UTAR Centre for Artistic Research
(CFAR) and the Faculty of Creative
Industries (FCI) organised a two-day virtual event titled “Telling
Tales: The Stories We Make and the Stories that Make Us” on 30 and 31 July
2021 with the aim to create a platform for both Malaysian and international
talents to share their perspectives on culturally-inspired stories, while
exploring the ‘art’ and processes of storytelling in the various media
forms, and the impact of culture in the processes of story-telling to
diverse audiences of different cultures.
The two-day webinar, held via Zoom, showcased talks, workshops and
presentations by local and international storytellers across various
creative media in all these diverse fields. Participated speakers were
Children & Young Adult Fiction Author Tutu Dutta, National Yunlin University
of Science and Technology (YunTech) Prof Huang Ya-Ling, R&D Studios Director
Irwan Junaidy, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Prof Joyce
Liu, Film Director Chong Keat Aun, Shih Hsin University, Taiwan Dr Syyi
Tzeng, Unity Macroverse Co-Founders Azlan Tahir and Adely Ariffin, UTAR FCI
academics Eugene Foo Shyang Eu, Hafez bin Zainudin, Anthony Gandolfo
Miranti Jr, Action Tintoy Design Laboratory Founder Tintoy Chuo, ASWARA
Faculty of Dance Dean Zamzuriah Zahari and Director-cum-Animation Artist
Sandra Khoo S.K.
Prof Ewe expressing his thanks to all presenters for sharing their knowledge
Prof Ewe said, “This event brings together prolific authors, film directors,
artists, performing artists, educationists in multidisciplinary fields and
traditional craft specialists to provide a forum for sharing valuable
experiences, wisdom, knowledge and techniques of creative storytelling. I
hope the participants will gain immeasurable insight from this event and I
hope this will also be a platform for participants to network and engage
with academics and industry experts to learn and exchange experiences,”
during the opening remarks.
CFAR Chairperson Prof Dr William Ray Langenbach said, “We want to explore
the arts and processes of storytelling in any media via text, visual arts,
moving images or performing arts and how the art of storytelling differs
across different cultures and media. Stories are everywhere, the past is
intertwined with the origin tales of individuals of families and the
imagined communities of nation states.”
Prof William sharing his thoughts
Tutu Dutta sharing her experience with the audience during the Q&A session
The first speaker, Tutu Dutta, who is the author of nine books intended for
children and young adults presented her topic titled “Adapting traditional
folktales to create your own stories”. She spoke about methods to create
stories based on analysis of a number of children and young adult books and
shared her experience of writing her books. Aside from that, she also
explained how to incorporate folktales into the plot of your original story
and turn an ancient folktale into a contemporary story.
Tutu Dutta said, “We can retell the folktale, dress old tales in new
clothes, use a storyteller to string together a series of folktales, and
weave folktale elements into a new story and contemporary story. Research on
folktales should not just focus on one particular folktale but also on
similar stories and variants of the story. Reading few versions of the same
story will give you a feel for the story and help you fill in the missing
pieces.”
“I did a lot of reading as a child and I am especially attracted to books
related to folktales and fairy tales. However, I found out there were not
many books especially from this part of the world which made me decide to do
something about it. Thus, I decided to write books that I am interested in.
I also travelled to many places which gave me the opportunity to pick up
stories and meet people from diverse cultures,” shared Tutu Dutta.
Tutu Dutta explaining the retelling of folktales
Prof Huang (left) with the moderator Dr Soon Thean Bee from the Department
of Mass Communication
YunTech Deputy Director of International Affairs Prof Huang Ya-Ling,
together with her four graduate students—Xu, Jing-Win; Cheng, Yu-Chen;
Huang, Guan-Ying; and Sie, Jyun-Lun gave a presentation titled "One
Exhibition, One Story" at the event.
In the presentation, Prof Huang shared her unique perspective of working
with her graduate students on an integrated project with cross-media
applications and revolutionary breakthroughs in visual narratives,
illustrating her fervent belief that “creativity and imagination come from
life experiences”.
When talking about the challenges of preparing the project, Prof Huang said, “We have to start everything from zero from the beginning. The biggest problem we have is that we always need to face a huge amount of data and information. Getting the line out and making the story for the audience are the biggest challenges for us.”
