Behind the Scenes: Tales of Weather and Wit in Indie Film

Grab a front-row seat to the rollercoaster world of indie filmmaking and real-life drama that rivals any scripted TV show. We celebrate Dustin's gritty new gig on ALLBLK where art imitates life in the crime-tinged streets of Chicago's rap scene, pulling threads from the infamous saga of Takashi 6ix9ine. Buckle up as we peel back the layers of authenticity, snitches, and the unexpected soundtrack of heavy machinery that plows through our recording.

Ever wondered what it takes to bring a creative vision to life, especially when Mother Nature and anxiety team up against you? Dustin shares a raw and relatable weekend filmmaking escapade that's rife with weather woes, location scouting headaches, and the emotional tug-of-war that every passionate creator knows all too well. Discover the resilience it takes to navigate through the storms of both the skies and the mind, punctuated by the kind of humor that only comes from facing the unexpected.

Wrapping up with a tech-savvy twist, we weigh in on the high-stakes game of chasing the latest camera specs, from the allure of the Ursa 12K to DJI's groundbreaking Ronin 4D. The inner workings of our creative partnerships, wedding videography shenanigans, and our peculiar gear habits also get their moment in the spotlight. So tune in, get inspired, and join us for a conversation that's as diverse as our filming resolutions.

Ps: We had AI write this episode description, lol. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Job, TV Show, Takashi 69 Discussion
• 8:40 Challenges and Setbacks in Filming
• 22:04 Discussion on Filmmaking and Personal Reflections
• 37:28 Podcast Discussion on Hairstyles and Tripods
• 48:12 URSA 12K and Shooting Formats
• 58:32 Shooting in 6K and 8K Discussion

Transcript

Dustin: 0:07

And we're back Bad revenue.

Michael: 0:09

We're always back.

Dustin: 0:11

Yeah, we're back, we're back.

Michael: 0:13

And Dustin has a job. Tell us about your job.

Dustin: 0:17

Yeah, I got hired to be a swing, uh, grip and electric. I guess the swing just means you're kind of doing both. That's big news and um yeah, it's on a show that's gonna be on the. Uh, actually it's season two of a show, so you can watch it already.

Michael: 0:32

What's the show?

Dustin: 0:33

It's called Cold, x, windy. I think the X means by, I don't know. When I got the job, they told me it was cold and windy, but then, when I looked it up, the N was an X. So I think it's cold by windy, or or it's called cold and windy, but the and is an X. What's it about, I don't know. Oh, also, cold is spelled with the K.

Dustin: 0:57

And uh, it's on the All Black channel, which is like a streaming platform that uh, actually, I worked on a movie that ended up there also. Um, I still have yet to watch it. Um, so it's season two of the show. The show is about two girls, two young girls, and it's supposed to be in Chicago. They shoot it in Atlanta, but it's it's made to look like it's in Chicago. Anyway, it's about two young girls that are rappers. They're trying to be big rappers, but they're worried about their s not having any street cred, so they start getting into a life of crime to uh make them seem more legit when they wrap.

Michael: 1:38

Oh, this is like the true story of Takashi six, nine.

Dustin: 1:43

Is there? Oh yeah, cause everything.

Michael: 1:45

He made everything up, right, then he, he was well he kind of made like he didn't really have, like he just grew up in a bad area but he didn't really have any sort of like gang affiliation and so then he started rapping and whatever. But then he I think he I don't know if he realized, I realized this at the right word but he decided at some point that he would need to further his career like some sort of like you just said street cred, and then he went on to like. He basically like went to the Crips to ask if they would let him join and or like let like help out like help out basically.

Michael: 2:26

And they were like no, and so then he went to the Bloods of the Bloods. So I guess we're like okay, so like he'd like show up and like shoot a music video in front of a bunch of gang members and like people were kind of like who is this guy? And they're like I don't know. And then, but like his stuff like blew up and so. But then he started yeah, he did participate in like other crimes and stuff. So then he got busted and wasn't he like?

Dustin: 2:53

isn't he like British or something?

Michael: 2:56

I think he's Mexican.

Dustin: 2:59

Oh, is that right? Yeah, I think he's.

Michael: 3:02

I think his name was like Rod. I think his last name was like Rodriguez or something like Danny Rodriguez or something like that. I could be wrong.

Dustin: 3:11

Did he end up in jail or something? Yeah, he got deported.

Michael: 3:15

Yeah no, he did some time. I don't think so. He did some time. But he also, he, the big thing with him is he, he, he flipped, so he like helped in order to like avoid, you know, basically life in prison or some something to that effect. He basically helped the government. He like ratted out other people or whatever. So yeah, now he's known as like a now he's known as a snitch, which I always feel weird about the word snitch.

Dustin: 3:47

Why, I don't know, because remind you that Harry Potter game with the, with the little bird they got to catch. Isn't that called a snitch?

Michael: 3:57

Quidditch or something Quidditch no.

Dustin: 4:01

Is that what that game's called?

Michael: 4:03

I think it's. Isn't it called Quidditch or something? I don't know. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but isn't that like an England kind of game, or is that just like a made up fairy world game?

Dustin: 4:14

I don't know, it's just made up.

Michael: 4:17

I don't watch fairy movies.

Dustin: 4:21

Hey, hey, on a second. There seems to be some very large heavy machinery outside my window. I want to go see what's doing. Okay.

Michael: 4:31

Oh boy, I can't wait to see. It's probably just the trash truck, it's just the garbage truck.

Dustin: 4:40

But it's more than that, because it's going like meow, meow, meow. I really wondered if that's what was said in my air compressor, off and over and over again, if it was here and that.

Michael: 4:53

Maybe it's just a tractor doing a little yard work at the apartment complex Just past what you described.

Dustin: 5:02

I didn't get that out of the podcast because I walked away from the mic.

Michael: 5:05

Just like what you described as a forest. Remember when you described the apartment complex in your backyard as a forest?

Dustin: 5:19

That's not exactly. There's a forest and then there's a stream, and then there's a little bit of wilderness and then there's an apartment complex.

