Listen to Ee Hsien share about his self-taught journey into this wonderful world of filmmaking, how he creates meaningful characters, and perhaps most importantly, how he brings the community together through his creative endeavors.
Who Is The Real Villain In Tom & Jerry?
Ee Hsien: I think a dynamic character is really tough…okay so to start out, a flat character is a character that is basically in a lot of children’s movies, like they’re very black and white. These guys are all good, this guy’s all bad, you don’t know much about him, like he doesn’t really have much of a backstory, he doesn’t have much of…he doesn’t differ in personality. A good example would be-
Emma: Listening to you explain what a flat character is makes me realise how good the characters in my little pony were [laughs].
Ee Hsien: A flat character would be like…
Emma: Thomas the tank engine. Okay so hear me out, Thomas the tank engine, you’ve got very clearly good and very clearly- I don’t know why only children’s cartoons are coming to- you know childhood cartoons like Thomas the Tank Engine, he was kind of…he was kind of cheeky right?
Ee Hsien: Isn’t it Thomas the train?
Emma: Was it not Thomas the Tank Engine? [confused muttering]
[googles]
Ee Hsien: I forgot all about Thomas, the childhood one that I was crazy about was the Little Einsteins.
Emma: Oh my gosh. [giggles]
Ee Hsien: I liked Little Einsteins and Cat In A Hat.
Emma: Oh. I didn’t really love those but I remember I hated Arthur. The Aardvark. I don’t know if you ever saw Arthur.
Ee Hsien: Oh yeah I watched Arthur.
Emma: I hated Arthur.
Ee Hsien: Why did you hate Arthur? It was okay.
Emma: He was so annoying, I just found his character so annoying. [laughter] And also he hit his sister that one time. I’m just finding things out, I don’t like his face, his ears don’t make sense man.
Ee Hsien: The size is wrong, the size is wrong.
Emma: The sizing is so wrong, cartoon science is so wrong. Okay but back to maybe Thomas the Tank Engine, Gordan is like, clearly the bad guy, on quotation marks, “bad guy” because he is like a bully basically, and I feel like maybe if you’re 3 or 4 you’d have encountered some mean kids at the playground and it’s like oh okay, we are inclined to dislike Gordan because that is his character, it’s just mean and I can’t really think about any defining traits about Gordan apart from the fact that he is red (Gordan is actually blue, James is red) which is also a colour linked to aggression. Wow, I am making this a lot deeper than I thought I would!
[laughter]
Ee Hsien: So back to what a flat character is, I thought of what already, it would be like Tom and Jerry.
Emma: That is true!
Ee Hsien: They are so flat, like all they do is play pranks on each other, like seriously, they just play pranks on each other, they don’t have a story, Jerry is just the mouse that’s in the house, and Tom is the pet of the owner and that’s all you know about them.
Emma: The more we talk about it, and the more we think about it, the more I realise there is no good or bad in Tom and Jerry, there’s no real good or bad cause while we might always see Jerry as the victim, Tom is just doing his job. [laughs] He’s just trying to do his job and Jerry is making that so much more difficult for Tom, so while Tom is thinking of all of these creative ways to do his job, Jerry’s just making it difficult. And we like to think of Jerry as the victim, but what if he’s not the victim? [laughs]
Ee Hsien: I always thought Tom was the victim, man.
Emma: Really?
Ee Hsien: Yeah because Jerry’s always playing the pranks.
Emma: Hm.
Ee Hsien: Jerry always plays the pranks, steals the cheese…then Tom is just the poor guy, and then after that if he screws up the owner’s stuff, Jerry always gets away. Unless there’s the bulldog, when the bulldog comes in, then yeah- then the two of them gang up and bully the bulldog.
Emma: Maybe Tom and Jerry isn’t as flat as we thought.
[laughter]
Ee Hsien: Maybe they’re not.
Emma: Maybe they’re not!
Emma: What have you learnt about yourself through working with other people?
Ee Hsien: I learned that I’m not a good listener. Honestly, my listening can be better. Some people have told me, “Hey you know, don’t push your cast so hard.” So I would say I’m known by some people for pushing the cast too hard, and it has happened, I did overwork some people before. And then…but okay, it all ended well.
Emma: So it didn’t really affect your relationship with the person after or…?
Ee Hsien: There was one that it ended negatively…yeah, but most of all, it’s quite alright, it’s quite alright, in the end, you’ll be like ah, it’s fine, it’s okay and then after that, when they look at the final result, they say actually, it’s not bad.
Emma: And I think recognizing that you’re both learning and growing in this skill set together, although in slightly different fields, you and the director position and them in like a cast or crew role, because if I really think about it, I don’t know that many people who are into film, specifically. Maybe like photography or videography or editing, but not film as a whole thing in the Director and the brain behind it, I suppose. Like, not the person who has the vision and the drive to see it through, that in itself just opens up a lot of different opportunities for people, If it’s something that they’ve wanted to try or something that they’re curious about and maybe it’s not a professional set or whatever, but you still learn a lot about either, A, working with people or B, just being around equipment and seeing how other people work. So how have you seen your projects bring the homeschool community together? Because a lot of the people who you work with are people that you either know or are friends with, right?
Ee Hsien: So how did I see myself bring the homeschool community together…the homeschool committee that I’m very, very close with would be the homeschool sports fellowship group in Kovan was started in 2015. So that was six years ago, when I was still in my primary school. And then some of these people were there since day one and…to the project, I can see that it also broke some ice, where I realised I didn’t really talk to this person. And then I realised, oh, I talked to them more. And then I know there’s that one particular person, where I know I can really work with this particular person. That’s for myself. Yeah and how it has brought the homeschool community together. I think it’s a lot of fun.
