Dream Defenders – animated in Singapore for the world

Coverage in FutureReadySingapore, a publication of EDB

When he founded Tiny Island 13 years ago, David Kwok hoped that by making a direct reference to the island nation of Singapore, the fledgling animation studio would one day put the country on the world map.

Today, Tiny Island is a major player in Asia’s vibrant animation industry. Its 26-part series, Dream Defenders, made its United States debut on 3net - a 3D network jointly owned by Sony, the Discovery Channel and Imax – in 2011, and has also been aired on major European networks such as German television network Super RTL and Planeta Junior. Closer to home, Dreamworks TV Asia has also acquired the rights to air the series across 19 countries in the region.

Photojournalist Calvin Wong takes a closer look at Tiny Island’s work in a walk through the animation studio. (Click here to read the whole article)

CEO's Thoughts: Its the journey that matters. Not the destination.

Building this company has brought me to places I never dared to dream of. One thing that I have learnt is that you need to keep trying no matter how impossible it may seem. The dream keeps you alive and keeps you going. Someday you may get there. Even if you don’t, it’s the journey that matters. Not just the destination. Stepping into Dreamworks Animation was one of those “impossible” dreams of mine. This is probably not a big deal to those who works in the US industry, but for someone like me from this “tiny island”, it was something beyond my wildest imagination. (...read more)

Dream Defenders in German. SUPER RTL

Dream Defenders in German. SUPER RTL

Synchro: Dream Defenders - 2014 from Michael Borgard on Vimeo.

CEO's Thoughts: Thinking Out Of The Box

When I was first developing a master plan to promote Dream Defenders, the first step was to identify growing trends in technology.  Next is to apply our creativity to integrate/utilise these new technologies to produce a new product to engage the audience of this new generation. From here, we add value to the IP and expose them to a larger market. That is why we move from Stereoscopic 3d to AutoStereoscopic 3d to Augmented Reality to Virtual Reality. In today’s market of rapid change, you no longer can just build an animated TV series and call it a day. (....read more)

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Christmas at Tiny Island Productions

Christmas at Tiny Island Productions more pictures here!

We have a good meeting with the team of government delegates from the Fukuoka City of Japan. 

Fukuoka is a very interesting city. It is expected to grow in the years ahead especially in animation and media. In terms of rent, it is much lower than Singapore. Salary is about 35% cheaper than us. In general, it is much cheaper than most Japanese cities. It is well linked to other cities in Japan and the location is in the centre of Asia. Their government is looking at ways to grow the animation and media sector by providing support. Fukuoka is considered as a earthquake free zone. I am not surprise that someday, it will take over Tokyo. 

It will really be exciting if Tiny Island can setup a branch in Fukuoka to tap on the creatives there to produce a Japanese version of the Dream Defenders trilogy. Something I have been thinking for sometime. 

The immediate collaboration we are in planning stage is to go there to share our experience in IP creations for the global market. Hopefully this will encourage more Japanese indie producers to go global and build a whole new market for themselves. We will probably be there next year to present a industry talk and hopefully followed by running seminars there.

Tiny Island Productions at ATF

Our first round of VR/Stereo3d prototype test for Dream Defenders. It has been well received at the recent ATF. We have shown it to companies like Jim Henson, DHX Media, Guru Studio etc. We have also shown to major Chinese companies like Alpha Animation and SMG. 

Imagine we can allow user to experience being part of the story. Walking, jumping high and shooting the nightmare monsters in the Dream World. And joining Zane and Zoey in the adventure. Next we will work on multiple users. 

Next stop, Hunan and Shanghai. And we will see you at Kidscreen Miami. https://youtu.be/wqhDxNydrOM 

Thanks to Presence Pictures our partner for all their contributions.