Michael: 5:32

Now you've added wilderness. There's also some wilderness guys.

Dustin: 5:36

Well, it's really more just like an overgrown vegetation.

Michael: 5:42

Leading up to the parking lot.

Dustin: 5:47

I like your backyard.

Michael: 5:49

I'm not knocking your backyard. You probably have a better backyard than me.

Dustin: 5:52

in all honesty, Yards probably not even really the right word, because a yard is like an open area.

Michael: 5:59

So I'm sorry, your ranch.

Dustin: 6:02

Is that what you just said, forest?

Michael: 6:04

Is that what you've decided to call it? It's a rain forest. The Stelly Family Ranch. Stelly Ranch.

Dustin: 6:13

It's a yeah, sure, it's a ranch. It's not a ranch but whatever Plantation, yeah, how's your? How's your workload looking? Are you going to get some time off in between this season or next season Are?

Michael: 6:31

you going to?

Dustin: 6:31

barely get your edits done in time to get buried again.

Michael: 6:36

If I stay on track, I should have about two months off. I think I'm going to use that time to really really take a look at myself in the mirror.

Dustin: 6:47

Think about what's next.

Michael: 6:49

Ask myself what kind of man I really want to be.

Dustin: 6:52

Right, I got a chance to ask myself what kind of person I was going to be, and the answer was quitter, I quit.

Michael: 7:00

Oh, that's right, I forgot about the what now? What competition was this? What film festival comp? It was a hundred.

Dustin: 7:10

It was a hundred hour film race and I tried to do it solo and I quit on day two, which it's a little over four. It's four days and four hours or something, and I quit on day two. I never got a single shot.

Michael: 7:24

So I talked to you on day two when you were driving to the location.

Dustin: 7:30

I talked to you about an hour or two before I quit. You tried to tell me I could do it, keep going, it's all going to work out, and I don't know. I got to the location and I don't know, man, I spent like it took. I spent like another hour, hour and a half getting ready to, like, go show, when I don't even want to talk about this.

Michael: 8:00

Well, you spent all that time talking about it last time.

Dustin: 8:04

So now we kind of at least we don't need to run, hash it. All right, we do like a follow up.

Dustin: 8:10

All right. So the follow up is I got the prompt on Thursday night. I liked the prompt. What the fuck? Everything is staticky. Now I don't know why. Maybe I have a bad mic cable and that's what's been stressing me. All right, got the prompt on Thursday night and I liked it and I came up with my story and my scenes and I was pretty optimistic about it. I spent the entire day on Friday kind of preparing for it, driving around, buying props and going home with building props and stuff like that.

Dustin: 8:52

I got up Saturday morning. So the idea was I was going to shoot I think it was 10 scenes. I was going to shoot seven scenes on Saturday and then the other. I was going to shoot seven scenes on Saturday. On Sunday I was going to edit all day until the evening. Then I was going to shoot one scene Sunday evening and then I was going to shoot two scenes that kind of go together on Monday morning and then it wasn't that it wouldn't do until midnight Monday night. So Saturday was the big shoot day. I got up at five o'clock in the morning and I drove out about two and a half hours to a location that I wanted to shoot at. Now I had been scouting locations online only and never went and saw any of them in person and never really decided what I wanted to do until kind of the last minute and was just like hoping that when I got there I'd be able to find something and it would work out.

Dustin: 9:59

And when I got there it was pouring rain and I had seen in the forecast that it was likely to rain over the weekend but I kind of just like I didn't have a plan for it to rain. I wrote my entire story was supposed to be shot outdoors in the wilderness and you know the woods, and I got there it was raining really heavy and I looked up and it said it was going to rain for like three days straight. Like, looking at the hour by hour, every single hour was 80 or 90% for like the next two days. And you know, I kind of had seen that in the forecast earlier in the week but I somewhat ignored it because in the time that I've lived here I found the forecast to be like just completely useless. Like there's been so many days where it's supposed to be 90% rain at my house and then it never rains, or so many days where it's like you know, one percent chance rain or whatever, and then it pours. So I almost just feel like it's not even worth looking at the forecast because it seems to be not that accurate here, so I don't know.

Dustin: 11:09

So after I was there and I was like, well, I don't have a plan for rain, like yeah, I guess I could have, just I guess I could have just shot everything with the GoPro instead. But like that wasn't my mentality, that wasn't my preparation, that wasn't really kind of what I was planning on doing, you know. And so I was just like, well, this isn't going to work, I'm not going to be able to do this. And so almost every the every location that I kind of thought about trying to shoot at was in the same kind of north Georgia, you know, south Tennessee area where they're looking at the radar. That's where it was raining the whole, everywhere, everywhere, for hours around.

Dustin: 11:53

But there was one spot that I looked at, several hours south of me, that looked like it might have like only a little bit of rain at some point and it would be gone about the time I could get there. So I got back on the road and headed five hours south, except as I was coming through by my house, I realized I was having a hard time. The the drive took me right back by my house. I was having a really hard time staying awake at this point, and so I decided to take a quick nap. And then I got back on the road and then I headed down there and I got down there and I was just feeling like you know, it was already the afternoon. I'm like a whole fucking day is gone and I'm just like man, I don't even know if I want to do it anymore. The other thing was all day Friday.