So especially for my drama production granted, and you can really see like on the final day, everybody just knows what to do because we have had the rehearsals come up. We didn’t have enough rehearsals. We didn’t have enough because we actually miss two rehearsals because there was one there was a cast member who was not well, and I was like oh dear. Okay, what do we do? So okay, have to miss and quite a key character some more. So I just told the cast, rest well, it’s okay, we haven’t settled but to be honest, the back of my head, I was like, how’s it going to play out? But God was good. And the end result was actually not bad.
One of the homeschool moms- because her daughter was acting in the play, and she was saying that, “Oh, she’s actually really impressed by how everybody just knows what to do…and it just runs so smoothly”. And all these, they put memories- they really leave a lot of memories in the community. So besides the parents…if I need a family day, normally I’ll go to, like, the homeschool moms, so far have not approached any homeschool dads, for the Father roles that play, i actually approach the coaches, i approached 2 coaches before.
Emma: Oh yeah yeah yeah I remember, [laughs] he was a rugby coach.
Ee Hsien: Yeah, yeah, so it enables my most ambitious production to date, I approached my touch rugby coach. He’s actually quite a personal family friend as well, before sports started, I already knew him because he was mentored by my dad, so I knew him since I was really young. He knows that I’m in this line, So I approached him, I said, “Hey, we have this role, do you want to play?” and he’s like, game on man. So he just came, just came in and gave his best. I met him yesterday. And he was saying it’s still a very distinct memory, even though it happened many months ago.
Other than that, yeah, when I talk about some of my productions with the homeschool people that I’m with, and they say that most of them have even watched it. So it’s like a common talking point. And then we can discuss the story.
So I remember one of my friends, he was asking me, hey, why did I put this into the story, and he brought up a really good point, which was kind of like a loophole and I was like, why is that in the story? And it comes to the discussion itself. And then afterward, when you talk with a cast, you can find out like, Oh, what was it behind the camera? Because for me, I’m behind the camera most of the time. And then for the cast, they are in front. And then for the crew, you can also talk with them. It’s- it’s just this it’s like a subject in itself, that those people who are involved or those people who watch it, we can all talk about when we eat together.
Emma: Awh, so wholesome. As your final question, how would you encourage somebody who’s interested in starting in this field?
Ee Hsien: I think first of all, you must have some values. A lot of people in the media industry, creative industry, they will just say go and try because you never know, like even the song in Zootopia, try everything. I think you must have a boundary, you must draw a set of boundaries, you must have a set of values that you want to and some principles, and always go back to those principles. So if you want to create something that’s against your principles, then you say no, hey no, this was against my principle, maybe I shouldn’t create this or I shouldn’t add this element into my film. And then with these principles, people will know your film for that.
So one example will be Jack Neo. Jack Neo’s films always bring together the family, he always has, once the scene- or a lot of his movies, he always has one scene where there’s the family eating together or the family struggles. And then at the end, it’s how the family works it out because his movies are…he’s very family oriented. So that’s one principle that he holds on to if you want to do it, Firstly, you must have some principles.
Secondly, I think you must be eager to learn. You can’t just say that like, oh, just because I learned it this way, then I don’t want to go and try. You might have a cast and crew who has a very very good idea or they know something that’s better than you, you might have one cast was really good at acting, and then he can say that, you know, actually, I can do it this way, then you must be willing to try it and you say, okay you know, how is it if you were to do it this way, and then go and explore. But of course, you must also look at the time, so if we’re rushing for time, then that’s a whole new, different story.
And the last thing is, obviously, listen, well, it’s something that I am still working at. Something that I’m really not very good at. And I apologise to anybody who’s watching this, and you know, [inaudible] before because I never listen to you during a production. But yeah, you really must listen to the cast and crew. Don’t be too hard on them.
Because, okay first of all, I’ve never paid any of my cast before. It’s all of their own goodwill. And you must understand that that’s the first thing. And if you’re just starting out, you probably don’t have a lot of money. And…you will need your friends. You will need your contacts who are kind enough to help you in this to come in and act for you or come in and lend you their gear. You know, can’t come in and shoot for you, come in and write that script. So you must understand that they’re doing all this for their goodwill. And you must know that they can pull out anytime, seriously, because there’s no contract, there’s nothing, a lot of it relies on their own goodwill. There’s a lot of giving, a lot of sacrifice so I must be appreciative of that.
And you must know that you are never good enough. Don’t think that you are so pro and that oh, just because I’m director then everybody’s gonna go this way. take in other people’s suggestions, but still be captain of the ship. Yeah, you’re captain of the ship, But it’s best idea wins, that’s what I learned from James Wan, the Aquaman director and the sole director. Yeah, so he’s captain of the ship, but his (way of thinking) is best idea wins so if anyone has any idea, no matter how low rank you are, in a sense, then he will listen to you. And he will just put it all in and say okay, you know what, maybe this guy’s idea was better. Then he will go with that. So that’s what I would tell those who are aspiring.
Follow up interview (2023):
1. What do you do now?
Ee Hsien: I’m finishing my last 3 weeks of my diploma in screen media at NAFA.
2. Compared to the last time you were with us, what has changed?
Ee Hsien: I got nominated into the NAFA Talent Development Programme, which attaches me with a film mentor and gives me opportunities and funding for me to hone my filmmaking skills. Through the programme, I learned about how to craft more exciting and interesting stories and characters, improve my visuals for shots, and incorporate more creative choices into my films.
3. Do you have tips or tricks for teen homeschoolers who want to continue homeschooling?
Ee Hsien: Homeschooling is a privilege for which you must thank your parents. Use the freedom of choice that homeschooling gives well, and learn useful skills like timing management and take up group work. Be self-directed and develop a habit of discipline to study first then play.
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