AT2: Artist Enquiry

Student number: 200857T

Wordcount: 1239

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Artist

Development
Kathleen Bu
 “I am a filmmaker. I am
fascinated by storytelling in
any medium- text, film,
theatre, music. I believe that
it is through experience and
stories that we learn to
grow as people.”
-Kathleen Bu

riter - Assistant
iptw Dir
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Sc
to
r

Kathleen Bu
Sa
la v a ti n - 2 0 1 7 Kathleen Bu is a young freelance
o
riter - Art Directo
tw r
rip film director and scriptwriter in
Sc
Singapore. Bu started to direct two
short films with the titles “An
Elephant Ate A Goldfish”, and
“EDEN” in 2018 and “Lady E's
Wedding Revenge Plan” in 2019. In
2020, she received three honorable
In T
im e - 2 017
Scriptwriter
-D awards at the 6th National Youth
ire
ct
or
Film Awards-short film for the film
“Lady E's Wedding Revenge Plan”.
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AN ELEPHANT ATE A
GOLDFISH

About the artwork

This is the first film that Bu directed. "An
Elephant ate a Goldfish" is about Claire, a
health care teacher who struggled with
problems in her career and her relationship
with her dad. Throughout the film, a short
story with the same title was included as
animation and it was used to symbolise the Close-up shot
film message (Honour Singapore, 2019) A close-up highlights the emotions and facial
expressions of a character (Filippo, 2019).
Artistic Techniques This shot was only used when the film
reached its full duration, which mainly
Camera Angles described Claire's different emotions in each
Medium shot part of the movie. The close-up shot was the
The medium shot portrays the filming shot final angle that completed the chain of
and displays the characters' feelings in a emotions and Claire's character
subtle way (Filippo, 2019). For instance, in the development throughout the film.
scenario below, Claire introduced a goldfish
to her students. Nonetheless, Claire's facial
expressions did not show much in the scene.

Symbolism
In films, symbolism is the depiction of one thing through
the use of something, such as a location, item, or
character (Steains, 2020). As mentioned before, Bu used a
story to symbolise her movie message to viewers. The
story conveyed a misunderstanding message in a
relationship between an elephant and a goldfish which was
similar to Claire and her dad’s. Through the symbolic
meaning, viewers were more engaged in the film and also
learned a valuable message from Kathleen Bu’s artwork to
overcome confusion in relationships, be able to open up
with family members and concern about their hardships.
EDEN
About the artwork
“EDEN” was the second film directed by
Kathleen Bu. In the film, humanity already
achieved immortality, so “EDEN” was set up
as a clinic of ending lifetime. At that time, if
an individual wanted to die, they had to go
to EDEN. Chester, a regular office worker,
who was tired of his life, met many people
from different stages of life when waiting
to his turn to die at EDEN.
Artistic Techniques
Colours
According to the psychology of colour in
film, black and grey are sometimes used to
portray characters' feelings (Ferreira 2019).
The colours used in “EDEN” were mostly
neutral colours, like grey and black. As in
EDEN, Chester's emotions were also
portrayed in black and grey, which
represented depression and unhappiness
(Fusco, 2016). However, the interesting part
was that the colours get darker every time
Chester showed off his true feelings.
Camera Angles
Like her previous film, Kathleen Bu still used
certain angles to show off the character's
emotions from time to time, each time the
camera got closer to the character's face in
order to capture their facial expression.
Similarly, EDEN focused on Chester’s emotion
expression. For instance, here are some
examples of Chester’s emotion and how
camera angles were used to portray it:
This is the first scene of Chester
in the film, with a medium close-
up shot. The shot captured only
the face of the character and
Chester’s true emotions did not
appear yet.
The next scene was filmed in a
medium close-up angle when
Chester was sitting in the check-
up room. During the scene,
Chester started to show his true
emotions of being sad more
obviously.
In the last scene, when Chester
was in the suicide room, the
camera began to zoom closely into
his face. Until the very last scene,
viewers got a chance to look
deeper into Chester's desperate
facial expression.
EDEN
Camera Angles