Dustin: 12:42

I had a panic attack or really an anxiety attack, while I was like building my props and, you know, driving around buying the props and stuff like that, like I wasn't having any fun at any point in the entire day because I was having a very prolonged anxiety attack where my heart was just racing and my stomach was a knot up in my chest and you know, I'm like sweating and I'm just like breathing hard and I'm like why is this fucking? This is supposed to be fun. Like this is a hobby. I do this for fun. I chose this and also it doesn't matter like I could make a really bad film. No one fucking cares, I could lose, I could, just I could make a bad film and then decide not to show it to anyone. Why do I feel it? And I couldn't control it, and so I didn't sleep very much for like two or three days leading up to it because I was just so nervous. I don't I, I don't understand how I made this so important in my mind that I wasn't even able to enjoy it. And so I got to the other location and it's a state park, which I realize you're not actually allowed to film in state parks. It's like against their rules, and but I'm kind of like, well, I don't really know where else to go and the stuff I'm seeing online from this place looks really cool and a lot of times, like these parks like yeah, technically it's against the rules, but nobody's gonna fucking say anything. And there's nobody there. Like a lot of these places, like you, you be there for hours. You never see another person. Well, this place I got there and it was fucking packed, like like 100 cars of people that are going out and the whole thing that you hike their whole trail is only nine miles or something. So I mean, it's a lot of people to where. Like at no point am I ever really gonna be able to like slow down. You know I'm filming myself, so it's like it's gonna take a lot of time, you know, to, to, to get my shots right in focus and it's. You know it's a lot of walking back and forth to the camera and a lot of whatever. And I just like at no point am I gonna be alone, I'm gonna look silly, everybody's gonna be walking by. There's like there's like multiple park employees and stuff. So I don't even think I'm gonna get away with it. And then I can't just say like, oh, I'm just some somebody going on a hike, you know, and I'm just as like getting some pictures.

Dustin: 15:04

I didn't know because I'm gonna be wearing this ridiculous costume, like I had a full-on fucking costume. And also, like you know, there were so many shots that I had in my mind, you know, like I kind of I kind of had already storyboarded it in my mind and there were shots that I knew I wanted to get this with the drone and I knew I wanted to get this with a slider. You know, I have a motorized remote control slider I was going to try to use, and and then there were some shots that I was going to try to get with putting my gimbal on a tripod and then having it track me and stuff so I could have like panning and tilting and autofocus, and, you know, with the lidar and all that stuff. And once I got to the location, I realized like, oh, I can only take what I can carry in my costume and in my hands over my shoulder, and even having a tripod over my shoulder, I feel like is gonna be like is gonna draw more attention than I want. And it's like the the hike starts with a really steep uh, like you walk really steep, uh downhill before the hike kind of really starts, and so I'm just like, man, this is, this is not like I'm having to bring, I'm having to leave all the equipment behind, so I'm not really able to get all the shots that I wanted.

Dustin: 16:18

And then I'm pretty sure when I get out there there's going to be people walking by me. Like every fucking you know, every one minute a family is going to come by and like I'm are, I'm, I'm at the top of the canyon and the parking lot seeing how, like about every hundred feet, is another couple or another family walking and hearing all of them and realizing like everybody's voice is carrying throughout this entire canyon. So I'm like, so I'm not going to get good audio, not going to get good camera stuff. And then, but you know, still, like you were telling me, like just go, just try to get one shot, just try to get one shot and then get the next shot. And then you like, just keep going, just keep going. That was kind of my mentality.

Dustin: 16:58

So I started trying to get stuff ready and like I don't know, I guess I had. I just had a really hard time finding everything I wanted. I lost my batteries and I spent like 30 minutes looking for my camera batteries and I was convinced that I must have left them at home. So then I got super fucking bummed and my wife looking for them at the house. I eventually found them and uh, I don't know. So it's like after I'd gotten there I was there for like an hour, just an hour, thinking about how awkward it is, and then every time I was about to put my costume by, somebody would drive by and I'd feel awkward about that. And then, I don't know, I started looking up and all of a sudden the clouds and everything came in and it turned dark, dark, dark. Then I'm looking at the map that they gave me at the front desk or whatever, and it's like you may not start this trail after 2pm, and it was already like 4pm or something, and I was just like man, I fucking blew it.

Dustin: 17:53

Like it's over and I don't know, maybe I could have gone out there and got six shots and like the first six shot kind of just scene setting opening, and then I could have maybe gone home and shot the thing on Sunday and tried to do the entire thing Sunday somewhere closer to my house and, like I don't know, maybe I still could have done it. But at a certain point I was just, I just didn't have any, I just didn't have it in me like emotionally and I just was, I was, I was stressed, I was tired of being stressed and I was just like I want this to be over, this sucks. So anyways, now I get to live the rest of my life knowing that I'm like a quitter and a coward and wondering what would have been if I would have just like, just give it everything I have and just endure the discomfort and, you know, just keep problem solving and you know, maybe cut a scene or two but like get something made. But I don't know I mean for quitting when I did quit, it allowed me to go home, enjoy some time off, get all my equipment, you know, put back away, get like, get my house cleaned and get. You know it allowed me to get back to editing on actual, you know, commitments I've already made to other people to get that stuff off of my desk. And so I'm like, well, at least now like I'm two or three days ahead in my work week from where I would have been if I had kept going down that. But I don't know, it's dark and it's sad, and I'm actually not that sad about it because I got that job on that TV show.

Dustin: 19:42

If I hadn't got that job, I'd be sitting here being like what am I doing with my life? But I don't know it's over and I guess I could still do it again. In fact, I've even thought about. I thought about maybe I just don't need to shoot myself and maybe I don't need to be in it. And there's a guy that I know in town that I'm like you know what. This guy would actually be pretty good for this role. So I might go get a guy to act in it and you know, I might go make this thing anyway when there's like no time crunch on me because, like I already did, I already did the fun part, already came up with a story, already came up with the scenes and the story, and you know, I know it, I have a bunch of the props already made and stuff, so like maybe I could still make it and then just try to put it in a different festival or something you know. Question yeah.

Dustin: 20:37

Why didn't you shoot this in the magical forest behind your house, that's a good question, because it's not that big of a forest and because it's winter time and so it's mostly deciduous trees, which means they have leaves, and in the winter time all the leaves fall on the ground and it goes from like this thick, thick green canopy to just a bunch of trunks that you can see right through to the apartment complex on the other side of the creek. So it's like there's kind of only one or two directions that you could point the camera to avoid my house or the apartment across the street or the neighbor's house or something like that. Like there's just it's pretty limited. There was there actually was a scene that I was planning on shooting in my backyard. It was a campfire scene and, to be honest, I'm kind of glad that I didn't do that, because I might have burned my house down, Because I, because I needed a campfire kind of deal, but I needed not like, if you really think about it, where the fuck are you going to go make an like an old fashioned, you know campfire on the ground without you know, like a steel ring or you know, because people build, burn pits and stuff you know out of bricks and stones and metal rings and shit like that and that keeps it safe.

