Format is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 portfolio submissions in partnership with SAE University College, where students turn their passion for creativity into a fulfilling career.
In addition to supporting this emerging creative through a free one-year subscription to Format after graduation, Format is featuring her website within our community, celebrating her work and providing her with exposure to help jump-start her career. This prize aligns with Format’s mission to promote the future of art and design by giving students a launch pad for their professional journey. In 2022, Format and its parent company, Zenfolio Inc., announced a pledge to give $ 1 million worth of website subscriptions to students studying art, design, photography, and related fields.
We hope you will join us in celebrating the talented Grace Vu, who will be graduating from SAE University College with a Bachelor of Film specializing in post-production at the end of this year, by visiting her website to follow her journey.
Please tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in film.
My name is Grace Vu and I am from Brisbane, Australia. From a young age, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the creative arts. My path began when I became fascinated with editing after watching films.
I haven’t told many people about the truth about how I ended up becoming a filmmaker.
During my senior year of high school, I signed up for a film course. I saw it as an opportunity to increase my knowledge about film–but shortly after I got kicked out of the course due to the teachers’ concerns about my epilepsy while on film sets. At the time, it led me to almost give up on film because I really questioned my capabilities about pursuing a career in film.
Despite the challenges of my epilepsy, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the creative arts, and I find film comes more naturally to me than other creative arts. After trying out sound production, I eventually enrolled in the post-production discipline at SAE.
Please tell us about your program at SAE and the focus of your work there.
As I chose post-production as my specialization, I honed my skills in this area by working as an editor and sound designer on several projects.
I think one of the key things about SAE is how they really focus on students having a hands-on experience. Most of the tests are practical, instead of written exams, which is a positive thing for me since I prefer assessments.
The formal training is really focused on the practical workflows of post-production, which I found to be the best way for me to learn what it’s like working in the film industry.
At the beginning of the program, it was more focused on short films and documentaries, but SAE really encouraged students to do interdisciplinary work, so there were units where students could have the chance to network and connect with students from other disciplines. Personally, I aim to build a strong network with audio and animation students, since those disciplines feel most relevant to the skills that I have gained.
My favorite project so far would be my capstone project, which is a music video. Music was one of the disciplines I really wanted to collaborate with.
How did you find the process of making your Format website?
I found it was much easier to navigate the features and tools than other website-building platforms I’ve tried. I liked how there were many different layouts you could explore, as a lot of the process of creating my website was trial and error while I decided how to represent my work.
In the end, I think I chose a good layout, because it was clean, simple and efficient, which allows people to view my work easily. As I transition from student to professional, it will continue to play an important role in showcasing my work.
Do you have any upcoming projects that you can share with us?
I have a few projects that are based on personal experience or true stories. That’s where a lot of my personal projects that I’m developing are coming from–two of them are short documentaries and two are short films.
The first short documentary that I’m working on is about Epilepsy and raising awareness. The main message I want to communicate is that epilepsy is more than just seizures. It is exploring the iceberg analogy in relation to epilepsy.
One of my short films is telling the story of my experience when I was kicked out of the film certificate course. It’s a bit vivid, so I feel I can play around with the storyline a bit, which is part of why I’ve chosen to do a short film. Almost every project that I develop is based around true stories or events–I’m pretty enthusiastic about nonfiction work.
There’s another film project I’m working on that’s currently in pre-production–I joined fairly early considering that I’m a post-production editor. Right now they are meeting with various producers and companies, so it’s still in the early stages.
SAE students also have the chance to showcase the work we’ve done throughout the three-month trimester in an exhibition in the final week of each trimester. I’m about to begin my final trimester on 16th September. My final exhibition will be on 11th December.Follow Grace’s journey through her online portfolio or on social media via Instagram and Facebook.
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