Advice From The Pros – Part 2

“Of all the Chris Foss paintings that inspired Guardians of the Galaxy, this may be the one that inspired us most. Yellow is an underused color in films, especially science-fiction and fantasy films. In Guardians, I used it as a signifier of change, rebirth, and redemption – the yellow prison uniforms, Drax drowning in the yellow spinal fluid, the yellow Groot spores, and the yellow interlocking Nova Corps net… I believe color is a part of what made Guardians successful. When so many huge, spectacle films have the beige color palette of Saw, the brain becomes thirsty for color. We were that technicolor pitcher of water at the edge of the summer desert.
This doesn’t mean all movies should be colorful, just that color in general is important, and too much of one thing is boring. If, over the next few years, films become oversaturated with bright colors, brains will be relieved by a film entirely hazel and gray.
Anyway, this painting, along with other Chris Foss works, was a part of my original presentation to Marvel when I pitched myself as director and I explained the visual direction I was going to take with the film. They were immediately on board, and we ended up hiring Chris Foss to help design some of the spaceships in the film. He was, of everyone, my biggest visual inspiration on Guardians.
He has a page here on FB – Chris Foss Artist Page. I’m not sure if it’s Official or not, but it’s worth checking out nevertheless.”

– James Gunn

Digital Footprint – Part 2

For the second part of my assigned task we were now asked to consider the digital footprint of another professional media practitioner and how they represent themselves. So to do this I decided to pick a favourite director of mine in James Gunn from such films as ‘Super’ and most recently ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.

On what sites do they present themselves on the internet?

So James Gunn has a Facebook page which he operates himself and posts fairly often to it as you may have seen I posted a quote of advise to fellow filmmakers from James Gunn on my blog a month back. He also operates a Twitter page on which some of his posts are the same as on Facebook however he appears to use this more regularly than Facebook, whether this is because her recognises the rising popularity of Twitter for following celebrities or whether this is just because of ease I am unsure. He has his own website ( http://jamesgunn.com ) which I only just discovered since starting writing this blog and can I say it is eye catching and intriguing. The opening header of his website says “the official website of filmmaker james gunn for shit outside the norm”. This particularly struck me as a website is a means of advertisement to potential employees, and although James Gunn is now a big name surely this was still a resource for potential employers. However it is in keeping with his relaxed and casual display of self throughout all media outlets.

What kind of images do they use and do they brand themselves?

So with James Gunn having recently released hit sensation Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy it is clear that James Gunn has since been branding himself as a Marvel fanatic by posting images not only about his hit film but also others related to the MCU such as this image of Daredevil in his early black costume sporting the line “For those among you complaining about Daredevil’s initial costume in the series may I remind you of this…”

Considering Gunn is signed on to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 2 it is within reason that he would show support to Marvel so as to keep employers happy, however nothing about James Gunn’s appearance on the internet appears out of synch with him being interested in things such as comics and so it could simply be a very real appearance of himself.

Do they give interviews?

Yes, Yes he does and I have seen some interviews with Mr.Gunn that have been a delight to watch. Here is one where he discusses writing and it really captures the laid back approach of James Gunn to his media professional career. It is a really interesting watch not just because it shows us what he is really like but also because it is an eye opener to just what the industry is like these days and what it takes to be successful as a writer.

Advice From The Pros

From the mouth of one of the big directors at this time, James Gunn, comes this brilliant snippet of advice to all aspiring directors out there. I’d like to send out thanks not only to James Gunn himself for taking the time to write to his fans about this but also my friend Ben, who took the time to link me to this:

Remember that it takes ten years or so to become a doctor. Entertainment is a far more competitive field than medicine – and, if you’re really focused on mastering your craft, it can be just as complex. So expect it to take at least ten years of hard work at the expense of a regular life to simply be competent and perhaps begin to make a living at it. And, even then, sadly, only an extremely small percentage of people are able to do so.
If you find that too daunting, consider working in another field. If you don’t find it daunting at all, consider therapy. Considering your sense of reality, you’ve got bigger problems than your career goals.
However, if you find that daunting, but still have the need or desire to continue, well, that’s at least one place to start. I wish you not only luck, but strength, perseverance, heart, and talent.
And, before you start, there are of course lots of exceptions to the ten year rule (or, as Malcom Gladwell talks about in his book Outliers, the 10,000-hours-of-work rule). But that also takes a great amount of luck, something we don’t have much control over other than putting ourselves out there as much as possible.