SAMPLIFY: Documentary Filmmaking

About: Some questions we will be exploring are, what to shoot and when? When to turn the camera on and and when to turn it off? The editing begins when you decide what to shoot and what to leave out. Is it possible to make a ‘neutral’ documentary? Without prejudice or bias? Should you try? Documentary filmmaking is visual story telling and MUST be entertaining in today’s world - many documentaries are effects heavy these days. What are some ways that a documentary filmmaker can make their films more impactful? Presenter lead? Voice over? Interviews? Animations? CGI? Grab this opportunity to ask the filmmakers these and more.


Moderator: Ms. Tan Siok Siok
An acclaimed documentary filmmaker who is currently making the World’s first “twittamentary”. She has also made the well-received documentary, Boomtown Beijing and various documentary projects for Discovery channel.

Speakers: Mr Craig McTurk
A documentary filmmaker, whose documentary short, “Street Songs”, received a 1994 Student Academy Award in the documentary category. His other documentary film credits include, Tokyo Blues: Jazz & Blues in Japan, Highway Courtesans, and Satan & Adam. He has taught documentary video production at the School of Film & Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, since 2001.

Malcolm Young
Documentary filmmaker, who has worked for Bang Productions as Executive in Charge of Production in Hong Kong and Singapore, and as such was responsible for the production of many long form documentaries, mostly for Discovery but also for National Geographic and others – those films included bio pics of Joan Chen and Jackie Chan, as well as the award winning ‘Hanging Coffins of China’.