By Muhammad Faiz
GOMBAK, 5 May 2017: A video production and scriptwriting class went head-to-toe yesterday with their TV drama presentations at Mini Auditorium, IIUM, in conjunction with Communication Showcase this week.
Six short films written, directed, and produced by IIUM Communication students were shown to the audiences.
One of the short films, ‘The Hidden Body’ won four out of six awards. The short film, written by Nabil, Aishah and Liyana, tells a story of a night that had gone wrong when three new police officers accidentally crashed into a person. It follows on how they decided to keep it under wrap so their careers will stay intact.
Produced and directed by Huzaifi and Alia, the short film managed to take home “Best Drama Award”, “Best Editing Award”, “Best Producer Award” and “Best Script Award”.
Huzaifi Zainol, Director of ‘The Hidden Body’, told IIUMToday that he was not expecting it at all as it was his first time directing a short film but was extremely grateful with the teamwork in producing the film.
“I couldn’t even watch ‘The Hidden Body’ when they were showing it because I was so nervous,” he confessed to IIUMToday.
Noor Helmie, a student who has plenty of experience in theatre and short films with his own production in his belt, and with help from Alia Dorav, managed to produce ‘One Night Journey’. The story succeeded to take “Best Sound Award” on that day apart from winning the “Best Director Award”.
Another short film, a sci-fi genre, ‘The Inhabitants’ directed and produced by Alfin and Norhairul Syafiqah won the “Best Original Idea” award. Other short films written, directed and produced by the students are ‘My Crush’, ‘Stab’ and ‘Melody of Love’.
Asked about his feelings when watching all of the products produced by the students, Dr. Harmi Taazim Mohamad, the lecturer for both Video Production and Scriptwriting classes, said he felt so proud watching the products as the quality shown is up to the standard and “for them, at least, to be exposed to the industry”.
“With the limited budget and lack of equipment, they managed to produce quality production. The effort itself is already something that I am proud of and really appreciate it,” he said.
“They managed to use everything that I taught in class and I strongly believe they can do more and even produce an award winning production,” he added.
Dr. Harmi also stressed the importance of the Communication Showcase which served as a platform for the students to display their productions in front of people from the film industry. For example, he said, the class for Writing for Broadcast News has presented their news bulletin in front of top bosses from Media Prima and Astro Awani.
Besides, Harmi added, it also showed to the world that IIUM has communication courses and products that are as good as any products out there. ***
Photo by Ibrahim Hajjar