(2) Interviews: The research will interview some Chinese cultural expertise and some Chinese
descendants to obtain primary data on their origin and knowledge about the history of the Tjap
Go Meh celebration in Indonesia, as well as its relationship with the Lontong Tjap Go Meh.
But due to the pandemic, this step is still pending.
(3) Literacy Studies: They are conducted to obtain secondary data. Literacy studies are also carried
out with a view to getting visual references, and to get references about everything related to the
origin, including documentation about Tjap Go Meh in Indonesia and also in Southeast Asia,
especially Malaysia, which has similarities to Indonesia. Visual references in this study are not
only in the form of photographic recording data, but also the work of several character designs
and settings from a number of comics and animations with the visual communication approach.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The research wants to explore some media that could inform and communicate the message about
the philosophy. The medium that this research would take is a short feature animation. The short
feature animation should use the suitable media because it will be broadcasted through social media
such as a YouTube, Instagram, or even in another online or broadcasting channel. This research
has considered to use these online media because it is significant due to the increasing numbers
of internet users during the work from home and, of course, study from home in this COVID-19
pandemic era.
This is not the first time for us to find other animation projects that share the history and
philosophy about Tjap Go Meh. The previous research and project created by the students of the
multimedia concentration in Telkom University’s Visual Communication Design Department had
brought a dynamic and good quality of the animation for this topic. However, it lacks the historical
facts due to the limitation of the final project timeline. This condition is understandable for this
research because the previous project teams did not have any more details of the Chinese Peranakan
references. Furthermore, this research wants to flesh out what the previous project had done before,
especially with more historical accuracy.
The new narrations of the animation will consist of the reunion of a small Indonesian–Chinese
Peranakan family for the celebration of the 15th day of the Lunar New Year during a pandemic era.
The small family will have a chat at the dining table, discussing the history of the dishes that are
served on the table. Then, the story rewinds back to how the Chinese overseas came to Nusantara
and established a good relationship with their fellow Muslim natives, and how the dishes were
introduced.
There will be two types of animation styles used in the project: first, the usual 2D animations
that are commonly used in children’s animations to illustrate the situations today; and second,
2D animations based on the Chinese puppet and Javanese Shadow puppet to illustrate the past
scenes. The collaboration between the two styles is considered to deliver the message that we
should remember and respect the past, learn how our ancestors paid respect to others, how they
have established the values of tolerance, and how the diversity builds our customs.
4 CONCLUSION
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives, including this research
and the project within, the research is still ongoing. The researche only changes the media, which
is easy to access during the study from home policy. In order to adopt the messages and the spirit to
communicate to make a relationship with the audience to get the cultural respect like the Lontong
Tjap Go Meh philosophy, this research will continue the project. With this short animation project,
the researchers hope that the messages about respecting the diversity in values and the philosophy
of gatherings and reunions delivered to young audiences, either to local natives or the Chinese
103
descendants to obtain primary data on their origin and knowledge about the history of the Tjap
Go Meh celebration in Indonesia, as well as its relationship with the Lontong Tjap Go Meh.
But due to the pandemic, this step is still pending.
(3) Literacy Studies: They are conducted to obtain secondary data. Literacy studies are also carried
out with a view to getting visual references, and to get references about everything related to the
origin, including documentation about Tjap Go Meh in Indonesia and also in Southeast Asia,
especially Malaysia, which has similarities to Indonesia. Visual references in this study are not
only in the form of photographic recording data, but also the work of several character designs
and settings from a number of comics and animations with the visual communication approach.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The research wants to explore some media that could inform and communicate the message about
the philosophy. The medium that this research would take is a short feature animation. The short
feature animation should use the suitable media because it will be broadcasted through social media
such as a YouTube, Instagram, or even in another online or broadcasting channel. This research
has considered to use these online media because it is significant due to the increasing numbers
of internet users during the work from home and, of course, study from home in this COVID-19
pandemic era.
This is not the first time for us to find other animation projects that share the history and
philosophy about Tjap Go Meh. The previous research and project created by the students of the
multimedia concentration in Telkom University’s Visual Communication Design Department had
brought a dynamic and good quality of the animation for this topic. However, it lacks the historical
facts due to the limitation of the final project timeline. This condition is understandable for this
research because the previous project teams did not have any more details of the Chinese Peranakan
references. Furthermore, this research wants to flesh out what the previous project had done before,
especially with more historical accuracy.
The new narrations of the animation will consist of the reunion of a small Indonesian–Chinese
Peranakan family for the celebration of the 15th day of the Lunar New Year during a pandemic era.
The small family will have a chat at the dining table, discussing the history of the dishes that are
served on the table. Then, the story rewinds back to how the Chinese overseas came to Nusantara
and established a good relationship with their fellow Muslim natives, and how the dishes were
introduced.
There will be two types of animation styles used in the project: first, the usual 2D animations
that are commonly used in children’s animations to illustrate the situations today; and second,
2D animations based on the Chinese puppet and Javanese Shadow puppet to illustrate the past
scenes. The collaboration between the two styles is considered to deliver the message that we
should remember and respect the past, learn how our ancestors paid respect to others, how they
have established the values of tolerance, and how the diversity builds our customs.
4 CONCLUSION
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives, including this research
and the project within, the research is still ongoing. The researche only changes the media, which
is easy to access during the study from home policy. In order to adopt the messages and the spirit to
communicate to make a relationship with the audience to get the cultural respect like the Lontong
Tjap Go Meh philosophy, this research will continue the project. With this short animation project,
the researchers hope that the messages about respecting the diversity in values and the philosophy
of gatherings and reunions delivered to young audiences, either to local natives or the Chinese
103