ShinAe Ahn - Amos Yee: a Man Beyond Our Time

I was considered a child prodigy when I was 13 (though whether I'm a genius now that's for you to decide). Here's the story:

Ever since I was 8 years old and got introduced to the internet, I loved watching videos. I watched all the most popular you tubers at the time like Smosh, Shane Dawson, Nigahiga. All of them are pretty bad and I wished I had spent my time more wisely. However, one content creator that was genuinely great, and I think still holds up, was James Rolfe (most commonly known as the 'Angry Video Game Nerd').

J ames Rolfe really cultivated my passion for creating in a deep way, whether it's through his well-produced AVGN episodes, or his personal films like 'Cine massacre 200' where he described in potent detail the joy and passion of making films. James made most of his videos by himself in his house, so he really pushed the limits in my mind of how much great art can be produced by just one person. He made me feel like if I wanted to, I could make cool videos by myself too.

So when I was 12, during a long 3-month holiday just after I completed my primary school final year exams, after passively consuming internet content for 4 years, I finally decided I was actually going to make some videos.

I wanted to get my friends to join in, but they weren't interested. I didn't have any equipment, except a low-quality $90 camera that was laying around the house, and a cheap computer with some free editing software I had downloaded.

A nd so for 3 months , for what felt like every hour of every day, I made videos. They were mostly comedy skits, classics like: 'Trying to Juggle', 'The Teleporting Kid', and 'Puberty'. I practiced filming, using props (stuff around the house), editing, and sometimes I even wrote a script.

N ow what seemed like just having fun, was actually 3 months of intense deliberate practice. As expected most of the videos weren't good, and barely anyone saw them (each video got around 30-50 views, so basically only some of my friends and family saw them). But for the time I was doing something I loved and had at least some people watching and giving feedback ('The Teleporting Kid' was so cool!), that was enough to make me feel fulfilled.

M y Moment

Once Secondary School started, I was still making videos. And very soon, my legacy as a video making prodigy, would be cemented. My dad knew I made videos but he didn't think much of them. However he had a local newspaper he read often, and one day it just so happened that the newspaper was holding a short film competition. The requirements are: Every contestant has to submit a film that lasts 3 minutes maximum. Anyone can enter. The winner of best short film would get a $5000 camcorder. There is also a best actor and best actress prize that has a $100 cash reward.

M y dad showed me the article of the event, with no expectation that I'd enter. I entered the event. A total of about 200 people submitted their films, and I was the only one who was underage, by a lot. There was one 13-year-old boy, and the rest were adults in their 20s, many of them were attending film school. Now even though it was a competition, I was just making videos as usual. It's only that I had to limit the video to 3 minutes. So in my same messy, crummy room, with the same crummy quality camera, I made my film.

F or those who don't know how the story turned out, would you like to guess what place my video got in the competition, in both the best film and best actor categories? And look, set your expectations realistically of course, as realistic as a 13-year-old kid's homemade video can be compared to experienced filmmakers with access to actors' expensive cameras and sets.

So did I miraculously make it to the top 10 for best film? Did I maybe even almost win best actor?

I got 1st place for both best film and best actor. The only categories in the competition I didn't win were the ones I couldn't enter (like best actress). There was a fancy awards ceremony in a theater and most of it was just seeing me on stage. I was the breakout star of that event.

I received the $5000 camcorder and $100 cheque. Afterwards I was featured many times on the front page of the local newspaper who ran the festival (read by 100s of thousands of readers). And also because one of the judges was Singaporean film director Jack Neo (a household name in Singapore), I got a supporting role in a mainstream Singapore movie.

Now, did I deserve it? Were they just generous in handing me first place because I was a kid? Well, go watch the video and judge it for yourself. It's right here, it's only 3 min. We'll come back and discuss it once you do.

Finished? Funny video wasn't it?

The Video

Now there is a crowd of people that was noticeably offended that my video won first place (you can take a look at the other competitors' films by the search for 'TNP-FFF' on YouTube). And that's understandable. Because you have people who literally went to school for film making, studied videography for years, took weeks to make their short film, might have even spent money getting the necessary sets, equipment, hiring actors, etc. Then a 13-year-old made a video in his room in 2 days and got the first place.

I t feels unfair that I got it. And I'll also mention that the judges of the competition aren't exactly the most credible in determining the quality of a film. Jack Neo is just a generic, bland mainstream filmmaker who produces shallow entertainment for the masses. Another judge was a movie reviewer with questionable tastes; he thought James Cameron's Avatar was a masterpiece (bad but not that bad), he also gave Twilight Breaking Dawn 4 stars (very very bad).

B ut, at least for that film festival, I think those judges made a great decision. And I'll go as far as to say that my film was not only the best, it was the best by far.

Why? Well first we have to ask the question: What makes a great film?

Is it the amount of work put into it? Is it technical skill? Is it the ambition to make a deep, socially-relevant point?

N ope, the most important factor that makes a great film is emotional connection. That's a vague term if you don't break it down, but essentially it's: how your film connects with an audience in a meaningful way, and that's typically achieved from a combination of characters, dialogue and story. And if you want to go even deeper, it's using those aforementioned elements to reflect your personality. Which is why art is so great, it provides an avenue for people to clearly reveal a part of themselves they'd like the world to see, that they might not be able to share anywhere else.