Interview with "Scream Hostel" lighting artist Lin Shuzhen: Losing is not a bad thing at times, but escape is not necessarily

On the same day as the interview, Lin Shuzhen, now a senior lighting artist for Scream Hostel: Transformers at Sony Pictures, greeted us via video camera in Vancouver, on the other side of the globe.

She feels quite down, even a little sloe-spoken, talking, but with considerable certainty. Like the work of a lighting artist, filling characters and scenes with or in cold, or warm light, as if to take us close to the truth in the illusion, let us believe in the story, believe that the character does exist.

Light and color pusher, become a lighting magician

"Lights are the lowest part of all processes, and it's the last step." Shuzhen mentioned that 3D animation has a set process, from the top model, to animation, artistic effects, smoke appearance, and finally, is the light.

Speaking of the world are curious animation work details, Shuzhen laughs that every day, in fact, with ordinary people are no different, especially Hollywood animation is very high division of labor, each mirror position is a fairly detailed perspective layer by layer, from the previous system to the late stage, for the results of time and again modification has been the norm.

"Every morning we have a meeting, wait for supervisor's amendments, and after the afternoon meeting, see if the supervisor has any other questions about the changed shot, if there is any, continue to modify, this is our daily routine."

Photo courtesy of | Shuzhen Lin

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Looking back after high school, she came to New York, from learning to start stepping into the field of lighting art, but also nearly 20 years of seniority, Shuzhen admitted that all this is not in their original planning, the university majored in graphic design, she originally intended to cross-foot web design, did not expect because of a 3D animation class, changed her life.

"After graduation, I was going to be an animator, but then I found a lot of jobs that required a lighting major, and as I did, I slowly became an expert in lighting."

Life in her, there is a water push boat-like dash, from Taipei to New York, in the face of the strange and busy big city, pinching a silly sound, in the east to see, west to see, found the appropriate place to fall, look back, that is the choice of life again and again.

And those who choose to take on the burden of turning the corner with my career, she says, have an unexpected lightness: "Because I later discovered that actually making light is better for me than animation, it combines more of my interests, including colorology, photography, traditional art, technology and natural elements."

Although mistakenly hit the ground, but also let her unexpectedly from the animation, a glimpse of the charm of the lights, Shuzhen mentioned that the lighting art is ever-changing, because the computer is omnipotent with 3D technology, its infinite, creating a world of animation, and the lighting artist, is to master these ads, movies and animation Final look key characters.

The so-called dream is not so far away, you will always find it

At first glance at the age of 19, the character of the gentle Virgin Buddha in the center of the world realized their small, only overseas, everything has to come to their own, reading, work, looking for a house, moving house, living abroad for a long time, the impact on personality than expected is greater than expected, "before going abroad, my personality is still quite cowardly, even the bus is not too dare to ride, but go abroad is hard to lose to a strange environment, everything has to be carried up."

She says that after nearly 10 years of studying and working in New York, she has developed an independent personality, and all the tracks of the past are now the epitome of her, "and now I don't seem to have anything to fall back on, and I'm a lot tougher than I used to be."

Starting from the advertising industry, all the way to Hollywood, big cities have big dreams, many things are often unexpected, she said, to foreign countries only found that the so-called dreams are not so far away, they are within reach, waiting for you to explore.

Photo courtesy of | Shuzhen Lin

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"When I was a kid, I didn't even know what special effects or lights were, let alone take them as my profession." Shuzhen believes that sometimes people's situation with the environment migration, the aircraft with you to arrive here, see the new scenery, so life turned a corner, towards the direction you have not thought about, even if the course of occasional ups and downs, there are countless unexpected, you should be able to maintain flexibility.

One year, she was working at a New York advertising agency, making a short film for a Canadian movie theater, and remembers the case being so busy that jomo had only three weeks to work day and night with another lighting artist, carrying 50 60 shots, in addition to lighting, but also do scenes, character materials, "sometimes do, we are tired to fall asleep in the company chair, but perhaps because of the same boat together, that revolutionary feeling is still very deep to this day." Shuzhen mentioned that the hard times are constant, the daily is always suffering, but at first sight of the finished product, that is, another sense of achievement of the impact.

