14 Hit Articles Fom undercover stories to hacking cultures

6 Countries China to Fiji

Volume 1 Greatest Hits May 2014 Editors: Michael Keane Elaine Zhao Vijay Anand Selvarajan Avijit Paul

Contributors for this issue: Anurag Subrimani Bert de Muynck Brian Yecies Caroline Wong Coco Ma Elaine Zhao Huan Wu Ian Weber Irene Ma Michael Alexander Ulfstjerne Michael Curtin Michael Keane Mónica Carriço Tim Lindgren Vijay Anand Selvarajan Wendy Siuyi Wong

Contact Prof Michael Keane Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Z1 515 Musk Ave Tel: +61 7 3138 3757 E: [email protected]

© ACT Magazine., 2014 All Rigths Reserved Editorial Asia-Pacific Creative Landing Pad Inflight Magazine

The Asia-Pacific Creative Landing Pad Inflight magazi- ne is produced at the Asian Creative Transformations research lab at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

The concept of the Asia-Pacific Creative Landing Pad Inflight Magazine came to me a few years ago when I was flying from perplexing but troubled continent. Brisbane to Beijing. Flipping through the Qantas inflight maga- zine in my seat compartment, I noticed a feature story about I don’t think in these stereotypes anymore, nor do most people the famed Silk Road. I meet. I meet a lot of people who know Asia well and some who think they know. While politicians still invoke fear about As my plane descended into Beijing Capital Airport I realized the comings of boat people and takeovers of national indus- just how little I knew about this ancient land, although I had tries by Asian millionaires, and while journalists continue to travelled here so many times. I recalled a diary entry from my stereotype elements of Asian society as corrupt, most people first visit to China in 1989. I was staying in a cheap hotel in appreciate that we are deeply connected to Asia, however de- the outpost city of Kashgar in the north-western province of fined. We depend on the Asian economy for our future. Asia’s Xinjiang, waiting for a mysterious person to deliver me a train culture has infiltrated our sense of who were are and what we ticket procured on the black market. Intoxicated by the atmos- are becoming. phere but feeling anxious about returning, I wrote, ‘I wake to the sounds of donkeys braying and Muslims praying.’ We live in a time in which Asian creativity and innovation are reaching out globally, becoming part of the global collective When I grew up in the sixties and seventies in Australia, Asia consciousness. This special downloadable pdf is a collation of was far away—a place one passed through on the long expe- articles published in the past two years covering art, media and dition to the UK, Europe or the US. I lived in the ‘lucky country’, design practice in the Asia-Pacific. The stories are written by as we liked to call ourselves down under. I imagined millions of experts, some of the writers are professors: some are prac- people in chaotic living conditions; I thought of snake charmers, titioners and students. We hope you enjoy reading and look Communist revolutionaries, fakirs and gurus, elephants and forward to publishing more stories that show the diversity of tigers, temples, incense and bells, and extreme poverty. Asia creative transformation in the fastest growing region of the symbolized the past. The Pacific Ocean separated us from this world. Content

An Undercover The Life and Death Story of Pi’s Creators 06 20

06 An Undercover Story Coco Xiaolu Ma

12 Serangoon Road Caroline Wong

16 The Life and Death of Pi’s Creators Michael Curtin

20 Back to Neutral Brian Yecies

24 Fiji’s film future Ian Weber & Anurag Subrimani

26 Challenges of going over the top in India Vijay Anand Selvarajan

30 How to bake a creative cluster in China Michael Keane How to bake a Challenges of going creative cluster in over the top in India China 26 30

34 Creative land grabs Michael Alexander Ulfstjerne

38 China’s new economy of fashion Tim Lindgren

42 Thoughts on Laa-sai Cit-gai Wendy Siuyi Wong

44 Capturing China’s Creativity Bert de Muynck & Mónica Carriço

48 Make, modify, and invent Elaine Zhao

52 Putting young technology in older adults’ hands Huan Wu

56 The ‘Going Out’ of Culture Irene Ma Undercover Story

An Undercover Story If you are the one

In China an intelligent single woman in Beijing things started becoming If You Are the One, the show’s Chine- over 30 years old (or maybe 28 so- a bit bizarre. Almost every person I se title means ‘If you’re not sincere, metimes) is automatically tagged by knew, not just my relatives, but offi- then don’t bother me.’ You kind of society as a ‘leftover’. If this woman ce colleagues, company clients and get the idea! The show debuted in has the title Doctor placed before even total strangers in airplanes early 2010. her family name she is literally spea- are suddenly enthusiastic to set so- king ‘smelly in the marriage market’ meone up for me. I’m not exaggera- GAME RULES: in the majority of people’s minds. ting: everyone says to me ‘Coco, you Well, that woman is me. should go on Feicheng wurao.’ Single men appear one by one on stage before a group of 24 women, I spent almost 7 years living in Aus- If you haven’t heard of this show each standing behind a podium with tralia finishing my masters plus doc- you’ve probably been living on an a light on it. More or less immediately, toral degree in film and TV so that island somewhere, either that or the man picks one of them in secret I could really have a better position you are really uncool. It’s a televi- that appeals to him. Then, through to work in this industry. I didn’t feel sion dating show on Jiangsu Satellite conversation with the show’s host too bothered being single and I occa- Television Channel, which is one of and a series of videos including in- sionally enjoyed some casual dates. China’s most popular TV networks. terviews with his friends, family, and But when I took up a job offer back Although it carries an English name coworkers, he reveals more about

6 ACT magazine himself, his life, and what he’s loo- she may still reject his offer). Episode Two: How can I get on to king for in a mate. At any point, if a Feicheng wurao? woman decides she’s not interested Don’t get me wrong, I am flattered in him, she can turn off the light on when people ask me to join this I decide to try for the show under her podium and trigger a heart-sin- show. It has to be considered a big pressure from an irresistible force, a king electronic pulse sound to com- compliment for any girl. Every wee- very persuasive fan of Feicheng wu- municate her rejection. Once the kend the crew goes to five major ci- rao—my mother! It seems like it is bachelor has finished being introdu- ties in China to interview potential her dream to see her only daughter ced, if there are more than two lights participants. Hundreds of girls line on the stage fighting with another on, he must walk up to the podiums up to get a chance. Sometimes the 23 females for a dating chance and turn lights off for the women he crew travels around the world to with some stranger. Anyway it is isn’t interested in until only two are hunt for singles, including to Austra- a quite simple procedure to fill in left. Then, he gets to ask those two lia. the application form. I only have to questions, after which he can choo- click a SUBMIT button on the popu- se to date one of them or make an You must be either ‘special’ or ‘ab- lar Chinese dating website jiayuan. offer to date whatever girl he chose normal’ to be on stage in a group com which I have signed on for pre- at the beginning, even if she turned of 24 single women. Which of these viously. My profile has all my perso- her light off (though this is risky as was I? nal details including my photo, my

ACT magazine 7 Undercover Story

height, my age, my education level, That’s it! Thanks to my long-term ted in a Beijing suburb. I’m very lucky my profession, my horoscope, my study in Film and TV I know au- that I don’t need to travel to another blood type. diences love such nonsensical eye- city. Most of the candidates travel catching phrases! Then the director from all over the country, someti- Then someone calls me two days la- is suddenly very interested in my me even from the other side of the ter and congratulates me that I am personal life, such as how many bo- earth. My neighbor candidate No. pre-selected 6, who is a fashion designer from as the candi- Giorgio Armani, flew 12 hours from date and asks Milan to Beijing just for the shoot. me to attend a face-to-face Episode Three: Orientation interview the following Sa- On the morning of the first day of turday. shooting, all the new candidates gather with the producer for an On Saturday orientation. There are 24 women I go to the in- on stage every episode and the fa- terview point, ces are always changing. In order which is the to help the audience remember office of the the girls the producer literally en- dating web- courages us to find our own ‘label’. site. The reception is crowded with yfriends I had in the past, and then I meet a real African princess who ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ fashionably dres- he pops up the same question that speaks perfect Chinese and who- sed. Many are complaining that they I have been asked millions of time— se grandpa is the Chief of a tribe in have waited for hours. When the re- ‘Why you are single? You are a smart Bissau; then there is a creepy 25 ceptionist finds my name and ID on lovely woman and you have a res- year old online business owner who her list I enjoy the privilege of jum- pectful job. How come you are still looks exactly like a child under 12; ping the queue and going straight to not married?’ Well, I come up with and a young beautiful model with the director’s room. the old standard answer: ‘I was too 1000 degrees myopia whose Chi-

The director is around my age. He says ‘you are a beautiful intelligent woman.’ But that’s not good enough for him; he pushes me to think I can be a very special woman, a female icon different than the others. He says they already have had several female PhD students in the past. My doctoral degree in creative wri- ting with full scholarship in my se- cond language comes in handy. So to make myself more outstanding I conjure a magic math trick. My five scholarships add up to approxima- te AU$200,000 during my study and focused on my career’ rather than nese name sounds Japanese! As that amount of money is equal to saying ‘my ex was a jerk’, although I well as these ‘freshmen’ the stage more than 1 million RMB in China. had a gut feeling that he would love includes China’s first female racing There and then my new label as a to hear the dramatic answer. driver. She comes from an extremely Feicheng wurao candidate is set as wealthy family—to be honest car a ‘female PhD with more than a mi- After three long months of waiting I racing is a damn expensive hobby in llion RMB in scholarships.’ am told to prepare to join a two-day China. Maybe she’s too fast to catch shoot (Saturday and Sunday) loca- or just too intimidating for a Chine-

8 ACT magazine se guy. And then there is ‘Sister of what we get are the leftovers. Each and more people will know your face. Explosion’, a woman who explodes girl has a number representing her It is so hard for girls to get on the her love at first sight light for every position and the stage is tactfully most popular reality show in China. single guy. The audience remembers arranged. I am No. 5 candidate on We are already winners from the

her well. Also there is the divorced the stage. It seems No.5 is always thousands of applicants, survivors Hong Kong airline stewardess who reserved for a PhD in the middle of from the hardest interview ever. gets revenge by recounting her ex- the left section of the stage; this husband’s infidelity so that he too is makes it easier for the audience to The bachelors who come on stage well known to the Chinese and inter- follow. Spot No.1 or No.24 is left for are not the main target. The mi- national audience via the show. tomboys or narcissists. They get to llions watching in front of TV or on stand near the edge of the stage but their internet are the real market. I am getting the feeling it’s more the audience loves watching them. Fame follows the game. It is a free like a sitcom than a dating show. I No.11 and No.12 are in the midd- national advertisement for not only wouldn’t say I enjoy the shoot. Be- le of the stage; these are the sexy in the marriage market but also in a fore I performed on this show I was goddesses. person’s professional world, espe- in the entertainment industry for cially if you own a business. Some several years and I worked as a crew It’s not exactly like Andy Warhol said, of the female candidates stay on member in three feature films. It is the famous line: ‘in the future ever- the show for more than 6 months,

the very first time I have to be ma- yone will have 15 minutes of fame.’ sometimes even up to a year. Many de-up and do my own performance Before the game starts the seniors get roles in new commercials; some in front of a camera. The make-up who have been on this show for maybe will get a chance to become artists and dressers are very snob- more than 30 times tell us the most an actress. Of course it’s not all fun bish. In our group, there are several important rule: ‘don’t forget to turn and games. The candidates have to ‘stars’ who have already been on the off the light’, otherwise, you can be bear with the massive cyber hun- show for several months. They have accidentally matched and will have ting of internet users. You’d better the privilege of choosing the spon- to leave the stage. Well, let’s face it have strong nerve, believe me. The sored dresses, jewelry, and having you are not here to find a Mr. Right: seniors’ speech is certainly very ins- their hair done first. As ‘freshmen’, you are standing here so that more piring and scaring.

ACT magazine 9 Undercover Story

As for the male candidates, there is vodka with more than 50% alcohol girls’ fights on the stage which are a hidden rhyme and reason. In each and encourages us to ‘ganbei’ which cut by the crew due to things get- episode there will be five or six ba- means ‘bottoms up’. ting really ugly. Someone faints due chelors fronting the stage. Normally to high temperature. We are forced the first one’s role is to create the When we are waiting to go on, a very to eat a meat ball made by some atmosphere so he will be funny or cute guy wearing head phones calls horrible cook and pretend it tastes outraged; the second person may be my name. I don’t recognize him. He fantastic. Also there is a disgusting an average or below average guy; the is a little shy but is excited to talk to guy who claims that he can tell if a third and fourth are more a lady’s me. Well, it turns out he is the exe- woman is having her period by lite- man. The fifth will be back to avera- cutive director of the show and we rally smelling her. He literally smelt ge or normal so that the show can had the same major at the Commu- five girls like a dog—creepy. end smoothly. nication University of China in Beijing a decade ago. I was his senior. He My unsuccessful romantic moment The shooting normally starts from said ‘you know what, you rocked in happens when a very handsome 1 p.m. till 10 p.m. with two episodes college! Many boys in our grade had doctor gently rejects me because of and one hour break. Wearing high a crush on you’. My god, how I laug- ‘age difference’. I am 6 years older heels and standing 8 hours under hed, ‘you should have told me earlier; than him. Later he claims he came the very hot spot lamps is torture. in that case I might never need to only for his beloved candidate, a I secretly pay my highest respect to come to this show!’ Well, since he is woman who has been on the show those who has have the determina- cute I am about to ask him if he was for more than 150 episodes and is 8 tion and strength to fly in for a shoot still single. Then the music starts, we years older than him. He says he has every second week. need to walk. been in love with her on the TV for a long time. So this is like a perfect Episode Four: Reality Show This is an undercover story, so I am dream-come-true fairytale. It pro- not going to spend too much time ves again that every single girl can Just right before the ladies go on sta- describing the episodes. You’ll have find her white horse prince in the ge with music the producer hands to look on TV and the internet. An- show. Audiences buy that a lot. each of the new girls a small bott- yway I reckon the cameras put 10 le of Erguotou—a famous Chinese pounds on me. And there are the As an experienced TV/Film maker I

