Project Paper Birds

A Man Who Helped MaKe Paper Birds Possible

Time for a Dr. Chang appreciation post! It was just over half a decade now that I first met Dr. Chang over Zoom (unintentionally this aligns well with detailing fall of 2020, five years on). Courses were completely online, but despite this, his personality transcended the small screen. As one of his first acts as professor, he showed off his beloved—and shockingly large—tuxedo cat, Pierre. I took notice of Dr. Chang’s passion right away and, after learning he had worked for a variety of prestigious networks (including my idol, National Geographic), I made a point to connect with him in and outside of class. 

During spring semester of 2021, I pitched Paper Birds to him as a photo essay (you may have heard this before). He saw potential in the material but suggested I translate it to film, encouraging me to take his upcoming documentary course. I did, and in fall of 2021, he asked me if I would like to assist in his current project, Silent War. The rest is, as they say, history. 

We had a phone call for this first time in a while today (busy summer for us both), and he offered me some feedback on the current cut of PB. We also discussed Silent War and a tenative ’to-do’ list. After hanging up, I realized it was another one of those cool full circle moments: Mentor and mentee getting to ready to simultaneously share their work with the world after years of hard work. And truly, Dr. Chang has been an amazing mentor, both professionally and personally. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so committed to their crafted, and he’s taught me how to laugh when things go wrong which, in film? Yeah, that happens a lot. He’s not in it for the paycheck or the publicity—he cares about the art of storytelling and the power it holds. I think the only thing that may surpass that is his desire to help others harness it. 

To my real life Doc Brown, thank you Dr. Chang for making me and this project what it is today.