Application to Chapman University for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing is open to all Ngee Ann graduates of the Diploma in Mass Communication and Diploma in Film, Sound & Video. Application is now open till 15 July 2008. Click here for more details.

Related article: The New Paper (Tuesday 24 June 2008)

Press release

George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer and Mark Burnett – these Hollywood luminaries have all made their mark as creative producers in film and TV. And now, Singapore will have its own degree programme to train homegrown talents in creative producing to jump-start the industry and transform the nation into a dynamic media hub.

To pave the way for this, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) is partnering Chapman University, which is located in the city of Orange, Southern California, to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing under the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Polytechnic-Foreign Specialised Institution (Poly-FSI) collaboration framework. Creative producers are visionaries who conceptualise and drive the creative, technical, financial and business aspects of film and TV production.

The two-year, full-time degree will be awarded in the name of Chapman University. It will be the first of its kind to be offered in Singapore.

Mr Chia Mia Chiang, the Principal of NP, said: “The degree will address the demand for business-savvy media entrepreneurs who can spot, create and market compelling content to the world. Local industry leaders have strongly endorsed this degree and we believe it will revolutionalise the market.”

The curriculum is designed by a team of professors at Chapman University’s Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts led by Professor and Dean Robert Bassett. The team includes Alex Rose, whose film, Norma Rae, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1980.

“The film industry is increasingly international,” said Dean Bassett. “It is not limited to the boundaries of national cinema. Students today need to be global citizens in order to understand the workings of the media worldwide. Singaporean students who understand content creation and workflow of the American film industry will be more potent content creators in this global arena.”

Chapman University boasts an illustrious faculty, including writer/director David Ward, who won an Oscar for The Sting in 1974; director John Badham of Saturday Night Fever fame; and production designer Lawrence Paull who was nominated for an Academy Award for Blade Runner in 1983.

Ngee Ann and Chapman University are also planning to offer the degree students internships in Hollywood.

To be launched in August 2008 with a first intake of 40 students, the programme will be conducted at Ngee Ann’s campus. The pioneer batch will graduate in 2010.

The degree is customised for Ngee Ann’s graduates in Film, Sound & Video and Mass Communication diplomas, allowing them to acquire a reputable US degree at an affordable cost. Under the Poly-FSI collaboration framework, their annual tuition fees will be subsidized by the Ministry of Education.

With a two-year advanced standing, these students will be able to complete the degree in two years instead of four.

Mr Chia and Dean Bassett will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at NP on 23 June. The Guest of Honour is RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

This will be Ngee Ann’s third degree tie-up under the Poly-FSI collaboration framework. Ngee Ann’s first two degree tie-ups are with Boston-based Wheelock College for the Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Educational Studies and Leadership, and with UK’s Newcastle University for the Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture with Honours.

Ngee Ann is also actively pursuing a fourth degree tie-up in the area of advertising and marketing communications.

Why Chapman University?

Ngee Ann had considered several film schools in the US, UK, Sweden and Australia for the degree tie-up. Chapman University was selected for various reasons, including its outstanding reputation, award-winning faculty, quality of its hands-on programmes, and opportunities for students to interact directly with Hollywood practitioners.

The Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is one of the top five film schools in the US. Chapman University was also ranked No. 1 in student selectivity out of the 127 colleges and universities in the western region, in the 2006 and 2007 U.S. News and World Report’s Ranking of America’s Best Colleges.

Aside from its renowned faculty, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is also valued for its filmmakers-in-residence programme, where Hollywood A-listers spend 15 weeks on campus to interact, and share their knowledge and experiences with the students. Among those who have participated in this programme are producer David Forster (The Mask of Zorro, The Thing, and The River Wild), and writer/director Tom Mankiewicz (Superman II, Ladyhawk, and Live and Let Die).

What’s in store for students

Chapman University will assume leadership in designing an innovative, customized and high-quality undergraduate programme in Singapore. The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing will have a strong producing focus, with an emphasis on creative producing and development, international co-productions, and international marketing and distribution.

