Timeline
2017 | Missed Opportunity
Disqualified! One of the most significant events and challenges that has influenced me as a person was being disqualified from the 2017 Shanghai Student Film Festival. For months, my crew and I worked on this film non-stop. Missed Opportunity is the second love story I have written, directed and produced. I wanted to explore the consequences of our choices in life. Little did I know, I was experiencing consequences of my own choice in creating this film.
The film was disqualified at the Shanghai Student Film Festival because it exceeded 26 seconds. An email indicating the “film looks way beyond a student film level - I'm curious whether professionals were involved.” I was stunned and I immediately emailed the Head Judge claiming it was poor judgment to assume young artists couldn’t possibly be as good as adult professionals. At the time I thought I was fighting for my art, but in truth I was wrong and I needed to take responsibility for the choices I made. On the day of the festival, I sought out the Head Judge, introduced myself and genuinely gave my apologies. I have learned we must take responsibility for our own actions not only in our academic accomplishments but also our life’s achievements.
Role:
Director, Producer, Editor, and Writer
Awards:
Shanghai Community International School
Outstanding Achievement IB DP Film
2016 |Thailand
This video was my first attempt to document my travels with my filmmaking techniques. To me, it is important to document it through the eyes of my emotions. I want the video to show my senses and experience of the place and not another “fun” travel video you see on any Instagram account.
Role:
Director, Editor and Cinematographer
2016 | The Hobbit Promotional Trailer
I feel very honoured for the opportunity to use my filmmaking skills to assist my school in promotional events. This video was one of many work I had done promoting the Drama Department. To capture the essence of drama I purposely used low angle shots to surprise the audience and manipulated the lighting to make the cast appeared more dominant.
Role:
Director, Editor and Cinematographer
2016 | UN Day Promotional Trailer
This is another video I made for my school as a promotional tool advocating diversity capturing our spirit on UN Day. I incorporated the tool of a drone for extreme high angle shots to document the sheer size of the celebration then I set the camera to 120 frames per second to capture the fun and laughter, a true festival of diversity.
Role:
Director, Editor and Cinematographer
2016 | Color
I was challenged by my film teacher my first year in IB DP Film to explore the concept of color and what it means to me through the medium of film. To me, color is what makes our visual world an interesting place. Colors combined with lighting can be so powerful that it drives and dictates our frame of mind and emotions.
Role:
Director, Editor and Cinematographer
2015 | Young Love
I had always been fascinated to explore the concept of love. When the chance to submit a script on the topic of love came around, I jumped at it. Love comes when you least expect it no matter the age. I ultimately won Best Script and was fortunate enough to have Emmanuel Benbihy, an international renowned producer and organizer of Shanghai Wo Ai Ni (Shanghai I Love You) Film Collective, take me under his wings. Along the way I recruited my friends as my crew and together we found funding for the production of Young Love. As a 15 year old director and producer, it was a challenge working with adult actors. On one occasion, the two adult actors while chatting during the break were unaware the wireless collar microphones were still on. The sound crew, including myself, could overhear them complaining about how they were working with a bunch of amateurs. I took it very personally. Eventually I realized this was a stigma very difficult for us to avoid when in fact we were a bunch of kids! I had two choices: get upset and ignore their comments, or I can take the high road, ask them for their suggestions on how to be more organized, listen and reflect. I chose the latter. Adults being older, automatically assume they know better. In most cases, that theory rings true, but I have learned from this experience that the key is to listen. This has taught me a true leader is one that will listen to criticism, and willing to question and to improve. I am proud to say the film has subsequently received many awards and it is a testament of a lesson learned to me and my crew.
Role:
Director, Producer, and Writer
Awards:
Shanghai Wo Ai Ni (Shanghai I Love You) Film Collective
Best Script
Best Producer
Best Music
Best Actress
2015 | Line 9
A friend of mine was caught doing graffiti on subway trains in Shanghai. He was taken by the police and the local media caught wind and painted him to be this malevolent Caucasian kid with disturbed “foreign” values tainting the streets of Shanghai.
I was intrigued by his story as I knew he wasn’t a bad kid but simply chose the wrong platform for his artistic expression in a city with no tolerance for vandalism. And I felt it was unfair to generalize an entire culture on one incident. I decided to make a “video” to vindicate him and the Western culture. As the director and cinematographer, little did I know I was actually making my first documentary.
Role:
Director, Editor, and Cinematographer
Awards:
Shanghai Student Film Festival
Best Cinematography
Best Documentary
Best Film
Shanghai Community International School Film Festival
Best Film
2015 | Cash
Cash is about greed. I tried to show the extent of one would do for even a small amount of money when one is desperate. This was a high school project for my film class in 9th Grade. As the director and cinematographer, this was my very first attempt at film-making. I had always been impressed by Hans Zimmerman’s work and decided to incorporate his soundtrack into my work by complimenting it in a film noir style.
Role:
Director, Editor, and Cinematographer