Shooting with love
GROWING up in the Selangor coastal town of Klang, Eurica Yu has always loved movies.
Binging on a variety of genres – from anime to international films – the experience of watching stories came to life on the screen pretty much cemented her career path later in life.
Today, the 23-year-old works in what is unarguably one of the great movie capitals of the world, United States.
“I grew up mostly watching a tonne of international films and anime, specifically from Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Hollywood films,” she reminisces in an interview recently.
However, while many others would dream of starring in or even directing their own films, Yu’s ambition is to work behind the scene – manning the camera.
“I’ve always been very intrigued with camera angles and telling stories using different angles.
“I chose cinematography because I understand, relate and see the world better with visuals,” says Yu, who counts famous anime makers Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai (of the 2016 animated movie hit Your Name fame) – as among those who have inspired her.
“Surprisingly, most of my favorite movies are animation. Toy Story will always be my favorite movie,” recalls Yu, who hopes to one day craft the cinematography in a Japanese anime movie or Pixar animation.
“It always amazes me how a script in the form of words could be made into a moving picture,” she adds.
While it is often the director or the actor who hogs the limelight in a movie, the role of cinematographer – who is responsible for the camera shots and framing – is essential in telling the story, even for an animated feature.
After all, Oscar-winning epics like Out of Africa – which clinched its cinematographer David Watkin a golden statuette – would not be as effective without shots of the African wild vast expanse weaved into the storyline and Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express would not be as quirky without Christopher Doyle’s dizzying neon style.
Also in Yu’s list of idols are British-Japanese cinematographer Rina Yang.
“I would really love to work as her camera operator one day,” she says.
She also names other young film makers like Katelin Arizmendi and Stuart Winecoff, who worked on music videos for singer Troye Sivan.
Just recently, a mini series Yu shot about a college drop-out facing the consequences of her actions was accepted into the “Behind-the-Scenes” project with B&H, the largest non-chain photo and video equipment retailer in the US.
She has also done the camera work for several short films: Blossom that was accepted into various film festivals, including the Independent Shorts Awards; Lost at Sea which won in the Best Local Film Category at the PA Indie Shorts Film Festival; and For Someone Who Cares, To Whom It May Concern in 2016 that got in the Fifth Annual Blackstar Film Festival.
However, Yu’s biggest experience so far would be working as a camera woman and assistant to cinematographer Kelly Jeffrey in the filming of Canadian singer cum songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen’s music video Party for One. The music video has chalked up over 12 million views since it was published on YouTube in November last year.
Not bad for someone whose parents have worried about her being able to find a job in the first place.
Needless to say, the career choice of this younger child of two siblings – she switched midway from journalism and broadcasting to film and media arts while studying at Temple University in Philadelphia – ran into some resistance from her parents.
Yu admits candidly that her unconventional career path has been a source of contention with her decidedly conventional family; her father is a civil engineer while her mother, an accountant, manages a petrol station in Shah Alam.
Her older brother is a doctor in Britain.
“I’ve always been very rebellious and independent from my family,” says Yu, describing her family’s initial reaction to her career change as “definitely shocked”.
“I think they were more worried, than shocked, if I’d be able to find a job after graduation by studying film,” she says, adding that her parents had hoped that she would take up something more traditional in the field of mathematics or science.
However, that does not seem likely because even as a student, Yu found school tough going, the lessons being either too boring, uninteresting or hard to keep up.
“I remember very vividly asking my parents – ‘What’s so important about exams?’
“I was a very active kid and would participate in every sporting event I could just so I could reduce my time in class.
“I guess I was just never the kid that could sit still in classes,” she says, citing Living Skills as her favourite subject.
Since graduation, Yu has been able to slowly build up her portfolio with a steady stream of work – even if her first job was as a parttime camera technician in a rental house company in Philadelphia.
As a freelance cinematographer and camera assistant, Yu’s advice to anyone wishing to follow in her footsteps is to, well, watch a lot of movies.
“Watch as many films, shorts, animation or videos as you can. Start working in the professional industry while in school.
“You need to be sure you want to stay in the industry because this industry is time consuming and requires hardship. You could be working as long as eight hours or sometimes, 20 hours straight,” she says.
It is not unusual at all for Yu to get a call close to midnight and be expected to show up on set the next day at 5am.
“As a cinematographer, I think one of the most important qualities to have is a good eye for visuals, the ability to communicate effectively with the directors to follow their vision and an effective communication with the head of departments.
“Many times, cinematographers are so invested in the camera and lighting aspect of film that departments such as production design and wardrobe often get neglected,” she laments.
Those aspiring to work behind the camera do not actually have to follow Yu overseas to the US, however.
She thinks there is a lot of potential to the local movie-making scene, with 2018 being the bumper year for Malaysian movies after Hantu Kak Limah, Munafik 2 and Paskal The Movie broke the RM30mil mark at the box-office while films like One Two Jaga and Guang garnered attention in international festivals.
“There is definitely a huge potential for the filmmaking scene in Malaysia.
“The country is slowly rising with its professional filmmaking scene, especially the Youtube culture.
“My favourite filmmaker in Malaysia will always be Yasmin Ahmad,” says Yu, describing the late director’s storylines as “always so relatable and personal to anyone”.
“However, I think the audience should be more exposed to the knowledge or idea that there are other major roles in the filmmaking world apart from the director or actor or actress.”
For Yu, her vision as a cinematographer is coming true.