Meet Elean Chiang | Production Designer and Set Dresser

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elean Chiang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elean, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
At the end of my career I want to be able to look back and see many credits in my name. But not for the long list, but for the many memories. I want to look at each credit and remember from the moment I was sitting at the theater for the screening to the moment I got the call to the job to every single moment we had during production. The truth is: I love to be on set and I love to see that my work was able to help the vision come to life.

I come from an art background from my Art Industry and Design bachelors in Taiwan. In that world, there’s not so many deadlines and there’s way more freedom to the creator. When I did my masters at FullSail, I connected that reality to the entertainment world, that has deadlines and goals to meet (it’s the movie business as we say). I want to reach the end of my career and see how much I was able to bridge between art and business and how many different projects I was part of.

With that, I’ll be able to see who I become, by doing those projects. Every team I was part of will for sure shape who I’ll become at the end.

So, once my career is done, I’ll see in the gallery of my works each set, each film, each world that I was part of building. And, above all, I’ll be happy for it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I like most about how I create art is about not following only what I think is right. I believe many artists like to create what they believe in. One important aspect about being part of a team is to be able to realized that it’s not my work, it’s our work and our final result that matters. It was not an easy path, because it’s hard to understand that what you think is good is not what will happen, but it’s a necessary path. A movie comes together because of many different people and so, it comes together because of many different origin stories, paths until that moment and goals from that moment one. I really like to understand from director, producer, actor and art team where they want that creation to be. And doing so, I’m able to use the many different art skills that I learned to mix all those visions and create something fits the story the best

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Atlanta is a city that has a lot to do at. I sincerely would start by taking a friend to a game. Either a basketball or baseball game are a lot of fun. And there’s a lot to do around the stadiums too. The atmosphere and food will definitely give a great start to the trip.

For food, the Chirori Asian restaurant holds a special place for me because of all the friendship I made there and also the high quality food that is served.

Atlanta also has nice places such as Coke museum, Atlantic Station, Olympic Park and the Museums.

It will be a trip of food, sports, art and entertainment for sure!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The place that opened the doors of the film world to me has a special place in my story. FullSail University was the first place to welcome me in the United States. At school I made friends that were with me every step of my career so far and, above all, I had great mentors in my instructors and lab instructors. I truly felt they were committed to helping me achieve my goals in art department and each of them put me one step closer to it. And, aligned with them, there’s one person who was not supposed to be my instructor, but turned out to be a great mentor on the way: Frank Geremia. Frank was not my instructor, but when I walked to FullSail’s construction mill, he had opened doors to me and taught me without needing to do so. He gave me the opportunity to work on so many different projects from movies, to set building, to help creating a car for the city parade. His guidance also extended to his career and how I can move forward in mine. So, in a nutshell, a shoutout to FullSail for truly being what it stands for: a place that takes seriously the dreams of those who take their dreams seriously

Website: https://eleanchaing124.my.canva.site/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleanchiang/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elean-chiang124/