A great deal of what has attracted Hugo and others from around the world is the universal themes of its productions. Art in any form is meant to not only reflect but also to inspire. Film may be the most prevalent of modern forms in the last century to present art, and it definitely has embraced other art forms in the process. Even without full comprehension of the language of origin, film communicates emotion. It is this part of his role as a colorist that most attracts Shih. It has been a successful pursuit for him; involving him in many award-winning productions such as Pressure-Man (winner of a 2016 American Movie Award), Dead Bird Don’t Fly (17 wins and 4 nominations), and many others. Hugo remarks, “Dead Bird Don’t Fly is one of my works which I really love. Not only because of the story, but also the color. The director had a very clear vision and he created a really great lighting approach on set with Cinematographer. They used the RED camera, which has more latitude for color. I’m proud that this film was so accepted and won so many awards. It was especially exciting that Dead Bird Don’t Fly was part of the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival.”
There can be no reasonable discussion about the fact that Hollywood is one of the most ubiquitous of all of American exports. The films of this southern Californian town are found in all corners of the globe and are admired, respected, and imitated everywhere. While many countries have creative and vibrant film communities which are lauded, a great deal of the professionals involved in making film their career aspire to the opportunities which Hollywood can provide. In all fairness, this seminal location had a healthy lead in the industry. It was decades ago when a small boy from Taipei was stunned by the Hollywood productions he saw…no, not Ang Lee (also from Taiwan) but Hugo Shih; although Lee’s movies were among those that moved the young boy. Shih had always loved movies but it was the otherworldly quality of movies like Terminator, Aliens, and Life of Pi that would encourage Hugo as he grew and aspired to be a part of creating the fantastic places and stories that he saw on the screen. To a boy from Taipei whose parents made their careers in international train parts, working in the Hollywood film community seemed as otherworldly as the subject of his favorite Science Fiction movies. Shih recalls the pivotal moment for him, “I watched more Hollywood films than local films when I was young. Hollywood films were very popular and people often went to the theater for these blockbuster films. Titanic was the one of the most popular and is also the one that inspired me to become a filmmaker. It wasn’t so much about the story but the advancements in production like VFX, Sound, Music, Color and more. Even though movie making is all about the storytelling, without the aid of technological developments, James Cameron wouldn’t be able to make a film that looked like this more than twenty years ago.” Shih began his career as an editor. While he achieved a successful career in editing, he discovered that his passion, as well as his disposition, lent itself to being a colorist. While working in Taiwan he still harbored this dream of working in Hollywood. Using hindsight, Hugo notes that in addition to the different opportunities, the professional decorum differs between the two countries. He notes, “I’m from Taiwan. The way of making films in Hollywood is totally different from my country. One big difference is that people (in his home country) don’t take advantage of how workflow can help the storytelling. Filmmakers in Taiwan prefer to use a more traditional method rather than using the new or advanced production workflow to help them. Hollywood truly embraces this concept and does a great job to develop the community and set up standards, workflows, etc. Western and Eastern decorum are very different. For example, when I worked in Taiwan, I usually needed to follow leader’s rule and order. If something went wrong, we couldn’t really address it unless the leader noticed it. The reason is that the society views this as a necessary politeness. However, when I work in the US, everyone respects each other. The politeness is still there but there is a mutual respect and admiration for what every individual does as a professional. We can openly discuss whether something is good or bad, and how to fix it if need be. The biggest difference between working in Taiwan and the US is stress. In Taiwan, if we made a wrong decision, the supervisor would assign blame, often resulting in the employee losing creativity for fear of making an incorrect decision. I expected the same situation here in the US but, things are totally different. Here, professionals in the film community are encouraged to make decision, even though it might be a wrong decision. Rather than focusing on blame, individuals are asked to find the reasons why something didn’t work out and figure out how to fix the problem. This gives those involved more space to have creative ideas to eventually be equipped to make decisions themselves.” A great deal of what has attracted Hugo and others from around the world is the universal themes of its productions. Art in any form is meant to not only reflect but also to inspire. Film may be the most prevalent of modern forms in the last century to present art, and it definitely has embraced other art forms in the process. Even without full comprehension of the language of origin, film communicates emotion. It is this part of his role as a colorist that most attracts Shih. It has been a successful pursuit for him; involving him in many award-winning productions such as Pressure-Man (winner of a 2016 American Movie Award), Dead Bird Don’t Fly (17 wins and 4 nominations), and many others. Hugo remarks, “Dead Bird Don’t Fly is one of my works which I really love. Not only because of the story, but also the color. The director had a very clear vision and he created a really great lighting approach on set with Cinematographer. They used the RED camera, which has more latitude for color. I’m proud that this film was so accepted and won so many awards. It was especially exciting that Dead Bird Don’t Fly was part of the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival.” As an established colorist and film professional, Hugo Shih is poised to pursue and achieve the lofty goal that he once dreamed of, being an actual Hollywood film community participant. To Hugo the reasons for this are easy for anyone to understand. Shih exclaims, “Even the idea of ‘Hollywood’ is a dream world that everybody on the planet wants to be a part of. Working with people from different countries as part of creative and supporting community…there is no place else like this in the world!”
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