Meet Yibo Kou | Production Designer & Art Director

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

Hi Yibo, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
My interest in filmmaking blossomed when I was a teenager. When I was a teenager, I became a movie aficionado and always dreamed to be a filmmaker someday and can show my own films to friends. As a movie aficionado, I watched various films which stimulated my dream. Film is a great art that can express a filmmaker’s personal thoughts with a strong personal style. The story of the film can be very close to or far away from reality, and that’s why it attracts me the most.

I love arts, design, as well as filmmaking, which all drive my strong desire to be a production designer. I think only films can create such a dreamy feeling through visual images and I’d like to become the person who can create such a wonderful world. So I want to be a production designer instead of others. In order to achieve this goal, I went to college majoring in design, immersed myself in design, sketching, watercolor, making models, learning software, hand-drafting, photography, and even learning to compose music for motion pictures, taking part in many activities about filmmaking, just be prepared to be a filmmaker, especially a production designer.

I always believe that the purpose of production design is to create an imaginative world to tell stories, which means if the film is a wonderful dream, the production designers should be the dream-maker who in charge of all aspects of the film’s visual elements. Moreover, they can even pursue higher spiritual resonance and emotional touch with audiences through extracting stories’ backgrounds and cultural metaphors, which is amazing. With a love of design and filmmaking, I started to make short films and attend film school in San Francisco. After the experience of making several films in different positions, I relocated to Los Angeles for a bigger picture where I started my career as a film production designer. The major film industry is here and so many talented filmmakers are chasing their dreams in this city. I believe I get what I want in Los Angeles.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Working as a film designer, I’m in charge of the visual aspect of the films. I’m a visual artist who creates dramatic worlds based on screenplays and stories. There are lots of art jobs to be achieved during a film production, and I served as the head of the Art Department who likes to put creative ideas into the elements that the camera can see, including space, colors, graphics, props, etc. I’m so proud that I can create many unique worlds that can make fictional stories established, and through my creative designs, the films can be visually and emotionally presented to the audiences, no matter how strange or fantastic the stories are.

Running the Art Department is always a challenge, because not only do I need to be creative and skillful but also am required to make connections and collaborate with people from different backgrounds. Filmmaking sometimes is all about making connections. There may be ten to hundreds of people working on the same set together, so it’s important for me to make friends and make the productions run smoothly. Despite the difficulties, it can also be a good side because knowing these people might be resources for my future career. So I always like to know as many people as possible when I’m on a film set.

Being an outstanding production designer who can always get what they want in art is also a challenge. My secret to success is to keep learning and mastering advanced skills as much as possible. I hold a master’s degree of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute where I learned all aspects of film design. I have skills in creating concept art, set designing, prop managing, model making, as well as digital rendering. All of these skills are important tools for me to express my ideas which make me useful and an expert in the film industry so that I can easier let the director or DP understand my thoughts and build a professional network with other filmmakers. During my years in Los Angeles, I have designed and art directed over twenty films. I’ll keep working in the industry and contribute my voice to the art world of film.

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?
The first thing about coming to Los Angeles is eating. There are many restaurants in Koreatown, such as Korean BBQ and soup places. There are also a lot of Thai restaurants in Hollywood. Since I went to college in Hollywood, I used to visit a lot of Thai restaurants. Pad Thai Noodles is always my favorite dish. Of course, I’d also like to bring my friends to a hot pot restaurant in Monterey Park, a ramen house in Little Tokyo, or maybe just a delicious taco from a Mexican food truck. There are so many amazing dining choices in LA!

The most interesting place I’d like to bring my friends to visit is Hollywood. Hollywood Blvd is so famous that millions of tourists visit there every year. There’re lots of small stores, restaurants, and theaters on the street. The buildings on the street are wonderful. Visitors can take photos in front of the buildings or with street artists, or just go inside a theater, such as Chinese Theater to experience an iMax movie. Since the film industry is in LA, there are so many film-related activities held within Hollywood and Noho. After visiting Hollywood, we should go north to have a good time at Universal Studio Theme Park or take a tour of Warner Brothers Studio. It’s interesting to see how films are made in Hollywood. As a filmmaker, I’m so familiar with the filming places in Los Angeles that I can show my friends where the magic happens. Isn’t that amazing to see the iron chair from Game of Thrones in person?

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to thank to my mentors from the American Film Institute, such as Joe Garrity, and Ernie Marjoram, who introduced me to the world of Film Production Design. AFI’s production design program is unique from others, and I did at least eight films during my study. My mentors taught me everything in class and I had the chance to practice in real-world productions.

Website: www.yibokou.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/yibo_kou

Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12403419/

Image Credits
BTS Photo by Anthony D’Eredita