INTERVIEW (October 1999) p.340

Hype Williams – interviewed by Anna Sui

ANNA SUI: A couple of years ago, I was at a party and Monica Lynch came up to 
me and said, "I just saw this video that is going to change videos forever."  
I went home that night and I sat and watched the box until your video for 
[Craig Mack's] "Flava In Ya Ear" came on.  And I thought, Oh my God, this man 
is amazing.  He's such a visionary.

HYPE WILLIAMS: Anna, from someone like you that's an amazing compliment.  I'm 
surprised that you would have even be that tuned in to what's urban.

AS: No, I'm a rock 'n' roller, I have to admit.  [laughs].  But I love to 
learn about something I don't know about.  In fact, my spring collection last 
year was totally inspired by your videos.  When I watched one of them, I'm 
not here on this planet.  I am in your planet.  You've totally created a 
different perspective.  Why the low-angle centralized camera?  It seems to be 
your trademark.

HW: I like to see people exaggerated.  I like to see artists look big.  And 
the lower and the wider the camera angle, the larger-than-life kind of status 
it gives it.  Especially women.  A lot of times women are only viewed as 
beautiful in the camera when it's a close-up or a high angle or something 
specifically composed for a classic beauty shot.  I feel like women... stand 
so tall nowadays in the world, and I like to see that mightiness in the 
camera, like when it looks like they're just towering over everybody.  And 
they might be only four of five feet tall, but from that angle they look 
seven feet tall.

AS: Is it difficult to work with such dynamic stars?

HW: Extremely difficult.  [laughs]  But at the same time, I couldn't imagine 
not doing it.  This happens to be a knack for me.  And I'm hoping to 
translate the things I've learned here into doing films that one day have a 
look and feel that no one has ever seen.  I've been stuck out in L.A. all 
year, and the people that work with me are dying to see me do this humongous 
Hollywood production.  I don't know how I feel about that.  Because on the 
one hand, a lot of the films I really like are extremely simple.  But on the 
other, I love what happens here in Hollywood; I love the size and the ability 
to create a world that is truly my own.