The third talk titled “Local Stories for a Global Audience” was presented by
Irwan Junaidy, the co-founder and chief creative officer at The R&D Studio.
Founded in 2011, The R&D Studio is an award-winning content creation studio
for film, television and publishing. Irwan Junaidy has produced television
series, telemovies, short films, documentaries, music videos and commercials
for partners such as Disney, WarnerMedia, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Astro,
Primeworks and RTM as well as for corporate clients and agencies.
Irwan’s talk focused on his directorial debut — “Batik Girl” and “The
Dalang’s Tale”. He shared the making process of the two short films that won
international acclaim. “Batik Girl” and “The Dalang’s Tale” is a 2D animated
short film; “Batik Girl” features a simple but poignant storyline about
family, love and loss, while promoting Malaysia’s traditional art of batik;
“The Dalang’s Tale” tackles the theme of domestic violence through visuals
inspired by the traditional art of Wayang Kulit or shadow puppetry.
Irwan enthused, “A lot of people asked me, where I got the ideas? The simple
answer I gave is ‘ideas are everywhere’. When ideas appear, I write down
those ideas immediately. Ideas are like butterflies, there is a chance that
they would go away if you don’t write them down immediately and once you
have the idea, you have to go deep down to research.”
Irwan Junaidy (left) and his directorial debut — “Batik Girl” and “The
Dalang’s Tale” (right)
Prof Liu (right) with the moderator Prof William
The session was continued by Prof Dr Joyce C.H. Liu with her presentation
titled “Storytelling as Artistic Intervention and Cultural Critique:
Engaging with Decoloniality in the Inter-Asian Contexts”.
Prof Liu is the chair professor of the Institute of Social Research and
Cultural Studies-cum-director of the International Center for Cultural
Studies of Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. She is also director of the
International Institute for Cultural Studies, International Programme for
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies from the University System of Taiwan.
In her talk, she presented the different forms of storytelling and shared
how narratives presented by the visual and performance art influence public
perceptions on historical events in the uneven power structures of colonial
and intercolonial societies existing within the Asian region. “Everyone who
grows in an environment with numerous texts of the same storytelling
techniques will naturally share the same ideology and adopt the same pattern
of behaviours. The sense of self-righteousness and the justification for
exclusive discrimination arise from the fundamental cultivation,” she said.
She added that storytelling as artistic intervention and cultural critique
can provide a strategic engagement to challenge the consensus shaped by the
statist memory politics and the systematic internal colonialism commonly
practised in the inter-Asian context. She also mentioned that different
modes of storytelling can activate critical consciousness not only for
audiences but also for students and societies.
“Is a film director an auteur? You may think a film director’s task is just to say ‘cut’ for a scene. Since the film was introduced a hundred years ago, there have been some controversies about the definition of a film director,” said Chong Keat Aun in his presentation titled “An Auteur’s Practice: From Folktales Collection to Film Art”.
Chong is an award-winning Malaysian film director, a community arts project curator and a passionate conservator of local dialects via his long-running broadcasting project ‘The Classic Accents’.
In his presentation, he mentioned that people see the role of a film
director differently. His definition of auteurism was “If a movie can be
presented artistically like a literature or painting, the film director can
also use the movie as a purely artistic expression.” He shared the three
concerns of film graduates from his online classes when it came to the key
of making the first film, which were—“what stories should I tell”, “am I
suitable for making commercial films or festival films”, and “where can I
find funding or investor”. However, Chong mentioned that they should ask
themselves whether they have done enough prep work in directing before they
embark on the path of filmmaking.
Chong shared his personal experience and his journey in collecting local history, legend, dialect and accent, folktales, and folk songs. He also shared his story in producing his debut film “The Story of Southern Islet”. The film, which was based on his childhood memory in Kedah, won him the prize for Best New Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at Golden Horse Film Festival.
From left: FCI Dr Carmen Nge Siew Mun (moderator) and Dr Tzeng
Shih Hsin University, Taiwan Department of Graphic Communication and Digital
Publishing Assistant Professor Dr Sy-yi Tzeng delivered her talk titled
“Artists’ Transdisciplinary Cooperation: How Artists Cooperate with
Professionals in Different Fields”. In her talk, she shared some stories
about herself and her journey in pursuing her master’s programme at the
National Taiwan University of Arts which has opened up a pass to her
collaboration with people from other disciplines such as Programmer,
Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and Sports and Leisure Management
Personnel, solving a variety of problems when they worked together and how
she learnt from those experiences and conduct self-innovation with new
skills.
