Interview: Yalan Hu, Inspired to Become a Rule-Breaking Filmmaker

Inspired to become a rule-breaking filmmaker, Yalan Hu first worked as a TV director and screenwriter in China for 6 years to get a foot in the industry. By reporting and  documenting social injustice, she allowed her unique style of poignant humor and criticism  to represent her view of society. Her short films have won awards both in the US and UK. She recently acquired her Master Degree in Film Production from Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts.

My dark comedy Doll It Up provides an adult audience who enjoys poignant dark humor like Harold and Maude, and Lars and the Real Girl with the opportunity to explore modern changes in sexuality, fidelity, and relationship through an absurd lens of satire, gently poking fun at men who trade up their partners.

indieactivity: What’s your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing?
Yalan Hu (YH): The story idea of Doll It Up came to me when I was taking a shower one day. I live by myself, the isolation of urban dwellers got me thinking, would human beings develop companionships with non-living objects? Would it be perfect, or as problematic as normal human relations? Ultimately, it transforms into a satire about relationship issues between the two sexes.

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What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Yalan Hu (YH): The dolls symbolize how a large population of women have been treated in unhealthy relationships, where they were seen as property, and don’t have a voice in the house. Of course, this problem goes both ways, but to this day, on a global scale, women still haven’t been given the same account of respect as their male partners. Victimizing women is not the message for this film, objectification of one’s partner is.

Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Yalan Hu (YH): No, but I had a very clear image of what Gunther should look like. There were around 200 submissions applying for the role. When I saw Timothy Cox, I immediately knew he had to be Gunther, he fitted the image in my head so well. We had Skype auditions and he really understood the character.

How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Yalan Hu (YH): It was a 5-page script, from version one to final version 12 it took me about three months to finalize. I’m terrified of cliché as a writer, so the question I asked myself most often was “Have I seen this done a million times already?” “Does this twist surprise me as an  audience?” Occasionally, I would ask my friends and mentor to read and get some feedback.

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But everyone had their own preference, I would get contradictory suggestions from different  readers. At the end of the day, it’s always important to make the right decisions for my own story.

During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Yalan Hu (YH): Despite how funny it looked, the first sex scene was the most difficult one to shoot. We did a closed set for Timothy even though there wasn’t actual nudity happening, we wanted to make him feel as comfortable as possible. Timothy was very professional and did a brilliant job. He later joked it was more difficult to act with a doll than with a human because at least they could talk during takes and ease the air. However, the trickiest part in that scene was deflating the doll in a perfect angle for the camera. Squeezing would only make the doll puffy instead of deflated. We had to try a dozen times to get the effect we wanted.

You produced and directed the film, what measure of input did it take to don these hats?
YH: The producer was another classmate of mine from Florida State University. Because it was a school project, we were only given one week of pre-production time, so me and the producer  had to work as a producing team to tackle everything from location to props. The greatest  challenge for me was to switch channels all the time to make sure every department’s work  matches each other.

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Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
YH: Of course. Finance is always an obstacle for independent filmmakers like me. On top of that, how to tell an authentic Asian story that interests the American audience is another great challenge for me. Growing up, I watched movies from all over the world with subtitles, so using a different culture to represent a shared life experience is something I really want to incorporate in my films. I hope in the near future American audiences would be more open to  films with more authentic foreign elements.

Where do you think your strengths lie as a filmmaker?
YH: I’m a critical thinker, I like to study life and be very harsh about reality, that is usually the  tone of my films. No matter comedy or drama, my films always have moments that make the  audience unease because that’s just how imperfect life is. Authenticity and satire are the  keywords to describe my works.

Let’s talk about finance. How did you finance the film? Did you go over budget?  How did you manage it?
YH: This film was made during my time in graduate school. Florida State University provided all  the film equipment, so that’s a huge amount of money saved. On top of that, the school gave  each film crew 200$ for 2 days of shooting, which covered one lunch for the crew & cast and craft service. Any spend over that 200$ came from my own pocket. Location wise,

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Tallahassee has been a strong supporting community for FSU film school over the years, the  house which was our primary shooting location let us film for free. As for actors, Timothy  Cox, the lead actor, was willing to work for free because he really liked the story. But I had  to provide flight and lodging for him since he was based in New York. My sex dolls  “actresses” were also not cheap, that was some serious Amazon shopping. 

I remember  ordering four different dolls to make sure they had the looks I wanted. I was still getting  Amazon promotions for sex toys weeks after the film was done. Since the actual budget was only $200, the over budget part, which was around 1000$, all came from my savings. My advice for beginning filmmakers would be, don’t be held back just because of finance. 

I would have started a Kickstarter, or looked for financial support if I had more pre-production  time. It’s important to start making films even with very little budget because that is good  practice on how to utilize resources to its maximum.

How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
YH: In my experience, for a short film like Doll It Up, the best marketing is entering as many festivals as possible. Having its own Facebook and Instagram is not enough these days, festivals would help the project go much further. Doll It Up has screened in over 20 festivals, won a few awards, and nowadays I would get invitations from new festivals asking me to enter for free because the film has built some reputation.

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Can you tell us about your marketing activities on the project – and how it’s gone for you?
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This is a placeholder text, for the interview question?
YH: Doll It Up has a Facebook page and it’s on IMDb too. All the marketing budget went into  festivals because once it’s selected, no matter winning an award or not, you’ll have another  team of experts promoting your film with you. Especially for beginning filmmakers who don’t  have strong connections in the marketing world, festival promotions would help your project  go much further, and reach many more people.

What else have you got in the works?
YH: I just finished my thesis film, A Separation, as writer and director. It’s a 15-minute short drama about a Chinese couple in the 90s re-united in the states after a four-year separation, only to find their marriage going through a dramatic change. Meanwhile, another drama  short I wrote and directed, produced in Sri Lanka, is in post-production. Both films will be  entering festivals this year.

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Tell us what you think of the interview with Yalan Hu. What do you think of it? What ideas did you get? Do you have any suggestions? Or did it help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Twitter.

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