10 ACT magazine sense there is a bug here: the fake is the perfect mate for me. He then off from Baidu search, finally. arrangements hurt my feelings. Af- asks me to forward his five screen ter the two love birds leave the sta- synopsis to any producers I know in That’s the end of my journey to If ge I question the host on this per- order to help him realize his dream You Are the One. I didn’t find the fect bachelor’s choice in front of the of being a screen writer/director one. Seriously, I would say, just audience and camera. The host said (let’s face it everybody now knows don’t bother if you are sincere. ‘yeah, even I couldn’t understand his that I am working in film industry concept—he said the age was a pro- thanks to the show). blem but he chose a woman who is Author Bio obviously older than you’. My mother is very happy. She tells everyone she knows to watch my Dr. Coco Xiaolu Ma currently works Well, in the end I get the inside in- show. Then my aunt’s neighbor at Motion Picture Association (MPA), formation that he was hired by the wants to set a blind date for me and Beijing Office. She obtained her PhD crew to go after the woman because her son who is living in Boston. They at Griffith University in Brisbane, she never leaves the show. The crew suggest we become internet friends needs to eliminate some old faces first and ignore the almost 12 hours’ to keep the program fresh and to fill time differences between our two in new flesh. As far as I know later cities. these two love birds never went out. Episode Six: The End Episode Five: My real life after Fei- cheng wurao I accidentally forget to turn off the light when I am day-dreaming du- My four episodes are continuously ring the recording. I am the only girl broadcast during the three-day na- who saves the light for the guy and tional Labor Day holiday. My Chi- he picks me. That’s how I end up lea- nese name becomes a meme on ving the show after just 5 episodes. Baidu Word Search overnight. Fans According to his video clip he is five blog about me and then some of years younger than me, a handsome my high school classmates defame successful interior designer / busi- Australia. Her research area inclu- me on the Feicheng wurao official ness owner driving a BMW. We win a des Hong Kong and Mainland film Weibo (Chinese twitter). My high Maldives luxury holiday by matching industries, Asian cinemas, China school teacher then defends me up. Our one and only official lunch international film Co-productions from his own weibo account. Count- date is after the day of the shoot. I and Chinese new media. She was a less personal messages are sent to tell him that it was a mistake then journalist working for Beijing Youth my Facebook account from Chinese he goes back his city. We never meet Newspaper in China for five years. students studying in Australia. My each other again. Later became a script writer for the previous co-worker’s brother who is China Central Television (CCTV) and now living in the U.S. calls her to ask Four weeks later I get a call from a also worked for the Sina.com which if this No.5 is the same person she person claiming he is a police offi- is the largest Chinese-language in- had mentioned to him. One of my cer and he has my number from the fotainment web portal. She had rich exes in Toronto took a photo of me Feicheng wurao crew. He asks me if work experience in film and TV in- from his TV and then ‘what’s-upped’ I know the guy I was matched with dustry as a screenplay writer, direc- me to find out what’s up with me. in the show very well and if I know tor assistant, translator and execu- where he is. According to this per- tive producer for China international The most fascinating part of my son, the man is listed as wanted by co-productions. Feicheng wurao adventure is when police due to several fraud cases. He I receive a love letter, or at least a re- asks me to call back if this bache- commendation letter titled ‘I am the lor ever calls me again. That is very next Ang Lee’; this comes from a 38 scary. year old high-school graduate buil- ding constructor who claims that he Three months later, my name drops

ACT magazine 11 Serangoon Road

Serangoon Road: a bridge for co- production and cultural learning in the Asia-Pacific

Serangoon Road is an Australian-Singapore ten part TV series. ten off the ground had it not been developed in both Singapore A detective noir drama set in the sixties, Serangoon Road is set and Australia with government support from both countries. in a time when Singapore was breaking away from Malaysia Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) is a financier and becoming an independent state. As well as the turbulence and Australia’s Screenwest is the other. HBO Asia is the distri- occurring in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia at the time, the butor and is hoping that the more viewers see local influences drama also references conflict in Vietnam with one of charac- on ‘Serangoon Road’, the more they will be willing to travel it. ters playing the role of a CIA agent. The film blends both Eastern and Western elements in crea- Premiering in September 2013, Serangoon Road is a co-pro- ting a pan-Asian drama with strong Asian characters, offering duction between Australia’s ABC TV, Great Western Entertain- a fresh but accurate depiction of Asian history and identity. In ment in Western Australia, HBO Asia and Singapore’s Infinite Serangoon Road the lead characters are a diverse mix: Aus- Frameworks together with the participation of the Media tralian, Singaporean, Indonesian, British and American. One of Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), ScreenWest and the leading characters in the series is Patricia Cheng, played by Australian Government’s Export Finance and Insurance Corpo- veteran actress Joan Chen, best known for her appearances in ration (EFIC). The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks, and Mao’s Last Dancer. Cheng runs a detective agency and is joined by rugged-looking Aussie Promoted as HBO Asia’s first original series, the drama is an actor Don Hany, who plays Sam Callaghan. A number of other ambitious undertaking, not least for the obvious problems of colourful characters populate the narrative, which involves Chi- dealing with cultural issues in ways that are entertaining yet nese mafia, murder, contraband, ménage-a-trois, and interna- palatable to different audiences. Pan-Asian co-productions tional affairs. have been common in recent times with an increasing num- ber ple-to-people links forged through collaborations such Location shoots for Serangoon Road took place at some of as Serangoon Road open up new opportunities for cultural Singapore’s best known landmarks, including the Raffles Hotel engagement and strengthen our business, political and trade and former colonial houses and heritage buildings. However, relationships in Asia. Our vision is to become one of Asia’s lea- most of the shooting action occurred at Infinite Studios’ faci- ding producers of film, TV and new media content for a global lities in Batam, Indonesia, where replicas of Bugis Street and audience’. Chinatown of old Singapore were built.

Erika North, head of programming at HBO Asia and executive Co-production and the growth of the Singapore film industry producer on the series noted that the film would not have got-

12 ACT magazine Serangoon Road is the latest of a slate of co-productions Singapore is an attractive partner in co-production as it is the filmed in Singapore. In the 1990s, the government’s broadcast hub in Asia. It has 17 international cable and satellite efforts to expand the country’s services sector included broadcasters, including HBO, ESPN, MTV, Disney and Discovery. identifying filmmaking as a potential economic growth Many of them use Singapore as their regional headquarters in area. The plan was for Singapore to become a regional the region. Leading animation and gaming companies such as hub for international film production and distribution Japanese Koei and Genki and Italy’s top animation studio Ra- with state of the art media production and post-pro- inbow S.p.A have also established their content development duction facilities. studios in Singapore. In 2004, Australia’s Southern Star Group established its only digital animation studio in Singapore. The Singapore screen industry developed rapidly with government support and sought ways to build talent Australian-Singapore co-productions showcase how colla- and expertise. In 2003, the Media Development Autho- boration occurs between many stakeholders, the main ones rity (MDA) was formed with the merger of the Singapo- being policy makers, the production houses and distribution re Broadcasting Authority, the Films and Publications networks. The relationship between the two nation’s indus- Department and the Singapore Film Commission (SFC). tries has been spurred by the Australia-Singapore co-produc- However, one of the greatest challenges facing the industry is tion MOU signed in 2007 which came into force in 2008 with creative content. Co-production is seen as the way forward to the MDA’s active approach to supporting the local industry to circumvent this challenge. work with international partners. Since the signing of the Aus- tralia-Singapore MOU, many successful co-productions have Singapore is an active supporter of the co-production model. ensued between the two countries. The MDA endeavours to broker relationships between local and foreign partners. Some of Singapore’s established local Several partnerships between Australian and Singaporean production houses have been invited to showcase their works media companies have resulted in successful productions. One at the annual Cannes Film Festival in Paris as well as establish example is Home Song Stories (2007). This film was co-pro- networking and collaboration sessions with would-be foreign duced by Australia’s Big and Little Films and Porchlight Films partners. The MDA facilitates co-production agreements and with investment from Singapore MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, collaborations with overseas government and industry organi- which distributed the film in Singapore and Malaysia. zations. MDA and its partners (such as the production houses) have been adopting a global approach, forming international The Australia’s Film Finance Corporation provided the majo- strategic and business alliances across borders and cultures rity of finance. The film received 14 nominations at the 2007 ranging from the US to Europe and Asia. Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards and was also nominated for awards in the foreign language film category of the Oscars. This has resulted in quite a few potential partnerships with Home Song Stories took home a total of five awards at the In- treaties and memoranda of understanding (MOU) signed with side Film Awards held in Australia in November 2007. countries such as America, New Zealand, Korea, Australia, Chi- na, Italy, France, Canada and Indonesia in the last 10 years. There have been a number of official and unofficial animation Bilateral co-production agreements with targeted countries co-productions including Guess How Much I love You, Milly are one way to develop new markets for made-by-Singapore Molly (2006) by Pacific & Beyond (Australia) and Scrawl Stu- content as co-productions attempt to secure foreign exhibi- dios (Singapore) and Master Raindrop (2008) by Greenpatch tion from the early planning stage. Co-production is also seen Productions (Australia) and Big Communications (Singapore) a way to improve program quality and address challenges from along with Flux Animation (New Zealand). Live action children’s new competitors. series A Gurls Wurld also had Australian and Singaporean part- ners. One of the main benefits of co-production agreements is that an approved film can be considered a national production in From the Australian producers’ perspectives the factors most each of the co-production countries so that producers can commonly perceived as opportunities include co-financing, apply for any benefits or programs of assistance available in official co-productions, the appeal of their content to the Sin- either country, including investment and tax incentives. Singa- gaporean market and co-ventures. The presence of a number porean companies are eligible for grants of up to 40 per cent of of international broadcasters and media companies (such as the Singapore spend on a television, film, game of interactive HBO Asia and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific) in Singapore media production. To encourage a sustained flow of projects, also makes it an attractive partner. The financial returns are MDA grants a further 10 per cent of the Singapore spend of perceived as lucrative according to the Common Ground survey a Singaporean company’s current project for its next project. of producers: 56 per cent of the Australian producers expected their revenue to expand and almost 10 per cent indicated it will

ACT magazine 13 Serangoon Road

expand significantly.

Not all alliances result in a net positive experience in which Wong, Caroline and Matthews Judy 2009. Learning through both partners gain in learning. Sometimes it can be a zero sum Collaboration and Co-production in the Singapore Film Indus- game in which the partner learning the fastest dominates the try: Opportunities for Development. Paper presented at the relationship. In some cases failure to gain access to partner proceedings of the ANZIBA (Australia and New Zealand Inter- knowledge results in unequal benefits accruing out of such co- national Business Academy) Annual Conference in Brisbane, llaboration. Ideally, the primary interest of international joint Australia, April 17-18 2009.Serangoon Road is the latest of a ventures is aimed at joint innovative efforts in which both or- slate of co-productions filmed in Singapore. In the 1990s, the ganisations share technical knowledge. government’s efforts to expand the country’s services sector included identifying filmmaking as a potential economic growth According to the Common Ground Report challenges of grea- area. The plan was for Singapore to become a regional hub for ter engagement with the Singaporean screen industry include international film production and distribution with state of the the lack of knowledge/expertise within their business and the art media production and post-production facilities. fact that Singapore has a small broadcast market. Firms that rely on strategic alliances to secure access to competitive ad- vantage my find their internal skill sets deteriorating as they become ‘locked out’ from learning new skills and technologies critical to participating in the industry evolution. In that regard, co-production is not always equated with equal production in terms of inputs and outcomes.

Many Australian production companies are already reali- sing the benefits of partnering with Singaporean companies. There will be ongoing opportunities for production partners- hips for Australian producers including official and unofficial co-productions, especially in the animation sector. MDA has committed itself along this line and will continue to pursue co- productions as the way forward for the Singapore screen and media industry.

While it’s too early to know if Serangoon Road has achieved its measure of success, there is no doubt that the experien- ce opens up more possibilities. According to producers, writers and actors there has been much ‘cultural learning’. One of the key actors Don Hany found Serangoon Road a unique history Abiout Author lesson, and his mostly Asian co-stars’ traits rubbed off on him. ‘Without a doubt…I noticed particularly Asian politeness, or pa- Caroline Wong is a lecturer in management and strategy at the tience towards work…I really enjoyed letting Asian sensibilities James Cook University, which has a campus in Singapore from affect me,’ Hany said during a teleconference with journalists January 2014. The focus of her scholarly research is on ma- from the region. naging the intangible resources and competencies that have increasingly become sources of competitive advantage in the A bridge has now been established. creative cultural industries such as the film industry. Her re- search also explores the challenges of new technologies such Acknowledgements as digital technology that impact on the value chain of the film industry. Caroline has published widely in the area of creativity The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the management and knowledge management. Her other areas following: of research include knowledge-based cities, creative cities and creative industries with a special focus on Singapore. Robert, DeFillippi: Seminar Presentation: Co-production and Co-creation in Australian Film and Television: Some Prelimi- nary Observations. Presented on 18 Nov 2013 at ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

14 ACT magazine ACT magazine 15 Life of Pi

A 2012 British-Taiwanese-American- Canadian 3D live-action computer-animated

Life of Pi The Life and Death of Pi’s Creators

Over the past 30 years, the most successful films at the in- ternational box office have been laden with visual effects, so it’s no surprise that the number of VFX production facilities has grown dramatically. Asia is emerging as one of the global place dominated by the major media conglomerates that hire leaders with new facilities launching in such places as Mum- them to add luster to their blockbuster movies. R&H executi- bai, Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur. Local governments have been ves nevertheless declared that they would like to reorganize keen boosters of the effects industry as well. In Wuxi, China, for the company under the leadership of an outside buyer. example, the government spent close to $300 million conver- ting a former steel mill into an elaborate film studio with digital Only two days later on February 27, DreamWorks animation post-production facilities as the centerpiece. Aiming to posi- laid off 15% of its full-time workforce, a loss of 350 jobs. Like tion itself as a global facility, Wuxi Studios promote themsel- Rhythm and Hues, DreamWorks is considered one of the best ves as a low-cost producer with state of the art technology in employers in its field of animation, but executives explained visual effects and animation. In nearby Shanghai, DreamWorks that the fulltime payroll at the studio had grown too large to Animation has entered into a joint venture with local partners manage in the face of rising costs and global competition. to develop DreamWorks Oriental, the anchor studio of a ma- jor development project that is part of the city’s ambition to In some ways, these developments may appear to be a good burnish its reputation as a leading producer of Chinese screen sign for overseas competitors in animation, special effects, animation. and postproduction services. With high-tech infrastructure, low labor costs, and government support, many facilities in These trends are part of the larger transformations that are Asia confidently assert that they can compete with their Ho- washing across East Asian media industries as they emerge as llywood counterparts in terms of quality and cost. This seems significant content creators as well as low-cost competitors. to be the rationale behind the significant investments that go- Yet the recent new reports out of Hollywood offer cautionary vernments have made to develop new facilities and to provide tales about the prospects of such ventures. tax breaks and subsidies to local effects houses. Nevertheless Rhythm and Hues offers a cautionary case example, for the On February 24, The Life of Pi won the Academy award for best very same pressures and industrial practices that brought the visual effects. Rhythm and Hues, the company responsible for company to its knees are likely to confront competitors in Asia this achievement, was also nominated in the same category as well. Among the challenges that postproduction companies for its work on Snow White and the Huntsman. Extraordinarily confront are adverse contracting practices and unrelenting successful, the company is also considered one of the best em- pressure from overseas competitors. ployers in the digital media business: a creative and supportive work environment where employees enjoy good pay and be- The key to understanding these challenges is the subcon- nefits. This has helped it retain some of the best talent in the tracting system that prevails among the producers of major VFX business and allowed it to use its reputation to develop feature films that Hollywood executives refer to as “tentpole” satellite production facilities overseas. productions. Tentpoles such as Skyfall, The Hunger Games, and The Dark Knight Rises, are the leading attractions each year Yet less than 24 hours after receiving its Oscar, Rhythm and among the slate of films released by each studio. Although Hues announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. they are financed and distributed by the major studios, the ac- Like six similar companies that have failed in the last couple tual production of each film is conducted by hundreds of em- years, the company succumbed to the pressures of a market- ployees, most of whom work for independent production com-

18 ACT magazine panies, such as Rhythm and Hues, that sign contracts with the out of operating cash on the eve of its Academy Award for best producers to provide specific services at a set price. visual effects.

