Kuala Lumpur, 28 February 2020 – Electronics titan, Sharp Electronics Malaysia Sdn Bhd (SHARP), chartered new waters by extending its 8K ecosystem to benefit Malaysia’s tourism aspirations. In the spirit of Visit Malaysia 2020, SHARP and Tourism Malaysia unveiled their highly anticipated production titled ‘Truly Aquos 8K, Truly Asia Malaysia’ to captivate tourists across SHARP’s extensive network, both locally and globally.
Speaking at the unveiling, SHARP Deputy Chief Executive Officer of ASEAN and Managing Director, Robert Wu, said, “SHARP is thrilled to promote Malaysia to the world through this creative collaboration with Tourism Malaysia. We can all agree there is no place like Malaysia. We have beautiful rainforests, friendly people, unique architecture, and charming islands.
What sets the ‘Truly Aquos 8K, Truly Asia Malaysia’ production apart is the presence of our 8K technology which captures every micro-detail and moment and presents it to our audience in the same manner as if experiencing it in real life. SHARP is happy to support Tourism Malaysia and complement their efforts to boost interest among holidaymakers, especially potential travellers who are also customers across our global SHARP network.”
The production team created two videos, with a duration of two minutes each, themed, ‘Amazing’ and ‘Diversity’ to represent the qualities that best describe Malaysia. The process took approximately 240 hours within 20 days in production and 16 days in post-production.
“Malaysia continues to be a melting pot of cultures with the right mix of urban and natural charms. It is refreshing to see this brought to life visually through the lens of new technology. Amid the current challenge faced by the tourism sector as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, we remain optimistic. We have taken measures by setting up the Tourism Recovery Committee taskforce to monitor current developments and provide advice and clarification to all tourists, including steps needed to safeguard personal health as advised by the Health
Ministry. We believe these precautions to safeguard the well-being of travellers will strengthen confidence among tourists planning their journey to Malaysia,” said Secretary General of Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dato’ Dr. Noor Zari bin Hamat.
Malaysia, being one of the most multicultural nations in Southeast Asia, inspired the videos which embody raw and genuine human essence derived from diverse ethnicities and a myriad of cultures. Several recognisable attractions featured in both videos were shot at locations like Sekinchan in Selangor, the Mossy Forest in Pahang, Central Melaka, Tanjung Rhu in Langkawi, Thean Hou Temple and Gelanggang Tok Cindai in Kuala Lumpur. The Sarawak Cultural Village and Pom Pom Island in Sabah, are also featured as well as among others.
SHARP and Tourism Malaysia engaged established award-winning Malaysian film and content house, Chilli Pepper Films to spearhead the ‘Truly Aquos 8K, Truly Asia Malaysia’ production. Together with Mark Toia, a Kiwi-born, Australian-bred globally acclaimed commercial director, and Cameron Michael, a New York-based nature cinematographer and director of photography, the team breathe life into the ‘Amazing’ and ‘Diverse’ videos. Braving the elements and responsibility of capturing Malaysia’s sights and sounds, the production team has become the first to shoot an 8K video in Malaysia.
The creative vision and execution coupled with state-of-the-art 8K video quality of the ‘Amazing’ video was deserving of global recognition at the Asia Destination Film Awards 2020 in Bangkok in January this year. The video took home the award in the Tourism Board category, overcoming 1,000 other submissions and 34 shortlisted films.
The ‘Truly Aquos 8K, Truly Asia Malaysia’ videos are the result of a Memorandum of Joint Collaboration Partnership signed by SHARP and Tourism Malaysia in 2019 aimed at boosting promotion of the Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020 campaign. The promotional videos bearing Malaysia’s attractions will be showcased in 19,500 stores (195,000 TV panels) across SHARP’s global network.
Over the past 10 years, SHARP has been developing its 8K technology. The collaboration with Tourism Malaysia is one of SHARP’s many efforts to extend the benefits of 8K technology and develop a complete ecosystem to advance various industries in Malaysia. SHARP will build Malaysia’s first 8K + 5G lab to facilitate the research and development of 8K technology in enabling big data transfer and high-resolution displays to benefit the business, entertainment, education, medical, security and tourism industry.
The ‘Truly Aquos 8K, Truly Asia Malaysia’ videos were unveiled at Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur, and witnessed by the Secretary General of Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dato’ Dr. Noor Zari bin Hamat.
