First Act Break
Insights on finding success in the film industry — by young filmmakers, for young filmmakers. Hosted by USC film directors Jiayang Liu and Richard Li.
First Act Break
Zach King’s Artist on Production Design, Filmmaking, and AI Art | Daisy Liao
Welcome to episode 7 of The First Act Break podcast, the show where we dive into the art, business, and hustle of breaking into the film industry.
Today, we bring on Daisy Liao (aka JJUTO), a production designer who's worked with Zach King and directed the Orange County Film Festival. We chat about her side quests in modeling and Jubilee, career in production design, and thoughts on AI art.
What is it like working
Speaker 00:with Zach King? When I was on the Lunchables commercial, I was standing in for his son who was going to be like, who was going to be the actor, right? And then there was like this dinosaur thing and then he told me like to roar and I was like, bro, I don't know how to roar. He was like, never knew that there was such a big network of pirates in California. Bro, I don't even want to talk about it, guys. I literally like crashed out. I burnt out so bad. Literally the day before the festival, I was sitting there, I was painting, spray painting and aging like 50 of those. so i literally cannot escape trash and rubble and grass we literally picked up like a hundred cardboard boxes so this like homeless man came up to me and he literally brought me this whole tray of sushi and he was like you can eat that because i don't want to live on this planet i want to make stuff that doesn't belong here i emailed the dean of roski and i asked her to meet did you i did
Speaker 02:Daisy, welcome to
Speaker 03:the show.
Speaker 00:Hi. So
Speaker 03:glad to have you on.
Speaker 00:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 03:Super excited to have you on the show today. Daisy, how would you describe what it is you do?
Speaker 00:Well, I do like a little bit of everything. I do modeling. I do fine arts, which includes like painting, sculpting, sketching, drawing, whatever. And also I do production design for film. I used to make films like I wanted to direct, but then right now I've discovered my passion for production design. So I design a lot of stages. I build a lot of stuff. I'm like Bob with the builder you know what i mean um painting and all that stuff just i feel like it's all interconnected oh and i do content creator um and i do content creation on the side just to document my life and i don't know share my art
Speaker 03:yeah totally i love how you're combining those two you know because a lot of times like art is a very traditional thing where you just like make stuff but then combining it with like the new like TikTok, Instagram it's like able to get more reach and
Speaker 00:get to more audiences I think that social media is a great way to like help build your like what's it called your branding for your own like art and like film and whatever you do more people know about you in the future they'll like buy your art or like support your film you know it's a win-win situation
Speaker 03:well more on that later in the episode
Speaker 00:yeah we'll talk about that
Speaker 03:later we'll be talking about your production design career you know you've made production design and art stuff for Zen Yes.
Speaker 00:So I did four projects with them. I was an art assistant director and a stylist for one of them. One of them was with Hikaru. So two of them were with Hikaru. And then the other one was with BJ's for their BJ's Pazuki commercial.
Speaker 02:Hikaru as in the chess player?
Speaker 00:Yes. Oh, cool. Yes, the grandmaster chess player. I didn't know who he was until I was there. I was like, I don't know chess, but he's cool. Very down-to-earth people. And then the last one was for... Lunchables. Lunchables commercial. Yes, yes, yes. That's
Speaker 03:sick. Yeah. What is it like working with Zach King?
Speaker 00:He is honestly like one of the most... down-to-earth person ever. You do not feel like you're working with him. He feels more like a friend, if you know what I mean. One time, when I was on the Lunchables commercial, I was standing in for his son, who was going to be the actor, right? And then there was this dinosaur thing, and then he told me to roar. And I was like, bro, I don't know how to roar. He was like, your roar is so weak. I was like...
Speaker 03:He's
Speaker 00:just honestly a very friendly person, yeah.
Speaker 03:That's sick. How do you think someone becomes like that? Like... What are the traits to be someone like that?
Speaker 00:Okay, honestly, I feel like definitely... takes a lot of growth like I'm sure as someone with like hundreds of millions of followers on social media in the beginning there was probably like a time where they were like more like oh I have following but then it just takes time to like humble yourself and then I feel like it's because he's been like out there for so long that he's already learned how to carry himself very well so I think that's probably one of the reasons and because he's probably just a good person in general awesome
Speaker 03:yeah we all like to work with people like that
Speaker 02:yeah do you think his work has influenced your production design work at all like does that feed into your style or do you think it's more of a collaborative effort
Speaker 00:um definitely i think it has because his stuff is a little bit more like mundane but also a little extraordinary like one of the production designers that i help with on the set she made like this giant frisbee out of like styrofoam and i just because like they threw it at the camera right and then it had to like look like it was hitting zach so it was like i was just like wow this is kind of cool like I want to be making stuff like this too so I get inspired by working with the people that's on the set that's there you know and
Speaker 02:you've been working or you've been watching him since you were a kid I started watching him when I was a kid so he's been doing this for a while how does it feel to like work for someone that you were inspired by when you were younger
Speaker 00:okay so This is a great question because I feel like a lot of the stuff that I've like thought of or dreamed of when I was younger becoming to reality is like unreal to me. Like for example, working with like music artists that I've watched or like meeting people in real life, like influencers that I used to look up to. I'm like, wow, like I've really grown as a person to the point that I could be in a space where I could be meeting these people. So I feel like I'm very proud of myself and very honored that I'm able to be in the same room with them. yeah
Speaker 03:that's
Speaker 00:sick
Speaker 03:yeah and how did you come across like working with Zach King like how did you get on
Speaker 00:there okay so I was a part of film at academy for my senior year only one year and in that summer the previous year I won best editing for one of my films in the festival so the founder Dave Junker very popular name around here, film ed. I know you see this. But Dave Junker, he asked me to help become the editing instructor at the summer camps. So we always, it's like an intensive summer camp program in the summer where it's like two weeks and you do all the film production stuff. You learn editing, how to shoot movies, how to write a script, how to tell a story. So that was when I, the summer that I worked there, he invited one of our alumni, her name is Ashley, and She brought Zach to do this lecture at the film camp where he was just kind of teaching and telling kids about his filmmaking and production. So it was just like a guest speaker. And then, because... they wanted to film at the school and I was kind of like just like assisting everything so I like literally helped them uh secure the school gym and like all the locations so I was kind of doing a little producing like helping work she liked my work ethics so she brought me onto the set
Speaker 03:yeah oh yeah that's awesome and can you speak more on like what film ed is for all the people that don't know
Speaker 00:okay so film ed is a high school film program you can you have to audition to be in this program it's like very exclusive you um earliest you start sophomore year so you can be in this program for like one to four years and it literally teaches you it's like this broad network of filmmakers in Irvine Unified School District where every school comes together for a summer camp in the summer so there's like three sessions each of them are like two weeks each and then you just learn how to do film production as a high schooler and I think that's what was able to bring me ahead of like my peers in my age group in terms of that because I was able to to get this connection with this filmmaking stuff. All the students there are in their respective high school news broadcast program. So it's like Pertola News Network, Northwood NTV, and then like Irvine ITV, and then HawkTalk and all that stuff. There's always like super talented people in each of them. And you really learn how to become a leader because you're like a producer for like a segment at a school like broadcast. Right. And you film those segments. You direct them. You write everything. You learn how to like film spot features and stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 03:That's so cool.
Speaker 00:It's basically film school.
Speaker 03:I know so many great like talented filmmakers from that program at USC.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 03:So they're definitely doing something right.
Speaker 00:They're definitely doing.
Speaker 03:Bringing up the next generation
Speaker 02:of you guys. Do you still collaborate with the people that you met?
Speaker 00:No. Yeah. Program. Oh my God. Like Cece, I met her in the program. Alex as well. And then like, who else? Well, Ryan is also from that program. He taught, he was actually my instructor the day, the year before. Oh
Speaker 03:my God. Does he know you?
Speaker 00:Well, yeah. Oh, well, He probably didn't know me back then, but then we knew each other after the film festival that I was nominated in.
Speaker 03:Oh, awesome. Great. Speaking of that film festival, though, I know you directed one of those festivals. Talk about that.