Dustin: 22:04

But in the context of this story, where it's just a guy in the wilderness, you know, in the late 1800s he would have just put sticks on the on the floor and set them on fire, Like he wouldn't have, you know, for a one night fire while you're traveling. You wouldn't, you wouldn't be building a fire ring or whatever. So I needed it to just be a fire on the open ground. So I was going to, you know, spend that Sunday afternoon clearing the area for it. I was going to, I was going to run the lawn mower over all the leaves and stuff to chop them up and then blow all of them away. So it was nothing but bare dirt. Then I was going to set up the water sprinkler and saturate the ground for hours and hours and hours and get everything soaking wet, and then I was going to build the fire, like right there on the bare dirt, and shoot my scene there.

Dustin: 22:55

But I don't never happen now. So there you go. I'm a loser, everybody. I'm a failure, I'm an idiot, I'm a pussy and I really don't deserve love.

Michael: 23:18

And if you guys participate in the 100 hour film festival, you too could feel like Dustin.

Dustin: 23:24

Yeah. So I do think there was also, I don't know there was. I feel like there was extra pressure on me because everybody that has like the people that I've met here, the people that have seen me in the other contests where I've won and stuff like everybody was just like, like I tried expressing that I was nervous and stuff, and everybody is just like, dude, you're going to do so, good, you're going to, I can't wait to see what you make. Like everybody saying I can't wait to see what you make. I feel like, just, I don't know. I guess I had a little bit more pressure to me, which is stupid, because, like, what happens if I raise $2 million to make a movie? Am I going to fucking have a meltdown and quit on that? Like this was a, this was like a little fucking weekend warrior, just like a, just a. You know, a super unimportant knowing gives a fuck piece of shit. And I and I. This is not good. This is not good.

Michael: 24:24

Yeah, but if you make a real movie, you're going to be like oh, it's raining this weekend. We're in, we're moving the shoot.

Dustin: 24:32

Right, and I well, I also think like I don't know, maybe I shouldn't be doing stuff solo.

Michael: 24:38

You're also not going to have these prompts that limit you right. Somebody else is going to be telling you what to do.

Dustin: 24:47

Well, yeah, I'm not. I'm not going to be trying to write it and shoot it and edit it all in the same weekend. I'm not going to be trying to like run around Like there's so many fucking props that I would have wanted to use that were cheap, that I could just get online if I had two days longer to wait for Amazon to bring it to me, and so I don't know, I don't know. It's a really sad thing that happened. It's really embarrassing and I'm not sure what it means.

Michael: 25:26

It just means that people next time are just going to say, hey, we can't wait to see what you don't make this time.

Dustin: 25:34

Yeah, next time I'm like I'm doing this thing and they'll be like yeah, sure you are.

Michael: 25:40

Well, that takes all the pressure off.

Dustin: 25:43

Yeah, I can't wait till it's 10 years from now and I haven't made another single thing and then I'm still going. Well, it was one time in 2023. I mean, like a 72 hour film was pretty good. You know, the thing is, and I like I think I said this a lot before was like the scary part about this one is that it's the most quitable because no one's counting on me and sure as shit I ended up quitting on it, and that doesn't come from nowhere. Like the reason I was saying that and thinking that was because on all of these I've had the urge to quit but I couldn't because I had other people there. You know, like on that first one, you fucking flew across the country to do it with me and then it noon, like 18 people showed up in my house. So who's like there's no not doing this?

Michael: 26:36

So I don't know, maybe I, maybe I just have to have a crew around when you when you drove home, when you decided you were going to quit and you drove home, did you stop anywhere on your way home?

Dustin: 26:53

I did.

Michael: 26:54

Where did you go?

Dustin: 26:56

I stopped at a gas station and I bought unhealthy treats for myself.

Michael: 27:01

I knew it. Well, I thought you probably went to Chick-fil-A. That's what I would have guessed.

Dustin: 27:06

But you guessed that I treated my sadness with food.

Michael: 27:11

Yeah, I wasn't going to say it like that, but you said it.

Dustin: 27:14

No, you're not wrong. No, you're not wrong. I was like I bet on his way home.

Michael: 27:21

He stopped at a restaurant and ate some food.

Dustin: 27:23

Yeah, I definitely self medicaid with unhealthy food. Thanks for identifying and calling that out. Well, you know me so well. I had no way to know.

Michael: 27:34

For a moment I was disappointed because I was like, oh, I was wrong, because you said you stopped at a gas station. I thought you just got gas.

Dustin: 27:40

Yeah, but I didn't even need gas. I didn't even get gas. I literally just went in there and got like I got myself like some voodoo chips and a little Debbie fudge round.

Michael: 27:57

Oh, fudge rounds, we're talking about them again.

Dustin: 28:00

But I don't remember what kind of drink. I think I remember not one in caffeine, but I don't remember what I got. Oh, I got a Gatorade. Yeah, I got a Gatorade. And I was in line and there was a woman in front of me that was like more like very, very obese, like you know, 500 pounds or something.

Michael: 28:20

Yeah, so you felt fine about it all.

Dustin: 28:23

Well, no, I was judging her like. I was just like look at this bitch fucking, don't eat this, stop what you're doing. But meanwhile I was doing the exact same thing.

Michael: 28:32

Yeah, you were just like 20 years behind her.

Dustin: 28:35

But she was getting two of like those root 44 size fountain drinks. She was getting 88 ounces of cola and I was just like Some people just control themselves. I assume I Mean I guess she. She could have another 500 pound person in her car next to her, but I'm pretty sure it was just for her. I Guess I'll never know. Yeah yeah, so yeah. Now I have to live with this. I have to live with this.