Creating paper cards with LED
Using one sheet of paper to turn a 2D graphic into a 3D model
Sharing some problems encountered during the interdisciplinary
collaboration, Dr Tzeng said, “Because of our different discipline and
thinking pattern, we often have communication problems during our
collaboration. Secondly, the lack of resources also frequently occurs in
interdisciplinary collaboration.
Therefore, collaborators must be capable of creating resources and
satisfying themselves.
Lastly, time coordination. Everyone has limited time when you invite others
to join your research project.
If you consider the expertise of others as important to you, please give
them sufficient time and complete the task you can finish by yourself.” She
concluded her talk by sharing the three most important things for an artist
when it comes to collaborating with professionals from other disciplines,
namely self-reflection, self-preparation and value co-creation. She also
emphasised the importance of trust and time sacrification with partners to
enjoy the fruits of successful collaboration.
Clockwise from top left: Azlan, Adely and FCI Dean Dr David Tneh Cheng Eng
(moderator)
Unity Macroverse Co-Founders Azlan Tahir and Adely Ariffin presented a talk
titled “Why UNITY Macroverse: The Need for Social Commentary in Malaysian
Popular Culture”. Unity Macroverse is a unique online platform for
South-East Asian sci-fi and alternate history enthusiasts to congregate and
develop their passions in these genres. Azlan said, “One of the key elements
of the things that we do with Unity Macroverse has always been
collaboration; collaborative efforts are integral in the creation of Unity
Macroverse.” He then shared a little background of who they were.
Sharing about the Canvas Development, Azlan said, “We create a story canvas
that determines our commentary message. Our main story arc was the main
‘commentary’ journey. There are no ‘Protagonist’ or ‘Antagonist’ characters,
the characters represent the ‘factions’ based on the social construct of
their belief system. We want to blur ‘tribal’ divisions, race and
geographical distinction.” Meanwhile, he emphasised why Malaya is used in
the context. He then talked about the five aggregation tools to reach out to
customers, namely creation of market access programme, engagement via
community touchpoints, marketing and business development, business
solutioning and governance framework.
Activities undertaken in their canvas
Sharing on The Canvas, Azlan explained the uniqueness of alternate history.
He also shared the guideline of the story submission format, the story jam
content from their community which has been featured on The Star and its
story canvas named “Marooned” which has been converted into a novel. He
said, “It is important to have the spirit of sharing when we collaborate
with others.”
The second day started with a design workshop titled “Character Design
Workshop: Visualising the Heroes of Your Stories” by Eugene Foo. Eugene Foo
recently was awarded a grant by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
(MDEC) to work in collaboration with Ore Struck Media to direct and produce
a short animated film based on a local tale of a Pahang warrior princess by
the name of Walinong Sari. His greatest passion is devoted specifically to
illustration as a fundamental art of storytelling.
His workshop aimed to help participants understand the fundamental things to
consider when designing a character for their stories through an
easy-to-follow step-by-step process live demonstration. Eugene Foo guided
the participants on how a character is usually created for an animated
series like those on Netflix, or those in published storybooks and comics.
Eugene Foo kick-started by sharing “story or design what comes first”, “what
is your character about – their archetype, behaviour and values”, “basic
design knowledge – element of arts and principle of arts”, “how it all comes
together by conveying an archetype through design” and “research”. He
highlighted, “Art is about creativity but you cannot create out of nothing.
Imagination is seeing the greater potential out of something, but you need
to at least study what that “something” is. Go study and observe the world
around you!”
Eugene Foo demonstrating how to create characters using a Photoshop
The second talk titled “Reviving the Shadow Puppet - Fusion Wayang Kulit”
was presented by Tintoy Chuo, the Character Designer, Illustrator and
Founder of Action Tintoy Design Laboratory. The Fusion Wayang Kulit, a
brainchild of Tintoy Chuo and Teh Take Huat was born in 2012. He said, “Our
objective is to revive this beautiful but fading Malaysia culture by fusing
it with Pop Culture & Sci-Fi elements. We are focusing on the process of
character design via inspiration from traditional forms and with close
collaboration and input from Tok Dalang.”
