Lights set. Mics on. Cameras rolling. Clap when ready. A brief look at the way they set up their equipment you know you are working with professionals. They call themselves the Otters, ready to take down any challenge together. The Otter Company is an Islamic Creative Multimedia Company established officially in 2017. The name “Otter” is no acronym but is taken to represent the way this team of videographers works. Embodying the nature of wild otters, the team of videographers carry the same quality; a playful family working together to reach their ends. They are serious once the camera is rolling but take a look at their playful portfolios up on their website to see the other side of their “otterness”. Not only are they great at teamwork, but perseverance is another quality they shared.
When 5 Otters crashed into Creative Space Art Gallery & Studio on the 14th of February 2018, we took the opportunity to get to know them better. Syukri Rasidi, the General Manager, explains a little on the early beginnings of their establishment, “it began as more of a family IT business consisting of myself, my brother, and my cousin. But then they started getting their own jobs. So now with the new members of Otters, we changed our direction to multimedia.” Now they do videography, photography, motion graphic, and animation. The current Otter family consists of Syukri Rasidi the General Manager, Fauzan Aziz the Content Creator, Dally Yusof the Social Media Manager, and Arif Salleh the Administrator. In addition to these four main Otters, they also brought in their intern for shooting the gallery’s upcoming EMERGE 5 project.
What started as a home-based family IT business soon became an official studio-based multimedia company. The Otter Company has been around for nearly two years, as they started their home-based business in 2016. A year later they managed to acquire a studio to work in marking this coming April as their first official anniversary. They bring to light some of the challenges and problems that they’ve faced so far in the industry, which include the search for the perfect studio and balancing the income with their production costs. Syukri explained that, “…with finding the right place to operate, the rental price can be too high. On the other side of things, the payment we received can be a bit low from the discounted services as most are unaware of the actual cost of production. There is also the challenge of the duration of the production. Some people thought that we could create the video within a week. We need to work really fast and do our pre-planning really early to be able to finish the video in time”. So teamwork, determination, and diligence are important qualities one must embody to be part of the team.
With the difficulties they encountered daily, Fauzan explains what drives them to keep strong, “Passion. That is of course the most important thing to have. But we also find that videography is a unique way to tell a story. Film is an art in itself, every motion and every movement means something. Video and film is like a language in itself, a medium to convey a message.” Individually, members of the Otter Company aim to further their skills in various areas including game development, animations, graphic design as well as using the opportunity presented to gain more experience in project works and using it as a platform for helping others interested in videography and their other services. “In Brunei, there is still a lack of exploration of the film industry,” he adds, asserting that they wish to be part of the community that works to fill in the void. “We focus on the quality; from lighting, transition... All of these, the placement, the techniques, the angle we shoot from has their own reasons. But the most important aspect of our product is the Storyline; it must mean something.”
Previously, they have collaborated with others and have been part of several projects. This includes the video coverage for the X-25 Park Project where the locals of Belait District collaborated with the Chinese Community Association based in Belait, Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd and 50 private agencies. Together they upgraded and transformed the X-25 Recreational Park into The Golden Jubilee Recreational Park in Kuala Belait as a “pesambah” for His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee last year.
Their collaboration with Creative Space Art Gallery & Space was done with the aim of creating more exposure for the benefits of future projects. In addition to this, there is also the curiosity of the development of the local art and creative industry and how it is received by the local community. “With the gallery’s network in Singapore and Japan, we are hoping that we can someday do a video collaboration that could help create an international exposure can reach out to the international creative industry,” explain Arif. “We hope that in the future, we could be able to set up a place for people to study, a community for people who share our interest in this industry,” continues Syukri.
For more information about the Otter Company you can reach them at ottercompany.bn@gmail.com or visit their website at http://theotter.co/