Singapore Digital Media Festival 2008

Genevieve Woo

Genevieve Woo is a Singaporean TV news presenter and producer with Singapore-based regional news network Channel NewsAsia. She is the primary weekday anchor of Singapore Tonight, a highly-rated daily news programme focusing on news and current events in Singapore.

Genevieve has more than 15 years of experience in the media and communications industry. She was previously an associate editor at TODAY, a free English-language tabloid in Singapore. She was subsequently transferred to parent company MediaCorp to head its Corporate Communications department as Vice-President prior to crossing over to Channel NewsAsia.

Mark Laudi

Mark Laudi is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, best known for reporting live from the floor of the Singapore Exchange on CNBC Asia Pacific. Having spent many years in South Africa, Germany and Australia, Mark has called Singapore home since 1997. He joined the Radio Corporation of Singapore (now MediaCorp Radio) to help develop and launch NewsRadio 93.8 (now 938LIVE). He made the switch to television in 1999 when he joined CNBC Asia Pacific and held almost every position in the newsroom, including Producer and Australia Editor, and in front of the camera as Stock Reporter, Anchor and Field Reporter.

A graduate from Curtin University of Technology in Perth/Western Australia, Mark became Australia's youngest current affairs show host with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at age 22. At age 28, Mark launched CNBC Australia in Sydney as Bureau Chief, before returning to Singapore. He is now CEO of Hong Bao Media (Holdings) Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based digital media company specialising in helping companies address new audiences through new media.

Dr. Patrick Chan

Dr. Patrick Chan is Chief Technology Advisor, Asia/Pacific Emerging Technologies Research, IDC Asia/Pacific. Patrick has over 18 years' experience in academia and industry consulting, and has served in roles as diverse as technical director, global architect, e-government specialist, business development and alliances director, and research scientist. As Chief Technology Advisor of IDC's Asia/Pacific Emerging Technologies practice based in Singapore, Patrick's focus and expertise is in the areas of Service-Oriented-Architecture (SOA), Business Activity Monitoring, Composite Applications, Standards and Integrations (EAI), Grid Computing, Enterprise Architecture and Infrastructure, and other emerging technologies. He is also a founding member of IDC's Asia Pacific Emerging Technologies Council, which comprises 10 senior IDC executives tasked with identifying emerging trends and technologies such as Green IT and Digital Marketplace.

Prior to joining IDC, Patrick worked with OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards, as its Asia-Pacific Representative. In this role, he supported and expanded the Consortium's activities across the region through focused educational and business development initiatives.

Patrick has also held various appointments with webMethods, TIBCO, Mentortech and the Institute of System Science. His doctoral research involved decision fusion techniques, statistical machine learning and artificial neural networks algorithms, intelligent patterns and characters imaging recognition engines. His other areas of expertise include 3D animation and modeling.

Patrick holds a PHD in Computer Engineering, National Technological University, Singapore.

Iolo Jones

Iolo Jones has a background in television and advertising, working for companies such as ITV and Ogilvy before setting up his first multimedia company in 1991. This was sold to advertising giant WPP and he went on to establish a technology company Interactive1, which developed web-enabled systems for companies such as Cisco, 3Com, PwC, Shell, Canon and GSK. He set up one of the world's first streaming media companies, Web Channels, as a division of this company in 1997, and subsequently founded Internet TV pioneer Narrowstep in 2002, working for clients ranging from major broadcasters such as Virgin media, telcos such as Telefonica and small Internet TV start-ups such as Cycling TV. He took the company public on NASDAQ in 2005.

More recently Iolo has been consulting to a wide range of companies on IPTV and TV over the internet projects through his consultancy company, TV Everywhere. He is also a validator for postgraduate media courses for London's City University and is Non-executive Chairman of TV production company, Telesgop and rights management company, Rights Tracker.

TV Everywhere is about to launch a brand new video management system, VidZapper, which is intended as a low cost way for existing TV production and web development companies to offer Internet TV services to their customers.

