By Foo Ming Li
It is no surprise that many local companies like Petronas, AirAsia, Celcom, and many others will produce patriotism and unity themed videos when great historic events like Independence Day or Malaysia Day are just around the corner. These videos are generally 10 to 15 minutes long; the challenge is, however, how does one make a patriotic video for a duration of one minute?.
In a short video competition that requires participants to create a thirty seconds to one-minute video based on the broad theme of Malaysia and that portrays characteristics of the country, a HCUC graduate student, Priscilla Ho, successfully won the third prize worth RM800 for producing the most creative video in the Love in Malaysia creative short film contest organised by Mari Malai Home and Happy Angel Charity Association.
The Diploma in Broadcast Journalism student learned of the competition through the social media platform, Facebook. She was determined to participate in the competition though the submission date for the video competition was around the corner.
“Initially I was not going to participate in the short video competition because I could not spare much time outside to shoot the video because of the Covid pandemic. Nevertheless, I did have an idea on the last day of the submission date and tried my best to make the video,” she said.
Love you, Malaysia directed by Priscilla is about a Malaysian Chinese girl named Ling Ling who states some of the popular Malaysian cuisine such as satay, nasi lemak,and ais kacang. The main character also depicted cohesiveness by introducing her Malay and Indian friends crediting national interest as their primary factor for their unity even though they are practising different culture and festivals.
“The message I want to deliver is, although we are staying in our home during the pandemic, we are still Malaysians in our hearts. Moreover, Malaysia has a variety of rich and colourful culture and characteristics which I applied in my video to deliver the message in a creative way,” she said.
Ho became interested in making short films since she discovered the breathtaking experience of making a video from scratch. The process, to Ho, enhances her creativity and the ability to deliver crucial messages through the video.
“There are a few challenges I had encountered while shooting such as not having enough skill to produce a good short film, but I feel a sense of achievement after overcoming the challenges to be more creative,” she said. l
Ho said she draws inspiration by watching the short films produced by the seniors and other creators on the Internet. She adds that making a short film is an interesting task due to the limitless boundary of creativity producing it.
As for her future plans, Ho said she would like to make more short films and have a few ideas lined up while continuing learning the nuances of film-making to improve her filming and editing skills.
“With the rise of new media, I would like to continue making short films as it is a good platform for me to showcase my meaningful content short films to society online,” she said.
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