These contracts are negotiated during the initial planning During recent bankruptcy proceedings, Rhythm and Hues was stages of a film, well before the actual production begins, and bought by a group of investors with ties to Bollywood media therefore companies must fashion a bid that will appear com- interests. One source claims that although the studio will con- petitive but also one that leaves enough cushioning for the tinue its operations in LA, some 80 percent of the production inevitable revisions that take place during filming and post- work is likely to be conducted overseas, much of it in Asia. That production. Such revisions can be driven by creative choices of would reverse the company’s previous distribution of labor, the director or by decisions made by other talent or executives averaging 80 percent in the US and 20 percent overseas. attached to the project. Yet contracts never include a clause for cost “overages” nor do they include a profit participation clause Even though this will give a boost to Asian effects professio- that might bring additional revenue to a VFX company that in- nals, it also casts a pall over the business as a whole, as VFX vests extra effort to help make a film such as Life of Pi an Oscar shops in Asia are likely to face the very same pressures going winner with more than $600 million in global ticket sales. forward. Given the current limits of the contracting system, it is only a matter of time before Asian effects companies begin Under these conditions, executives at companies such as to confront the same downward spiral, as studios relentlessly Rhythm and Hues are under constant pressure to bid aggres- seek out the low-cost (or highly subsidized) providers. sively against competitors in Los Angeles and increasingly against competitors overseas, many of whom enjoy tax breaks In such an environment, victories and profits will prove elusive, and subsidies from local governments. Some Canadian provin- and perhaps the only reliable point of reference will be a telling ces are offering 33 percent tax breaks on VFX production costs. quote from one Hollywood producer who said, “If I don’t put a visual effects shop out of business (on my movie), then I’m not Chinese and Korean officials have played a significant role in doing my job.” financing new production infrastructure. And Indian effects shops enjoy significant labor cost advantages. Thus R&H exe- About Author cutives must find ways to contain their production costs in the face of stiff competition. Like many other Hollywood shops, Michael Curtin is the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Pro- they resorted to overseas expansion, opening facilities in Ca- fessor of Global Studies in the Department of Film and Me- nada, Malaysia, and India. This global footprint allowed them to exploit the advantages of each location, but it also increased their ongoing overhead costs, which in some ways made them more vulnerable to fluctuations in demand from the major stu- dios.

Like all independent film and television companies, Rhythm and Hues executives were pressed to strike a balance between creative excellence and cost containment, but they were forced do so in a business with very thin profit margins that range between 3 and 5 per cent. Consequently there was little room for error in the bidding process and although the company had a long and distinguished track record, it lived in the shadow of financial insolvency. If one or two major projects were cance- lled, delayed, or failed, the company could be pushed over the line.

These adverse market conditions are indeed what precipitated dia Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the bankruptcy of Rhythm and Hues. According to industry also Director of the Media Industries Project at the Carsey-Wolf insiders, the company had been flourishing on the revenues Center. His books include Playing to the World’s Biggest Au- flowing from tentpole features for Fox and Universal that dience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV and Reorien- brought in roughly $90 million per year… until last year. In 2012, ting Global Communication: Indian and Chinese Media Beyond the two studios both cut back on effects-driven titles, engen- Borders. Curtin is currently at work on Media Capital: The Cul- dering a perfect storm for R&H, as its revenues from studio tural Geography of Globalization and is co-editor of the Chinese films plummeted to $18 million. Lacking a nest egg from profit Journal of Communication and the International Screen Indus- participation on successful films of the past, the company ran tries book series of the British Film Institute. Digital Cinema

Back to Neutral: Koreans on the Digital Cinema Frontier in China

How are East Asian film practitioners gital projection before it is distributed to wild frontier, a stimulating environment contributing to the professionalization cinemas or processed for other screen which however offers Korean players of Chinese cinema? It is no secret that formats. many challenges, including opportuni- South Korean, Hong Kong, Taiwanese ty costs – the sharing of trade secrets and Japanese film makers have ad- Between 1997 and 2011, Lee ‘coloured’ and intellectual property, among other vantages when it comes to producing and digitised more than 200 domestic things. ‘quality content.’ In recent times film feature films made by leading directors makers in the People’s Republic of Chi- such as Bong Joon-ho (Mother, 2009; The In the recent past, DI in China was a na have sought to catch up by drawing Host, 2006), Park Chan wook (Old Boy, cost-prohibitive luxury offered by a small technological expertise and knowledge 2003; Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, number of U.S., Canadian and Austra- through selective collaborative ventures. 2005; Thirst, 2009), Kim Jee-woon (The lian firms working with a select group South Korean collaborations in particu- Good, the Bad, and the Weird, 2008; A of leading Chinese directors and their lar are pushing the technological frontier Bittersweet Life, 2005) and Lee Myung- big-budget films. However, the arrival in the Chinese film industry, especially se (M, 2007). He accomplished this after of Lee and other Korean representati- with respect to high-end digital effects pioneering Korean cinema’s transition to ves (working for Seoul-based companies – most notably through the distinctive digital equipment and workflow proces- such as Digital Idea, Digital Studio 2L, SK visual sensibilities and practices of Lee ses between 2002 and 2005. Independence and CJ Powercast), cou- Yong-gi and other Korean post-produc- pled with lower costs and a high level tion specialists whom Lee has trained or In 2008, while still working on films in of technical capability, has enabled both inspired at home and abroad. Korea Lee began consulting for the established and emerging Chinese film- Chinese-owned firm HFR in Beijing. His makers to utilise this key process. Lee is Korean cinema’s so-called gran- chief task was to purchase and install dfather of colour grading; he is a pioneer state-of-the-art digital post-production Not only has Lee brought his experience in methods of manipulating the colours equipment, then costing upwards of and knowledge garnered from nume- of a film during the post-production and around $500,000 USD. Lee made a per- rous award-wining and critically acclai- final printing processes, which are now manent move to Beijing in 2009. He and med Korean films to China but he has completely digital (and known as digital a growing number of Korean colleagues transferred state-of-the-art technology intermediary or DI). DI, which has beco- are currently among the most sought- by overseeing the purchase of new equi- me an essential medium for filmmaking after DI and visual effects experts in Chi- pment with which he has become very across the globe, enables filmmakers to na. Their ambitions with regard to wor- familiar through attending key annual manipulate a film and prepare it for di- king in China are clear: China is the new industry trade shows such as the NAB

20 ACT magazine Show. Each year Lee tries to attend at ding to how he thought it should look. At Painted Skin 2 least one of these events where he can the peak of his career in Korea, Lee had demonstrate new equipment and hold mastered the assembly-line approach Screen shots from Wuershan’s superna- detailed discussions with technicians to DI that he used here; producers and tural-fantasy-action film Painted Skin 2: and their sales teams. directors would instruct him: “give my The Resurrection (2012). Lee and his Ko- rean DI colleagues Ethan Park and Peter Ahn created a high-contrast colour style for this project. Their approach differs significantly from that taken by Fincher and Hall in Panic Room as well as by other Korean films with night or dim in- terior scenes such as Old Boy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and The Host.

Since his arrival in China, Lee has learned to apply DI in new ways, to modify his approach in order to convey a different set of emotions, including hope and opti- mism, not by applying a darkening effect but a brightening one. Because of the li- mited range of genres in Chinese cinema [dictated by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television [SARFT] less latitude is available for experimenting with darker subject matter (and thus darker colours). Lee and other DI tech- Above Screen shots from David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002). The accentuation of darkness and the nicians in China are operating on a tra- gradient shades of black created by Fincher and his cinematographer Conrad W. jectory that differs markedly from that taken by Korean cinema. Panic Room film the ‘Old Boy’ or ‘Thirst’ look”, which meant: keep it dark and mysterious with The so-called professionalization of Screen shots from David Fincher’s Panic lots of shadows. post-production practices and, more to Room (2002). The accentuation of dark- the point, the transformation of the vi- ness and the gradient shades of black Despite his expertise as a digital co- sual sensibilities of Chinese cinema still created by Fincher and his cinemato- lourist Lee’s initial DI of Detective Dee have a long way to go to match global grapher Conrad W. Hall present a mu- and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame tastes with local creative aspirations. ted non-lit appearance to the dramatic was rejected by Tsui and his creative night scenes using a mixture of minima- team, which hails from Taiwan and Hong The work of Lee and other East Asian listic lighting, careful camera exposure Kong. He was asked to reverse the low- practitioners active in China today re- settings, selective lenses, and low-con- contrast effect he had given it; that is, to flects the uneven transfer of knowledge, trast film stock – all critical elements for go ‘back to neutral’. Adjusting to these the result of structural conditions inclu- achieving a particular visual style in the new demands has been no easy task ding intellectual property issues, politi- pre-digital filmmaking days. Lee is eager for Lee. Director Tsui is known to prefer cal regulation and educational levels in to credit Fincher’s films as a source of a high-contrast visual style incorpora- China. In other words, the assimilation inspiration for his own work. ting bright daylight scenes. Tsui’s colour of new technology, knowledge and inno- sensibilities, which are also reflected in vation is a more complex process than Back to Neutral countless historical drama films made meets the eye. Films produced or post- by other Chinese commercial directors, produced by Korean and Hong Kong fil- Lee completed the DI on his first film in have challenged Lee’s vast experience mmakers and companies in partnership China, Tsui Hark’s 2010 martial arts dra- with the use of deep blacks and low- with Chinese filmmakers, companies ma Detective Dee and the Mystery of contrast shadows to convey the dark and distributors, such as Detective Dee the Phantom Flame in 15 days. In fact and depressing emotions which are wi- and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame he created an initial colour-corrected dely used in the genre-bending films for and Tsui Hark’s 3D film Flying Swords of version in about 2 days – at least accor- which Korean cinema is so well known. Dragon Gate produced in 2011, are evi- Digital Cinema

Below Screen shots from Wuershan’s supernatural-fantasy-action film Painted Skin 2: The Resurrection (2012).

dence of this effect. today are being realised as Chinese film Foundation. His Routledge book Korea’s practitioners ‘go out’ by staying home. However, this creative ‘gap’ may be re- ducing as a result of the growing num- About the author ber of individual content creators and production and post-production firms Brian Yecies is a Senior Lecturer in Media that are pursuing an increased level of and Cultural Studies at the University of transnationalism, not only to increase Wollongong and an associate member their bottom lines, upgrade their tech- of the Institute for Social Transforma- nological capabilities, build skills and ex- tion Research (ISTR). His research fo- pertise, and grow professional networks, cuses on cinemagoing in colonial Korea but also to cross-subsidise their work on (1910-1945) and contemporary South an increasing number of domestic Chi- Korean-Chinese-Australian film and di- nese productions. gital media collaboration. Brian is a past Korea Foundation Research Fellow and The benefits of such collaboration for a recipient of prestigious grants from Occupied Cinemas, 1893-1948 (with Ae- individuals and companies from Korea, the Academy of Korean Studies, Asia Gyung Shim) was published in 2011. Hong Kong and Taiwan working in China Research Fund, and Australia-Korea

22 ACT magazine ACT magazine 23 Film Culture

Fiji’s film future

Most people think of Fiji as one of the world’s most pristine blems. Twenty years later Peck produced and starred in ‘The vacation destination – beautiful beaches, dense tropical rain Dove’, based on the real life experiences of Robin Lee Graham, forests and value for money. a young man who spent five years sailing around the world as a single-handed sailor, starting when he was 16-year-old. These same attributes that throngs of tourists have come to However, the most famous movie shot in Fiji remains The Blue enjoy at locations throughout the republic’s 300 islands are Lagoon (1980), produced by Columbia Pictures and starring also attracting investors from afar despite massive upheaval Brooke Shields, was shot in the Yasawas, now an eco-tourism the media industry has experienced in recent years. A 2006 destination. military coup – its fourth in 25 years – ushered in a series of tighter controls over traditional print, television, radio and on- More recently, though, Fiji has set its sights on attracting the line media. But the country’s film industry has remained uns- largest film industry in the world to its shores. Several Bo- cathed and has seen more and more attention from the largest llywood films, including Table No. 21, an international release film producer – Bollywood – because of its cost-effective pro- produced by Next Gen Films, have ventured to the South Pacific duction facilities, exchange rate, and exotic shooting locations to take advantages the tourist destination offers. Table No. 21 available in the world. was produced on a budget of $FJD4million with $FJD1.8 million spent in Fiji. One of the biggest assets Fiji has is interesting But fascination with Fiji and the Pacific as the exotic ‘Other’ is locations that suited scripts, excellent working conditions and not a new thing with attention from Australia, Hollywood and good tax incentives. Directors and producers have also identi- Europe stretching back almost a hundred years. fied Fiji’s multiracial make-up (including a large Indo-Fijian eth- nic group) as a key advantage. Hollywood and Bollywood Tax incentives and film awards? Australian filmmakers have been interested in the Pacific for different reasons and date back to the 1920s. An Australian Films Fiji works with overseas film production companies like silent feature film Adorable Outcast (1928) was later released Next Gen Films to facilitate local travel arrangements, develop in the United States as ‘Black Cargoes of the South Seas’. partnerships, and advise on government tax incentives offered by the Fiji government. The Fiji Islands Audio-Visual Commis- Hollywood acting heavyweights Burt Lancaster and Gregory sion Act 2002 aims to promote local filmmaking by giving aspi- Peck both ventured to the South Pacific for films in Fiji. Lan- ring local filmmakers tax incentives. But the tax incentive clau- caster starred in His Majesty O’Keefe (1954), which was shot se has been a lot more favourable for overseas – Hollywood but in locations in Fiji, such as Deuba, Pacific Harbour, Cumming in recent times Bollywood – filmmakers. The provisions in the Street and the famous Grand Pacific Hotel (now under recons- Act still make it very difficult for locals to make films because truction with investment from Papua New Guinea) in Suva. The no form of cash incentive or seed fund is provided to start off a story focused on Captain David O’Keefe (Burt Lancaster), see- project. A second key incentive is Film Fiji’s ‘Kula Film Awards’, king his fortune in the 19th century South Pacific, enlists island which started in 2006 to encourage high school filmmaking. natives to harvest copra, but runs into a wall of cultural pro-

24 ACT magazine Though Film Fiji’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Florence Swa- (or rupees). This is fine, but together with this, a genuine effort my says that Kula awards promote filmmaking in Fiji and sup- must be made to help local film makers. port the local film industry, the strategy has key weaknesses. Though Film Fiji expanded the event from school-based project About the Author to include an ‘open category’ a few years ago to target amateur film makers, the emphasis remains on high school film making. Ian Weber, PhD is Coordinator, Journalism Programme at the This approach has its benefits but contradictory to Swamy’s University of the South Pacific and QUT alumni (1995, 2000). assertions that it will encourage young people into the indus- try, high school students continue to see it as a novelty or fun Anurag Subrimani is a lecturer in film within Literature at the project. There is no real belief that filmmaking would be a ca- University of the South Pacific. reer path and this is evident from the fact that these students do not continue to make films after leaving high school.

New direction

Instead, the emphasis needs to be on the amateur filmmakers. Film Fiji should not just hand prizes and then leaves these in- dividuals to their own devices but support and promote the winning films at overseas film festivals as way to profile Fiji’s film industry and its talent on an international stage. At the recent international film festival in Suva, Film Fiji was allocated a night to showcase winning films from the past several years. But the showcase focused on high school student productions and failed to showcase a range of films by amateur and indie film makers, which were of a higher standard. The event also needed to organise the display given the presence of many overseas directors and producers at this event. As a result, a promising indie filmmaker may have been targeted by one of the directors/producers to be invited to workshops or the chance to showcase their work internationally. As a result, the strategy of relying on ‘outsiders’ to kick start Fiji’s film industry or the career of an indie filmmaker looks hopeful at best and wishful at worst.

