Students make film to introduce World Of Silence

Despite not being able to understand sign language, Miss Seri Khairuniza was determined to make a film about deaf people in Singapore.

The 19-year-old Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West graduate, who is now in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, told The New Paper: "I saw this as an opportunity to bring awareness to the community and show their positivity and courage despite their challenges."

Last year, she teamed up with fellow Nitec in digital audio and video production students - Yoh Kai Xiang, 19; Liow Xuan Ni, 19; Lee Qiao Yu, 20; Lee Ying Fong, 18; Kwok Wesley, 19; Neo Wen Yu, 18 and Mohammad Danial B. Misdani, 19 - to make the film, World Of Silence, which she directed.

Revolving around three deaf people, a mathematics teacher, an accountant and a social entrepreneur, as they introduced their world without sound, the 12-minute documentary production was nominated for best camerawork and editing in a documentary film in the annual National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) finals last week.

Back with its fourth edition, NYFA aims to establish a benchmark of national excellence in film-making and saw more than 450 entries this year.

To communicate with their interviewees, the team wrote down their instructions and comments, which resulted in long shoots over two weeks.

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Miss Khairuniza felt the biggest challenge was asking sensitive questions.

She said: "I had to be careful and polite when asking about sensitive topics so I didn't hurt the feelings of my interviewees. Fortunately, they were very open to share their stories."

Mr Yoh, who was the director of photography and is studying in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said: "Instead of using high or low angles, I chose to shoot through eye-level to emphasise that the hearing impaired are just like everyone else."

He added that he specifically used saturated colours such as greens, reds and yellows to add warmth to the film.

Although the team did not win at the awards, Miss Khairuniza believes the film has already achieved what it had set out to do.

She said: "I wanted my film to say something - that the hearing impaired in Singapore are not left out and are striving for the best in their lives despite their disabilities."