Michael: 29:14

Well, you picked up that. You know. Swing, swing, swing our roll on the on the black don't crack network. So Maybe this is the beginning of a fairy tale, a real life fairy tale.

Dustin: 29:32

Yeah, who knows, maybe I'll work a lot in the next year. You know, maybe I'll finish this show, go right on to the meet some, meet some crew on this show. That brings me on to the next show and then the next show after that and the next show after that.

Michael: 29:45

That's the whole idea, like that's what if you fall in love with the lead actress?

Dustin: 29:52

What if?

Michael: 29:53

and then you divorce your wife and you leave her good. Uh-huh, for like a black girl that has a beautiful fro, and then you start like an interracial wife has a beautiful family, yeah, but hers is red, isn't it?

Dustin: 30:11

It's brown. Yeah, her hair's not red, what?

Michael: 30:15

I don't know.

Dustin: 30:16

Why would you think my wife? You've met my wife before you filmed my wedding. Yeah, but my wife's never had red hair.

Michael: 30:23

Oh, I don't remember what she looks like. I don't think I could pick her out of a crowd.

Dustin: 30:29

I'm not surprised by that, well, cuz you always say she looks like people and I'm like no, she does shoot your eyes. Oh, that way, looks like your wife, and then it's like not even fucking remotely close to what my wife looks like.

Michael: 30:43

I should say yeah.

Dustin: 30:45

I actually don't. I actually believe that you couldn't pick my wife out of a lineup. You have no idea who I'm married to.

Michael: 30:51

Sometimes I see somebody and I'm like that looks like Dustin's wife.

Dustin: 30:55

Yeah, and then I send you. It's not a screen.

Michael: 30:58

That's whatever you don't think. So what if I say I'm gonna start sending you pictures of Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle?

Dustin: 31:08

This looks like your wife. Oh Fine, do that. I'm gonna do the same thing to you, but it's just gonna be inanimate objects. I'm like, hey, dude, is this your wife? And it's just gonna be like a bag of Doritos on the side of the road. Yeah, Cuz your wife is really skinny, so it'll just be like really long skinny things like a golf club. Oh, hey, dude, is this your wife which is the broom?

Michael: 31:37

Yeah.

Dustin: 31:39

So you know that terrible movie I shot, that I dp'd somebody's Microbudget film and I'm doing the post work on it, I'm editing this scene and it's so frustrating because it's supposed to be in some some sort of historical back in time, although it was never really said. Like one guy looks like he's like from the fucking you know middle ages and other people look like they're from like the Civil War, like their centuries apart. It makes no sense. But whatever, it's not supposed to be modern, you know. And this actress that they hired didn't mention that she, she got braces right before this shoot.

Dustin: 32:21

So it's like, you know, it's supposed to be in a time where braces didn't exist. And so we're constantly having to tell her like, keep your mouth shut. In every and every single scene I'm like, oh no, you can't smile. Or if you smile, you have to smile with your you know, in your mouth. Yeah, thankfully she didn't have any lines, it was all MOS, it's all like the visuals over, somebody in the more modern time is telling the story, but anyway, it's just like I Don't know, man, I don't. You feel like if you're an actress that you would know, like, oh, I probably can't do this a period piece thing because I have a mouthful of braces, so maybe I shouldn't go out for this role.

Michael: 33:04

I mean, it sounds like y'all are making it work.

Dustin: 33:08

I'm having to edit around an entire face.

Michael: 33:14

It is crazy. I mean I, I made you know I'm the kind of person who wouldn't have thought about it, but then once somebody said something to me, I'd be like, oh, this was the big.

Dustin: 33:27

I mean, if you saw it on camera, you'd be like what the fuck?

Michael: 33:31

Can you see the braces poking through her like the exterior in a wide shot yes. In a wide shot.

Dustin: 33:39

From a hundred feet away you see her braces just catching the Sun and just bling. It's fucking so bad. They're not even like they're hot pink and neon green, like they're not subtle at all. And then she's like a person that already has like a very gummy smile, like when she opens her mouth the whole fucking horse tooth just comes out.

Michael: 34:03

Is she blonde?

Dustin: 34:04

It's not good. I Bleach, bleach, blonde.

Michael: 34:12

I've noticed that blonde women actors oh yeah, yeah, I forgot, it's all black. Yeah everybody black there. Are you even allowed to be on set?

Dustin: 34:24

I'm trying. Oh, the sound guy was white, do they?

Michael: 34:26

do? Do they do secret black stuff? Or they make you turn around for a minute and then like okay, you can turn back around us. In what?

Dustin: 34:35

No, I worked on it. I worked on a short film. I was a camera on the short film where I was the only white person there.

Dustin: 34:43

No, that's not true, there was a. There was a white focus puller, but other than that, I was the only white person of like I don't know, 50, 50 people or so that were there, and uh, I I didn't have the balls to do it, but I really like wanted to like, at some point in the day, just walk in in front of everybody with the script and go guys, I just read the script Are you're really planning on saying the n-word in this short? I can't be a part of this. Like. I thought like what if I, what if I'm the one who's like? Guys, we cannot be using this language. I'm like trying to explain to them how we can't, because it, like the script just casually has it in there for no reason.

Michael: 35:30

Yeah.

Dustin: 35:31

And it's like you know, I get it, it's their culture, but, um, I can't write like that.

Michael: 35:38

I really hope there's a moment where you have to like give an actor like a little bit of advice or encouragement or something, and you say you know what? I feel like you should just play it like this. And then you do the scene and you say the n-word oh. And everybody's just standing around like watching. And you're like gonna be me you're like See something like that, you know, and then, and then everybody just claps. I just picture them all clapping for you.

Dustin: 36:11

I did a short. I did a short and when it was over, one of the actresses you know, I was the dp, and one of the actresses is a black girl is like oh, why didn't you tell me my hair looked like that? And I was like, uh, if there's one thing I'm literally never, ever gonna do on set, it's comment on a black woman's hair.

