Meet Jiayan He

We were lucky to catch up with Jiayan He recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jiayan, so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?

First of all, I want to thank my film professor Matia Karrell, who helped me to confirm that empathy is not sympathy. It may be because I loved watching anime when I was a child. I learned many truths from anime, such as people should learn to think from other people’s perspectives. It rained heavily today, so I didn’t want to teach, but from another perspective, the teacher might not want to teach because she might have to leave her child alone at home, and the child’s nanny might not be able to come because of the heavy rain. My most direct and longest-lasting condition may be my parents’ divorce. They divorced when I was 6 years old, and since then my time and life have been evenly distributed around them. Because my father would constantly tell me why they left each other, what exactly annoyed him, and other topics, I would sympathize with them. But when I had an argument with my ex-girlfriend that was almost the same as the quarrel between my parents in my childhood memory, I could fully empathize with my father only after I pounded the wall and squatted with my head in my hands like my father did. I don’t think you have to go a path that the person involved has also gone through to find empathy. Otherwise, you can hardly create characters. But you must understand the other person’s internal logic and sympathize with that person to a certain extent.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a film director, and I am currently interning at a vertical screen short drama company in Beijing. I write some English vertical screen short series scripts. I decided to work in the film industry a long time ago because I thought if I worked in the film industry, I would have the opportunity to experience all the professions in the world. Of course, I may have only seen the profession of actor at that time, but now I can explore many other people’s lives when I write scripts.

I was lucky to have an opportunity. A very famous ASC DP-David Stump watched my demo reel. He told me that although these are just clips, he can feel that each shot will convey a specific emotion. The most special emotion for me is helpless entanglement. For example, a grandfather who just lost his partner walked out of the hospital slowly, and his young granddaughter ran to him and asked him how the operation was, but he had just promised his partner not to let her death affect the granddaughter. At this time, it started to rain, and he had to smile. This kind of entanglement is difficult to express specifically or act out, but it is an emotional moment that the protagonist in my story usually experiences.

I especially like improvisation. For me, improvisation is one of the most fun things in the world. Adjust the lines, actions, and even the script according to the individual characteristics and lives of the actors. If there are any emergencies on the set, how can we combine these with the story? These things don’t seem to panic for me, but make me feel interesting. But I have to make it clear that improvisation can only be considered a plus point if you are well prepared, otherwise, you are just using improvisation to fill the gaps in your preliminary work.

I have two projects coming up. One is a documentary about a school for autistic children operating in my hometown. I followed them for two weeks in 2022, and I plan to visit them again in 2024. I may complete the filming this time, or I may go to shoot them every few years in the future, turning it into long-term work. The other is a short film project of about 20 minutes, which I plan to direct myself. It tells the story of an Asian man who used to be a rapper and was deceived into a public battle in a nightclub. I have written the first draft and may start pre-production at the end of the year and then shoot next year.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first quality that comes to mind is persistence. Persistence is really important, probably the most important. I know this sentence sounds boring and empty. I think the best way to make people understand the importance of persistence is to get them to go to the gym. Whatever you do, just persist. I don’t think most industries are a “sprint event”, at least not the film industry. This game is not about who runs faster, but who will survive at the end. You have to persist.

The second skill, let’s talk about learning. You have to learn how to learn. Learning is a lifelong thing, this is not a lie. Look at open AI, let’s not discuss whether AI will replace humans, whether all this is correct, etc., but we all agree that you have to at least learn how to use AI. As technology advances, whether we are making movies or not, we have to learn, forced or voluntarily. And you have to find your way of learning. Maybe I am suitable for watching YouTube at home, and she may prefer to practice on the set. Either way, as long as you are learning instead of lying in bed to receive information, it will be fine.

Finally, I want to mention an unchanging creed. You are responsible for your own life. Yes, whether it is your dear mother who pays all your college tuition and hopes that you will study law, or your new boyfriend wants you to get married in a small town, end of the day, your own life is only your responsibility. You can’t blame or depend on others unless that’s what you want. I’m not telling you not to listen to other people’s opinions, but the decision still has to be made by yourself.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, I am looking for partners for my short film, mainly a producer, DP, more broadly I am looking for rappers and producers. I have completed a short film script, which tells the story of an Asian male who is over 35 years old. He had a glorious past as a rapper/battle Mc in Brooklyn ten years ago but now has a Chinese restaurant in LA, has started his own family, and is a devout Christian. For some reason, he was tricked into a nightclub and forced to rap again. I want to tell this story because I love rap music myself and feel that Asian rappers are underrepresented in film and television. This story has a lot of discussions about rap and will talk about some racial issues. I am looking for a producer who can bring me those elements I need, and a DP who has a picture in mind for this logline. This story will also have some actors rapping moments so I need real rappers to write the lyrics. The most important thing for me is whether you can be attracted to the logline I described there and tell me that you also want to realize this story.

You can find me via email at jhe7@inside.artcenter.edu
or Instagram: jhe103

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhe103/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMtOfAX6TQaDAr5VnGoT3w

Image Credits

Yukun Chan
Valentina Berti
Zikun Wu