Speaker 00:Okay, so the Orange County Film Festival was like the biggest film festival in Orange County. We're like a small town group of people, right? So everybody wanted to submit their films. Everybody wanted to be nominated and win. So... I won filmmaker of the year the year of my senior year, which is like the biggest award and so Dave junker He invited me to direct the next film festival. He was like, oh I have this crazy idea We're gonna do a theme with pirates. So every year there's a different theme. Sometimes there's no theme depending on the budget Yeah, but he was like, are you down to do pirates? I was like, I yes because I thought that was like super unique and I was able to have some artistic freedom with it so that was like a nine month process we started in July where he was telling me oh we need to bring this giant I want this giant ship on the stage and I want water in the front so we ended up hitting like this like pirate show in like Anaheim and just kind of watching like the pirate show with the stunts and stuff like that just to kind of plan out how we wanted the festival to be and then um We're just kind of fundraising and producing for a while, hitting up different pirate organizations. They're like a gang. Literally, it's like motorcycle tattoo gang up in here, especially in San Diego. I never knew that there was such a big network of pirates in California. yeah no there is no no it's like very like low-key but like there's a lot of people that are really into that stuff like oh
Speaker 03:like when you say pirates you're talking about like fans of pirates not like people who rob
Speaker 00:shit no no like yeah pirate fan but okay well they kind of are kind of like that like a motorcycle gang imagine that and they're like super like hippie so that's kind of the vibe
Speaker 03:unless i mean as long as they're not like hurting people
Speaker 00:no no no no no but they're just i just think they're really cool like they have their own aesthetic and stuff so um and then in february we shot the nominee video so the nomination video is a video where there is it's like a story and it reveals the theme so none of the students know that it's a pirate theme festival until they see the nomination video so that video is like usually like 20 to 40 minutes long because there's a prop that shows each the names of the nominees through like it's like a storytelling way of like revealing the nominees like instead of like for example like american all-american high school where they're just like oh nominated the nominees for this are this is more like i'm gonna like they're gonna go through a story yeah and then they show the prop like for example this year's bro I don't even want to talk about it, guys. I literally like crashed out. I burnt out so bad because two weeks before we were supposed to shoot, we actually secured a location at the Maritime Museum of San Diego on a real pirate ship. It was like antique or whatever. It was super difficult and expensive. But it... Two weeks before that, I was in my art studio making like around 159 props by hand because there's like 23 categories for the nominations and then each of them has like around 2 to 10. Most of them are like 10 or more. So like every single name had to be on a prop. So I was in charge of making every single one of them. So I made gold bars out of clay because he wanted gold bars. For the category of cinematography, I made 10 paintings. That was each of the shot of like from the film. So I literally painted them by hand and put them in like an antique frame. There was like so many of those things. And I also made like burlap bags. I wrote names in rope and freaking twine. Like there's just like so many like silly little things that I did. And then I went scouting at like all the prop houses in L.A. for private stuff. I went to History for Hire, Alley Cats, Lenny Marvin. And Greenset. So those are like some really big and really good production design warehouses. If you ever want to hit those up, they're super cool. Like I'm literally in heaven when I'm there. Yeah. And we also rented like a lot of props to bring down to San Diego so that we could put like maybe like barrels onto the ship. We have like knives and stuff and guns and stuff. It was super sick.
Speaker 02:Okay. Awesome. Was that the biggest project you've worked
Speaker 00:on? Definitely. And still today? Yes, I think so. That was like... Like I was sick within those two week period as well. So I was just in this, I was in the studio like 10 hours a day, just working on those props. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to get through this. And I got like really bad fever. So I was literally eating day quill when we were at the ship and we shot for two days. This was in February of 2024. Yeah. And then after that nomination video, there was another whole thing where like, They built a ship. I designed the ship that would go onto the stage of the festival. We got like two, three, 20 feet tall palm trees from like the warehouses, like the prop houses in LA. And it was the loading day. You would not believe it, bro. It was like me and this like other person. So I was like loading. I was helping loading like all the stuff into like the freaking truck. We had this like giant truck and I was just like, I'm like 95 pounds. The treasure chest is like probably 30 pounds. Yes, we had a dolly, but like most of the stuff is like probably heavier than me. I, you know, you see my arms, I got no gains. But you know, I got through it. It's okay. I'm a furniture mover for life I guess yeah there was like a three like a week period where we just like loading everything on stage and like there was people from film ed building a freaking like a pier like a mini pier on like the side of the stage oh you had
Speaker 02:to build
Speaker 00:that yes by wood like someone built that I was like dude you are a blessing and we also had like this we so you know how like in theater right there's like those pits where the music is playing so we drop those down like a few inches and we put a tarp and we filled it with water and there was a plank okay across the water so when the nominees they go up to receive their award they have to walk over the water onto the stage there was like there was stunts like pirates shooting guns and stuff it was super cool and i had to well and then we designed someone um designed this like pirate metal thing and it was supposed to be like their prize when they received their award right so nobody painted those they just printed it and Like, they 3D printed it in, like, gold, but it was ugly. So, like, literally the day before the festival, I was sitting there, I was painting, spray painting, and aging, like, 50 of those.
Speaker 04:Oh, my
Speaker 00:God. Like, you know, I just had to be doing a lot of stuff at the same time. It was just, yeah.
Speaker 02:That's got to be, like, the coolest award ceremony thing. Yeah. The Oscars should invite you to do something.
Speaker 00:Oh, yes! Please! I feel
Speaker 02:like this sounds so much cooler than whatever they do
Speaker 00:at the
Speaker 02:Academy Awards. They don't even do that at Sundance. Yeah, they don't, that's... Yeah, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 00:Yeah, that's why film ed is like... And the reason why this... festival is so special is because all the alumni come to work on it in the nomination video like some of the actors in there it's like sprinkling like cameos of like i was in the nomination video painting and stuff like that just sprinkling cameos of past award winners and like filmmakers that you would you would have met if you were in the program right yeah so that's like the special part
Speaker 03:that is so is ocff like for students only
Speaker 00:yes it is only for high school students who are in irvine
Speaker 03:oh
Speaker 00:cool so you can think about the scale of this thing and like for example you're talking about Sundance right yeah I feel like this is such a unique and special experience for like high school students and for me it was like a memory for a lifetime like I would not have chosen anything else over film ed so it was like very special to me
Speaker 03:that's awesome And some people you met earlier, you talked about, you worked, you met Alex. Yes. Who you just did production design for on his 310
Speaker 00:film. So I was, Alex, he was the festival director before me because he was the past filmmaker of the year. And so I invite, I asked him, hey, I asked him and Cece if they wanted to direct the nomination video. So we were just all working together and it was like all film ed, just like there, yeah.
Speaker 03:That's great. And talk a little bit about that zombie movie you made with, alex
Speaker 00:oh right okay so that was a fun little project um what do i
Speaker 03:That was like one of my favorite like three tens I've seen. Oh, really? You know, it was just so sick. It really made me believe that I was in this dystopian world where there's like zombies and stuff.
