April 15, 11:47 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 Michael Chua, the actor who starred in short films Hentak Kaki and Gift, wrote to The Straits Times Life! on April 12, 2014.
In the letter that was published, it supposedly sounded like he was an ardent advocate of the use of standard English in films made in Singapore so that such works will appeal to a wider international audience.
Chua's letter went on to describe his own experiences and observation, having worked on two short films that went viral online: Gift, which was shot entirely in standard English, had gained more mileage across the world in terms of viewership.
However, as always, Chua's published letter was not the original and had been edited for brevity to fit the column inches set aside for him in the Life! mailbag section of the newspaper.
And certain nuances of his argument were lost as a result.
For more background about who Chua is and the context of his letter to the press, read:
Actor in viral Hentak Kaki S’porean short film, starring in yet another viral short film
Gift short film actor advocates use of standard English in local films
Regardless, below are the two letters, unedited and edited, published side-by-side for comparison's sake:
|
Original letter published on Michael Chua's blog
Dear Sir/Madam
I refer to the letter by Mr Yeoh Teng Kwong, of the above-mentioned reference.
I agree with Mr John Lui about promoting local music and films. I also agree with Mr Yeoh about producing art with universal appeal and standard English to reach a wider audience.
I know this because I have acted in the lead role of two short films that have gone viral on the Internet.
The first one Hentak Kaki, about an army Warrant Officer hitting his glass ceiling due to his knee injury, was scripted in a typical Singapore Armed Forces lingo. It speaks to all male Singaporeans instantly and went viral as they can identify deeply with every word spoken. It has a combined online hit rate about 200,000 hits. This is a good score considering that local full feature film trailers with a significant marketing budget barely hit 50,000 hits. However, I suspect that because of the very localised lingo, the film did not travel much beyond Malaysia and Singapore, even though the film expresses issues that are common in any army in the world.
The other short film that has gone viral is Gift, which is a story about a misunderstood father and his disgruntled son. This film has a combined online hit rate of about 5 million hits and counting. Besides South East Asia, USA and Europe, the film has gone viral in far away and exotic places like Brazil, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia,...etc. Moreover, we are also getting a spontaneous response from audience from all over the world volunteering to translate the subtitles into their native languages as they want to make the film more accessible to a yet wider audience. Incidentally, the film uses standard English. :)
Gift is so successful that I am now getting calls to give talks in schools, to act in foreign feature films and from investors who want to produce feature films of a similar story line between a father and his son.
Below are the links to the two films, so that you can experience them for yourself.
Hentak Kaki " frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>
Gift " frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>
Further, another short film worth studying would be Detour, which I acted in and had won a handsome swoop of four categories for the Best Director, Best Script, Best Performance and Best Fiction awards at the recent 5th Singapore Short Film Awards 2014. The film uses Hokkien, with one or two English words. The full film is not online yet as it is making its rounds in the film festival circuits, but a trailer is available at:
Detour " frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>
I think films with universal values travel, but films with mainstream languages travel further. Let's see. The jury is still out there.
Michael Chua |
Letter published in ST Life! on April 12, 2014
I agree with Mr Yeoh about producing art with universal appeal and standard English to reach a wider audience.
I have acted in the lead role of two short films that have been put online.
The first one, Hentak Kaki, about an army warrant officer hitting the career glass ceiling due to a knee injury, was scripted in typical army lingo. It has an online hit rate of about 200,000.
However, I suspect that because of the localised lingo, the film did not travel much beyond Malaysia and Singapore.
The other short film is Gift, which is about a misunderstood father and his disgruntled son. This film has a combined online hit rate of about five million. The film uses standard English.
Another short film worth studying is Detour, which I acted in. It won awards in four categories at the 5th Singapore Short Film Awards 2014. The film uses Hokkien, with one or two English words.
I think films with universal values travel, but films with mainstream languages travel further.
Michael Chua
|
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.