Check Out Miida Chu’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Miida Chu.

Hi Miida, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started making films when I was in elementary school back in China. I lived a little far away from my friends so it was often hard to get together. During one summer break, after reading about how Spielberg made super 8 films with toy dinosaurs, I decided to use filmmaking as an excuse to get friends together. I thought filmmaking would excite them, but only one friend showed up. Instead of giving up, I managed to rewrite the script on the spot and proceeded to make the film. The film was really awful but it was strangely well received among my friends. I made another one the year after, and all my friends showed up. My parents were supported, but my mom was always critical of my films. She told me my stories were childish.

I made a lot more films during middle school because I thought it was a way to become socially popular at my school. I certainly was successful at becoming THE filmmaker kid in a school with 3000 kids. That’s when I learned to digitize miniDV tapes and edit with premiere (I think the version I was using was Premiere Pro 2.0). I got so into it that I attended Interlochen Arts Academy, a boarding arts high school in Northern Michigan, majoring in filmmaking.

I made a lot of short films at Interlochen and made a lot of friends, but I felt lost. I was initially drawn to filmmaking because it was like a toy. It was fun to play with it especially with friends. But what kind of stories did I want to tell? I didn’t know. I went undecided in undergrad. I ended up majoring in philosophy and minoring in linguistics because all the questions I was asking seemed to be the questions about meaning. What’s the meaning of life? What’s the meaning of linguistic utterances? Perhaps in my unconscious, I wanted to find the tools to defeat my mom’s criticism.

Ultimately I didn’t find the answers I was looking for. Disillusioned, I went to AFI for the film directing MFA program. I graduated last year. Now I split my time writing scripts for myself, as well as directing and producing music videos through my production company Bad Pig Films.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My biggest struggle was my self-judgment. For a long time, I was not able to read my own diaries because I didn’t want to face the cringe and the regrets. But that’s also what prevented me from writing from my heart. When I couldn’t face the fear I was running away from, how could I have the courage to put them down in my stories? After I transitioned, I learned to love myself. I started to make peace with all the things I hated about myself. I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome all my fears, but I’m more in tune with them, and I can read my diary for leisure as if it’s a piece of good fiction.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m primarily a writer-director. The stories I write are mostly high-concept queer romantic fantasies. I love creating worlds that are slightly different from ours so I can challenge the audience to question some of the assumptions we hold onto in our unconscious. I do that to my life on a day-to-day basis for fun. Currently, I’m trying to see going to bed as going to die, except with the sureness that we’ll have an afterlife where we’ll reincarnate into the same bodies and inherit the same memories.

For music videos, I’m good with fusing mood with narratives. I have a firm grip on storytelling without losing sight on creating unique aesthetics. I’m most proud of the musicality of my shot designs. I put a lot of emphasize on the inter-shot contrast of motion so that a seemingly chaotic montage sequence attains its maximal kinetic impact.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Watch a lot of films without making judgments of craft. Feel how you intuitively react to the storytelling. Listen to yourself. That’s how I eventually figured out the stories I wanted to tell. Follow what you love and don’t get caught up on what you hate.

Pricing:

• Music video: $2000-4000 flat
• Cinematography: $1200-1500 day rate

Contact Info:

• Website: miidachu.com
• Instagram: @miidachu
• Facebook: @miidachu
• Youtube: Vimeo.com/miidachu
• Other: badpigfilms.com