Aspiring Spielbergs in Our Midst?

By Nicole Wong • UrbanWire
email reporter • email story • printer friendly

The word “pitch” means so many different things depending on whether it’s used by softball players, people who repair roads, engineers, musicians, salesmen or printers.

But the 160 students who attended the “PITCH 04 LAUNCH Seminar and Showcase” learnt what the word meant in relation to filmmaking from industry experts.

In this context, to make a pitch is to persuade someone to believe in an idea you have. For example, if you try to persuade your parents to increase your allowance, you are actually, making a pitch. No wonder Mr Kym Campbell, Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s (NP) Acting & Directing lecturer, said, a pitch is “something you have been doing all your life”.

“I thought it was an abbreviation (before the seminar),” said 15-year-old Adonara Mucek, a participant from CHIJ St Nicholas.

The seminar was organised by Mrs Choo Cheh Hoon, Deputy Director of NP’s School of Film & Media Studies (FMS), and lecturer Mr Derek Khoo, with the help of 6 FMS students. Primarily intended, as Mrs Choo described in an email interview, to “nurture the creative ideas for a video medium and to enhance students' confidence in public speaking and presentation skills”, the seminar was also a prelude to the Pitch 04 competition.

The Programme
Tips from the speakers
Idea behind it all
Pitch 04

The Programme

Ushers at the Alumni Clubhouse, dressed as if they’d just walked off a movie set, set the glamourous tone of being on a film set. During the mini hands-on session, the students had a chance to operate filming equipment, such as the boom and microphone set, the slate, etc, which would normally be unavailable to them.

Besides the demonstration, the participants received generous amounts of advice from filmmaker alumni of FMS, Daryl Yap (who’s earned a prestigious scholarship from the Media Development Authority Singapore (MDA)) and Alina Heng, and Mr Campbell.

While Daryl and Alina’s tips were helpful and very informative, Mr Campbell, with his vast experience, was the obvious crowd favourite. On top of dishing out plenty of priceless nuggets of information, he also engaged the crowd with his mischievous and often hilarious antics.

Aside from the seminar and demonstration, there was also a mini-exhibition featuring the latest digital equipment from Panasonic, a guided tour of NP’s studio facilities, and an optional workshop on camera and editing skills held by DigiWorkz.

Tips from the Speakers

Daryl Yap
• “Predictable = boring”, so always add a twist
• “Do a topic close to your heart that you believe in”
• These 2 elements will make your story stand out from the rest

Alina Heng
• “Be really, really prepared because they’re (the panel are) going to ask you a lot of questions and you’re going to look really silly if you can’t answer them.”
• Believe in your story
• Be confident or at least pretend to be.
• Engage your audience
• Relax

Mr Kym Campbell
• Be passionate. Not only about your story (“What makes you think that they’d (the panel) like it if you don’t like it?”) but also in your presentation.
• Make your pitch short, succinct but full of impact.
• Action - “You’ve got to have problems (in your story). You’ve got to have conflict and obstacles and how you overcome them.”
• Have a few devices to help you tell your story, like a storyboard, but be aware of where you’re standing so you don’t block the panel.
• Use descriptions that provide insight and can paint a picture in your head.

Idea Behind it All
While visiting the various secondary schools in Singapore, Mrs Choo noticed that the creative potential of many students was handicapped “by the lack of confidence and good presentation skills”. And so with the aim of “stimulating their (the students’) creativity, nurturing their talents, and giving them a platform to be challenged”, Mrs Choo together with lecturers Mr Leonard Yip and Mr Derek Khoo, decided to organise a seminar to educate secondary school students in getting story ideas and pitching them to a judge. This led to a pitching competition for them to test their new skills.

Pitch 04
Pitch 04 is a competition for secondary school students in Singapore. The participants have to submit a short synopsis of their story idea and an essay on why their idea should be selected by Sep 25. If their idea gets shortlisted, they will have to try to sell it, by late November, to a panel of judges comprising major players from the local media industry.

Participants stand to win up to $800 in cash, sponsored by the MDA. Visit the official website.