TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With Juwan Lee

"Smoking Sessions With..."    By Gotty™ on February 5, 2007 at 8:55 am

Many 80′s babies can not remember a time when there were no music videos. They have emerged from very rare to making their way into popular culture as a necessity for any well known record. The Crew’s “Sneek” Johnson spoke with the up and coming director Juwan Lee to get an inside look on the process of blending two art forms to create a masterpiece.

TSS: First off can you introduce yourself?

Juwan Lee: My name is Juwan Lee, music video director, been directing for a few years now I started in 2000, and that was my first real experience in the industry. I started working with Benny Boom in 2003.

TSS: Where are you from?

Juwan Lee: I’m from Philly.

TSS: What are some videos that you have worked on so far?

Juwan Lee: I’ve directed three videos for Dem Franchize Boyz “Oh I Think They Like Me Remix”, “Ridin’ Rims”, and “Lean Wit it Rock Wit it”. I directed a video for Dwele, two videos for Young Capone, two videos for Daz, a video for a new R&B artist J. Holiday, Blue Davinci feat. Jeezy and Fabolous, a girl group called Missez feat. Pimp C, a Japanese R&B pop artist named Double, and I just shot a video for a Japanese R&B group, Full of Harmony.

TSS: Did you go to school for video production?

Juwan Lee: Well actually I majored in Radio TV and Film at Clark Atlanta but I was an English major at Morehouse.

TSS: So what made you make the switch from English to Radio TV and Film?

Juwan Lee: I always wanted to be in Journalism. At first I wanted to be a TV anchor. I started working at a TV station in Atlanta for two years and ironically I was working on a music video show. I was pretty much hands on with the whole show, from producing to bringing talent on the show, and that made me start focusing on directing more and being more involved in the content that went on the screen. I felt that my first stab at it would be the music video content and I just progressed from there.

TSS: I know you came up under Benny Boom, can you talk about your experience working with him?

Juwan Lee: It was a great experience, working with him is definitely the reason why I am doing what I am doing now. Benny is probably one of the smartest directors out there. Being a director can sometimes come across as a glamorous profession, but you really have to know what you are doing and you really have to have some kind of film background. They always say whether it’s in school or on set, experience is valuable. And Benny has been working in film (movies and music videos) since the early 90′s. He is a really smart dude and he went to school for it. He was THE guy to be mentored under, especially because we’re both from Philly, and kind of the same neighborhood we bonded on more than a work level.

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TSS: What was the most important lesson you took away from Benny Boom?

Juwan Lee: Being prepared, having clear visions, and knowing exactly what you want and how to accomplish that when you’re shooting. The biggest thing is knowing what you want because you don’t have forever to shoot. You have to be very organized and knowledgeable about what you want to do.

TSS: Is it safe to say that Dem Franchize Boyz “Oh I Think They Like Me Remix” video is your most popular to date?

Juwan Lee: Yea, it was my first video. It is still probably my favorite, but with each video comes something that I like whether its experience or what actually happened on set or what I learned. That’s probably my most popular video because it was a different look at the time it came out.

TSS: Who came up with the whole black and white concept?

Juwan Lee: It was a mixture between me, Benny, and Jermaine Dupri. JD is always very clear with what he wants. It was kind of a remake of a video Benny had did but still with my kind of flavor and twist to it. We had a theme, and the idea but it was about the images and how it was going to be designed to make it different and that was the collaboration of all three of us.

TSS: Many people sometimes forget that directing videos is an art. Can you describe your creative process when constructing a project?

Juwan Lee: The first thing I do once I get the record from the label is sit with the record and whatever I think I write down. Whatever comes to my mind is because of that song so even if it is not the idea I end up with I like to jot down those initial ideas. My mind state is as soon as I turn the record on what does it make me think of, regardless of what the artist wants. A lot of it is then working with the artist and working with the label and working with the overall vision of the album. Because it is not just that one song, it (a video) is just a small part of marketing the artist so everybody has to be in sync.

TSS: Is getting everyone in sync difficult?

Juwan Lee: The film industry is a team sport. So try to be the point guard and more or less set everything up and work off of everybody’s feedback and ideas they bring to the table and put it together. You always have to provide that foundation. It’s always good to have the initial idea and be a director, which is trying to have people follow your direction as long as it is not too far off from what they are trying to achieve. I think there is always compromise in any creative aspect, you always have to compromise with the people your working with so everybody gets what they want.

