wazupedit, derived from "what's up edit", all started when the young Andrew Wong got his hands on the first video camcorder in 1994 for a school project, and killed his time with his brother Colin Wong, and his cousins Brian Kam, by lip-singing to some of the hit songs during that time (the first song being "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes, however the recording was lost). Jason Kam later joined in, as well as Ambrose Wong and Bernice Wong.  The five guys became the core member of the wazupedit group. 

 

In 1994, 16 videos were produced, which 14 of them were full lip-singing songs with dance performances.  All videos were made all in one-take, with no rehearsal and no post-production. All of the videos were shot in Andrew and Colin's bedroom in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It was amazing how the performances were carried out in such little space.

 

After 5 years in 1999, Andrew and Colin were visiting Hong Kong for the Summer and as a reunion the wazupedit group made their second collection of wazupedit videos. With the help of Regina Wong and Bernice Wong as camera persons, all of the videos were performed by four core members of the group.  Ambrose was missing in this year's production since he did not join the group for reunion while he was still in Canada.  All videos were also made in one-take, with no rehearsal and no post-production, sticking to the original root of wazupedit production.  All of the videos were shot in Brian and Jason's living room in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.  Song choices were carefully chosen to represent the collective memory of the group of that year.

 

As the millennium turned in 2000, the wazupeidt group spent the New Year together and a series of videos were produced.  Those videos were kept in a VHS tape and yet to be recovered.  It was the first time multi-angle technique was used for filming and post-production was utilized with low-tech film and sound editing.  It was also the first time outdoor shooting was carried out for one of the music videos.  All of the videos were shot in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.

 

Just as we thought 2000 was the last year of the wazupedit production, the idea of making a new wazupedit series was ignited when Colin got married in 2007.  In Colin's wedding, collective wazupedit videos in 1994 and 1999 were edited and played as part of the "growing up" story with the brothers - brotherhood.  The audience were amused, but it was the wazupedit group who were most intrigued and moved.  That inner emotion of brotherhood combined with motivation of sustaining that bond triggered the thereafter wazupedit production for each wedding of the group member.  It was also later decided that there would be a remake of wazupedit 2007 for Colin's wedding.

 

In 2008, it was Andrew's turn to get married, and wazupedit was arranged as part of the wedding banquet program. The song "As Long As You Love Me" by Backstreet Boys was chosen together with Crystal Leung's dance choreography, the group performed live (at The American Club, Tai Tam, Hong Kong) to the second part of the song after the first part of edited collective 1994 and 1999 wazupedit videos.  The crowd went crazy.  Once again that brotherhood of the wazupedit group was masterfully demonstrated.

 

Consecutively in 2009, wazupedit's 15th anniversary, it was Brian's wedding, and this time round the group had lifted the wazupedit production to a whole new level.  Written and Directed by Andrew, a crew was employed to produce a six and a half minute short with three main music pieces ("As Long As You Love Me" by Backstreet Boys, "Gonna Fly Now theme song" from Rocky soundtrack, and "Battle Without Honor or Humanlity" from Kill Bill Vol 1 soundtrack) stemmed with a storyline starring Brian himself.  Muliple cameras were used and the acts were performed with several takes.  The short was edited with iMovie as post-production.  The videos were shot in Jat Ming Chuen, Tai Wai, Hong Kong, where the newly wed Brian and Crystal lives.  The last bit of the video also featured a childhood picture of the five wazupedit members in 1989, and transitioned to a reproduced picture in 2009 of the same postures.  It ended with a caption "long live wazupedit" coupled with a Chinese subtitle highlighting the everlasting brotherhood.

 

The next in line to get married was Ambrose in 2013, wazupedit's 19th anniversary.  The group was all grown up in their 30's.  Finding the time to make such productions became a luxury.  Yet the group was determined to carry on the tradition and passion.  Andrew was again tasked to write and direct the new wazupedit 2013.  This time the preparation was serious, with a well developed screenplay and script.  Song selection was by Ambrose the groom and LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem (feat. Lauren Bennett & Goonrock)" was chosen.  It's meant to be old-school style dancing MV referring back to the original wazupedit videos in the early days.  It was also the first time multiple places were featured in one video.  Adrian Chan was employed as chief cinematographer.  Only single camera was utilized this time to reflect the original wazupedit production.  However additional cameras were also used for the making-of video.  The group had also unprecedentedly shot the scenes in multiple locations such as HSBC Building, Star Ferry Car Park in Central and Oscar by the Sea in TKO where Ambrose lives.  A crew was also employed for premature lighting and photoshooting.  Post-production was done by Andrew with Final Cut Pro.  The video was not aired on Ambrose's wedding however it had received acclaims from Facebook.  

 

In the same year 2013, it's Jason's turn to get married and the wazupedit series has came to an end. Riding on the hype and excitement of Ambrose's wazupedit 2013, the group wanted to take a turn and bring their families and friends on a nostalgic ride for this last production. Jason had carefully chosen the song "消失的光陰" by 鄭伊健/陳小春/謝天華/錢嘉樂/林曉峰, the same group who were behind the 古惑仔 (Young and Dangerous) movie series in the 90's. The lyrics of the song really highlighted the unspoken bond of brotherhood. Andrew undoubtedly stepped up to write and direct this epic finale. The video consisted three parts: 1) the trailer which captured the chronologically flashbacks of wazupedit production years together with major events, 2) the main song with a comeback of the boys and down the memory lane in iconic childhood places, 3) ending sequence with the song "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes and the footage of the very first wazupedit video (circa 1994) featuring Colin on guitar and Andrew on camera,  which blended the start and the end of an era, like an nostalgic carrousel. 

 

For the main song, the group travelled to a lot of their childhood places such as Wan Chai Fire Station (灣仔消防局), Island Building (香島大廈), Great George Building (華登大廈), Victoria Park Football Ground (維園波地), SCAA Basketball Court (南華會籃球場) and Chi Fu Fa Yuen (置富花園) for shooting. Adrian Chan was once again behind the camera and crafted those beautifully shot cinematography with artistry, which enlightened the sentimentality of the video. Post-production was done by Andrew with a new Macbook Pro and Final Cut Pro X. The video was premiered on Dec 29, 2013 at Paullux & Jason's wedding. It wasn't laughters and applause at first instance by the audience, it's more of being mesmerized, by this epic ending of the wazupedit series which spans across almost 20 years of growth of the wazupedit group members, from childhood, to adulthood, to fatherhood.  One thing that hasn't change is their brotherhood.

 

Long live wazupedit!

 

by

Andrew Wong