VideoBros | Life, Love, Video.
Michael and Dustin discuss life, love and video production.
VideoBros | Life, Love, Video.
It's Lord of The Flies! Grip and Electric Gone Wild! The Great Studio Collapse Begins.
The guys are back to discuss Dustin's ongoing drama in the Atlanta films scene.
And now here's the AI description:
Ever wondered what it's like behind the scenes on a movie set when tensions are high? Join Dustin and me as we spill the beans on the wild world of filmmaking. From Dustin's journey to becoming a director of photography to the intense dynamic between directors and DPs, we're giving you the inside scoop on the chaotic yet exhilarating world of film production.
On a film set, every move is crucial, like playing chess with high stakes. We'll delve into how crew members fight to prove themselves while aiming for their next big break. Plus, we'll explore the intricate hierarchy on set, akin to "Downton Abbey," and how it keeps things running smoothly amidst the chaos of cables and cameras.
But wait, there's more! We'll also dive into the mystery of color science and the pursuit of perfect video across different platforms. Even your Instagram feed's color can teach you about post-production pitfalls. And for those brave souls, we'll touch on the risky world of marketing strategies that could make or break your business.
So don't miss out as Dustin and I share our industry insights, personal growth stories, and maybe even a tangent or two about gardening. Tune in for a jam-packed conversation you won't want to miss!
Hey everybody, it's Michael and Dustin over there.
Speaker 2:It is Dustin.
Speaker 1:How's uh, how's life, man? I heard your back at work.
Speaker 2:Yep, back on set, back in the saddle again, gainfully employed for the time being. What's the show?
Speaker 1:called Hot and calm.
Speaker 2:Shut up.
Speaker 1:Hot and calm, right, I think that's what it's called.
Speaker 2:Stop, stop, stop. Before we started recording I go hey, don't mention the name of the show, because I want to talk shit about it and you know I don't. I don't really have an NDA, but it's just, you know, ethical reasons, I should probably just not mention it, and so you're not really talking that much. You're going to mention it, because I don't think you don't.
Speaker 1:I don't think you don't like the show and I've seen like previews of the show.
Speaker 2:It actually it doesn't really I want to talk about the director and the DP fighting in front of everybody. So like this it's oh forget it. See what I'm saying. You see why I was saying don't mention the name of the show, so I can be open about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I didn't I just made up a name. That's not man. It was wild.
Speaker 2:So you know, I moved here to work in camera department, right, like my goal is to be a DP. Like my goal what I tell people is I want to make enough money as a DP. I want to become a DP and do well enough and have enough of a career that I can make enough money to blow it all on directing right. And so, you know, I've been very focused on camera department and trying to network my way into there and try to get a job in there. And first of all, nobody was working. I mean, like the industry is like really dying. But so you know, for being a new person in town, not in the union trying to get a foot in the worst possible time, to try to get a foot in the door in a town where you don't have a single friend, but I got this job in G and E and I'm like you know what, maybe I'm better off doing this for a while because I think I'm learning way more than I might learn in camera department. You know, because, like I've been using a camera to make a living for 15 years and like, yeah, okay, I haven't shot on an RE before, so there's some things I can learn. I have sort of avoided Sony cameras because I don't like them, but a lot of people are using those FX6, fx9s. You know, and I've never used what's the big Sony camera, the Venice. You know, I've never used that. So, okay, I could learn some of this up. You know the $13,000 tripods I'm not as familiar with as I am a Manfrotto or a Benro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So like, yeah, for sure there's some stuff that I can learn, but really there's a shitload in grip and electric that I just don't know, because I haven't been a part of workflow this large. So like the first day we ran, we're powering every single light on this whole production off of a generator and like I've never done that before, so getting a generator and then running hundreds of feet of cable around to distribution box which goes to a smaller box called a lunchbox, and then there's these other connectors and then let's like, oh, you're connecting at 220 volts here, but by the time it gets to here it's one, it's, you know, 110, and you know like all the different cables have different names, and like just knowing how they all go together and I'm just like it's not like this is rocket science or whatever. But the bottom line is they don't know it. You know.
Speaker 2:And then when it comes to I think you know setting up grip and electric equipment or whatever, there's a real learning curve on terminology. There's just so much stuff that it's like every single piece of equipment has at least six different names, and so like learning all of them and learning everybody's shorthand and what do you like to call it? You know? Like an example is like okay, so I know what a softbox is. I've used a softbox forever.
Speaker 1:You are a softbox.
Speaker 2:I am a softbox and one of the guys that I work with calls it a Shamira, which is a brand. So this is like a Kleenex versus tissue paper issue. Like Shamira is a brand that made very expensive softboxes I guess they were, I don't know if, like, they were one of the first companies or the first company that was really making softboxes or something, and so now the name is stuck. But he'll say do you want a Shamira on this? And meanwhile, not one product on the set is an actual Shamira brand. You know what I mean. Like it's an aperture box or it's a. You know, it's some other brand. You know we have a Gemini. So who makes that? Light panels or whatever? You know whatever. Like they're not actually that brand, but he's calling it that and like I'm, I happen to know that one.
Speaker 2:But that's just one example of stuff where it's just like people just call everything something different. Oh, do you know what a? You know what a platypus is? I've always heard it called a platypus. They call it lips on this show and I've never heard anyone call it lips. And I'm like, oh, okay, it's a kind of clamp that you can hold like a four by four, like a big piece of styrofoam that is like a bounce card. You know, it's just a, it's just a clamp with big, big lips that can clamp onto like a four by four or something and yeah, like I never heard it called lips. So when they say, go get the like, and it's like that all day, every day, is just like tons of stuff, that I'm just like.