He first makes an introduction on Fusion Wayang Kulit, followed by
“Introduction on their Master Puppeteer - Muhammad Dain Othman (Pak Dain)”,
“Characteristics, style and identities of Malaysia Wayang Kulit”, “Puppet
design on “Peperangan Bintang” (Star Wars) Wayang Kulit project, “Wayang
Kulit performances”, “Process of making Wayang Kulit puppets”, “Fusion
Wayang Kulit – superheroes from Marvel and DC Comics, Japanese Robot”, and
“Achievement”.
When asked how Fusion Wayang Kulit started, Tintoy said, “It all actually
started with an art exhibition in 2012, when the organiser asked me to come
up with something new and refreshing for the exhibition.” “I am a character
designer, hence Wayang Kulit was easier for me to relate because each puppet
is a character. When I tried to understand more about it, I found out that
it was becoming a fading art. It was something beautiful yet it was fading.
And then I was like ‘hey, let’s be more creative and think differently’,
like combining something traditional like Wayang Kulit and something very
futuristic like Star Wars, so this is how Star Wars turned out to be my very
first fusion of Wayang Kulit project,” he enthused.
Tintoy showing the photo of him and the Batman Animated Series shadow puppet
at the Batman 80th anniversary event in 2019
Hafez introducing himself and his topic
FCI lecturer Hafez bin Zainudin presented on a topic titled “Narrating the
Memories of Place: A Virtual Reconstruction Project of the Historical Town
of Kajang”. The webinar was moderated by another FCI lecturer, Tan Hwei
Ping.
He started his talk by introducing the history of Kajang and his journey as
an initiator of art projects in Kajang. He said, “I chose Kajang because it
was my hometown. In the 1900s and mid-1940s, Kajang used to have 70 pre-war
shophouses, a post office, Buddhist Temple, foliage, a river, a jetty,
unique urban objects and vehicles. This art project mainly aimed to
introduce the identity and beauty of Kajang hometown.”
Besides, he highlighted that the virtual reconstructing process will include
cultural mapping, museum visits, photo-elicitation, digital 3D modelling,
digital material creation, and game engine pipeline. The final prototype
will be displayed at exhibits, museums, local fairs and or any online
platform.
“Creating stories and developing models using software technology is
time-consuming. Besides having artistic skills, the art creator also needs
to be patient, interactive, good at controlling the camera, produce an
animation that sync with the storytelling, translate the story, and choose
the right open-source software to develop the finalised story/model for the
users,” he added.
In addition, he also shared about his ongoing project of a historical town
reconstruction in the virtual realm and the creative process involved.
Finally, he hoped that participants would be able to choose a suitable
open-source software to develop their virtual world prototype.
Hafez presenting his virtual art project of Kajang town
Hafez elucidating on the virtual reconstruction process
Anthony during his talk session
In Anthony’s talk titled “Conversations with the past: Fun ways to use sound
to conserve and expand cultural influence”, he spoke on the various
capacities of sound as a medium to capture historical information and
preserve cultural heritage, and to combine cultural identifiers with
contemporary influences. According to him, interviewing people who talk
about the past is a fun way to use sound to conserve and expand cultural
influence.
Speaking of using voices for storytelling, he explained, “According to the
research study, many people could not remember the first story they heard
through the radio but they can remember the emotional impact they felt on
the spot. I always encourage students to record the stories from their
grandparents or other elders by using their mobile phone’s voice memo
function. To create a good documental video, you should have your own voice
library. I used to keep the historical stories by asking the relevant person
about them. Then, I keep all the voice records in my database. Besides doing
voice recording, I also record videos to present a visual impact,” said
Anthony.
He added, “Even though the interviewees might speak different dialects, you
can utilise the raw material. You can record their own dialects and
translate the dialects to English for subtitles. The subtitles could serve
as the explanation while the dialect they spoke is actually presenting a
cultural environment. Researching dialects in Malaysia is also interesting.
In another scenario, a student could not tell the story using her
grandmother’s voice because her grandmother can barely speak English.
However, the student retells her grandmother’s stories using her own voice.”
