Hit-N-Record
Welcome to Hit-N-Record! I'm Keno Manuel, a filmmaker, and I’m excited to bring you inspiring and insightful conversations with some of the most influential and creative minds in the creative space.
Each episode, I sit down with local creatives from filmmaking, photography, and other creative industries, offering you a unique perspective on their successes, challenges, and the lessons they've learned along the way.
Whether you're an aspiring filmmaking professional, an entrepreneur, or someone passionate about personal growth, I hope to provide and inspire you with the motivation and tools to unlock your potential and achieve your goals.
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Hit-N-Record
"After 7 Drafts, I Finally Knew It Was Good Enough" | Navigating the Creative Journey with Abe Knapp
Ever wondered how creatives keep their passion alive amidst the pressures of the industry? Join us as we sit down with a phenomenal artist who has navigated the highs and lows of the creative journey. Our guest opens up about the intricate balance between staying productive and avoiding burnout, sharing personal stories of fear, uncertainty, and the relentless pursuit of meaningful connections. The conversation also sheds light on the impact of technology on our interactions, critiquing gadgets like the AppleVision Pro for promoting disconnection. If you've ever struggled to stay true to your artistic mission while keeping up with peers and idols, this episode is a treasure trove of insights.
In this episode, we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our guest, from their humble beginnings in fan editing and Photoshopping to being featured on major Instagram accounts. Inspired by YouTube channels like Benny Productions, our guest has built an impressive portfolio that continues to inspire others. We also explore the host's ambitious goal of interviewing 100 diverse creatives and tease an exciting upcoming episode featuring a music composer. Finally, we delve into the evolving journey of discovering a unique cinematic style, discussing the role of aspect ratios and the importance of maintaining a genuine sense of cinematography. Don't miss out on this inspiring and insightful conversation!
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You have that passion that most people really would like to have.
Speaker 2:It is so easy to get jaded in the craft. You need to keep making things for yourself. For such a long time I was so afraid of actually going out and doing this.
Speaker 1:There's this sense of uncertainty that you're scared in terms of will it work out or will it not work out?
Speaker 2:It's, can I effectively pull off something that is worth someone's time. There's something inside me right that says you've got to tell people stories and you've got to shine light on things that people wouldn't shine light on. I need to be constantly making or I'm just going to drown.
Speaker 1:In our creative industry, we feel like we have to play catch up or else if we don't do something while everyone else is doing especially the heroes that we look up to yeah, it puts a lot of pressure if you don't get that under control you will start to feel burned out and all that.
Speaker 2:My fear is me being changed as a person. If I make a handful of things that touch people that are that are close to me, that's all that matters. But it is so much harder to connect to people that don't have a dream. It's easier right when it's someone who wants to go the same way as I'm going. I think you can craft stronger friendships by crafting strong art.
Speaker 1:In other words trauma bonding. Trauma bond, because film is trauma bond because film is trauma bonding before we get started. Dude, how are you, I'm good.
Speaker 2:You know I had the little drive over here, my um. I live in santa rosa, so I just well, actually so I we were at the beach today. My cousins are in town, my grandparents are in town, had a little time over there. I've been lucky enough to just chill out at the beach for a while. I hate the beach, but good for you, you hate the beach.
Speaker 1:I have hearing aids, which means I've had a bad experience with my friends whenever we were at the beach and I take out my hearing aids, I'm useless. They know that I'm there, but I they know that I can't talk because it's hard to hear.
Speaker 2:shoot yeah, the beach, yeah, exactly I get.
Speaker 1:Go on.
Speaker 2:You went to the beach I went to the beach, drove over here. Really haven't done that much, okay, other than the grandparents being in town. I end up shuttling people around a lot just in the truck, um, just parked outside. But overall, you know, it's been a chill day, it's been a chill day. It is sunday you know I'm glad to be here. Dude, this is gonna be.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're that guy. He's glad to be here. Don't forget to leave a review on yelp. I will put and record on yelp. Please give me a five star so people can actually trust me to have themselves at my house. Okay, yeah, all right. So before we get started, dude, be honest with me. What is your win? What will be your win today, tonight?
Speaker 2:As in within this podcast, like what I want to get across Everything in general. Whatever you feel like, everything in general. Okay, what is a win for you? I'd say, a win is just you know, I'm a real conversationalist and stuff like that. So being able to. I was talking to people, to my brother's girlfriend today, and you know I just I really love connecting with people one-on-one. I'm not really like a group kind of guy.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:I can, because I'm more extroverted than I'd say the normal person is um, but when it comes to what I found is, in these group scenarios and stuff like that, I can't really connect to people unless it's like a one-on-one connection and if I don't have one connection, then I, then I'm just completely disassociated I I agree. Which you know it happens with creatives. But it's just a Overall okay. I kind of went off track there, okay.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like the win for you is to make a one-on-one connection as worthwhile as possible. Yeah, exactly, look at that Fools need to get off your phone and start connecting to people. Exactly. Don't be wearing the AirPods, the AirVision.
Speaker 2:Apple thing. Oh, the AppleVision Pro. It looks stupid. Have you seen any of those in person? Huh, have you seen any?
Speaker 1:of them in person? I don't plan to, because one they look like scuba devices, scuba diving, but no, it's just gonna create more disconnect with everyone wanting to connect.