Look beyond the glamour of Bollywood

Perhaps the Fiji film industry needs to look past the easier op- tion of attracting Bollywood production to the islands and exa- mine the structure of the industry. What is needed is a similar approach to that found in India and which has contributed to the rise of indie film production. That approach focuses on lo- cals and government support. In 1975, the National Film De- velopment Corporation of India (NFDC) was established ‘to en- courage good cinema in India based in Mumbai’. It came under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and its primary goal was ‘to promote and organize an in- tegrated and efficient development of the Indian film industry and foster excellence in cinema’ by helping independent or pa- rallel film makers (non-commercial or art house film makers). A similar initiative needs to be taken by Film Fiji and the gover- nment of Fiji. Unfortunately, ‘Film Fiji’ is mainly interested in luring overseas film makers to our shores to bring in the dollars

ACT magazine 25 India

Challenges of going over the top in India

In a recent article in The Atlantic, writer While the United States presents a ma- Alexis Madrigal and Georgia Tech Pro- ture market for OTT content, such plat- fessor Ian Bogost uncovered the exact forms are just beginning to take off in number of the uncannily accurate micro- countries like India and China. Spuul is genres used by Netflix to organize and one of the newest OTT providers of Bo- present its collection of Hollywood films. llywood movies from the Indian sub- The article delves into the implications of continent. Until 2012, the only major OTT data collected through the use of these provider was BigFlix. In 2013 many new micro-genres (a total of 76,897) by Net- companies such as Spuul, BoxTv and flix and what it means for Hollywood and ErosNow have emerged in this space. its audiences. While the OTT platform is definitely in its early stages in India, a race to capture Netflix is one of the largest providers of digital audiences is underway albeit with the OTT (Over The Top) distribution ser- many challenges. vice which refers to the delivery of media through the internet, without any MSOs Challenge #1 – Genres, Languages and (Multiple Service Operator) involved in Youtube Channels the control or distribution of content. Currently the majority of OTT content is The multiple languages and the film in- consumed through PCs and smartpho- dustries that exist in India add an extra nes. But with the sector gaining traction dimension to the genres. The sheer vo- around the world, there is a similar surge lume of content from these individual in the design and production of OTT-ca- film clusters outside the Hindi-language pable devices like set-top boxes, Blu-ray Bollywood is highlighted by the number players, Internet-enabled TVs, game pla- of youtube channels that some multi- yers, digital media adapters like Apple TV lingual, multi-regional production com- or Roku and media tablets. panies currently host.

26 ACT magazine Apart from a small and dated collection possess it. This would also create new of films, none of the major OTT provi- markets for digital distribution. Such an ders mentioned above are able to offer effort would involve cross-value chain the latest content in other languages partnerships across content producers, like Tamil, Telugu or Kannada. This has distributors, ISPs, telecos, and consumer given rise to smaller, niche players like electronics manufacturers. Konnectplus which service the Tamil au-

diences. Challenge #3 – Payments

Above The diversity of languages adds to the India is a stubborn cash economy and Youtube channels of ETV’s TV channels across five languages multiplicity of genres and volume of its credit card base has always been a content. For a truly national OTT player cause for worry amongst online retai- to emerge in India, this will be a major lers in the country. From 24.8 million in challenge to overcome – a rich portfolio January 2009 to 18.46 million in August of content across languages. 2013, the number of credit cards in India is small and declining. But this has led Challenge #2 – Broadband to the emergence of alternate payment methods like cash-on-delivery (cash pa- India only has approximately 19.5 million yment made at the time of delivery of broadband connections. Even after in- physical goods) and carrier billing (pay- cluding the slower modes of connecting ment is made through telecom/internet to the internet, the total number of in- providers for digital goods). BoxTv offers ternet users is only 205 million. Compa- ISP billing through Spectranet Broad- red to China, which reported 618 million band which includes an exclusive data internet users at the end of 2013, India’s quota for streaming BoxTv. lack of broadband and internet connec- tivity presents both a challenge and an India’s stubborn cash economy has also opportunity. enabled the rise of pre-paid vouchers as an alternative payment mode. Com- In a country where filmed entertainment monly referred to as pre-paid cards, they is one of the most popular avenues of can be used to recharge/top-up mobile, leisure, it is an ideal vehicle to take te- internet, and satellite television accou- chnology to those that do not currently nts and are available for purchase from

ACT magazine 27 India

Above Youtube Channels of Sony India’s TV channels

millions of kirana stores (neighbourhood Challenge #4 – Content Portfolio and milnadu Theatre Owners Association (a convenience stores) around the country. Content Rights peak body for exhibitors in the state). The reach of this payment mode far out- The case was about the association’s re- numbers the meagre 910,000 point-of- The critical success factor in the OTT solution to not screen Vishwaroopam (a sale terminals in the country. start-ups in America has been content. Tamil movie) at any of its members’ cine- Without an attractive content portfolio, mas, if the producers released the movie OTT providers Spuul and ErosNow pro- many such start-ups have died. Acqui- earlier or concurrently on the D2H (Direct vide such a prepaid payment option ring content rights for a new distribution to home) television platform. CCI noted through TAPPP cards, a product from platform such as OTT can be difficult, gi- that such a resolution “has the potential Singapore-based company Swissclear ven its unproven nature and lack of ac- of adversely affecting the competition Global. Currently available only in the curate market insights. Content owners and depriving benefit to producers and southern state of Andhra Pradesh, it have to also maintain a delicate balance consumers of newer technologies.” remains to be seen whether TAPPP (or in their relationships with theatrical ex- other similar pre-paid cards) is able to hibitors and broadcasters. In a forum discussion at FICCI Frames expand to other states and achieve a 2013 (an industry event), the exhibitors reach similar to that of pre-paid mobile In 2013, Competition Commission of In- considered new platforms such as D2H recharge cards. dia (CCI) investigated a case against Ta- and OTT to be cannibalising on their re-

28 ACT magazine Above Image credit: Michael Coghlan (Flickr) venues if they were offered concurrent distribution companies, while Spuul and releases. Content owners, however, saw BoxTv are relatively independent to the these platforms as obvious alternatives film industry.) in a massively under-screened country. But with theatrical exhibition accounting In established digital markets, content for more than 70% revenues, they are a rights aggregators such as Piksel act as stakeholder the producers cannot ignore. single point intermediaries from whom OTT providers can buy content rights Another issue with respect to content will rather than negotiate with multiple stu- be syndicating content from across the dios individually. spectrum of producers, especially when it involves a film producer also owning In a recent McKinsey interview, Tim the OTT platform. In an industry which O’Reilly stated that “almost every great relies heavily on family and social net- advance is a platform advance.” While he works, content from a particular produ- was talking about open data, this is true cer (or their networks) may not be made of any platform including OTT. Creation available on a rival’s OTT platform as they of common standards for sale of digi- try to advance their own. It remains to be tal content rights would go a long way seen whether production companies in towards advancing OTT in India. His research examines tensions between India are able to create and sustain part- formal and informal economies and esta- nerships (like Hulu) rather than compete About the author blished and emergent creative industries to create multiple silos of content. (OTT business models in India’s film industry. providers like Bigflix (Reliance Entertain- Vijay Anand Selvarajan is a PhD Stu- ment) and ErosNow (Eros International) dent in the Creative Industries faculty are part of larger film production and of Queensland University of Technology. Creative Cluster

How to bake a creative cluster in China

Over the past decade clusters, bases and zones have become the poster children of China’s cultural and creative indus- tries. Their visibility in tourist brochu- res gives an impression to visitors that China’s cultural assets are booming and that cities are becoming more liberal. While there is some justification for the- se impressions, behind the proliferation of clusters is a tale of massive govern- ment investment and a relative lack of transparency.

A creative cluster in China generally ad- heres to the ‘pie and crust model’; that is the outside crust looks similar but the ingredients change. Baking a cluster can be difficult; many projects finish up half- baked, that is, they are either unfinished or used for purposes for which they were never intended. Other culinary meta- phors are also appropriate. The failed Or- dos 100 cluster project in Inner Mongolia was a ‘stir-fry project’ that showed how political buzzwords are appropriated by entrepreneurs and developers in China in order to gain access to land.

Art zones, film and animation parks, in- cubators, cultural quarters, and desig- ner-occupied factory spaces all qualify as clusters and receive varieties of go- vernment support and recognition, at least in the start-up stage. The thinking behind many projects is to ‘pick winners’. In this sense the rapid expansion in the spaces over the past decade is not so very different from the early 1990s when

30 ACT magazine Previous Page: Tianzifang, Shanghai (Image credit: Elaine Zhao)

China saw an outbreak of innovation parks, most of which inevitably failed to deliver measurable innovation and ulti- mately served as cash cows for district governments via real estate and taxes.

The development of cluster projects has advanced through several distinct, although overlapping stages. The first stage saw a breakout of specialist spa- ces; for instance, in the early 2000s the Shanghai Municipal government certi- fied production centres dedicated solely to industrial design, fashion, jewellery, animation, painting and sculpture. It seemed like a winning formula. Within a few years the numbers of clusters in Shanghai had jumped to eighty-five.

Aside from specialist spaces a popular approach is to throw resources behind the ‘related variety’ model. The key diffe- rence is a mix of sectors, often including animation, design, media consulting, me- Above dia production, fashion, painting, photo- graphy and sculpture. Qingdao’s Creative colleges, galleries and media schools. Dafen Oil Painting Village, Shenzhen 100 represents an example of this mo- With historical legacies nearby including (Image credit: Michael Keane) del, including multimedia, software, ani- the Confucius temple, the Drum Tower, mation, craft and art. In Shanghai, 1933 and the house of the famous writer Lao Many of these sites contain incubators, Old Millfun is a reconverted slaughter- She, Nanluo guxiang has advanced from often with a purported emphasis on house showcasing contemporary de- bohemian milieu to a tourism centred R&D. However, the degree of incubation sign. Nearby Hangzhou offers the White market for arts and handicrafts. In the varies from site to site. On a larger in- Horse Lake Eco District, a development southern city of Shenzhen the Dafen Oil dustrial scale stand-alone cinema and on the city fringe linked to the Chinese Painting Village emerged spontaneously television production centres service Academy of Art where you will find fas- in the late 1990s, and was later listed as the domestic audio-visual market whi- hion designers co-mingling with artists a successful cultural industries base by le seeking co-productions from Taiwan, and animators. the government despite the fact that Korea and the United States. Some offer artists man production lines of copy art a theme park to exploit the success of ci- These planned spaces followed an ear- that is quickly shipped out of country or nematic and TV drama output. The most lier phase of art zones and cultural dis- sold online to people who want a copy of recent addition to this model is the Qing- tricts that emerged organically in China’s a Van Gogh, Renoir or Warhol. dao Oriental Movie Metropolis, financed large coastal cities, often on the edges by a Chinese billionaire able to entice fo- of central business districts. Shanghai’s Another stage has seen an outbreak of reign studios and celebrities. In Shanghai Tianzifang off Taikang Road is well media content ‘bases’, often situated the construction of Shanghai Oriental known for its mix of bars, restaurants within existing industrial zones, notably Dreamworks on the West Bund promi- and design studios while M50 in Suzhou in the field of animation, and mostly con- ses to attract investment and creative Creek offers spaces for artists and cafes centrating on outsourcing. The conferral skills to the Xuhui District. for tourists. In Beijing, the most well- of national base status is much sought known example is the 798 Art Space, a after. Since 2005, China has established reconverted East German switching fac- more than 30 accredited ‘national ani- tory in north-eastern Dashanzi. Beijing’s mation bases’. The main centres are in Nanluo guxiang alleyway (hutong) pre- Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, cinct in Beijing’s central Dongcheng Shenzhen, Dalian, Suzhou, Changzhou district is located in the proximity of art and Wuxi.

ACT magazine 31 Creative Cluster

Getting the ingredients right

The West Bank (Bund) development in Shanghai is designed to advance Shanghai’s claims to be China’s premier creative city. Covering an area of 700 hectares it will be a massive cultural quarter when completed. As with most projects like this, international experts have been invited to contribute ingre- dients to the concept, some grandiose, others more conventional. Coalitions and interested parties tender plans for the respective entities that make up the West Bank development: museums, theatres and performing arts venues, exhibition spaces.

There are three main development stra- tegies in assembling the ingredients for cluster projects whether large or small. Initially a coalition of developers, officials, Above academics and financiers will propose a Shenzhen City of Design cluster plan or respond to a government (Image credit: Michael Keane) initiative. In most cases a municipal or district government designate a certain objective is to have companies coming in area for development. A budget will be so the management company can apply allocated and policies formulated to at- for funds allocated by municipal gover- and charges accordingly. If the services tract cultural enterprises or culture-re- nments for such projects. The outcome are appropriate, the service fee earned lated enterprises. The government pro- is realised as long as the clusters have compensates for the money that might vides land and infrastructural support enough registered companies signed up have been collected through rent. If the at low cost anticipating higher returns and the government has allocated its service provided is not good enough or if as the cluster generates momentum. budget. they are unable to provide such a service, However, the key value proposition inva- then the cluster might be forced to seek riably resides in real estate: that is, land The cluster management committee more financial support from govern- can be resold to developers at a conside- might establish up a development com- ment. In effect, the business model is to rable profit. pany (kaifa gongsi). If the management use business services income to offset committee has secured land from the the cost of running the cluster, thereby The next step might be to establish government rather than premises they keeping the rents relatively low. a cluster management committee to will then have to build the cluster from oversee the occupancy of the spaces. ground up. The development company Most clusters remain dependent on go- Local governments provide sweete- in this instance will most probably be vernment funding. Admitting failure is ners, for instance enterprises might be a land developer. The government is likely to be a blot on the record of local exempt from tax and rent, or at least likely to reduce the amount of finan- officials. But there are some success would have considerable reductions cial support; the development company stories. The Shenzhen City of Design, in taxes and rent. Such incentive poli- compensates by providing professional managed by the Sphinx Cultural Industry cies extend for between three years to services in the cluster, such as human Investment Company has been opera- five years. The core business model of resource training, information service, or tional for almost ten years: it has the ad- the cluster management is to secure a marketing, even brand promotion. vantage of being surrounded by clients building or space from government and and manufacturing factories. While es- funds from local government every year Once established, businesses will be sential a production cluster, the profit to operate the infrastructure. Both the prevailed upon to purchase professio- gained by professional business services government and the cluster manage- nal services. The cluster management is enough to be sustainable, turn a rea- ment want to see full occupancy. The committee develops these services sonable profit and attract an internatio- nal reputation in line with Shenzhen’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City.

Sphinx represents a development in the clustering of culture whereby companies specialize in the development of clusters. Such professional companies or entre- preneurs acquire funds including bank loans or investment from listing on the stock market. The aim is to attract enough investment to form a network of clusters. In this regard running a cluster is effectively property management except it requires specialized services.

There are only two real outcomes of this model: success and failure. While money from rent and services is some compensation under this professional franchising model the cluster will most likely die if enterprises are unsuccessful; at the same time if the management doesn’t provide good services the enterprises will find it hard to grow. The cluster will then ask for government funding to continue. The problem is that the government’s tax revenue is not increasing because the businesses are not successful.

China’s love affair with clusters is not over. More are commissioned almost every day, despite evidence that they contribute little to the creative economy, aside from seve- ral notable exceptions such as 798 Art Space, Songzhuang Art District, and Tianzifang. Much of the creative economy therefore is de facto urbanism. It’s less about creativity than attempts to give Chinese cities a make-over. The clusters are essentially deve- lopment formats into which different ingredients are tossed. Whether they rise to become successful is often less important than rezoning land and taking advantage of disused industrial space.

For a detailed account of creative clusters and their genesis see Michael Keane, China’s New Creative Clusters; Governance, Human Capital and Investment, now available in paperback edition.

