The Man with the Golden Touch

Pau gets a hug from director Ang Lee after winning the best cinematography Oscar

By CNN's Yuan Jo Mei

HONG KONG, China -- A picture is worth a thousand words. A movie is made up of thousands of pictures.

The person responsible for each of those pictures is the cinematographer: the storyteller who needs no words.

Peter Pau is a master at the art of visual story telling.

If awards are any indication of accomplishment, Pau has been nominated for best cinematographer more than 15 times by the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Last year alone, for his work on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Pau won Best Cinematographer at the New York Film Critics Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, Boston Film Critics Awards, the Oscars, and the Hong Kong Film Awards.

VIDEO Peter Pau on storytelling through pictures Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Peter Pau on female cinematographers Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Pau is proud of his accomplishments over 18 years and 33 feature films, but he isn't dwelling on the past.

" To me filming is always the same, as the old saying 'you are only as good as your last picture,' so you've got to do something new, you've got to move forward."

Pau says this on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Hong Kong as tourists and shoppers battle for a spot on the sidewalk below Pau's window -- his production office for his latest film is located in one of Hong Kong's most crowded areas.

The simple office is separated into two vastly different zones, a sparse narrow inner office for Director Pau, and an outer studio area that is a study of organized chaos.

Pau strolls contently between the two worlds. There is no place he'd rather be.

Beginnings in Asia

VIDEO Peter Pau on cinematography. Part I. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Peter Pau on cinematography. Part II Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Although Pau has a successful career in Hollywood, his filmmaking roots are in Hong Kong.

When Pau accepted his best cinematographer award at the Hong Kong Film Awards this year after his triumphant Oscar win, he proudly declared that he was as happy at that moment as when he stood before millions of viewers at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, accepting his Oscar from Julia Roberts.

Yet, Pau realizes he is outgrowing Hong Kong's limited industry.

"Hong Kong has been a good practice for me, but I'm looking for more now," he says.

"So they need to improve more, sometime they get a good script but they don't have the money, they don't have good actors or good directors."

Five key elements

Pau breaks down exactly what Hong Kong and other Asian film industries need to improve on into five key elements:

"First, we need to prepare a good script to start with."

Some of the most widely followed classics cult films were made in Asia, but the region's films often sacrifice essential elements like plot, or character development to become a showcase for action sequences or cinematographic innovation.

Pau attributes the problem to "very low pay for the script writers and very few people to write in Hong Kong."

"Two, we need good directors."

Asia is home to some of the most innovative auteurs in the world Tsui Hark, John Woo, Wong Kar Wei to name few, but aside from the top few there is a steep drop in available talent.

"Usually in Hong Kong they'd rather pay more money to the actors and then pay a little money for a new comer, a new director to do it, lack of experience."

"Three, you need to have a good crew."

Backstage at the Academy Awards, Pau holds up his golden Oscar for the cameras

The Hong Kong film crew is one of the most professional, knowledgeable, and dedicated crews in the world. However, they are also one of the most under paid.

"Most of the money goes for the actor or actresses already, they think according to market value and think, with a major star like Chow Yun Fat, you can sell however much of the movie, then if you have him you have everything.

"So they pay him like 70 percent of the movie budget and only pay 30 percent to make the movie, then how can you make it better?"

"Four, we do need good actors and actresses."

It doesn't take much to be in a film in Asia, actors and actresses come and go faster than the movies themselves. Sometime being the boyfriend or girlfriend of someone with a deep pocket is the basic requirement for starring in a movie.

Often, the public and casting directors, cannot tell the difference between notoriety and fame, and both seem to equal talent.

"And finally, we need good post-production."

Strangely enough, many Asian producers have always treated post work as an unnecessary luxury in stead of a required tool.

"Basically Hong Kong films have very very little money to do post-production . . . many things need to be fixed in post production, and they don't know that.

"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in a way has very good discipline in these five areas, that's why we have a picture that has good quality and has good content."

Mix of Hollywood and Hong Kong

Pau will take on dual roles of director and director of photography for his next project. He re-teams with Michelle Yeoh in a modern day romantic action adventure called The Touch.

The main characters set out on a journey to find a lost treasure, and learn a few lessons on life and love in the process.

Yeoh will apparently spend much of the film on a trapeze and there will be plenty of action involving nasty villains.

Pau will use the opportunity to make a movie the way he likes it; mixing the best methods of Hollywood and Hong Kong.

"I am using the Hollywood system, pre-production, I want to do the script much earlier, because I don't like surprises all the time, because the crew need to understand what exactly you want."

Shooting begins mid-2001. One can be certain Peter Pau will keep the above five points in mind and spin a tale that will touch the hearts and imaginations of audiences everywhere.