In a world where most narratives are carefully edited and polished, a new media initiative at USC is breaking the mold. closeup, a branch of the Asian Pacific Cinema Association, strives to capture unscripted, real moments and stories of the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American community at USC.

“The whole idea was unscripted content similar to Jubilee or Cut,” said Cameron Lee, former director of closeup and a junior majoring in business administration.

Digital media companies such as Jubilee and Cut produce content that provokes dialogue between its participants. For instance, Jubilee’s series “Middle Ground” brings together people on opposite sides of a binary to discuss each other’s perspectives.

Lee directed “Closeup On Cooking Our Cultural Childhood Dishes,” a long-form YouTube video that featured two USC students preparing their favorite foods from home. In a creative twist, the two then swap halfway through to finish cooking each other’s meal, providing each other an intimate glance into each other’s culinary and cultural traditions.

Other videos on closeup’s YouTube channel include a round table discussion on culture and controversial questions as well as a pretend parenting series, which featured a new couple “parenting” a stuffed bear together to see if elements of their childhood would come through in their parenting styles. 

The club’s emphasis goes beyond a lack of a script and teleprompter. As a branch of the APCA, closeup wants to be intentional in its choice of topics and themes.

“Content itself is an amplifier,” said Sarah Fan, co-executive producer of closeup and a sophomore majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation. “But any form of media, radio, television — that’s an amplifier. Say you take a video of me and 200 people see it, then you just amplified my voice to 200 people.”

Although closeup is a newer organization, it promises a collaborative community passionate about making content. It emphasizes the importance of a multitude of diversity, even within the Asian community. 

“Even though we haven’t finished the recruitment process, there’s a lot more diverse backgrounds and people with different experiences growing up as Asians,” said Tammy Wang, co-executive producer of closeup and a sophomore majoring in film and TV production.

Creativity is the driving engine of the student organization. Members can draw from their own perspectives of what shapes their lives to create content that resonates with a larger APIDA audience.

“At the end of the day, creativity comes from the right people in the right room being excited about something together,” Fan said.

In closeup’s next project, the APCA branch hopes to tackle the common experience of being unequipped to express vulnerability, like how saying “I love you” is difficult to put into words.

“A lot of [our] applicants talked about how it’s hard for Asians to open up about vulnerable topics just because we didn’t grow up in an environment where we’re comfortable talking about [them],” Fan said. “Just opening up those conversations is super valuable.” 

While struggling to express vulnerability is common, the overwhelming social media content made within APIDA communities fails to expand past limiting stereotypes of what it means to identify with being Asian American.

“There’s a lot of content out there about Asian communities, but I feel like it’s so overdone that people aren’t taking them seriously anymore,” Wang said.

Several videos on TikTok and Instagram are dedicated to categorizing Southern California or Bay Area APIDA girls, reducing them to their music tastes, hobbies or college majors. Misrepresentation of the variety in Asian communities flourishes online and remains a shallow reflection of a small minority of Asian youth.

“In Southern California, we don’t get the sense of that because we have such a concentrated group of us,” said Eric Ou, closeup’s director of content and a sophomore majoring in behavioral economics and psychology. “But as soon as you step out, people don’t know us at all.”

Ou, a content creator and Internet personality, posts content about the Southern California Asian community. Most notable are his videos critiquing the popular culture associating the Cambodian-owned mom-and-pop Seaside Donuts Bakery with ABGs, or the term “Asian Baby Girls.” 

In a time when authentic representation is crucial, closeup is embracing its role as a platform that redefines the portrayal of Asian experiences in media. It promises a fresh, nuanced and complex perspective of APIDA identities.

“We don’t want to just be boba, Keshi and Valorant. The Asian community is shouting that out right now,” Fan said. “I see closeup — in this perfect situation and this perfect timing — as this opportunity to provide new things.”