David started off being an animator and motion graphics designer who has always wondered why the words ‘motion picture’ usually refer only to films. To his surprise, he graduated with a film degree and can now be found relentlessly melding his disciplines, pushing traditional narrative boundaries with a finesse for post-production.
An avid dreamer and storyteller, he is most drawn to tales of imaginary and observed human and societal disconnection. His short film anthology ‘5Films in an Anthology of a Film a Month’ – a quiet, tender, and often absurd reflection of human life based on the 5 senses – won ‘Best Cinematography’ at the 22nd Singapore International Film Festival, and ‘Best Editing’ at the inaugural Singapore Short Film Awards 2010.
Lately, he’s been extremely curious about the narrative possibilities of authored, structured systems that we call video games. In 2012, he joined the creative collective Studio Now & Then and helped design the ambient storytelling experience ‘Songbird’ for the Singapore Arts Festival 2012. The show stretched mediums, combining short films, music, installation art, and a dynamic iOS app to tell the story of a missing singer. The show was overwhelmingly received, and was featured twice in the local press.
David now works as a freelance filmmaker. Some of his commercial projects include a featurette for Australia’s hit crime series ‘Underbelly’ and a documentary for the BBC World Service. He is represented professionally for directing music videos in Australia by KICK KICK PUNCH, to which he often complains to his producer about having to awkwardly write about himself in the third person.
If you’ve anything to say, he’d love to hear from you! Send him emails at davidshiyang [at] gmail.com
(he likes mail. really. just not spam please.)