Written by Al Caudullo
China will soon replace the USA in box office sales and Asian documentaries are on the rise with new markets opening up worldwide. The thirst for compelling stories is what drives Yves Jeanneau, CEO Sunny Side of the Doc. This exclusive interview reveals how he has set his sights on this emerging market with a special emphasis on another emerging format, 360VR.
Al Caudullo of Explore 360 delivered a one hour presentation to 100 attendees covering the topic of creating 360 VR documentaries using the GoPro Omni 360 VR System. Examples of recent 360 VR documentaries shot at Angkor Cambodia and Wat Pho Temple in Thailand. Al took the filmmakers through camera placement and HDMI monitoring, ingesting and stitching using the Omni Importer and Autopano Video Pro and Autopano Giga. Editing, special effects and patching were covered with examples of using Mettle SkyBox Adobe Premiere and After Effects.
Asian Side of the Doc is the first international documentary marketplace in Asia. Created in 2010, this annual event offers new business and creative partnerships opportunities for the international doc professionals on the dynamic Asian factual programs sector now running in both directions, Asia to Asia, and Asia to the rest of the world. Now in its 7th year, Asian Side of the Doc’s objective of building a unified factual content market in Asia and bringing potential co-production partners together is notably achieved.With 300 industry professionals from 36 countries (including 18 Asian nationalities) in attendance and the 40 exhibiting companies on hand, ASIAN SIDE OF THE DOC 2016 held in Bangkok (October 31- November 3) proved to be very effective in efforts to reach key players in the ASEAN region. The annual pitching forum and programs sales market enjoyed an excellent 2:1 producer-to-broadcaster ratio with 90 international decision makers present, that fostered an invaluable networking and deal-making environment for delegates. Additionally, close to 165 one-to-one meetings were arranged over four days between independent producers and buyers to get straight into creative and financial discussions.
Co-organizers Sunny Side of the Doc and Wishtrend Thailand counted on the support of Diamond partners, Thai broadcaster MCOT and its production structure Panorama Worldwide, to cater to this growing trend to generate more business leads. The first full coproduction partnership between Thailand (MCOT) and the UK (UKTV) was concluded this week at Asian Side of the Doc to bring the new food series, “A Taste of Thailand” (working title 10×60’) to a global audience.
“Asian Side of the Doc 2016 provided an excellent bridge for all Thai content creators to think beyond our local market, travel further and reach out to rest of the world.” said Soonthorn Areerak, Executive VP and chief operating officer of MCOT.
TV Burabha, a leading documentary content provider in Thailand, also announced its plans to branch out overseas next year, placing more emphasis on distributing content to Asia and expanding their global footprint. Yves Jeanneau, CEO of Sunny Side Markets, commented: “Asian Side of the Doc 2016 offered a real occasion to meet these new documentary territories. We welcomed Asian factual focused delegations from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and saw increased buyer participation from South-East Asian countries including The Philippines (ABS-CBN Corporation), Singapore (Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Mediacorp, A&E Networks Asia), Cambodia (TVK – National Television of Cambodia, CTN Cambodia), Vietnam (Vietnam Television) & Thailand of course. Digital platforms Iflix and WiseMe also presented new slots… We will build on this regional recognition to ensure more partnerships with broadcasters and producers in South-East Asia next year. ”
A new addition to Asian Side of the Doc this year was the “VR Village”, a space equipped with 10 Gear VR Headsets provided courtesy of Samsung Thailand and Al Caudullo of Explore 360. Attendees, assisted by Explore360 staff, were treated to 360 VR works by Okio Studio, AGAT Films Ex Nihilo, Seppia Interactive, Les Poissons Volants, CICC, Mad Films, Les Films de la Butte et Triarri Prod, Mettle, Bridgestone, Mercedes, Hyndai. Even the famous 360 interview with Michelle Obama was available to watch. Many thanks to Chris Bobotis with Mettle.
INSPIRING STORIES CROSSING BORDERS
This year’s edition was marked by the Asian-Pacific launch of the international transmedia format “Generation What?” Now, in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and UNESCO, the campaign’s co-founders Yami 2 and Upian met financing partners and broadcasters from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Australia…ready to join the project. “Generation What?” Europe (www.generationwhat.eu) recently reached over a million young people in partnership with 15 European broadcasters, coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union.
It was a very inspirational week of conversations, high-quality pitches and talks, in Bangkok. The strong focus on exciting initiatives for factual funding in Asia – Dare to Dream Asia (In-Docs), The Asian Pitch (NHK/PTS), Aurora Media Capital, Hopes and Dreams II call for projects (CICC) – as well as on blue-chip wildlife programmes and OTT business models from East (new Chinese-backed OTT platform WiseMe) and West (Spicee, France) highlighted the need to adapt to audience behaviour and embrace new ways to produce and distribute documentaries in a highly competitive industry.
2016 ASIAN SIDE OF THE DOC AWARDS ANNOUNCED
An international jury decided the awards for the best pitched projects among the 32 original stories coming from the Americas, Europe and Asia presented during daily pitch sessions.
The Jury:
Gabriel Kuperman – Founder & Director, Luang Prabang Film Festival (Laos)
Panuksmi Hardjowirogo – Founding Producer, M’go Films (Singapore)
Mavourneen Dineen – Senior Producer, 101 East Al Jazeera English Channel (Malaysia)
Jean-Luc Vernhet – Head of International Affairs, INA (France) Soonthorn Areerak – Executive Vice President, MCOT (Thailand)
BEST INTERNATIONAL PROJECT
Raghu Rai, An Unframed Portrait – produced by CRCI PVT. LTD (India)
BEST ASIAN PROJECT
The Six: Titanic’s Chinese Survivors – produced by Lost Pensivos Films (China)
BEST ASEAN PROJECT
Hope Frozen – produced by Panorama Worldwide (Thailand)
LUANG PRABANG FILM FESTIVAL AWARD
The Doctor – produced by Fat Stone Films (Thailand)
