Today we’d like to introduce you to Haowei Zhang.
Hi Haowei, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I come from an inland city in Henan, China. Life there is very simple, and everyone follows a set path. I never imagined that I would come to the United States and make a career in film. Until one night in high school, we were invited to a speech by a former honor student. I watched him share his life after school and suddenly realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. At that time, I had no idea what life and the world were like or what I really wanted. I just use instinct to make vague judgments, use negation to confirm affirmations and eliminate choices that do not meet my heart one by one. Faced with the choice of coming to the United States to study film, I am very nervous, and it takes a strong external force to break the inertia. As I questioned myself, I also released my own curiosity and confusion about the world.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I expected that it would definitely not be an easy road, but in fact, it was far more difficult and lonely than I had imagined. First, there are the practical difficulties. Film means teamwork, and it’s a director’s job to work closely with the team and have chemistry. I had not anticipated the difficulty of this point. The problem was compounded by the combination of interpersonal communication and intense filming. In the face of such challenges, I usually respond differently to different people. However, there is only one thing in my essence, that is sincerity. Secondly, in the face of artistic creation like film, I have to deal with self-doubt all the time. As a content producer, I often doubt myself, is this right, is this going to be liked, am I really talented?
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a filmmaker, a director, a production designer, a writer, and a poet. Although I work in different mediums, what essentially drives me is a desire to capture the poetry of life. I am always curious about the backside of life, eager to dig out the dark and fuzzy areas of human nature. As a director, my strength lies in the ability to integrate the art of different media and combine them to produce different chemical reactions. I am a person with a wide range of interests, which allows me to make my own judgments when I am a director in a particular field, such as music, production design or screenwriting.
As a production designer, I really enjoyed the process of building out the world of the story, as if I was creating the dream. I like to use colors to hint at the story and create a certain cinematic atmosphere. The art director’s job is to convince the audience that the characters in the story are real. I am a keen observer of daily life and combine my observation and experience in my own art design.
As a writer and poet, someone who captures the fleeting with words, I am very grateful for my bilingual background. This not only means the spark and thinking of the collision of different cultural backgrounds in the East and the West, but more importantly, it makes me feel strange to both Chinese and English. This kind of strangeness makes me have different sensitivity and insight to some common scenes and behaviors.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I think social networking is more important than you think. In the film industry, teamwork is everywhere. Good interpersonal relations can promote the whole project more smoothly. And in the early stages of a career, social networks and relationships often mean more possibilities and opportunities. And this is precisely the beginning of the career is crucial.
Contact Info:
- Website: seriousalborada.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aalborada_/
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/haowei-zhang-4283351ba
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GOWEILETSGO
Image Credits
Picture 1: fashion film Virtual Religion, Executive Producer Lei Zhang, Director Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji), Graphic Designer Hankunyu Wei. Picture 2: film Rattlesnake In The Dream, Director Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji), Graphic Designer Junyu Qian & Hankunyu Wei. Picture 3: film Sleepless, Director Siqi Zhang, Production Designer Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji). Picture 4: film Countdown, Director John Zhu, Production Designer Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji). Picture 5: Best Art Director of New York International Film Awards 2023. Picture 6: film Jane, Director Jasper Liu, Assistant Director Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji). Picture 7: fashion film Post (Covid-19) Era, Director Haowei Zhang (Shu Ji).
