Meet Yinwen (Wendy) Mu | Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yinwen (Wendy) Mu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yinwen (Wendy), where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am originally from Beijing, China, but I spent five years in Savannah, GA. I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) as a film student, concentrating on producing and editing.

Now, I am an editor working on video game trailers for AAA games, such as Apex Legends, Lost Ark (Amazon Games), Madden Mobile, Football Club Mobile, and Song of Nunu (Riot Forge), to name a few.

With a film production background, I had an enjoyable experience editing video game trailers. It was not significantly different from editing film footage to video game capture footage. For example, I edited films by organizing daily footage, selecting the best take of each scene and shot, and putting the footage together with “magic” based on scrips and shot lists. I joined many independent film and commercial productions as a producer or an editor; I had many opportunities to discuss casting, blocking and staging, camera angles, and storytelling. When editing video game trailers, I had to follow the scripts and discuss camera angles and character blocking with my creative directors. I could let my creative directors and video game capture teams know what kind of shots, sound effects, and characters’ voice-overs I need in my edit. In the video game capture process, since we didn’t shoot in real life, we could move camera angles more flexibly than in actual film.

While editing a video game trailer for Madden Mobile (EA Sports), I noticed that the NFL is a prevalent sports competition with many game-like characters from real competition players. So, I wanted to have game capture shots closed to the live competition. When gamers played the game, they would feel like they were in a real competition as professional players. Finally, in the trailer, we got some rotation game capture shots when in-game characters were running or catching the ball and close-up shots of the ball and characters’ facial expressions. I wanted to provide a blueprint for the game’s audiences so they could dive into the competition atmosphere, such as what the game looked like and what kind of characters gamers could choose. At the client’s request, I was aware of what lovers of the NFL in real life and gamers wanted to see in this trailer.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was nervous when I started working as a video game trailer editor. As a student, I focused on film and commercial making, only attending a class to study and practice trailer editing. I needed to spend time on switching my perspective from filmmaking to video game production making. However, I found out that there are similarities between editing films and video game trailers. Each character in the video game, even if they were not a natural person in life, had strong personalities and interesting stories. They had color palettes, costumes, behavior, habits, and classic dialogue that gamers could quickly identify.

I was also afraid I was not good enough for my colleagues, who edited hundreds of trailers. I also needed to familiarize myself with every video game from different clients. Then, I watched many gamers playing certain video games on YouTube and my co-workers’ previous work. I understood each game, what good video game trailers should look like, and how to tell a story in a trailer.

As a former film student, I studied films. I brought my film perspective to video game production to have a cinematic aesthetic in my trailers. As a fast learner, I have transitioned from filmmaking to becoming an editor of video game production. I have adjusted myself in the video game industry and become familiar with each game I have worked on.

Looking back, I am grateful for the journey, the challenges, and the opportunities that shaped my career. It taught me the importance of resilience, adaptability, and a strong work ethic. I am proud of how far I have come and excited to continue growing and thriving in this industry.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Park 27 Korean BBQ and Bar https://www.park27bbq.com
This is a great place with delicious Korean BBQ. You can’t miss it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to thank my mother for everything she gave me.

Website: www.yinwendymu.com

Image Credits
Yinwen Mu