Michael: 36:33

That's just never not only that, I would never comment on any woman's hair because I'm like I don't know the difference.

Dustin: 36:41

I'm like you have a mirror. Like what are you talking about? Like I'm not hair and makeup. I Don't know that, like I literally would never say like hey, I don't think this is the right hairstyle. Like what are we the first of all? What can be done about it? Anyway, I don't know a lot about black hair, but what I do know is like it's not an easy situation to figure out.

Michael: 37:08

Have you already started working on this show?

Dustin: 37:12

No, it starts January 25th.

Michael: 37:14

Okay, good, so what you're gonna do I'm, but what I'm coming on to is season two.

Dustin: 37:19

so if anybody wants to go watch season one and Then, just shoot me a quick message, let me know if the show is any good. I heard it's not good, but that's okay.

Michael: 37:28

All right, here's the deal. Before you go in for your first day. This is great timing. You're gonna get cornrows, trust me. I'm telling you you're gonna need to do this, you need to be, you need to command respect. Okay, and the only, the only way you're gonna do it is to Change your hairstyle.

Dustin: 37:51

All right, I'll get rid of it.

Michael: 37:54

And get the like pink, like bands and stuff.

Dustin: 37:58

What if I get a grill? Oh, oh no.

Michael: 38:01

I you know it's not the worst idea, but I think it might be a little too much.

Dustin: 38:06

Yeah, I think so too.

Michael: 38:07

Well, too much, you don't want them to think you're trying too hard. But I would get some like henna done, but not like Indian style but like tattoo, like gangster style, you know, but not real, because you know you got a family sort of.

Dustin: 38:29

I have a family sort of your wife yeah and your sister-in-law. All right, well, do you feel like that's enough podcast for today?

Michael: 38:47

I didn't even say anything. I didn't even say anything. Did you see how I purposely went like this?

Dustin: 38:58

Everybody at home really is getting a kick out of that face. You just made cuz. You know it's podcast. It's just between you and me, baby.

Michael: 39:04

Should I say should? I be one of those people that says baby at the end of every sentence.

Dustin: 39:10

Wish you wouldn't. Yeah, don't do that. Why would you do that? I've had a hard time saying that word. Have you worked?

Michael: 39:17

with have you shot?

Dustin: 39:19

a wedding where the photographers do that I mean. I'm sure I don't necessarily like remember it, but I'm sure I have.

Michael: 39:28

I'm babe. Can I use a 35?

Dustin: 39:29

millimeter, I'm babe. If you're not done with that, can I? Oh. Where they say to their hours yeah. Where they say to the yeah, the two shooters. I love how every wedding photographer Is married to the second shooter.

Michael: 39:43

And then, but no, videographers are as far as well. Maybe not no, but I'm sure there are. I'm sure there are some husband I knew.

Dustin: 39:54

I knew someone that was there's a few, but not nearly as many as photographers For a while I made my wife should be my second yeah, when I was kind of just well actually what happened was.

Dustin: 40:08

I'd hired. I'd hired somebody that Didn't show up and so I was just like, well, honey, guess what you're doing today, yeah, and and it kind of went okay and so she ended up kind of. But I this was when I always used to crew a three, so she would just be one of the three. You know me and her and someone else. But you know she was pretty good she. She was actually probably my best shooter most of the time.

Dustin: 40:38

And the main, the main difference between her and anyone else was that, like Because she had never really wanted to do that kind of work, she was never like interested in photography or film making or videography.

Dustin: 40:50

Like Because she didn't have her own ambition, she just did exactly what I told her to do and then she just did it. She just did exactly what I told her to do and she would never like question me or is like a lot of the other shooters I would hire were like, oh, I went to film school or I'm a DP, or you know I owe my own wedding video business, so I know the best way to do this. And like you tell somebody to do something and then they just don't, then they just do whatever they want. Instead, like people don't understand, like, yeah, no, it's not that you're doing it. Wrong Is that you're not doing what I fucking told you to do. And like I told you like the thing that you did that you thought was better, that's what I was doing. So now we have two of the same thing, dummy. I told you to yeah, or it's like.

Michael: 41:39

It's not that you're doing something wrong, it's that you're doing something that isn't compatible with the way that I'm right.

Dustin: 41:45

Like I have an editing style, I know what I'm looking for.

Michael: 41:50

I'm gonna do the same thing I always do, but if you don't do the thing that I'm asking you to do, then it's not gonna work.

Dustin: 41:56

My thing doesn't work. I've already worked this out Like I already have. I know how I like to do this. I don't want to overthink it, you know.

Michael: 42:05

Yeah, I. I think you're a pretty decent second shooter. My only complaint about you is you're like a tripod Fondler.

Dustin: 42:14

Fondler.

Michael: 42:15

Yeah, you just can't let go of the tripod, like you'll have the perfect shot, and then you just, for whatever reason, your hands are just like all over the tripod.

Dustin: 42:25

I don't think that's it.

Michael: 42:26

And then like I look at the footage and it's like it's like the perfect shot on a tripod, but for some reason the camera's still moving For like 10 minutes straight and I'm like what is happening? It's like you can't keep your hands out of it.

Dustin: 42:42

You know what it is. It's a monopod shot.

Michael: 42:45

And you just don't realize that I'm so steady that you think it's a tripod. Oh yeah, I'm sure that's what it is.

Dustin: 42:51

No, I don't know what you're talking about.

Michael: 42:53

That, definitely, that's my number one complaint about Dustin Stelly. So if you guys do the first time hearing of it the first time you've ever mentioned it. That's not true.

Dustin: 43:02

I've shot for you for like a decade.

Michael: 43:04

No, I'm like, once you have the shot, just let go of the camera and the tripod.

Dustin: 43:09

I do. Whatever you're saying, it's not factual. You're thinking of someone else.

Michael: 43:15

I don't think so Well actually my most recent one I am I'm definitely thinking of someone else for the most recent one.

Dustin: 43:24

Okay. Well, I'm not here to take blame for somebody else, so it's not, but you do the same thing.

