Meet Roger Lee | Cinematographer, Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Roger Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Roger, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
My love for art started off with comic books as a kid. I wanted to be the next Jim Lee (as did many Korean American comic book fans of those days). As I got older, many different twists and turns in my life led me to the Graphic Design field. I ended up becoming a graphic designer, working for UCLA External Affairs. I worked my way up from a Jr. Designer to Senior Designer through the years but my role has morphed into an all-around visual artist, combining my photography, videography and design experience. The benefit to this position is that I work a standard 40 hour week which allows me plenty of free time to work on my passion projects such as filmmaking.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always been drawn to art and storytelling. It goes way back to when I was a child, reading comic books and going to the movies fairly often with my family. I grew up in Koreatown, Los Angeles during the 80’s and 90’s. It wasn’t like it is now (hip, trendy). All of the families that had kids on my block moved out to the westside of L.A. or the suburbs to get away from the crime. That meant for a lot of my childhood, I had to entertain myself and so comics and movies were my escape. I drew daily and dreamt about breaking into comics as an artist one day.

As I got older, life got more complicated and I lost perspective of what really made me happy. I ended up dropping out of high school and I was just lost for a few years. I ended up dropping out of high school and I was just lost for a few years. Without any prospects or idea of what I wanted to do with my life, I was encouraged by a mentor to pursue graphic design. I enrolled in a local trade school to earn a B.S. in Graphic Design in my early 20’s and pursued that as my career. I figured that I wasn’t going to make it as a comic book artist so I might as well do something art-related and get paid for it.

As a designer, I enjoyed the creative process and the team collaborations on marketing campaigns. I enjoyed the strategic planning that went ahead of a marketing campaign push and to see my work be a part of that. Still, I longed for a creative outlet that allowed me more freedom to push boundaries. It wasn’t until I picked up photography as a hobby that I realized that I can get the same level of enjoyment as when I was a kid drawing comic book layouts. Photography was a new option for me to tell stories. I dove head first into it and then eventually into videography. I started off filming small-time music videos, weddings, events, etc until I felt the need to level up and get into filmmaking.

It was perfect timing when an old friend of mine (director Al Chang) reached out to me to see if I was interested in creating some short films with him. It’s been a great learning experience as we navigate through the ups and downs of indie filmmaking and we keep trudging through. We know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. So far this year, we’re on to our 3rd short film production and hopefully we’ll get to that ever-elusive full feature film.

I’m drawn to storytelling in the perspective of being an Angeleno, but specifically from an Asian American Angeleno. One that isn’t rehashing the old Asian tropes or stereotypical characters that I grew up seeing as a kid. I wanted to see more than just the nerdy kid in class, the funny guy with an accent, or the liquor store owner so now that I’m in a position to shape my own narratives, I want to work on projects that throw all of those old perspectives out the window.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If a friend were visiting, I’d take them to all of the tourist traps just so that they could get it all out of their system (Hollywood, Disneyland, yada-yada). Then, I’d take them to all of the local neighborhoods so that we can experience the real L.A. Koreatown, Echo Park, East Hollywood, parts of Downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, East L.A., Leimert Park, San Gabriel Valley and so on. Catch some live events/shows in their respective neighborhoods, eat, grab drinks from local hole in the walls.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to my family for their support through all of the f*-ups I’ve made throughout my life but are still there for me through thick and thin. I know a lot of people who aren’t as fortunate to say that they have a supportive family and so I don’t take it for granted.

I’d like to give a shoutout to my employer, UCLA. They’ve been very supportive of my work and I wouldn’t have been able to pursue my passions without that support.

Third, I’d like to give a shoutout to Al Chang (who has been featured by Shoutout) who has helped me take my work to the next level with exciting film projects and collaborations. The future looks brighter since working with you brother!

Website: https://vimeo.com/rgrxdgr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rgrxdgr/

Image Credits
Images provided by Roger lee