Tenun Fashion Show

The Tenun Fashion show opened with a resting visual. This woven cloth, exemplifying the textile traditions contained in the forthcoming show, swept across the screen in enticing and expansive spirals, gold threads sparkling across three monumental LED screens at the back of the stage. Visitors were congratulating the FilmCo team and the event hadn’t even started. This single visual had already set the standard for the show ahead.

Rehearsal

Actual

The final product was the result of hours of work and minute attention to detail. The team, along with Raymond, the freelance Art Director engaged by FilmCo, had spent days up a ladder, filming the flying cloth and then editing it to flow elegantly across multiple formats. Reshoots were required, three rounds in total at different shutter speeds, to achieve clean movement. The team had attempted something similar on a previous project but were determined to take this to the next level. It was this attitude which characterised the entire event.

Tenun was next level in many ways. It built on an ongoing relationship with a longstanding and well-respected client. This started in 2020 with a film project on pua kumbu, Sarawak’s sacred cloth. Dreams of Cloth and Colour had cemented a team to collaborate both creatively and meaningfully on the preservation and promotion of Sarawak’s textile tradition. 

Tanoti House and its owner, Jacqueline Fong, have a strong set of core values which align well with FilmCo, providing an authentic approach to a purpose bigger than themselves: to provide a sustainable income for her community of weavers and a new position of respect for handweaves across the ASEAN region. Her goal was to give them a next level event for the next era of event planning in the post pandemic period. She trusted FilmCo to deliver that vision, putting them in place to produce the entire event.

Given the context, the event needed to feed to multiple audiences in many different locations. A live event with a sit-down dinner, all governed by social distancing and SOPs, was at its core. With mingling at a minimum, the show needed to be polished and fast-paced to keep people glued to their seats. With limited numbers in attendance, it also needed to go out on multiple channels, social media as well as a Zoom audience of weaving communities around the region. It was a mammoth effort with FilmCo members to oversee every output.

The show itself consisted of multiple elements. The live emcee, sape superstar Alena Murang, would glue together a weaver’s anthem, three fashion showcases, a storytelling segment and then a final awards ceremony celebrating the best of handweaves selected from the earlier Tenun Fashion Week held in September the same year. Such an event required multiple teams – in-house staff from Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on lights and sound, SolidCom Vision on MCP, the team of Vicky Fong, well known fashion show producer and choreographer, and the organisational team under Tanoti. All this was connected by FilmCo and its man on the mic!

The key was in the pre-production. Multiple meetings to communicate FilmCo’s vision took place. These experienced event professionals were both amazed and excited. This was not intended to be an ordinary Kuching show. The three LED screens would work in tandem, not individually, with four cameras, right, left, centre and jib, all providing different angles to be woven in with pre-recorded material and visual assets. The tech rider was adjusted, the budget reworked, the requirements rethought until all parties were properly represented. FilmCo compiled a giant master list of cues and segments so that everyone was on the same page. It was a masterwork of forward planning. All that was left now was on the spot response, all those adjustments that only experience and eye can deliver.

The show started with multiple looms on stage. The jib swung in to give the audience a birds-eye view of several weavers performing a song crafted by Bob Meldrick and Alena Murang out of the ambient sounds of the weaving implements. The fashion show went forward without a hitch, the live models backed by giant versions of themselves on several screens, all stitched together with titles and visual assets. The MCP team seamlessly wove the multiple camera angles so that the audience could enjoy every garment at its best.

The storytelling segment, an unusual departure for this kind of show, came up next. In fact, this had proven to be a problem-solving possibility for the crew. The story in question was one of the winners of the ASEAN Weaving Tales short story competition, held in late 2020. This 500-word story was to be delivered aloud but, in this format, with a live audience, it needed some added drama. The FilmCo team cut a video to accompany the tale of a longhouse fire as a backdrop. 

The sticking point was the subtitles. With the screen behind the reader, unseen, it was difficult for her to pace the piece to match the script on screen. On the eve of the event, FilmCo came up with a solution, deciding to ‘live’ subtitle the story. This meant typing the story into Resolute and then cueing each subtitle manually on the night as the story unfolded to keep pace with the reader. Four minutes of event time demanded a last-minute adjustment, keeping one team member up until 3am, and then 3 people on the evening, to cue all the different elements. The result, however, was spectacular.

At the close of the show, Tenun issued three awards. One of these was won by Tohsang Cotton Village, a weaving atelier from Thailand. Their representative beamed in by Zoom onto the big screen and summed up the spirit of the event. She shared how Tenun had given them the courage and the confidence to work towards their own vision. This is really what Tenun had done for its team. Each element came from established professionals, but with FilmCo’s vision and the client’s trust, the result was next level. Through planning and problem-solving, iteration and imagination, all coupled with a willingness to get the job done to the best of everyone’s abilities and beyond, Tenun was hailed a great success and a standard bearer for Sarawak events to come.