First works of Lucasfilm Singapore studio to be out in summer releases
By Christie Loh, TODAY | Posted: 18 June 2007 1111 hrs

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SINGAPORE: You scan the building lobby’s company directory for its name. Nothing.

When you ask the security guard for the floor it’s on, he whispers a number.

Maybe you misheard him, because once you get to the floor and the lift-doors open, blank walls and a locked, frosted glass door greet you. Trying the intercom button, you offer the name of an employee. It works. The door eases back — and Yoda stands before you.

Welcome to Lucasfilm’s studio in Singapore, an operation running on secrecy and suspense — the very ingredients that have hooked millions since the 1977 global blockbuster, Star Wars.

As you will learn from a printed notice while signing in at the reception, everything you see, hear and touch on the Changi Business Park premises is strictly confidential.Nothing that the California-based company’s first overseas unit is crafting has been publicly unveiled yet.

The first fruits, however, will be out soon, said managing director Christian Kubsch, 43, head of Lucasfilm Animation Singapore since its opening in October 2005.

Several America-made movies to be released in the coming weeks will contain segments created by the team here, Mr Kubsch told TODAY in an interview.

He declined to name the films involving the Singapore-based visual-effects artists or the animation team, which is also working on the soon-to-be-launched 3D-animation television series, Clone Wars. Neither would he give details about the hand-held game that is being developed in Singapore “from start to finish” for the global market.

Mum’s the word when it comes to ideas in an industry banking on original plots and pictures.

But Mr Kubsch believes freshness is in the brew, thanks partly to his mini United Nations team. Of the 130 staff, “close to half” are Singaporeans, he said. The others hail from some 30 countries, including Argentina and the Czech Republic. And the list may lengthen after this week’s recruitment drive at CG Overdrive, to bring the headcount to around 200 by year’s end.

“The more cultural diversity you can fold into the production, the more interesting and appealing it gets ... we all want to see stuff no one has seen before,” said Mr Kubsch, whose 20-odd years of animation experience includes movies such as Over the Hedge and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Mr Kubsch also hopes to bolster the Singaporean headcount — which is tough to do currently. “Given that Singapore is a young market in this business, there are very few people at the top end of the spectrum and only some in the mid-range. So, for now, we have to fill in those areas from abroad,” he said.

Lucasfilm has been partnering polytechnics and universities here by holding master classes and accepting interns under an industrial attachment programme.
Some 800 students have been tapped so far.

The aim is to “shape the curriculum” to reflect specific industry needs, said Mr Kubsch. Currently, the schools teach a broad spectrum of skills as there are not enough companies here offering digital-media jobs. “As a result, we’re getting people coming out of school who are generalists and who have little expertise in many areas,” said Mr Kubsch. Schools will find it more feasible to offer a particular course when Singapore hosts more digital-media companies, he added.

Until then, Lucasfilm is bending hiring norms by taking in fresh graduates. “The California companies don’t hire straight out of school at all. We’ve actually said, no, we are going to and spend a significant amount of resources to train people who are entry-level,” said Mr Kubsch. - TODAY/fa