TSS: Do you have a certain signature in your work?

Juwan Lee: I think I’m in the process of developing a signature for my work since I’m such a new director. I like to experiment with camera angles and conceptual styles whether it’s the sets or the colors. I like to get across a common theme in my videos whether it’s the look of a narrative video or the feel of a narrative video. I try to have a color theme, Dem Franchize Boyz “Oh I Think They Like Me Remix” was black and white and Young Capone’s “I’m Hot” was red, black and white. I try to get across a common theme and feel in a video because if you can connect a theme throughout the video then people will understand it. That is where I am headed as far as a signature. I want something that isn’t just my name at the end. People should always be able to expect a certain style and level of video from me. Being a filmmaker and director, you always learn new things and take what you learned from the previous project and add it to the next project.

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TSS: What are your top five videos of all time?

Juwan Lee: Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson’s “What’s It Gonna Be?”. Janet and Michael’s “Scream”, Linkin Park’s “Faint” that Mark Romanek did, and “99 Problems” that he did as well. I love the Nas “Made You Look” video that Benny did, that’s one of my favorites. It’s a lot of people out there doing good work.

TSS: Who are some artists that you would want to work with before you leave this game?

Juwan Lee: Probably Alicia Keys and Janet Jackson, female wise. And males, Usher or Justin Timberlake.

TSS: A few years back there was a lot of talk of women being negatively portrayed in videos but that has seemed to die down, but women are still scantily clad in videos, has this become the norm?

Juwan Lee: It has kind of become the norm, but I try to not be objective and always make sure I’m doing something tasteful. For instance we shot females yesterday in our “stage style”set up but it felt like it was a photo shoot or high fashion photography. It wasn’t intended to come across as just seeing their ass or their tities. It was more about seeing these smiling girls and their eyes and their faces and their lips. It felt like a VOUGE or a magazine that has high end fashion photography shoots. Ten years ago girls in videos wasn’t really a big thing but now girls have made careers off of it and have branched out to do other things. It has positive and negative effects, and I think the girls who benefit off it don’t really have a lot of negative things to say about it. I don’t think girls make or break my concepts. Not all the videos I do have many girls in them, they may have only one girl. Girls are a part of life, guys interact with girls but not always ones who are shaking their ass, or standing by a car.

TSS: Where do you see the future of music videos headed?

Juwan Lee: With the way the whole digital age is going I think music videos will get more creative and people will want different things. The music industry has opened up pretty wide in the past 15 years, its allowing everybody to do their own thing. Before you didn’t really have that many outlets to get things shown, it was pretty much MTV and BET. People are tired of seeing the same thing. Some artists see other artist’s videos and say, “I wan’t that in my video.” and sometimes it becomes a lost art.

TSS: How long does the average video take to shoot?

Juwan Lee: From start to finish about three weeks. Shooting is generally a day or two. Preproduction, to shooting, to post production and then final delivery is usually three weeks though.

TSS: I always wondered if a video blows up and is on all the time, downloaded on cell phones and whatnot does the director receive any royalties?

Juwan Lee: No, it is a one time fee.

TSS: Do you want to move to movies?

Juwan Lee: Definitly. This is just the beginning of my career, I want to move to commercials and film.

TSS: What would you say to aspiring directors?

Juwan Lee: Be creative. It starts with the ideas. Find a way to be inspired, study the things you like, watch a lot of movies, just try to be creative. It’s anybody’s ballgame, anybody with a good idea who can execute it has a shot. Knowing who to reach and how to get your ideas heard is important. The business side is the harder side.

TSS: What upcoming projects do you have?

Juwan Lee: Finishing up the project we shot yesterday with Teddy Riley’s Japanese group. I’m writing a treatment for Cherish’s next single. Things come in everyday. It depends week to week what the labels are doing, who needs to shoot a video, what albums are coming out, it’s always different.

TSS: You have the floor to say whatever you want now.

Juwan Lee: To all the directors out there keep doing what you’re doing. Be creative and don’t let anybody tell you that your idea is wack. Let your ideas flourish, let them fly, if it’s not the right idea for something it might be the right idea for something else. Always be inspired and find different sources of inspiration. You can go through periods where you don’t feel creative and you’re questioning yourself. Stay focused and be innovative as much as possible.

For more info, visit www.myspace.com/JLPictures.

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