Speaker 00:Yeah. So I feel like honestly, Alex is just an amazing filmmaker. Like I look up to him. The reason why I joined film med is because he won like six awards at the OCFF the year before. And at that time, I wasn't even doing film. So I could you could say he inspired me to do film. And so I joined the program for like a year and then. wow, I just believe myself and then we got here. So for that film. the most important part was the plants. So he wanted this like overgrown last of us vibe, you know, with like all the kind of like abandoned house vibes and trash and like all this like cans and stuff. Um, so we shot in the basement that everybody shoots in for three 10. I've been there like twice now. Hopefully I won't be there a third time, but honestly that's a great place. I kind of, it's a good place. It's not that, it's not that hot this time. Cause I did that for you. And it was so hot when I shot for Giles Films. moly moly oh my god it's like no there's like i couldn't control that no i know i'm not i'm not saying anything no yeah but i'm just saying like we get through those we go through trauma together you know yeah um plants i went into like chino hills area and i literally went on a trail and i i was like i can't be getting too many fake plants it's gonna look too like not realistic so i literally pulled up the ground like the weeds from the and I put it like I had like two giant trash bags full of those and I brought it on set and I also did have fake plants and stuff so that was like honestly the biggest thing for that set and then we just made like um the main character's like sister a little fort like a little like base kind of moment yeah so it was like a very cute moment i really like that film that's
Speaker 02:it i feel like that like level of dedication is why like filmmakers would love to work with you oh really and yeah i'll work with you and yeah so did justin and talk a little bit about uh melodies of war
Speaker 00:melodies of war guys oh my gosh so i literally cannot escape trash and rubble and grass okay for jiang's film i went to a construction dump site because i wanted rubble to be scattered on the floor because it was like the you know like world war ii war and then the house is abandoned it's falling apart in rural china so i was like i gotta get rubble even though it wasn't even that shown on camera i was like you know the thought was there i tried so i went to the construction dump site scavenged through the dumpster and looked at pieces where i could bring so i got like five mosquito bites from that but it's okay and then what else hermit crab right
Speaker 02:that's right
Speaker 00:all right hermit crab okay every production designer's favorite place is facebook marketplace so me and my production designer adeline we literally picked up like a hundred cardboard boxes from facebook marketplace and we also like try to like get like some packing boxes that we had right and then there was also like trash yeah We just literally had to keep clean trash and bring clean trash that we were hoarding for a week onto the set because it was this mid-life crisis film, right? There's trash everywhere, cardboard boxes everywhere. So yeah, a lot of cardboard, a lot of trash, a lot of rubble, and a lot of plants. That's... that's what i do
Speaker 03:that's awesome you make it really pop you know you make it so much more believable of a space
Speaker 00:yeah that's why i'm dedicated it's all in the details you
Speaker 03:know it really is like honestly a lot of the stuff you couldn't see in melodies that were like the the rubber glass but you know i
Speaker 00:know
Speaker 03:the fact that it was there just made the actors you know act
Speaker 00:so much more better too i think that's a part of production design it's just that the environment that we're all immersing ourselves like in when we work that's important um Because we get into that story zone. And then even though it was not seen, I'm fine with it. I didn't, I tried my best.
Speaker 02:I'm curious though, when you're working with the director, do you come up with stuff that surprised them in a way? Because obviously they communicate a vision, but usually there are spaces where you would come up with things that even surprised them. So were there instances where... directors will come to you and go, hey, that's awesome that I didn't even think of that, but that totally adds to the story.
Speaker 00:Yes, so actually for Veins, what did I do?
Speaker 03:The zombie movie.
Speaker 00:Yes, Veins, the zombie movie. What did I do for that? Okay, yes. So when all Alex gave me was... like a storyboard he gave me the shot that he wanted and then I drew in physically what I wanted in that space and he was like oh my god that has so much storytelling detail because there was like this it was like a shot where the brother was sitting with his little sister and I drew in like a little sketchbook that he had in his script and then the lamp that he like all the like hero props that he mentioned in his script I placed it into the space and gave him a visual representation of how I wanted the shot to be but and then just had so much storytelling detail and he said that to me physically so I was like, I'm proud of myself.
Speaker 03:You know, I want to do something
Speaker 00:fun.
Speaker 03:Look at this room, right?
Speaker 00:Okay.
Speaker 03:This is the podcast studio.
Speaker 00:Okay.
Speaker 03:Let's say I was a director who is shooting in this room, but I want this room to be a spaceship.
Speaker 00:Spaceship?
Speaker 03:How would you production design it?
Speaker 00:You want this room to be a spaceship?
Speaker 03:Yeah, the living quarters of a spaceship.
Speaker 00:Okay, NASA, right?
Speaker 03:Something like Star Wars.
Speaker 00:Something like Star Wars. Okay.
Speaker 03:Yeah.
Speaker 00:So first things first, I would, I would put, you know how like the spaceship has like those white tubes things, right? So this area we would cover that window and we would get maybe something like a paper material thing, like a tube. And we'd cover this entire space to make this circle. Yeah. Cover this entire space to make a circle. And then we, I would make, if I had a budget,
Speaker 03:infinite
Speaker 02:budget infinite
Speaker 00:budget okay infinite budget all right so and then on this wall i would make something out of wood like a board and i would make that like all the controls and stuff like that and i would probably put the bed here instead of over there so this is like where the little sleeping quarters would be and then there would be like a wall like the cushioned wall and then maybe some controls like on the other side let me think on that side yes and then we would have the airplane like the space food Right in this cubby right here.
Speaker 03:Yes.
Speaker 00:So, yeah. Okay,
Speaker 03:what if it's a caveman's house?
Speaker 00:A caveman's house?
Speaker 03:Yeah.
Speaker 00:What is a caveman? Like
Speaker 03:someone from our ancestors, you know?
Speaker 00:Like a nomad. Okay.
Speaker 03:Yeah.
Speaker 00:Okay, so... History for Hire has these rocks. They're like these empty on the inside... What is it called?
Speaker 04:Styrofoam?
Speaker 00:No, not styrofoam. There are styrofoam rocks, but it's like this resin, something like that. The resin rock, I would get a bunch of those, maybe put them on the side over here, and then I would make something out of paper mache. So I would get cardboard, and I would cover the space. Again, we're going to make a cave-like... kind of thing and then I would cover it with cardboard paper mache paint it so that it's not like not heavy and I don't want to do all that I actually made fake rocks before so I would do that same process with the paper like newspaper and stuff and then we would just put maybe maybe like some burnt wood in the middle like to mimic the campfire and then maybe some like personal possession like ancient relics like Sumerian like gods stuff like that like to be like their religion like maybe on the corner over here
Speaker 04:okay
Speaker 00:and then I would honestly maybe like some bones yeah like some fake bones oh yeah we can get those at history for hire and we just scatter it
Speaker 03:that's sick
Speaker 00:and then maybe some weapons as well
Speaker 03:okay so what is your process like what's the first thing you think about when someone's like here's the room i want to make it look like whatever you know how do you start doing that and planning
Speaker 00:okay that that's it just comes to me like i feel like you tell me anything you're like you're like i want a flower i have a vision in my head and i'm like and i look around and i'm like okay It's like, you know, have you seen Queen's Gambit?
Speaker 04:Yes.
Speaker 00:So instead of visualizing the moves on the chessboard, I start envisioning the stuff. Like moving around in the space. Oh, that's
Speaker 02:so
Speaker 00:cool. Yeah. Not like, it's not like literally, like it's not, you know, you know what I mean. Yeah, right, right, right. It's kind of like an image in your
Speaker 02:head.
Speaker 00:Like a mental note of how things would grow and stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 02:Would you say that's something that you had since the beginning or does it come with practice and just doing more production
Speaker 00:design? Okay, well, for art, that's also my process for like a painting. I'm like, oh, I see this blank canvas and I'm like, I want this here. And I want to paint a stroke like that. I just close my eyes and I'm visioning what it looks like. So I've had that when I was younger. But for production design, definitely with experience. I wouldn't have known to use cardboard to do that caveman-like thing if I didn't do that project where I had to make a fake rock. Or know that there's props that I can rent at History for Hire for this set.
Speaker 03:You know what? Back to that one question I asked you with the design. Because I'm actually directing a film in two days about a nine-year-old kid from the midwest we'll kind of talk a little bit about it who has cancer how would you design his room
Speaker 00:okay so i know you sent me a wallpaper
Speaker 03:yeah
Speaker 00:okay wait so a midwestern midwestern kid how old is he nine nine okay how would i design his room okay beige okay something i feel like it's more like a brown the color scheme i'm getting is like That kind of mustardy or yellow, but more like a muted tone of yellow. Mustardy yellow, cream, and brown.
Speaker 04:Okay.
Speaker 00:So we're bringing in the Western color scheme in there. Yeah. So we would have some... Is he like a cowboy?
Speaker 03:He's not a cowboy. He's sick.
Speaker 00:Oh, he's sick.
Speaker 03:He's bedridden.