At DMfest 2008, Iolo will present on "TV 2.0 Infrastructure - Station Automation and Global Content Delivery Networks". This covers the creation and consolidation of content delivery networks, how they became a unified platform for live and on-demand video distribution, and how destination channels are now being created using station automation tools that are capable of reaching browsers, set-top boxes and mobile devices.

Hugh Hancock

Hugh Hancock, founder of Strange Company, has worked on commercial animation production since 1999. He is credited with coining the term “machinima” (together with Anthony Bailey), to refer to filmmaking within a real-time, 3D virtual environment, often using 3D video-game technologies. In 2000, Hugh set up the Machinima.com website together with commercial film-maker and soundscape artist Gordon McDonald.

Strange Company currently focuses on the creation of machinima productions. The company has produced animation for companies and organizations such as Electronic Arts, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Scottish Television and the BBC.

In 2006, it produced its first feature-length machinima film, BloodSpell. After two years of pre-production, BloodSpell was released in fourteen episodes during the course of 2006. In October of 2007, it premiered as a full-length movie at the Machinima Europe festival. The same year, Hugh Hancock and fellow Strange Company member Johnnie Ingram wrote Machinima for Dummies, a 400-page reference guide to machinima creation.

The topic of Hugh's presentation is "The Webisodes - How Serialised Television is Moving onto the Internet". He will share his insights into the machinima movement, virtual sets and virtual extras, the making of BloodSpell, the repackaging of serialised productions as feature-length HD compilations and the Creative Commons licensing model.

Timo Vuorensola

Timo Vuorensola is a Finnish film director and actor. He directed the Star Wreck movies Star Wreck V: Lost Contact, and Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, created by Samuli Torssonen. Timo also plays Lieutenant Dwarf in the films.

He is currently directing a full-length made-for-Internet film Iron Sky, which is being produced through www.wreckamovie.com, an online collaborative film community. At Wreck-a-Movie, everyone interested in chipping in with their ideas and creativity can read the tasks given to the community and take a shot (write an entry) at them. The collaborators can also attach media to their shots.

Timo will speak on "Community Television - Collaboration in Scripting, Subtitling, Distributing, and even Producing Films for the Internet". His presentation will cover the making of Star Wreck - the most popular Internet film ever, building a fan base, peer-to-peer distribution, translations and international collaboration.

David Sproxton

David Sproxton is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman, home of the Oscar-winning ever popular Wallace and Gromit films. Together with co-founder Peter Lord, he has overseen the company's growth from a two-man partnership into one of the pre-eminent animation houses in the industry. David decided to pursue filmmaking full-time after graduating from Durham University. Aardman was formed in 1972 and its first professional creation was the character Morph, who went on to star in the BBC series "The Amazing Adventures of Morph". During this period, Aadman made two short animated films, "Down and Out" and "Confessions of a Foyer Girl", applying the groundbreaking technique of using recorded conversations of real people as the basis for the script. Over the years, David has served as a producer, director or cinematographer on a number of acclaimed animated films at Aardman including Chicken Run and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

At DMFest, David will be a panelist for the discussion on "Digital Production and Visualisation".

Nicholas Ang

Nicholas Ang is the creator of the DMfest logo. He is a second-year student with the Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Multimedia and Animation Diploma course, and his interests lie in design, animation and music.

Nicholas will be speaking on "Opportunities for the Net Generation".

Sandeep Bakhshi

Sandeep Bakhshi is the Business Unit Executive for the Lotus brand in ASEAN. He has been with IBM since 1998 and held sales leadership positions in the channels and brand organisations. With over 18 years experience in sales and sales operations, Sandeep has led teams at an Worldwide, Asia Pacific and ASEAN level and has worked with global customers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and also customers in Greater China, Japan and Korea.