About the author

Prof. Michael Keane is a Principal Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) at Queensland University of Technolo- gy, Brisbane. Michael has made over fifty visits to China and East Asia since 1989 and has provided expertise for a number of international consultancies in relation to emerging East Asian creative econo- mies. He has written numerous book and articles on Chinese and East Asian creative industries. His recent books include Crea- tive industries in China: Art, Design and Media (Polity April 2013) and Media in Chi- na: Critical Concepts and Cultural Studies (Routledge August 2013 co-edited with Wanning Sun). His book Created in China: the Great New Leap Forward was the first account of China’s acceptance of the idea of the creative economy. China’s New Creative Clusters: Governance, Human Capital and Investment, published in December 2011, is a study of several of China’s most well known creative clusters including 798, Songzhuang, Fangjia 46, Loft 49, M50 and Suzhou Industrial Park. He is also editor and translator of Li Wuwei’s How Creativity is Changing China, also published in 2011. Creative Land Grab Creative land grabs The Ordos 100 spectacle revisited

The new city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of the People’s Republic China was the venue for the 2012 Miss World Competition. At the same time as Yu Wenxia, the Chi- nese contestant, carried off the trophy, the ongoing epidemic The new frontier of experimental and non-existing architecture of private lending deficits had real estate speculators jumping off newly finished high-rises. Situated in an ‘out of the world’ Not many years ago, few would have considered Inner Mongo- location, Ordos is a place where boom and bust co-exist and lia to be an epicentre of state-of-the-art architecture. But with where creativity takes elusive forms. Nothing is what it seems. the attention ORDOS100 gained, spreading across the virtual realm of architectural blogs, art discussion forums, and urban In Ordos no-one seems to be quite sure about what the new design magazines, Ordos quickly became a popular topic in the city will be like in 5 years time. Currently it grabs attention on international networks of architects and urban planners. the internet, a modern metropolis built on a coal mining boom, or alternatively a Chinese version of Dubai. Is it a mirage or is In fact, ORDOS100 provides a typical example of international it real? creative networks and their capacity to disseminate knowled- ge across national boundaries and spur debates among both One of the reasons for Ordos’ ‘extraordinary’ reputation is the ill practitioners and scholars. However, questions of design aside, fated Ordos 100 Desert Villa project. taking a closer look at the actual reality of the development does reveal a great deal about how private real estate develo- The ORDOS100 Desert Villa project was launched in 2007 as the pers and, to some extent, local governments appropriate the architectural flagship of the larger Jiang Yuan Culture and Crea- recent emphasis on creativity and clustering as a short-term tivity Zone. The project was conceived by a local developer, Mr. strategy to accumulate capital. Cai Jiang, with the expert assistance of well-known dissident artist Ai Weiwei and the architects behind the Olympic ‘Bird’s My own attempts to find Ordos100 despite the available pro- Nest’, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. This modern ‘gang paganda say much about its ephemeral nature. On several oc- of four’ selected 100 international emerging architects who casions during 2011, I failed in attempts to locate the wherea- were subsequently invited to Ordos on two occasions for the bouts of the ‘culture and creativity zone.’ purpose of designing 100 unique private villas. According to official pamphlets promoting the cultural sites of Even before this project was conceived Ordos had attracted at- the new district most of the zone was already completed. I had tention both nationally and abroad. Initially it became famous spoken to migrant workers, receptionists in various hotels, taxi for its unparalleled economic growth and large-scale urban re- drivers, pedestrians and police officers. Nobody knew of the novation. Following a boom, the city suffered a fall from grace. culture and creativity zone. Nor had anyone heard of the inter- Its new cultural and administrative district, Kangbashi, became national architects who were building billionaire villas. internationally infamous as ‘China’s modern ghost town’. Finally in June 2011, a local employee in the Ministry for Land Following this, Ordos was in the news for an overproduction and Resources escorted me to the Jiang Yuan Culture and of real estate developments financed through an unregulated Creativity Zone. Upon arrival it dawned on me why I had such economy of private high interest lending. The ‘Ghost-town’ in- difficulties in retrieving the site. Apart from the museum and creasingly became the ‘lending town’ Ai Weiwei’s artists’ studios, no other buildings were finished. The only building under active construction in 2011 was located

34 ACT magazine in front of the Museum, labelled with the odd term ‘Art Hotel’. Image: An overview of Dongsheng District, the “old” main populated area of Ordoshi New District Of the slated 100 villas there were only five empty ghostlike structures. There was no construction going on. The ambitious Stir-frying land culture and creativity zone was nothing but barren landscapes with a few paved streets evident in the hills of sand. After several visits to the idle construction site and interviews with developers, architects, urban planners and local engineers Employees in the Museum were oblivious to the prospects of working there, it became evident to me that creativity incuba- the villas or the ambitious park. They had been kept out of the tion zones and developments such as the ORDOS100 are good information loop. In response to incessant questioning they investments even though they might never actually be built. could only point me towards a large wooden scale model that In the initial stage, the production of images, models and plans set out the entire 196 acres of the creativity zone including most likely serve as feasibility criteria to convince the local go- ‘creatively designed’ housing, music halls, the aforementioned vernment to allocate land-use rights at a bargain price. art museum, schools, and outlets for consumption. In recent years China has experienced an upsurge of scho- In addition, nobody knew of the whereabouts of the myste- lars, consultants and businesses making good use of the label rious developer, Cai Jiang. And because of his recent imprison- ‘creative’: e.g. creative cluster, creative class, creative industry, ment the curator Ai Weiwei was unavailable. I was left with an and creative economy. The creativity fever not only exists on impression that the whole site had been forgotten.. the level of national policy implementation, but is found in bu- siness language, urban planning policy, real estate vernacular The Jiang Yuan Culture and Creativity Zone, including the OR- and amongst creative practitioners themselves. DOS100 development was most likely, despite its meticulous planning, never meant to succeed. So, at the heart of the Ordos By 2007, creativity had become an important component of 100 debacle is the question of how might value be generated national policy making; China’s leaders even proclaimed that from not finishing projects? Looking at the Ordos 100, we can the nation would transform into an innovative nation by 2020. observe that creative industries can be a shortcut for what is As such policy-speak reaches local and regional governments nothing more than a land grab leading to further speculation. it can easily inflate with real estate frenzy and investment ma- nia.

An employee who had worked at the building site from the ini- Creative Land Grab

tial stages of development told me that there had recently been a change of ow- nership. Now his employer is no longer Mr. Cai Jiang. As it turns out, Jiang Yuan Culture and Creativity Industry Zone no longer belongs to Jiang Yuan Group. It was recently purchased by another de- veloper, a local business tycoon from Ordos, Liu Manshi. The sale included 90 percent of the property, i.e. the land use- rights to develop on the land. The trans- fer further included the entire collection of plans, designs, documents and licen- ses (and several employees) and all this with none or few of the architects ever knowing about it.

The Jiang Yuan Culture and Creative zone Secondly, the short calculated lifetime tive of a more general trend in which was re-sold even before it was built. Du- of a building doesn’t require top qua- political buzzwords are appropriated by ring the heyday of real estate frenzy in lity material. Nor does it require long- entrepreneurs and developers to gain Ordos (2005 – 2011), a large percentage term maintenance. Cost benefit analy- access to land. In the process time they of developers never actually built an- sis takes place between the phases of become benchmarks in local officials’ ything. They merely speculated; in the conceptual design and practical design. political careers. local vernacular this is known as ‘stir- Usually, this means cutting off the ar- frying land lots’ (炒地). chitect from the practical design stage In actual fact, demand does not precede in order to minimize construction costs production. Buildings are built to adapt, On the rare occasion when something or doubling up the possible rent space of to be torn down and altered. Buildings— is actually built, developers often try to a building by adding an extra level bet- if they are ever built—are not built to shortcut the process of land assessment ween each floor. A prevailing strategy for last but rather to be modified. It’s easy to and acquiring legitimate licenses for developers is building in ways in which a point to the failings and problems of con- building. Often, as the senior employee structure can transform into other uses, temporary urban forms in China. Critical at the ‘ministry for land and resources’ e.g. from offices or hotel to become re- analyses are flooding the media: terms pointed out, developers ‘build first and sidential space, only by making minor as real estate bubble, ghost towns, bad apply after’ (先斩后奏), a practice that often alterations. loans, and overheated economy. includes bribes and generates potential conflicts between different state organs. High-growth regions as the Ordos Mu- Still, the flexibility and capacity to nicipality are regarded worldwide as adapt to the current pace, to tune into Build and vacate – emergency shelter? ‘modern ghost-towns’ – flawed develo- buzzwords in a global and increasingly pments in an overheated Chinese eco- urban economy, might eventually turn a The vicious circle of construction, demo- nomy. In particular, the Kangbashi New fragile investment into a fortress. lition, and new construction in China has District is portrayed as symptomatic of several effects: first of all, it reflects the how China’s growing real estate bubble conditions for political ambition and pro- and private lending has gone haywire. motion. Local officials need to produce to proceed. In order to move upwards But the question of the real estate mi- in the administrative hierarchy officials rage aside, we need to question how are required to ‘show numbers’, usually emerging forms of urbanism adapt to measured by criteria as real estate pri- changing conditions in the urban and ces, five-star hotels, creative industries, political economy. luxury shopping malls, cultural centres, science and developments parks, plans As several accounts from inside the Chi- for sustainability, and the wide range of nese construction sector suggest, OR- ‘model’ city awards including hygienic/ DOS100 is not only a case of speculative civilized/safe/green etc. land development. Rather, it is instruc- About the author the cultural sphere affects the practices Previous page, of contemporary Chinese artists. More Michael Alexander Ulfstjerne is a Ph.D. recently, Michael has been focusing on Signpost in the Genghis Khan Square in the Kangbashi New District candidate at the Department of Cross urbanism, debt, and failed development Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenha- projects in the northern frontiers of Chi- gen University. Throughout 2008-9 he na.entrepreneurs and developers to gain Below, carried out fieldwork on Chinese creati- access to land. In the process time they ve industries, exploring local perceptions become benchmarks in local officials’ The development of the Jiang Yuan of originality and imitation, and more political careers. Culture and Creativity Zone, approximately four years after the project was initiated broadly how the commercialization of (June 2011)

ACT magazine 37 Chinese Fashion

China’s new economy of fashion

The European fashion system that do- attracting a new urban consumer to their minates how global fashion is produced, diverse portfolios of rapidly changing distributed, legitimized and consumed wares. The worlds largest Uniqlo ope- can be compared to the ebb and flow of ned in October 2013 to excited crowds, an ocean tide. As this system washes red-carpet celebrities and a strong poli- over national markets, cultural assimi- ce presence in case of rioting. Uniqlo is lation occurs and as the tide retreats it a Japanese brand. This store is already takes with it fresh actors who refresh Fast Retailing Co’s forty-sixth store in the system. Shanghai. In spite of long-standing po- litical tension between Japan and China, In Shanghai, dramatic and rapid change fashion consumers have few qualms has taken place over the past decade. in their rush for these products. In fact, Along Huaihai Middle Road and Nanjing the Fast Retailing Company expects to Road new temples dedicated to Euro- add eighty more stores in China in 2014 pean luxury fashion brands have arisen alone, increasing its Chinese holdings to with the planning and compliance of the three hundred and five stores. Along the Shanghai city council, ousting the tradi- sidewalks of Huaihai Middle road shop- tional department stores that once em- ping bags can be seen swinging, leading bodied the vibrant and familiar character back to their source like a trail of bread- of Shanghai. The physical size of new re- crumbs. tail stores offering labels such as Prada, Valentino and Balenciaga is confronting, Shanghai’s historical reputation as an as is the numbers of dark-suited secu- early symbol of China’s modernity is rity personnel watching quietly on the supplanted by new desires borne of a periphery. Yet it is not only luxury brands global momentum. It is a city perpetua- with their polished provenances that oc- lly in flux. Zygmunt Bauman’s concept cupy these premium sites. of liquid life is particularly appropriate with consumerism offering a range of Global ‘fast-fashion’ operators such as short-term solutions to offset the ever- Zara and H&M have garnered success, present problems associated with life

38 ACT magazine in a fast-changing metropolis of some platform in the UK and Europe by for- twenty three million people. In the city ming a partnership with iconic English life is unsettled and the diminishing mo- football club Tottenham Hotspur. Chi- ral absolutes of higher authorities are in- nese students have made their way to creasingly challenged. Liquid life means global fashion capitals like London to constant self-scrutiny, self-critique and gain qualifications from prestigious ins- self-censure; these tensions are reflec- titutions. Upon their return to China they

Above & Next Page ted not only in the rush by foreign fas- are in the unique position of being able to hion brands for prime urban real estate focus upon building brands in their own Image credit: Tim Lindgren but in the dislocation felt by city resi- domestic market, as well as participating dents, in ever-present industrial and air in international fashion week events. pollution as well as a fundamental dis- trust of basic resources like food and Unlike their contemporaries from the water. 1980s and 1990s, for whom this kind of international education was almost im- With the tidal inflows of new fashion possible, they have been fast-tracked brands comes a steadily increasing out- and must now keep up with the rapid flow of fashion aspirants. In 2012, the changes in the Chinese economy. Their well-known Chinese brand Boisedeng capacity to survive is helped by large purchased a prestigious site near Ma- numbers of Chinese tourists who are yfair in London for a flagship retail sto- able to travel to Europe. Their travels re. Boisedeng moved quickly to activate invariably take them to European lu- their strategy of establishing a brand xury retailers where they can purchase

ACT magazine 39 Chinese Fashion

products without incurring the hefty the inside front cover and Louis Vuitton who fail to appear. All speak of the lack value-added tax that applies in China. on the back. However the rapacious te- of wholesale buyers, a fundamental rea- Upon their return to China they carry chnological advance of digital and social son for the existence of this global trade with them new expectations of quality media also means information once the show format. Some are concerned that and service from fashion brands, and exclusive domain of powerful gatekee- if they do not participate, there will be new standards for creative producers to pers is now available quickly and freely, repercussions as they enact the routi- aspire to. in the process altering the power-base nes of their businesses throughout the of traditional gatekeepers. year. Yet supporting the national good is Yet at the cultural interface that appears important, and designers must also de- to separate China from the rest of the Shanghai Fashion Week is a localised at- monstrate their desire to be involved in world there are many tensions. The ri- tempt at providing support for a nascent this fragmented, still-forming yet neces- sing tide has brought many new ideas. infrastructure that will cater to the ex- sary iteration of a fashion system. Fashion weeks and imported fashion pectations of a new generation of well- magazines now serve as mediators bet- educated Chinese fashion designers. When China opened its doors in 1978, the ween consumer and producer. At Vogue While this event is still controlled by the Chinese clothing industry was focused China Angelica Cheung has become a ce- local government, the emphasis on rai- upon its contributions to the country’s lebrity, capitalising upon her professional sing the status of the city by emulating export income. Now the Chinese Govern- role as the magazine’s editor-in-chief. the model of global fashion weeks in ment is determined to move from an ex- Her alignment with the European fas- London and New York has left many Chi- port focus to a greater emphasis on the hion system is readily apparent. Vogue nese designers unsure of the relevance national economy where the domestic China’s September 2013 issue celebra- of participating. Some designers speak consumer becomes responsible for sti- ted the magazine’s eighth anniversary in of poor and dictatorial management and mulating growth. Distribution channels China. It is heavy, 123 of its 312 pages substantial costs while rows of empty have adapted to this cause. Chinese e- are luxury advertisements with Dior on seats are held for government officials commerce was almost non-existent five