Speaker 00:Okay, bedridden? Then never mind. He
Speaker 03:likes animals,
Speaker 00:though. No... No warm colors. So for all those colors. I just mentioned it has to be cool. Okay, so why because he's sick That's like the visual storytelling element of it because you know when it's cold. Yeah You can't have blue because that's just too basic but anything that's like cool tone in whatever color. Okay, and then um, obviously Very empty the room wouldn't have too much decor except for animals, right? So maybe that wallpaper if he's sick then wouldn't how sick is he would he have like a life support
Speaker 03:he's not that sick he's not that sick this is like early stages
Speaker 00:of early stages of it okay so obviously a lot of personal possessions right yeah yeah so
Speaker 03:he's been living that same room for the last like nine years
Speaker 00:okay so not really toys but what do mr midwestern kids like to play with
Speaker 03:like any other kid you know they're
Speaker 00:not too different okay then then we just have some like some maybe like Legos. Legos, yeah. Legos. Maybe like a spaceship. Like he wants to go somewhere far. Yeah. He wants to get out of this place. He wants to go to the ocean. Maybe animals and nature. Animals and nature. So if he likes animals, he likes nature. So I like that wallpaper idea that you chose. So I would say probably some plants because that helps with respiration. Maybe his mom would put that in there. Yes. Because to help with that stuff. And then maybe... Like a plate, like a very small corner of the room where his mom put medicine and stuff to take care of him. But it's very neat on like one side of the room.
Speaker 04:Okay.
Speaker 00:Yeah, something like that. And then bed, honestly, just like a single bed. Like a very, like even smaller than this type of thing. And then just whatever like little boy... little boy um bed sheets in that color scheme that i mentioned
Speaker 04:yeah
Speaker 00:but i think we gotta add a little bit of green in there when you think of midwestern like how does the audience know that he's from the midwest right so you gotta use the color scheme that audience think immediately that's midwest
Speaker 03:cowboy poster
Speaker 00:yeah i don't
Speaker 02:know dude yeah you got two days to make all of that happen
Speaker 03:I'll surprise you. And stay tuned for that movie.
Speaker 00:Yes, guys. The
Speaker 03:Little Bird.
Speaker 00:Okay. Okay.
Speaker 03:Talk a little bit about Cece's movie, Margot.
Speaker 00:Margot. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I feel like I always have so much lore when I talk about that. Yeah. First things first, that was, like, the first ever shoot that I did overnight shoots on. So I was actually insanely exhausted. Like, I'd never, like, I don't know. That was not my sleep schedule. But that one was, like, a very heartwarming movie. I, like... And the production design was generally simple. So we wanted to create this like kind of like low income Asian Chinese family with like a where there's only a mother and daughter living there. So obviously I was able to bring in a lot of stuff from my household and my friend's household, just like little bowls with like florals on it. And then the table mat that's like floral, like just very like stereotypical stuff that you would find in a Chinese household. And I was able to get a lot of inspiration from my grandma's house. So I just had to find a lot of that stuff and obviously like the Chinese calendar hanging on the wall and then they're like like there was like a bok choy so i literally like made food for this set as well oh yes oh my god i forgot about the chicken alfredo oh my god so there was a hero prop where margo is in the back of her work for that she spills the chicken alfredo onto him so i had to make it on site so i boiled the pasta brought it on set uh got like got like those frozen chicken alfredo stuff so I could get like the vegetables and then I got the chicken alfredo sauce. So every single take, between every single take, I would take my tong, put some pasta in there and then put like the vegetables in it so I placed it so that they could spill it the next time. I think I did like, I did that like 12 times or something like that. So I ran out of chicken Alfredo pasta at the end. 12
Speaker 02:takes of that.
Speaker 00:I don't know how many takes it was, but it was a lot. I just know I did that a
Speaker 03:lot. That's so cool. I'm excited to see that when
Speaker 00:it comes out. And then while we were there, we were like in Santa Ana. There's always silly stuff happening to me on set. So this homeless man came up to me and he literally brought me this whole tray of sushi. and he was like you can eat that we were like not sure about eating it but i just i genuinely enjoy these little things that happen on set like there's a cat on that set oh my god the house that we shot at had like two little cats and then there was like the stray cat outside and she was just like i don't know i feel like i'm being chosen by like the cat no that's
Speaker 03:sick though
Speaker 00:just i love animals on set we were just maybe not dogs but cats sorry yeah
Speaker 03:no you would have loved to be on teenhood i wish you were on there because it was on a farm and had like every animal possible
Speaker 04:that is so
Speaker 03:cool it's like a fucking goat just like
Speaker 04:walking yeah
Speaker 03:but um besides doing production design for film you also do production design for other mediums like theater
Speaker 00:oh yes
Speaker 03:talk a little bit about the theater show you were doing pd for
Speaker 00:okay so i did that in july of last year and it's called literal translation is the wild but in chinese it's called yuanye and it's a very traditional chinese play that's like very famous in china but they were trying to bring it it was for the time theater collective company and they were able to bring that show here i made this rock that was like really tall, and you had, the actor had to climb on it. I was the assistant stage designer, so there was actually, like, a stage designer there, and I was just helping him, and so he was, like, building, like, like, the wood structure, but I was the one that, like, glued all the cardboard on it, and then did all the painting, and we made, like, two of those rocks, because, like, one of them, the actor had to sit on it, and then the other one was, like, there was stair in the back, and then you had to, like, hide the stairs, obviously, and the actor would climb on it and stuff. So, yeah, and then there was, like, these, like, really traditional chinese furniture that i had to paint and stuff so it was pretty fun
Speaker 02:that's sick what would you say is like the biggest difference between like theater production design and film
Speaker 00:okay so theater it doesn't have to look real in that space you know what i mean it's like more just like props like the actor is gonna sit here there's a table and a chair they're like just talking the performance is what matters but for film it's more like look of it every corner and detail needs to look perfect on film to make it look believable i feel like theater it's not gonna be believable you know what i mean because you're like literally in a theater watching like people act on a stage so right that's the only difference
Speaker 02:that's so interesting would you would you ever do like a film that's more theatrical as in the film itself is For example, Hermit Crab. I think there are theatrical elements to it where it's a little fantastical. It's all about, you know, this person who's going a little bit off the rails. So talk a little bit about how you distinguish like producing realism, say like in Margot versus Hermit Crab, which is a little bit more exaggerated and a little bit more theatrical, if you will.
Speaker 00:So I personally prefer theatrical over realism because I'm more like a person that likes to think outside the box. My next collection for my fine arts is actually all about extraterrestrial beings and plants and stuff so i just made i don't know if you guys saw my flower that i made that's like supposed to be like an alien lily flower because i don't want to live on this planet i want to make stuff that doesn't belong here i want to go to jutopia the difference is obviously realism is like you have to make it look believable but theatrical is like oh that's cool it's more jarring it's more like oh this is something new that i haven't seen before it might not be real but there's like a deeper meaning beyond what you see onto the screen, which is why I prefer that so much more.
Speaker 03:You just brought up Zootopia. Talk about what that is.
Speaker 00:Okay, so guys, Zootopia is my planet. That's the world that I live in. I feel like I definitely... I live in a... I live in my own world. All artists live in their own world, seeing like the stories that they want to like. They're living like a movie character in their own movie, right? So I feel like I'm starring in my own movie. And Dutopia is this concept of a place, like a planet in outer space, where every being is like distorted almost. There's like a deeper... there's like a deeper connotation that I'm trying to bring into like the whole society thing like where plants eat humans or like you know just kind of a different perspective on predator and prey and how we like see the world generally because I feel like I struggle a lot with self-image sometimes well in the past but I'm trying to embrace my individuality and I just do not care anymore about what other people think about me you know I want to just embrace my internal like everything like i want to dress this way i want to do my makeup this way i want to make art that looks like this even though someone else might not appreciate it so that's the concept of utopia where this planet is everything you would want for expression you can be anything that you want and nobody would ever judge
Speaker 03:So it's more like something that you came up with in your mind. Is this something you would want to bring into like an art form?
Speaker 00:I do. I want to make an exhibition. I'm working on maybe doing a solo exhibition in the coming years just to bring this concept to life where I would make alien plants. And also, actually, I have one coming up. I'm shooting with I'm doing like this like earth and ocean connection But in outer space and it's gonna be like a six foot tall tree installation and I'm gonna do an editorial shoot and with that one That's yeah,
Speaker 03:that's so sick.
Speaker 00:We're also I'm also making two dresses. It's like wearable art So it's not it's not like actual fashion But I'm trying to like just kind of tap into like all my little hobbies and stuff and bring all my art forms together Yeah
Speaker 03:That's so sick. And you've done art installations in the past, right?
Speaker 00:Yes.
Speaker 03:Talk a little bit about what those are and what inspired those projects.