Speaker 2:You know it's a lot of terminology and then okay, so maybe I understand exactly what he's asking, what they're asking for, that doesn't mean I know where the fuck it is. You know what I mean. Like we have a five ton truck or whatever worth the stuff and then they rented more stuff. The DP had two pallets worth of equipment shipped in and then the gaffer has his whole truck full of stuff plus stuff that they rented.
Speaker 2:So it's like a hodgepodge of, like you know, the lights are a dozen different brands and models and all this stuff and you got to learn the names of all of them. You know, like we're using infinity bars, which is like a tube light. Basically I'm a little bit more square than a tube, but that aperture makes and I called it an in, I called it an infinity bar. It's not an infinity bar. It's an infinity bar, so like again to correct it on that, and it's like there's so much like I'm just not really comfortable at all, like I'm, so I don't feel like I'm in my element and I don't know. Maybe they like, oh, maybe maybe this is a job that I actually could get more out of doing this for a while, because I'm certainly not good at it.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, it's good to learn new stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's really uncomfortable to be a beginner, but as much of your life as you can spend being a beginner, the more well rounded of a person you're going to be in the long run, because everything I'm good at I used to be a beginner, so just keep being a beginner at more things.
Speaker 1:Wow, inspirational.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, you can like and subscribe for more Whatever the fuck, I don't know. But yeah, no, it's been a, it's been a wild ride. Yesterday or no Friday was pretty rough for me, made some mistakes, felt like I wasn't fitting in, felt like I was in the way.
Speaker 2:Sometimes there's there's probably more people than I think we need to do this job, and so sometimes it doesn't really feel like we're a team working together. It feels like we're competing with each other Because there's like seven of us. So when the DP asked for an Apple box to be brought to set, it's like all seven of us want to get to be the one to bring it in, to show our worth and that we're a good hard worker. And you know, get FaceTime on set and all this stuff. And it's like we're you know like we're fucking gonna elbow each other and body slam each other out of the way to be the one to bring in a wooden box.
Speaker 2:And it's like I had to kind of step back a couple of times and be like, okay, what are my goals? Get paid so that I can pay my bills. One, two, learn as much as I can so that when I go make my own films. I'm a better, more well rounded filmmaker. Those are my two goals and like I guess three is like to do well enough to get hired again in the future and don't get fired. So why do I fucking care? If the other guy has to bring in the C-stand, I could just let him bring in the sea stand instead of being like I can't believe. That guy took this fucking sea stand before me Like but it is weird, like how competitive it is and it's I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can get emotional.
Speaker 2:I had to call my wife and be like I'm going to fucking stab a guy. She's like take a deep breath, you can really start to see the the dark side of human nature coming out.
Speaker 2:You really can. It's fucking Lord of the Flies man. You know like, well, like I swear to God, I'll start putting together. You know, I'll start putting a softbox or a chimera on a light and all of a sudden there's four other hands on the softbox and another hand on the light and somebody else's hands throwing. You know. Somebody's trying to move the stand and put a sandbox, a sandbag on it or whatever. And I'm like, well, this is not a six person job. So I ended up just stepping back and now like all these, these vultures are all over the thing. That was like, well, the DP told me to do that and I just got my job taken from me.
Speaker 2:There's an episode of I know you never watched a really good show. There's an episode of a show called Down to Naby, which I loved, where Mr Matthew, mr Crowley, matthew Crowley is. He was a poor guy. No, maybe it's not Matthew, maybe it's the mechanic guy who marries the other sister. Anyway, the guy's like comes from a little bit of a humble background, but now he's marrying into this family where he's, you know, a royal, you know he's in the royal family or whatever. And so now he's, you know, got a little rich lifestyle. And so he's assigned like a guy who I don't know if it's his butler, or like his personal servants or whatever and the guy. Part of the guy's job is to help him get dressed in the morning. He's supposed to dress him. Well.
Speaker 2:The guy has been dressing himself his whole life. So to now, as a grownup, all of a sudden, some man's trying to button your shirt for you. He can't handle it. He thinks it's weird. You know he doesn't, he doesn't like that. It's like he's, you know, like. He doesn't want to treat this guy like a servant or whatever. He wants to treat him with dignity, like like is in an equal and he's like no, I, you know I can button my own shirt.
Speaker 2:But what ends up happening is the guy whose job it is to button the guy's shirt. Now his whole sense of self worth has been taken away because he won't let him do what his lot in life is. You know very British, lee. He's accepted what his responsibility is, what his role is, and he knows his identity is tied up in this job of. I'm the guy that buttons the guy's shirt and he won't let me do it. So the guy gets depressed and they have to explain to him that, like we all have our lot in life, we all have our place and you can't take another man's worth. So by the end of the episode he learns this lesson and he lets the guy put the cuff links on him and he's all happy to, you know, get to do his duty, or whatever.
Speaker 2:And I was thinking a lot about that episode on this show because, you know, if I'm asked to bring in the Dana dolly to set and then I want to know, you know, does it go this way or does it go perpendicular? Like are we pushing in? Are we going side to side? Like show me where it is and I'll put it there, or whatever. And if somebody from camera department's like that's good enough, I'll fix it there, and then they start moving it and putting it where you want, you want to go like come on, man, just fucking let me do the cuff links. Just let just tell me where the just just let me do the cuff links man, just let me zip your fly man.
