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Cinematic Storytelling: Michael Deng ’18 Uses Videography to Serve Others
When Michael Deng ’18 heard teacher John Reimers tell his fourth-form English class, “Religion matters unconditionally,” he thought of “Roadkill,” the beloved hot sauce that sits on every table in Terry Dining Hall. “Roadkill is almost a religion to Woodberry boys,” Michael says. So he did what he usually does when he has a story to tell: He organized a group of actors and cinematographers to make a film. The team’s mock advertisement imagines the sauce’s origin myth — it drips down from the sky onto a prehistoric man’s food, transforming his quality of life.
Michael began telling stories on film at the age of twelve when he and his family traveled from their home in Beijing, China, to the United States so Michael could attend a weeklong filmmaking camp at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “I already knew a lot about photography,” Michael says, “but I learned about creating a plot, telling a story, and editing video.” Back in China, he founded a film league and created a short film, Moments of Love, which won an award for its visual effects.
This summer, Michael took on his biggest cinematographic challenge yet. He traveled into Sichuan Province to a remote area served by the Siyu Harmony Society, China’s largest philanthropic organization. There he spent a month teaching children Chinese, music, and English alongside mostly college-aged volunteers.
“The organization needed a film to help recruit volunteers and get attention for its work,” Michael says. So he used social media to recruit a team — college students from Sichuan Film and Television College — and to find a subject for his documentary. “When I heard about a young boy, Yong Wang, and his family, I knew their story was perfect for my film,” Michael explains. He managed to switch his placement to the boy’s school so he could get to know him and his family.
Family Under the Roof tells the story of the boy and his siblings who struggle with poverty while mourning the death of their mother as their father mourns the loss of his wife. “When I learned about the character of the father, I knew I wanted to get to know him,” Michael says. “He received a payment when his wife died, but he used the money to help others in even worse poverty. I have so much respect for him.” Michael and his crew took their cameras into the family’s home, school, and workplace for a candid and touching look inside their lives.
Michael has plans for more filmmaking in the future. This spring, he and other members of the film and photography club he founded plan to make a short fictional film called The Traceur in Crutches, based on the childhood of Pip Andersen, a British parkour practitioner who appeared in the recent Star Wars movie. And this summer, he’ll return to Sichuan Province to make another film for the Siyu Harmony Society. He also hopes to start a fundraising campaign to aid kids in the mountainous region. He’d like to have a career in film production and investment, bringing his aesthetic sensibility to the business side of filmmaking.
He’ll also bring lessons in teamwork and altruism he’s learned at Woodberry. “The team spirit I feel at swim meets makes me proud to be part of Woodberry Forest,” he says. “Another thing I’ve learned at Woodberry is to take care of others. That helps me make better films because I know how to get people’s trust and ask questions about the way they feel.”
Watch Family Under the Roof and read Michael's Chinese translation of this article.
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This summer, Michael took on his biggest cinematographic challenge yet. He traveled into Sichuan Province to a remote area served by the Siyu Harmony Society, China’s largest philanthropic organization. There he spent a month teaching children Chinese, music, and English alongside mostly college-aged volunteers.
“The organization needed a film to help recruit volunteers and get attention for its work,” Michael says. So he used social media to recruit a team — college students from Sichuan Film and Television College — and to find a subject for his documentary. “When I heard about a young boy, Yong Wang, and his family, I knew their story was perfect for my film,” Michael explains. He managed to switch his placement to the boy’s school so he could get to know him and his family.
Family Under the Roof tells the story of the boy and his siblings who struggle with poverty while mourning the death of their mother as their father mourns the loss of his wife. “When I learned about the character of the father, I knew I wanted to get to know him,” Michael says. “He received a payment when his wife died, but he used the money to help others in even worse poverty. I have so much respect for him.” Michael and his crew took their cameras into the family’s home, school, and workplace for a candid and touching look inside their lives.
Michael has plans for more filmmaking in the future. This spring, he and other members of the film and photography club he founded plan to make a short fictional film called The Traceur in Crutches, based on the childhood of Pip Andersen, a British parkour practitioner who appeared in the recent Star Wars movie. And this summer, he’ll return to Sichuan Province to make another film for the Siyu Harmony Society. He also hopes to start a fundraising campaign to aid kids in the mountainous region. He’d like to have a career in film production and investment, bringing his aesthetic sensibility to the business side of filmmaking.
He’ll also bring lessons in teamwork and altruism he’s learned at Woodberry. “The team spirit I feel at swim meets makes me proud to be part of Woodberry Forest,” he says. “Another thing I’ve learned at Woodberry is to take care of others. That helps me make better films because I know how to get people’s trust and ask questions about the way they feel.”
Watch Family Under the Roof and read Michael's Chinese translation of this article.
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