People

Life, passion and music videos

¡§It¡¦s definitely not a small amount to me,¡¨ Mr Lee said. ¡§After I finished shooting the music video, I thought of jumping off from a building.¡¨

His passion for music video drove him to work harder and produce more videos in the following year to earn enough money to pay back all his loans.

In addition to money constraints, finding ideal locations for shooting
music videos is another major problem. Unlike Taiwan and mainland China ,
Hong Kong lacks scenic places. Mr Lee tries to compensate that with his
technical skills.

In the video of singer Cheung King-hin¡¦s ¡§My Way¡¨, Mr Lee turned a wasteland in Ma On Shan into a picturesque scene by making use of colours, shots and angles.

While the need to meet market demand is inevitable, Mr Lee said he would usually try to have 60 per cent of a music video produced according to his personal style. He likes using dark colour and gloomy effects in his videos, a pessimistic flavour that reflects his
personality. He sometimes puts his own story into the plots of the videos, too.

In his recent work on Jordan Chan Siu-chun¡¦s ¡§Not My Fault¡¨, Mr Lee told the story of himself and his ex-wife. ¡§I dedicate this video to her. I don¡¦t care whether she understands or not, I just want to express my feelings about the marriage,¡¨ he said.

So far, Mr Lee has never run out of ideas for his music videos although he always faces the challenge of a tight deadline for production.

¡§Once I receive a job and listen to the song, ideas will spring up in my mind,¡¨ he said.

Music video directors usually have to come up with their ideas in just about a week. Within such a short period of time, all the preparations must be done: finding the location, recruiting suitable extras, organising the best production crew and drawing up the scenes of the whole story. Everything has to be rushed, but Mr Lee never panics.

He knows the function of a music video is to build up the image of an
artiste and to promote the song effectively. To fulfil l the task, a director must understand every artiste¡¦s character clearly and always be prepared, he said.

¡§You will not ask Alan Tam Wing-lun to dance happily in front of the camera like the Twins, right?¡¨ Mr Lee said.

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