Ben Tan Kai Xiang
I am an animator, illustrator and for fun musician!
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As a filmmaker, I love the rare film that exists for itself. Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday and Nobuhiro Yamashita's Linda Linda Linda come to mind. And I love making films about things I know - my life, my friends and my family!
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As an image maker, I love drawing things that are silly, whimisical and tactile; I particularly like working with traditional mediums, pencil, watercolour and paper to envision new and fresh things!
Awards
Experience
Cartoons Underground
Best Student film + Audience Choice Award (2023/ 2025)
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ITFS (Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films)
Student Category// Special Mention (2025)
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New York Short Animation Festival
Fall 2025, Best 2D Animation (2025)​
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Singapore Youth Film Festival
Student Category// Best editing (2026)
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Skills/ Software
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Adobe Suite (Photoshop, premiere pro, after effects)
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TV Paint
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Garageband/ Music production
Finding Pictures - Visual Development Artist, Animator
Mar 2025 - Aug 2025
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Designed, coloured and drew backgrounds, characters and animation assets for social media reels commissioned by the National Heritage Board.
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Worked closely within a team to storyboard and shape the visual direction of a 3min film played as part of the "Not Mere Spectators"​ exhibition.
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Worked on developing the rotoscope animation style and pipeline used in said film, and was involved in the animation and clean-up process.
Finding Pictures - Colourist
Oct 2025 - Feb 2025
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Remotely coloured and cleaned-up animation frames in TV paint and Adobe Animate based on colour and style guides for the Singapore Pavillion at the World Expo 2025 Osaka.
Finding Pictures - Visual Development Intern
May 2023 - Aug 2023
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Worked closely with the directors of Zombie Safari to storyboard, colour script and visualize the style frames for the shows opening sequence.
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Produced style frames, backgrounds and animation assets for a 15 second commercial for Ueshima Coffee.
Education
Nanyang Technological University, School of Art Design and Media
My films
Goodbye Old Fish (2023)
Mountain Mountain (2024)
Aug 2020 - Jul 2024
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BFA in Media Arts, with a specialization in Animation
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Graduated with honours (Highest distinction)
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NTU University Scholar's Program