Directors Think Tank & Naga DDB Tribal view the colours of the Malaysian national flag through fresh eyes for Astro’s Merdeka campaign

Malaysia ushers its 65th Independence Day (Merdeka Day) at the end of August – a time when Malaysians think about unity, togetherness and progress. In keeping with that spirit, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd (ASTRO) – Malaysia’s leading content and entertainment company – tasked Directors Think Tank to create a film to remind Malaysians of the symbolism and significance of the colours of the Malaysian flag, as seen through the eyes of a young lady who is visually impaired.

The launch film for ASTRO’s Gemilang Bersama Campaign – which translates to ‘Greatness Together’ – reminds Malaysians that the Reds, Blues, Whites and Yellows of the national flag are equated with the founding values on which the nation was built. Red for Bravery, White for Purity, Blue for Unity, and Yellow for Loyalty.

The challenge was to ensure the script had a fresh perspective. It had to resonate with all Malaysians, be inclusive, and remind everyday Malaysians of things they might take for granted. This task fell to Nik Radzi, Executive Creative Director of Naga DDB Tribal and his team.

“As Malaysians, consumed by the daily hustle-and-bustle, it’s easy to lose sight of how lucky we are. We knew that a film depicting Malaysian life would be something everyone could relate to, but how do we avoid the ordinary? That’s when we clicked on the idea – What if the story was told from the perspective of someone who is not your average Malaysian and might think of the flag’s colours in a completely different way? What if we told the story from the perspective of someone who might NOT take things for granted? What if that someone was visually impaired?” said Radzi.

Working with the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB), the agency proposed a script and campaign to communicate these ideas to all Malaysians and raise awareness about the visually impaired.

“To do this would allow us to include an often marginalised group in the messaging and celebration, which is important. The idea that crystallised was to create a Malaysian Flag with Braille embedded in each part of the flag, and that the braille would talk about the symbolism of each colour,” Radzi said.

Each colour of the national flag would be described icy a narration and recall specific memories of childhood and of school life. These exact words would then be written in Braille on the National Flag, so that a visually impaired person would also be able to relate the colours of the flag and to those moments and memories. After all, these memories of school are universal for all Malaysians, even if one might experience them differently.

The right director and team were carefully deliberated to bring the idea to life.

“After some discussions, we were happy to go with Maurice Noone, Zaim Rosli, and the Directors Think Tank team because it was clear they understood the spirit of the idea and what we aimed to achieve. The result of this collaboration is this eye-opening film,” said Sharon Da Silva, head of AV at Naga DDB Tribal.

Co-directors Maurice Noone and Zaim Rosli realised the film had to be handled sensitively and carefully.

“As Malaysians, doing a Merdeka film is always a huge responsibility, not only because of its significance but also because of its breadth of scope. Malaysia is a wonderfully diverse country with many communities – that all need to be represented. We must do our best to ensure that all Malaysians can relate to the film. We also have wonderful rural textures, but we are a modern nation, and it’s always important to capture that variation,” said Noone.

“There is always a danger that Merdeka films can end up being chest-thumping and overzealous, but with the subject matter, the film had to be gentler, more introspective and thoughtful. We also wanted the visuals to be broader than just about school imagery, even though that was what grounded the script. We felt that if the film talked about being hard-working, for example, we could expand the shots to the industriousness of all Malaysians from different walks of life,” said Rosli.

Noone continued, “To us, the wonderful insight from the script was the novel idea of seeing the colours of the Malaysian Flag through the eyes of the visually impaired, but we had to be careful – because the last thing any of us wanted was to be exploitative. I knew from my dealing with the visually impaired in the past that we ‘normally-sighted folk’ tend to paint people from that community with one brush. To us, a person is either totally blind or can see normally. This is an oversimplified binary.”

Visual impairment is a spectrum that can happen to anyone by accident, fever, or age. Some are born blind; for others, vision can deteriorate for several reasons.

“The sad truth is that the normally-sighted are generally oblivious to these distinctions. It is the goal of this film to help normally- sighted people understand the visually impaired better. To me, there was also a challenge in-built into this idea – how do we tell the story of colour from the perspective of someone who might have a limited understanding of colour?” asked Noone.

The first task was finding the right person to anchor the film. With the help of The Malaysian Association for the Blind, interviews were conducted with students from the Setapak Blindness Special Education Secondary School in Kuala Lumpur.

“I learnt a lot through the process of creating the film, and meeting the kids from the Setapak School was an inspiring and humbling experience for us. They are unfazed by what we might see as ‘their’ limitations. They all have big dreams – to be teachers, entrepreneurs, to write horror novels, and each of the kids we spoke to had a real kindness to them – not only in sharing their stories, hopes and dreams but also in helping others,” said Noone.

The hard part of the process was that some of these kids who had been blind from birth (or very young) had virtually zero visual acuity and could not conceive of the concept of colour at all.

“They had heard of the colour Red, Blue or White, but always from second-hand experience. They couldn’t even imagine that in visual terms, as some see only shades – shadow, highlights and blurred movement. So even if they read something in Braille about a specific colour, it would not have the richness of meaning that we hoped it would have had,” Noone continued.

But that’s when Nurin entered the picture.

“We were really lucky to have met Nurin, and she is a truly exceptional person. Only 19 years old, not only is she soft-spoked and intelligent – she can read braille in 3 languages – she is also a para-athlete competing at school level and national level representing Malaysia in GoalBall,” Rosli said.

