Category: Media

Need to organise the diversity

Of late, I have not been able to gather my thoughts and thread something deeper out of them. Maybe I miss the long train trips to school, where I could let my mind run and focus, nowadays time is just too short for me to muse. Instead, I’m going to run a short list of thoughts, after all like the director of a short film said, she liked to make short films because if it’s bad, the pain is short, the disappointment after is short and well in general, life is short, isn’t it?

The problem with news
I was just thinking about a friend who graduated in engineering and loves photography and thought she sounds like a news story because that is unusual. But on second thought, that’s not unusual anymore, in the “new” world today, values of the past become unusual again. That’s on top of trying to outdo what was new. Maybe nothing new can be created… wait, I think Jameson or Lyotard talked about it before. Darn, nothing new here.

On the same note, there is one recurring story line that I am getting bored of. Basically, homosexual repressed in a hetrosexual society, rediscovers his homosexuality and lives happily ever after. I think it’s a starting point of such identities becoming included part of society and when enough of us get bored of the theme, it’ll be nothing new.

The 4th Singapore Short Film Festival
I caught the first set of films today. I was really impressed with For a Few Marbles More, a Dutch film about a group of children fighting two bullies for their right to the playground — short, sweet and funny. The Iranian film Cyanosis, about the life of a painter was a bit slow, but how the director used the paintings as part of the story-telling process was interesting.

Finally, the three local films stood out for different reasons. Londres-London had something interesting going on conceptually but it’s delivery was stunted and I only truly appreciated it when the director explained the movie. Kichiro was lots of blood and gore and I had my eyes close for quite a bit and the director did confess that he was simply exploiting the opportunity to feature violence and I have to say kudos to that. The most curious film for the night was My Keys. I was ready to pan it because it did seem quite ridiculous, a man finds out he is locked in because he can’t find his keys then prays to Guan Yin who appears with his keys but never gives it to him and flies off with it. Moreover, it’s cast were both models from some beauty competition which I highly suspected was to allow him to get sponsorship. It was only when the director explained that he wanted to convey the feeling of being cheated to express how he felt when a good friend he lent money to ran away with it. You had to give it to him.

Brochure Collection
What is with the k e r n i n g of the Singapore Short Film Festival brochure? C a n y o u i m a g i n e r e a d i n g t h i s… Postmodern layout can sometimes be so non-functional.

I finally got hold of the 21st Singapore International Film Festival’s brochure too, the cover was not very impressive too, compared to a few years back.

My favourite brochure this time was The Substation’s “What’s On Jan – Mar”, the events are sectionalised into white boxes that allow the reader to interact and make notes on it. It would have worked even better if the boxes contained the dates and times for the events too.

Cool stuff to share
Teabag font for free! <http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/fertigo.html>
McSweeney’s
Hilarious intellectual stuff and really beautiful publications
Into the Wild (2007)
Inspiring movie, especially when you’re weary of life, and Sean Penn directs!
Woodneuk House
Read the historical background then see my photos of this abandoned house
StatAttak
Cool T-shirts and information graphics
partofit 
Another nice tote bag and t-shirt site, and your purchase helps a cause

All you need is a good story

Technology has made it possible and easy for us all to produce work that looks professional, I think we increasingly tend to forget that what really distinguishes something as meaningful and good is its concept. We all get caught up in creating projects of spectacle, that pander to a notions of professionalism, by using techniques and effects that recreate such a image, but looking a little deeper what you find instead is unmotivated actions that are just plain empty.

24aThat was one major point I felt was missing in a lot of the films I saw tonight at NTU’s Arts, Design and Media (ADM) showcase tonight. Aesthetically speaking, most of these films were a pleasure to look at. Moreover, the filmmakers had professional equipment such as dollies and cranes to work with, but more often than not, they were not used to advance the film. The very important question of why was put aside.

Perhaps what was really sorely-lacking was the ability of story-telling. That is a problem I find myself having to come to grips with as well. Telling a story is often the best way to get a message across; it is one thing to have information, but presenting it in a form that is palatable is increasingly becoming an important tool in a world of information overload. I suppose one way that film-makers turn to is to create an aesthetically pleasing film, but how long and deep can the engagement with the viewer last? Moreover, it has become so easy now that this will become the domain of amateurism instead and one will need to find other ways to stay above the pack.

In a similar fashion, the government’s recent initiative to engage the public using new media formats such as the MDA rap video and the KPE Underground launch are really interesting because it shows their willingness to reach out to us using these new mediums. Perhaps, Marshall McLuhan was correct to say that the medium is the message and by using these platforms, the government believes its message will get to us. Indeed, these initiatives have generated that buzz and a spectacle such that people will take notice. However, I think at the end of the day, what is at the core of the message really matters. The question is how do people perceive it and is the effect as intended?

