THE digital media industry is huge. Revenue earned in 2006 was $19.5 billion. Its scope of coverage is also large for it comprises not only film, broadcasting, publishing but also interactive digital media, game development and post production.
Today’s Saturday Special Report gives a flavour of the improvements since the government decided to seriously promote the industry by pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars to help companies make movies and games.
There were many takeaways for me from this assignment. But what I remember most were the experiences of two cameraman, Mr Joe Phua and Mr Jone Chang.
TV cameraman cum producer Joe Phua of Infocus Asia has been producing documentaries on different topics in Asia for years. His father, Phua Tin Loon, also a cameraman for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, covered Gulf War I. He covered Gulf War II.
Both had worked for ABC and then BBC in different Asian countries. After 11 years of doing this, Mr Phua returned to Singapore and started Infocus Asia with Mr Chang in 1996. They produced many documentaries that were aired on Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic, BBC and CNN.
Both have covered so many wars, political upheavals and disasters and they have interesting snippets of information to share.
Mr Phua for example, as a runway bag by his side – with a change of clothes and underwear and toothbrush and passport - in case he has to leave for an assignment immediately.
His tip for professionals that travel to wartorn countries: Choose a hotel room that faces away from the main road. Keep the curtains closed so that if a bomb goes off and the glass windows shatter, the shards don’t cut you. Sleep with the passport, wallet, watch and other important stuff on the bedside table so that when you need to evacuate, you can do so right away.
I wondered for a cameraman who has always a front row seat of key events in the world including disasters, how do they cope with the situation?
Mr Phua’s partner, Mr Jone Chang has to remind himself to distance himself from the situation. It’s not easy, he said, because as the cameraman, he’s already up close and personal. Looking through the lens, he sees every emotion on the interviewees’ faces.
It’s tough when he cover deaths because it’s tough to get away from his emotions. He recalled on many occasions when he has to shoot the survivors of a crash or accident. The interviewees are wailing and the bodies are lying in the sun. Yet he has to shoot the interviewees’ face and show their emotions . Yet when the emotions get too much and the interviewees’ are really crying, he must zoom out to give them privacy.
I haven’t been to wartorn countries nor seen dead bodies strewn on the ground like when the tsunami struck Phuket and Aceh. They have and their stories let me experience a little of what they feel.
Read about their passion for their award winning work in today's Saturday Special.