SINGAPORE: Financing is probably one of the biggest dilemmas faced by animators in Malaysia, said animation and filmmaking veteran Hassan Muthalib.
With about 40 years of experience in the business, Hassan said local broadcasting houses pay too little for each half-hour episode or cartoon.
According to him, the RM40,000 currently paid by RTM was “too low” as, ideally, a good quality cartoon should rake in RM250,000 per half-hour episode.
CARTOON FLICK: Hassan posing beside a poster of ‘Silat Legenda’, Malaysia’s first full-length animated feature, which he directed. “I hear that even then, RTM wants to reduce the amount,” said Hassan, who is best known for the Sang Kancil series of animated short films in the 1980s.
The part-time lecturer who teaches at One Academy in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysia’s animation Industry was at the crossroads compared with already established key players like Japan and Korea.
Hassan said Malaysian animators should focus more on being storytellers rather than emphasising too much on technology and the use of software.
Only when animators understood the important rule of having a good plot with strong characters could they reach international standards, he said.
“They need to understand the principle of a good structured narration.
“Cartoons have a very long shelf life and when they are good they can sell forever, like Popeye,” Hassan added yesterday at Shangri-La Hotel here.
Hassan, who is also president of the Animation Society of Malaysia, was a speaker at a conference entitled The Bigger Picture: Asia Animation in Development.
The conference was part of the four-day Asia Media Festival 2005, which began on Wednesday.
Hassan said one good example of a locally-made animation that was doing well overseas was Johan, the Young Scientist produced by animation studio Inspidea Sdn Bhd’s.
Its managing director Andrew Ooi said the cartoon was currently being aired in Brunei, Indonesia, the Middle East, Estonia and Portugal.
Ooi, who participated in the Asia Animation Super Pitch of the convention, said the company was currently in talks with local broadcasting houses to buy the content.
And if the price was right, Malaysians would get to watch it, he added.
STAR
With about 40 years of experience in the business, Hassan said local broadcasting houses pay too little for each half-hour episode or cartoon.
According to him, the RM40,000 currently paid by RTM was “too low” as, ideally, a good quality cartoon should rake in RM250,000 per half-hour episode.
CARTOON FLICK: Hassan posing beside a poster of ‘Silat Legenda’, Malaysia’s first full-length animated feature, which he directed. “I hear that even then, RTM wants to reduce the amount,” said Hassan, who is best known for the Sang Kancil series of animated short films in the 1980s. The part-time lecturer who teaches at One Academy in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysia’s animation Industry was at the crossroads compared with already established key players like Japan and Korea.
Hassan said Malaysian animators should focus more on being storytellers rather than emphasising too much on technology and the use of software.
Only when animators understood the important rule of having a good plot with strong characters could they reach international standards, he said.
“They need to understand the principle of a good structured narration.
“Cartoons have a very long shelf life and when they are good they can sell forever, like Popeye,” Hassan added yesterday at Shangri-La Hotel here.
Hassan, who is also president of the Animation Society of Malaysia, was a speaker at a conference entitled The Bigger Picture: Asia Animation in Development.
The conference was part of the four-day Asia Media Festival 2005, which began on Wednesday.
Hassan said one good example of a locally-made animation that was doing well overseas was Johan, the Young Scientist produced by animation studio Inspidea Sdn Bhd’s.
Its managing director Andrew Ooi said the cartoon was currently being aired in Brunei, Indonesia, the Middle East, Estonia and Portugal.
Ooi, who participated in the Asia Animation Super Pitch of the convention, said the company was currently in talks with local broadcasting houses to buy the content.
And if the price was right, Malaysians would get to watch it, he added.
STAR
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