The One Academy Students Injected Creativity into Wira Wah Movie Poster Design!

Wira Wah, a Malaysian motivational comedy writtened by and starring local celebrity Auguste Kwan, is a creative breakthrough in the local movie industry. To create astonishing posters for the movie, its production team has joined forces with international top-notch art and design college The One Academy, and one of the first initiatives carried out was the Wira Wah Movie Poster Design Competition.

With the honour of being directed by Lee Lik-chi, the outstanding Hong Kong comedy director who has worked closely with Stephen Chow, Wira Wah managed to boast an impressive cast comprised of excellent Malaysian and regional movie stars, such as Dato' Lai Meng, Mimi Chu, Looi Aye Keng, Michael Tong Man Lung, Cathryn Lee, Crystal Lee and Alvin Wong thus has been in the limelight ever since the production kicked off.

When it comes to collaboration, whether for marketing, publicity or design, Auguste Kwan always look forward to collaborating with market leaders. Therefore for the poster design, he sought to collaborate with The One Academy. Auguste Kwan emphasised that, "Principal of The One Academy, Tatsun Hoi was delighted to cooperate any high quality movie, in order to promote creativity." And by roping in talents of various fields into the production, Wira Wah has certainly been very successful in meeting the high expectation.

Auguste Kwan revealed that prior to his filmmaking stint, he was a recording artist. And before he became a celebrity, he had always wanted to be an artist, as he was very passionate about cartoon drawing. Until today, he was still envious of those who could sketch and paint well. He also advised those who didn't win the great prize not to be disappointed, and should push one's own limit to aim higher next time. After all, everyone has an equal opportunity to sharpen one's artistry.

Prolific local actress Loo Aye Keng was very excited about the competition, as she was amazed by the creativity showcased by students, which was quite refreshing and youthful compared to the mainstream posters found in the film industry nowadays. Her sentiment was echoed by Auguste, who was determined to explore new avenues for cooperation, as The One Academy students nurtured meticulously under the Masters Train Masters teaching philosophy are definitely a force to reckon with in the art and design profession.

The first prize was won by Estee Tee Seo Tian and Stephanie Yeoh Pei Yee, who have created a lovely poster featuring simple and neat designs of school children's exercise books. The second prize went to Jerica P’ng Ree Ming and Shane Alexandre Allan, while three groups of students were awarded the consolation prize, namely the team of Tan May Wen, Kwan Jun Jie and Chai Kah Hin, the team of Elyse Lui Siew Ching and Teo Jia Yin, as well as the team of Julia Hannie binti Zulkifli and Sunwoo Hyung.

Cultivating a fertile ground for art and design education, and advocating for the World's Best industry-driven creative education has been part of The One Academy's commitment all these while. Besides organising the Movie Poster Design Competition, a creative grant by the name of One Million Creative Wira Reward is in the pipeline, for which a RM 1 million sum is allocated to promote creativity among secondary school students nationwide. The collaboration will be carried out in the years of 2015 and 2016, where selected schools will receive a grant from The One Academy to conduct their creative-related activities / projects / competitions.

To mark the prestigious industry collaboration, the prize presentation ceremony was graced by artists Auguste Kwan and Loo Aye Keng representing Wira Wah, as well as The One Academy top management staffs including Tan Chin Wee, Group Executive Director, Chan Kon Loong, Assistant Course Director for Advertising & Graphic Design, Evan Yan Li Wen, Head of Department, Advertising & Graphic Design, and Debbie Chin Cher Wei, Assistant Head of the same department.

This is the first ever local film based on the theme of mother tongue education. The film tells the story of a school teacher assigned to a rural seaside primary school, where he realised that a developer was conspiring to acquire its land, while his effort to save the school and increase its enrollment has met with sabotage by gangsters. Auguste assured everyone that with his original ideas, the storyline would surely exceed audience's expectation and surprise the cinema-goers.