Meet Wenqi Zheng | Editing student&filmmaker

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

Hi Wenqi, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I was in high school and wanted to study filmmaking. At the time I saw a video about the process of making a Harry Potter movie. I got interested in it and I thought the process of making movies was amazing, like magic. When I studied, I made my own short films, and when I was involved in every step of the production from the beginning of the production to the final completion, it was very fulfilling.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What I’m most excited about is that whenever I’m done making a movie, I get a great sense of accomplishment. There are still difficulties I have encountered so far, for example, when I was learning how to write a script, I was often uninspired, but I have a good friend who would often take me to find inspiration or provide it to me. Also I’m studying editing at Chapman University and it was difficult for me at first, after all English is not my first language and I had to spend more time learning it. I was afraid to talk to foreigners because I didn’t know country and I didn’t speak very well at first. But after the school gave a semester acting class to editing students, I relaxed a lot and would chat with my foreign friends in the class.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them on a tour of my school first, the school clip room, show them where I work. Secondly, I would have taken them to the beach in Santa Monica to see the sunset and to show them the food from the beach restaurants. I think sunsets on the beach are really worth watching, especially since California time of sunset are pink. It’s very romantic.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to thank my mother, who supported me in studying the art of cinema. During the process of learning, I had confusion and I felt that it takes an artistic talent to learn the movie. But my mother told me that talent is important, but you can’t just rely on talent to learn, you also need to work hard. Later on, I wanted to come to the United States to attend graduate school, and I wanted to see the difference between the American and Chinese modes of filmmaking.

Instagram: maggiez_film

Image Credits
Image 1 and 2-Film name: Lilies in Spring Image 3-Film name: Split personality Image 4-Film name: Just the two of Us