It’s true to say that Jun Xia doesn’t have much in common with Emma, the main character in “Stand Up.” Jun is from Xi'an is an ancient city in China called "Changan." Film is a family tradition for Xia whose father is a manager in a film company in Xi'an, and his mother serves as a film projectionist. While majoring in animation design (in China) during college, he became interested in editing software. Educating himself by consulting various tutorials online to edit his own animation short films, he abandoned his animation career upon discovering that editing was his true calling. Emma, however is estranged from her father and is somewhat constricted by self-doubt in regards to conducting her life and relationships; quite different from the proactive self-starter Jun. Regardless, it’s the job of an editor (just as an actor) to see the perspectives of the characters in a film and “inhabit” their mind and emotions in order to accurately place the audience in that character’s emotional state. To understand Emma, one must understand how she feels. She is essentially an ordinary teenage girl. Emma is shy and quiet, and her closest family member is her grandfather. Unfortunately, Emma’s grandfather just died of a heart attack. At the wake, Emma doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions. At first she hides her emotions and doesn’t talk to anybody. She sits isolated in a corner. Emma’s father (Larry) attends the wake, which is upsetting to Emma. Larry is an Addict who has come only due to his interest in the inheritance. Only Emma knows Larry’s true colors, and she knows she must stand up and protect her family. During the confrontation between her and her father, Emma finally shares her emotions and gains a much needed catharsis.
To communicate Emma’s conflict and turmoil, Jun focused his edits on a way which would portray her inner emotions rather than her appearance and body language. However, with so many characters introduced early in the film (characters which are not the protagonist or even the main characters), Jun was challenged to focus the story towards it’s ascension and climax while still involving so many individuals. He stipulates, “If you think in terms of what has always been done in film up to this point or unconsciously tell yourself that there is a way things must be done, you stifle your own creativity. It’s vital as a creative person to challenge the way that you think about presenting a story. As a film editor, I don't agree with the idea that there's only one protagonist in a movie. Of course it depends on the type of story, the number of characters and their importance, or even the length of a film may affect the number of protagonists. For example, let’s say that there is a little girl in a film’s opening and, generally speaking, the important part of the story may focus on this little girl with the core of the story revolving around her and evolving. She is certainly the protagonist. Later on though, other people can appear in the film; the girl's mother or her father who is late. The story then flows between her story and that of her father. It can be regarded that there are actually are two protagonists in this piece; the daughter and father, and others are supporting characters to foil the issues which happen between them.”
For his lauded editing work on “Stand Up” Xia received recognitions from the Direct Short Online Film Festival, the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival, and the Top Shorts Film Festival. With humility Jun confesses, “These two film festivals of Director Short Online Film Festival and Top Shorts are the certain kind of recognition to my editing work. An editor helps the director to present the story and this is what I've done with “Stand Up.” The significance of the award of Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival is quite encouraging for me. Still, I think the number of awards will not affect my editing career as much as my desire to do great work. My passion for movies is my reflection on individual ability when attending the festival. I can see the advantages and disadvantages of each editor at the film festival and I can absorb excellent experiences from it to improve my editing. It's a favorable thing for me to move forward and make great efforts in the film business.”