"Every scene you see in the cinema will bring you back to where you were made and hundreds of modifications, " said Shuzhen, whose sense of accomplishment lies in these details, and she will always remember receiving a 3D short film ad from Fonda in New York, often working overtime because of the urgency of the hour, and after the case arranged a holiday to return to Taiwan and then transfer to Thailand.

"When I went to a hotel in Thailand that day and turned on the TV, it was the Fanta ad I was doing in New York." And the eternal moment of the light man, that moment.

Losing may or may not escape

After nine years in the New York advertising industry, and then in 2015 it has been 15 years since it was turned into a film.

From the first animated film, "Bear Grylls," to today, he has seen a number of well-known big-screen films, including X-Men, Wonder Woman, The Lion King, Mobile City, Scream Hostel: Transformers, as work moves nine cities Footprints travel through London, Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Wellington, Canada, Montevideo, Vancouver, and New York, Yatu, California, in the united States, in the midst of this, if there are no setbacks, it is absolutely deceptive.

"Most of the setbacks in advertising, animation, and film circles are visa-related, after all, it's all about contracts." The vast majority of lighting artists move with the case, and unlike the usual long-term job signings in a company, which need to be re-purchased as the employer moves, "it's also common to meet a company that doesn't want to help you get a visa and doesn't want to hire you," She said.

In the United States, if artists can't solve the identity problem, it's hard to compete fairly with others in the workplace, which is the identity dilemma of foreigners.

Photo courtesy of | Shuzhen Lin

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As for how to deal with the long-standing imbalance in the workplace?

She thought half-heartedly, mentioned in this, constantly for their own mentality, only want to survive for her is the most practical: "I personally have a belief, is "If you want it enough, you will find a way." At home my father is more patriarchal, I am afraid to study abroad after nothing to go home, from then on will have confidence in their own collapse, so I choose not to leave a way for themselves. "

Because of a belief that she "doesn't have a way back for herself", she never thought about going home, even at a time when identity issues were holding her back, and her eyes were still on the front.

The year she graduated, the U.S. working day was full within two days of the opening application, and in order to obtain legal working status, she returned to school to stay on a student visa and try to apply for an artist visa that even lawyers said was less likely.

"Before I got my artist visa, it was normal to lose money, to encounter corporate debts, fraud, to pay me very low salaries, and finally not get a work visa, after the identity was blacked out, for a while I couldn't find a partner company." Even in those dark moments, She said, she thought she would find a way to survive in New York without the financial support of her family.

"It can only be said that after persisting, the artist's visa was taken for 6 years before he had the opportunity to get a special talent green card, with the freedom of identity, there is a later film and animation road." Shuzhen mentioned that when we never leave our homeland, it is difficult to understand the weight of identity in freedom,

"Sometimes, people in low tide because they can not see the end and want to give up, but the so-called "such as the mountain, not a loss, stop, I stop also; Recalling the difficulties of the original, Shuzhen said, very proud of the original did not give up their own.

"To this day, I find myself going further than I thought, and there are occasional losses in this, but sometimes you will find that the future will always prove to you in various ways that those who have persisted but lost are probably not so suitable for you, so life has helped you arrange another, better way, just as I would have stayed in that rotten company, I would not have made a movie, so sometimes loss is not a bad thing, but a escape."

Let the art of light and the plot graft, in order to really say a good story

Asked what is the same or different about lighting for advertising, movies, and animations? "In fact, whether it's advertising, animation or movies, the principle of lighting is the same," she said. She mentions that animation gives lighting artists more room to play than lighting up for "physical objects", because it's not real-world stuff after all, and it creates more atmosphere and context.

"In the case of Scream Hostels: Transformers, we wanted to create a more 'experienced' feel for the audience, with most of the first three episodes taking place in dark forests and the last episode beginning to move into the tropical jungles of South America, which is completely different from the atmosphere created in the past."

She mentioned that through the light, want to bring more emotional resonance to the audience, lighting has its ability and magic, in addition to the establishment of the scene, but also contains a communication atmosphere, in the context of complex circumstances to let the characters and the story spindle jump out, but also can not make the picture appear too false, appear unreal, full of work.

Photo | sony pictures from Sony Pictures

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The lighting artist for the film to erase its exclusive texture, there is dark, halo, low-key, sea pie, Shuzhen for the "Scream Hostel: Deformation Monster" to build the jungle, in the forest in the tiny places to add some leaf shadows, from which side let light into, through the leaves and leaves between the gap, so that the color is real, let the anger begins with creation.

