Director of ‘That Girl in Pinafore’ Forks Out $10K to Produce Blu-ray Version of the Film!

In this day and age, it is unfortunate that many people turn to movie streaming websites and illegal downloads to get their movie fix. ‘I’ll watch it online’ becomes a popular phrase when you are not able to catch a particular film in the cinemas. 

For filmmaker Chai Yee-wei, forking out more than $10k from his own pocket to produce a Blu-ray version of his 2013 movie That Girl in Pinafore is well worth it.

Chai, who directed the local Xinyao-inspired movie, said: “Right from the day it was released in August 2013, I always felt the movie should always be viewed in High Definition or better. The actual movie was mastered in 4K for the cinema and when it was put onto a standard definition DVD, I always thought that too much of the quality was compromised.”

In a Facebook post where he announced the release of the Blu-ray Disc, he cited reasons as to why he took two years to put it together:

“1) Singapore’s market is too small even for the minimum quantity of production. Thus raising the costs and thus the price of the film. This explains why some local Blu-ray discs can cost more than the foreign ones.

2) There are many licensing fees which raises cost. In order for bluray discs to be replicated, we have to pay licensing fees per disc for copy-protection.

3) Rights for extra materials. In the case of TGIP, we had to pay for extra rights just to include the music videos in the Blu-ray. Which explains why the DVD did not include them in the first place - to keep costs low.

4) Piracy - this is a very real problem. It is not going away, and it is an invisible cost. People are sharing their movies online and it reduces sales. Simple as that.”

In an email interview with Chai, he explained that the minimum production quantity for Blu-ray discs is 1000, and with the licensing fees and Blu-ray authoring costs, it works out to be ‘almost SGD10K easily’. 

He said: “On top of the above costs, this film has had their rights for the music videos not included for home video when we went to film production. This was to reduce the production costs for the movie. That is also why they were not included in the DVD. We had to fork out additional fees so as to allow them to be released in Blu-ray.”

Six music videos, of songs that were featured in the film, are included in the Blu-ray. These include 

• 细水长流 Xi Shui Chang Liu
• 星空下 Xing Kong Xia
• 你的倒影 Ni De Dao Ying
• 走过年少 Zou Guo Nian Shao
• 黎明的心 Li Ming De Xin, 
• 麻雀衔竹枝 Ma Que Xian Zhu Zhi

(Head to That Girl in Pinafore's Facebook page for updates!)

Sung by the cast of the film: Julie Tan, Daren Tan, Jayley Woo, Hayley Woo, Sherly Ng, Kelvin Mun, Seah Jiaqing and Kenny Khoo. All six music videos can be found on YouTube, but Chai feels that more can be done.

Despite the high cost, Chai is determined to see it through, knowing he might not be able to recoup the money he has put in. 

“Since I am also a huge fan of collector’s edition Blu-ray discs and DVDs with extra content, I told myself if I ever want to put one out, it should have all the bells and whistles that I would want as well. Furthermore, the music videos that we poured our hearts out to produce deserve a second chance on home video.

So in a way, I am going out on a limp here by forking out my own cash in order to invest in the Blu-ray version. Because I know, as a Xinyao fan, I would love to have these music videos in my own collection as well. I basically just wish that I can cover some of the costs. And to do that, we would need to make that more than a ‘hit’.”

The Blu-ray includes these bonus featurettes. 

1. Beautiful new pop-up menus redone specifically for the release
2. All the 6 music videos are in Full High Definition
3. New Blu-ray cover design
4. Behind the Scenes in Full High Definition
5. All the teasers and trailers in Full High Definition
6. Audio track for the movie, in addition to Dolby 5.1, is now in DTS Surround as well
7. Full feature film is now in High Definition.

If you would like to purchase the Blu-ray version and/or the movie soundtrack, you can only do so online at http://www.girlinpinafore.com!