Artist Spotlight w/ Hieu Vu
Mar 14, 2023
First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Hieu Vu and I was born and raised in the bustling city of Hanoi, Vietnam. I have been working as a motion graphic designer for almost 5 years now but I began looking into visual arts as soon as I started high school thanks to my older brother.
I make personal works out of habit but constantly strive to explore how a spectacle of colors and shape, paired with the right soundtrack, can be a pathway to connect us with our spirituality. Besides motion graphics, I also hold a passion for automobiles, mainly cars.
I'll always feel intrigued to learn more to find my way around the industry by asking for guidance from the people who came before. Their diverse range of ideas and perspectives is necessary to help shape my career path.
Can you tell us about your experience and the role you are primarily filling?
I started my career working with music artists, producers, and label owners. Back then, my main outputs were lyric and music videos and sometimes, live visual performances. I remember having the bragging rights of being the director and animator for John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth" official lyric video. Since 2017, I have become a frequent collaborator with Fustic. Studio, a Vietnamese design practice, and got to work on projects for both local and foreign musicians.
My studio experience started as soon as I graduated college, being a junior motion designer for studios in St. Louis and subsequently Los Angeles. Somewhere in the last 3 years, I returned home to begin working as a freelance motion graphic designer. Now I work in all ranges of media including promo shots, TV ads, documentary films, live sports package visuals, etc.
Other than that, I also have a Youtube channel where I occasionally upload tutorials and my thought process in my personal projects, as a way to shamelessly vent my creativity.
If you could speak directly to the resourcing gods and powers that be, what would be your ideal project?
I love grinding my way through projects that seem to gobble up your time just so I can make a point for myself later on. I would love to work on the Ultimate project. The project-to-end-all-projects type of project. Something like a visual that runs 24 hours or projection mapping that plays on top of a car that goes from one town to another. My favorite artworks have always been the ones that push beyond technological limitations and become timeless through sheer hard work and dedication. Amon Tobin's live shows from the early 2010s come to mind, or the whole catalog of Chris Cunniham's filmography, even Cyriak's Youtube channel.
I would only ask the resourcing gods for faster render time haha.
Do you have any dream clients?
One of the joys of my work is that what I create seems to resonate with a lot of people on an emotional level. I love connecting people's emotions with an abstract story or an idea that sometimes bears no relation to each other. I would love to work with an automotive brand and by using motion graphics, to exude the feelings that people associate with their cars in the looks, sound, and history. I dream of working for luxury car brands like Alfa Romeo, Pagani, or Aston Martin as they put heavy emphasis on passion and exuberance.
Lastly, do you have any memorable stories, life lessons, or tall tales you can share from your adventures as a freelancer?
Don't be afraid of reaching out for help whether it's technical or not. I find that freelancing is one of the best chances I have at connecting with another person in the field. Even though the interaction lasts for a few months or weeks, I'll always feel intrigued to learn more to find my way around the industry by asking for guidance from the people who came before. Their diverse range of ideas and perspectives is necessary to help shape my career path.
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