Mike Lee Interview

Tell us about yourself. What’s your name? Where are you from?

My name is Mike Lee and I'm from Sonoma, CA…home of the grapes! Great place to get inspired at a young age. Surreal scenery and landscape. Beautiful town. I'm a 20 year old student currently attending Academy of Art majoring in Film and Television with a major in Cinematography. Now that I got all the boring stuff out of the way…

How did you get into the director’s chair/behind the camera? What inspired you and still inspires you?

I've always been the kid who was into special effects and lighting. I got my first fog machine and strobe light when I was in 1st grade. I saved up money by selling coffee at my sister's soccer games, and at one point I just started asking people for money haha. But in middle school and high school I was always making random videos. I just had this curiosity and drive to always play around with lights and cameras. I'm lucky enough that my parents took me to a couple Broadway plays when I was younger. Phantom of the Opera was a big influence on me. In high school I was the "it" dude for video work. I was just always doing it so I could only get better with time. As far as inspiring directors go, there's Hype williams, Paul Hunter, Dave Meyers, and now Colin Tilley, and Taj. They all go that extra mile to make sure everything on screen is visually stimulating and eye catching. Color, shadows and movement are so key to an awesome music video, and they all exhibit those elements so well.

I got into doing music video work the very start of 2011 with TeamBackPack. Emoney was my buddy from High School, we liked making music and videos so we found TBP sophomore year in college and thought we could be some valuable assets. I think it's turned out pretty good so far.

What upcoming projects are you working on, any particular one special to you or one you’re excited for?

I'm all over the place with projects. I'm really starting to meet all the hot artists in the bay now, so it's really the calm before the storm. I'm working with Jay Ant on some new projects, as well as more videos for HBK and Su, and of course I'm continuing with visuals for my TeamBackPack fam like Shark Sinatra, Jedi, Emoney, Armani Cooper, and so on. Swaggin is really the IT project I put a lot of planning and energy into. We had to shoot twice because the first time, too many people showed up to the shoot in this small clothing store in the Richmond Hilltop Mall. Definitely the hardest video I've had to shoot so far. I hopped on that video as soon as Kool John dropped the SNACK project. I wish more questions were about the swaggin video haha!

Overall, what’s your favorite video that you've ever created?

My best video I've ever created…My recent critically acclaimed video was TeamBackPack's "Do That." I've been filming with those guys for almost a year now, and we've done some pretty amazing things, so that video was really an ode to the movement were pushing with Cyphers and online auditions. No one's really been consistent in finding a way to bring a bunch of talented artists in the Bay, with big names or not, and collectively shout, "WE ARE THE BAY'S MUSIC SCENE!" TeamBackPack has found the perfect lane to do exactly that. I'm excited to see where we take it from here.

Following that, besides your own videos, what’s a video out right now that really caught your eye?

Hmmm. I loved Tilley's Look At Me Now, just because it was such a busy colorful video. When you can keep people's attention through the whole video nowadays, that's a key talent. I also really liked Taj's video for Swizz Beatz "Coolin'" Crazy theme. He had silver painted models in front of an all white background with an all white model creeping around the silver models…brilliant.

If you could make a video for one artist of your choice, who would it be and why?

I'm a huge Drizzy fan. So off the bat I'd go for him. I wish I could have done his "Headlines" video. I would have had him sitting on a pile of money with white tigers on an exotic beach at night while it's snowing and girls playing in neon glowing sand. Yep.

What does the word "based" mean to you?

Based means making whatever YOU want. Not letting external dogma effect your own creative vision and end product. Because the best possible art you can make comes from your own inspiration.

What is something that people don't know about you?

Most people think I'm asian. I'm actually a white suburban kid with long curly hair.

What’s some advice you can give the people that want to get behind the camera and into the director’s chair?

For kids who really want to be directors or just get into the film world, work hard and don't give up because it didn't come soon enough. Getting a name for yourself and creating a strong portfolio takes a LONG time. If you get negative feedback on your work, use that to your advantage. You can only get better video after video. Don't be afraid of what people think of you. Be proactive at communicating!!! (<----KEY!) Most artists out there are spacey and terrible at time management, so discipline yourself, be your own parent and make sure shit gets done.

Where can people find more about you?

Most of my work is at TeamBackPack.Net & @mikeleefilms