Fortune Indonesia is honored to appointed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to create two Television Commercials (TVC) for the Asian Games 2018. One of the TVCs titled “Colors of Asia” is to be aired throughout Asia.

“Colors of Asia” visualized through colorful powder that showcases the cultural diversity of Asian countries. Through the combination of colored powder and visual sports movements with the rhythm of the typical percussion instruments of each country, the TVC is delivering the message that diversity is the energy that unites Asia. The entire process from the making and finalizing the concept, the filming process, to the editing process, takes two months. The filming was done in Yogyakarta, Palembang, Jakarta, and the surrounding area, and involved some famous athletes including Taufik Hidayat and I Gde Siman Sudartawa.

Working with a tight timeline, two Production Houses, and two different Directors is the challenge facing this project. Fortune Indonesia team admitted that the key to success of this project relies on the good cooperation and communication. Anton Josef, one of the Director shared his once-in-lifetime opportunity made Asian Games TVC “Colors of Asia”.

Why did you say “yes” to our storyboard?

Because it would been crazy to say ’NO’ 🙂

Honestly, it’s rare to find a storyboard that resonates with me so much as a filmmaker. As a former competitive athlete myself, I got excited about this project the second I saw it. Much credit goes to the creative team from Fortune. They came up with a stunning way of honouring the historical tradition of the Asian Games, while still making it exciting and relevant for 2018. The use of colours wasn’t just a thing that looked cool – it had a far deeper cultural meaning that perfectly represented the passion of the athletes themselves. It was something I’d never seen before. But the meaning of the colours went beyond even that. It was important that so many different countries and traditions were equally represented (after all, there’s a lot of countries that make up Asia!). So you can see the variety of colours coming to life through the traditional wardrobes of the musicians. It was an exciting challenge and it turned out to be a month of my life that I’ll never forget.

Tell us about the most exciting/challenging thing reproducing the Asian Games TVC

Working with the amazing athletes was a reward in itself. It doesn’t take long for you to realise how many years of training it takes to get to that level of skill. Sometimes I forgot to yell ‘Cut!’ in between shots because I just so mesmerised watching these athletes myself! In North-America, we rarely see sports like Wushu, Ribbon Dancing or Dragonboats, so those were all memorable moments for me. There’s so many layers of artistry and expression through those sports that work so well on camera.

The biggest challenge was of course working with all the colours flying everywhere. I tried to mix it up as much as possible, so it wasn’t the same kind of trick in every scene. But to make it look good took at ton of planning and testing along the way. Fortunately we had an amazing Indonesian art director and special effects team solving a lot of the issues before we ever got to set. They created some unbelievable rigs that would actually shoot the powder into huge clouds of colours in the air. Getting the timing right was the hardest part. For example, when the Volleyball player spikes the ball as the exploding colours – we only had milliseconds to get that right.

And you wouldn’t believe the mess it made!! Sometimes, we only had one or two chances to get it right, or else we’d have to wait at least a half hour to clean everything up to try again.

How do you feel working with Indonesian creative agency?

Fortune Indonesia was a dream to work with. These guys are true creative partners in every sense of the word. They brought incredible ideas to the table while backing up my vision with a lot of support. That makes my job a lot easier. It’s also wonderful to have really passionate and understanding clients who trusted our vision every step of the way. Nothing ever felt like a job. It was way too much fun!

Was there anything you wish you could do with the TVC but couldn’t?

I don’t think you always walk away from a shoot wondering ‘What If…’ As a director, you always dream of the perfect situations and scenarios where you have all the time in the world to get exactly what you want with each shot. But time and weather always have a way of working against you, and you have to adapt quickly. For example, those Dragonboating shots were all meant to have beautiful sunset light sweeping in over the trees. But it was pouring rain all day and there was so much mud, we were walking around with giant red clay slabs over our shoes. Another example is that we weren’t able to use ANY of the amazing, brand new sports facilities being built across the country because they weren’t finished yet. So those were just some of the big challenges we faced that influenced production.

What do you hope people across Asia would feel after watching the TVC?

I hope people feel proud and excited to support their athletes. Asian games are a once-in-lifetime opportunity for many people and that’s what it felt like making this TVC. 

TVC Asian Games “Colors of Asia” :

TVC Asian Games 2018 “Colors of Asia” Team

Olympic Council of Asia (COM3 Singapore)

•      Toto Dharmadji – Director
•      Mela Sabina – Director of Broadcasting
•      Nicholas Tan
•      Johannes See

Fortune Indonesia

•      Jessica Carla – Business Unit Director
•      Paulus Soni C. Gumilang – Creative Director
•      Gregorius Murdianto – Creative Group Head
•      Angki Sumanang – Senior Art Director
•      Rahma Fathia – Copy Writer
•      Claudia Nauli – Senior Account Manager
•      Atrin Rangkisani – Senior Account Executive
•      Pradipta Ariarto – Senior AV Producer

High Angle

•      Ayudya Mahaswani – Executive Producer
•      Alfredo Ferdian – Executive Producer
•      Anton Josef – Director
•      Indra Loebis – Assistant Director
•      Henry Samson – Director of Photography
•      Caez Mahardika – Producer
•      Maria – Line Producer
•      Kiki – Wardrobe
•      Patih Armada – Art Director