Michael: 43:32

You just love gripping that pole, I don't.

Dustin: 43:37

You love the feel of some carbon fiber running through your fingers.

Michael: 43:50

What tripod brand are you using right now? Are you fondling the most?

Dustin: 43:56

They're all disappointing. They're all disappointing.

Michael: 43:59

I've been pretty happy with Benro, but yeah, that's what I have now. I'm using like pretty lightweight stuff, so I don't know how I would feel about Benro with like a giant camera on there. I probably wouldn't be super thrilled, unless I got a way bigger tripod.

Dustin: 44:16

I mean, I forever was a Monfrotto guy but I won't buy any more of their stuff. They've gone way down in quality. All their stuff is fucking cheap and feels breakable. So I have three set of legs that are aluminum, that were all Monfrotto, that I bought like 15 years ago and I keep putting new heads on them. But I keep using those legs over and over. They're great and, yeah, right now I have the same. What is it? Sr8 Pro or something? The Benro head?

Michael: 44:50

Yeah.

Dustin: 44:51

And they're pretty good. I've broken them a couple times and had to replace parts on them Because the metal is like can break on the top part and it's not great. But every time I've broken them it's because I've exceeded the weight limit. Or like I've broken them when I put a slider on the tripod and then I'm trying to slide it and all that weight left to right it's like snaps, part of kind of like the housing around where the quick release tightening is. That makes any sense, yeah.

Michael: 45:29

Do you still have that crazy tripod that you won, that Phillip Lume wanted, but you got it?

Dustin: 45:35

Yeah, it's just in a closet somewhere they should be giving it to me. I have no like I have no. When am I going to use a wooden tripod? It's never going to happen. It's literally just a conversation piece or a decoration piece, and I don't ever really have anybody come to my home office. I have no need for it.

Michael: 45:58

Maybe you could turn it into a lamp.

Dustin: 46:01

I'd like to just sell it, but I don't think that it has any value. I don't think anyone wants it.

Michael: 46:06

It's like too weird yeah nobody's looking for it.

Dustin: 46:09

Even if you find somebody that would want it, how are you going to get in front of them and tell them that nobody's looking for it on eBay? You know what I mean. Nobody even knows it exists. How?

Michael: 46:18

about this. What it is is it's the.

Dustin: 46:21

So it's a tripod from Miller that was from the last run of production of these tripods Like. This was a tripod that, like I guess, was like iconic when they started Miller, I don't know, like in the 50s or 40s or some shit, and this was like their main cinema tripod for a long time. So it was used in old Hollywood for a long time and this particular one was from the last production run before they closed their factory and then opened a new factory in a new location and they made like 50 of them and they give one away like every couple of years at. You know, I won this one at NAB and everybody was like, oh, it's so awesome. But like, realistically, I would have much rather just had a brand new. You know Miller compass tripod you should have just traded Philip Bloom for something.

Dustin: 47:17

Yeah, he didn't, I don't know. He tried to trade it for like a hundred dollar monopod that I also didn't need. So I was like forget it.

Michael: 47:28

You're like I'd rather have this piece of history. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, you are a history buff.

Dustin: 47:35

I don't know, maybe I should just start shooting with it all the time.

Michael: 47:38

Hey, guess what? Hmm, this is going to really cheer you up. All right, dji just released the 8K version of the Ronin 4D, and guess what?

Dustin: 47:55

Chicken butt.

Michael: 47:56

I have the 6K version, but all I have to do is replace the head on the 6K version.

Dustin: 48:04

Oh, it's the same body.

Michael: 48:05

And now I have the 8K version.

Dustin: 48:07

Are you going to?

Michael: 48:10

Not any time soon. I mean, I'm pretty happy with the 6K.

Dustin: 48:13

Did you end up buying an Ursa last week after you called me about it?

Michael: 48:16

No, you talked me out of it. But you know what happened the Ursa, that I want the Ursa. Well, you did two things. One is you talked me into the 12K and I did a little more research on the 12K and I found out that you can shoot in 4K, not in Super 16. You can shoot it at 35, like a Super 35 crop.

Dustin: 48:38

So the whole sensor.

Michael: 48:39

Right.

Dustin: 48:40

In 4K.

Michael: 48:41

Yeah, but not in 6K. You can do 6K, but you can only do it in Super 16, which for me, I feel is just an insanely stupid way to shoot.

Dustin: 48:51

Yeah, but you would be fine with 4K.

Michael: 48:55

I would be fine with 4K like that. I would also be fine with 8K, which is probably what I would mostly shoot in on that camera anyway.

Dustin: 49:03

So does the 8K crop or no?

Michael: 49:06

The 8K does not crop, I mean it crops. It's not a, obviously it's not a full frame camera, but yes, right, right, it does.

Dustin: 49:13

It's not windowed.

Michael: 49:15

So you talked me into the 12K OK, inadvertently, and then the price on the one on eBay went down the like the best. There's a great deal on eBay right now, so but I'm not going to do it, because you made a great point where you said do you have work, that you need this camera for lined up over the next few months, and my answer really is no.

Dustin: 49:46

Right, because you're going into your off season.

Michael: 49:48

Right, you're going to buy it and not use it for four months.

Michael: 49:51

I would buy it and then shoot around with it, but that's not the same as shooting a paid project. So I think for right now I'm going to hold off, Although I do still watch the eBay listing and I'm like God. If they keep dropping this price, I might have no choice. But because it is a great deal right now but great deals come along every now and then, so it's not really I'm going to have self control and just wait a little while longer, until I'm at least until I'm shooting again during the spring and summer.

Dustin: 50:37

If they come out with the full frame version, are you going to have another big crisis because you don't know what to do?

