WAEN’s Up & Coming Feature with Filmmaker Jenny He

(Last Updated On: September 22, 2021)

Jenny He is an award-winning filmmaker who loves to create stories that explore the human condition and the extraordinary in ordinary life. Inspired by movies from the 90s, such as Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption, she strongly believes that film not only represents a facet of life but also suggests something greater. Jenny has directed a wide range of content from narrative shorts (live-action and animated) to documentaries (most recently with BBC Storyworks) to music videos with Dan + Shay and The Voice winner Sawyer Fredericks. Having found an early interest in filmmaking while growing up in China and Germany, Jenny graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Film & Television Production and a minor in the Business of Entertainment. When she is not making films, she enjoys traveling, consuming delicious food, running, and woodworking.

Jenny, thanks for interviewing with We Are Entertainment News. Tell us a bit of your background.

I was born and raised in Beijing, China. My family is really into movies. So, growing up, my parents would take me to movie theaters all the time. At least once a month, we would go to the DVD store, and I got to pick out a couple of DVDs. We had a whole DVD library in our basement. I was fortunate because I was exposed to all sorts of movies growing up: from classic action films to French arthouse cinema to Bollywood films. 

Is that where your desire to be in filmmaking began? Or when you were younger, did you see yourself doing something different?

Growing up, I had strict TV time, so sometimes I would sneak behind my parent’s back and watch movies and TV shows when they weren’t home. Even though I didn’t necessarily know I wanted to pursue a career in film, I always knew I wanted to do something creative. I wanted to become a painter, a designer, and a musician from a very young age.

How did you become interested in filmmaking?

My interest in filmmaking started in high school. In 9th grade, my school offered a whole year of intro filmmaking classes, teaching us the basics from storyboarding to editing and VFX. From day one, I was thoroughly fascinated by the entire process. I was interested in everything and wanted to learn it all. In the last two years of high school, my family moved to Munich, Germany, and one of the best things about living in Germany is that the high school I went to offered filmmaking as part of the IB program. Making films wasn’t just a hobby anymore. I got to do it inside and outside of the classroom. I used classwork as an excuse to spend a lot of time making my films, and I never tired of doing that, unlike all the other subjects. That’s when I realized that I would love to turn this into a career. And I also think another reason I was drawn to film is that it is essentially the medium that combines many of these creative elements. It is an art form that tells stories through technology. It doesn’t just reach one specific section of the population. It has the potential to reach everyone.

That is so true. It’s kind of beautiful when you think about it. Please tell us more about your journey as a writer, director, and producer.

I attended NYU Tisch School Of The Arts to study Film and Television. During my four years at Tisch, I focused my study on writing, directing, and producing. I made at least a short film every year to build up my portfolio. Some of the short films have been shown in film festivals across the world and won awards. After graduating from Tisch, I started freelancing as a music video and commercial director. I was able to work on a wide range of content, from branded content documentaries with companies like BBC to music videos involving a diversity of genres and artists.

So how did your journey begin, and what’s your process like?

I think most filmmakers started their filmmaking journey doing everything. From writing the script to producing and directing. From holding the camera on set to finally sitting in the editing room. That is exactly how I started. I was intrigued with the whole filmmaking process and simply wanted to do it all. I love telling stories, creating worlds and characters that I can submerge myself into. I love all sorts of storytelling, from narrative films to music videos to documentaries. And for each of these projects, I approach writing and directing very differently. For narrative short films, I have a lot of freedom as a writer and director. There is no limitation in terms of what I can or cannot do. But once I have a script, I put on my directing hat, and it becomes about how to execute it and bring this story to life. When directing a music video, I’ll spend a lot of time listening to the song and reading the lyrics because I want to develop a concept that fits within the world of this piece of music. For documentaries, I’ll spend a lot of time talking to the subjects beforehand. There is a lot of research that goes into the development process. But when I write a documentary, I want to give a lot of freedom in the script, so when we are out in the field filming the documentary, it is not too set in stone to give room for serendipity to happen. As a producer, you are there for the project from the start to the end, and you are involved with a lot of creative processes along the way that helps shape the film. That’s why I fell in love with producing because I want to be part of the process to help to bring these amazing stories to life.

What attracts you about each? What do you find challenging, if anything?

I love writing because there is so much freedom in the creative process. I can invent things out of thin air: create worlds, characters, stories that never existed until I put them on a piece of paper. These are the stories that come from life but are bigger than life. And I think that is why people watch movies. They don’t go to the movie theater to watch their own life. They want to experience something bigger than them. And of course, this is also the challenging part of writing. What should I write about when I can write about anything? And how do I elevate these stories so that everyone can relate to them? So much about directing is about bringing the story from a piece of paper to the big screen. You give the story life through great performance, set design, cinematography, editing, VFX sound design, and scoring. There is so much to the craft of directing, and each of these elements can be the difference between a lousy director and a great one. As I mentioned earlier, what attracts me the most about producing is brings people’s stories to life. And the tricky part about this role is to juggle between creative vision and the logistical elements of production.

What are some of your favorite projects, and where can we view them?

I recently directed and produced a branded documentary for BBC Storyworks that just got released. The film’s name is From Sugar cane to Squalene. It tells the story of how a biotech company called Amyris developed a way to synthesize Squalene from sugarcane, saving millions of sharks that would otherwise be hunted for this valuable molecule. It’s a fascinating story, and you can find it on BBC’s website. I also just made an animated video for one of Dan + Shay’s new album songs. It was a lot of fun doing it because I hadn’t for a while. You can find the video on their YouTube channel. The name of the song is One Direction. I directed a music video for The Prize Fighter Inferno’s new song Rock Bottom earlier this year. The song is about hitting rock bottom in life and feeling lost at the end of the hope. I think this video captures what a lot of us were feeling during Covid. You can find the video on his YouTube channel. One of my favorite music videos I directed is Sawyer Frederick’s Born. We shot the entire video in one continuous take. I wanted to capture Sawyer and his mom’s relationship in this video. That’s why I came up with the idea of showing Sawyer’s perspective through these different vignettes of children growing up under the protection of their parents. It occurs when Sawyer moves out of his childhood house as if walking down his memory lane. You can find the video on Sawyer’s YouTube channel.  

What projects are you working on now?

I am currently working on a couple of music videos that will get released later this year. I am very excited about sharing this work. My short film Remnant has been on the festival circuit for about a year now and has gotten some awards. I just released the film on my website.  

Can you summarize your vision for your work?

I love storytelling in all forms. That’s why I try to work on a wide range of content. But I think overall I love telling stories about the extraordinary in ordinary life. There is something special about all of us, and I want to capture that on screen.   

Here is my website. You can find all the work I mentioned in the article here.

Thanks again for interviewing with us, Jenny!

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