by Rachel Kok Chian Yee, Content Contributor
As our beneficiaries enter their teenage years, it is exciting to watch them develop their means of self-expression and their aspirations for the future. 17-year-old Kai Ann has found his calling in creative work and is especially intrigued by the design process of animation films. Similarly, 13-year-old Lisa has developed an interest in design, but while Kai Ann is considering undertaking a college-level course in design animation, Lisa hopes to learn more about the mechanics of mobile games.
Both Kai Ann and Lisa share a gift in creating artistic presentations through the Microsoft PowerPoint application. For Kai Ann, this skill was honed in secondary school, where he started converting the learning notes provided by his teachers to presentation slides to expedite his revision processes. Thereafter, he began to explore the use of PowerPoint in creating digital art. He has used his expertise to create ZOOM backgrounds for his online classes and notes for religious purposes.
“PowerPoint has a lot of stock images, and I like to design images and put them together to create something very beautiful,” he told us. “I find beautiful images very motiva[ting], and I feel very fulfilled when I can help my friends convert their notes to soft copy too. I’m very interested in designing things, [especially] when I get to activate my design knowledge to create useful [content].” - Kai Ann
At the same time, Lisa enjoys her Info-Comm Technology (ICT) classes in school, where she has performed spectacularly in her software-related assignments. In an interview with Lisa and her mother, they shared that Lisa was particularly adept in using PowerPoint slides, where she designed a presentation deck on her pet dog, Angel, and her process of training her pet, to be presented in class. This process was enhanced by her keen interest in cameras and photography, where she has recently become a member of her school’s Media Club.
Beyond learning how to use the Microsoft applications, the two continue to cultivate their creative interests beyond the academic realm. As part of a project for his co-curricular activity (CCA), Kai Ann started to examine the use of mobile applications such as CapCut to create and edit video skits, a skill he hopes to further develop as a church volunteer. This self-teaching process has been facilitated by the accessibility of video editing tutorials on Youtube, which has also become his primary source of inspiration. Given his interests, Kai Ann’s school career counsellor has recommended him to enrol in a polytechnic diploma course in design animation upon graduation.
“I am very interested to learn how to sketch and combine images of cartoon characters in different motions,” he explained, “watching animation films has inspired me to learn more [about them], and hopefully, I can work for such companies [in the future].”
When asked the same question, Lisa delightedly held up her mobile screen to show us her progress on Roblox, an online game platform where users are invited to program and play games created by each other. Lisa has been actively practising her design skills on this platform, such as designing novel-looking avatar characters and, most recently, a murder mystery game that she hopes to share with her friends.
“I like these thriller games,” she piped, “it’s basically like police and thief, where [users can search for] clues to find the murderer.” - Lisa
In fact, Lisa discussed her hopes to develop her own mobile game someday, where she comically emphasized her desire to create “a fun murder mystery game”. As an enthusiast of hands-on activities, she is very interested in understanding how game developers create and process gaming-related systems and is particularly enthralled with the prospect of recreating real-life situations in gameplay.
As someone who considers himself an artistic individual, Kai Ann also hopes to create animation films with novel cartoon characters which have not appeared on television. His lifelong ambition is to work for a renowned media and entertainment organization such as The Walt Disney Company, inspired by his favourite Disney film, Zootopia. He explained that he was moved by the story of Judy Hopps in the movie, whose small size and limited capabilities enabled many of the characters to despise her. Ultimately, her ability to overcome her circumstances and prove herself as a worthy police officer compelled Kai Ann to research more deeply into his design interest.
“I want to create animation films that can engage the audience by teaching them such life values, [such as] trying your best and not giving up. Zootopia really motivated me; it taught me that even if I fall, I can climb up again.”
Kai Ann is working hard to develop himself creatively, as he considers it his strongest suit and a necessary ingredient for success.
“I think creativity will help you go further in life,” he expounded. “If you keep following the less creative way, it will lead to a dead end. But if you are creative, you can succeed and even expand your capabilities. I want to create cartoons that can inspire people too.”
Rachel Kok
a marketing university student in Singapore who loves bubble tea and coffee more than anything. She also enjoys music and film, and tries her best to read as much as she can.
As a language lover, she is proficient in English, Mandarin and Japanese, and enjoys the occasional debate about the areas these 3 languages have in common, especially when it comes to dissecting song lyrics.
Rachel identifies her purpose in life as engaging with like-minded people and bringing joy to others through her words.