The creative power of biscuits. It’s something we’ve suspected for some time now, and today’s young director George Wu has finally confirmed it. Well she did grow up in the shadow of the McVities factory in Manchester. Wu’s first directing experiment brought her glory at the 2006 BBC New Music Shorts competition – and gave her confidence to pursue a career in video directing and embark upon an MA at the RCA. Now at Red Bee Media, George has developed a style that combines a handmade aesthetic with inventive storytelling.
The BBC New Music Shorts was my first try at directing. Its aim was to give the chance to anyone, from any background, to make a short. It was fantastic, the first time I had ever worked with a whole set up and I spent a lot time asking, “What is this called? What does this do?” I had already decided before this that I wanted to change direction, so I had applied for the RCA at the same time. It was coincidence that they followed one another. In the end the BBC reinforced that I wanted push into the video direction, however I wasn’t confident to start directing straight off so continued to do the MA.
I went on the Communication Art & Design course, which is an incredibly open department with boundless opportunities. As most alumni from the RCA would agree it is about the people you meet and this proved to be the most important thing for me. Most of the people I work with now are from just those two years.
Before turning to directing, you trained as a graphic deisgner. Why did you make the move from graphic design to animation?
Graphic design can be quite solitary, you can sit in at your computer all day and not speak to a single person. What I love about animation is that it is pretty impossible to do everything on your own or in one place. Go team!
But I haven’t abandoned graphic design. I work as part of a design studio called Household with Sarah Gottlieb and Dario Utreras. We are three graphic designers by training but have separate specialisms. We now work on surprising projects, which have no relation to any of these!
Where do you draw your ideas from and how do you develop them?
Like many people, my ideas come whilst researching for other projects and not concentrating on what you’re supposed to be doing. But varied is good and I think each video is my stab at learning a new skill. It’s getting more ambitious – before it was “How do I make this logo spin?” Now it’s “How do I make electronics?”
I grew up in Manchester, very close to the Mcvities factory, which has certainly influenced my way of thinking, but I would attribute most of my style to my family. My mum is a super keen hobbyist and when I was young, supplied me with masses of Make Your Own kits. Make your own clock, make your own calendar. Remember those black scrapper boards? Or the colouring boards with the black flock outlines? Their attempt to keep me occupied for a good few hours? I can see it’s had an obvious effect on how I like to tackle things. I’m very much “Leave it to me, I can do this!”
What are your ambitions as a filmmaker?
Everything, I’m very much at the beginning of my filmmaking life.
Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
People who make work appear ridiculously simple yet is in fact painstakingly hard. But today I’m going with ‘Holiday for Strings’ by David Rose and his Orchestra . That pretty much sums up my year so far.
To find out more about George go to the Red Bee Media site.
