On 27 November, the rector of UMRAH (Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji) visited the studio. It was a direct follow-up from the previous visit from the same university to the studio by their students last month, which undoubtedly left such positive impression on them, and it therefore led to the rector of the University himself to set aside his busy schedule to visit our studio and see for himself both of the studio’s animation and film production facilities.

Besides seeing the facilities of our studio’s animation and film productions, the visit was also a great opportunity for both the studio and the rector himself to have direct line of communications to gauge potential co-operations that can be forged between the studio, and UMRAH, which is to date, the only government university in Tanjung Pinang, Bintan Island.

In the aftermath of the visit, the rector was beaming with pride and joy upon witnessing for himself that one of the largest animation and film studios in Indonesia and the region, was in fact located in Batam, within the Riau Islands Province. There are already plans afoot to kickstart the cooperation with various activities, and it is hoped they can be implemented in the near future.

On Tuesday, 17 November 2015, we received a delegation from SMK Darussalam, consisting of four of their teaching staff including the Principal of the school, and also four of their students that they have identified as potentially suitable to undergo internship stints in our studio in the near future.

The delegation first arrived in the lobby of the animation side of the studio, and they were given explanation about the animation studio in general, as well as the workflow of our animation production, starting from asset creation, moving toward animation, and then finally to the rendering process. They were also explained that the animation projects are for both 2D and 3D animations.

After the brief explanation, they were ushered to view the actual animation work stations where our animators are working on the animation projects. This was followed by the showing of the show reels of the animation and liveshoot productions in the studio. Not also forgetting the showcase of a brief rundown of the aforementioned animation workflow as well in the video form.

The visit in the animation studio was followed by the visit to the liveshoot area of the studio. Both the students and the teaching staff were all extremely enthusiastic as they posed for photographs in front of the various props from all the movies and series that have been produced in the studio.

They were also very impressed with the sheer size of our sound stages and backlot, and also the realistic portrayals from the sets that have been constructed and in use for the shooting of the current film project that is going on.

At the end of the visit, the Principal expressed his gratitude to myself and Mr. Peter Stott for showing them around the facilities of the studio, and he also expressed that he is relishing the chance of cooperating with the studio in greater capacity in the near future.

On Friday, 30 October 2015, the studio was having a special blessing ceremony (Selamatan) event to kick start the shooting process of the latest film it has the honour to host the shooting process in.

The film in question is titled Headshot, a co-production between Infinite Studios and Screenplay under the banner of Screenplay Infinite Films. With a star-studded cast members that need no introduction in the Indonesian and even global film scenes such as Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Chelsea Islan, and Zack Lee, the film is directed by the acclaimed Mo Brothers (Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto).

The selamatan ceremony was also visited by a number of media outlets such as Batam Pos, Sindo, Kompas, Bintang, and Barelang TV just to name a few.

The selamatan ceremony was running just like it is traditionally, with the cutting of the Tumpeng (cone shaped yellow rice dish arranged like a mountain) preceded by a speech by Mr. Mike Wiluan, one of the producers for the movie as well as the CEO of Infinite Studios and also a prayer session led by an Imam.

After the selamatan ceremony, the producers, directors and the cast of the film gathered in the Infinite Studios Theatre Room for the Press Conference with the attending members of the press.

The press were asking various questions pertaining to the movie, ranging from the trials and tribulations of the production process, to how the cast feel about being involved in the production of the film.

The selamatan event went on successfully without any severe impediments, and it was certainly hoped that it indeed marked an auspicious start for the shooting of the Headshot film.

In the morning of Thursday, 22 October 2015, 20 students from the Informatics and Electronics courses hailing from the neighbouring Bintan Island visited Infinite Studios for sightseeing purposes and at the same time catching a glimpse of what animation and liveshoot productions entail.

The tour started from the animation section of the studio. When going around the animation work areas, the students displayed keen curiosity as they intently observed the animators working their magic on the computer screens.

The students were shown the show reels for both animation and liveshoot works that have been produced in the studio, as well as a brief video to give them an idea on the animation creation processes from the beginning to the final product. They expressed genuine interest in animation and enthusiastic queries were pouring out of them about animation production and even about the possibilities of undergoing internship stints in the studio.

Moving on to the liveshoot areas of the studio, the students also failed to hide their overwhelming awe and ecstasy upon seeing the actual sets, props and posters of the feature films and series that they have watched in the past, and expressed their pleasant surprise that those films and series are actually produced right in their home province of Riau Islands.

Just like in the animation area, the students expressed genuine interest in directly participating in film production, ranging from contributing movie scripts that they have written, to participate directly in the exciting Art and Construction departments.

Such enthusiasm and eagerness only show so much potential and promise that the only way the Riau Islands and Indonesian creative industry could go is forward.

We received two delegations from Universitas Hasanuddin and two government officials of the KOMINFO all the way from Makassar on Wednesday afternoon, 7 October 2015.

The occasion of the visit was for them to conduct a comparative study in the anticipation of the establishment of the Makassar Techno Park, one of the five Techno Parks going to be established in five of Indonesia’s major cities.

We were blessed with a relatively haze free afternoon on that day, and they were escorted by our General Manager and myself to tour both the animation and liveshoot sides of the studio.

As part of their aforementioned Comparative Study agenda, they had numerous questions about the studio ranging from our management system, hardware and software used, to the composition of our manpower, which were answered and explained thoroughly by the General Manager and myself.

They were clearly impressed with our studio, and one of the government officials declared that it can definitely considered a national pride having the largest studio in South East Asia right here in Batam, Indonesia.

Not only that, the delegation from Universitas Hasanuddin was also genuinely interested in forging co-operation with our studio, and we will relish the opportunity to be able to co-operate with them such as welcoming the best animation talents from Makassar for internship stints for instance.

In the morning of Tuesday, 29^th September 2015, we received a delegation of Journalists from news channels from the South East Asia region, such as Bernama from Malaysia, TV5 from the Philippines and MCOT Channel 9 from Thailand among others.

The journalists checked out the animation work areas, viewed some show reels and then moved on to the liveshoot areas including the Sound Stages and Backlot.

At the backlot, the journalists and reporters conducted their coverage of the studio with their camera crews. Their reporting will be aired in their respective television news channels. This was a great opportunity for the studio to get media coverage in the various countries within the region of South East Asia.

After months of planning and postponements due to various reasons, the planned visit of a group of lecturers from Trisakti University, Jakarta finally came to realisation.

The four lecturers from Trisakti University’s Visual Communication Design course set aside the day out of their busy schedule to take a look at our studios themselves, and also to discuss possible cooperation between the University and our studio with our animation production team.

Before meeting up with our animation production team, I showed the lecturers around the whole studio premises in both animation and liveshoot areas.

After the tour, I ushered the lecturers into one of our meeting rooms to have the planned meeting with the animation production, represented by Ms. Nadya, one of the animation supervisors.

The lecturers were proposing to forge several potential cooperation ties between their university and our studio in a number of key areas including the possibility of their students coming in on internship stints and the possibility of our studio sending over one of our senior animation staff to their university to teach as a guest lecturer from time to time among others.

The meeting was concluded by them handing Ms. Nadya and myself a nice goodie bag courtesy of Trisakti University.

Both Ms. Nadya and the lecturers promised that this is a beginning of a meaningful partnership in future, and both sides promised to follow this up in the near future.