Meet Xuechen Zhu | Film Editor

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

Hi Xuechen, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
As an editor, who is working at film and TV industry. I know when people watch film, they will pay more attention to actors or directors. They won’t know how post production will effect the whole film. Almost all of the films I edited or films on the big screen, they are totally different from their script. As an editor I need to pick the best take from tons of raw footage, I need to compare each take and choose the one can make the story better, sometimes it is just minor differences, but we need to find that, compare that and choose that. Also we need to change the structure of the story, sometimes when we read the script, we will think that is a good story. But after it come to footage, we will find the problem and change original scene orders, Also we need to make sure the tempo of the whole film and each scene to keep audiences attention. That is a part of what we do during the post production and not that noticeable.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a film editor based in LA. The process I pursue my career is not easy. Since I am a journalism major student at my college, I was confused about what should I do in the future, at that time, most of the graduates of my major will go to new media companies and make video for short video platforms, but I realized I don’t like that when I finished my intern at one of the best new media company in China. At that time, I went to an exchange program in Taiwan, I took a editing class for fun, but that is the time I found the thing I really like and I can put all my effort there. After I came back from Taiwan, I decided to change my major and apply for film school. I started preparing all the materials and get into Chapman University, dodge college, which is one of the best film school in US. I think I take more time than others to find what I want to do, after I find I take more time to go on that path, I need to prepare not only my portfolio but also TOFEL test within a very short time, that was a tough and anxious time for me, but I’m glad that time to make what I like now. Now I have already been a editor for four years, I won some awards and been a roster for editor union. From the long journey, I think the most important thing is to try, to find what I really like and put myself into that.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ll definitely take my friends to Laguna Beach, where is one of my favorites beaches in Orange County. I want to take them to Laguna, laying on the beach for a whole afternoon, go to have some seafood in a restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows during the sunset time. Then take them to a Gelato place there, that is my favorite Gelato place.

There is another interesting place, a farm market in front of Dodge college, where I took my MFA at. That farm market only open at Saturday morning, you can get great bread, fruit, coffee there. The most fun part of that farm market is you can play with animals there!

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 have many people I want to shoutout to who helped me in my career. I want to point out one- Ringo Ma. He is not just a mentor but also a good friend of mine. During covid, I gaped for a year and go back to my hometown. I met him in a film set, he was the editor supervisor of a Tv series and I was his assistant editor. He had almost 10 years of film editing and already successful in film editing, but I was just a student who just start learning editing at that time. But he never think he was my boss and never said I was not good at editing. He answered all the stupid questions I have asked, he also told me how to think when I edit and teach me hand by hand. I was only at that set for 20 days, but I feel that 20 days is equal a year what I can learn in school. He is like a guider of my career and give me a solid foundation.

Website: https://xuzhu6.wixsite.com/my-site-4

Instagram: nicolezhuxuechen

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/xuechen-zhu-editor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100022136614383