cinema verite<\/a> style of documentary filmmaking is a standard of news docs. It\u2019s observational, and I love what we made.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJZ:<\/strong> Well tell me more about that. Because it seems like you could\u2019ve told this story several ways: from westerners trying to make their stake in the Chinese market, to Beijing\u2019s goals on the Olympic stage, or a bunch of rebellious, young surfers, living it up in a hotel with their old-school veteran coach from Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC:<\/strong> We wanted the viewer to really make up their own mind as they watch the documentary. So it’s not a commentary on the government. It’s not a political piece. It’s purely showing the lives of these young surfers as they navigate the pressures of Chinese society and its government. <\/p>\n\n\n\nJZ: <\/strong>There’s a quote on the movie\u2019s website that sticks out that says, \u201cIn China, our parents are pretty traditional: Study, find a job, start a family. We surfers don\u2019t think that way. We don\u2019t want a boring life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC: <\/strong>Yeah. Alex, is one of the country\u2019s best surfers, but also doesn\u2019t agree with officials. He said a lot to us that we didn’t include in the film, because we didn’t want him to put himself in a bad situation. He’s also a teenager. And Lolo \u2013 she also didn’t want to go to university and get a job and just, you know, move into the city and have kids. She surfs because she loves it. And so it’s about the two of them trying to figure out who they are as individuals. And surfing is just a way to tell that story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n“I think when the cameras are off, you’re not just there to be a filmmaker. You\u2019re still a human going through the journey with them.<\/strong>“<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\nJZ: <\/strong>Why do you choose a cinema verite style of filmmaking, when a lot of what we see in journalism \u2013 or even on YouTube \u2013 is driven heavily by personality? <\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC: <\/strong>I truly believe that everybody has a story to tell, and I have the privilege as a journalist of being the person that kind of gets to tell it \u2013 but through their words. I don’t really need to insert myself there. Where I do affect the scene is through the editing. That\u2019s where my art comes through. <\/p>\n\n\n\nJZ: <\/strong>Expand on that. <\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC:<\/strong> Well in documentary filmmaking, the editor is almost at the director level, because we have so much footage. And it’s up to you to decide which fraction of a percent of that footage is used to tell the story. A lot of times editors are tasked with trying to read the director’s brain and figure out what it is that they\u2019re trying to say, and then create that in the actual edit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nJZ:<\/strong> So do you also try to disappear into the background when filming your subjects? <\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC: <\/strong>Well, while filming I try to stay out of the way. In objective journalism you\u2019re not really supposed to be involved in the scene. But I don’t think that’s how the best stories get made. For instance, Lolo, in Surf Nation, is a 20-some-year-old, trying to navigate her family’s and society’s expectations. And throughout the film, I think I was almost like her big sister slash therapist, as she was trying to sort it out with us. And the way the film’s cut, it seems like she just kind of has these realizations. But it took a long time for her to get there. Something about surfing really spoke to her, and she wanted to pursue her individual path. It didn’t really make sense to her family. And I connect with that as an Asian American filmmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJZ: <\/strong>Do you think that connection helped Lolo open up to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\nJQC: <\/strong>For sure. I think when the cameras are off, you’re not just there to be a filmmaker. You\u2019re still a human going through the journey with them. And I hope the audience also connects with that journey and feels a little less alone. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Q. Chen is one of the latest casualties of what many media analysts are calling an extinction level event in journalism. The LA Times fired her and more than 100 of her colleagues, after the organization’s owner, Patrick Soon-Shion, said losses of up to $40 million a year could no longer be sustained. It\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,174,60,25,61],"tags":[285,277,161,288,292,268,291,293,290,274,110],"yoast_head":"\n
Laid off by the LA Times, documentary filmmaker Jessica Q. Chen has more stories to tell<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n