When we were assigned to work on writing a script for our course, I quickly browsed my mind for any attractive and creative ideas for the short drama. I had never written a script before, especially for a merely fifteen-minutes-long drama. Together with my group members, Ziham and Amir, we discussed about a suitable short drama for the lower secondary, but in the end, we could not finalize any ideas.
I was pacing back and forth in my room at one night, and suddenly (if not luckily), I got an idea of a story of a kampong boy. The story was like this: a boy is raised in a poor family; the father has passed away and lives with his mother. He gets to join the school football team (as he is active in sports) and asks from his mother to buy a new pair of football boot. His mother, who depends on the selling of kuih and nasi lemak cannot afford to buy one, tells him he would not get one in an instant. The boy sulks, and does not talk to the mother for days. One day, after he returns from the school, he finds a football boot bought for him and he joys; he wants to thank his mother but he cannot find her. He was sleeping in the evening when his uncle comes and tells him that the boy’s mother was hit by a hit and run accident. They rushed to the hospital just for the moment witnessing the mother exhales the last breath. Typical Malaysian story, isn’t it? First, we put the name of the boy as Jason, but after revising, a typical Malay boy should not be named an English name, and we called him Karim. Other characters were also changed into very archaic, ulu characters. There were some errors made, but those did not matter because we wanted to focus on the storyline, and editing could be done later.
There are some criteria that we have considered for writing the short drama. First, the drama is for only fifteen minutes. Secondly, it is meant for the lower secondary level, so the language should be simple and the story should not be complicated for them to comprehend. We tried this first draft, and duhh… the response we got was “Yawnn…” from Dr. Edwin.
Therefore, we tried to work on a new script. This time, we did a story that centers on the theme of remembering one’s family root. The story goes like this: a family who always went for vacations in foreign countries decides to go back to the village, for the next vacation. It is the wife’s suggestion, as they have never returned to their village since they got married. Besides, it would be a new experience for the children to enjoy a kampong life. The father shows the things he played and did during his childhood, and the kids like them very much. One day, the father shows his children how to play the wau; a kite in Malay language. While playing, the children ask him why they have never returned before. He explains that he wants to return to where he was raised, his own root, and says to the children that they should never neglect the importance of the family. One important significance in the drama is that the wau represents oneself; no matter how high the wau flies, it is still tied to the string that holds it. The wau signifies the bond in a family, no matter where we are, we should never forget our family root.
Writing a shot drama really teaches us to work on the plot and theme very well; too simple would be dull and too complicated would be de-motivating to read. Now that we have learnt the tips, we tried to make the second story consequential and capture the readers’ eyes to the end. Well, at least there are some twists in the second script, and we hope we would get positive responses so that we could continue without any rejections.
I was pacing back and forth in my room at one night, and suddenly (if not luckily), I got an idea of a story of a kampong boy. The story was like this: a boy is raised in a poor family; the father has passed away and lives with his mother. He gets to join the school football team (as he is active in sports) and asks from his mother to buy a new pair of football boot. His mother, who depends on the selling of kuih and nasi lemak cannot afford to buy one, tells him he would not get one in an instant. The boy sulks, and does not talk to the mother for days. One day, after he returns from the school, he finds a football boot bought for him and he joys; he wants to thank his mother but he cannot find her. He was sleeping in the evening when his uncle comes and tells him that the boy’s mother was hit by a hit and run accident. They rushed to the hospital just for the moment witnessing the mother exhales the last breath. Typical Malaysian story, isn’t it? First, we put the name of the boy as Jason, but after revising, a typical Malay boy should not be named an English name, and we called him Karim. Other characters were also changed into very archaic, ulu characters. There were some errors made, but those did not matter because we wanted to focus on the storyline, and editing could be done later.
There are some criteria that we have considered for writing the short drama. First, the drama is for only fifteen minutes. Secondly, it is meant for the lower secondary level, so the language should be simple and the story should not be complicated for them to comprehend. We tried this first draft, and duhh… the response we got was “Yawnn…” from Dr. Edwin.
Therefore, we tried to work on a new script. This time, we did a story that centers on the theme of remembering one’s family root. The story goes like this: a family who always went for vacations in foreign countries decides to go back to the village, for the next vacation. It is the wife’s suggestion, as they have never returned to their village since they got married. Besides, it would be a new experience for the children to enjoy a kampong life. The father shows the things he played and did during his childhood, and the kids like them very much. One day, the father shows his children how to play the wau; a kite in Malay language. While playing, the children ask him why they have never returned before. He explains that he wants to return to where he was raised, his own root, and says to the children that they should never neglect the importance of the family. One important significance in the drama is that the wau represents oneself; no matter how high the wau flies, it is still tied to the string that holds it. The wau signifies the bond in a family, no matter where we are, we should never forget our family root.
Writing a shot drama really teaches us to work on the plot and theme very well; too simple would be dull and too complicated would be de-motivating to read. Now that we have learnt the tips, we tried to make the second story consequential and capture the readers’ eyes to the end. Well, at least there are some twists in the second script, and we hope we would get positive responses so that we could continue without any rejections.
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