Meet Tina Gu | Film Director & Idea Bank

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tina Gu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tina, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
To balance between work and life is important to me, yet I am still experimenting for a good work-life balance.

In my early twenties, once I wished I could exchange all the time of sleeping for hanging out with friends or working on more creative ideas. I didn’t have a 9 to 5 job so the days used to be flexible. It was totally determined by myself how to plan my everyday. “Work” seemed to be placed a more prior position, while “Sleep” appeared as a random event more than a daily routine. I could stay up all night to edit a video, or skip meals to finish drawing the storyboard.

The way of workaholic didn’t pay off. I became easily breaking down during intensive situations and easily losing control of my emotions. That emotional “me” played a really negative role for collaborative works with my team.

I guess I just forgot that I am human after all. During that period, sometimes I only slept 6 hours for three days, which the 2021 me would consider it unhealthy. Human needs sleep, eat and relax. A physical body needs a regular timetable to maintain its good mechanics. Later, I learnt to change my work-sleep balance. It took a while for me to adjust and be disciplinary. I had to set up an alarm clock to alert me, “Hey! It is already 11:30pm, you need to go to sleep now!” Though it still takes me around an hour or more to go to bed after the alarm, for the time being, to be honest, it is getting better. At least, I sleep 6 hours a day.

In recent years, as a filmmaker, it seems more emphasized to me that “quality of life” brings “quality of work”. Film is usually discovered from our daily experience. As long as I keep focusing on my health and life more-through interacting with nature, reading, jogging-the creative ideas could come up more organically. Yet it doesn’t mean to become lazy at my job but to bring a better shape of myself that would improve my works. I have more positive energy, share cheerful vibes while communicating with my team members.

I like my new balance so far. However, it is me, an individual case. What is good for me might not be good for the others. I think everyone has their own leverage to balance work and life. Only everyone themselves know their body. Yet, one thing is for sure- we are human after all.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

When I introduce to my community that I am a filmmaker, people would ask, “Oh, is any of your family has previously worked in filmmaking or art field also?” I would shake my head as a “No”. I am on my own. I was an independent documentary filmmaker based in Hong Kong. I used to work on my own. But it is so challenging to put my foot into the live-action filmmaking world which relies so deep on collaboration and connection. It was a big shift. The biggest lesson I learnt while studying at American Film Institute Conservatory is about collaboration and communication.

I didn’t aware about what it means to take care of team members. As a director, I believe in my own voice and believe in telepathy among collaborators. But sometimes, the signal might be poor.

Later I realize it includes taking care of their emotions. For example if a collaborator devotes their comment to me, they might have expectation that I would take it. They might be disappointed by finding out that piece of comment is passed. Collaborators are human. Even if a note is not taken, it needs a persuasive way to help them understand the reason behind and encourage for more constructive comments.

What’s more, I found it so applicable as an old Chinese saying goes “Trust the person in position, otherwise don’t use that person.” This is also how film crew forms. Always support the members’ ideas even if they made a mistake(as long as it is not ruining the whole production). The positive vibe will motivate them to do better jobs.

Filmmaking is all about team working. I really appreciated my team on the thesis film project, <CURE>. In a month, we turned over previous plan and started from scratch. Even though most of the members work together for the first time, we are so considerable about building trust and communicating in a direct yet decent way. With a very low budget, we shot a 20-minute Chinese sci-fi in 5 days with 4 sets built by construction in severe heat appx. 110F at most. Teamwork makes dream work.

(By the way, we are still open for donation if you would love to support our post production. Check out more information on https://curethefilm.com/Donation)

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I haven’t been around since the pandemic so these are just a supposed-the pandemic-has-gone schedule.

If it is a one-week trip, the theme would be “Sunset Los Angeles”. I personally love the oversaturated orange sunset in LA. So I gonna planned for viewing sunset at different spots for my BFF.

The first spot would be the patio at my apartment. Located in North Glendale facing Griffith Park, I feel like my patio shows the best sunset here. And it changes a different look almost everyday. We can buy fish tacos from Bricks & Flour, drink Sapporo beer and chat. After the sun goes down, the stars show up, which is beautiful in another way.

The second sunset spot is Santa Monica State Beach. When it is late November, the sun is literally face to face to me before it hides behind the horizontal line of the sea. If we are lucky, some musicians such as Olokun Cultural Group will perform there, we can enjoy the drum beat of life and watch the passer-by dancing with them freely. Then we can drive to Mississippi Ave. cross Sawtelle Blvd to enjoy some Asian cuisine, both Tutsu Ramen and Kura Revovling Sushi Bar are my favorites. And we have more to explore.

The next day we can hang out around Redondo Beach with picnic food we prepared ourselves. We can also go to Hisaya Kyoto Chestnuts to buy some souvenir gifts. When the night comes, night fishing at Hermosa Beach is magically interesting.

After visiting so many beaches, my BFF might want something different, then let’s go to the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia for some greens. Bring a cup of bubble tea from CHUKAA and take a walk at the park. They have a lot of glamorous peacocks! Hopefully we have the luck to witness a peacock flaunting.

During weekends, for my friends who loves vintage shops, the flea market at Fairfax is good to discover books and stylized outfits. And there are more vintage shops in Melrose. One of my favorite shirts was bought at the store, American Vintage. The staffs are so chill and share a lot of insights on fashion.

For the last day let’s just order some Chinese food and watch some classic Hollywood movies at home. How about <Sunset Boulevard>?

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Let me shout out a big “THANK U” to my friend who has known me for more than a decade, Bruce Shi(IG: @bruceshi). Back in the spring of 2019, before I came to pursue my filmmaking career here, I was a graduate in Hong Kong, refused by post-graduate schools and companies again and again. I lost in a dark whirlpool questioning myself, why all of my other friends are all moving onto the next phase of their life, such as a job or further studying, why not me?`

Bruce has settled down in New York City and he got to know my depression oversea from my instagram posts. Before anyone else checking in with me, it is him who shared his personal story in the past. He told me how he managed to lift himself up.

It is him who spoke up the concept that everyone has their own pacing for life. I don’t have to line up with others. Neither shall I feel that I have been left out. It really opened my mind to think about how to live a life. Although it was so hard to put all down the anxiety and peer pressure while living in a competitive city, such as Hong Kong and Los Angeles, I gradually realized all those negative thoughts were just the noises in the mind. It was not the outside storm beat me down but my inner turbulence. Clearing out those thoughts and believe in one’s potentialities. Sometimes things work out more smoothly and shits didn’t happen then.

Website: www.curethefilm.com

Instagram: @Indiefilin_1124

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tianyu-gu-137048a7

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tina.gu.3367

Image Credits
Ariel Sko Brett Calkins Han Lu Fei Mai