Speaker 2:Come on, come on, dude, just fucking. Let me shake it. Let me shake it dry for you, bud. Otherwise what's my point? Like why do I exist if not to fucking? And I know that, not that I've been, I've never been on a union set, but like I hear about how on union sets they, you know, there's like a real don't you, that's not my department. And like don't you dare touch somebody else's thing. And don't you know? And some of it is like you know you don't want to be taken advantage of. But I also get how it's like everybody is like everybody's protecting their worth, I think. And I kind of wonder if deep down inside, does everybody know that you don't really need this many people?
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, this is all, I think somewhere somewhere deep down.
Speaker 2:Everybody knows like five people could do this instead of 50. Half of us could get fired.
Speaker 1:On the show, everybody, everybody sees the writing on the wall. Like that's that, like what you just described is the definition of a dying industry or an industry that just doesn't need more people.
Speaker 2:When I hear feedback like that from that also, like, hey, man, we're all just trying to get paid. We should be on the same team. We all got to look out for each other. We all got to bring each other on other jobs. Like, there's a lot of talk about how our responsibility is to help each other get money out of production instead of how our responsibility is help production be efficient. Everybody's like fuck, fuck production. We're trying to get paid. Man, there's a real us versus them. I think kind of with management and crew.
Speaker 1:Dude, that's like it's kind of depressing to even hear you talk about it like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I was really having a hard time yesterday. I honestly thought about resigning just because I felt so worthless. I just felt like they don't need me. They don't want me here. They, like, you know, as far, like my peers, like the people that are at my level or whatever, which, technically, I mean, nobody is at my level because I'm it's pretty obvious that I'm the greenest one on the crew. You know, of the seven people In g&e. It's pretty obvious that they all have way more experience than knowledge than me.
Speaker 2:And um, yeah, so sometimes, like when that thing happens where I'm working on something and they rip it out of my hands, or Like the DP will look at me and go, dustin, go over there and turn that light to the left. Well, if somebody is standing closer to that left, they'll cut me off and go do it first. And I go, man, he said Dustin, he looked at me in the face and and they go oh yeah, no, he met me, he just didn't see me there. That I swear to God. A guy told me that a guy goes. No, he wanted me to do it. He just didn't know I was there. So he just told you because he couldn't find me and so I don't know.
Speaker 2:When stuff like that happens and I get the work taken away from me, it's hard for me sometimes to tell Is this about them or is this about me, like in other words, is this them going? I want to do it because I want to get to work or is this them going? We cannot let Dustin do this, because he's gonna fuck it up for all of us because he's such a Fucking idiot he can't. I know Dustin can't do this. I, I have to step in. And so I'm feeling all like I just like 20 things in a row. Somebody rips it out of my hands, to where I just start to feel like fuck man, should I just go home, like I, I need the money really bad, but Maybe I don't belong here, you know? Um, and then, um, when I actually did make a big mistake, it's so much more devastating because I feel like the way I'm being treated, I have to prove myself by being perfect. And so then, when I actually did make a mistake, it was oh my god, I was depressed, it was so dark.
Speaker 2:and then, um, I think, the guy who you need to.
Speaker 1:You need to show your worth in like a very unconventional way. This is how it would go in a movie Like you think I should whip out my tiny penis? Like the dp would be like hey, uh, can we get a bounce in here? And all the the g&e guys would scramble to and they'd run off to grab something. And you just stand there and like, take off your shirt. And they'd be like, oh, that's great. Like could you move us down?
Speaker 2:closer, yeah, and then the.
Speaker 1:That's enough to send all the other people home.
Speaker 2:I got your four by four right here. What is? What body part do you think I'm saying is four by four? I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Uh, I could be saying that my belly is four feet wide and four feet tall. I also could be saying that my penis is four inches long and, for some reason, four inches wide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they would just shine like. Oh, they'd shine a light. How did you hear that joke? Text in yeah, maybe you're coming.
Speaker 2:It'll be right.
Speaker 1:On the next episode you could be wearing some of those like solar eclipse sunglasses or they bounce like one of those big old lights off here.
Speaker 2:So then at some point, then at some point, I kind of said something to the, the head of the department like god, I just I'm having a bad day, I can't do anything right. So today, and like it was obvious, I was feeling really bad about myself, you know. And he was like I'm your boss and I hadn't noticed any problems with you. I think you're doing great. You need to give yourself a pat on the back, I'm telling. All I see is you're working hard, you have a great attitude. You're killing it, man. You are kicking ass. Don't be so hard on you. And then he stopped and shook my hand and, like you know, it really pumped me up and I felt super good. And then the other guy, who's like the Um, who's the key grip, kind of the same thing to go to your car and jerk off.
Speaker 2:Kepri, iterating how good of a job I'm doing, and I was like okay, so some of this is in my head, some of it. I do think some of the other guys in the department think I'm an idiot but but at the same time, like they're I guess they're not wrong like for them to look at me and be like, hey, when we're in a hurry he's the worst possible person to do the thing. Maybe they're right. Like they're not I probably, if I were in their position, I would think the same thing, like I've certainly been on jobs with the guy and like, really quickly you go, oh, this dude doesn't know what he's doing. Like this dude's super fucking green, I better, you know, really kind of look after him and like only let him do stuff when we have a lot of time and I don't know.