Michael: 50:45

No, it kind of just depends on the price. The full frame version is just so insanely priced. If it's at 10K and I can get the super 35 or so for half the price which I can, I mean, let's say they come out with it but it's like 9000 something then I would definitely do the super 35 version, and then that doesn't mean that I would never get the full frame version, but I would probably wait because I wouldn't need it right away and then the price would drop on that and then eventually, when I got it, it'd be like my A camera versus, and then I would just have another Ursa as the B camera. Or if I find that I don't need a B camera Ursa, then I would just keep using the pockets and I would trade in or not trade in, but I'd sell the you know the 35, the super 35 Ursa and get the full frame one. Like I don't know. You could do it anyway, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Michael: 51:43

At first this morning, when I saw the DJI release the 8K Ronin 4D, I was kind of like my first impulse was to be like annoyed because I have the 6K version. But then I was like, yeah, but I use the 6K version all the time and I like it a lot, so there's nothing to be annoyed about. You know, cool, so whatever, and I can, you know, I can swap out the heads. I think maybe there's a couple of features you don't get If you just swap out the head. It just happened today, so I don't know enough to really talk about.

Dustin: 52:21

I've never been interested in that camera, so I definitely won't be looking into it.

Michael: 52:27

Yeah, well it's. It's a cool camera. I do like that you say that on the podcast.

Dustin: 52:36

That way there's record of you saying that Because you think it's some some day change my mind.

Michael: 52:41

Some day you might change your mind and I'll be able to be like I'll just play clips from past episodes. This episode of the videos bros podcast is brought to you by Dustin Hading on the Ronin 4D. The most popular cinema camera ever made. It's not popular, roger Deakin's favorite camera, the Ronin 4D.

Dustin: 53:10

You're the only person I know that even has one.

Michael: 53:13

Al Pacino can't stop deraving about the Ronin 4D.

Dustin: 53:20

Like I'm not seeing anything, Steven.

Michael: 53:21

Spielberg introduces Ronin 12K into his workflow Okay.

Dustin: 53:28

Well, he doesn't need an upgrade camera, so, uh, all right, is that enough podcast. It seems like we've been on the phone for over an hour.

Michael: 53:37

It's my favorite way to end the show. Is you being annoyed?

Dustin: 53:41

Yeah, uh. To be honest, I was annoyed before we started today. This came at a very inconvenient time. I was getting work done and feeling productive for the first time in a long time, and now I have to like psych myself back up to edit this piece of crap.

Michael: 53:57

Can you at least tell our listeners how much you love them and appreciate them?

Dustin: 54:02

I don't believe we have listeners. I'm pretty sure we only make this podcast so you can relive our friendship after I've killed myself.

Michael: 54:13

I mean I'm not going to say that's not a noble reason to do the show.

Dustin: 54:19

That's the primary reason we do the show.

Michael: 54:24

What if, at your wake, I force everybody to just? Listen to every episode of the podcast.

Dustin: 54:33

Sure, I'm sure nobody will get up to go to the restroom and never come back. You know what it does make it? I'm looking at the 12K and it does make it kind of hard to figure out like which modes crop in, like which modes window in and which ones don't.

Michael: 55:02

I think the only one. It's easy when you see a YouTube video where somebody pulls up the menu and cycles through the resolutions.

Dustin: 55:14

Maybe here on the bottom. Maybe I finally got to the part, because you can click the resolution 12K, 8k, 6k and 4K and then it grays out what's available. So 6K is the only one that only works in 16 by 9. So that's dumb. Yeah, I think they did. Sorry, super 16.

Michael: 55:31

Yeah, I think they did that. I think they pulled a can in there just because they knew they were coming out with the 6K Pro. But I mean, I like to think that someday they would get over that and enable it. But I bet they just they were like well, we have this 6K Pro camera or whatever. So we're just going to not let it do this, although there might be a mathematical reason why.

Dustin: 56:01

But I'm not sure, yeah, probably.

Michael: 56:03

There could be a mathematical reason.

Dustin: 56:04

I'm sure it has something to do with the sampling. Maybe, you can record in 12K, 8K or 4K using the full sensor.

Michael: 56:11

Yeah.

Dustin: 56:12

So it's really so. I really don't know why anyone would buy the G2.

Michael: 56:15

The G2 is a dope camera that's been tested over and, over and over and over.

Dustin: 56:20

How is it the name? One way that is better than the 12K.

Michael: 56:23

But the 12K is basically still the same body and all.

Dustin: 56:31

The 12K has got to be the better camera.

Michael: 56:35

So the G2 records ProRes. So if you are looking for any other format like and I could see that being a possibility where somebody you're working with is like, hey, I need this in ProRes, not BRAW, or somebody who doesn't use BRAW but for me I mean almost everything. I do actually now, even like the main person that I second shoot, for which I barely second shoot for ever, but even that person can use BRAW now. So I kind of feel like that's why I kind of went towards the 12K. I was like, eh, I'm pretty much always going to be using BRAW anyway, so I think it's the better camera. I think it's probably the better camera. Yeah, yeah.

Michael: 57:30

It's a cool camera. They're both great. They're both great, I would say. Here's where I'm a little shook, if I might use that word.

Michael: 57:45

You can ask your new friends, if I'm allowed to say shook. The thing that I'm a little bummed about is that the 12K doesn't shoot. It doesn't shoot the 6K in anything but Super 16. And 6K is just such a convenient format, because how many times have you been like, oh, I could really use 6K because I need a little more than 4K, but I don't need 8K? You know what I mean. So the fact that the Ursa 12K doesn't just record in 4.6K is their lowest. That seems goofy, I think.

Dustin: 58:32

if you shot in 8K. You'd like it. I'm sure I would like it.

Michael: 58:36

I don't know what you'd like. I'm sure I would like it. Nobody knows what you would like, but I would like 6K. I would have liked the option of 6K, or I would have been pretty freaking happy with 4.6K, because that would actually just work for a lot of the stuff I do anyway, where I'm only zooming in like 10% of the frame anyway in post or something. It's like that's just so convenient. But whatever All right. Yeah, that's where I'm at, so I guess we'll be back next week, huh.

Dustin: 59:12

Sure, I don't see why not.

Michael: 59:16

That's a wrap, all right, bye.