40 ACT magazine years ago. Now it is a major sales chan- responsibility for one’s self elsewhere. In About the Author nel for retailers with combined sales of this sense Chinese philosophy is based about RMB1.3 trillion, (US$211 billion) in on the idea of co-creativity and process. Tim Lindgren is an Australian fashion 2012, second only to the USA. In 2014 it designer with more than twenty-five will be the largest e-commerce channel Moreover, reaching out to such proces- years experience in the global fashion in the world. Importantly e-commerce ses is not abstract, nor is it wishful thin- industry. Mainly Tim works for his own allows fashion brands to move beyond king; some designers have shown their label between Australia and China. Over their urban confines and engage with practice already forms the basis of some the last ten years, Tim has also pursued new domestic consumers beyond the very successful domestic fashion busi- his research interests that include the first and second tier cities. Notably, e- nesses. The Buddha label from ãdarsa, production of culture, at the Centre for commerce’s transactional process also Wang Yiyang’s ZucZug and Chagang la- Creative Innovation at the Queensland negates the need to spend time building bels, Zhang Da’s Boundless label, and Ma University of Technology. once-traditional relationships, or guanxi, Ke’s Wuyong label are resoundingly rich and hastens the process of making mo- with Chinese philosophical concepts. ney. Ji Cheng’s recent collection titled ‘Zen awakening’, and Qiu Hao’s collection, For many designers building a business called ‘Retiring from the World’ also model and nurturing a brand’s prove- allude to Chinese philosophies. The nance is still a relatively new process and translation of Wang Yiyang’s label, Zu- the advancing tide brings concerns for cZug or Su-ran, as ‘raw, plain, essence their own sense of place and their crea- and nature, and correct or right’, epi- tive identity. On one hand China remains tomises the carefully layered thinking controlled by the Communist Party, yet that accompanies their brands. its rapid embrace of the values of capita- lism creates a tension. Many designers A sign of the renaissance of China’s are caught between the expectations of new economy of fashion occurred in the European fashion system and the March 2013 when China’s First Lady, expectations of their country. Wrestling Peng Liyuan, accompanied her hus- with the complexities of digital media band Xi Jinping, China’s newly elected compounds their problems and in pur- President, on their first state excursion suit of their own creative journey, some to Russia. Instead of wearing a luxury designers turn away from the dominant European fashion brand traditionally European system to seek legitimisation favored by heads of state, Peng Liyuan from within, by drawing upon philoso- wore clothing attributed to the mid- phical underpinnings that have guided priced Chinese fashion brand called Ex- China for centuries. ception. For many in the Chinese cultural sector, Peng Liyuan’s choice was seen as Their journey is as much concerned with politically driven in a new governmen- identity and self-realisation, as it is of tal era where corruption among offi- participation in the fashion system in cials, most evident in the conspicuous pursuit of profit. For many this means consumption of foreign luxury fashion examining their relationship with their brands, has been reframed as a noxious natural environment in order to gain a practice. It would seem that in this sec- sense of place amid life in an urban Chi- tor of the creative industries, and with na epitomised by the uncertainties of the help of the Chinese First Lady, Chi- daily life and framed by the vista of vi- nese designers are already well on the sible pollution. The principles of Daoism way to consolidating their roles in this and Buddhism offer some logic to the important creative economy. disorder. Chinese traditional philosophy asks for belief in one’s self, and one’s relationship with nature, in contrast to European tradition which divorces man from nature and asks for belief in an external deity, an act that relocates the Book Review Thoughts on Laa-sai Cit-gai, or Lesser Design

The title of the bilingual book “Laa-sai cit-gai” (in Cantonese) or the dense environment of Hong Kong is a museum of street- “Lesser Design,” written by SIU King-chung and published by a corner designs, which contain humble, everyday life “laa-sai” Hong Kong-based company, MCCM Creations, in July 2012, is designs. However, as designers often claim much of their ins- evocative in either language. To Cantonese speakers, the phra- piration comes from their surroundings, one may wonder how se “laa-sai” commonly contains negative connotations. It can designs from Hong Kong reflect a unique vernacular identity, refer to a person or a way of doing a job that is sloppy and yet the international design community and tourists are able unprofessional. These two characters are not standard writ- to recognize and appreciate these folk icons of the city. ten Chinese, and Mandarin speakers will not understand their meaning. As for the English word, “lesser,” the author explains Thanks to more than half a century of graphic design develop- that this term is borrowed from William Morris’s article “The ment in Hong Kong, we are able to locate examples inspired by Lesser Arts of Life,” published in 1882. Together with his group, vernacular objects from some internationally renowned design Morris coined the term “lesser arts” as a contrast to elite art. masters from the local, such as Henry Steiner, KAN Tai-keung, SIU’s use of the term “lesser” in his book follows Morris’s view Alan Chan, Tommy Li, Freeman Lau, and Stanley Wong. How that “design” objects created by the grassroots class are wor- are their works representing design from Hong Kong, or the de- thy of study. SIU credits his friend, Phoebe Wong, for sugges- sign identity of the city? How are their works connected to the ting that this dual translation in both languages represents the original local “laa-sai” designs? subject matter of his book. Obviously, the author does not intend to connect his vision In the author’s own words, his book “attempts to explore works of laa-sai designs with the high-design works of professional of design that are around us though they may be crass, local designers; yet, is it possible for a laa-sai design to evolve into and grassroots,” (p. 7) in the context of Hong Kong. The con- high design or a professional form of design over a period of tent is arranged into four chapters in which he categorizes local time? We know that it is possible because we have outstan- Hong Kong folk objects as “trivial designs,” “ordinary folks’ ex- ding examples from many professional designers, but there is traordinary concepts,” “designing information,” and “neighbor- no fixed formula for that transition. The creative process that hood traditions and design.” causes this transition is mysterious.

Those who have been to Hong Kong may have seen some of To a big nation like China, design is viewed as one aspect of the “folk design” the author mentions in this book. Examples cultural security, in which preserving or inventing a national include the merchandise displays set up in open markets such design identity is important. There have been voices advoca- as the Ladies’ Market on Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok; or the ting the search for “Chineseness” in contemporary design over Night Market on Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei; self-serve storage the past decade. Recently, the article by Aric Chen, curator of cabinet for chopsticks, cutlery and napkins that fits under the design and architecture for M+ Museum in Hong Kong, entit- table in a Cha-chaan-teng (Hong Kong-style teahouse); the ex- led “Zhongguo sheji zhi hua heshi kaifang?” (When will design pandable and moveable billboards that are called “faa-paai” lo- in China be blooming?), released in Bloomberg Businessweek cally; and the high-density polyethylene sheets that commonly PRC Chinese version, pointed out the failing design develop- come in red-white-and-blue stripes and are used everywhere ment in China despite considerable corporate and government in the city. investment in advocating and promoting design. He concluded that the problems are core issues of the society not having an These unique vernacular objects must easily attract tourists’ environment for nurturing design. attention, or the author would have trouble calling attention to appreciation of designs from local folks. He notices that Indeed, as a researcher on Chinese graphic design history I am

42 ACT magazine often being asked questions like what is design? What is good Hong Kong colonial period. Maybe it is still the case in the SAR design? How do I do a good design? I share the viewpoint of era today. Chen, in his own words with my translation in English here: A healthy design culture needs a healthy society. Without going Similarly, as in the case of China, does Hong Kong have a healthy into deeper critiques of the politics and social problems in Chi- society for a healthy design culture to develop? Vernacular de- na, it is possible to understand why design development in sign style like the laa-sai claimed by SIU or local participants China has suffered a setback by just looking at the “chai” (de- in the M+’s Asian Design program seem doomed to anonymi- molish) phenomenon that has spread throughout the country ty. With the short-term memory of the government and the in the past two decades. In the process of “chai”, living heritage people, together with the deeply held belief that the “moon in and evidence of civilization are swept away with the rubble. foreign country is always more round” (yueliang shi waiguo di yuan), sheji zhi hua (flower of design) may not be blooming in In the case of Hong Kong, although the national design identity Hong Kong to reach international status in our lifetime. is not a cultural security issue, establishing a design identity like the one Japanese design enjoys internationally is still not Long live of the power of laa-sai designs (or lesser designs) in an easy task. Claiming laa-sai as a style of local design may be Hong Kong, and thank you to the author, SIU King-chung. one of the steps; however, it is still a challenge to understand how the style can be developed into “formal” design and recei- About the Author ved transnationally. In a semi-planned society like Hong Kong is now, what is the government doing to assist local design de- Wendy Siuyi Wong is Associate Professor at the Faculty of velopment to reach this objective? Design, Swinburne University of Technology, in Melbourne, Australia. Previously, she Design became one of the buzzwords, under the creative in- taught at the Department dustries banner, within the economic remedies of Hong Kong of Design of Faculty of Fine after 1997. The 2003 Policy Address states that the govern- Arts at York University in ment will assist the development of creative industries. As an Toronto, Canada, serving immediate consequence, sustainable financial supports were as Department Chair from plugged into the newly established Hong Kong Design Centre, 2006 to 2009 and as Asso- and later on the ongoing annual event, Business of Design ciate Director of the York Week (BODW), as well as various conferences, creative awards Centre for Asian Research and innovation funds, such as Create Hong Kong. (YCAR) from 2005 to 2009. Dr. Wong was a visiting Without attempting to examine the success of Hong Kong’s scholar at Harvard Univer- investment in local design industries, here I would like to men- sity from 1999 to 2000 and tion one recent example from BODW 2012 demonstrating the the 2000 Lubalin Curatorial Fellow at the Cooper Union School official position of the government in recognizing Hong Kong’s of Art, New York, USA. In 2009 and 2010, she was a visiting re- local design expertise. In the program for the event, entitled search fellow at the Department of Design History, Royal Colle- Asian Design: Histories, Collecting, Curating, hosted by M+ Mu- ge of Art, and she served as a scholar-in-residence at the Kyoto seum for the BODW 2012, local participants’ names are mys- International Manga Museum. She taught in Hong Kong and teriously not listed on the official promotion website of BODW the United States before moving to Canada. She now resides in 2012, despite the fact that there is plenty of space in the page. Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Wong conducts research on Chinese One of the event speakers, the renowned “father of Hong Kong and Hong Kong visual culture and history, including graphic de- design history,” Professor Matthew Turner, shares his ex- sign, comics, and advertising images. She is the author of Hong perience that the study of history of design in Hong Kong or Kong Comics: A History of Manhua, published by Princeton Ar- Asia was simply viewed as “no history of design to speak of,” or chitectural Press, four books for Chinese readers, and nume- “even if there were, it could have no value” in the 1980s British rous articles in academic and trade journals. China’s Creativity

Capturing China’s Creativity (in two reports)

During the first half of 2011, MovingCities undertook interviews in the field of industrial, product, graphic, interior and fashion with forty-five acclaimed Chinese designers and scholars in the design; we stumbled into shops; we attended design festivals, field of fashion and design [product, interior and graphic]. Our creative weeks, international exhibitions and symposia. We re- objective was to gain deeper insight into, and experience first- gistered, observed, analysed and participated. hand the effects of developments in China’s creative industries. In conducting our consultancy study we had some criteria: to Our interviews took place in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing and look for work that was critical, either fresh and emerging or Shanghai (where we are based). We noted a diverse landscape established and ambitious; we were seeking out visions con- of practices and we observed a quantum of intuition, invention forming with or contradicting China’s policy regarding the de- and investment. With over one million students currently ma- velopment of its creative and cultural industries. joring in design it is clear that a positive future exists for the industry. In conversation after conversation we heard people Finally in July 2012 we presented a double report on our fin- talk about creating complete creative chains. dings in Amsterdam: The Design & Fashion in China Mappings. They can be freely downloaded here. These reports are based We asked Wang Min, Dean and Professor at the Central Aca- on our interviews; the reports also document the industry by demy of Fine Arts (CAFA) School of Design in Beijing, about the monitoring its media. They initially included specialist essays massive numbers of students now entering the field. Was this (these were later axed). an opportunity, a challenge or a threat? He was optimistic, sa- ying: ‘There are new possibilities to change people’s minds, be- The work was commissioned by the Dutch Design Fashion haviours, and opinions towards design and art.’ Architecture [DutchDFA], a government agency that aims to strengthen the international positioning of the most promi- We visited small, medium and large-scale creative companies nent sectors of the Dutch creative industries – namely, design,

44 ACT magazine fashion and architecture – through a joined-up approach. the development of these clusters poses a problem according DutchDFA asked for insights into the ideas, work and di- to Professor Tong Huiming, Dean of the Guangzhou Academy lemmas of a selection of Chinese designers: it was also see- of Fine Arts (GAFA) & Industrial Design. He says: king to map out the structure of the Chinese design indus- try and identify key elements and opportunities. In the last two years, the local government worked around the slogan ‘create from the second industry, go into the third Of course, there was arguably a bigger picture. Perhaps this industry’. Its meaning is to use the old factories, change their study would highlight the people and processes that would function, and move the manufacturing industry out of the influence future design agendas in China and throughout city. In Guangzhou alone we have 32 of these cultural industry the world. parks. So many! With some professors we question how is it possible to develop content for these parks? In conducting our report we avoided the traditional style of consultancy that focuses on the insatiable need for (uns- Unfortunately there is no magical wand to turn these empty table) facts and (inspiring) figures. In such reports failure parks and walls into creative wonderlands. Ideally, the objecti- to provide facts and figures is not an option. Instead, we ve is to unearth synergies among industries, to generate unex- sought to delve deeper into the mentality of designers in pected and unchained forms of creativity. A recurrent theme China. Across a broad range of designers, and design pro- among designers, next to branding and venturing out to se- jects, we found that a fear of failure outweighs the nation’s cond and third tier cities, was the need to establish ‘a platform.’ desire to create successful businesses. Indeed, heightened professional and social interaction between designers is one of the main characteristics of the change from This was an important insight. Indeed, there is a palpable a made in China to a created in China design culture. sense of fatigue with the contemporary state of affairs. But alongside this a possible critical future exists for the de- With investments in the creative industries rising during the velopment of the creative and cultural industries in China. past five years, a lot of physical space has been created to ac- Hence we ended up with not only a double report but with a commodate foreign companies, galleries, museums, shops and consultancy report that acts as a two-way mirror: transparent other type of venues. The next step, or a logical outcome, is for an international audience, but reflective for local designers. the reorganization of the major creative and professional for- ces in the field. The development of One way this the creative indus- MovingCities is a Shanghai-based think-tank investigating the role of can be done tries takes place in architecture and urbanism in shaping the contemporary city. Esta- is through the the slipstream of, blished in 2007 by Bert de Muynck (BE) and Mónica Carriço (PT), Mo- establishment and is in essence a vingCities operates as embedded architects – publishing, researching, of associa- programmatic by- collaborating and interacting. Specialized in bridging China and the tions, plat- product of the main world, MovingCities offers urban consultancy in the fields of architec- forms, shops motor driving the rise ture, design and the creative industries, in the public and cultural ins- or agencies. of China’s GDP over titutional sectors. It has conducted research, lectures and workshops The field is the past two deca- in China, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Indonesia. wide open des: namely urban Amongst others, MovingCities has set up programmes for the Nether- for formal growth, the construc- lands Architecture Institute (NAI), Dutch Design Fashion Architecture and informal tion of cities, districts, (DutchDFA) and the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA) in China. platforms. In and suburbs. Before either case, the fascination with the objective is creativity captured to further in- attention, China witnessed an era in which space was consu- ternational and local exchanges and create exposure on both med. New cities were built; designers targeted large-scale real- individual and collective levels. estate projects; high-rises rapidly emerged out of rice-fields and farmlands. From a business viewpoint the rise of the creative and cultu- ral industries has stimulated the emergence of Small and Me- The creative industries have gradually superseded the facto- dium Enterprises (SMEs). The director of the Shanghai Creative ries and structures of a former industrial revolution. Nationwi- Industries Demonstration and Service Platform, David Wang, de the effect is a multiplication of creative clusters, which pool says there is a link between SMEs and the need for platforms: together several ambitious generations of Chinese manufactu- rers, designers and consumers in various creative currents. But The general trend nowadays is that most of the creative in-