Nurin Amalin Binti Ishak is a recent graduate of the Setapak Secondary School and has since moved on to a Mixed Special Education program at the St. John’s Institution, one of Malaysia’s notable national schools – going to school with those with special needs as well as regular students. But her own story made her the ideal person to centre the story around.

Born normal-sighted, she succumbed to fever at age 10, which triggered Stevens-Johnsons syndrome, an immune system disorder. The fever decimated her visual ability, leaving her with 20% visual acuity. Unlike some visually impaired individuals whose corneas are damaged via glaucoma or retinal damage, Nurin’s vision is affected by an astigmatism-like glare that impairs her ability to see to the point of being excruciating.

“What stunned me about her story was that she was once just like you or me. She could see. She could run. She could play. She would have been no different than my two young daughters are now but for a tragic twist of bad luck,” said Noone. “When you meet her, she is nothing but charming, positive and accommodating. She is a wonderfully generous person and gets on with things. While she may be visually impaired now, she still runs! She still plays! But what made her perfect for the film was that she understood the concept of Colour. She knows what Red, Blue, Yellow and White look like, and more importantly, she has memories of colour growing up. They had meaning to her. She could also read braille. She has a very inspiring story.”

Having found the film’s star, the Directors Think Tank team went about the production chores with purpose. But with care.

“During the shoot, when dealing with Nurin, we were careful to use fewer lights so as not to put Nurin through any discomfort. We decided that aesthetically a low-key lighting look would be helpful for her, but would also look more painterly from a visual standpoint – which would also help the tone of the film,” said Noone. “She was a real trouper on set and never complained, even though the limited lights hurt her eyes, in some instances.”

Shooting scenes to capture the breadth of Malaysia was also no mean feat.

“We knew from the get-go that we needed to travel to capture all these true-to-life textures of Malaysiana. While some were planned scenes, we knew some scenes shouldn’t be set up and would (in a slightly documentary fashion) involve going into areas to meet real Malaysians naturally and capturing real moments. Splitting up Into two smaller camera teams to get more material would be more efficient – while staying true to the idea,” said Rosli.

Shot over a total of five days. Scenes were shot in Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas, and other scenes were shot further afield – Padi fields, roadside stalls, rustic textures, and even some locations in East Malaysia, specifically in Kuching.

“I was seasick for 6 hours on a small blue fishing boat going out to sea because we wanted to capture shots of fishermen at work. I had to follow the crew out from the morning till the evening while they went fishing, and I couldn’t just ask them to turn around and head back to shore because they were working for their livelihood. I’m glad those shots made the cut!” said Rosli.

“We are glad we could do our small part for this campaign and grateful for the experience of working on this project. By making the film slower-paced, a little more introspective, we hope to evoke some nostalgia for ordinary Malaysians,” Rosli said, “and hopefully see Malaysia in a new light, too.”

“We hope this campaign can do some social good for the visually-impaired community, and Malaysians will make an effort to connect with them in a new way so that all Malaysians feel included,” Noone said.

Henry Tan, Group Chief Executive Officer, ASTRO, said: “As Malaysia’s homegrown brand, Astro aspires to be a voice for good to spur Malaysians to play an active role in nation building through the Gemilang Bersama campaign. This Hari Kebangsaan and Hari Malaysia, Astro hopes to inspire our nation to come together and stand strong, as visualised by the hands representing the multiple races which are intertwined with our national colours.”

“Our Gemilang Bersama video features Nurin Amalin, a 19-year-old para-athlete who lost most of her sight when she was 10. Through her, we see the true meaning of these colours and the values they each represent. These are the shared values that have banded Malaysians together since our nation’s birth; and will continue to be our north star.”

The Gemilang Bersama Campaign also includes a music video by Rocketfuel Artistes (ASTRO’s in-house celebrities and musicians), an audiobook drive to get volunteers from the public to donate their time and voices to creating audiobooks for the visually impaired, as well as on-ground activations to raise awareness for the visually impaired and other social causes.

VIEW THE FILM

Credits
Client: Astro Malaysia Holdings
Group Chief Executive Officer: Henry Tan
Director, Brand, Communications & Sustainability: Tammy Toh
Agency: Naga DDB Tribal, Malaysia
Executive Creative Director: Nik Radzi
Copywriter: Shiraz Faruqi, Alexi Khaw, Wesley Murang, Amirul Aswad
Art Directors: Thomas Chiew, Jacky Chin, Daniel Yassin
Business Director: Gavin Teoh
Account Director: Shukri Saleh
Head of AV: Sharon Da Silva
Producer: Venus Chen & Rosa Check
Production: Directors Think Tank
Executive Producer: Pat Singh
Directors: Maurice Noone & Zaim Rosli
Producer: Gray Loi
Production Co-ordinator : Khaedsark Siri Songkram
DOP : Simon Chin / Din Ismethz
Art Director: Kok Wei
Post Production: Tank3 Asia
Executive Producer: Sivagamy Jeeva
Post Producer: Fakhrul Syakirin
Editor: Pan
Colourist: Ben Conkey
Assistant Colourist: Katelynn Tan
Senior Flame Artist : Saravanan Suppiah
Audio Mix: Rodney Thomas
Music Composition: Teoh Eng Hooi