MEDIA FLASH: an event to be remembered

Written by: Warda Imran

On December 1st 2013, the students of IBA experienced one of the most thought provoking, remarkable and sensational events, the Media Flash. An event which gave the youth of Pakistan an insight into the many dimensions of media, polishing and enlightening them about the many wonders of what goes on behind the scenes. The event was divided into 4 events respectively; a youth talk show, pictures that speak a thousand words, comic art and a short skit. The first round was fun yet informative as it gave each team a theme to present the talk show upon, many teams incorporated different celebrities and famous personalities in their show whilst covering on the social awareness topic given to them. The judge for the first round was Mr. Sumair Aftab who is a renowned radio jockey on FM --- and gave the participants food for thought, quoting the extraordinarily talented Anwar Maqsood he advised the participants “Good hosts speak less”. The round commenced with full thunder as team after team charmed their way through the round, with the perfect blend of wit, humor and seriousness. The second round was a very important aspect of media; pictures and what they represent; each team had the difficult task of putting a quote into pictures and to get their message across as clearly as possible, with proverbs like “900 chuhay khaa ka billi haj ko chali” and “jaisa des waisa bhaes” the participants were seen sprinting across campus looking for the perfect backdrop for the perfect picture. The winners of this particular round were those that were able to inject their message very clearly in their slideshow, the viewers were given a treat as these slideshows were projected on the huge wall of our magnificent Ghani-Tayub auditorium and this round was judged by a famous IB alumni photographer, Mr. Hasan Bhatti.

The third and most difficult competition was of the comic art, participants were each given a real life event description which they had to carefully illustrate through comic drawing. With markers, pens and chart papers spread across the floor, the teams were seen back-bent, completely engrossed in the activity. Art is not every one’s cup of tea and so the judge had clarified that he wouldn’t be judging on the quality of the drawing, but rather the content which it spilt. The participants had to highlight the innocent by the color green, the neutral by yellow and the antagonist by red, the vague real life event gave nothing away and it was entirely up to the teams to decide who is the good or bad, just like the media decides who to show in a negative or positive light. The artist, Mr. Jimmy Engineer, who had been invited as a guest to judge this particular competition was of great competence and talent, he spoke deeply about art and his personal experiences in regards to it, undoubtedly, and he was a perfect judge. The last and by far the toughest challenge that the teams had to face was “mould the gold” as they say old is gold, the gold here represented the ever-green TV soap operas of the late ‘80s and ‘90s, the teams were provided clips of shows like Angaan Terra, Ankahi, Tanhai and Alpha Bravo Charlie, which they had to enact just slightly changing the dialogues to tip in the favor of the theme already previously told to them, which included patriotism, revenge etc. The guest and judge to this event were of IBA’s own treasure, Dr. Framji Minwalla(PhD Drama, Yale University) and Saad Qazi(Manager of the Natak Brigade, IBA dramatics society) that were given the most difficult task of choosing the best amongst the talented participants of this amazingly executed event. The participants seemed full in swing, dressed up in saris, sherwanis as old soldiers and dying countries and everyone had a really great time.

But as all competitions go, there are winners who take the trophy and awards, and the top three teams who took away the awards on this event were immensely talented, the second runners up were “TEAM SCARLET” who were in the top 3 for 3 of the 4 events, the first runners up were “TEAM GRAVITY SLAM” of which I was a proud member as I had participated and loved every minute of this event, the team who bagged the first prize were “TEAM MIGHTIES” who had managed to secure top marks in all 4 events, but winning by a meagre 3 marks. My heartiest congratulations to all those who won and a thumbs up to all those who made an effort and sacrificed their Sundays by coming, but let me tell you all one thing; it was completely, undeniably worth every second.
Cheers.