Speaker 2:The other interesting thing about it is how every single day has felt different. Um, I think kind of early on Maybe there wasn't as much like I was expecting a lot more Instruction, you know, like I was expecting to be bossed around and managed a lot more, and it was more of a just like hey, just pay attention and do what needs doing, kind of thing. Like there's not necessarily a lot of Organized communication and um hierarchy and uh Structure to you do this, you do this, you do that. But like we kind of started, we started figuring that out and like, like just kind of organically, every day trying to figure out how to be a little bit better, like we started Gravitating in towards different roles and just like taking different approaches and, um, like I don't know, we're getting better, we're getting like more and more on our shit every day and that's kind of wild, yeah, so that's it, that's I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm now, uh, I've now been a grip for five days. Well, grip and electric, which on a union set, is two very different jobs, but we're not union and, to be honest, I don't. When I'm doing that, I never know if what I'm doing is part of electric or part of grip. So like I think, um, let's say you go set up a light on a stand, then you put a stand bag on the stand, and then you, uh, and then you put a four by four frame on another stand in front of the light. That's all, I think, all of its grip, except for when you turn on the light, yeah, except for when you plug in the light, it's electric.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you turn and when you turn on the light, I think that's electric.
Speaker 2:And when you turn and when you turn make, make the light brighter and darker. I think that. I think that's electric.
Speaker 1:I think you might be right when you put the c-stand there at script, I would have thought the grip is oh my god, isn't it so weird, like isn't it just so weird, coming from an industry where you're like I just do everything myself, or with like one person helping me or two people helping me, to like it's like oh, I'll put the, I'll hold the light bulb, you screw it in while I hold it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I, uh, I saw a post when somebody was going. Doesn't this seem ridiculous? That this client thinks that two people can, you know, do a three camera interview with audio and a teleprompter and like 50 commons are like that's absurd. Tell them nobody does this. Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like I've fucking done that like a hundred thousand times.
Speaker 2:Yeah like so many times I've got like okay, the fact that there's a teleprompter on one of the cameras, okay, that is a little bit extra From from typical, but I've done that also. Where it's a two person crew and you set up a three camera interview, oh, and they're like, and you're supposed to be doing the interview. It's like, well, you don't do it the same time. First you set up the cameras, then you set up the audio, then you hit record, then you ask the questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get there two hours early to say, and you have two guys.
Speaker 2:So of your two guys, one of your cameras locked off on sticks, you know, maybe you're one of the second guys can move his camera and get more creative shots, you know. And then one of your cameras is the one that you're sitting at. That's also locked off on sticks, but maybe it could be a little tighter and occasionally you can adjust it. They're like it's just, it's a very doable job by two people, and all these people in these comments are like you need at least a crew of six to do that and I'm like no, you don't know what you don't.
Speaker 1:I mean there's definitely a benefit to having more people and more hands, but at a certain point it's just what you described, which is five people with one C, stand like Tripping over each other to get to the director, to the DP or whatever it is. You know it's like.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know something else that I got to see. That's like so I've heard. I've heard so many actors talk about this, um, especially on if you listen to Roger Deakins podcast, um, what's it called? Uh, oh, might just be called like the Deakins podcast, I don't actually remember, but you know he does it with his wife anyways, and because he's like the best fucking DP ever, he's able to get really good guests and so when he has actors on and stuff, something that they talk about a lot is like when they're saying how much they liked working with a certain director or whatever they'll go. You know what's great is he? You know he's always right there by camera or whatever.
Speaker 2:He doesn't use video village or he's not often video village, because some of these directors, you know they stay in video village the whole time and you don't feel like. You know, um, you're really getting the feedback from the director and you're not really sure if they're happy. And you know all these like I've just heard so many actors complain about they don't like when the director is at video village, and now I've seen what that looks like on two different productions Like when somebody like when the director is a video village, and I've seen it that that workflow so. And then I'm like, oh yeah, that is not. I could see why an actor doesn't like that and I could see why that's not. That's not how I work and that's not how I want to work Like. I actually like to operate camera, but okay, let's say I'm using a big crew. I still like to stand right fucking next to the camera and if I, and if there's two or three cameras and I feel that I want to watch them all, give me a night, like, give me a, you know, give me a 13 inch monitor in my hands or something, so that I can be right there in the room, cause I don't know.
Speaker 2:I've heard people talk about how well you're not with that. With the director being right there, you're not really sure what they're thinking or what they're liking, and I'm like, well, you're not supposed to be looking at the director during the set, but it kind of I realize what it really is is it's what happens before and after you say action and cut, so it's like after the take and then you have to give the actor a note and you want to go again. And it's so different for me to go up to the actor and use my voice like this. You know I'm feeling that, um, I'm not really feeling that blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:But uh, I think the characters are like this whatever it's so different than being 30 feet away on the other side of a 14 foot wall and shouting it out. So now, like, if you're giving actor feedback like it could be, it could to that actor, it could feel like you're criticizing them in front of 60 people, like the fucking costume guy and the makeup guy and the PAs and the 80s they don't all need to know. If you're saying, you know, hey, I need you to stand up taller, like the actor's going to feel like they're getting called out instead of like it's just not as personal.
