Getting to the heart of NDP

Singaporeans' honest opinions of Singapore.

That was what Boo Junfeng (right) wanted to capture when he was approached to be the multimedia director for this year's National Day Parade (NDP).

The 31-year-old film director, whose films have won many accolades, made 13 short films for the different chapters of the parade.

As the multimedia director for the parade last year and in 2010, Boo wanted authenticity to make the films more meaningful than previous times.

"Last year's films were a series of stories that were threaded through the show, but for this year, I wanted to go for real people," he said.

"So the films this year are a series of interviews (with) people from all walks of life."

Boo said he started conceptualising the films since last year, and really wanted to make the sentiments of Singaporeans the heart of these clips.

To make his vision come true, over 50 Singaporeans from all walks of life were interviewed to capture the diversity of the community.

The films were shot over seven days and took two months of production work.

Reaching out to Singaporeans posed less of a challenge compared with getting an honest response about how they felt about the country.

"When you have the organisers calling you up and asking you to be interviewed for NDP, you can expect people to think that they need to give the right answer," he said.

"But I needed it to be real. I needed it to be from the heart."

Boo noticed that, compared with the two other occasions he had shot films for the parade, Singaporeans seemed more candid this year.

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"Somehow, this year, people were a lot more forthcoming about their honest thoughts about Singapore, regardless of whatever theme was given to them."

Of the 13 films, his favourite is the one that opens the fourth chapter of the parade, Unity.

"It shows people of different races and cultures telling us their backgrounds, and they don't just define themselves as Chinese, Malay or Indian.

"That is what makes Singapore so colourful, so diverse."

nhnasser@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Aug 03, 2015.
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