ACT magazine 45 China’s Creativity

dustries are made by some small or mid-size companies and ses, but also between cities. Noticeable in this regard is the some designer brands. In order to survive and grow they need rivalry between the culturally driven Beijing and commercially different kinds of platforms, for both commercial and non- driven Shanghai to become China’s fashion capital. Currently commercial purposes. the competition is not defined in stylistic or historical terms but through people and events – designers, consumers, media The integration of the different creative clusters in Shanghai and fashion weeks, as well as the rise of boutiques, luxury sto- and the organization of events targeting the advance of the res, high-end fashion malls and exclusive fashion events. industry are the platform’s main objectives. When asked why it was only launched recently [in 2011], David Wang replies: We The fashion designer Zhang Da [PARALEL [‘BOUNDLESS’] / had a vague concept of the creative industry. All elements al- [‘SHANG XIA’], who has worked in both Beijing and Shanghai ready existed in the beginning, but we had no idea how to in- during the past few years, prefers Shanghai; this is despite tegrate them. So after we matured, we set up this platform to Beijing’s thriving fashion scene. He says: represent the local government, in order to do things better. The quality of life and fashion environment are better in The sense of fatigue with the state of play of design in China Shanghai, but Beijing still may become China’s fashion capital. was a surprise to us. Of course, we had expected resistance It’s more active, with more influential media and more diverse to the celebratory discourse of the creative industries. But customers than Shanghai, which has a large middle-class with there were signs everywhere. Obvious scapegoats where the a very homogeneous taste. heightened media interest in the industry, the mushrooming of award ceremonies and the exhausting effect of internatio- However, questions remain: In China’s fast-moving fashion nal exchange programs that focus exclusively on exhibiting the world will preference will be given to quality or quantity? Will work of foreign designers for an audience of colleagues. the image of a modern China be defined by the media or by the middle-class? At the one hand the avalanche of awards can be interpreted as a sign of devaluation of the design product itself. Paradoxically, The Design & Fashion in China Mappings (106 pages design, 72 being an atom in this avalanche is also a design objective. pages fashion) by MovingCities, commissioned by Dutch De- sign Fashion Architecture, overall aspires to generate insight Lü Yongzhong, the Founder, Chairman and Design Director of into the shifting agenda of design in China on three levels: po- BANMOO / VEP Design in Shanghai pointed out the devalua- licy, production and professionalism. They can be downloaded tion of design prizes. As a jury member for the iF design award from http://movingcities.org/ China, he questioned its value:

Nearly half of the 300 entries got a prize. Its value is purely commercial; companies promote sales by labelling their pro- About the Authors ducts as iF-China prize-winners. Fewer designers care about Chinese awards; international prizes have more value. Bert de Muynck is an architect, writer and co-director of Mo- vingCities. Since September 2011, Bert de Muynck holds the The proliferation of awards has also changed the relationships position of Assistant Professor at the The University of Hong between creative designers, clients and consumers. Tom Shi, Kong – Faculty of Architecture, and that in the HKU Shanghai Director and Founder of Tom Shi Design and Research Studio Study Center. in Guangzhou described how awards have become part of the brand communication process: You can see it in any shopping Mónica Carriço is an architect-urbanist, researcher, and – to- mall: products are tagged with iF and Red Dot stickers. Some of gether with Bert de Muynck – director of MovingCities. She our clients demand that we design products that can apply for holds a master’s degree in Architecture Urban & Territorial Red Dot. But how many people buy these products because of Planning from Lisbon’s Technical University [FAUTL PT] and is the award label? a member of the Portuguese Architects’ Guild

In China the future of design innovation is impacted by an am- bition to reconsider the relations between design, production and manufacturing. Investment in the integration of different chains of production could lead to competitive advantages for local agencies by forcing them to keep abreast of innovation.

Competition is another driving force: not only among busines-

46 ACT magazine ACT magazine 47 Innovation Make, modify, and invent: alternative DNA for innovation in China’s hackerspaces

The image of an entrepreneur these days is often someone danwei is located at 50 Yongjia Rd in Xuhui District and often working in the Internet or mobile media, bringing together so- holds salons which draw artists, designers and even acade- cial networks to exploit e-commerce: think of the founders of mics. After his kids learned how to program games and ani- Facebook, Cyworld in Korea or Tencent in China. The concept mations on screen, David started to look into some possibility of ‘hackerspaces’ on the other hand does not conjure up the doing of physical computing. This led him to the open source Schumpertian ideal of the entrepreneur, a heroic individual hardware movement around Arduino as well as the idea of ha- who is the ‘agent of innovation’. ckerspace.

Hackerspaces are physical spaces enabled by internet con- From that time David began toying with the idea of starting a nectivity. The key ideals of the global hackerspace movement hackerspace in China. The idea finally came to fruition in Octo- are sharing with like-minded people and having fun building ber 2010 when Xinchejian (the new workshop) took shape on things. As David Gauntlett writes in his book Making is Connec- the 2nd floor of Xindanwei. The founders set it up mainly to ting: ‘in the non-virtual world, there is a resurgence of interest fulfil their own needs for a space in which to ‘make stuff’ with in craft activities, clubs and fairs, and their DIY technology in- tools; they subsequently decided to open it up to the public. volving machines and robotics…’ For David, manufacturing these days is less about the means of production but the right to production. As he said, ‘Hackers- David Li, one of the founders of China’s first hackerspace paces are about lowering the entry barrier to realize one’s ideas XinCheJian (literally the new workshop), is prominent among and release creativity because people today are all too often China’s youthful hackerspace community. Xinchejian provides caught in a surplus of ideas and a deficit of actions’. ‘DIYers’ with tools and resources including laser cutters, 3-D printers, and microcontroller kits. Those who go to Xinchejian As an initiative to respond to the founders’ own needs and play around with these tools and resources to create and build those of their community, Xinchejian has grown in the past more things, and importantly to share ideas. As a not-for-pro- few years with projects ranging from ‘robo-racing’ to urban fit organization, Xinchejian derives income from membership farming. According to David, people from different walks of life fees, workshops, and donations. come to Xinchejian. The youngest member is aged 11, the ol- dest 58. The core participants have an interest in engineering David Li took time out to discuss the development of XinChe- and design but are receptive to people who might wander in Jian with the Landing Pad. He spoke about challenges of faci- casually off the street to see what is going on. The community litating China’s first hackerspace, the connection between the grows organically by being open. ‘open source hardware’ movement and shanzhai culture. Our discussion concluded with the implications for innovation. Being situated in downtown Shanghai allows Xinchejian to host visitors from similar hackerspaces all over the world. It is In 2009 David hosted an MIT Scratch Programming workshop no surprise therefore that ‘foreigners’ or expats were initially together with his wife and kids in the co-working space called the major part of the community, about 80 percent of all parti- Xindanwei (the ‘new work unit’) back in 2009 in Shanghai. Xin- cipants. Now the percentage has dropped to about 50 percent..

48 ACT magazine Above A scene from XinCheJian Image Credit: Mitch Altman (Flickr)

Half of the members are local Chinese. People with non-tech- downtown warehouse that was not converted under the local nical background are welcome and are supported by resources government’s urban plans. Later, the neighbourhood was sub- for starters. Most ‘makers’ have full-time jobs and spend their ject to restructuring; so they moved to the current location at leisure hours experimenting with creative projects. While some 1035 Changle Rd. in Xuhui District. draw pure fun from working as unpaid hobbyists, more enter- prising members are looking to commercialize their products. A difficulty in nurturing such a space is engaging people. From his chats with local Chinese, David found they all liked the idea The challenges of facilitating a hackerspace in Shanghai are of hackerspace but family responsibilities makes it difficult for twofold according to David. First, compared to similar initiati- them to participate in activities after hours. When asked how ves in other parts of the world high rent is a major obstacle. hackerspaces in China are different from their international With ‘creative industries’ finding its way into the state’s po- counterparts, David pointed out that while most hackerspaces licy discourse, the government has pinned hopes on creative in the West pin their faith on the future of digital manufac- industries clusters to invigorate derelict inner city industrial turing they are also driven by nostalgia for the manufacturing spaces; these are often the homes of struggling state-owned past. enterprises in the traditional industrial sector. Under this logic many downtown warehouses and factories have been conver- In China however the economy is still largely driven by manu- ted to clusters. However, the pro-growth stance of local go- facturing, which means the combination of the open hardware vernment officials means such transformations in urban space movement and the manufacturing capabilities of China are are spawning real estate business more so than creativity: this providing new opportunities for innovation. gentrification leads to rising rents. As a strong supporter of the Open Source Hardware move- For Xinchejian, the challenge was to find an affordable and ea- ment, which is about the right to access the inner workings sily accessible location for members after work and on wee- of the original design, to modify it, and to redistribute it, David kends. Xinchejian has already moved twice. The first move thinks being able to tinker is important. He believes it accele- came when they outgrew the 15 square metre space offered rates the creative process as it cuts down time and costs while by Xindanwei; they moved into a 100 square metre space in a promoting incremental innovation. Innovation

This propensity for incremental innovation is symptomatic of ‘It’s not about the design plan; it’s about being a brand to be China’s shanzhai culture[i]. Shanzhai literally means’ home of trusted’. And that may be the path open source movement mountain bandits’ and has proliferated especially in southern should take. Looking towards the future, David sees a bigger China around Shenzhen. In David’s words, shanzhai and the community, more fun hacks and many successful businesses

open source hardware movement are ‘twins separated at Below birth’. While the open source movement globally reflects the A robot from XinCheJian Image Credit: Isaac Mao (Flickr)

anti-consumerist values, shanzhai emerged among Chinese with their origins in Xinchejian. knockoff manufacturers which were forced to adopt ‘sharing culture’ in order to survive. If you are intrigued and happen to be in Shanghai, Xinchejian is open to the public every Wednesday evening. The mention of shanzhai draws attention to the fact that prac- tices like copycatting are a transition stage for all developing Acknowledgment: Special thanks to David Li for sharing his ex- countries, not only in recently developed Asian countries like perience and insights Japan, Taiwan and Korea, but also according to history, the Uni- ted States. About the author

While Chinese shanzhai culture has drawn much criticism from Elaine Zhao is a Post Doc- IP owners worldwide, David takes a different perspective. As toral Research Fellow at he points out, shanzhai products actually serve as free mar- the Queensland University keting for some global brands. Citing the example of luxurious of Technology, ARC Centre brands, he said, ‘Just look at the financial statement of LVMH: for Excellence in Creative their best markets today include Japan, Korea, Taiwan and now Industries and Innovation. China. These countries used to be the sites of their largest cou- Her current research in- nterfeiting operation’. terests include new media, user co-creation, the dyna- Moreover, as a site of creativity emerging from grassroots mics between formal and communities, hackerspaces provide alternative takes on what informal economy and their innovation means in the first place[ii].Ultimately, as David said, social, cultural and busi- ness implications in China. 50 ACT magazine Makerbot Desktop 3d printer Innovation

Putting young technology in older adults’ hands is vital that we find better ways to use technology to facilitate a greater sense of well-being. But putting young technology in the hands of older people is something that many busines- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a short story written ses just don’t consider: gadgets, gizmos and apps are genera- by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was made into lly targeted at the young and used to enhance social network an Oscar nominated movie several years ago starring Brad Pitt consumption. and Kate Blanchett. In China today many retired people spend time playing mah The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a story about aging, jong (majiang) or cards, talking with friends or maybe looking a something that everyone is confronted with whether we like grandchild. It is a commonplace to say we live in times of rapid it or not. In the story Benjamin is born with the body of an old change. The centrality of change holds true whether we live in man. He was born as an ‘old kid’; and he lived his life in reverse. China, Australia, Brazil or Italy. In China people often say ‘bian- As he got younger it wasn’t just his body that became more hua hen da’: that is, ‘there is a lot of change happening’. This is active: he acquired more social interests and a passion for life. what one expects in big cities like Shanghai. According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, like it or not, age plays a big part in identity. The best future is one in which we can all participate, not just the generation under fifty. Society is changing and one of the The story is of course a fable. But within the fable there are reasons is broadband enhanced environments allowing the some important lessons for today’s social planners and parti- diffusion of smart wireless technologies. In Shanghai for ins- cularly for planners in China where I live. How can people age tance, faster broadband infrastructure is being implemented to actively? After all we can’t just put our bodies and minds into facilitate programs called Smart Government, Smart Peoples’ reverse like Benjamin Button. Livelihood and Smart Industry. One partnership between the Shanghai Municipal Government and China Telecom is an One of the perennial problems facing aging populations is lear- outcome of the World Expo slogan Better City, Better Life. A ning how to manage technology. Most young children master pilot project between China Telecom and Shanghai’s Minhang the latest devices like a ‘duck to water’; they play games while District is helping residents to use IPTV to access medical re- their grandparents struggle with the remote controls of their cords and have home health checks digital TV; they have active enquiring minds not fazed by tech- nology; they learn to use devices to be creative. Mobile phones, How then can the affordances of the digital age contribute to games consoles, apps and ipads are all part of the technological active aging? landscape of today’s youth. A few years ago I discovered the Old Kids Website. It caught my Getting elderly people up to speed with technology therefore attention and it became the subject of my PhD dissertation. presents a great challenge in China. Taking into account the OldKids, a portal designed especially for older adults, has built a impending distortion in the makeup of China’s population base name not only in Shanghai but all over China. due to the One Child Policy (an increasing aging population), it

52 ACT magazine The ‘OldKids’ in question are by now well-known. A TV program The OldKids interface called ‘Making you younger’ was screened by Shanghai Dragon TV in August 2009. Featured on this program was a hip hop Currently there are five online platforms: two chat rooms, bu- grandma, Yang Liu. Grandma Yang was then 63 years old [in lletin board systems (BBS), a blog, micro-blogs and groups. BBS the picture above she is fourth from the left]. In her ‘real world’ and blogs are the most popular uses. In 2010, 18000 OldKids she is an ordinary retired woman who looks after her three members registered in the BBS while more than 4000 users year old grandson at home. In the world of OldKids, however, added a blog in the OldKids Blog Channel. When I spoke with Mr she is a charming and modern woman who happens to be a Wang on November 7th this year he pointed out that OldKids forum moderator in the site’s BBS. She even set up an OldKids has 50,000 registered users and around 10,000 daily visits. hip-hop salon in 2007. Of course OldKids is not the only web site catering to elderly Grandma Yang also likes to make beautiful images with Pho- communities. However, what makes it distinct from other se- toshop software. She has won prizes for her work in competi- nior-oriented websites are its offline organizations. In addition tions organized by the OldKids website. ‘My dream makes me to the OldKids computer training centre, the founders set up young,’ she says, ‘but without the Internet, without OldKids, I OldKids club in 2001; its main task is to organize different kinds cannot realize my dream.’ of activities such as an annual meeting of OldKids members.

