Stories Told Through the Lens

The MOG Short Film Competition 2018 had recently concluded with the Top 2 spots seized by students of The One Academy. The competition with its theme – ‘Help the World See Better’ was open to public participation and offered cash prizes worth RM17,000 to be won. It saw many production teams vie for the top spots with their creative storytelling submitted and judged by a panel of veteran filmmakers.

The team by students of Digital Animation was crowned as Champion with their short film titled ‘A Touch of Love’; while the team comprised by Digital Media Design students emerged First Runner-up with ‘返 Return’. They took home RM10,000 and RM5,000 in cash prize respectively, as well as MOG products and certificates. Both production team’s short films portrayed the unconditional love of parents and familial relationships that tugged at heartstrings.

‘A Touch of Love’ centres around the relationship between an aspiring artist and her blind father. Despite losing his eyesight, her father’s dedicated love gives her hope and inspiration, which constantly reminds her that he is only blind in sight, but never in heart. The team wanted to show that no matter the disability, an individual would still be able to cherish art that comes from the heart. They decided to pick a story that would be relatable to them as art students. The familial relationship in the short film was based on the students’ struggles to make their parents understand what they are learning or doing in school.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was the casting and acting for our short film. We wanted a child actress who could act confidently with another actor who would be playing as her father. On the other hand, acting blind also proved to be quite a challenge for our actor. Nevertheless, we believe that the cast had pulled off their performances wonderfully!” said Yeow Chien Huey, the team’s director of photography.

They prepared for the project by having numerous discussions on story script, castings, filming locations, camera movements and so on. The team added that, in order to produce a good film, it is important to keep the storyline refreshing and original. Every member should be assigned to a production role so that they can play their respective parts throughout the making of the short film. They also advised to always aim to go beyond and never limit oneself as a student.

The ‘返 Return’ team members were very surprised to have won second place, as they are very new to doing short film and have zero knowledge in film production. They had to come up with a short film for their course assignment and it was a coincidence that the competition was ongoing at the same time. They expressed gratefulness to lecturers who guided and gave them useful advice when they were faced with obstacles, such as how to make the story flow better and which angle shot would deliver the message clearer.

The inspiration for the short film came from the Korean movie ‘Miss Granny’ and the Malaysian film ‘You Mean the World to Me’. The team wanted to address the social issue by sending the message of family love to the audience, to appreciate the time we have with our parents and to never neglect them as we will never know what may happen tomorrow.

“It would be great that they go ahead and join competitions like this to gain experience rather than just thinking about winning the prizes. Make sure to always be prepared and have a backup plan,” said producer and team leader Natalie Chan in advice to future participants.

The One Academy is committed to providing the best art education programmes and continues to nurture its students passionately through its ‘Masters Train Masters’ coaching philosophy, which has been practised for the past 27 years, by providing diploma and degree courses namely Advertising & Graphic Design, Digital Animation, Digital Media Design, Film Visual Effects, Interior Architecture & Design, Illustration, Fine Arts and Paris Fashion Design & Pattern Making. For more information on The One Academy, visit www.toa.edu.my or call +603-5637 5510 or e-mail your enquiries to [email protected].