Before taking on the Lotus Brand Executive role, Sandeep led the sales and sales operations team of IBM software group for ASEAN/SA where he helped create, price, negotiate and conclude complex deals and led Strategic business planning activities for Software Group. Sandeep has a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from the University of Bombay and has been in Singapore since 1991.

Hu Shunjie

Hu Shunjie is a Flex developer at Seesmic with the passion for Flex, Rich Internet Application (RIA) and Web 2.0. Shunjie seeks to bring awareness of the capabilities of RIA to the local community. He currently runs the Singapore Flex User Group and The Actionscript Conference. At Seesmic, Shunjie is responsible for integrating Seesmic with various web sites including FriendFeed and Disqus, as well the Seesmic Wordpress Plugin. He is also responsible for the recording API that was recently modified for use by a French web site Rue89. His has a personal blog, ExpertRIA, which focuses on Web 2.0 and RIA and is aggregated on AllTops and Adobe Feeds.

Shunjie will be a panelist for the discussion on "Web 2.0 and Building Online Communities".

Joanne Teoh

Joanne Teoh is a Senior Producer, Channel NewsAsia. A broadcast veteran and documentary producer with a special interest in digital multimedia narratives, she has led the way in innovation in the use of Web 2.0 tools to help journalists and producers in their work. Joanne has authored papers, articles, TV programmes and documentaries on the subject, providing thought leadership on televisual communication and how multiple media forms integrate in the digital space.

In her creative and editorial roles at leading media organisations in Asia, Joanne helmed more than 120 hours of programming and is credited for many top-rated and acclaimed television productions on social issues, technology, business and health. Her productions have been translated into foreign languages and broadcast internationally.

As news editor with the regional network Channel NewsAsia, Joanne produced and directed coverage on major events including the 911 attacks and aftermath, Gulf War, SARs outbreak, Asian Financial crisis and Indian Ocean tsunami. Her works have been honored for excellence in journalism and featured at international festivals and conferences.

Joanne has presented at conferences and universities around the world, including Harvard, MIT, University of Tokyo, Broadcast Asia 2007, Asian Publishing Convention 2008 and Asian Digital Storytelling Congress 2008. She has also served as a judge, moderator and panelist at competitions and conferences on broadcasting and digital media.

Jonathan Wong

Jonathan Wong is a Web Platform Evangelist with Microsoft Singapore. He has over eight years of experience in the IT industry, and has experienced first hand the evolution of the web from its infancy in the mid-90s to the world of Web 2.0 which we are in today. In his current role as a Web Platform Evangelist at Microsoft, Jonathan works with customers and partners to help them execute their online business vision using the latest in social media and Microsoft web platform technologies.

Lai Kok Fung

Dr. Lai Kok Fung is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BuzzCity, a winner in the category of Most Innovative Product/Service at this year's National Infocomm Awards, which were presented by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation. BuzzCity is a developer of global wireless communities and consumer services. Established in 1999 in Singapore, BuzzCity today operates the world's largest wireless community - mygamma.com - for two distinct audiences: the newly connected emerging middle class in developing markets and the blue collar sector in developed regions. These "unwired" consumers are accessing the mobile Internet on their phones due to widespread and affordable wireless access. BuzzCity provides marketers with unprecedented opportunities to reach this audience via its far-reaching advertising, merchant and publisher programmes. Prior to setting up BuzzCity, Kok Fung achieved significant breakthroughs in the area of pattern recognition and text retrieval as a researcher with Kent Ridge Digital Labs. He was a recipient of the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award in 1998.

Kenneth Liang

Kenneth Liang is the Executive Vice President of TV Programming and Production at MediaCorp's Channel 5. He oversees the network programming and promotions as well as MediaCorp Studios' production functions for Channel 5. Prior to MediaCorp, Kenneth held senior positions with the Singapore Tourism Board and Economic Development Board. He started his career with the then-Singapore Broadcasting Corporation.

