Celebrated Editor Shiman Hu shares importance of advertising as a filmmaker

Every day, we take in dozens of advertisements. Whether a billboard, commercial Instagram post, or product placement in your favorite television show, we live in a world full of consumerism. With so much content, creating an engaging advertisement, one that lasts in one’s mind for longer than they see it, can be an immense challenge. In an obvious sense, an ad must deliver information and promote sales, but what is lost on many is that it can be a real work of art. It does not just take someone who knows the product or the numbers, it takes a true artist to engage an audience, and that is something celebrated film editor Shiman Hu knows better than most.

On top of working on award-winning films (The Sound of the Sea) and acclaimed television shows (Happy Land), Hu has partnered with many internationally recognized brands on major commercial campaigns, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and more.

“For editors, a picture is vocabulary and sentence, and the combination of pictures is grammar and rhetoric. Therefore, the creation of TV commercials must master screen editing skills and reproduce real life artistically. Many of the artistic principles of TV editing have inherited the perfect technology of filmmakers. For TV commercial editing, there are the following basic requirements: the shots must be selected according to the content of the program, the order of shots must be determined in the way that best conveys the creative intent, and the length, angle and scene must be reasonably determined to control the rhythm and achieve the ideal creative effect,” Hu described.

Hu has come into contact with many businesses, restaurants, beauty salons, plastic surgery, bakeries, cars, etc. in the advertising field. Through her creativity and a serious and rigorous attitude towards work, she creates commercials that meet customer requirements, market requirements, and promote customers’ desire to buy on the premise of high visibility.

“I think the most important thing about advertising is style and content. In many cases, it is not only during the preliminary preparations, but also when shooting. When I get the footage, I will rearrange and combine the shots in order to achieve a more creative result. In a complete work, the final effect and the editing are completely inseparable. This is the importance of editors. Regardless of the color, composition, or style, it can be completely adjusted during editing,” she said.

Hu can capture the appetite of the audience very well, and exert it to the fullest to achieve the best result, as evident in her prolific commercials for Dling Medical Aesthetic Center Inc., Wondries Toyota, Envision Motors Mercedes-Benz Of West Covina, and Roxy Trading Inc. The advertising platforms of Dling Medical Aesthetic Center are Sino TV and AM 1300. After seeing the ad she thoughtfully and creatively edited, they were full of praise for her work. Originally, they signed an agreement to broadcast on the platform of Multicultural Group (the parent company of Sino TV AND AM 1300), but based on how much they liked the commercial Hu created, they signed another contract and bought the advertisement she made separately. The advertising broadcasting platforms of Wondries Toyota, Wondries Toyota, Envision Motors Mercedes-Benz Of West Covina and Roxy Trading Inc are Sino TV and AM 1300. After the advertisement was broadcast, their sales increased significantly. Being able to create such captivating work that so significantly increases sales is what makes Hu so talented at what she does. With her extensive film production background, she is even more aware of the requirements and standards for advertising production.

“Advertising is a very challenging thing. It gives me a lot of room to play, and engages my creativity so that I can collide with different sparks in the design. Every time I try to adjust, maybe in the music, in the rhythm, in the grading, as long as you make a little change, the whole quality will be greatly improved. Every time I make an advertisement, I will watch it over 100 times, continuously making changes until I am completely satisfied. In this way, you can make quality work with constant revision. It was very satisfying,” she ended with. “Success means that my sweat has not been wasted, my creativity has been recognized, and my work has been seen by even more people. This is something that makes me very happy.”To check out Hu’s impressive commercial work, head to her popular YouTube channel.