Looking back to depict the vampire's residence, the castle is between 2D and 3D, there must be some psychedelic, to be far away from the audience, so there must be increased fog, so the most difficult part is that the vampire in the complex scene can be highlighted, let him become the main character in the space, let the art of light and plot graft, have the opportunity to say more lines can not be loaded details, this is the light in the film's charm.

Photo | sony pictures from Sony Pictures

"A lot of people have been in advertising for a long time and will be eager to do movies because advertising bookings are short and freelance workers sometimes have to change companies for days or weeks, but half a year of film is going to be a relatively stable contract for us."

Shuzhen said that sometimes the work is a trade-off, film production is usually a large team, and the lighting is one of the small members, you just are responsible for lighting, do a good job of synthesis, but the advertising company is relatively small, you can grasp the direction is relatively broad, "If you ask me, I will feel more successful advertising, because from materials to lighting, almost everything you do."

However, about the career transition and life choices, in the end, or have to go back to what kind of life you want to live.

Enough rest, remember to start again

"It's impossible to do the same thing for more than 15 years without ever feeling tired, " Ms. Shuzhen said, noting that, especially when I had to keep changing companies and looking for a new job, after the case in London a few years ago, there was a sudden sense of burnout. "It was so serious that when I thought about going to another interview, re-introduce myself and sell it to the company, I wanted to vomit."

From then on, together with the impact on the lives of partners and pets, their own values have to be evaluated and measured in interviews over and over again, "always feel like I've worked so hard for so many years to get to where I am now, but when I find a new job, I'm still rejected for a variety of reasons, sometimes even if I'm too senior."

With her chin on her chin, a slightly lost look transmitted from the other end of the video, and still a little reluctant, she says, psychological imbalances used to be the norm, "watching some colleagues with the same qualifications get jobs, and I'm lost, and that's a lot of frustration, and it's going to be a year or so and it feels lost."

The enthusiasm to get back to work is not an instant awakening, but in the passage of time, gradually began to understand the meaning of work in life, you will know that the current doubt about their own, many times with hasty expectations, so a lot of "why" oil born: why not others, why always do not do well, why lose, why so unfair

"But when I look back, I think it's a great blessing to be able to do what I love, and in particular, I don't have to force myself to do things I don't want to do and say things that I don't want to say, and there are a lot of structural problems in the industry, including the plight of being a foreigner, the social interaction and relationships I'm not good at, and that I may not be able to change." Shuzhen said, the words have a positive negative, and that kind of negativity is not really negative, but there is a kind of self-blame from the mood of people dragged out, let us only focus on the courage of the moment.

Work is sometimes the process of withering and rebirth, burnout comes and goes, tired when the rest of a moment to start again is not imitation, but rest enough, to remember to start again is.

Whether your dream fits your expectations or not, you'll have to do it before you evaluate it

After 90 is called tired of generations, derived from the lost dream, the word dream, as if moving the castle, falling in the chaos, have a dream like a kind of ridicule, the word dream seems to be tied to unrealistic, however, Shuzhen does not think so.

"I want to use my experience to encourage people with dreams, a lot of things you think it's hard, but then you find that taking that step is the hardest thing, don't let fear or too many excuses limit yourself, and don't let anyone tell you, "You can't do it."

There are still a lot of castles in the world that you think don't exist, and if you want to capture it, first of all, you have to have a yearning, "When I was a kid, I didn't know anything about 3D and the animation industry, and I'd gone a long way, and if I could get young people interested in 3D through these beautiful movies and animated pictures, it would be a new direction for me."

Career long, eventually have to be between ups and downs, find their own rest, she mentioned that many things, she was done to understand, came to New York to understand animation, through animation, know the lights, and after doing a lighting artist, began to understand the different "light." With different attributes, and in the animation head lamp, is really a kind of close to the reality of the creation, a lamp, plus a beam of sunlight, about the magic of light and shadow, and its relationship with nature, she is also all the way, slowly understand.

"Game lighting artists use lights to guide players, and in animation, we lead your eyes and focus on the story, and these virtual lights are there, and they have meaning." Life has light, too, to do what you want to do, and if you really desire it, you can find a way without any difficulty.

"But I have to say, "You don't know if those dreams fit your expectations, but that's up to you to evaluate them."