Speaker 00:Okay, so art installation is like, some of them is more interactive. If you go to a show, you can see maybe something where you can tie something or you write something on it. It's more like a collaboration project. That's also like an installation. But for me, it's more like sculpture installation. So it's like 3D. It's very big. It's huge. I love big things. The first one I did was a receipt installation. The first one I did was a receipt installation that was five foot by seven foot.
Speaker 04:so
Speaker 00:five foot tall and seven foot wide and there was like probably like a hundred to a thousand receipts on there the meaning behind that is i collected receipts from my family for like 20 years so my mom's a hoarder she collected like 20 like 20 years worth of receipts parking tickets food, groceries, CVS. And then I also collected some from my friends where I feel like a receipt is like kind of like a piece of history of our like existence. You know what I mean? Every time that you handle these things, it's like a kind of like a glimpse into human nature. So I decided to put that into a piece of art where it was like a collaboration between all these stems of my life. For example, when I was living in China, when I was living in New York and California and from friends. So it's like that piece of art is like every extension of my life in 20 years.
Speaker 03:That's
Speaker 00:sick. Because it's like, I feel like receipts also tell a story.
Speaker 03:Yeah.
Speaker 00:For example, like maybe you're just moving to college and you go to Ikea and you buy all these things. You buy plants to decorate. That's documented on that piece of receipt. But since we're entering such a digital age, none of that is going to be here anymore. We're not going to have those physical pieces of paper that... have that meaning anymore so i feel like that was like it's more like a piece of history it could be potentially a piece of history that gets preserved that's it yeah
Speaker 03:do you keep receipts
Speaker 00:um no i do not well you see after that i was a little bit annoyed i was like no i don't want a receipt please i have like a whole bag i carry this giant bag of receipts everywhere i worked on this project so i'm kind of sick of it for now. Yeah.
Speaker 02:I'm curious though, where do you find your inspiration from? Because that's such a cool idea. Is it just from daily life? Is it from other artists? Is it from novels, whatever? Different corners of life. Where do you find your inspiration?
Speaker 00:So for that piece, it was actually completely original. One day, I had my bag. I was so sick and tired of the receipts that I had in my bag. Because I'm the type of person that I'm just like, okay, cool. I'm going to shove it in here. And so I'm like... wait this is kind of aesthetic like i'm like the type of person that notices these little things in life where i'm like wait this actually looks really cool so then i was like you know what would it be really cool if i like got a bunch of these and i put it onto like a painting or like a piece of wood and i just like make it into art and that was like when the spark came i was like mom give me your receipts and then i texted all my friends hey do you have receipts can i can i like use some and they're like well just just block out my credit card like last four digits i'm like okay and I just took it from them and then rest is history that's
Speaker 03:so cool there's a lot of receipts to black out though yeah
Speaker 00:yeah
Speaker 03:that's super cool i still i don't know what to do with my receipts i try to organize them i tried these apps i don't know i
Speaker 02:used to like just take photos and just keep them that way and have like a like an album of receipts yeah as a way to keep them especially like on productions
Speaker 00:oh right just to you know
Speaker 02:keep track
Speaker 00:of the book yeah for production i take a picture but then i just throw it away i'm
Speaker 02:like bro i don't
Speaker 03:want to yeah i throw it away
Speaker 00:too yeah
Speaker 03:unless i'm like i need to return this
Speaker 02:one
Speaker 00:day yeah yeah
Speaker 02:speaking of like different mediums um i know you're pairing are also artists so talk a little bit about that how that influences your upbringing and your creative process
Speaker 00:so my dad he is a sculptor um he specializes in giant sculptures so my dad made this like really big leica camera so my god it's a leica but it's not like a real leica so he calls it his fake leica so if you watch the documentary you would kind of know about that that's right it's sitting in like a multi-million mansion in hollywood
Speaker 04:oh my god right now or
Speaker 00:maybe they would Or maybe they bought it. I don't know. But before they brought it to that mansion, it was in the Leica store. It was in like the front center of the Leica store in like Rodeo.
Speaker 02:Was it like a Leica partnership or did he just make it and then Leica caught on to it?
Speaker 00:Oh, no, he just he made it. And then I think so he had a collection called Real Fake. And this is to talk about like the fake collection. designer stuff in China. Interesting. Yeah, so like how, like it's like Avibas or like Channel, you know, like all these brands and like they printed on that. So he made like an entire collection called Real Fake. So Leica was a part of that and it was like, he combined all the different parts of different generations of Leica camera onto that one. So that's why I think, I think it got like some publicity and then Leica was like, oh my God, like this is fire. Let me get this in our store. And it's so funny because it was so big to the point that they had to remove the front glass of that building just to put it in. So his main medium is stainless steel sculptures, like massive stainless steel sculptures. And I think that's where my love for silver came from. I don't know if you guys can tell. Yeah, totally. I'm a little bit obsessed with the color, like the silver. So a lot of my stuff, like my personal branding, I guess, is like silver. And I would never choose gold because my entire life, I was literally surrounded by silver. or stainless steel sculptures. And I just thought that was like, the best looking aesthetic because I'm like, dude, that looks so cool. So I looked up to him a lot.
Speaker 03:That's great. I feel like a lot of kids growing up, they would kind of rebel against what their parents did or their style. And it's really cool seeing that you're following their path in a way and also catching on to the stuff they would make.
Speaker 00:Yeah, yeah. You see, now it's funny how you bring that up because film was actually my rebellion.
Speaker 04:Okay.
Speaker 00:So they wanted me to do fine art, but I didn't want to. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to apply to USC Cinematical Arts instead of Fine Arts i didn't get in i watched his video guys it didn't work what happened no i watched his video on how to get into usd and that was like my first impression of him and then i saw him on set i was like wait a minute this person looked real familiar
Speaker 02:wait was it on the hermit crab yeah that's oh i think i witnessed that moment yes you guys were decorating the desk yes yes and the gentleman was just
Speaker 00:there and you were like all jokes all
Speaker 02:jokes yeah
Speaker 00:i don't want to go to film school anymore because i realized that my real passion is in art and my parents were right so i probably shouldn't have i just applied for roski guys
Speaker 03:no they're doing cool stuff are there except they don't let me film there for some reason i was like trying to find an art gallery location for my 310 that i was dping and they're like roski's like no you can't come here
Speaker 00:yeah you know what's funny i went to the lengths my lengths to getting into usc transfer i literally contact i emailed the dean of roski
Speaker 04:oh
Speaker 00:my god and i asked her to meet did you i did and she's okay that's great she reviewed my portfolio
Speaker 03:that's good what yeah people can just do that
Speaker 00:well i i was just like you know what i'm gonna i'm like the type of person is like you know what fuck it i'm gonna take my chance if i don't someone else is gonna take it so i'm gonna take it
Speaker 02:first you know what that's so funny because my mom told me that exact sentence yesterday because i'm the type of person who would like be more reserved and be like ah you know what
Speaker 00:no
Speaker 02:i think i'll you know but you really do have to be you know aggressive sometimes
Speaker 00:never you bro like all the chances in the world will not be yours if you don't take that. If you don't fight for it, someone else is gonna take it. I love
Speaker 03:what you said there because you know a lot of people say like, 50% of success is luck, but what people don't say is that luck is what you make of it. If you're optimistic, there's studies that show more optimistic people would find money on the ground, whereas if you're pessimistic, you just won't find the money on the ground. That just shows luck is something you can control. I love what you said demonstrated that initiative. That's really cool.
Speaker 00:I was not expecting a response, but I was like, if I don't do it, I would never know.
Speaker 02:Nothing to lose,
Speaker 00:too. Yeah, nothing to lose. Worst thing she can say is no. Yeah, exactly. She didn't, so.
Speaker 02:Was that helpful? That's
Speaker 00:great. It was. Great. So I went to, like, a portfolio forum after, like, she told me to go to the portfolio forum. It was only for high school students, but I went there because I was like, you know, I want to go talk to these professors. I want to get their input, and it was very successful.
Speaker 03:Great. Yes. Well, if somehow you don't get in, I would feel bad for anyone else trying to apply because... Your stuff is sick.
Speaker 00:Thank you. That would be crazy. Honestly, at that point, I'm going to just drop out.
Speaker 03:So talk a little bit about, because you make a lot of art and you post them on social media. You get them on Instagram reels of behind the scenes and you have your video series and you make skits and a lot of stuff on TikTok as well.
