Eric Tu was the first student at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, to double-major in advertising strategy and concepts and film directing. That should give you an idea of his sensibility, which led him through a career that began with stints on L.A. commercial shoots, followed by work as a freelance photographer and cinematographer in the music industry, both on festival shoots and music videos. Lately, he’s been working on creative teams that are looking to leverage broadcast knowhow on interactive and experiential campaigns for new media. He’s now on the prowl for new blood as “creative talent curator”  at F360, the studio he co-founded with offices in New York,  Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We asked him five questions about what he’s been up to lately.
Q: What are you working on today?

A: A secret experiential launch for a new MMO video game. I’m sworn to secrecy on the details for the moment but I’ll be very proud to share it when it officially comes out. I’m also working on a personal product design project that has to do with soy sauce, funny enough. It’s kinda my New Year’s resolution to prototype this design…if anything just to make me happy to explore more in different mediums.

Q: What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out in the last year?

A: Though I don’t have an iPhone 4S I gotta say the Siri world is one of those things you can see being truly an everyday tool a few years from now…beyond your phone assistant. It feels like when Google first launched itself as the search engine and now is this oracle to answer any and all questions. The fact that Siri has a tone and personality is quite amazing, too.

Q: What project (film, television, commercial or music video) most impressed you in the last year? Why?

A: Well, as many great campaigns and films do appear each year, I have to say the most impressive piece of content I’ve seen recently is this amazing interactive art installation my friend Christiano shared with me on his mobile phone. It’s a random piece of art he found and caught it on video. It was quite simple and sort of hard to describe, but this giant wall of 99 vintage wine bottles slowly spun around in various choreographed sequences. Some in unison and some not. Funny enough, watching this little short mobile clip touched on personal memories of mine, from endless nights of wine with friends in New York City to the first “spin the bottle” experience as a youngster. Maybe it was just me seeing it that way, but I really loved how the piece was an open-ended interpretation.

Q: What’s the best, or your favorite, project that you worked on in the past year? And why?

A: This current project is definitely up there but for past 2011 projects I gotta say….Ultimate Batting Practice. Check it out. Props to Easton, Cutwater and director Ross Harris. Capturing the 13-year-old’s imagination is never easy in sports marketing these days, and I think we hit this one out of the park.

Q: Name the top four artists on your iPod.

A: I was an audiophile most my life, but these days I actually don’t listen to my iPod as much as I used to. I actually prefer to get a recommend from a friend or find an artist from a great film and listen that artist for months on end. The band College is my latest obsession. I got them from the Drive soundtrack – that was, surprisingly, an unexpected, really awesome, poetic film. I think we are starting to emerge beyond the “shuffle mode” of singles and really enjoying full albums and touring bands again.

For more information: wearef360.com.