Xueru Tang was meant to be a film producer. Not only is she exceptionally talented, she loves what she does. She likes working under pressure, it makes her feel strong. She likes watching a crew work, feeling a sense of pride by what they can accomplish. She loves that each day on a film set brings something new, and overcoming a new challenge is inspiring. She enjoys telling a story, and watching as the smallest moment during a production can be a pivotal scene in a film. When she watches a final screening, she feels a sense of pride, knowing that each film was her responsibility. This appreciation of the details of what she does is remarkable, and her understanding of the nuances of producing make her one of the best.
While working on films such as Emily, Inside Linda Vista Hospital, Locked, and the upcoming Hot Pot Man, Tang’s outstanding abilities as a producer shine. However, Tang does not limit herself just to film. Just last year, she produced the immensely popular commercial campaign for Chinstudio’s Fall Collection, one of the leading clothing brands in her native country of China.
“This is my first fashion commercial, and for me everything was quite a different. I like fashion, and also my friends were around me. The shop is very popular in China, so I was very excited to work on this,” said Tang.
The commercial displays the new collection of Chinstudio, clothing designed by designer Chenhui. It is a fashion music video, showing off a girl wearing the Fall line. It became a social media sensation with almost 4 million views on Weibo and thousands of views on Instagram. With Tang’s dedication to the commercial, the clothing line also dramatically increased their sales, reaching $10M and a number one rating on taobao.com that month.
“It was amazing that Chenhui sold so much more of her clothes than normal. Once the video was posted on Weibo, a social media service in China that is similar to Facebook, all her fans went crazy. This was her first commercial and first video shot. Everyone liked it. For me, I just liked that our client Chenhui loved it so much. She wasn’t really confident at first in front of the camera, but the success of the video helped with that a lot. And it probably helps that she ended up making a lot of money from it,” Tang joked.
As producer, Tang took on the role of finding the locations to shoot the video in. Because they needed so many, she ended up taking a small road trip to find the best spots. She searched online, researching the best places for fans to take photos, then drove by each location. If the client didn’t like a spot, Tang would drive around until she found another. She was vital to the campaign’s vast commercial and social media success.
“Xueru was extremely professional and efficient in all the matters surrounding the shoot both in pre-production and production itself. Xueru helped us secure all of the locations in the famous parts in Los Angeles within two days prior to shooting. She helped obtain all the necessary paper work and permits for us to be safe during our shoot. She also helped organize the crew and crafty service for this shoot,” said Dmitry Kharchuk, Director the commercial. “Xueru has an extreme drive towards her job, she keeps on point and has a large attention span to be ready for anything that may or may not come up on set. She is also very efficient in all of the permits, permissions and over all paperwork. Xueru does not take no for an answer and will keep on fighting for what she needs until the very end, which separates her from others. Xueru also states right from the beginning on what you can and cannot expect from her and she always delivers.”
Expectations were high for Tang from the beginning, as she was asked to join the project after the designer was impressed with her short film Locked. It was short notice however, as Chenhui wanted the commercial shot three days later. Tang immediately agreed, and within three days did location scouting, preproduction, and the shoot.
“That was a very crazy three days for me, and so many times I asked myself why I do this to myself. Most people thought I was insane for taking that one. I think it is responsibility. Once I sign the contract with client and they trust me to hire me be a producer, I need to do good job. I created a list of everything that needed to be done, and even the night before shooting was still checking things off. It helped that Chenhiu was very professional and hardworking. My crew was great, everyone on the spot, with my director of photography and director working so hard, the footage ended up looking awesome. I was super happy with the result,” said Tang.
In the end, it all came down to Tang’s belief in herself. She knows she is hardworking and committed, and therefore any challenge is easy to overcome.