The birth of OldKids Members themselves have set up a further 19 salons throug- hout China. Each salon has a unique name. Compared with the OldKids website (www.oldkids.cn) was established in Shanghai OldKids club, salons are place-based, thus their advantages lie in late 2000; its founders are three inspiring men—Wang Yong, in organizing small-scale activities, such as computer training, Wu Hanzhang and Zhang Zhi’an. At the time they were in their dinner parties and Karaoke. mid-twenties. Before starting a company named Qi Feng Te- chnology Co., Ltd they were white-collar workers. The company The growth of OldKids was established primarily to help older people to connect with each other and to provide better services for older adults. At During its first three years of operation OldKids encountered that time there was little interest in the interactions between many difficulties. The first problem the founders faced was the older adults and the Internet. Since its establishment the lack of users; few elderly adults in China knew about the Inter- founders have taken up the challenge of helping older people net in 2000. When the founders held a salon in May 2001 to to use computer technology and the Internet. teach people to learn computer skills, only forty adults joined in and they were all members of the Association of Older Scienti- Elderly people constitute a sizeable demographic in China but fic and Technical Workers in Shanghai. for a number of reasons many of them remain digitally illite- rate; many others have basic literacy. In 2000 there were only Zhang recalled that he ever left a discussion topic in the Ol- 22.5 million net users in mainland China. Among these 41 per- dKids forum in 2001, but nobody responded. He said, ’At that cent were in the 18-24 age group; only 3.3 percent were aged time, older adults had no idea about the Internet, so the first over 50. step for running the website is to teach them to use computers and the Internet.’ In July 2012, the 30th Statistical Report on Internet Develop- ment in China showed that net use had rocketed to 538 mi- To stimulate the use of computers the founders opened com- llion. As one would expect the majority of users are still young puter-training courses in 2000. Wu Xiaofan (known as ‘old Wu’), people; 30.2 percent are in the age group of 20 to 29, and 25.5 father of Wu Hanzhang, the president of OldKids, was a retired percent are aged between 30 and 39. Only 5.7 percent are over engineer. From 2002 to 2006 he wrote a series of textbooks for 50 years old. However, 5.7 percent of 538 million constitutes a teaching older people how to use computers. Old Wu learned to sizeable figure. use a computer by himself and so he understood how difficult it is for older people to learn a new technology. He became a Since its inception more than a decade ago OldKids website has teacher in the OldKids computer training centre when it ope- experienced several redesigns. While its interface has changed ned and worked for it until the last minute of his life (he left the significantly, its founders still insist on using the portal to teach world in 2007 at the age of 69). older people to make good use of information and communica- tion technologies and to create an online community presence. Most students of the computer training centre became Old- In addition to virtual communities OldKids helps older adults Kids members. With the rapid development of the computer through its offline applications and activities. industry and the Chinese economy in the first decade of the 21st century, more and more ordinary urban families acquired

ACT magazine 53 Innovation

computers at home and subscribed to broadband services. Currently, the main task of this centre is to provide science Currently, a one-month broadband package in Shanghai costs and technology related training for older people on behalf of around 150RMB ($24); the average personal monthly salary of the government. In May of this year the centre set up a volun- Shanghai citizen is around 4,300RMB ($716). In line with in- teer team by recruiting older people with expertise in computer creases in income, the number of older people using the Inter- (software and hardware). The OldKids website is now the onli- net has increased. ne platform of the centre.

Nevertheless, the founders still face a problem—how to raise The success of ventures like Old Kids is heavily dependent on funds. For a long time after OldKids website went online, they participationa nd research into the needs of an aging popula- used their own savings to support its daily operation. Because tion. In China the government often talks about ‘harmonious OldKids is a public good organisation, course fees are relatively society’ and there is greater evidence of NGOs and social entre- low compared with similar courses opened by other training preneurship. Organisations like OldKids need more than mo- institution. For example, the fee for a course named Computer ney, however: they need creative solutions to problems as they Foundation (24 lectures) in OldKids in 2002 was just 100RMB arise in the context of China’s aging society. The importance of (equal to $16). creative industries is therefore not just in making profit. Much can be gained from comparative research on how different so- During the hard times, many of the people who had taken tra- cieties in the Asia-Pacific are empowering elderly citizens. ining courses provided support to the three young founders, such as donating second-hand computers or fans to the Old- Kids training. About the author The Old Kids founders have tried many approaches to seek fi- nancial support, such as providing paid computer repair ser- Dr. Huan WU is vices to older people living in Shanghai and promoting certain a lecturer in the business products to older adults. As well as these sources of School of Me- income support has come from the Shanghai Municipal Gover- dia and Design at nment. At present, nearly one half of OldKids’ funding comes Shanghai Jiaotong from local government. University. She obtained her doc- The next step: a new research project? toral degree from the School of Jour- The OldKids founders worked hard to establish partnerships nalism and Com- with the local government: for instance they now provide ad- munication, The vice and support in the use of technology for elderly people to Chinese University several government institutions including the Gerontological of Hong Kong. She was awarded a 2010 Endeavour Cheung Society of Shanghai (shanghai shi laonianxue xuehui) and the Kong Scholarship and visited The ARC Centre of Excellence for Shanghai Research Centre on Aging. Old Kids helps to build and Creative Industries and Innovation at Queensland University of maintain web sites for these organizations. Technology for 6 months. She is interested in research on aging communication and the impact of new media on disadvanta- In October 2003 the OldKids began a project called ‘Helping ol- ged people. der People Go Online’. The website management team came up with a plan to persuade local government officials to provide support. The Shanghai Committee on Aging, the Shanghai As- sociation for Science and Technology and the Shanghai Senior Citizen Foundation (Shanghaishi laonian jijinhui) launched the project. OldKids was responsible for its operation.

At the end of 2009 the OldKids founders were authorized by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau to set up a NGO called the Shanghai Science and Technology Service centre for Aging. Zhang Zhi’an regards this as a significant achievement and a sign of the government’s trust.

54 ACT magazine

Going out of China

The ‘Going Out’ of Culture and China’s Soft Power

Limitations of the state-planned cultu- The going out policy, also referred to as ral economy the ‘going global policy’, is China’s cu- rrent strategy to encourage its enterpri- China has transformed from planned ses to invest overseas. It first appeared economy to market economy since in economic debates in 1996. In 2004, 1980s. However, in the cultural field, the Chinese government took initia- most projects are state planned, mainly tives to enhance the global appeal of reflecting the aspirations of the govern- Chinese culture. The Ministry of Culture ment, such as Confucius institutes, crea- (MoC) launched the ‘going out of cultu- tive clusters, cultural festivals and the re’ strategy and since then this term has ‘Chinese Book Promotion Plan’.[1] Such applied to media, cultural and creative planning is indeed helpful in the initial industries. The policy is perceived as ha- stage but the government is beginning ving a critical role if China is to gear up its to realize the importance of the market emerging soft power. However, like the and the leading role of creative enterpri- clusters, the strategy is not as effective ses. as the government would like.

As Michael Keane has shown in his stu- The Ministry of Culture recently launched dy of creative clusters in China, most a Plan for Redoubling Cultural Industries clusters are policy-oriented rather than during the ‘12th Five Year Plan’ Period. It spontaneous. He says that many have continues to emphasise the ‘going out’ failed to achieve expectations and are of culture, calling for an enhancement simply spatial agglomerations deriving of ‘cultural competitiveness’ and a lar- money from real estate speculation. ger Chinese presence at international Apart from a few exceptions there is not cultural markets. The current strategy a great deal of collaboration and sharing proposes a comprehensive approach to of knowledge and resources. popularize Chinese culture worldwide, particularly through exchange and cultu- ral export.

56 ACT magazine In recent years, although the quantities In the Redoubling Plan, the Chinese go- of China’s cultural export have increased, vernment is providing strong financial cultural trade deficits are still high. The support to cultural and creative indus- export data mainly relies on low-value tries and enterprises. Central financial outsourced production. For instance in input to cultural undertakings, sports

Above 2011, 38.2 % of cultural exports were the and media has undergone an annual Photo of Hengdian-Hero movie set-China result of outsourced contracts, products growth rate of 25.4 percent on average, that are designed offshore and proces- jumping from RMB 10.2 billion yuan in sed in China. The cultural trade deficit is 2005 to RMB154.3 billion yuan in 2010. especially high in ‘software’ cultural ex- Nationwide, there are 26 provinces (re- ports including radio and television pro- gions, municipalities) that have establis- grams, films, cartoons, publications, per- hed special funds for cultural industry forming arts, audio and video products, development. and exhibition. In a number of aspects relating to fi- In 2009, a total of 426 foreign performing nancial support there has been an effort troupes or companies performed 16373 to coordinate activities. Departments, times in China, realizing an income of ministries and bureaus of propaganda RMB 76.85 million yuan. However, the as well as culture, radio and television, differential between the value of China’s press and publications, together with import and export of performing arts is finance and banking sectors have jointly 10:1. To put this into perspective, China’s formulated new plans. annual total income from overseas commercial performance is lower than The banking sector has continually rolled US$100 million, less than the overseas out financial innovations aimed at the performance income of Cirque de Soleil. cultural industries.

ACT magazine 57 Going Out of China

Above The China Merchant Bank issued a loan and effective methods to monitor the of RMB 50 million yuan to the film As- program and evaluate the effects. This Traditional Chinese Dance Image Credit: Jing Qu (Flickr) sembly (集结号 jijiehao) with box office inco- leads to the fact that, compared with me as a guarantee; the investment, the output is out of pro- portion. sic and Kung Fu artistry with dance and The China Construction Bank Shenzhen acrobatics. The most recent production Branch has initiated ‘mutual lending Rare successes is re-staged by the acclaimed Broadway guarantees’ in order to resolve credit director Ray Roderick, featuring a fusion guarantees of cultural enterprises in the Among China’s performing arts pro- of East and West. Shenzhen Dafen Oil Painting village in duction companies, the New Shanghai south China; Circus is the first of its kind to indepen- Another successful example of going out dently invest in commercial performan- is National Ballet of China. They’ve sta- The Beijing Bank and the Communica- ces abroad. It started its business from ged performances in the most sought- tions Bank (Beijing Branch) have opened Shanghai and has toured more than 20 after venues in 20 countries. The per- green lending channels for cultural in- countries. Instead of developing its over- formances they put on global stages dustries, and rolled out intangible asset seas business through foreign agents, it include both the classic ballet Swan Lake guarantee trials. started a joint venture with overseas and Chinese ballets, Raise the Red Lan- companies and then set up its own com- tern, Yellow River. Working with interna- Most financial supervision and manage- pany in America. tional set designers and choreographers, ment organs encourage and support the they interpret Western classical ballet utilization of different kinds of funding Similarly, the Tianchuang International and symphony orchestra arrangements channels such as market listing, dis- Performing Arts Production And Exchan- with traditional Chinese stories. tributing enterprises bonds, attracting ge Co. Ltd. is another representative of strategic foreign investors on the condi- overseas merger and acquisition. As a In the Edinburgh International Festival tion that the activities are permitted by multi-award winner in Beijing, their pro- 2011, the National Ballet of China per- State policies duction The Legend of Kongfu has been formed Peony Pavilion, a ballet adapta- viewed by over two million people in the tion of the 400-year-old, 20-hour-long In the performing arts sector, ‘Special Red Theatre in Beijing. The company has Chinese kunqu Opera, which is one of Funds for Performance Industry De- put on 3000 performances in more than China’s ancient and most refined perfor- velopment’, have been established to 20 countries. The Tianchuang Company ming art forms. Elsewhere the Shanghai support original production, theatre also bought the White House Theatre in Peking Opera Troupe has retold the fa- construction or renovation, and touring Branson, America, where it established a miliar tale of Hamlet, setting it in China abroad. Although there are strict ap- solid foothold. It has been invited to per- and giving it an acrobatic and elaborately proval procedures for the application of form at many performing arts centres costumed Peking Opera treatment. these funds, there is a lack of specific in Europe. Performances combine mu-

58 ACT magazine The success of these performances can neration. Compared with traditional cul- take risks. There also need to be the pro- be largely attributed to cultural hybri- ture, the modern aspect, or pop culture is tection of Intellectual Property and more dization. Cultural hybridization occurs more accessible to the world, and for this financial incentives for emerging artists when elements of a traditional culture reason is more diverse and invigorating. and writers. mix with a more globalized mindset. Chi- nese cultural production is remade and Japan and South Korea have traditional [1] The Chinese Book Promotion Plan (Zhon- repackaged with the addition of inter- cultures closely related to China’s, but gguo tushu duiwai tuiguang jihua) has been national elements: that is, Eastern and both countries have their own distinct implemented since 2004. By promoting and western elements nourish each other popular cultures, which are represented financing translation and publishing Chinese reciprocally. abroad by manga and anime in Japan books, it aims to encourage Chinese books to and the Korean wave in South Korea. ’go abroad’ on a larger scale, with more input How authentic & How sustainable？ Japan kicked off the ‘Cool Japan’ strate- and in a broader field. In 2009, ‘The translation gy to brand the nation. Popular cultural and publication project of Chinese cultural li- Most Chinese content presented in in- forms such as animation, games and terature’ was launched. It continues to in- ternational market focuses on traditio- fashion serve as many young peoples’ tensify support for international cooperation nal aspects such as Confucianism, tra- introductions to Japanese culture, and in publishing, thus expediting the mutual ex- ditional festivals, kongfu and acrobatics, often lead to further study of Japanese changes between and common development while ignoring the contemporary dimen- language and culture. Manga now is well of Chinese culture and other cultures. sion. on its way to becoming a pan-Asian art form instead of something specifically About the Author The key question is: Do these help Chi- Japanese. Therefore, it does a lot to in- na build up its soft power or is it likely crease Japan’s soft power. Irene Ma is a Masters student at the Fa- to cause the side-effect of reinforcing culty of Creative Industries in QUT wor- stereotypes of China and further crea- However, China doesn’t have such rea- king on the topic “going out” of Chinese te biases? Moreover, when adapting to dily accessible and identifiable contem- culture. With her specific interest in the western tastes, to what degree are they porary culture. ‘Going out’ is a difficult internationalization of creative indus- faithful to Chinese culture? challenge and it may take time for Chine- tries in China, she focuses on the rela- se intellectuals and government officials tionship between cultural policies and Kongfu shows and acrobatic perfor- to see the effect. Soft power takes a long soft power and typical cases of cultural mances are found in the international time to consolidate. It won’t create a di- exports in the performing arts industry. market. To some extent this generates rect and immediate effect. Soft power is a vicious circle. After becoming familiar also tied to popular perception. The suc- with what western audiences ‘expect’ cess of Brazilian TV drama in many parts from Chinese performances, many pro- of Asia is no doubt linked to the percep- ductions are simply made to fit the ima- tion that Brazilians are likeable and they gination and aspiration of international play wonderful football! Football is a audiences. Similar looking performances global form of soft power and Brazil has proliferate. This causes fierce competi- managed to create a global brand image. tion and reinforces stereotypical percep- In comparison China excels in ping pong, tions of China. Without the invigoration but this is hardly global. provided by contemporary culture, which reflects more universal values and the- In order to achieve its going out strate- mes, how far can China go in the process gy, it’s not enough for the government of its soft power development? to provide financial support; they should make efforts in creating a good cultu- When China can move beyond this? ral ecology which encourages diverse contemporary culture. Some examples Culture has two spheres: one is the tra- would include relaxing the censorship ditional aspect inherited through ge- guidelines in the film industries in or- nerations, the other is contemporary der to generate more confidence among dimension produced by the younger ge- scriptwriters and to encourage them to