Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy Ip.
Tracy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hi! I’m Tracy Ip, a self proclaimed enthusiast. I am a director and my current project, Souvenir, is a documentary series that explores the biology, psychology, and industry behind the creation of scent associations. It unearths the subconscious power of our sense of smell. It is a passion project born from my absolute love of perfume.
16-year old me was a ball of raging hormones who daydreamed exactly how my first kiss with J.J. would happen. I needed a secret weapon. Enter Love by Nina Ricci–an altogether too-sweet, sickly atrocity bottled in a garish nod to forbidden fruit. Every morning would start with a spritz on each wrist, a double spritz on the neck (oh so sensual), and an extra spritz to waltz through. And, of course, I’d need to reapply three or four times in the span of a school day. My god, I reeked. The final score? Boys: 0, an unwavering passion for fragrance: 1
As an “ABC” American Born Chinese, biculturalism has been an ever present reminder that I don’t fully belong in either culture. This is why perfumes first appealed to me. They are liquid personas—olfactory manifestations of who you are, who you wish you were, who you want to be perceived as, and who you want to become. Perfumes transform how we act, think, and feel. If I smelled like a blonde bombshell; I could close my eyes and believe that maybe, one day, I’d turn heads the same way.
Fast forward to undergrad- I studied abroad in Cologne for a semester. I did a documentary on the connection between your sense of smell and memory and was able to interview the head “Nose” of 4711, the biggest fragrance company in Germany. Here’s a quick olfactory history lesson: each scent is connected with a memory and when you lose your sense of smell, 1 in 5 people do, you lose all of those memories. Scent molecules also activate emotions and motivation. Often, if someone suddenly loses their sense of smell, they tend to be more apathetic because they lose the stimulus to those emotions.
I decided the short documentary was not enough. I wanted to create a feature film that explored how the fragrance industry manipulates our olfactory universe and teaches us what scents are sexy, feminine, masculine, clean, etc. I applied for a Fulbright Scholarship and made connections with master perfumers in France who wrote me letters of invitation for the application. I was chosen as an alternate. I thought “fuck it.” I’m going anyway and making this film. I applied to graduate school for a student visa and attended the American University of Paris. My masters is in Global Communication with an emphasis on marketing and branding. At the end of the year, I pitched myself to independent perfumers in the South of France (Grasse) as a visual content creator who could create communication strategies for their brands. I worked with 1000Flowers and created a communication strategy for the launch of her new fragrance line that included a multitude of videos, photos, and publications. I then worked closely with PRODAROM (Syndicat National des Industries de la Parfumerie) and the Grasse Institute of Perfumery. I made short documentaries showcasing different professionals within the fragrance industry- raw material producers, perfumers, préparateurs, evaluators, etc. Honestly, one of the coolest jobs ever.
I returned to LA 2 years later and jumped back into freelance camera work, producing for friends when I could, and ended up working for an academic year back at my undergraduate university, Loyola Marymount University with the head of production for the school of film and television. I aided students in producing their projects averaging 15-20 projects per week. I rewrote Souvenir into a docu-series, was accepted into the Incubator Lab in association with Film Independent, and have been pitching, rewriting, and reworking it since. We took a year off and are now back in it. We’re here to usher in the modern olfactory revolution!
In the interim I was on the camera team for CBS’ Lucky Dog and also an operator for the new CBS show Mission Unstoppable. Before the pandemic, I was in talks with a PR agency who represents luxury brands to create a year’s worth of branded content for her various clients. Levant Blanc, my production company, is expanding into the branded content space. The ultimate goal is to get paid to make things!
Currently, I’m surfing a lot, constantly repotting my plants, taking meetings, reworking my portfolio/websites/etc. and pitching again!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh la. Not at all! It’s hard to pursue the dream when you really need to pay rent. Especially when my end goal is directing- it’s a much more winding path. I’ve had to take a lot more technical work instead of creative. A lot of my challenges have involved combating imposter syndrome and simply having the courage to ask for what I want. I’ve been trying to look at situations and ask myself: “If I were a tall white man, what would I do?” What has helped me push forward is redefining what success is and looking back at my accomplishments in bigger spans of time i.e., where I was five years ago vs one year ago.
Please tell us about Levant Blanc (Production Company).
Levant Blanc is a 360° visual content creation company that elegantly captures humanity at its most authentic. As a filmmaker with a degree in marketing, I am able to translate key marketing terms and insights into specific visual content.
We are most proud of our campaign for Texada. We made two commercials that garnered 1.4+ and 2.4+ million organic views per commercial. COVID stopped production on the 3rd of the original trilogy.
https://www.levantblanc.com/texada
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Hmm, probably playing in the large heaps of snow right outside a fancy hotel in Montreal with my family. We were licking icicles, making snow angels, throwing snow down each other’s shirts and yelping and being true savages. We entered the lobby afterwards with ruddy cheeks but very serious. We turned around and realized that the walls were all one way mirrors and the entire lobby was subject to our tom-foolery. 10/10 would absolutely do it again.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.levantblanc.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Personal Photo: Christian Armada, Business Photos: Shan Liljestrand
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