Speaker 1:It's not as personal. It's not personal at all. It's just a surveillance method. Video village is just surveillance is really what it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it makes sense for scripty to be back there, right. It even maybe kind of could make sense for the DP to be over there If you're using a bunch of operators and the DP is not operating, you know, so that he can like get to an environment where he's watching a monitor inside of a black tent so that, like he's you know what I mean you know you're influenced by ambient light hitting your monitor. Like, if you really want to be a pixel peeper kind of guy although you know from from my background and your background, it's just pretty much just be like, well, I'm like, you know you trust your exposure and you trust the flexibility you're going to have imposed, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I've realized my exposure. I've been like I feel like when I finally put everything on, like online, all my stuff is a little bit dark. So I guess I need to just shoot a little brighter than I think.
Speaker 2:Because I even do.
Speaker 1:I look at the false color all the time and then.
Speaker 2:Well, you got to understand that every web browser plays video back differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like on Instagram, everybody's videos are way brighter than mine. Yeah, so always look dark on Instagram compared to everybody else's and I'm like, hmm, that's weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, but it's not but it. But what I'm saying is it's probably that you I guarantee your exposure is dead on when you're shooting. You're having some, you're having some problems and post probably.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe I mean I am using that's a trick.
Speaker 2:So that's a tricky one. I know what they're doing.
Speaker 2:It's really frustrating. Sometimes you kind of just have to like, just be like look, my monitor is calibrated, my color science is dead on and every TV is going to look different and every phone is going to look different and every web browser is going to look different and every website is going to look different. So you almost just have to. Sometimes you just have to go like hey, this is good on my end, I'm going to just put it in there and then I'm going to just try not to worry, but then you know, the other thing that you could do is like, if you're going like man, I am consistently feeling like I put something on Instagram.
Speaker 2:You could just, you know, you could just like what, like I, like I, you could have an like, I could have a node that's like my Instagram node and then, just right before exporting, just turn it off and it just automatically shifts my gamma up a little bit, or something like that, or you know, whatever Cause I've, I've done that too. Like I export a video and then I'll watch it on my phone. I'll watch on my TV downstairs, I'll watch it on my laptop, you know I'll watch it. And then I'll go like all right, is there some compromise I need to make? You know, like a pro color. So it's how you just trust, just trust your $20,000 monitor, but I'm like, well, let me just watch it on all the same shit that regular people are going to watch it on. And then if I just I'm like, yeah, it's basically dark, it's coming out darker on every single thing, then I'll go in and just make a tweak and re-export it and watch it again and be like okay, I can live with this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's, it's a. It's a bad, it's bad. It it it. We're in a bad place with color science and delivery.
Speaker 1:Honestly, we're in a bad place. With aspect ratio, I mean exposure to the least of all worries. We're in a bad place with color science.
Speaker 2:We're in a really bad place with loudness and sound mixing, as far as you know. Yeah you know, the worst is everybody's watching everything with subtitles now, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you do scroll through with audio, like, I've noticed like everything is so loud that I always just try to bring mine down a little bit so that when people get to it they're like if their sound is on, they're not just like totally like, oh shit, I got to turn this off, you know, because I do want people to hear stuff. I don't the subtitles, things like I get it, like I scroll through and look at stuff with subtitles, especially as I get older and have kids and they're screaming in the other room. So even if you have the TV volume up, you kind of still need the subtitles.
Speaker 2:But I just saw it.
Speaker 1:Did you send it to me?
Speaker 2:I saw something recently where, like probably me- the article where they are, a video where they're like. Here's the 15 reasons why sound sucks now.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't see that. I saw something about what percentage of people watch. What percentage of people over the age of 30 or something watch videos with subtitles on it's most people.
Speaker 2:I saw. I saw a thing and it was not, or captions.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:It was like the different, it was like business insider or something like it was, for regular people. It wasn't a film related website or whatever, and they were. It was that it was like here's how many people watch shows with closed captioning. It's like 80% of people.
Speaker 1:Mm. Hmm. Yeah, Captions is just to help you understand better. The subtitles is language right? That's the difference.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, there is a. There is a difference. I think that, um, I think there should be an option for it to be like um, english subtitles instead of like, because I don't really need the sound effects for the deaf and hearing impaired, I don't need it to say like you know, when flutters, or whatever, like, I just need help only with the dialogue. But also, what I really need is for actors to stop whispering and for mixers to. Did you just give me a thumbs up?
Speaker 1:No, you're doing that. Because you're going like this, I put my thumbs up in the fucking sometimes you go like this and it gives me a time automatically does a thumb emoji when I whoa. Yeah, you didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Fuck, that's weird.
Speaker 1:It happens all the time. I guess you just never notice.
Speaker 2:Oh hey, you know what else I found out today? That's really dope as fuck. Okay, you know what a Dutch angle is right?
Speaker 1:For those of you who don't know what a Dutch angle is like, kind of like you're on a boat or something, the camera is crooked. Yeah.
Speaker 2:The camera's crooked and the idea is that it's supposed to make you feel uneasy and supposed to make you feel, you know, like it's. It's the perfect shop for when you know the bad guys are closing in kind of feel. You know you're feeling trapped and like everything's going wrong. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:It's like when somebody drops the handy cam in the found footage movie and it like lands on the ground but it's kind of pointing in the direction they want it to point, but it's on the ground and it's all crooked.
Speaker 2:It's crooked. That's a Dutch angle. Yeah, the first time I became super aware of Dutch angle is there's an HBO series called John Adams. That's about. You guessed it. John Adams. Fucking. Really good show, really good mini series. Paul Jimmati plays Adams, but anyway, is he dead. They start using Paul Jimmati. No, oh, he was just at the Osprey's.
Speaker 1:Who's the guy from the Sopranos, is he?
