David Mai - Research Mentor Spotlight

Bio:

Name: David Mai

Department: Film & Media Studies

Describe your research/creative scholarship in a few sentences that we can all understand: 

My creative work in social film narratives, animations, and interactive media aims to examine and broaden intersectional representations of Asian Americans and Asian diaspora. In my collaborative film work, I specialize in post-production having worked as a picture editor, visual effects artist, and animator.

Questions:

Q: What does your research look like on a day-to-day basis? What do you spend most of your time doing?

A : My dad was a cook of his own restaurant, and I see similarities between our work. As film director Werner Herzog states: “I'm quite convinced that cooking is the only alternative to filmmaking.” Perhaps as with running a restaurant and serving multiple customers at the same time, I spend most of my time attending to the needs of different projects with different people, which are all at different stages, whether in development, production, or distribution.

Q: How did you first get interested in doing research or creative work?

A : I had crashed my then-girlfriend and now-wife’s office hours with her independent studies mentor when we undergrads. During their discussion, she had expressed frustration with our peers’ lack of regard for the critical study of film as they solely prioritized film production. She declared it her moral obligation to foreground cultural awareness and diverse perspectives as it seemed to have been put in the backburner in favor of glamour. While my wife is now continuing her mission as a cultural worker in independent film production, she had also lit my torch that day as I do the same work in academia.

Q: What do students in your discipline learn by doing research that they wouldn’t learn by just taking classes?

A : Why do birds fly? Is it because they seek to soar rather than staying in their nests? It might be, or is it just in their nature even if it risks falling? My students are all innately curious and the ones who have pursued my mentorship or sought work outside of a classroom space have all learned to take risks and challenge themselves intellectually, because it’s through discomfort that growth can occur.

Q: What do you find to be the most exciting part of doing research or creative work? What makes this line of work meaningful and interesting to you?

A : Collaboration is key in film production. It’s difficult to move a film through all its stages without the support of other creatives. I knew early on which parts of film production were for me and which were not. So, while I love doing what I do, it’s also part of the work to find people who love doing what I can’t do. Additionally, the exchange of ideas and perspectives is a communal process that makes this work meaningful, interesting, and always novel.

Q: For many students, doing research or a larger creative project is the first time they have done work that routinely involves setbacks and the need to troubleshoot problems. Can you tell us about a time that your research didn’t go as expected? Or about any tricks or habits that you’ve developed to help you stay resilient in the face of obstacles? 

A : In the “Ten Rules for Students and Teachers,” which was originally written by artist, teacher, and social justice advocate, Sister Corita Kent, and later added to and popularized by John Cage, he notes in his last rule: “We are breaking all the rules, even our own rules and how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X qualities.” Film shoots are always at the mercy of weather, hard drives are always at risk of failing, and selections into film festivals are never guaranteed, so it’s important to be flexible and open to change, but continue to move forward.

Q: How do you spend your time outside of work?

A : I spend my time how I have been since my youth, which is play video games. It has always been a portal that has allowed me to enter different stories and meet people across the world. Also, I run a mean a Dungeons & Dragons game with my childhood friends as we’ve just surpassed our 150th session in a campaign that’s lasted for over 5 years! Best wishes to them as they tread carefully into my next dungeon.