Creative Minds: Yiqing Chi

Welcome to Creative Minds, in which we get to know APAC creatives through their answers to 11 questions. The first three are required, but the subject chooses the rest from a list of nearly 40 that we compiled, from serious to silly. Want to be featured? Contact us and we'll send you the question list. (Why 11 questions? Because any old Q&A format can ask 10 questions. But this one goes to 11.)

Name: Yiqing Chi (迟亦晴)

Origin: China

Places lived/worked: Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, London

Pronouns: She/her

CV:

• Video producer, Isobar, Dentsu China, Shanghai (May 2021 to present)
• MA Digital Direction, Royal College of Art, London (2019-2021)
• BA Film Making, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2014-2018)

1. How did you end up being a creative?

When I was a child, I was fond of some creative games, such as jigsaw puzzles, assembled toy cars, Play-Doh, drawing graffiti and so on. The thing I liked the most is painting. I could sit there quietly and draw for several hours. Painting is the happiest and most incredible thing for me to create a picture in my mind. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I create a piece of artwork. After entering my university (CAFA), I became obsessed with creating films. While studying film at school, I would take the initiative to listen to some film lectures, see some exhibitions related to film history and film creation, summarise script creation methods and shooting techniques by enjoying many classic films, then organise my own team in school to shoot films. Both CAFA and RCA provided me with a fabulous creative environment, allowing my imagination to display. Studying at RCA has also opened my creative mind and taught me to think from multiple perspectives. Step by step, I am passionate with everything related to creation, and I think it is really a cool thing!

2. What's your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?

One of my favourite pieces of work is "jungle games" that I created. It was my first attempt to incorporate stop-motion animation into a short film. And it was also the first time I wrote, directed, shot and edited the whole thing myself, which took about two months. From script writing, scene discovery to prop making, sub-screening and shooting, all the details were deeply impressed in my mind. That time [it took] for the creation, staying up all night, now looking back it is still quite crazy to me.

3. What's the one piece of work you most wish you'd done? 

One of the pieces of work I most wish I’d [been able to release] is a work I did in the Dentsu Z Camp with the other three guys in my group. We only had one day from getting the brief to creating the output. Under the guidance of our mentor, the four of us finished the creative idea and a short film part as fast as we could. After the presentation we got first place in the competition. I really liked the teamwork, and at that time, it inspired our creative passion. Hope I can continue to perfect this project and launch the campaign if we get the chance.

4. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Go hiking to DaochengYading (a plateau in the southwest of Sichuan Province). In order to see the most beautiful scenery, I walked from day to night on the plateau at the highest altitude of more than 6,000 meters. I was constantly uncomfortable due to the thin air and needed to keep sucking the portable oxygen bottle I carried with me. But none of this stopped me from wanting to see the most beautiful view of the plateau. Challenge the limits of my body, and do something crazy when I am young, of course!

5. What career did you think you'd have when you were a kid?

Well, when I was a kid, I dreamed of being a painter and an actor. I hope I can do some creative work on my own in my spare time. It is a pity that I didn't have the chance to learn acting at that time, but now my career can be said to have somehow realised the combination of my childhood dream: I can create as much as a painter and shoot as much as an actor. The difference is that video works are more dynamic than paintings, and occasionally I can be the person being filmed.

6. What advice would you give to 10-year-old you, if you could?

I would say to myself: Don't worry too much, try something if you want to! Sometimes you must be bold and brave.

7. What’s your favorite music / film / TV show / book / other of the past year, and why?

My favorite film of the past year was Christopher Nolan's Tenet. I am a big fan of Nolan, also crazy about psychology and suspense films. I like to think deeply about the logic of the script and the intention of the movie when I watch it, so the more brain-burning the movie is, the more I like it. Tenet is this kind of film. It involves plenty of new time and space concepts, and you can see the director in the creation of some deep thinking. After watching his films, you will always look forward to the future world. At the same time it will also inspire your creative enthusiasm.

8. Do you have a nickname? Why?

My nickname is Nuan, which means warm, because I was born in winter, so when I was not yet born, my mother was worried that I would be born cold in winter, and also thought that girls must be mummy’s sweetheart, also warm. So, my nickname is Nuan.

9. What makes you really happy?

The thing that makes me happiest is street dancing! Undoubtedly! Seven years to make me completely in love with it. When dancing I can think about nothing, just focus on the movements. If there is any unhappiness or trouble, just dance!

10. Do you have any recurring dreams?

I was abroad during the Covid-19 outbreak and often slept at night dreaming that I was in a large empty city with a somewhat futuristic feel, surrounded by no one I knew, only some dark shadows that I didn't know who they were, and I was walking forward alone, exploring this unknown city.

11. Cats or dogs?

Cats! I really like cats! And I always stop for a long time when I see one on the road. I am a person who is almost never late, but one day I lost track of time and missed my morning study session because I saw a particularly cute cat.