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16 Sep 2026
4 Min Read
The Taylor's Team (Editor)
Small, thoughtful acts make campus life a little lighter. In a way, they’re how we have each other’s backs out there in the world, too. Our latest Malaysia Day short film is a reflection on how these gestures, the ones that often go almost unnoticed, end up moving all of us forward.
Watch 'Further Together' below.
For anyone to rise in the world, they need a place that makes room for them. It starts by noticing others, understanding their experiences, and making space for them.
That single idea shaped everything about this year’s film. Rather than a grand, sweeping statement about national identity, the team wanted to sit with something smaller and, in some ways, harder to capture on screen: the quiet moments where one person makes space for another. A borrowed umbrella. A held door. A seat saved. None of these moments make headlines. But together, they tell us something about what it means to be part of a community.
Why This Story
In recent years, Malaysia’s leaders have positioned the country as a credible and neutral power in Southeast Asia, playing a key role in shaping the region’s economic rise. Malaysia’s 2025 ASEAN chairmanship championed the digital economy, sustainability, and regional integration, demonstrating a style of leadership that brings nations together to move forward as a whole, rather than one that seeks to dominate.
Taylor’s strives to mirror that role in education. Over 80 nationalities converge in person and virtually here to learn, collaborate, and grow, a community that only works because people choose to notice and make room for each other. As the team discussed these ideas, this year’s Malaysia Day reflection took shape, a simple story that reminds us of connection that sparks the seeds that lead to ideas, giving even when it costs us something, and kindness that lightens loads too heavy to carry alone.
'Kindness' can read as something soft or incidental, but what the story points to is closer to social infrastructure. A first-year student walking into a lecture hall of 80 different nationalities is, in a very real sense, relying on the goodwill of strangers to find their footing. Someone explaining an unfamiliar campus system, a coursemate translating a joke that only makes sense in one language, a lecturer pausing to check that an international student followed a local reference: these are the unglamorous mechanics of a place that actually works for the people in it. 'Further Together' tries to make that mechanism visible.
What makes this piece special to the team is how it came together behind the scenes, with brief cameos from university schools, societies, and Taylorians woven throughout the film. The team chose to build the story around campus life, bringing Taylor’s workshops, clubs, and students into the frame.
One of the film’s key scenes was shot inside the university’s actual Carpentry Workshop, which was opened specially for filming instead of being recreated on a soundstage. Using the space brought details into the scene that would have been difficult to reproduce, from natural light and clutter to the worn surfaces that come with a workshop being used every day. It also meant the crew had to work around real equipment and the limitations of the space. But those details are part of what makes the scene feel real.
The film’s background wardrobe also features garments created by students from the Bachelor of Fashion Design Technology (Honours) programme. The pieces were made by Taylor’s students as part of their coursework and worked into the background of several scenes. Most viewers may not consciously notice them, but they add another layer of Taylor’s creative work to the film, with the university’s own students helping to dress its world.
Alongside this, Taylor’s Lion Dance Club and Society took part in the film’s opening scene, while students from the Bachelor of Performing Arts programme appeared as background actors. They brought the film to life in small but meaningful ways. It reflects the same spirit of noticing each other that runs through the film: real clubs and students coming together, much as they would for any other campus event.
This film would not carry the texture it does without subject-matter input and direct participation from several corners of the university. Their contributions went beyond advisory input. In most cases, they opened their spaces, brought their students into the process, and put forward original student work for the production.
Ms Maria, Programme Director, Bachelor of Fashion Design Technology (Honours), helped the team borrow garments created by students to be featured in the background of the film, turning coursework into part of the film’s visual world.
En. Fendi, Technician and PIC of the Carpentry Workshop, opened the workshop up for the crew to film one of the film’s key scenes, giving the production a genuine working space rather than a constructed one.
Mr Raziman, Programme Director, Bachelor of Performing Arts, recommended students to participate as background actors, adding another layer of campus presence to the story.
Taylor’s Lion Dance Club and Society participated in the opening scene of the film, lending the production an authentic and immediately recognisable piece of campus culture.
Taylor’s University Brand and Creative Team
Chooi Yew Vern
VP of Marketing
Jeremy Teo
Director, Creative Content
Philip Rom
Manager, Creative Content
Zoey Moo
Lead, Creative Development
Jhenheney Subramanian
Creative Producer
Jonathan Toh
Creative Producer
Gigi Yip
Design Lead
Aaron Koh
Digital Designer
Production House: Directors Think Tank
Krityishaa Karunagaran
Director