Medium Close up
The film focuses on Chester’s character
development and expression. In the
beginning, he does not show any emotion on
his face, but only a straight depressed
expression due to the lack of energy.
Corresponding to her previous film, Kathleen
Bu still uses certain angles to show off the
character's emotions from time to time,
each time the angles get closer to the
character's face in order to capture their
facial expression.
Extreme Close-up
The closest angles can capture the real and
rare expression of the character (Filippo,
This is the first scene of 2019). There were two close-up angles used
Chester in the film, with a throughout the film. The first one is when
medium close-up shot. The Chester was in a room with a female
shot captured only the
face of the character.
assistant who asked him if he ever thought
However, the true about his future. Viewers can see the
emotions of Chester had frustration and disappointment in his eyes
not appeared yet.
clearly in this scene due to the fact that he
had been living in vain for the past years.
This is the first time viewers are able to see
The next scene is when
Chester’s genuine reaction for the first time
Chester sits in the check- in the film, rather than his stone-cold face.
up room, filmed in a
medium close-up shot.
The extreme close-up was used again when
During the session,
Chester showed his true Chester was having a mental breakdown in
emotions of being sad. the suicide room. Beforehand, he was
passing one room when he heard the person
was suffering from the EDEN poison. Back in
his room, Chester started to think about his
In the last scene, when
Chester was in the suicide life and showed the deepest feelings inside
room, the camera began to of him. These angles further help to deliver
zoom closely into his face.
the faithful emotions of Chester, his
Until the very last scene,
viewers got a chance to look torment about living a meaningless life.
deeper into Chester's
desperate facial expression.
LADY E'S WEDDING
REVENGE PLAN
About the artwork
“Lady E's Wedding Revenge Plan” brought Bu
three awards at the 6th National Youth
Film Awards. This film was about Eloise, a
weird teenager who always tried to do
things the way she wanted. One fateful
day, her sister announced her engagement
to her boyfriend, Sean, whom Eloise hated
the most. So she decided to make a plan to Music
ruin Alicia's wedding (Honour Singapore,
Music plays such an important role to set up
2019).
the mood for the whole film (Howsley, 2020).
“Lady E's Wedding Revenge Plan”, is also the
Artistic Techniques first film that Bu added classical and rock
Colours music as stylistic features. Hence, it was
The colours in movies are often used to appealing to viewers.
portray the characters' emotions .For Classical Music (02:18)
instance, yellow is the colour of joy and
The classical music used in this film was
optimism (Fusco, 2016). Similarly, in EDEN,
Symphony No. 5, which was known as the
colours were used to depict Eloise's
symphony of fate (Deutsche Welle, 2020). So
emotions. Eloise only felt happy, safe, or, as
when the music started to play when Alicia
she said, "feeling something" when she was
announced her engagement, it may have meant
around her sister. Therefore, in each shot
that this incident happened by fate. Also, this
having her sister in it, viewers could see that
was the event that changed Eloise's normal life
yellow colour was all over the scene.
and her mentality, in which she reacted to the
news with shocking and unhappy reactions.

Rock Music (05:29)

Similarly, rock music appeared in the film while
Eloise was planning and preparing for her
revenge at the wedding. The sound of rock in
films somehow brought the deep feelings of
the characters (Law, 2020). The sound also
portrayed the outrageous emotions of Eloise
since she became rebellious in order to keep
from getting engaged.
 SELF
REFLECTION
Although similar film-making techniques were used in all three films of
Katheleen Bu, her artwork analysis showed the development of her in film
production in each one. The first movie, An Elephant ate a Goldfish, mainly
focused on the camera angles to evoke the main character’s emotions of
each scene. In addition, the symbolism of an animated story with the same
title. Out of the two techniques mentioned, symbolism is the stylistics that I
want to try in my next product, however, I would use a specific object to
symbolise my film, unlike a story as Kathleen Bu did.

In the second film-EDEN, Bu continued to use camera angles to portray the

main character’s emotions, which is similar to An Elephant Ate A Goldfish.
Also, she applied dark colours to depict the dystopian world. The biggest
difference between EDEN and her latest film was Bu started to use colours
aligning with camera angles to denote the character's development of
emotions, both of the stylistics connected properly with each other. Hence, I
want to apply colour effects to my film together with appropriate camera
angles, but in my product, I will try a variety of colour tones that would suit
my film’s vibes.
Lastly, Lady E's Wedding Revenge Plan showed her best development in film
production. She retained the use of color to evoke the characters’ emotions
and showed the character's development throughout the film. Moreover, in
this film, Kathleen Bu started to add music to her film, which she had not done
before. What I like the most is the use of classical music, which helped portray
the character's emotions. In my opinion, the calming sound of classical music
even enhances the frustration better as it is completely different from the
current characters’ mood.
 REFERENCES
Deutsche Welle 2018, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: The truth about the ‘symphony of
fate’ | DW | 13.09.2018, DW.COM.

Filippo, CS 2019, Filming 101: Types of Camera Shots and Angles, PolarPro.

Fusco, J 2016, The Psychology of Color in Film (with examples), No Film School.

Honour Singapore 2019a, Meet the Filmmaker: Kathleen on ‘An Elephant ate a Goldfish’,
www.youtube.com, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzc37B9x6DA>.

― 2019b, Meet the Filmmakers: Kathleen on ‘Lady E’s Wedding Revenge Plan’,
www.youtube.com, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCocwmE-Qug>.

Howsley, S 2020, The Importance of Music on Film & Emotion, Raindance.

Law, S 2020, The 25 Greatest Uses Of Rock Music In Movies, Kerrang!,

<https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-25-greatest-uses-of-rock-music-in-movies/>.

Nicole Martins Ferreira 2019, Color Psychology: How Color Meanings Affect Your
Brand, Oberlo, Oberlo Dropshipping app.

Polytechnic, NA 2019, An Elephant Ate A Goldfish in SGIFF 2019 submissions from Ngee
Ann Polytechnic, Vimeo, viewed 2021,
<https://vimeo.com/channels/1490658/316520049>.

Steains, T 2020, Film Symbolism | How to Analyse Symbolism in Film or TV, Matrix
Education.

Viddsee 2018, Eden by Kathleen Bu - Singapore Sci-fi, Drama Short Film | Viddsee,
www.viddsee.com, <https://www.viddsee.com/video/eden/46tzd>.

-2019, Lady E’s Wedding Revenge Plan by Kathleen Bu - Singapore Drama, Comedy
Short Film | Viddsee, www.viddsee.com, <https://www.viddsee.com/video/lady-e-
wedding-revenge-plan/0m1xb?channel=national-youth-film-awards>.