Paul Meyers

Paul Meyers is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Acme Mobile, one of Asia's largest distributors of mobile entertainment products. Over the past 12 years, Paul has lived and worked in Asia as a media and interactive content pioneer. He created a number of groundbreaking interactive products and companies, launching and building localised versions of international media companies, and raising tens of millions of dollars in venture funding.

Some of Paul's roles have included being COO of FantasticOne, building the first pan-Asian broadband entertainment company, Founder and General Manager of MTVAsia.com, leading the establishment of MTV's Internet presence in six Asian countries; Vice President of Business Development at Asiacontent.com, bringing global media brands such as CNET, MTV, E! Online, Sports.com, DoubleClick and FashionTV to the Asian Internet space; General Manager of Interactive at Asia Business News (now CNBC Asia), where he pioneered the first pan-Asian Enhanced Television product, ABN On-Demand. Paul was also a key member of the management team that brought Asiacontent.com public on NASDAQ in 2000.

Philip Morgan

Philip Morgan is the Chief Operating Officer of Muvee Technologies. Philip began his career as a radio reporter and researcher for a weekly BBC Radio One youth programme in the UK. He then moved into technology roles with BBC Television and Independent Television News (ITN) and the national breakfast broadcaster TV-am. Philip then pursued his passion for production and spent five years making network television promotional material for ITV in the UK. This was followed by a stint directing news bulletins for regional broadcaster TVS and helping to spearhead its move into computerised transmission systems and commercial scheduling. Building upon that expertise he consulted at STAR TV in Hong Kong and was then appointed as Controller of Operations at a major digital satellite TV network based in Rome where he led over 200 creative and operational staff. Other assignments have included spending a year restructuring an Arabic Television channel and stints with Channel KTV, TVB (USA) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Television.

In 2001, he was introduced to muvee, which began as an idea to create a software solution that could automatically and intelligently create movies that sync pictures and videos to music, timed to professional looking styles that include the appropriate transitions and effects. Seven years later, the company's automatic video editing software is distributed globally in multiple languages by the key players in the PC, camera and mobile phone space such as HP, Dell, Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Nokia and LG, as well as through its web site at www.muvee.com.

Abishek Nair

Abishek Nair is a Visual Effects Producer with VHQ Post, one of Asia's leading media groups with a diverse range of companies and locations servicing the broad spectrum of production and post-production requirements throughout the region.

James Seng

James Seng is Vice President of International Sales at P2PLive (China).

Aroon Tan

Aroon Tan is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Magma Studios. Aroon has been in the 3D computer graphics and animation industry since 1993. He took up his first management role at Virtual Reality Technologies in 1995. By 1997, he was appointed Managing Director, and held a concurrent role as CEO of Paraworld (APAC) from 2000 to 2001.

In 2001, Aroon founded Interactive Digital Dreams to establish a platform and gateway for "digitally interactive" enterprises to access Asia Pacific markets. In May 2004, he was appointed as CEO (Asia Pacific) of 10TACLE STUDIOS and took on the challenge of bringiong new and innovative computer game products to the Asian gamer. He is also the Chairman of the Games Exchange Alliance, a non-profit organisation involved in expanding the capabilities and infrastructure of Asian game developers and service providers. It is a key group that promotes Singapore as a thriving and ever-expanding gaming hub.

His interest in the film and broadcast industry has also resulted in the birth of Magma Studios with industry award winner Chris Jones. Magma is a production company that merges traditional media, specifically television, with interactive gaming by converging both forms of entertainment into an exciting, creative and intelligent product .

Stefano Virgilli

Stefano Virgilli is the Director of Ultimate Video FX and Manager of the Adobe User Group Singapore for Photoshop and After Effects. Stefano Virgilli moved to Singapore from Italy where he has been living for close to two years. Since 2003 he has been teaching mostly 2D graphic design and photography post production. Later on, he further specialised in video editing, 2D and 2.5D animation. Besides the solid background in training, he also owned an advertisement agency in Italy from 2004 to 2007. That experience has proven to be invaluable by placing him in a position to combine theory with practical work experience.