Meet Jingxi Zhu | Editor & Freelance Photographer
We had the good fortune of connecting with Jingxi Zhu and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jingxi, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’ve been writing plays and novels since I was a kid, and I’ll ask my cousins or classmates to play the part, most of my plays are comedies, and when I was a sophomore in high school, I created a time travel drama based on the the Four Great Classical Novels, and performed on the school art festival stage, this was one of the best memories in my life, also lit up my passion of story telling. I got hooked on film when I was 16, but at that time I was too scared to tell anyone in the family that I want to pursue my career in film industry, because growing up in a Chinese traditional family, anything relates to art was not considered as a stable way to make a living. But I never give up my love for movies, I continued to search for creative inspiration in my daily life, books, music, even paintings became my best partners, I wrote and directed my first short film based on a song. And learning to appreciate paintings also taught me how to compose picture, which is what inspired me to study photography. 2016 was a turning point of my life, I got selected to participate in the Columbia University Overseas Study Tour Program where I could spend the entire summer in the U.S. When I actually walked on the streets in Los Angeles, and as I reveled in the purple sunset of New York City, I was determined to pursue my dream of making movies. Luckily enough, I was accepted into the MFA program in editing at Chapman University’s Dodge School of Film and Media Arts in 2018, where I met so many incredible friends who share the same passion for film, and these three years at Dodge have been very fulfilling for me. After I graduate, I decided to start my career in trailer industry, and now I’m working as an assistant editor.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As an editor, most of my short films has been selected or won awards in many International film festival. After, a short film I edited in 2019, got into the finalist in The American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, and To Kern, short film adapted from Alexander Pushkin’s poem, won the bronze award in LA Short Awards and also the award winner in Madrid International Film Festival in 2020. The best thing about being an editor is that we are the first ones to see the film take shape. I was so inspired by Valdís Óskarsdóttir’s interview in which she described her way of working, saying that she would forget the script when she started editing, because editors should build the connections with the characters from the footage, when you spent a lot time with the footage, the characters become close to us like a friend or a family, then you will be able to make the right editing choice and make the audiences see the characters alive. This affected me deeply, and the most important thing I did before I started working was to connect with the characters while reading the script. I really cared about watching the dailies for the first time because I thought it was the closest experience to what most audiences would have when watching the film, so I would spend much time on taking notes about how I feel about each take which is really beneficial to me especially when I tried to make a hard editing choice after I watched the dailies for so many times.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m actually pretty new to Los Angeles, as I just moved here from Orange County last summer. Los Angeles is the center of the show business so I would definitely recommend a walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame and maybe buy a ticket to see the famous talk shows in person. Aside from that, I would recommend a trip to Culver City, an attractive area of town that I recently discovered because of those cool buildings designed by world famous architects.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I studied film editing at Chapman University’s Dodge School of Film and Media Arts for three years, and it was definitely an incredible three years of my life. I met so many amazing friends and professors that I not only learned a lot from, but we shared the same passion for film. I consider Dodge to be my second family, where I got a lot of hands-on experience in filmmaking and it also helps me get a better understanding in film.
Website: https://jujunumba1.godaddysites.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jujunumba1_piclife/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100026522303405
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIXQ8mhXsnJ7UFVXkoR26DA/featured
Image Credits
Luying “Olivia” Wang
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