Thus, at the end of the day, its the story that really matters. A good one performs in all formats, but a bad one needs a good format to help it stand out.

INTER-SCHOOL COLLABORATIONS AND SHOWCASING WORK
On a separate note, I think ADM’s efforts to showcase its students’ works is really commendable. I wish my school, School of Communication and Information (SCI), would provide such support too. In this way, more critical education can follow because our works will be scrutinised by the general public and at least each other. Just as importantly, I think our parents and loved ones can see for themselves why we spend hours toiling in school perfecting out work.

Another interesting idea came out of seeing the showcase, that is inter-school collaboration between ADM and SCI. Perhaps, the schools can combine resources like equipment and staff to provide a more holistic environment for film production. After all, both are under NTU’s College of Arts, so there exists a basis of sorts for closer links. Maybe an bi-annual feature film production can happen, where students from both schools send in joint-proposals and funding will come from the school. Who knows, maybe in the near future, both will break away to form a film school?

Alas, we know there is a lot of red tape and politics involve. The easier route would just be for students from both sides to get to know each other and work on each other’s strengths to do films that you love.

Advertising for serious journalism

SOMETHING was missing from my Straits Times (ST). Where were my “Home” and “Life” sections? It took me a while, but when I finally found them, I was shocked.

The two sections were covered by full-page advertisements and the only clue of what the real covers underneath looked like were at the corner of the page.

While it only took a flip of the page to bring order back into my daily read, this “cover-up” of news was definitely the headline of my day.

Firstly, the move to allow advertisers to take up page one of sections of the newspaper gives them more clout. It’s similar to the way new initiatives like weekly supplements diverts resources of the newspaper away from serious journalism and distracts readers from the issues of the day. ST appears to be trading responsibility to the reader for advertiser cash.

Newspapers have always had an uneasy relationship with the people who pay for them. Advertisers pay most, but they’re only there as long as the paper has readers. Alienate the readers, and the advertisers walk too.

This move to “cover-up” looks symbolic of a shift in the balance towards advertisers and away from its readers.

While newspapers and advertisers are interested in readers, they are selective about which kind of readers they want. Again, this “cover-up” could lead to a newspaper losing its responsibility and relevance to the general public, and end up pandering only to readers that serve the interest of advertisers.

Just before the “cover-up”, Cheong Yip Seng, the editor-in-chief of ST wrote how the survival of a newspaper hinges on its credibility and ability to practise serious journalism. Serious journalism costs money; who will pay for it?

One answer appears to be allowing advertisements on the front of two sections. Today has been putting advertisements all over its page one for some time, so it is not surprising that ST gets requests from advertisers for the same treatment.

Unlike Today, though, ST is not dependent on money from advertisers as it has revenue from subscribers and news-stand sales, too.

So, while ST has yet to allow a full-page advertisement to front its cover page, with this latest move, who is to say it will not happen tomorrow? The “Home” section contains serious news. By allowing advertisers to buy page one of a serious news section, ST has weakened its position if an advertiser wants to buy page one of the whole paper.

And there are other signs that ST is going the extra mile to get advertisers.

The decision to introduce Urban, Mind Your Body and Digital Lifestyle has been said to better cater to readers. But aren’t ST’s supplements equally a sign that it is trying to cater to specific advertisers, too?

Also, while ST has introduced more critical sections like Insight as well as this consumer-friendly fare, the fact that the former only has two pages while the latter runs on its own speaks volumes about where ST has chosen to place new resources.

Some argue that these new sections serve popular interests, and I do not dispute that. Yet, there has been a myth that separates what is “popular” and “serious”. Can serious journalism that is popular not exist? The reports on the NKF scandal last year were a piece of serious journalism, followed closely by many readers. This, I feel, is the way for ST to go.

It should take advantage of the fact that it is the most widely read broadsheet English paper in Singapore, and pour in more resources to deliver more critical content.

ST should be careful to balance this precarious relationship with advertisers and readers. In any case, the readers should wield the most influence.

Advertisers are after all interested in getting to the readers and readers themselves will only read newspapers that are credible. Serious journalism is the way to go, and if it matters, the readers will willingly pay for it.

As Mr. Cheong expressed, popular journalism caters to readers while serious journalism enhances a newspaper’s credibility, and helps ST in a world being overtaken by the Internet.

I think that ST straddles between being a popular and critical paper. At the end of the day it is up the editors and stakeholders to choose which direction they want to take.

The Nanyang Chronicle, 6th Mar 2006