Speaker 01:I
Speaker 03:would like to hear like what made you like decide that was the future of your art and like, you want to be posting like that
Speaker 00:so funny you say that because i used to want to be a youtuber when i was in seventh grade oh my god so that's
Speaker 03:awesome
Speaker 00:yeah so i bought a little canon g7x the little vlogging camera i have it in my bag to this day to take pictures and vlog it's been years that
Speaker 03:was the iconic
Speaker 00:vlog camera back in the day it was now it's like a thousand dollars or something wow yeah but yeah that's where my i wanted to always be like not an influencer, but I just wanted to put myself out on the internet because I feel like that was fun.
Speaker 04:So I feel like social media, like content creation, is like a hobby for me.
Unknown:Like I enjoy it. I enjoy posting about my life. I enjoy kind of like...
Speaker 00:debriefing the things that I have done because I think I don't give myself enough credit for the things that I do even though you say I'm like you think I'm optimistic right but I'm actually pretty pessimistic because I'm like oh I don't really think that was that much like I'm like oh yeah I did that but I don't realize that it's actually something that's kind of crazy but I just do things and I don't process them so Doing social media kind of gives me a chance to look back on the things that I have done and appreciate myself and be proud of myself. Because I don't think, I feel like my dad, he's a very, because he's a successful artist, it's like overshadowing. He's very pressuring. So he always made me think that I was never enough. So I always thought that I was never enough. So doing this is a way to tell me that you're doing good. Keep going. It's like a reaffirmation, reassurance for myself.
Speaker 03:Right.
Unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 03:That's such a deep way of looking at it. Most people are just like, I want money, you know? And that's why I want to be a YouTuber.
Speaker 00:Well, I mean, it's very nice receiving PR sometimes. I'm like, thanks for the free skincare. Yeah. That's sick. I just think it's a good way to put yourself out there in general. Again, most people don't post because they're like, oh, what is someone else going to say about my video? They're going to think it's cringe, right? I do not give a fuck. I do not give a singular what anybody says they probably will like people will hate me but they can I don't care like because ultimately your life is yours to live and other people will just be the ones sitting behind the phone screen not doing what you're doing yeah so
Speaker 02:yeah you know that's also something that like I think artists just have to accept and just move forward like you're creating art that people are yeah and like people are gonna judge your art no matter what no matter how supposedly great there's always critics and um the idea is to just yeah keep creating without really regarding too much about yeah all the negative stuff
Speaker 00:out there so so that's what my recent utopia series is when i've been like making art like just random pieces embracing different personalities i do not find all the pieces that i make good but i'm like okay someone will hate this someone will like it someone will think it's cool someone will not but i don't care like i'm just gonna put it out I'm trying to overcome perfectionism through this process right now. I
Speaker 03:like what you just said about the subjectivity of art. Is there some metric to measure how good an art can be? Do you think someone who's been painting for 50 years... could essentially be on the same level, be judged on the same level as someone who just started painting. Is there a certain metric to show your growth, even yourself, to know that you're improving in your
Speaker 00:work? Yes. So an artist once said that it took them 10 years or 20 years to learn how to paint, but it took them over 50 years to learn how to draw like a child.
Unknown:Oh.
Speaker 03:That's such a good quote. Can it really be someone from Da Vinci's era? Because I don't think they lived that long.
Speaker 00:I don't know who it was. I think
Speaker 03:Picasso
Speaker 02:said something similar.
Speaker 00:I think it might be
Speaker 02:Picasso. The point of being an artist is to stay a child even though you grew up. Because that's the most creative part where you aren't thinking about... all the external forces that's driving you into this one particular person. But a child just simply does things and explores. And the key is to bring that energy. Exactly. As an artist who's an adult who can... It's almost like controlled chaos
Speaker 00:in a way. Yes, exactly. I love how you mentioned the word chaos. Because the opening line for my essay was... I love chaos or like something like that regarding chaos because I just love it um so for your question I think that practice does make perfect like I I've been painting since I was like like two my my grandpa put me on his table and gave me a Chinese calligraphy brush and just told me to go crazy and I just started doing abstract stuff since I was like nine months old but You also do have to learn the fundamentals of how like proportions work, obviously. Because then if you're trying, you need to learn how to draw well or paint well before you can go outside the box. Like I need to know where the nose is and how big it's supposed to be and like the proportions of the body before I can distort it. Yeah. Before I can ruin it and give a new meaning to it. So, and there's no such thing as good or bad. It's pretty or ugly to me. So everybody, it's like beauty is, Beauty is very subjective again, like everybody perceives it differently So obviously one person is gonna think this thing is ugly and the other person is think it's pretty or like it's good So again, it's very like subjective. There's no such thing as like this is bad, but this is good personally the ones that are overly like contoured and like you like try to make every detail and you're like trying to like paint or like draw like a picture
Speaker 04:right
Speaker 00:those are like not their art But if you're talking about fine art, it's something that's a little bit more broad than that. Unless it's Renaissance style. That's cool.
Speaker 03:I do want to know, when you're making these art, you're definitely trying to go for pretty, right? Yeah. So then would you say good equates pretty and the bad equates ugly? Not
Speaker 00:exactly.
Speaker 03:What would you say the difference
Speaker 00:is? Because certain artists, they like to make art ugly on purpose but then some people there's some there's an artistry to it but it's it's about like the color the composition and the way the brush strokes so you could like to draw like to paint like a child right you have to like be very like you have to like just kind of be loose you have to be relaxed In my opinion. So like when you're like making like a sketch that's like super detailed and stuff like it can be good if you make the composition good. But if it's just like if you're just drawing like a person that's kind of boring. Like, you know what I mean? That's what I think. Of course, everybody has different styles and stuff, but I just personally think that's something that's more outside the box. It's more aesthetically pleasing to me. So that's just my
Speaker 03:take. So then how would some artists be successful and other artists not be successful, you think?
Speaker 00:Well...
Speaker 03:Like, for example, what do you think makes your dad a successful artist, whereas some other people might not be?
Speaker 00:The message behind it? is number one and second he's done something that nobody has done before
Speaker 04:okay
Speaker 00:that's that's that's the one that's the one thing that makes the difference between a successful artist and a non-successful artist is that you have to innovate something completely new something that nobody has ever seen before and you have to be the first one to do it
Speaker 04:yeah
Speaker 00:and that's what makes you successful so that's what i'm trying to find right now i don't know
Speaker 02:does it relate to being personal because in a way like filmmaking a lot of people say um that you know the most personal is the most creative so would you say that's also a way to think about it where the more you are exploring yourself and who you are the better not better but the more um it'll resonate and really have an impact on
Speaker 00:people i 100 agree i have a chaotic life my art is also chaotic so i i choose to live life this way to gain inspiration and to through my lived experiences so that I can make art, so that I could eventually stumble upon the something that will make me be the first one to do something.
Speaker 03:What do you think your goal of making art is? Is there an ultimate goal for you?
Speaker 00:Yeah. Okay. I have many dreams. Many big dreams. So number one, I want to be a production designer, art director. I want to work on a K-pop music video. Those are fire. Oh my gosh. The artistry is insane. It's just so beautiful. The composition, the colors. I'm like, please, please, please. And then other than that, I want to be an art director. Maybe at a company for a little bit until... for just to survive.
Speaker 03:What does an art director
Speaker 00:do? Oh, art director, for example, like Vogue. Yeah. Like, for example, like a campaign. Kind of just like production design. You direct, like, the vision of, like, how this campaign is going to be. Like, for example, what is that campaign? Alex Kansani, the model, she did this, like, oh, Jack, I don't know how to say the name of the brand. Before a brand, there was like this, like the campaign, right? And then there was like cucumbers all over. Like it's something like innovative. And then people find that like interesting.
Speaker 04:So
Speaker 00:it's too like, I guess it's kind of like social media marketing, but like in a broader sense. Yeah. But in the art department of that. Yeah.
