DA JOINT MB2 INTERVIEW
How does the collective actually operate – who works on what and how are the ideas decided for each project?
It varies from project to project, but usually a person is assigned to be the director or the leader of the project, and he or she would be responsible for most of the creative directions. However, the ideas or execution of the project are usually the result of a group effort. We held group brainstorming and idea sessions in the very beginning stage to decide on the general direction of the idea and execution.
Hong Kong has a rich visually and street culture – how much does the city inspire you or your work?
I think our work is very much a product of Hong Kong culture. Most of our early works were to trying to adapt the edgy trends in the context of the local culture. We always tried to squeeze in more Hong Kong element in the projects that we worked on. We love the kind of mystic that Japanese artists created for Tokyo or Shinjuku, and we would love to do the same for Hong Kong. I think Hong Kong is in a middle of an identity transformation, Hong Kong artists had worked really hard for the past decade to do just that through, toys, films, and design works.
Would you say you have a Da Joint style?
Well…. I think we have certain kind of idiosyncrasy to our work, and most are really a result of limitation rather than poignant creative intent…. I guess the goal was trying to do something different every time, which in itself is a costly exercise…...
Your work has crossed many areas from moving image to characters, toys and comics – what do you enjoy the most and why?
I think Yin would probably be in dog heaven if he could play with figures and models all day long. Ken would rather spend most of his time doing photography, and I would like to shoot nonsensical short films. I guess everyone in the group have very different interests, and they are the backbone for our venture into the different fields. Not to mention Danielle would like to paint and Mo would want to make these poetic imagery for his favorite musicians.
Can you explain about the ZMDC project, it’s origins and future plans?
Yin designed and sculpted the ZMDC figures back in 2003 At the time, he was working with Sea International to really bring the figures into the market. And then, to help with the promotion, a background story was written and comics were created. The thing just took on a life of its own. When ZMDC got picked up by Kid Robot, we were getting all this write up in the figure magazines. There is talk with a Japanese anime house producing a OVA series based on ZMDC characters in the not so distant future. We are currently working with a feature film director in writing a script that would include life action + cg effect in a post apocalyptic world of ZMDC. Hope the distributors would be interested in it, and we could make ZMDC’s zipping across the dry sea bed Victoria Harbour on the big screen.
Hong Kong seems to have embraced the whole vinyl toy culture thing – is this why you have made sure you are part of that?
Actually, we were never really part of the vinyl toy scene. Since we were making APS armours and accessories for 12” figures, sci-fi characters with a ethnic touch, very different from the designer toys. Our figures are laden with details and traditional references, not very trendy at all…Maybe that explains why we never got sponsorship deals.. lol…
Asian work tends to get lumped together from a western perspective – how do you feel about – is there such a thing as ‘Asian style’?
Yes, there is such thing as ‘Chinese style’ if you watch enough CCTV from mainland China! I guess we are all trying to capture or define that intrinsic something that is ours at a given moment in time and place. It is however very difficult to develop a culturally responsible style when the world trend is so dominant and hot in demand. Sometimes it’s quite frustrating, simply because the clients wanted the more trendy style, or the audience weren’t interested in what you are trying to do. But there are so many things that are Asian(it’s even unfair to lump the different cultures to be a single Asian category), that one can try to weave into the work, and hopefully would find someone that are receptive to it. Just keeping our fingers crossed
How do you decide on your approach for each work both in terms of concept but also the technology or visual mix?
In the beginning, I was pretty obsessed with technical gimmickery, and I would see some cool new trick or execution and try to use it on the next project. But that has proved to be like a dog chasing its own tail, and sort of boring really. Now I try to allow more room for the unexpected, and constantly putting myself in a situation where I have to respond accordingly than over planning.
Having now become established what are your current and/or future creative ambitions?
Well, I like to see the ZMDC be made into film and anime, and to work with fearless people in general.
Broadcast design has been your staple work. Is it hard to continually deliver innovative ideas in this area?
Not really, Idents and promos are much more fun to work with than commercials, and they are shorter than music videos, so they are like summer rain in between boring clients and toothpaste commercials.
What work are you most proud of in the Broadcast area.
We’ve done a few Discovery idents that I quite like, and a series of Tiny TV idents for Cartoon Networks are quite fun to do.
Can you tell us more about the music video ‘I wasn’t in Paris’ by Li Ya in terms of its look and feel and if you achieved what you were looking for?
I’m always fascinated by the newspaper microfiche in the library(I can’t find them in the new library any more!) And I wanted to make this microfiche music box theatre that is operated by spring and gears that would tell a story by springing up microfiche cut outs. When I heard I wasn’t in Paris, scenes from “Édith et Marcel” just flashed before me, so I decided to use this microfiche music box thing that could give me a sort of period feel to tell the story of a chanteuse in the WWII setting. But it turns out, I didn’t have enough time and resource to make the story in the microfiche drawers, so I had to settle for just the spring up effect in the shallow depth of field leaves setting.
For the Diesel Dreams Kill Bear you chose a very monochrome and red look – can you talk about the process of this work and your direction?
When Kessel Kramer, there were only a couple of weeks to the deadline. We were scrambling for ideas, and since our given theme was a picture of a girl looking at a ceramic bear in the shop window. “kill bear” just fell right in. , We called our friends and bought samurai swords and shot the whole thing in two days. The color scheme was inspired by one of Ben Hibon’s work with the warewolf.
In the work you have done for Nippon Paint and Very China – you went for a much more traditional visual reference – can you explain about these influences?
Nippon Paint was based on these single frame comic that was popular during the old days(like the culture revolution days!!), filled with propaganda stories. So the creative brief was to bring these drawings to life. Very China was based on this black & white photo’s of Miro Svolik. He did a series of photos with models lying on the landscape shaped pavement. I liked the flat look very much, because it reminded me of the Chinese painting that has no depth or perspective. So I shot the kids lying on the floor with the ink effect as the background. But still had to thank master Sakamoto’s music to bring it to life.
The SKM work is very much a study of Hong Kong life and environments produced in a dynamic flat way – was it your intention to capture HK at that time?
SKM stands for Sheik Kip Mei, one of the 60’s public housing project that was to be demolished at the time. Hong Kong is certainly not a relics friendly city and old public housing buildings aren’t exactly on the list for cultural preservation. Hong Kong government would rather have shopping malls and Mickey Mouse ears everywhere. But the irony is, half of the population from Hong Kong all at one time or another lived in the public housing estates. So the housing project was an essential part of the Hong Kong life, it’s too bad no effort had been made in any level to preserve this piece of history. But the public housing residents really responded to the little details though.
When creating your work how conscious are you of the cultural significance or industry effect it may have?
The projects really just kind of got made more as a direct response to the events that happened around us. So can’t really say we were consciously trying to record a piece of history or make any social statement. We don’t usually have a political agenda behind our work. Maybe that has to do with how Hong Kong model, “less politicking and more money making”
What is your definition of success?
When we can afford a big flat with lots of rooms, and all our friends can come chill out at all times with freshly baked sourdough bread and wine for all…..
What is the one project you hope to make in the next 5 years, a feature perhaps?
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