Want to be the next George Lucas? Or Steven Spielberg? Now you can, with SAE Institute Singapore, where local filmmaker Tay Hoo Wee began his journey in film.

By Candice Chan

Finding SAE Institute Singapore
Tay Hoo Wee started off as a multimedia artist, and only became a filmmaker after his National Service. The well-spoken 27-year-old explains, “While I was doing my National Service, I was already looking out for a reputable school to start my film education. I asked around and SAE was one of the highly recommended names. So I signed up with SAE, where I went through the whole process of filmmaking, from pre-production to post-production...”

Inspiration
The reason Hoo Wee gives for becoming a filmmaker is simple. “I’ve always been a movie fanatic!” he smiles. And it helped that his parents brought him to the cinema as a child, and let him choose his own path in life, to realise his dreams.

“The people who inspired me were directors and producers like Steven Spielberg and Hou Hsiao-hsien from Taiwan. Different directors, impressive movies. I wanted to emulate them,” says Hoo Wee.

“The first English movie I watched was Batman Returns,” he recalls. He admired how Hollywood could churn out special effects and good quality filmmaking, and how he related to a foreign culture through film. Which is why he chose to be a documentary filmmaker. “It allows me to do what I initially dreamed of—to get people to recognise what I want to say, be it about people, local issues, cultural issues, or just sharing creative mindsets with other directors and producers.”

Making films
Hoo Wee believes that films have to be relevant and current. Filmmakers can’t just do what they like; they have to look at the trend and what moviegoers are watching. For instance, in the light of the impending demolition of the National Stadium, he was approached to do a film called The Kallang Roar. “The moment I read the script, I went, ‘Wow, I want to know more.’ So that’s the type of thing that, to me, makes an impact.”

Apart from The Kallang Roar, Hoo Wee’s other ongoing project is a documentary about Singapore’s music industry. “The producer of the documentary approached me and said, ‘We have a serious problem in the music industry.’ So the film shows how musicians come and go, their songs, as well as how the political structure changed the lives of the musicians.” One of the interviewees for the film is Joseph Pereira, who has been doing research on the music industry over the past decade, and written a book called Legends of the Golden Venus, on bands from the 1960s to the 1990s. And although Hoo Wee has a ready pool of musicians to draw on in his school, it has been a learning experience for him. “I’m not a music person,” he grins. He acknowledges, though, that as a director, it is important to know something about music and how to use it in film.

His pet topic is environmental issues. Unfortunately, as he points out, “It is very difficult to do, in terms of the time and resources we have. It takes a lot of time to produce—two or three years, if you self-fund.”

“I try to be a minimalist. My main idea is to make realistic films, not too dramatised, no camera tricks. That’s how Hou Hsiao-hsien started too,” he adds. One of his most memorable projects was Happy Birthday Ah Mah, about a grandmother who lives in a rural setting, and an urbanite grandson. “That was a very good film. It was made on Pulau Ubin, in about a month. It was quite satisfying because the quality is there. And the most important thing is that visually it looks good!”

However, Hoo Wee hasn’t always stuck to documentaries. He once experimented with a horror film, and found the challenge. “The end product wasn’t really what I wanted. Horror isn’t just about frightening the audience and special effects and all that. I’m now looking at Stephen King, how his novels evoke people’s emotions and fear.”

Looking ahead
Hoo Wee’s advises aspiring filmmakers, “Follow your desire. This is a privileged industry. You have to really show your desire to stay in it. Really prove it.” He observes that for anyone who wants to know more about the industry, any school like SAE will provide an education, but it’s still up to the individual. “You have to be really professional and know what you want.” That’s what he learnt from SAE; students only have lessons in the morning, so they have afternoons all to themselves. They can choose to stay in school to prepare their material, or go out and do field work. “The thing is, if you have desire in the industry, then you’ll happily stick around to exchange ideas, stuff like that,” observes Hoo Wee. In fact, he adds, SAE could almost be said to be a mini media industry on its own!

As for himself, Hoo Wee says, “I hope I can carry on doing what I like, carry on being a documentary filmmaker, getting a chance to make pictures.”

About SAE Institute
Established in 1991, SAE Institute Singapore is the first institute within SAE's international network to be set up in Asia. It was set up as Singapore's premiere audio engineering training institute that later diversified into general media technology education.

Today, SAE Institute Singapore offers a range of tertiary education programmes in sound engineering, digital filmmaking, electronic music production, creative media, animation and games.

Visit http://www.sae.edu for more information.

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