Interview: Blake Huang
Luca Curci talks with Blake Huang about her artistic journey.

Blake’s sense of filmmaking as an artist bloomed as she discovered the emotions it can bring to people, and she wants to be a part of the magic that delivers a sensational and emotional impact. That’s why Blake moved from Taiwan to Chicago, the city that taught her movies and T.V. shows are more than just entertainment: they are topics to discuss and quote from, family rituals, shared experiences, trends, social commentary, and forms of escapism. Blake works professionally in many roles of filmmaking. Video Editing to her is like playing a puzzle, assembling all the pieces of the story in the right place, sharing but also challenging the director’s perspective. Blake enjoys putting together the hard work of the crew to achieve our collective vision in storytelling. As for Sound Design, it’s amazing how much Blake can use sound to manipulate the audience and affect the storytelling. Not only to make the film more realistic but also to support the visual and the audience’s experience seamlessly. Blake also does Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) as a side gig on set, because she enjoys the atmosphere at film productions with everybody working hard to craft the storytelling together. Additionally, her photography works give her a break, inspire, and bring her different angles to look at the world. Blake is always looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with people. It is her mission to bring out the experience of storytelling, and achieve something wonderful for the audience to remember.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Blake Huang – I hold the belief that art is crucial to humanity, and the importance of artists can be compared to highly regarded fields like law or medicine. While these esteemed occupations undoubtedly play essential roles in individual well-being, I believe that the endeavors of artists are equally vital in enhancing the overall human experience. We connected with each other through feelings, through cinema, through music, through art. And that is why we need artists. The stereotype about artists is that they don’t make money,but art is what we all live for: it fuels the human spirit. We turn to art in our most vulnerable moments, and we don’t have a connection without it. Humans are distinct from artificial intelligence because we have culture, and art is what shapes that culture. As an artist, I am especially aware of the importance of pushing the beauty of filmmaking to the public. As a form of art, it emphasizes the impact art can have on our bonds with others, and how art can paint a vibrant picture of the emotions we struggle to express.

LC- What are you currently working on?
BH – I am currently working on expanding my short film “Hole Punched Ear” into a TV series or a feature film. Like all other forms of art, there’s another side of filmmaking that is about marketing and distributing, which is not always the most creative aspect but it’s part of the journey. Filmmaking can be a lifelong process, everything seems to come to an end after we shot, edited, and screened the film, but a project is never finished until no one cares to make any changes anymore. After the creation of the short film, we’re now in the process of attracting distributors and writing the script for a sequel. Filmmaking is a cycle, and now we’re at the borderline of wrapping up and starting a new beginning.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
BH – From other filmmakers’ work. The famous director Robert Altman once said, “Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes.” That is where I find my inspiration, I lived
through other lives in films and TV shows. Movies and T.V. shows are more than just entertainment: they are topics to discuss and quote from, family rituals, shared experiences, trends, social commentary, and forms of escapism. We as filmmakers are making these dreams come true; we are creating a reality for people when their most unreachable dream actually happens on screen: where they can have a beautiful romance story, a great adventure, become heroes and villains, and be whoever they want. Through admiring other movies and TV shows in both technical and psychological ways, I found my inspiration.

LC – Which artists have somehow influenced your work?
BH – In the world of filmmaking, it is more often the work of the artists that influenced me. And the one that inspired me to go on the filmmaking road and influenced me the most is the movie “Inception” by Christopher Nolan. I was young when the movie came out, the creative plot twists and impactful visuals opened my mind, and it was a tremendous experience to watch it in the theater. It felt like I was in the world and went on an adventure with the characters. That’s the moment I knew I wanted to create magic like that and influence the next generation. It was not until I moved to Chicago that I started watching movies in the theater every week, and that was when I got inspired again by “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” by Daniel Scheinert, and Daniel Kwan. The creators of the movie are like a group of friends having fun making movies, and it hits me with the fact of how important the passion for a project is, and how the people I work with should share the same enthusiasm and vision. Ever since those two movies, it has become clear what I’m looking for in filmmaking, where I want my career to be, and the kind of work I want to create and be remembered.

LC – How much has the city/country in which you grew up/born affected your work as an artist?
BH – I was born and grew up in Taiwan, with almost ten years of fine art experience and piano performance. I’ve built the basic visual and auditory aesthetic perception, and that helps me become more creative and understand others’ perspectives more easily. After I moved to Chicago, as an immigrant from another culture, I was fortunate to meet like-minded filmmakers here. Chicago is the hometown of William Selig, the man who expanded film-making operations to the West Coast and invented Hollywood, but there are so many diverse forms of art in Chicago. Music, sculpture, films, architecture, etc., they resonate with each other and give the city its unique attitude. I’ve grown my community in this strange but familiar city that we are all inspired by. And that’s where I made my first award-winning short film – Hole Punched Ear. Hole Punched Ear is more than a Chicago-based film; it also represents the perseverance of the artists here – never giving up on our beliefs. The film is not just action and Sci-Fi, it’s about the meaning of art, and it is what such an artsy city like Chicago needs. The film and the city encouraged me and built my entire personality and belief in the realm of art and filmmaking.

LC – How do you choose your subjects? Is it a reasoned or an instinctive process?
BH – At the beginning of my career, I worked on as many projects as possible in many different genres, but I’m passionate about short-form fictional themes the most. With my storytelling vision and fast-paced editing style, my works can be found in the Sci-Fi, action, and drama categories. Considering my role in filmmaking, often I’m not the one who decides the underlying message, but the one who attaches it to the film and makes sure it is delivered to the audience. But I’d like my work to contain the elements that require deeper thinking from the viewers, and with different points of view, people can interpret different underlying messages behind my films. And that is the style of storytelling that I often like to pursue.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
BH – I strive to have my art bring out a different perspective, express the power of filmmaking, and challenge the audience’s point of view. In many cases, as an Editor and/or Sound Designer following the chain of order in the film industry, it is limited to making my work the medium of my own personal expression. Thus, I like to use my film photography to express something in particular, something that seems ordinary but people barely notice in life; something that triggers your imagination and can be interpreted in different ways; something to recall and create new memories. Film photography is my hobby, a personal side project that gives me breaks and inspiration. From the moment I hit the shutter, to putting the film print in the tray of chemicals and watching the image slowly reveal. I want to use every piece of them to just simply exist and to be kept in mind, and that keeps me as the artist alive for as long as my work is being reminisced.

LC – What is your idea about ITSLIQUID GROUP?
BH – Pursuing my dream as a filmmaker has been a deeply personal and profound choice for me, and ITSLIQUID GROUP is a stage for me to perform and help my dream come true. As an international based filmmaker, I want my work to reach internationally as well. ITSLIQUID GROUP is the perfect pilot to carry my ideas around the world. I appreciate that we share the same enthusiasm towards arts, and as more people discover my works, the bigger the artist community ITSLIQUID GROUP creates, and the better the art industry will become.