We recently connected with Yijun Wang and have shared our conversation below.
Yijun, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Often I’m grateful that I’ve chosen work that I love and am passionate about, and for a long time growing up I had ‘less interests more interest’ as one of my mottos in life. In other words: Don’t aim for success if you really want it. Just stick to what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. That’s why I’m so happy that I can express myself through images and show myself in an artistic way. Before I started my career in cinematography, I’ve had three different jobs, I’ve founded my own studio, I’ve worked as a director in a TV station, and I’ve worked in a new media platform for a short period of time. But all of them are closely related to images and occasionally linked to artistic creation. I feel that one’s life is a process that should constantly challenge oneself, and if your work is just mechanical repetition, it is undoubtedly a kind of chronic suicide. When I became a cinematographer, everything became wonderful for me, I enjoy every challenge, working with different crews, presenting scripts from different perspectives, you need to balance art and reality, which gives me more room for reflection after every shoot, and I think that’s the rhythm that can keep me progressing.
Yijun, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Yijun Wang, I named myself Edream because the pronunciation is close to my legal name and easier to remember. I am a cinematographer and also a photographer. My work also basically centers around created image. My interest in photography was born in high school, when I was studying painting, which was a very good teacher for me, especially when I saw the works of a Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, the composition of the picture, the presentation of the perspective ratio, the real sense of light and shadow, I looked up some information, and learned that he used a technique called Camera Obscura. So I started to get in touch with the camera as a matter of course. Later, I was fascinated by a photographer named Bresson for a long time, whose decisive moments captured a lot of interesting images. Initially, I found that the camera was able to quickly freeze and preserve what really happened, so I chose to major in photojournalism during my undergraduate years, which coincidentally laid a solid foundation for my subsequent film studies and creations. After graduation, I had the chance to work on a film crew shooting bts, and in the process discovered that moving images have a much greater appeal, and that each 24-frame image carries more variations of light and shadow, and that the camera is not just a freeze-frame, but rather a moving image. During my research and study of cinematography, I met several outstanding mentors, including the renowned director and cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond (BSC, ASC), the renowned cinematographer David A. Armstrong (BSC, ASC), and the renowned director and cinematographer David A. Armstrong (BSC, ASC). Famous cinematographer David A. Armstrong. Famous Polish cinematographer Jacek Laskus (ASC, PSC) and many others. While studying with these famous filmmakers, I gained a clearer understanding of images and had the opportunity to participate in the more standardized Hollywood film industry system, sharpening my skills and quickly becoming a producer of nearly two dozen short films and two films, and joining the American Society of Camera Operators.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As a cinematographer, when I can help a director to realize the script from words to visuals, and finish a movie according to the pre-determined artistic direction, I think it is a great affirmation of myself and the results I hope to get. At the same time, when the audience sees a film made by me and resonates with the images, a moment of light, shadow and color that moves them, they begin to look forward to seeing more of my work.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I like to use the camera to observe the events and things that happen in and around me in my life, and many ordinary things become alive in the camera. The way in which images are recorded in my life has inspired me in my cinematography. The way in which images are recorded in my life has inspired the way in which I approach photography in my film-making. It is because of these conscious observations in daily life that when I get a new script, many ways of visualizing it are unconsciously presented in my mind. It also allows me to use more possibilities to make the screen have layers and meanings. In my opinion, cinematography is not just an aesthetic game of exploring ways to make each frame more dynamic and interesting, but more importantly, how to use the camera’s movement, the illumination of different textures of light, and the brightness of different colors to help the director complete the narrative. This is a responsibility to yourself, to the audience and to the market.
Contact Info:
- Website: edreampicture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edream__wang?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qrhttps://www.instagram.com/edream__wang?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edream.wang.31?mibextid=LQQJ4d