Meet Muyun Zhou

Today we’d like to introduce you to Muyun Zhou.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am an editor and a filmmaker based in Los Angeles who is born and raised in China. I began my study in New Media Art in my undergraduate and studying Filmmaker for my master. When I was in high school, I liked the subject study of math very much, math gives me a rational perspective, and all things could get a perfect answer through rigorous arrangement and combination. Also, the combination appears in the process of filmmaking. As a female editor, I add sensibility to the rationality, selected and arranged the most appropriate combination among various shots so as to present a powerful story. This is the happiest thing for me as an editor. In addition, as I mentioned, my background has given me a chance to receive Oriental education since my childhood. Most of the films I have watched are also Oriental films. This time I come to the United States, I want to understand the western Hollywood-style filmmaking and experience the common values presented by filmmakers in different cultural backgrounds. I am very glad that the two years’ study of filmmaking in NYFA has enabled my ways of thinking as a director while I am editing, which it also delivers in the film I edit. Therefore, I love this industry even more, and it also makes me determined firmly that I want to become a better storyteller and editor.

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?
The path to pursuit the dream is not always easy. When I want to explore new things to begin my study in the United States, I started to find the problem. Usually, my laptop solves most of the problems, now I need to deal with various issues with various people, plus language and cultural barriers, I can not help to doubt whether I can stick to it. Besides, I am a person who doesn’t talk much. Being in an unfamiliar environment made me feel shy to ask questions. I have to read the materials given by the professor over and over again after class or seek for help from classmates. However, I am very fortunate that I have a group of friendly classmates and professors who always encourage me to express my opinions. Even in class, professors are willing to slow down his/her pace for me, it does help me blend into the new environment faster.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
There is a saying that in order to present a film, the first step requires a script, the second step needs a director, and the third step demands an editor. As an editor before, I always thought that most of the problems occurred on set could be solved in the post-production, and I was always obsessed with thinking as an editor to learn filmmaking. And when I started to learn about directing, I can look at the information conveyed by each shot with the thinking as a director. Therefore, through more than two years of study, I have a unique perspective and deeper understanding of filmmaking. In the early stage of my career, the first commercial film that I worked on is “The Battle”, I took part in post stage in terms of editing and color correction. When the director communicated with me in the pre-production, he showed me the traditional concept of commercial film, just the general narrative style introduced the characters and the projects involved in the characters.

First, I made a preliminary editing based on the reference given by the director, but I quickly noticed that this method did not highlight the achievements of the character made. So I quickly contacted the director and added some of the editing methods of the experience film, such as slow-motion and flashback, to make the whole film look more vivid. Last year I participated as an editor of a short film named “Father”, which mainly talked about the problem of coordinating the relationship between father and son. When we started editing, there was a scene where the father was sitting alone in the backyard and found that his son might be homosexual. According to the reference Five Stage Of Grief found by the director, he hoped to achieve a light comedy effect through jump cut. However, due to the existing footages are too tight, making the whole jump cut unable to achieve a smooth effect but a bit counterproductive. So I suggest director change back to the traditional way of editing, at least to let this paragraph retain the basic meaning. I really enjoy that when I put forward the amendment, and when the director said it is what they want or the outcome is even better than they expected, it is the most proud thing for me as an editor.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I think the most significant thing is to get everyone on the same page, to ensure my work efficiency, and also to ensure the people I work with not to duplicate same work and waste unnecessary resources. Even if you are watching the same film, it brings distinct experiences to everyone. So when someone makes a suggestion, I will open to everything. Some suggestions may not sound so nice, but later you maybe find out that they are also very fair suggestions.

Contact Info:

• Email: zhoumyyy84@gmail.com
• Website: https://zhoumyyy84.wixsite.com/muyun
• Instagram: @mmmmmmm_8

Image Credits:
Muyun Zhou