Tuesday Oct 14, 2003

Digital dramas
- THE STRAITS TIMES

High Definition technology allows director Gerald Lee to make three movies in a year
By Mak Mun San

The husband of MediaCorp actress Aileen Tan is launching two Mandarin movies almost simultaneously, thanks to the use of High Definition (HD) technology.

Movie director Gerald Lee's psychosexual thriller Destiny will star Tan and MediaCorp actor Xie Shaoguang, and is touted as the first HD movie to be produced in the region.

After School, a police drama with MediaCorp star Jacelyn Tay and ex-MediaCorp artist Thomas Ong in the lead roles, will be the first HD film to be screened in the digital cinema format. Gateway Entertainment, which produced both movies, will finalise plans to screen Destiny only after its previews at the end of this month.

After School will be shown at the Singapore Polytechnic next month, but details of its commercial release are not yet available. Besides providing superior clarity, HD is significantly cheaper than conventional film stock. But audiences will still be able to enjoy the rich colours and 'film' look which they are accustomed to seeing in Hollywood blockbusters.

Destiny, which cost $1 million, took only 16 days to shoot and was completed in May. Lee then spent 19 days shooting After School in July, which cost $500,000. If the movie was done on film, it would have taken at least two months and cost about 40 per cent more.

'If not for HD, I wouldn't have been able to make three movies in a year,' says Lee, 42, who also directed Twilight Kitchen. Lee is from Hong Kong and was working for TVB when he met Tan in 1996 at a friend's wedding. They tied the knot last year and Lee is now based here as a director-producer at Gateway.

Former MediaCorp artist Zhu Houren, the producer of After School, is also full of praise for the new technology.

'In a nutshell, it saves both money and time and offers good quality too,' says Zhu, who is in his 40s. He explains: 'If we were using regular film, I would have told Jacelyn to stop running after two takes because film is very expensive. But because HD is done digitally, I can let her run till she drops without worrying about costs.'

Lee is confident that HD will be a boost to Singapore's movie industry. 'It will help inexperienced directors and those who want to make movies realise their dreams more easily,' he says.

Preview screenings for Destiny will be on Oct 31, Nov 1, 7 and 8 at Orchard Cineplex. After School will be shown at the Singapore Polytechnic Convention Hall for students and senior citizens from Nov 22 to Dec 7. For ticketing details, call 6278-2777 or 6252-4101.