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Lucasfilm opens animation studio in Singapore

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SINGAPORE : "Star Wars" creator George Lucas' Lucasfilm has opened an animation studio in Singapore, its first outside the US.

The Singapore government has hailed this as a significant boost to the local digital entertainment industry.

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The next Star Wars production you see is going to be partially made in Singapore.

Called "Clone Wars", it is a 3D animated TV series that Lucasfilm says represents the future of animation.

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Clone Wars is targeted for release in late 2007, and an animated feature is expected to be released in around 2008.

Said Micheline Chau, president and chief operating officer at Lucasfilm, "What we are trying to achieve here is to blend Eastern and Western sensibilities to create a whole totally different art form for television. It is our aim to actually do the majority of the work here."

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Said Mr Lucas, "Lucasfilm decided to set up an animation facility in Singapore because we're hoping to find a lot of young talent all over Asia and introduce them to the new 3D animation techniques. We've had a great relationship with everyone in Singapore; it's a wonderful place to be."

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The Singapore studio now employs 35 people from 19 countries and plans to recruit more than a hundred in the next two years.

Said Christian Kubsch, general manager at Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, "We're currently working with Nanyang Polytechnic in our animation training exercises, and we're also going to work with NTU as we start our technical director's class."

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To give the industry a further boost, more specialty schools offering digital arts and animation programmes will be set up.

These schools will also undertake fundamental research into digital media.

This will complement the local schools, which produce close to 800 graduates annually.

Standards of artistic and technical training for industry professionals will also be raised.

It took over a year to build the state of the art studio, which mimics facilities in the US.

But how much did it cost? Investors, which include Lucasfilm, the Singapore Economic Development Board and Creative Technology, refuse to say.

What we do know for sure is that the Singapore government will continue to encourage local companies to invest in global digital media firms so as to grow the industry here.

Said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister and Second Trade and Industry Minister, "This is the beginning of a whole new industry. We believe the digital entertainment industry is set to grow exponentially in the coming decades. The fact that we have an outpost of George Lucas here, it will act as a honey pot and attract people from all over the world."

He added, "This is akin to developing life sciences or information technology. There must be a synergy of a whole lot of companies, both upstream and downstream in this. Because this is a complex industry, by providing a critical mass of companies which feed off each other, we then create a self sustaining cluster."

Singapore believes human resource is key to growing the digital entertainment industry, so it plans to keep its doors open to foreigners so as to grow the talent pool.

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Excellent, Bobafett, thanks for the report.

An animated feature?!? Was that a typo or something?!? So we are getting an animated film as well as the animated series and live action series?!? Did I read that right??!?

-Animated
-CG
-Live Action

?

I think the feature is non-Star Wars...

(Stewie's voice): Damn!