A photography and design major, Yip is a graduate of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His talent was first detected by director Tsui Hark at a painting exhibition. By his recommendation, Yip got the chance to be the Production Designer in John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow". Made in 1986, it was Yip's first foray into film.
Yip Kam-tim said, "Taking photos is like that. I capture many things that I. But for the painting, I started with thinking what I'm going to draw. The two add together, I can create from nowhere, I can capture from the no boundary."
After 1993's "Temptation of a Monk", however, Yip realized that he needed to explore more media -- and more classical forms -- in order to enrich his artistic vision. Over the next seven years, as he worked on plays and Kunqu Opera, he began to thread his artistic needle with a Chinese aesthetic.
Yip Kam-tim said, "I know that the traditional kind of art in China my feeling is that they're a little bit far away. I try to catch up the beauty of classical Chinese art to bring them back to nowadays."
Yip's immersion in traditional art forms primed him for his next movie challenge. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" marked Yip's return to the industry -- and what a return it was! The movie proved an international hit in 2000 and brought Yip an Oscar for Best Art Direction.
The martial arts blockbuster not only propelled Chinese cinema into the mainstream, but did so with an embrace of "Chineseness", a trend that would become the signal theme of international hits from China.
Yip works more than 15 hours each day in costume design, theater arts direction, photography, and much more. Even he himself thinks he is crazy. He says because he is an introvert, and not so eloquent, he chose such approaches to express his inner emotions.
(CCTV September 8, 2009)
