Centro undertakes major expansion, diversifies capabilities

Centro Digital Pictures is in the midst of a major expansion drive, which aims to underline its position as Asia-Pacific's leading advanced digital production studio and provider of digital entertainment. Amid rumours that the company is gearing up for an IPO in Hong Kong, Centro is planning to hire another 50 people over the next few months, which would bring its total workforce to about 200. Chairman and CEO John Chu said: "With more technology and multimedia-competent people, we plan to take Asia and Asian culture to the world. We want to build a brand name around a unique culture. "The creative roles people undertake in achieving this objective are important for workplace harmony as well as being globally recognised." Centro now has more than 200 workstations in place, making multimedia targets more reachable. And with faster convergence technology, deadlines can be met earlier without compromising on quality. For the majority of its 15-year history, Centro has been well-known as a place for high-quality television commercial production and a cutting-edge provider of animation and digital special effects. But what is generally not known is that over the past five years the company has embarked on a diversification of its high-tech service offering to include digital film effects, interactive multimedia, video games and even the production of movies. On the movie front, Centro has already co-produced two movies 'The StormRiders' and 'A Man Called Hero', both of which were number one box office hits in Asia recently. The company is currently animating one of China's most famous children's classics 'The Magic Brush' - a story about a boy who dreams of becoming a great painter. Work on the project began after Mr Chu purchased the rights to the tale, which was written more than 50 years ago. When it is released to the general public in about two years, the film will lift Centro to the next stage of its development, which is to be a major player in the entertainment and edutainment content arena. The Magic Brush will help the company branch out to hit the bullseye on multiple targets almost simultaneously, such as educational software, Internet destinations and merchandising, which altogether will create compelling experiences for cross-platform distribution. The main point to note is that Mr Chu wants to create a world class children's content brand for Asia; something like the Asian version of Walt Disney. Meanwhile, Centro was also involved in the co-production of Sony's new Chinese language PlayStation game, which was launched recently. In addition, it has helped build some of the most high-profile websites around, including Microsoft's Chinese language site for Hong Kong and Greater China and Nike, as well as providing e-banking consultations for Standard Chartered and Dah Sing Bank. However, Mr Chu said that the company was not shifting its focus away from post-production, an area of expertise long-recognised by advertising agencies. This is underlined by some of the new campaigns produced by the company, which includes a series of TVCs for the Tourism Authority of Thailand for which Centro was responsible for computer graphics, compositing and online editing. "In the early days, we were very much a service company. But now we are a multi-disciplinary business. We have full capabilities in multimedia in terms of content production, such as producing films and animation films, producing educational software and designing and producing computer games. "So we are more than just a post-production company although this is still an important area in which we will continue to pursue opportunities," said Mr Chu. However, he stressed that the diversification was important because of the opportunities being thrown up by the Internet and the fact that the world was entering an era of convergence. Centro is also looking into launching a facility in China in order to cater to a growing demand for his service in the country. "This actually shows that even in the Internet age, it is important to have your own people present inside your key markets. The human touch is still important," Mr Chu said. The opportunities now before Mr Chu have not occurred overnight. Before he founded Centro in 1985, he had a vision to create a multimedia business based on content, intellectual property and imaging. Despite skepticism from his peers, who said he should invest in the property market, Mr Chu forged ahead with his plans. Today, he is at the helm of a self-financed US$25 million operation which has at its disposal the very latest in film and animation production technologies and some of the region's top creatives under one roof. "In the early days, we did not have the technology we wanted and, therefore, could not achieve the aims we set out to achieve quickly. We had to be patient. The technology could not do what we wanted. Yet now, thankfully, the analogue days are behind us," said Mr Chu. From Domino, Spirit Datacine, Henry Infinity, EditBox, Flame, HAL Xpress, Graphic PaintBox 2, Avid, PC, SGI and Mac workstations, motion capture systems to motion control capabilities, Centro's digital multimedia pipeline is the most advanced in the region, uniting more than six platforms for seamless and resolution independent content creation. The secret to Centro's success does not purely lie with hi-tech equipment. Mr Chu said it was largely due to having creative-minded individuals employed in a cohesive work environment. Centro has walked an independent path since 1985, however, Mr Chu said that because the world was becoming a much smaller place, courtesy of the Internet, it was now time to start thinking about joint ventures or co-marketing schemes. "We have always been on our own," he noted. "But the way ahead is with working partners."

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