Helping film-makers build a following

SINGAPORE — Film-maker Ho Jia Jian, 25, sees a problem when faddish flicks — such as parodies of the wildly popular Gangnam Style music video, for instance — dominate YouTube and social media, at the expense of other works by local and regional talents.

Which was why, in January, together with fellow film-maker Derek Tan, 29, he created Viddsee, an online library of South-east Asian films that can be accessed by anyone for free.

“There has not been a single site dedicated to showcasing independent short films ... a lot of talents get drowned out by ... numerous Gangnam Style parodies and whatnots,” says Mr Ho, who believes independent short films will thrive in the new media age.

An engineering graduate from the National University of Singapore and former President of its film club nuSTUDIOS, Mr Ho has always been interested in films. He laments about the state of the local arts and film scene, which is “not as vibrant as it should be”.

“There is not enough appreciation for the amount of talent in the industry,” he says. He hopes to change that with Viddsee as a launch pad for film-makers. “One of the first films I co-produced was CASHLESS, which tells the story of a man’s reckless pursuit of money he had misplaced. The production was well-liked enough to get picked up by a few film festivals, but it was hard to sustain an audience outside of that,” Mr Ho recalls.

But thanks to his current efforts, a collection of 200 regional films to date is hosted on a website where people can watch, rate and critique them on various aspects such as storyline, acting and camera work.

Viddsee also taps on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, where people can share the films they like. It also publishes a free digital newsletter, and users can stream videos via a mobile application.

Unlike content-hosting sites such as YouTube, Viddsee was created to be a curated platform for quality content to help film-makers reach a targeted audience and build a following. The project was funded by a start-up grant from Spring Singapore’s Action Community for Entrepreneurs.

Since its launch, Viddsee’s website has attracted more than 60,000 unique visitors from around the world. In June, the company was placed among the top 50 start-ups at Asia’s largest tech conference, Echelon 2013, for its innovative content hosting.

Mr Ho has set a target of a million users for his project, which he describes as a “perfect marriage of technology and film”. “I want to step up and drive the micro-cinema scene in South-east Asia,” he says.

He attributes part of its success so far to his knowledge of film production and distribution. He has been approached for advice by budding filmmakers on what to do post-production. A lot of films fall into a “black hole” and do not reach audiences because of poor distribution — another challenge for the industry, he notes. On their part, he and Mr Tan attend film festivals and exchange pointers with overseas filmmakers to develop themselves further.

On the call by the Government to cultivate a strong local culture to unite Singaporeans, Mr Ho said the first step is for Singaporeans to be receptive and supportive of home-grown talents from all fields. “Films — like other forms of arts — are rich in culture and often tell stories of a country and its diversity,” he says.