Nguyen Sieu is the only Vietnamese advertising filmmaker at HBO. He is very young in his career but has achieved some extraordinary achievements. He is a typical example of the success of choosing a career based on passion.
29 years old with famous commercials
Recently, the American media reported on the nomination list for the 76th Emmy Awards. Particularly, products related to the HBO TV series Hacks (premiered from May 13, 2021) received 17 Emmy nominations, the most prestigious award in the American television industry.
An image of a short video by Nguyen Sieu promoting the movie Euphoria appeared at HBO's internal CASH Awards 2022 as a nominee in the category of Outstanding Sound Design.
NVCC
Nguyen Sieu's creations were recognized by HBO because he brought a Vietnamese perspective to the product making process.
NVCC
T succeeded by choosing the Vietnamese approach
According to Nguyen Sieu, he was lucky to have joined HBO, a place that is very suitable for the creative strengths of a versatile artist, not limited to just a few individual skills. "I wrote the script, edited the video, mixed the music, worked with lawyers to ensure the legality of the video, communicated with photographers to collect photos, and directed graphic designers to make the visual part of the video more interesting and smoother," Nguyen Sieu said. In particular, the working environment at HBO allows Sieu to occasionally express ideas that are a bit different from traditional videos. Normally, post-production videos rarely include external elements (such as photos of other people), but only focus on clips in the film and interviews with the producer. But in the video Enter Euphoria - Season 2 Episode 5 , Sieu included two photos by veteran photographer Nan Goldin to compare two scenes of Euphoria to clearly explain where the inspiration for filming came from. Sieu shared: "When I proposed the idea, the creative director of Euphoria really liked it and said, 'Go ahead and do it.'" According to Nguyen Sieu, the reason his creations were recognized by HBO is because they always value individual and different perspectives. Therefore, he does not have to try to turn his perspective into an American perspective. "I always approach every video as a Vietnamese producer. Vietnamese culture often values emotions. Maybe that's why my products have touched the hearts of audiences not only in the US, but also in many other countries," Nguyen Sieu shared.
Nguyen Sieu and colleagues at HBO
NVCC
" College is not a stepping stone to making money"
Looking at the solid position that Nguyen Sieu has established in the American television industry, few people know that 10 years ago his choice made his parents and relatives very worried. As an excellent former student of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School, Sieu was accepted for scholarships by 7 prestigious universities (mostly in the US). Sieu's choice to study art made everyone surprised, because they thought this profession was "difficult, not profitable"... Nguyen Sieu confided: "Studying filmmaking, doing art media like me, after graduating, even if I get a job in the US, the starting salary is only about 30,000 - 40,000 USD/year. Very low, very poor, but I want to live with my true passion". According to Nguyen Sieu, he noticed a fundamental difference between the educational ideology in Vietnam and in the US. Vietnamese people consider going to university as a stepping stone to finding a job, with the ultimate goal of having a career and having money to cover living expenses. Americans are the opposite. They consider going to school as an independent experience. Going to school is simply to broaden their knowledge about the field they love. In American universities, students are guided towards their passion, encouraged to study what they like, what they want, instead of thinking too much about making money. Nguyen Sieu's current quite secure position at HBO is the sweet fruit of his journey of daring to pursue his passion, his spirit of learning and his confidence in his own creative ability. Sieu's long-term goal is to be able to write and produce his own TV shows or movies in the future. "Today's Hollywood highly values stories that are cultural and deeply personal. Therefore, I always use my life experience - a Vietnamese living between two cultures, Vietnamese and American - as material and inspiration for my creativity. The creative process is never simple, but I believe that knowing who you are and what your story is is the "secret formula" to achieving success," Nguyen Sieu shared.Choose classes based on "interesting" rather than "practical" criteria
With the belief that "4 years of university is a journey of discovery and learning", Nguyen Sieu always chooses classes based on the criteria of "interesting" instead of "practical", learning what he doesn't know about the world around him instead of just preparing skills for future work. Sieu brings that eager spirit to his internships. Not afraid of "unpaid" jobs, the destination he always aims for is "learning". Thanks to that spirit, Sieu always achieves outstanding results, graduating with honors in film and media (GPT score 3.9/4.0) from Vassar University, USA.Thanhnien.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nha-lam-phim-la-nguoi-viet-duy-nhat-tai-hbo-chon-nghe-vi-dam-me-185240802233256007.htm
Comment (0)