Dawn of a new era?

The makers of a new feature aim to open up the market for low-budget, low-key local animation. Sabrina Lee hears how they narrowly averted disaster to produce Sing to the Dawn 

Singapore’s first full-length animated feature with potential global appeal almost never saw the light of day. Rewind to May 2006, during the initial stages of Sing to the Dawn’s production. It was just an average day at the Turi Beach Resort in Batam – that is, until a short circuit set the roofs of the villas ablaze. As other bamboo structures started exploding and hotel staff hurried to evacuate guests, over 80 animators and designers from Singapore production company Infinite Frameworks (IFW) were busy saving their precious computers from blowing up at their on-site facility. 

Left: Phil Mitchell. Right: Mingfong Ho

‘We didn’t lose any equipment, except for Station 19, which was sh*t on by a passing bird…that and a day and a half’s work,’ says Phil Mitchell, director of IFW’s latest animated feature, opening in October. Based on the 1975 novel by Singaporean author and former Straits Times journalist Mingfong Ho, the movie tells the story of a young girl named Dawan who lives in a rural village but wants to break free from tradition to pursue a scholarship in the city. 

Tucked away in an equally remote area, IFW’s animation studio at Turi Beach Resort is just a 45-minute ferry ride from Singapore. A nondescript door next to the toilets opens to a newly renovated, air-conditioned production room with maroon walls, cylindrical lamps and cubicles with state-of-the-art computers. On the day TOS visits, roughly 50 graphic artists and designers are hard at work with Mitchell at the helm. Mitchell is as big in stature as he is in character. With a red bandana concealing his white shiny dome, he towers above me as we shake hands. Since Sing to the Dawn was in its final edits, he offers us a peek. ‘I used to sketch back in England,’ quips Mitchell as he prepares to show us an integral scene in the movie where Dawan sings her heart out on a bridge (based on Mitchell’s sketch). ‘We were combing [Batam] for a bridge and eventually found it! We stopped the car, jumped out and said, “That’s the one!”’ The bridge is in a village called Telok Air Mati, a few hours’ drive from the studio; the village came to be the muse for most of the architecture and characters in the fi lm. Ho originally based the story in Thailand, where she was raised. 


Before shooting started on the film, Mitchell and Ho met to discuss the change of location and character development. ‘I was scared to death as we ran a few sketches by her,’ says Mitchell. But his fears were short-lived. ‘When Phil [Mitchell] showed me the bridge and some others, I was satisfi ed,’ says Ho in a separate interview, who then laughs about how excited Mitchell was, getting the giggles when she approved it. 

However, there were certain changes that did not go down too well with Ho. For example, in her narrative Dawan is depicted wearing a sarong; in the film, she wears shorts. ‘It’s not what a girl in a rural village would wear,’ says Ho, ‘but then again, how many village people will actually watch the film?’ There are also talking animals in the film. ‘It’s a cartoon,’ Mitchell says, shrugging. ‘You can make it outlandish and not have to rely on the law of physics.’ While Ho had read through a few scripts with Mitchell, she says that as an author, ultimately she had to accept adaptations and not be an enforcer. 

The Infinite Frameworks studio is equipped with hardware and software support; it also has high-end 2-D and 3-D software/animating programs. Mitchell gives a lot of credit to his hard-working crew of digital wizards, though humbly admits that they aren’t trying to play Pixar’s game. ‘We wouldn’t be able to compete,’ he says. Ratatouille’s budget was US$175 million (S$246 million), compared to the S$5m IFW had to work with. ‘We used impressionistic and old-school techniques, and within the timeframe of 2½ years.’ 

Steve Reed, who worked on Happy Feet – a film with a budget of about US$100m (S$138m) – came on board as computer graphics supervisor for Sing to the Dawn. Reed was impressed by what IFW had accomplished within the limited budget and timeframe, Mitchell says. ‘We had to think outside the box from within a box,’ he says with a laugh. ‘Steve was a big help, he brought order to chaos with his experience.’ 

Backed by Raintree Pictures, MDA, IFW and Scorpio East Pictures, Sing to the Dawn, however, is not Singapore’s first full-length animated feature, though it’s touted as such. Cubix International produced Zodiac (2006) and Legends of the Sea (2005) with budgets of about $2m and $6m respectively. The reason why Sing to the Dawn is marketed this way is because it has the potential to be screened outside of Singapore, Mitchell hopes. That said, IFW is still likely to appeal to a niche market. ‘We count ourselves lucky to be mentioned in the same breath as Pixar, but the fact remains that it’s not the market we’re competing with,’ he says. 

Now that audiences regularly see big-budget animated films, will Sing’s makers get the response they’re looking for? ‘It’s going to be a great movie that all should see,’ says Ho. ‘I’m hoping it will resonate with the kids.’ 

Sing to the Dawn opens 30 Oct.