Speaker 2:in that, paul Giovanni, he is dead.
Speaker 1:Fuck, what's his name? Tony James Gandolfini, oh.
Speaker 2:James Galfi, james Gandolfini, tony is the characters. Oh, I'm not done. Anyway, they start using a Dutch angle. But it's like in the seventh, that of eight episodes, and you're like, would they get a different director? Like what the fuck is the point of this? This has been, you know, like I've been watching this for seven hours and now you start using the Dutch angle all the time in this one episode. So I don't know if they had a different director, but anyway. So if you go to Google and you Google Dutch angle, all this, the whole Google turned sideways. Oh, that's weird. Yeah, no, I mean it's. It's so like just a pull up. Do you have a? Do you have a device next to you? I mean, you're talking to me on what? Your phone or your iPad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I got my computer in front of me. I get it, I can print it.
Speaker 2:Google Dutch angle. It's fucking cool as shit. It is funny the whole Google is Dutch angle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who's in charge of that? Like who gets to make that decision?
Speaker 2:Nerd probably.
Speaker 1:Dutch angle All right, give me one sec. I don't have my glasses on, that's why I didn't want to do it. Dutch angle I'm the slowest person.
Speaker 2:I'm interested to see if you can like oh, mine doesn't do it. But what do you mean? Yours doesn't do it. I did it on my phone. Oh it is oh yeah.
Speaker 1:It is like it's slight, it's not as drastic as I thought it would be. Yeah, I see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool, right? That is pretty fun, it's clever, it's okay. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 2:So that's going to be my truly worth when I get back to whatever else bad Google is doing.
Speaker 1:That's going to be my trivia that I'm going to bring to set on Monday.
Speaker 2:That's going to help ingratiate me to all of my fellow cast and crew so that they're like I like working with the best.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's kind of given me a headache. I got just even looking at that. I got to exit out of it. God, it was throwing me off, even though it was like not that crazy of an angle, but it was enough to like make me feel a little yeah.
Speaker 2:I All right enough about me. What's going on in your neck of the woods? What have you done this week? You finished your Last edit for the season.
Speaker 1:I did depression.
Speaker 2:Is that right?
Speaker 1:Um, I finished my last edit. I do have to revise Something from the previous edit. I don't think that'll take me more than an hour or two. And then Adam my buddy Adam, who also shoots weddings turns out. He has like nine edits left, so he asked me to help. So I'm gonna help him with one and trade For him to shoot like a steamboat wedding for me. So I guess it's not over.
Speaker 2:I guess I will still continue to you found a way to be productive. Very pleased with that.
Speaker 1:I guess. And then I took my fire or my firearms safety course and with like, why was that, why'd that happen? A bunch of old women and like a couple of the women.
Speaker 2:I was like, did you just get a gun for the first time?
Speaker 1:No, I just rented a gun when I was there to her like it was part of the class, like you could just pick out Whatever gun you wanted, are you?
Speaker 2:planning on getting a gun. Yeah, yeah, I would buy one. I would buy one today, I mean.
Speaker 1:I I was all where already semi familiar with firearms, but I'd never taken like a real Fire. I had taken a hunter safety course when I was like 20 or something, but since then I hadn't taken any like real Instruction course and I was like I probably should and my wife wanted me to and so I actually I liked it. I learned that I actually knew more than I thought I should. But man, there were some people in the class. I was like you might as well just have the accident right now, because at least there's people around to call an ambulance. These people were like Bring in like revolvers and like I was like you don't even look like you should hold that thing. Wow yeah, so I got that out of the way. That was fun. I was like I'm not gonna do that. I don't know. I'm kind of looking forward to like only working a couple hours a day and just like.
Speaker 2:Trying to recover and not be burnt out.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, what was my advice for what you should do with your free time? I don't know. I always no, I you just ignore it.
Speaker 2:What was it? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I ignore it. What was it? Fuck you in one ear, out the other. What was it though?
Speaker 2:My advice was for you to use this free time Um to focus on sales and try to get some gigs for us that are in the commercial commercial work, yeah, so large enough business and require travel, so that it makes financial sense for you to hire me to be your second, you know, and then we could you know, it's always about work together more than once a year?
Speaker 2:Well, well, don't you feel that this long distance relationship requires effort? Why do you think I'm doing this fucking podcast that has 15 listeners that turn out by the first five minutes?
Speaker 2:Hey, 19, maybe those, but you know, I'm saying, if we actually If we had a gig that was like oh yeah, every year we've, we go to Ohio for three days and make $10,000 making you know a fucking talking head for a company that makes stealing fans or whatever the fuck, like Anything, that would be better than sitting around going like, oh hope somebody gets married in the next couple of six months.
Speaker 1:Well, I did order my big old window sticker for the back of the truck Um and it was supposed to be, I was.
Speaker 1:I was already supposed to have it on the truck and then UP, like it got all the way to Colorado Springs and then, for whatever reason, they sent it to North Carolina. So, like I don't, I'm like I don't know what's going on, I assume it'll get here, pop in each other's es house, so. But the website's all set up and like, so I'm just waiting on that. I'm hoping to get a few calls off of that. If I don't, then I might just, um, I might do it like a half wrap on my truck. I was originally gonna do like a half wrap on the back half of my truck with like the video bros, like logo, like the kitty cat with the, the 3d glasses and like the whole thing and but which. It's actually not terribly expensive to do it, but it was like expensive. It was like 2,500 bucks and I was like, let me try this like $60 giant window decal first and see if that gets anything. Um, if it does it, then I'll move to the uh, I'll move to the big old wrap.
