We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mengyao Mia Zhang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew I wanted to be an editor when I was 17, about a year before college. The choice came as a surprise to my family because, up until that point, I had always wanted to be a lawyer since 7th grade and had never considered pursuing an artistic path.

Now, as I look back, I’ve always been a storyteller since I was a kid. However, at that point, there was no particular reason for the sudden shift in my career choice. It just felt right. None of my family members work in the film business, so no one had ever introduced the idea of an editor to me. Somehow, in my mind, I imagined a position that would help shape the story. The idea of creating different versions with the exact same footage really intrigues me. Therefore, I conducted research and discovered the only college that offered an editing major in my country that year.

With my understanding of editing growing deeper day by day, I knew I had made the right choice. It felt destined, and I feel grateful for it every day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a film editor based in LA, focusing on narrative projects. I graduated from AFI Conservatory with an MFA in Editing. After graduation, I was selected as an editing fellow by Film Independent Project Involve. I’m a member of ITASE Local 700 Motion Picture Editors Guild. My editing work has been screened at numerous film festivals. Some recent credits include Smoking Tigers (Tribeca Film Festival 2023), Only The Good Survive (SXSW Film Festival 2023), among many others. I take pride in assisting aspiring directors in achieving their vision while taking the audience on a fun and engaging journey.

As an editor, I see myself as the right hand of the director. I understand their vision and work closely with them to help achieve their goals. I also believe in adapting my work methods to different directors’ styles and personalities to ensure the best outcome.

I enjoy editing different genres and styles. My work has encompassed drama, comedy, thriller, action, experimental, and many more. It’s a pleasure for me to tackle different genres and find innovative ways to elevate the story. I look forward to new challenges and possibilities in the future!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for me has always been watching the film with the audience on a big screen.

When I edit a film for months, I become so familiar with it that I can almost remember every shot and every line. However, watching it with a full audience is a whole new experience that is filled with freshness.

I enjoy immersing myself in the audience, where no one knows I worked on the film. It’s a wonderful experience where you can actually ‘feel’ the audience’s response, whether they enjoy the story you are telling, the world you have built, the comedic beats you have shaped, or the emotions you have enhanced. I become part of the audience, and I can truly sense what is working and what is not. While I am editing, I always imagine the audience’s reaction. When their response aligns with what I intended, it’s an absolute delight and always worth working for!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I believe that many non-filmmakers tend to perceive our job as simply ‘assembling footage together’, when in fact, there is much more to it. And among all the aspects, the most important one is emotion.

In the first few years of my career as an editor, I struggled to understand the meaning of ‘emotion is the first rule of editing’. It’s the most frequently mentioned statement about editing, yet it remains an abstract concept that very few people are able to concretize. Especially with the less accurate translation in my country, I was unable to truly comprehend it for years, and as a result, I overlooked its significance for a long time. However, one day, it suddenly dawned on me that there are two layers in storytelling: the first layer being ‘what the story/scene/moment is?’, and the second layer being ‘what it is about?’. While the first layer is more like the foundational training one receives at school, the second layer is the truly interesting and enjoyable part of editing that helps me understand ‘emotion’.

‘What is it about’ is something that can be created by editing using the exact same footage. Take a scene from my own film as an example: the scene takes place in an interrogation room where a sheriff asks the protagonist if she has ever heard of a victim’s name. The protagonist responds with a no, and then the sheriff proceeds to show a picture of the victim’s dead body from the crime scene. Now, what that scene is about? If we look at it independently, there can be various possible scenarios: it could be a simple inquiry without any significant meaning; it could be that the sheriff suspects something from the protagonist, but the protagonist is unaware of it; it could be that the protagonist is concealing something, but the sheriff doesn’t notice; or it could be a situation where both characters have their own secrets and engage in a mutual probing.

In this film, we later discover that the victim is actually the protagonist’s fraternal twin, who was killed by a group of people that the sheriff is associated with. The sheriff is attempting to probe and determine whether the protagonist possesses any knowledge about their illicit dealings. The protagonist is aware of the truth but must feign ignorance to protect herself. That is a significant amount of subtext beneath this seemingly simple scene. What do you want to reveal, how much do you want to reveal, or do you even want the audience to pick up on it at all? All of these can be decided by different editing choices. Therefore, when we speak of ‘emotion’, it encompasses what the character is feeling, what you want the audience to feel, and how the editing creates or enhances those emotions.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mengyaomiazhang
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mengyaomiazhang
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MengyaoMiaZhang
• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10823758

Image Credits
Terry Hou, Heyjin Jun, Andrew Yuyi Truong, Lucia Zavarcikova, Aaron Wise