Meet Yihuan Zhang

We recently connected with Yihuan Zhang and have shared our conversation below.

Yihuan, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I get most of my resilience from my family. They have supported most of my decisions since high school. When I first told them I wanted to be a filmmaker, even though they didn’t like the idea at first, they still showed their support. They helped me with my first short film by finding locations in my hometown, finding actors, and even offering some financial support. Although we argued quite a bit during the first year after I made this decision, they still encouraged me to attend film school to learn more. They are the reason I was able to study at USC and come to LA.

I also draw resilience from my passion for the work I do. I’m a filmmaker, director, and cinematographer in LA, and I truly enjoy what I do. I used to study architecture in college, but I wasn’t very passionate about it. Even though I had a lot of help, it took me a long time to make the shift and immerse myself in filmmaking. Now, I’m more appreciative of what I do and more determined not to give up.

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’m a director and cinematographer based in LA. I’ve been working as a filmmaker for five years. I began my career in Beijing, China, and then moved to LA to continue studying filmmaking at USC, where I graduated a year ago. I really enjoy what I’m doing right now.

As a cinematographer, the most rewarding part is helping people bring the images in their minds to life while also creating beautiful visuals that resonate with me. I’ve collaborated with many directors on their short films and vertical mini-series. Each project is unique, but I enjoy every step of the filmmaking process.

As a director, I focus on telling stories based on my own experiences and those I believe are worth sharing. I believe the most important thing for a director is to tell authentic stories that reflect the present moment and their personal experiences.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

As a cinematographer in LA, I believe the three key qualities are imagination, observation, and honesty.

The importance of imagination is easy to understand. One of the reasons I wanted to become a cinematographer is because I aspire to bring the images I imagine to life. I’ve often had fantasies and visualized things, even as a child. Turning those fantasies into footage is one of the most fulfilling aspects of the job. As a cinematographer, one of our responsibilities is to visualize the story together with the director and help make that vision a reality. Therefore, having a strong imagination and being able to convey it to the director is crucial.

The second quality, observation, is also essential. All great imagination is rooted in observation. What you observe in your daily life gradually shapes your thinking, which in turn influences your visual storytelling. For example, as a cinematographer, I am often quick to notice how light behaves in different environments, and this awareness informs how I create realistic lighting in films.

Lastly, but no less important, is honesty. In fact, I sometimes feel this is the most important quality in my career. During production, I believe it’s always better to be honest with your team and crew. While it’s natural to want others to believe you’re highly skilled at your job, there will always be things we don’t know. We’re constantly learning and improving. Being honest about what we can and can’t do on set helps ensure a safer environment and allows us to protect ourselves and our team.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I believe it’s better to go all in on our strengths, but this belief is based on my own experiences and the field I’m working in right now.

First, you can only maximize your strengths when you fully commit to them. For example, when we begin working in filmmaking, we tend to try out many different roles. We want to learn and experiment with writing, directing, cinematography, art, and sound. However, we eventually discover our strengths and preferences. The best decision is to commit once we identify our strength. If you enjoy sound design, dive deep into it. If you’re passionate about cinematography, go all in on that. Hesitating and trying to improve on areas where you’re not as strong won’t yield significant results. You won’t become a great director, cinematographer, or sound editor that way. The tough reality of filmmaking is that people only want to work with the best, and as filmmakers, we gain more opportunities when we focus on and excel at our strengths.

Second, I believe we can only truly discover our strengths by committing fully. It’s easy to keep thinking you can explore more options, but this can also become an excuse. By continually focusing on improving weaker areas, we risk missing the opportunity to make our strengths exceptional. After all, we only have limited time in life.

Image Credits

Joe Zheng, Joy Tan, Ziqi Huang, Thomas Wang