Jiayi Sun, the Man Who Chases His Hollywood Dream and Says ‘Never Give Up’

For the past 50 years, thousands of filmmakers have come to Hollywood and desire to learn the  most advanced filming techniques and achieve their dreams. Like those pioneers who have  devoted their life to this industry, Jiayi Sun, a young and energetic cinematographer, comes from  China to America and starts his study and career on this amazing land.

Graduating from high school in Maine, Jiayi chose to pursue his undergraduate degree at Temple  University. However, he didn’t get used to college life at the very beginning. Heavy and hard  required courses are not easy for him; not only because English is his second language, but also  because of the barrier between Western and Eastern culture. Fortunately, Philadelphia is a  multicultural city, feeding the young professional with diverse knowledge and practices. During  the 4-year study, he finished more than six movie projects and successfully entered HBO and  became one of the team’s Production Assistants.

However, he quickly realized that he needs to acquire more shooting skills, in order to finish more  high-level projects. HBO is a great workplace for film photographers, but it is not his destination.  He decided to pursue a Cinematography graduate degree at New York Film Academy, which is  closer to Hollywood. He said it was the hardest decision in his life, but he is glad that he made it.  During his time in graduate school, he finished the signature movie project, Crafter.

Crafter depicts a story between sisters, love and trust. Laura is the most powerful drug dealer in  the area; she is cold-blood in her business and has many enemies, but she loves her sister Kylie so  much. When Laura is aware of Kylie’s difficulty in finance, she tries her best to help, no matter if  she would drive herself into risk. She also encourages Kylie to open her own business, not  becoming a drug dealer on any occasion because she doesn’t want Kylie to face risk as she  experienced. The story is not complicated, but it was a remarkable project for Jiayi. He learned  how to solve the different conflicts with teammates in this project. He said that the most difficult  part was to control the budget and meet the project deadline. “You need to keep doing what you  think is right, no matter how difficult it is. You should never give up.” Jiayi said.

For next year, Jiayi has four movie projects to shoot on. He said he would apply for jobs in  Hollywood after he graduates from New York Film Academy. “ I want to achieve my initial goal;  it was the incentive I came to America. I know I will succeed.” the young man said these words  with a big smile.

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(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 30, 2020 11:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).