Today we’d like to introduce you to Beibei Hu.
Hi Beibei, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grow up very freely and had the chances to be cultivated with various forms of art. Painting and handwork were my favorite things that came most natural to me since the childhood. My parents were very encouraging and let me try everything I was interested in. After earning my BFA in theatrical design from Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, I came to UCLA to continue my graduate study in production design.
The life in UCLA is very busy. For the past three-year study, I was exposed too many professional courses, great lectures and film productions. I studied from other seniors at beginning and began to work as production designer in 2019. I not only gained the skills from various classes but also getting more practical experience by applying the knowledge I learned.
After these three years of learning and exploring, I found myself very passionate about making a film. It is lucky to find what you wanna do in your life and I will continue to work on this path and move forward.
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?
Working in film is not always an easy thing to do, especially if you are doing independent film with a very limited budget. As a production designer, you will take responsibility for various parts. It is not only about thinking creatively, but also you need to consider how you can achieve that. Sometimes if the scene of the script is very specific and your team could not find the location for that, or if it is too expensive to rent for several days. For a variety of practical reasons, you need to build the set in the sound stage. Normally, the constructor is not cheap to hire. In that case, you should create that world from scratch, including measuring the flats to fit your design, paint the wall, age the wallpaper, build the furniture, etc. That is a job that requires a lot of time and labor. As the leader for the art department, you will manage your time wisely and assign the task to people rationally which takes a lot of psychological pressure. (Because you have to finish it on time before shooting day.) On the other hand, It also requires you to take on a lot of physical labor, lack of sleep is a very common thing, especially when you need to balance school homework and actual production.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a production designer, my job is understand the visualization from director’s head and create the world for the whole film. From the start of the design, I think the production designer should revolve around the story itself, you should play a big role in storytelling. Even if you are a designer, you need to think more like a director, having ideas about what are the movement towards the actors, where it should be shoot and what you expect to look in the camera. That is also an important part to communicate with the director and cinematographer, offering your ideas by standing in design point. The charm of the film is to bring the people to experience a different life, which is achieved through the camera language. So as a production designer, you are not limited to take consideration of the overall looking of the sets, but also you need to think how you can express it through the camera, how it will be framing. Knowing what is the best material will be used on the set is it also very necessary.
We are not only making a film visually pleasing – production designers need to consider many factors to move the story forward. For example, when we design the look of a room, we cannot make it look as much beauty as we can, we should think what is the personality of the character? What kind of stuff they will have to decorate their room? What is the tone of this room? That is all the questions you need to answer visually. That is the charming part for the production design.
What are your plans for the future?
I am one of the members of the ADG PD Initiative right now, that is the program I am eager to join after I graduate. Luckily, I am in and it seems the efforts for the three years have paid off. I will stick into the film world in the future, the next step for me is to participate in the union show.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.beibhu.com
- Instagram: @beibhu
