Victor Wong graduated with a BSc in Electrical Engineering in 1989 when the industry of digital media was only beginning to emerge. The fast development of the industry in the past decade means that what Victor learned in school is constantly being transformed; Victor relies on the internet to continuously update himself with new cutting edge technologies that allow him to produce work of a high standard and relevance in the digital media industry.

Victor’s career as a digital creative began with the setup of his business, Menfond Electronic Art, with his brother Eddy who studied fine arts in Beijing. With a single Apple computer, they managed to create the first 30-second fully computer-animated TV commercial in Hong Kong a prelude to the many jobs creating animation for TV commercials and motion pictures in the years to come.

Emerging as a creative entrepreneur in the early 90s, it took Victor three months to commercially publish his first piece of work – the tricky part was really to convince people to have confidence in digital creation in what used to be an analogue era. Another big challenge that Victor had to overcome was to strike a balance between his dreams and reality – the worth of creative work can be undermined if one does not consider its potential commercial value at the same time. The exploration phase at the beginning of Victor’s career was a very exciting episode in his life; it was so exciting that thinking back now, he probably would not have done anything differently even if he was given the opportunity.

The turning point in Victor’s career came about when his work was showcased in 1994 at SIGGRAPH, the largest computer graphics exhibition in the world. Being the first ever digital artist from Hong Kong showcased at the occasion, word spread quickly and the Wong brothers went international. TV and film producers from Japan and the US soon approached Menfond for their work.

Now in his 17th year of being a digital pioneer, Victor still enjoys exploring new frontiers of digital media. Victor believes strongly in putting creative artists to work with technical engineers in a collaborative environment, which is exactly the environment that he has tried to create with the establishment of Menfond. Menfond has grown quickly to a company of 200 digital artists and the enterprise has kick-started many digital creative initiatives in Hong Kong, China, Japan and the US.

In Victor’s perspective, Hong Kong has a long history of movie making. In the past few years, it has become a trend that more and more commercials and films employ digital visual effects. Locally, there is strong backing for the development of the digital media market with the addition of the advertising industry in China looking to Hong Kong for creative talent. Because of the strong increase in the demand in digital media creation globally, talented and creative people from  Hong Kong, who are known for their good project management skills and perseverance, attract an increasing amount of game and movie producers to outsource their work to Hong Kong, the demand is strong but Hong Kong is a small place nevertheless when compared to Japan or North America. Victor anticipates the need for a lot more local artists to create original concepts to meet international demand.

Regarding advice he has for young people who are entering the digital media industry, Victor thinks that putting new work on the internet is a good way to test the water, it is very important that newcomers demonstrate their potential through real works that they have created and tested with real audiences. If one wants to enter a new market, it is crucial that one goes to see the market for him/herself, to study it and not be afraid to knock on the doors of those who know that market well.

Starting in the late 90s, digital media courses are now taught at universities and art institutes in Hong Kong. After several years of progression, Victor thinks the courses offered now are maturing and each year hundreds of students graduate ready to start their career in the digital media industry. Victor echoes the saying ’The world is flat’ now, it is no longer sufficient to be content with the existing local market, more and more work requires global collaboration, without a global vision in the development of one’s career, one will inevitably lag behind.

Victor is very supportive of the British Council’s Digital Pioneers programme as he sees the benefits it offers to the digital media industry in Hong Kong - global vision, opportunity to see different markets, sharing and exchanging of experiences - they all fit very well with the mottos that he lives by which allow him to conquer new lands in the digital media industry: ‘Dare to try’ and ‘Just do it’.