Speaker 2:I've never thought of that being a marketing strategy that makes sense for high-end video production. But if you actually get some work out of it, fucking let me. I think you're gonna get a bunch of people that have a budget of $75.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will, and you're gonna be like there isn't anything I can do with that. Yeah, but those aren't the people that I'm gonna work with. So, yeah, I probably will get a lot like what's your strategy with every industry? Like it's like that with every, every business.
Speaker 2:Like you're gonna get inquiries that you don't have the, but you don't necessarily have the resources to email A thousand people a month that are not gonna ever be remotely like Close to your. You know what you want.
Speaker 1:So the reason I decided to even go with the vehicle stuff is because I talked um. So when I got artificial turf in my yard, the guys that I hired had a truck that I had seen driving around and it was. It was like a full Wrapped truck that was like artificial turf themed. So I gave him a call. I ended up booking those people. I talked to like a few different people but I booked those people. They did the turf and when the guy came over I asked him about the truck. I said how does that work for you? And he said it works too. Well, I had to stop driving the truck. He's like I got so tired of talking to people about turf that I gave it to my workers and so now they drive it around, but I don't drive it because I can't.
Speaker 2:He's like people won't leave me alone. Yeah, oh, dude. That's why I hate flying a drone, because every time you fucking pull out a drone, there's somebody standing next to you. Oh, is that a drone? So I was like well, how far can that? Thing go. It's a good, well, what's the distance you can get on that?
Speaker 1:I was like well, that's a good problem to have when you're trying to get going, you know.
Speaker 1:So I mean, if it works out, let me know, and I've seen other people do it with like vans Like not around here, but I've seen like on instagram and stuff. I've seen people Do it with like sprinter vans where they do their production van and they keep All their equipment in a truck in like a storage unit somewhere but when they drive around the, the whole side of the van or whatever just says like whatever production company or whatever. So yeah. I was kind of like what if you?
Speaker 2:don't have a, I don't have a van, but you do just get your windows smashed out constantly from people thinking they can grab a camera.
Speaker 1:I just don't think that is. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I mean you don't live in the best neighbor but that's also.
Speaker 1:I also don't think that it's, and you don't park in a garage. But I also don't leave anything in the truck, like I take everything out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they won't know that until you're out $1,200 in windows.
Speaker 1:Uh, yeah, but.
Speaker 2:I guess let me know how it goes.
Speaker 1:I guess that's what's what insurance is for.
Speaker 2:I've had my trot text me a picture of your car with a pile of glass on the street next to it and you're gonna say well, I hope you're happy you got your wish. Maybe it's possible but I'm willing to take that.
Speaker 1:I'm willing to take that risk. I I find that like the more risk I take, the more I'm like oh, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought I was gonna be. Yeah like we're everybody's.
Speaker 2:I find that I take risk and it's way worse than I expected really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I've had the Colorado and lost my business.
Speaker 2:I moved to Atlanta to work in the film industry and the entire industry collapsed and I was on the board for fucking two years. Like every time I take a big leap of faith, it fucking goes terrible.
Speaker 1:I mean that was twice. Maybe you just got unlucky twice in a row and that can happen.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I could argue that the John Conn thing was also kind of I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was a really good job for like nine months and then it was the worst experience of my life for over a year.
Speaker 2:I feel like, if you don't, Take.
Speaker 1:that's the thing, though. Remember how you were saying a few episodes back about how Sometimes you just have to go do the thing that you're worried about doing, otherwise it's not gonna happen, uh-huh remember when you were like real power in those that do.
Speaker 2:And just like 30 minutes ago is saying always be a beginner at something. Yeah, I mean you can be intermediate at everything.
Speaker 1:You know, the other thing is, as I wake up a lot it's been a little bit less lately, thank god, but like for a while, like three months, I was waking up every night exactly 3 am, and I couldn't figure it out, and so I'd like be laying in bed at 3 am and I just get on my phone and like try to find stuff on youtube that was gonna like make me feel better or help me fall back to sleep, and and and and I like I was like kind of feeling lost because I was like I don't really want to shoot weddings anymore, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:Like I've done commercial work too and like that never really goes the way I think it's gonna go, and like those clients are Hard. And then I'm like I got a family to support and blah, like I was just kind of getting like I was getting depressed and I was like so I was like looking for videos, like Like feeling lost, blah, blah, blah, like typing that kind of stuff into youtube and I think on like a red, typing what like feeling lost yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I found a reddit thread when somebody gave some really like I it just it stuck with me because I think it's probably good advice and the person said you like you don't have to. She's like, whoever it was was posted something to the effect of like you don't have to be right and you don't have to know for sure, but you have to take a step. Like always, just take a step, and maybe it's not the right step forward, but like just keep. Just keep moving. Like do something, even if it ends up not being the right thing, that's okay, just keep Moving. Like just keep trying, because otherwise you get in this like place where you're just like so depressed and uh, yeah so she's like well, like in my wife.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, it's. I mean, that was basically the essence of it. Just like, just always, um, do like, do something, but don't do nothing, do something.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And eventually you'll find your way. You know how I like flip houses. You know, like that's my retirement plan, that's my side hustle or whatever. And there's a lot of drawbacks to the lifestyle because, like I, you know, I've spent basically my entire adult life living in some version of a construction site. You know, like a lot of my life just has drywall dust on it all the time. And you've been to my house and been like why is there so much dust in here? I'm like I vacuumed 30 minutes ago. I vacuumed every square inch of this house 30 minutes ago. That's what happens when you live like that.
