Face to Face with... Warren Fu

From life on the Lucasfilm SkyWalker Ranch, to graffiti art and now helming his own music promos for the likes of Mark Ronson and The Strokes, Partizan director Warren Fu's steady transition through the ranks of the art world continues to rise.

Shots.net caught up with the up-coming director, musician and artist to talk nerd-gasms, Mark Ronson's coiffure and making his very own Star Wars Doll.

You have a very successful background as a visual effects artist and as an art director working for Lucasfilm… what has made you want to get into directing music videos?

I always felt that my music has been my greatest source for creativity, whether it's a moving soundtrack, or a record that gets you hyped. But I have found that the most rewarding experience you get is the opportunity to collaborate with musicians you admire and take a peek into how their minds work. Each artist has their own quirks and nuances, and I try to reflect that in their promos.

What was it like working at Lucas's Skywalker ranch straight out of university?

I essentially had a nerd-gasm the minute I walked through the door.

But just to clarify, I technically started off at ILM, the special effects division of Lucasfilm. The part I enjoyed most was collaborating with the model shop, which had a lot of the old school cats from the original 1977 Star Wars film. They were still working there for the love of the craft, and I think that instilled a great work ethic in me.

Skywalker Ranch was more of an intimate setting. There were a handful of concept artists working up in the attic of the main house. We all felt like lucky Golden Ticket holders, fulfilling our childhood dreams of working on Star Wars. We'd voluntarily work late every Thursday before our meetings with George, cracking immature jokes and sharing ghost stories while drawing.

I've made lifelong friends at Lucasfilm. To this day, they still make fun of me for being the only person in the history of the art department that showed up for my interview in a suit. But then again, I am probably the only person in the history of the art department who applied for the job as an economics major.

This answer reads like a poorly executed Wonder Years epilogue.

In your promo for The Strokes you Only Live Once… the spaceship theme features quite heavily… where do you draw your main inspiration from?

The main inspiration always comes from the song. When I first heard that euphoric, cascading chorus, I pictured perfectly interlocking instruments represented by rings of light, which led to the computer in a spaceship concept.

The Voyager missions of 1977 have always fascinated me. It boggles my mind that there are people today who are unaware of the Golden Record. The notion that we humans sent a message in a bottle filled with our sights and sounds that will travel for thousands of years into the depths of our universe, is utterly mind-blowing. So naturally, one of my goals was to share it with the unexposed.

People often refer to it as the "2001 video," because of the obvious nod to the production design... but the tone I was going for was similar to "There Will Come Soft Rains" (Bradbury short / Teasdale poem). There's a haunting, yet beautiful feeling I get from picturing the Voyager drifting in the darkness of space, years and years after we are gone. I wanted to capture the essence of that in this video, with this man-made spaceship finally reaching its destination and "performing" this celebratory presentation to an audience of none.

Although it was an ambitious goal, but I was ultimately hoping that a few people would walk away from watching it with a sense of the "big picture." In relation to our universe, our differences become petty when you realize that we are but small specs of microscopic dust fighting a brief snapshot in time.

So much for letting the video do the talking... my response probably took longer to read than the video itself.

What have been some of the challenges in transitioning from working on features helmed by another director, to working on your own directorial projects?

Each role has its own unique set of challenges. When working for another director, you usually get the following responses: A) approved, B) not approved, or C) get lost. Regardless of your personal opinions, you get a concrete answer.

As the director, you're the last stop. So sometimes I'll approve something, but wonder if it's really best it can possibly be. Then I start to wonder why I became a director, which usually leads to moments of existential crisis. Beck's Sea Change provides an appropriate soundtrack for those moments.

Shots.net read that as a teenager you used to indulge in a bit of graffiti art… and completed a very well received album cover for Aaliyah… is that still something you like to do?

In these golden years, I indulge more in tubs of ice cream than cans of spray paint. But the other day I walked by some kids painting and the scent of spray paint really made me miss it. There's something really liberating about painting outdoors and having a giant wall as your canvas. On the other hand, there's also something really confining about going to jail and having tiny walls as your home.
I'll stick to Häagen-Dazs.

Is there anything you are listening to or reading or have seen around at the moment that has impressed you?

How about that new M.I.A. video?

With my attention span, the idea of reading a thick book bit by bit is unappealing, so I only read books when I go on vacation (American for holiday). The problem is, I haven't taken a break from work in years, so my grammar have gotten not so good and therefore worse too bad.

You recently teamed up with Mark Ronson… can you enlighten us a bit about the project?

The album is tentatively called Cauc-Asian Duets, and it's gonna drop summer 2015. I play an Oates-type role in the project, but unfortunately my genes prevent me from growing a full moustache. As for the music video I recently directed for him, I can't really say much about it right now. But I will say this about Mark:

1) We share an uncanny similarity in things we have been into over the years.

2) His coiffure is fantastic.

Where would you like be in ten years time?
Anything can happen, but I hope to still be on Earth... making stuff for people, and enjoying stuff that other people make.