Jointly reported by:
Chloe Soh Ke Er Jr2Z(3)
Rachel Koh Huey Shin Jr3Z(2)
Grace Low Shing Wei Sr2ScA
During the Chinese Lunar New Year, Kuen Cheng High School Co-Curricular Department organised the Spring Festival Cultural Week. One of the most anticipated activities, the Spring Festival Gala was broadcasted live on Youtube from 8 pm to 12 am on 31st of January 2022. We were honoured to interview the President of the 2022 Kuen Cheng Spring Festival Gala, Senior Hoo Ying Yi. The following is the content of the interview:
1. What inspired the theme of this Spring Festival Gala?
Originally, we thought of using weddings as the theme because weddings are known as double happiness and an auspicious event. We planned to hold a marriage proposal for the two mascots. However, throughout our discussion, the plot gradually turned into a hero saving a damsel in distress. All of the sudden, the theme of this Spring Week, “Auspicious Tiger Protecting Kuen Cheng” (“祥虎佑坤成”), popped into our mind and we decided to use this as our concept. As such, the final theme, “The Guardian of Kuen Cheng” （坤成守卫队）was born.
2. Why do you want to take part in organising this Spring Festival Gala?
Since the school used to recruit organising committees from clubs and seldom open recruitment to all students, this is a rare opportunity and a great platform for students to learn and improve. In addition, I have not organised any major school activities, so I decided to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity.
3. What is the criteria for recruiting the organising committee?
There are no special criteria. They are graded based on their interview performance. Students who are creative, experienced in organising activities and editing as well as able to think independently are more likely to be recruited.
4. What are the teams of crews behind the scenes?
There are 4 teams, the advocacy team, the document processing team, the show and design team and the editing team. The members are not divided equally around the teams as the design team and the editing team need more people to handle the designing and editing work while the advocacy team and document processing team do not need many people. The document processing team mainly focuses on the communication between the societies as the Spring Festival Gala requires many societies to bring out outstanding performances. The advocacy team is in charge of propagating posters and discussing how to attract the audience. The show and design team designs the performances and events while the editing team edits the whole video.
5. When did the preparation for the gala start?
We actually had a very tight time as the bureau was out at the start of December and the gala will be held on the 31st of January which is new year’s eve. We had to finish by the beginning of January, which is only 5-6 weeks to prepare.
6. What problems did you face during the preparation?
There were lots of problems, but time was the biggest challenge. In order to make it in time, we had to work at midnight when everyone was sleeping. It was painful but enjoyable at the same time. Another challenge we faced was to make up the time as 4 hours is a very long time for a big event like this. We invited our friends and teachers to perform and edited everything. It was a big challenge.
7. Do you feel satisfied with the show and did it reach your expectations? How to attract more audiences to watch the Spring Festival Gala?
It reached our expectations. Audiences claimed that the content was very attractive, and they couldn’t wait to watch the next show. We really hope that the audiences were entertained by the show. However, a minor error occurred in the video. In order to do better next time, we should start preparing the video earlier instead of burning the midnight oil, double-check the videos either on the timing or the quality to ensure we produce the best video to the audiences.
8. What did you learn from being a member of the committee?
Communication is crucial in organising this kind of event. All ideas must be conveyed clearly so we don’t get confused about what was supposed to be done. Besides, we learnt more about programming to elevate our productivity in producing eCerts. We also learnt about leadership and how to collaborate with each other better.
9. What are your thoughts on the event?
We were delighted and touched to see so many people turned up for the event. KC-ians are very supportive. Also, we were massively grateful to all staff and teachers for their support. We have been brainstorming ideas and soaking up the Chinese Lunar New Year atmosphere since last Christmas and we are going to miss the Spring Festival Gala a lot. Last but not least, we felt so lucky to be part of the committee. We also felt very accomplished that the event went very well.
Hoo Ying Yi, President of 2022 Kuen Cheng Spring Gala