Ngee Ann will host the FSI centre, which will be managed by a full-time programme director from Chapman University. The programme will leverage on the extensive facilities of Ngee Ann’s famed School of Film & Media Studies to deliver the course. Most of the modules will be taught by full-time professors from Chapman University with Ngee Ann faculty co-teaching the rest.

Aside from possible internships in Hollywood, the students can also look forward to an immersion programme at Chapman University’s Orange County campus.

Intakes in the first few years will comprise Ngee Ann’s Film, Sound & Video and Mass Communication graduates.  Future intakes may include diploma graduates from other disciplines from all the local polytechnics. But, they may be required to take a bridging programme.

Appendix 1

More about the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing to be offered by Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Chapman University will be the first of its kind in Singapore.

A few other institutions here do offer film and TV programmes as well, but not in creative producing. The Tisch School of the Arts Asia, for example, offers a master’s degree course in filmmaking.

Benefits to Singapore

With the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing, graduates can start as producers in media companies or move straight into creative producing as entrepreneurs to develop and market made-by-Singapore media products. This will address the critical need for a strong homegrown talent pool to drive the industry and attract  investments  to Singapore.

Curriculum

Students will take a total of 20 modules over two years. Of these, 9 are specially developed by Chapman University to cover key areas such as creative producing and development, international marketing and distribution, production rights and contracts, international co-productions, and production financing.

In the second year, the students will be challenged to undertake two projects – producing a film and a creative development portfolio. Besides possible internships in Hollywood, they can also look forward to an immersion programme at Chapman University’s Orange County campus which is close to Hollywood. All these will fire their passion and ignite their creativity further.

Accreditation

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing will be of the same standard and rigour to other degree programmes offered by Chapman University.

Plans are under way to obtain accreditation for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in the US.

Tuition fees

Students who are Singapore citizens can apply for the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) tuition grant of $15,300 per year and pay a subsidized tuition fee of only $6,500 per year.

Singapore Permanent Residents and international students who wish to take up the tuition grant will pay a subsidized tuition fee of $7,150 and $9,750 per year respectively.

Similar to the arrangement in NUS, NTU and SMU, subsidized students who are not Singapore citizens have to fulfil a three-year service obligation to work in Singapore upon completion of the Poly-FSI degree programme.

Singapore Permanent Residents and international students who do not wish to take up the tuition grant will pay a full tuition fee of $30,590 per year.

Other degrees offered by Ngee Ann and its partners

Ngee Ann was the first local polytechnic to offer a degree in a niche area under MOE’s Polytechnic-Foreign Specialised Institution (Poly-FSI) collaboration framework.

The first degree tie-up involves a collaboration between Ngee Ann, Boston-based Wheelock College and the Regional Training and Resource Centre in Early Childhood Care and Education for Asia (RTRC Asia) to offer the Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Educational Studies and Leadership.

Ngee Ann signed an MOU with Wheelock College and RTRC Asia on 2 Oct 2006. The move followed a National Day Rally speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2005, during which he encouraged the polytechnics to link up with foreign universities to run degree programmes in niche areas to provide “many routes up, many ways to succeed”.

The Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Educational Studies and Leadership programme started in June 2007 with 61 students. This pioneer batch of students, who are currently in their second year, are now on a five-week summer immersion programme in Wheelock College’s Boston campus. They will graduate in 2009.

The second batch of 63 students will start their course in June 2008.

In November 2007, Ngee Ann hit another milestone when it signed an MOU with UK’s Newcastle University to pave the way for the launch of the Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture with Honours. This is the second degree tie-up to be offered under MOE’s Poly-FSI collaboration framework.

The programme will be the first full-time degree course in Naval Architecture to be offered in Singapore. It will commence in September 2008 with a first intake of 60 students who will graduate in 2010.

Appendix 2

Thumbs up for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing

“There is a gaping lack of good TV executive producers, and film and TV producers in our industry. This programme will certainly help a great deal in filling this space.”
- Jason Lai, Director/Head of Content, Oak3 Films

“I understand the importance of the creative producing role and I wished I had the opportunity to undergo such a programme.”
- Freddie Yeo, Managing Director, Infinite Frameworks