Anthony played a video of an interviewee sharing a historical incident using
his own dialect
Anthony also highlighted the importance of finding the best equipment when
one wants to collect data via recording and interview. After finishing the
recording, one can get a couple of free software from the internet to do
sound reductions.
Anthony advising participants to utilise free software on the internet
Zamzuriah introducing herself
Zamzuriah Zahari was invited to deliver her talk titled “The Concept of
Storyteller in Malay Arts”. The talk was moderated by FCI lecturer Ang Kok
Yew. Zamzuriah introduced the three prominent storytelling concepts in Malay
Arts, namely Wayang Kulit,
Selampit and
Saba. She said, “Wayang
Kulit is a traditional form from Kelantan, a narrative performance to
deliver message using shadow puppets. The shadow artist is known as
Tok Dalang. This performance
focuses on dialogue, monologue and sometimes involves modern or classic
poems, pantun, and rhymes.”
Furthermore, Zamzuriah explained the Selampit
performance from Kelantan and Terengganu.
Selampit is a narrative
performance that includes storytelling, accompanied by a musical instrument
called Rebab. This performance is
simple compared to Wayang Kulit
because it does not include exclusive costume, mask or stage presentation.
Selampit normally conveys
traditional values and norms through myths and legends, and the performers
use their own voices to produce sound effects in the performance.
“Saba contains the elements of
dance, music, singing and acting.
Saba is performed at night for healing rituals and deity calling
practices to ensure the ceremony runs smoothly. However, to stay relevant
over time, Saba has removed the
ritual calling performance to protect the performers’ religion, faith and
belief,” she clarified.
Before ending her talk, Zamzuriah also presented some traditional arts
performance videos. She also demonstrated the traditional arts performance
with her family members, and showcased her singing and vocal skills to the
participants.
Zamzuriah underlining the Wayang
Kulit’s figures and materials
Zamzuriah enlightening participants about
Selampit art performance
Zamzuriah explaining the Saba
performance and its purpose
Sandra S. K. Khoo was invited to speak on a topic titled “A Storyteller’s
Journey with Sandra Khoo: A Malaysian Artist Abroad”. Sandra Khoo is
currently living in France while working remotely as a creative director at
Giggle Garage Studio, a Malaysian animation company based in Cyberjaya. She
is also an animation artist, a visual journal artist and also a Facebook
visual blogger.
During her sharing session, Sandra Khoo shared her drawing journey as well
as how she noted down all the precious memories using her drawing skill.
According to Sandra Khoo, storytelling could be done by drawing. She
explained, “I have been sketching a lot. Whenever I travel with friends, I
will sketch down our trip and our travel experience. I believe
that memories should be created, not merely captured so I did a lot of
sketches to show what I have seen. Drawing is a method when it comes to
storytelling. For instance, I love food so I draw the pictures of
local cuisines and the places I have visited. I also discovered that I could
do intercultural storytelling by drawing the foods in France and presenting
them in the Malaysian newspaper.”
Sandra Khoo sharing her method of storytelling by drawing France cuisines
As a professional artist, Sandra Khoo always tries to upgrade her drawing
skill. She will do research and take the art pieces from other artists as
references and enlightenment. Sometimes she will draw without reference but
will look for reference when colouring the art piece.
For those who wish to join the animation field, Sandra Khoo advised, “If you
want to get into the animation field, you should acquire knowledge as much
as you could. You might need to work with people from different countries or
backgrounds. For example, I had to work on a project called “Saladin” and I
benefitted from the historical materials I read before. Research skill is
indeed important if you want to become a professional artist in the
animation field.”
Sandra Khoo sharing her experience of completing “Saladin”
Sandra Khoo sharing about her daily life
Project Manager Tan Hwei Ping expressed her sincere gratitude towards the
organising team, “I’m proud and happy that all of you are here to support
this event. Thank you for your hard work, passion and invaluable
contribution for putting this amazing experience today. This event would not
have been possible without your tireless work and effort.”
FCI Dean Dr David Tneh said, “Despite all the challenges, there was this
amazing interconnectivity among us and as we drew inspiration and strength
from one another, along with the amazing speakers who made this event a
successful one. Thank you, everyone.”
Videos of the webinars are uploaded at CFAR’s Youtube channel:
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