1. Dear UMNO. U have come to look upon my colleagues and I as thorns. Yet, in the spirit of new Malaysia, allow me to discuss how amateurish you have been. Let’s use this video as an example:
2. In an age of media saturation, ppl are suspicious of advertising. So u should not come across like a shampoo ad. Yet note that @Khairykj and @NajibRazak wore liveried colour and logo. They look like salesmen. It undercuts trust. It’s a terrible start.
3. Filming politicians is difficult because few have genuine camera presence. Here, @NajibRazak looked fake and @Khairykj insincere. They aren’t pro actors so one should not blame them. The director should have anticipated and taken the following steps...
4. (1) Include other faces to dilute the fakeness of the principal subjects. (2) Have dynamic camera movement and cuts to flatter the subjects. (3) Don’t make them speak verbatim from the script. Just let them use their own syntax. More genuine that way.
5. This video is about the rakyat. Yet one only sees two politicians. Where is the rakyat? They r kept in the background. This distance between rakyat and you says all. Don’t think folks won’t pick up stuff like this just cos u don’t know film language.
6. The dialogue is about track record. Leaving aside the bullshit of that spiel, these were delivered like reading from the phone book. Film is at its most powerful when its emotive. This has none. In short, it was dull as fuck. I’d rather watch grass grow.
7. When we make viral videos we always have a question: “where is the sex?” By that, we don’t mean naked bums and tits. We mean where are the elements that make this video fly. It could be a line of dialogue or a clever plot. Yours had none. It was vacant.
8. Thus the lack of freshness and ideas tell more than you intend and less than you desire. The lack of filmmaking craft parallels your lack of attention to detail. In a video about a beautiful country there was no poetry. It says everything.
9. You might think I am overthinking with minutiates. If you did, then this too says everything about u. The lack of respect for craft and intricacies of communication. There is far more to the art of filmmaking than hiring a fat PR agency. Cash is not king.
10. You might now understand how, despite millions, you lost the battle to a bunch of indie kids with cheap cameras. The keyword in new media is “trust”, and trust is based on resonance to the truth that your audience feel, not the echoes in your chamber.
So now you can fire all your PR agencies. They know shit. They sold you like a shampoo when politics should be advocated with the heart. And if you had no passion or heart to advocate in the first place, then why are you in politics? Go sell shoes.
I mean no disrespect. I am merely sharing my experience when of making political videos. These videos are ultimately about you, not “the production”. In this respect, there is a truth in filmmaking you should heed - “you can’t polish turd”. Thus start by being more than a turd.
Good luck with your reform and survival. The interest of Malaysia relies on it. Last hint: less of the paternalistic crap.
