A Designer of Arts and Tech
VIDEOGRAPHY
WEMEDIA LAB DOCUMENTARIES
As a member of Syracuse University's official media "Wemedia Lab", I work as a core producer, camera man and post-production editor in the team. I created documentaries about stories of international students and Chinese immigrants in the States and seek to tell the first-hand experience of life in America to my audience.
Documentary - God's Blessings: Chinese Barber in the States
Shu Ping is a Chinese barber who immigrated to the United States since 2008. She has been working as a barber ever since, but her experience has never been smooth as she thought it would be. Over the pandemic, she was evicted from her former barber shop because her customers were mainly Chinese. The owner thought they were all Covid-19 patients so she fired her. I interviewed Ping about her frustrating experience as an immigrant worker, but also showed how she eventually overcame the obstacle by converting to Christianity. Losing a job was once considered as misfortune, but she now thinks of it as God's Blessing to move on to a new life.
Documentary - A Day in The Life of an Architecture Student
In this documentary, I followed Lynn, a freshman at the architecture school of Syracuse University for 24 hours and recorded his daily routine.
Architecture students at SU are known as hardworking individuals who often spend nights at their studio working on projects without sleeping. Therefore, their activities after midnight remain as a mystery for most SU students. The goal of this documentary is to uncover the myth and show how architecture students plan their day differently from everyone else.
Vlog - Cutting Down a Christmas Tree
I followed Shu Ping's family on a little road trip to a Christmas Tree farm. Filming with a DSLR camera and an Iphone with a stabilizer, I managed to be a participant in the activity and be the cameraman at the same time. The video was published and posted on the official Wechat and Bilibili account of Syracuse University.
Documentary - The La Casita Cultural Center
The La Casita Cultural Center is a Syracuse University founded Latino culture museum dedicated to share and promoted culture diversity in the United States. I was a frequent visitor to the museum and decided to make a short introduction video for the museum. The filming took place during the 10th Year Anniversary of the museum, when past volunteers and performers gather once again for celebration.
SILENT FILM - THE CALL
This was my first attempt of collaborating on producing a short film. Due to the pandemic, me and my partner had to film our parts in two countries. It was challenging but we managed to pull it off.
Plot Summary:
It's been a year since the daughter went to a college far away from home. The story unfolds with her mom calling her multiple times on the phone, but she enjoys her first taste of independence and refuses to pick up the call. Over the course, she figures out how much her mom misses her and decides to call back on her mother's birthday.
2020 REEL
AND
AUTOBIOGRAPHIC FILM
In the year 2020, I focused exclusively on the production of video content, including a silent film, an autobiographic film, a documentary and a short fiction film. The 2020 reel is a combination of shots from every film I produced in 2020. The purpose is to use motion and transition to convey a fast-paced feeling of excitement and passion.
The autobiographic film is a reflection of my road of self-discovery. In the film, I looked back at my childhood when I am expected to go on a set path of my father. Using metaphor and a flow of consciousness, I reflected on my rebellion from my "set paths" and the decision to convert to digital visual art.
