What does it mean, “First Tone”?

There are four tones in mandarin Chinese. The high and flat first tone is the starting point of learning this language – whether you are a native speaker or a foreign learner. Its elegant simplicity provides an easy yet satisfactory entrance to a rich culture.

First Tone aims to unlock barriers to easier, smoother, more accessible communication between the video production and film industries in China and the UK.

Founders

Hui and Hao both have wealth of experience in both China and the UK’s film industries. This provides them with the essential insight to go on and create First Tone.


  • Founder, director

    Hui Zhang graduated from London Film School with distinction in 2021. She then worked as a freelance production designer before the launch of First Tone.

    Before moving to the UK, Hui worked for seven years in China as a producer-director. As well as sharpening her skills to communicate and plan, such experience also trained her to become a detail-oriented person.

    With a creative problem-solving mind, Hui has managed to produce lots of high-quality output while working within challenging circumstances, which includes short films, HETV, commercials and documentaries.

    Hui loves travelling and exploring other cultures when not at work, which always sparks inspiration for her.


  • Founder, director

    Zhizi Hao is a Chinese writer/director based in London. In 2017, thanks to the BAFTA China-UK Scholarship, he moved to London to pursue an MA in filmmaking at London Film School. There, he refined his voice as a storyteller and sharpened his skills as a writer/director.

    Born into a military family as an only gay son, raised in a place where neither of his parents came from, and now living abroad, Hao is familiar with the feeling of being an outsider. This rootlessness defines his perspective and has become a motif in the stories he tells.

    His previous works have been included in and awarded by various international film festivals, including Shanghai International Film Festival (2021), London Short Film Festival (2019) and Scottish Queer Film Festival (2019).

    Hao is experienced as an assistant director and a sound person.

Our collaborators

  • Fyras Slaiman

    DOP | UK-based

    Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Fyras lived in different countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, France and the United Kingdom.

    Growing up in countries where some movie scenes were censored made him understand how important images could be, and how much information they carried.

  • Alex Harrison

    DIRECTOR/DOP | UK-based

    Alex is a Writer, Director and Cinematographer. He shot his first feature film as director of photography at age 22, and since then has had 12 more feature-length titles under his belt.

    Alex also has an interest in television commercials. The idea of telling a story in 30 seconds, with no fat and no room for error, is exhilarating.

  • Jaina Liu

    PRODUCER | UK-based

    Jaina Liu is a Taiwanese Producer, Director and Writer with a passion for telling stories across all genres and fields.

    She believes that all stories deserve to be heard and shared with audiences that will be moved by narrations of all kinds.

  • Anastasia Savinova

    PRODUCER | UK-based

    Anastasia is a London-based producer-director. She has over 10 years of journalism experience covering major international events such as the Olympics, G20 and G8.

    After a career shift, she directed 5 films and pulled off over a dozen as producer, making it to the 3rd prize at Cannes as part of one of the productions.

  • Shawn Shaoxuan Zou

    DIRECTOR/AD | UK-based

    Shawn Shaoxuan Zou is a London-based Chinese director with multiple award-winning shorts under his belt. He has experience in fictional shorts, documentaries, music videos and commercials. He approaches all projects with the same integrity of conveying true emotions that resonate with the audience.

    He also works professionally as an Assistant Director on shorts, commercials, and music videos.

  • Can Köroglu

    STILL PHOTOGRAPHER | UK-based

    Can (b.1991, Istanbul) works through a variety of media, focusing primarily on image and text.

    Working as a documentary and an editorial photographer/filmmaker, his work merges reality and fiction through the topics of family, identity and memory.

    He is also the former editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based art magazine KLOKMAG, as well as the co-founder of Jux, a mobile app to create mood boards on the go.

    He currently lives and works in London.

  • Xueqi Wang

    DOP | China-based

    Xueqi Wang was born in Hefei, a city in the middle east of China, in 1995. She graduated from university with a degree in Japanese Literature before going to London Film School. There, she directed a short film “Walking In” and has made several short films and documentaries as Director of Photography.

  • Tong Liu

    DIRECTOR/DOP | China-based

    Tong Liu, born in China, received a MA from the London Film School, where he worked on several short films, including The Crowd (2017), Mortal (2018), Shitou (2018), By the Rivers Blue (2021) as director, and Asian Brass (2019), The Third Solar Term (2020) as cinematographer.

  • Aditya Sharma

    DOP | UK-based

    Born in Mumbai, the main hub of the film industry in India, Aditya was always surrounded by collaborators that helped him realise his passion for images and visual storytelling.

    Over the past two years, Aditya has had the privilege of working on shorts in Turkey, India and the UK. Working with a diverse group of people from various parts of the world has guided him in understanding how a language and story translates in distinct cultural environments.

  • Yuenho Kasey Song

    WRITER/PRODUCER | UK-based

    Before picking up writing for screen and producing shorts as an independent producer, Kasey gained his visual aesthetic from working for GQ, VOGUE and Xiaomi Tech in creating fashion films, live-action commercials and animation. Now he collaborates with two London production companies creating and writing two TV series — a period drama set in Shanghai and a contemporary espionage thriller — while conceptualising another two projects for Oscar and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Tim Yip.

  • Tom Xu

    CAMERA DEPARTMENT | UK-based

    Tom Xu is a filmmaker based in London. Tom has worked as a camera assistant on many films and commercials. He is passionate about custom camera rigging and he just started his own rental business.