By: Jo Timbuong
Source: The Star

When you visit Shock3D! Sdn Bhd’s website, it is immediately apparent that it is the product of an ­animation and visuals company.

Behind that fascinating work is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that the company put into building itself into a name that is now recognised in the regional ­content-development industry.

Eugene Foo, creative director of Shock3D!, also credits the MSC Malaysia initiative and its caretaker — the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) — for getting the company where it is today.

“MSC Malaysia is providing small, fledgling IT companies, like ours, with the opportunity to achieve success in the global market. And it wasn’t a small soap box to stand on, but a ­podium,” Foo said.

The journey began when Foo left his teaching job to follow his passion for art and animation.

He set up Shock3D! with two partners two years ago and “it was like ­journeying through hell. With patches of green pastures along the way,” he quipped.

With MDeC’s help, Shock3D! ­plodded on and investors who saw the company’s potential came on board. MDeC also helped the company establish itself at the annual Mipcom media content-related event in Cannes, France.

During that event one year, Foo and his partners approached ­animation powerhouse The Walt Disney Co to sell their ideas.

“That was an eye-opener for us,” he said, “we had to swallow a good, helping of humble pie but I think it helped make us better animators.”

There were many other ­spoonfuls of humble pie after that, too.

Garden obstacles

Shock3D! then started work on Alamaya: Garden of Beautiful Creatures, a 90-minute 3D ­animated feature.

When Foo and partners showed it to potential investors and some ­children for feedback, they got unvarnished opinions. “The children gave innocent comments that sounded cruel to our ears,” he said.

“After running into such ­obstacles, you come away wiser and more resilient.” Alamaya: Garden of Beautiful Creatures eventually won several international awards.

It won an award at the 8th Seoul International Cartoon Animation Festival Promotion Plan Competition recently.

It also won an award in the Best Media and Entertainment Category during the MSC Malaysia Apicta awards, as well as at the International level Apicta awards in Australia, last year.

Shock3D! hopes this animated feature will become popular culture, just like C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.

Big help

According to Foo, being an MSC Malaysia-status company is like having a big brother to watch over you when you’re making your way through difficult and unfamiliar terrain.

“You get all kinds of financial aid, such as a tax rebate if you hire fresh graduates or take on interns,” he explained. “Also, MDeC pays a portion of the salary for the ­graduate or intern, which further lightens the company’s financial burden.”

About half the staff at Shock3D! are fresh graduates, but the ­company balances this out by ensuring that experienced ­employees head the departments. It’s a win-win situation; costs are kept low and the fresh ­graduates chalk up needed ­experience while learning on the job.

Foo said Shock3D! is also picky with the graduates it hires. “Only those with a good work attitude and who are eager to learn get in; there’s limited space and funds,” he explained.

Another benefit of being an MSC Malaysia-status company is that MDeC keeps everyone in the loop when it comes to industry ­happenings and news.

Take the Mipcom event for ­example, Foo said, it would have been very difficult for Shock3D! to garner any attention on its own from the global content-buyers there.

“But as a member of a group under the MDeC flagship, we had an edge,” he said