Speaker 02:So like photo shoots. Yeah. Editorial stuff. Editorial, right. Because I do see like on Instagram posts, like it would say, art directed by
Speaker 00:yeah
Speaker 02:and then so that's more does it go into like even the clothing they're wearing or is that something that's different department
Speaker 00:okay um it has
Speaker 02:to be like coherent in some way
Speaker 00:well i feel like either well styling is the clothing that's styling is right styling yeah and then so i feel like creative direction and art director is kind of similar but creative direction is like the complete package of the creative but art is like just art I guess. The way it looks, the visuals of it. Production designer, art director, and I want to eventually have my own solo show. Maybe exhibit somewhere in the world and then make some really cool stuff.
Speaker 03:What do you think the message, the common theme behind all your works is that you want your audience to take away?
Speaker 00:That there is something beyond what you see.
Speaker 03:okay
Speaker 00:that there is something beyond this world because i think the world is a simulation um and also i mean there's different meanings to Something beyond what you see right that goes into a single person. There's landscapes inside every person once you get to know them There's a whole universe outside our world Like I just want people to start thinking outside the box and just go crazy like and live life. Yeah, however you want and not care
Speaker 03:No, that's really cool Cuz I recently made a movie where I interviewed a lot of people on what they think happens after death and when I interviewed Ethan he said well There's no proof that we're actually even alive. We could be in a simulation, which I want to ask you, what do you think as someone who thinks outside the box? Like, what do you think happens after death?
Speaker 00:What happens after death? In a way, I feel like our soul still lives.
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 00:Like our... We might not be conscious anymore, but I feel like that the soul, whatever the memories and everything, it's like floating into space or something. I don't know. Because you think about all these crazy supernatural stuff that's happening. I believe in all that stuff. I believe that there's definitely spirits around this world or something somewhere. And I feel like that's probably us when we die in the future. I don't know.
Speaker 03:Yeah, I feel like... to be creative and artists, you, you can't just be so rigid and believe science is everything behind everything. You know, you got to know, like, I feel like as a creative, as an artist, you got to think outside the box, like you said, like that there is more possibility staying curious and open-minded, you know, like being even like spiritual in a way, right. You don't have to be conforming to a certain religion, but I think it's important to know that, you know, things aren't as what they seem like. And I love that's the message of your work.
Speaker 02:Yes. It's like about empathy, I think, ultimately. I think a lot of division and fear and all that all comes from a place of not understanding the other person and fighting for the sake of disrespecting the other person or whatever. And you definitely see that in the world of politics and the world of other parts of the world. But yeah, I think part of the role of the artist and the role of the filmmaker is to just create this mirror that we can almost see someone else from. You look into it and then you see yourself, but then there's this other entity, this other world that exists within it. And I think... That's the beautiful thing about making art. It can really transform lives. It can really change in ever so subtle ways and also in unsubtle ways.
Speaker 00:Yeah. So that's what I'm trying to in the future. Big plans. Big plans. Oh,
Speaker 03:yeah. Another dream big. Yes. And how did you feel like, because you're talking about the future, right? How do you see your work evolving since you were nine months old to now? Because at every stage, the art we create reflects who we are at
Speaker 01:the time, right? Yes.
Speaker 03:And the stuff you're talking about now is who you believe and what you believe at this moment so how did your art shift and change
Speaker 00:okay so in the beginning obviously i was like literally just taking a calligraphy paintbrush and i'm just whipping it everywhere carefree did not give a single you know about what i was doing and but then my parents put me in these like very rigid they like started teaching me still life my least favorite classes ever like it's like drawing a freaking bottle i'm like bro it's and it's in gray i'm literally like oh my god i need color but they're like no you haven't do this and then I appreciate that because now I know how to draw things like I can just draw that within like a few seconds but I hated that practice but it had to be done um junior year of high school I was in a phase where I wanted to express too much in a single painting like I wanted the audience to know what I was trying to express but that doesn't always work so I was like I don't know I it just wasn't as good as my art now because I'm more free I'm more like, oh, I don't really care what this looks like. I'm just going to be like myself and just be relaxed. And then the art is an extension of me versus me trying to reflect myself onto a piece of art. That's the difference. It's like junior year was before I realized that I needed to be free. to not care too much about the perfect brush stroke or the perfect color to put in a single spot. I'm more just like, I don't care. I'm going to do whatever. And then this is how I'm feeling right now. Sadness, anger, revenge, regret, whatever. That's what I'm trying to reflect into my art pieces now.
Speaker 03:No, that's really sick. Like I can totally, I'm like so excited to see the stuff you do.
Speaker 00:Me too. I hope. Oh my God. I'm excited too.
Speaker 03:But you know, outside of art, you know, you'd be doing these side quests, like going on Jubilee.
Speaker 00:Oh
Speaker 04:yeah.
Speaker 03:How did you, I was just watching in this episode. Cause I, For the guys who don't know what Jubilee is, it's like this YouTube channel that does these really cool social commentary stuff. And they do a lot of fun things revolving topics with humans and stuff. And two videos I watched, you were in it, just randomly... And it freaked me out because I was like, there's no way someone I know is on here. So how did you get on a Jubilee episode? And like, what was that experience
Speaker 00:like? Okay, well, first of all, you guys can apply for Jubilee too. Like they have open casting on their website. So what happened was, oh, one of my friends who is a model, I saw him on an episode. I was like, oh my God, what are you doing on Jubilee? He was like, oh yeah, you can apply. So I was like, oh. why not i told my ex about it and then we were like we're very madly in love at that time so we're like you know let's go on the show together and let's hope that it aged well Well, we're not together anymore, but we applied for this video because a lot of people said that we look like siblings, like we look alike and stuff. I remember that video, yeah. So we applied for this video that was like siblings are dating, but we didn't get casted into that one because it was supposed to be mostly siblings acting like they're dating. So we're not siblings, obviously, so we didn't get casted. But regardless, they had our interview video and they had our contact and everything. so for the next video was ranking couples by compatibility and so they literally just like cold called us they send me and my ex like um a text individually and we're like oh my god wait we just got cast in this video okay let's do it like and then we went on that one it was fun and then i met with the director she was super chill and um i think her name is nicole Yes, I don't remember. Yes. She's super nice. And there's a lot of USC students working on Step Jubilee. Yeah, I know a couple. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, I was talking to her about, like, oh, maybe if you need production design, let me, hit me up. So, but the next time she hit, like, the crew hit us up for, like, the sibling or dating video. So that was the second one. We were just like, okay, why not? Let's do it. We've been wanting to do this for a while, right? Siblings or dating. So we ended up being on that video. It was super fun. Very chill.
Speaker 03:Yeah. Sick. Yeah. I'm going to throw my name in there. Yeah, do it. Why not? I'm telling
Speaker 00:you, bro. I'm saying you lose the chances you don't take.
Speaker 02:Yeah, you're right. You're right. What's that saying? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take? Yes. Is that the right one? Yes. Definitely.
Speaker 00:Oh, and side quests. Yeah, I have a lot of side quests. Modeling, it was just because my friend, she was just like... Um, they needed a model for this jewelry brand and I thought it was a cool jewelry brand and I just so happened to know the male model. So I was like, Oh my God, what? This is a crazy. And that was the first time I saw him in real life, but it was cool. Um, that was fun. And then after that, my friends just hit me up whenever they need like a model or something. I'm actually going on a shoot on the eighth for my friend's brand. It's called a mode. a mode. It's a denim brand. She's super talented. Yeah. That's
Speaker 03:sick. Back to our, actually, I was going to ask you earlier, you've been doing art since you were born.
Speaker 01:There's
Speaker 03:phases in our lives where we kind of question what we do and what we are and like stuff like that, especially as we grow up, like, you know, out of high school and stuff. Has there been any points in your life where you're a question, like whether art is your future? And like, what was that thing? Like, what was going on in your head when you had those moments?
Speaker 00:It was the rebellion. I didn't want to do what my parents did.
Speaker 03:Okay.
Speaker 00:I was like, because I have a... Growing up, I had a difficult relationship with my dad because he's very like dominant of a person and gave me a lot of trauma because of how demanding he is. Like he always thinks that I'm not doing enough. So I was like, dude, I do not want to be in this field because he's just going to keep telling me what to do. So I was like, you know what? Let me try something else. I joined a film class.
Unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 00:And then again, rest is history. So I really wanted to do film, like directing for a bit. But then I realized that it wasn't really for me after I literally worked on so many, worked on a few films during high school. But then I discovered the love for production design when I joined PNN, which is the school broadcast program. And I wanted to give our show like a new anchor desk set. So I started that. I was like, wait, this is so fun. I really liked it. So I was like, you know, let me just keep doing it. So I guess that was when film started was when I realized I didn't really want to do art anymore. But film is
Speaker 03:art.
Speaker 00:Yeah. No, I just think it's so etched into me because I've been doing it for my entire life. There's nothing I know better. So I think that that's just where I need to be.
Speaker 03:But you never were like, I want to do accounting or like math.
Speaker 00:Oh, yeah. No, I suck at my guys blow Wait, just the thought of that like just literally I just don't think I've ever thought of it like anything else
Speaker 03:No office job you think
Speaker 00:I Think I would die Because I love being free freedom is the number one thing that I value the most
Speaker 02:Okay,
Speaker 00:so
Speaker 02:no. Yeah, that's great. You have two thought experiments for you one is if you can teleport to anywhere within a second and What would be the first place you would go anywhere in the world?
Speaker 00:I want to go to Jutopia.
Speaker 03:Okay. What's the first spot in Jutopia you would want to go to?
Speaker 00:Jutopia is not in this world. It's in a different dimension. I don't want to be on this planet.
Speaker 03:Would you hit up like the spot in Jutopia?
Speaker 00:Probably like the waterfall. The waterfall, there's like... very colorful plants everywhere and there's like little eels kind of entity swimming around there the water is like very crispy blue yeah yeah
Speaker 02:are you a fan of james cameron's avatar
Speaker 00:yes
Speaker 02:would you say that's somewhat of a description or is it
Speaker 00:something similar but a little bit more a little bit more artistic more colorful but definitely something something like that i'm bro i think avatar oh my god that is
Speaker 02:are you excited for the third one yes yeah It's the fire people. Yeah, the
Speaker 00:fire tribe or something. I'm so excited, bro. Oh, my God. I literally love, like, the CGI of that film so much. I just think it's so cool.
Speaker 03:Yeah.
Speaker 00:Pandora.
Speaker 03:Oh, you know what? You know, he said in the opening of the film, he said it's not made by AI. Oh, that's right. I read about it. Yeah. And I want to hear your thoughts on AI.
Speaker 00:Oh. Okay, so... I actually do use AI sometimes to generate me ideas for art. Like I'm like, hey, I want this entity creature. Can you give me like something like that? So I use Midjourney and Discord sometimes to generate me ideas when I'm stuck. And honestly, it helps so much with creative block. Like I see this image, but then I also have my own ideas. So I just kind of combine it together. But I always just do it myself. But the ideas can come from AI. I actually really want to get into Sora, which is like an engine. I think it's called Sora.
Speaker 02:Yeah, the video.
Speaker 00:Yes, I want to get into the video AI engine just to create some cool stuff. I'm really open. No, I'm honestly... Google has one too. Really?
Speaker 02:Google Veo. Apparently
Speaker 00:it's better. What about DeepSeek?
Speaker 02:Does DeepSeek have one? I'm not sure. I know there's some Chinese ones. There's the Google Veo. There's Zora. I think
Speaker 00:those are the leading ones right now. Dude, I honestly... Okay, I know this might sound a little controversial, but I'm actually a big fan of AI art because it looks so... new like when when it's like distorting and like moving and stuff like that i just think it's so much more like than you can do with cgi low-key
Speaker 02:yeah because it just goes wild yeah um and yeah
Speaker 00:i really like it actually i've
Speaker 02:seen some clips on instagram reels randomly recommended to me that are like really scary in like a really artistic
Speaker 03:way
Speaker 02:i really like it actually
Speaker 03:i mean what do you have to say to the people who think that will take their jobs in the future
Speaker 00:um i don't think it will because you still need an executor you still need someone to give the ai a command like the ai just they don't know what they don't have taste like they don't have like you still need someone who has an artistic background to feed the ai ideas like hey i hate that color that is not good um like be like oh use use purple instead of pink for this area or something like that. You still need someone with the vision.
Speaker 02:I read this article by Ted Chiang, who's the writer of the movie Arrival. He wrote the story for it. He had an article that said basically, yes, artists use AI as a tool, but ultimately it's about making choices. I think that's exactly what you touched on, where yes, AI can generate you hundreds, thousands of images, but ultimately it's about making choices. what you end up doing with it. And in some ways, yeah, like the people who are in support of AI and art are using as a tool to help them make the choices that they want to make ultimately.
Speaker 00:Yeah. So I don't think it's going to replace. If anything, it'll just help us. It's like more like a tool to like help us with creativity.
Speaker 03:I love that. Because I would totally think you'd be someone super against it, but that's great.
Speaker 00:Like I said, I'm open to anything. I'm very open-minded. I used to be judgmental, but I'm at a phase where I'm open to seeing all sides of things. You say, oh, I'm in a polyamorous relationship. Okay, cool. Good for you.
Speaker 02:So it's more about like...
Speaker 00:you know i i'm just super open-minded like i'm open to learning anything i just want to absorb all the information you know
Speaker 03:that's fair enough yeah yeah why why judge yeah um and you know it's speaking of that like i found out the other day that one of the people who is like the founder of like this company I'm interning at he's like one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood and I heard that he's he uses a chat GP a lot of times to assist him with yeah screenwriting and I was like yeah if the top people in Hollywood is using it and that's like why are the ones that aren't at the top not using
Speaker 00:it exactly you know exactly like you're gonna be like oh I don't want to use that because it's not authentic someone else is gonna use it they're gonna be better than you bro like just use it like
Speaker 03:don't not to like replace your own hits
Speaker 02:to make it better and spark ideas.
Speaker 00:Exactly.
Speaker 02:Yeah. I've heard that like AI is not going to replace anyone. It's, it's people who know how to utilize AI to better the work that they do. Yeah. And I think, I think that's true in every field in tech, in art, in filmmaking. Like if you can use that as like a, Assistant as I know, you know, whatever like that'll enhance you so much better.
Speaker 00:Yeah, I completely agree So I'm not against AI at all. Cool.
Speaker 02:My second thought experiment is if you had the attention of Everyone in the world for one minute Will be one piece of art you would show or something you would say
Speaker 00:if it was to be a piece of art I think in the future it would be like this Giant sphere a giant sphere, almost like a planet, like a geotopia, right? And then there's all these different elements of things growing off of it to kind of give them what an extraterrestrial being could look like, or like an extraterrestrial world, like Pandora or something like that. If I had to say anything, though, honestly, just to be free. To live free... And enjoy life because you only live once. Not to be scared of anything that you want to do. And just do whatever the f*** you want. And don't be afraid of judgment because your life is yours to live.
Speaker 03:We do a thing on our podcast where the previous guest would leave a question for the current guest. And the previous guest wrote a question. How do you find balance in your life?
Speaker 00:You talk about a great question. um balance i am i literally just made a real like i just posted it while i was before i drove that work like what's it called work hard play hard is my middle name okay work hard play hard is my middle name i i'm a girl i like to party i like to go out so today i'm going to a party But right now, I'm in the podcast. And then afterwards, I'm going to go to the build set. And then after that, I'm going to go to the party. So I work during the day, get my work done, and then I go have fun at night.
Speaker 03:And how do you find time to take care of yourself?
Speaker 00:Oh, I mean, I'm just happy.
Speaker 03:Okay.
Speaker 00:I'm happy when I am living free. doing whatever I want so and then sometimes I'll take like a rest day for like a day and I'll just like take a shower watch some movies and then like journal a little bit and then art is my therapy so that's how I take care of myself
Speaker 02:if you were on a deserted island what would be one piece of item you would bring and one that's not necessarily art and what is a piece of art that you would bring it could be anything it could be a DVD for a film it could be a little sculpture thing it could be a whatever so object and art
Speaker 00:i would bring a camera so i could document my life before i die and that would be an art piece in itself
Speaker 02:yeah oh that is giving chills that's so good yeah yeah
Speaker 03:that's good we're all doing that every day aren't
Speaker 02:we yeah
Speaker 00:yeah so that would be my answer
Speaker 03:So that's two things in one. Wow. That's beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on our podcast.
Speaker 00:Of course. I had a great time talking to you guys.
Speaker 03:Likewise.