of budget to distribute their film because they spent all their money on making the film. Hence, the distribution grant provides successful applicants a sum of money to distribute their films to different festivals. This year’s application has closed but Mom Film Co. are planning to do this annually. Check out the grant here.
In addition, NYFA alumni can pitch for the NYFA Film Facilitation Programme. Under this programme, selected filmmakers will be given a seed fund and are paired with an international mentor to make their short film. Funding is necessary but developing your story is also important.
Alternatively, filmmakers can also try to identify the right organisation and write to association for funding support as to how their films lines up with their mission and goal.
Advice for filmmakers
Kris Ong, winner of NYFA 2020: “Don’t think you can do everything yourself. Work with people who care about what you care about and lean on each other. It’s perfectionism that creates isolation and it’s not good for your work in the end.”
Gladys Ng, winner of NYFA 2020: “It’s very important to look after your mental health, I wished someone told me that, because it can get really draining physically, emotionally and mentally. You have to remember that filmmaking is a very long journey. That one film you’re making is not going to determine who you are. It’s a series of films. You don’t have to put all of yourself and put so much pressure on yourself in making that one film. Always know when to step back and say I need to look after myself.”
Watch the video here to find out in depth about funding opportunities, the things that our NYFA alumni have learnt along the way as well as the mistakes that they have made.
- Creating Content for a Wider Audience
As web series continue to be popular with audiences, creating something engaging yet meaningful is still the core of telling a good story. For the last track of NYFA Conference 2021, we invited panel speakers that have gone from traditional film platforms to online platforms, to reach newer and wider audiences.
Creating content during the pandemic
Kriz Gazmen, Head of Black Sheep, ABS-CBN, shared that the most cost-effective way to engage audience during the pandemic is through online platforms. As cinemas were closed, people were looking for many ways to entertain themselves and turned to digital platforms, especially for free contents. Despite the lockdown, films such as “Hello Stranger”, which was shot via Zoom, became a big online hit in Philippines, with an average of 1.6 million views per episode.
“The actors actually became their own cinematographers! We would tell them where to place the lamp and how to light themselves. They also had to adapt to being their own production designers, with our production designer sending them the items to arrange in the background, to sync with the character,” Kriz Gazmen jokingly recalled.
Adapting to The Online Space
With the help of so many content boosting platforms, it allows for more conversation and expression on a variety of topics directly from audience to the creator.
Leon Cheo, winner of NYFA 2019, shared, “With censorship guidelines in place, it made sense for the People Like Us Web Series to be an episodic series online, to get the word to the target audience about HIV Discrimination and STI related issues. But it was a good transition to go from short films that take about ten minutes, to continuous episodes of ten minutes each. It feels like I’m telling a larger tapestry of stories with more characters and it becomes more relatable for the audience when it’s an ongoing series because they get to know the characters better too.”
Adapting from an age of Free to Air TV, on to Cable TV and then to Digital Content, Ler Jiyuan shared that while the medium has changed, the craft still stays similar.
“With the internet, the reach is further, and a local story will be able to reach people on the other end of the world, enabling us to share our stories and cultures in a much easier manner than before,” said Ler Jiyuan, filmmaker.
Feedback and content moulding
The online platforms that these creators publish their content to, allows them to receive instant feedback about their content, inspiring them to continue working on their craft, or expose them towards the direction of other topic genres that their target audience are interested in.
‘While feedback is great, we mostly use it for conceptualisation of future projects and to understand the demographics of the audience to increase viewership with more fine-tuned marketing,” said Kriz Gazmen.
Watch the video here to find out in depth about how the panel speakers create content during the pandemic, how the adapt to online spaces as well as the way the way they incorporate feedback into their contents.