Speaker 2:But so sometimes, you know I was talking to my wife about you know, maybe the next house we buy, like hopefully we do enough on this one that maybe we could actually just buy a new construction house and not have to look like this or whatever. And then she was like, yeah, but If you didn't have something to do every single day, like this time, why you've been unemployed, or whatever. She was like you would be so much worse off if you couldn't just grab the weed eater and go out and clear brush for a few hours. Like if you weren't like if you didn't have all these little projects. Think about how much more miserable you'd be. And I'm like yeah, she's right. Like, even though I was kind of like not super depressed but I was, you know, getting pretty down the last couple of months just from not working or whatever, at least every single day I got up and I did work. It wasn't always the work I wanted to be doing, it wasn't work that was helping me financially, but I, I didn't. I did not just fucking sit on the couch.
Speaker 2:And I know that when the strikes happened and the end, I know there were a lot of people that just fucking did nothing, or they, or they went out and they, you know, they got jobs, but they didn't do anything to help them. They didn't do anything film or whatever. So it's kind of like, man, if the industry shut down for a year and you didn't come out of it with one short film, you didn't come out with it with a single passion project, you didn't come out with the screenplay, anything Like. Yeah, it's fucking suck that we weren't making money, but I made three shorts last year. I made three shorts.
Speaker 2:I, I D P'd and edited a feature film for the first time. Not a good movie, not my movie. But okay, like, check that fucking box got that on the IMD B, you know, in addition to like repainting all my kitchen cabinets, putting in a new front lawn in my landscape, clearing a bunch of invasive vines from my backyard, fucking painting my kitchen and, you know, remodeling my, my wife's office, and, like you know, I fucking got shit done. I don't know I'm bragging now. That doesn't make sense, don't aren't I usually the one that's saying how I'm a piece of shit? I think, uh, who knows, I'm losing my identity on this podcast.
Speaker 1:Well, that's why you are a piece of garbage.
Speaker 2:That's what you're here for. Yeah, thank you for reminding me God. I felt so fucking sometimes I sort of got I don't want to get too high on that horse set this week.
Speaker 2:Hey, you know what's weird about this show. So there's only, like I think it's, a six episode season or something. I'm not sure actually how many episodes are. I think it's like six or eight, I don't know. They have three different directors. Doesn't seem like for a production that's only four weeks. They could have just found somebody that's in charge of the show. They couldn't find one director. That, like I understand. I guess, if you're on season 13 of Grey's Anatomy and you know it's a hundred hours a week, how you might, you know, be looking for new directors all the time? But like, doesn't that seem weird to you? It seems weird to me, yeah, it does seem weird.
Speaker 1:I don't know there's got to be a reason, but I don't even know. I don't even know if I could speculate on what that is, but it does seem weird.
Speaker 2:It's weird. It's weird to me because, like, so you have a, you have your first AD who's there for the entire run? Is that preplanned?
Speaker 1:It is job. Is that the preplanned director schedule or did they just like like two directors have quit and they're on the third one?
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no. This is planned. So they're there all of the same day because, like, we might be shooting, you know, like because we're not shooting chronologically in order or whatever. So, like, if we have, this actor is only here for, you know, this day and this actor is in episode one, episode three and episode six or whatever One. You might have one director, you know, doing one episode for three hours in the morning and then in the middle of the day they're, they're, it's a different director and he's directing episode three, and then, and by the end of the day, they're doing episode six and it's a third director. So they're all there all at the same time, waiting for their, you know, half a day. They get to work or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's really weird to me, but because the first AD is there the entire show and his job is to keep things on schedule, he's like all right, and then the DP is. The DP is the DP for every single shot of every single episode and you know he's responsible for making sure the edit works as far as, like, the shots work together and the 180 and all that stuff. So there's a lot of times where the director says they want something and the DP says no, that won't work because, like the 180 or something, or the, the first AD is like we just don't have time, we there's just no schedule for it, it's just not possible, we just can't do it or whatever. And it's just like constantly, like you think of the director as being, you know, the ultimate, say so and and empower or whatever. And it's like man, they're being told no constantly, they're just, they don't actually seem like they're running the show. They, they, they, they just, they almost just seem like they're just, they almost just seem like I don't know, like they. You know, everybody has a part to play or whatever.
Speaker 2:And it just when I make a little film with my, you know, crew of three to 12 people or whatever, I really feel like I'm in charge, I'm running the thing, but that's I don't know, because I also am writing and doing camera and setting up on my own lights and I'm the only one talking to the actors. And then I see somebody else that's like like oh, you're a big name director and you've done, like you've made millions of dollars on movies or you have, you know, you've made movies that made millions of dollars and and had theatrical releases and all this stuff and like you're being told, like you're, you're being told no, a lot. It's wild to see. Like I think being a film director and being a TV director is not the same job at all. I think as a TV director, you're almost like a guest director, I don't know.
Speaker 2:See, this is the part of the show where I feel like I shouldn't be saying this on a podcast, like if anybody from the show heard this I would get fired immediately. I think you probably just shouldn't put this podcast out. Actually, just go ahead and delete this episode and start over. I would like to talk a little bit more about the hedge plants that I'm propagating for my front yard.
Speaker 1:Oh well, unfortunately we're out of time for that. So what that? All right, we'll see you next week.