Speaker 2:I don't see anybody really buying it. You know what I mean. It feels like something that's it's a fad. It's a fad, it's going to pass.
Speaker 1:It's a fad. So that's your win. What else do you want to say as far as your win, before we dive into this, to discover the world of Ape Nap?
Speaker 2:I would say a win is coming on here. I really like making connected connections within the creative sphere. Okay, I like you know. I mean you see my instagram. I'm really posting all the time, so it's like I like getting me out there you know what I mean I'm not really in recently I haven't been into just um going with the, the social media trends and stuff like that. So I went back to my. I was Photoshopping for a long time. I noticed that. I noticed that.
Speaker 1:Guys, he has a portfolio that looks really impressive. I'm serious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all right, I started, so I started in the fan editing sphere. I don't know if you know exactly what that is Fan editing Fan editing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what it is. Yeah, you know, you make your own version of a costume of a character that's coming out. You make your own poster and, um, I got into that mainly because I just wanted to learn how to photoshop and stuff like that. So there's this youtube channel I don't know if you've seen it, but it's uh, you know benny productions? No, I do not. Okay. So it's like one of the biggest like photoshop channels out there. I was on like one of his instingers one time and I was really proud of that um, but that was when I was like freaking 15 um, but I got into the photoshopping sphere of things. That took off after a while. I um, made some cool friends that sphere, and then I found that I don't probably should mute that you're good.
Speaker 1:that's actually a great way, a great way to start this conversation before we get too deep into that topic. Yeah, exactly. That being said, okay, hi guys. Hello, hi, it's me again, hola. It's another episode. Also, I'm trying to get up to 100. Up to 100?
Speaker 2:So where are you at right now? I am at, I think eight or nine.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I have. I have about 57 people to go through are you serious? Yes, I just did one this morning, but my goal is to get 100 57 people.
Speaker 2:So are you going through like actors and who like? What are everybody?
Speaker 1:scope of everybody, everybody, and as long as my only criteria is only as long as they are creative in some capacity so are you doing musicians and stuff? Musicians um, like this one. This morning I did a music composer really, yes, um, he's a good friend of mine. He's up in south carolina. You're gonna love that episode when I. You guys are gonna love that episode when I, when I drop it. Anyways, I don't want to brag. I am bragging right now. That's not good. I need to stop. I need to be more humble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't need to be more, but no, okay, I've seen his portfolio.
Speaker 1:It's better than mine whoa whoa time out time. Oh, speaking of which your demo reel, oh yeah I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it. Huh, I haven't dropped it yet. Uh, I'm gonna drop.
Speaker 1:I don't know what we're talking about. What demo reel?
Speaker 2:it'll be dropped it'll be.
Speaker 1:There is a. There is an existing demo reel on your youtube channel, so it's. But this, uh, we're talking about a different video. Yeah, I'm not gonna put this in here, but I gotta say it's really good and I think, um, you are starting to develop a specific look that you're looking for. I think it seems like you're at the phase where you're just getting more work whatever comes along your way and trying to make it more cinematic. So I think that's where you're at at this stage, but you're going to get closer because you seem to have this style of a cinematic you like the aspect ratio.
Speaker 2:You seem to drive yourself to using that. I don't. I don't use it as much anymore, ish. So like I've really liked just the straight kind of like it's not exactly open gate but on the pocket or yes pocket 4k yes, pocket 4k it's got like uh you're good, you get a little bit more of an aspect ratio.
Speaker 1:That's just like by this much, Just a bit, I remember yes.
Speaker 2:And it's. I just like the look of it for some reason, because it feels like I feel like when I crop in on an aspect ratio or something like that it doesn't feel as cinematic to me anymore, because I know that I'm faking it if that makes any sense. Yes, so if I'm going like, or, or something like that, and there's still information, on the top and bottom.
Speaker 1:I don't love it.
Speaker 2:I don't love it, but if I was shooting on like anamorphics, or something like that which I'm trying to remember what they were called, but there were these new and the blazar remuses oh, that's a new one.
Speaker 1:I I know dco film fest uh, atlas orion series but that's a new brand so there's this.
Speaker 2:What did I say? They were the Blazar Remuses. So they just came out recently and they are absolutely solid. I think you can get. You can get a set of them for I want to say under it's like three lenses for under $3,000 and they look amazing.
Speaker 1:They look so good what are the characteristics that come with that? Because, like the atlas orion, for example, they do have that softer look, yeah, what characteristics are you seeing with this one? Have you shot with them yet?
Speaker 2:I haven't shot with me, I've watched I end up just watching videos more than I play with real gear. But I need to just be renting these things. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I need to do it more but, it's just expensive, um hey I mean every our hobby, our dude, our career is, uh well, I would say, our hobby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's both you know.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know it turned into an expensive hobby, bro. We could be like investing in our own stock, and you know we could probably own a lot of bitcoin, but no, we just decided to throw in a lot of money towards towards this and this and this and this and this yeah, yeah, we're not.
Speaker 2:We're not really looking for retiring I'm telling you the remuses are nice. I don't like so the freaking. There was another set of budget budget anamorphic lenses that came out like two years ago and they were really popular and I'm trying to remember what they were called the serial lenses.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't, it looks too clinical for me. They want me to rehouse lenses, would?
Speaker 2:I love like iron glass. You're talking about iron glass. I heard about them.
Speaker 1:But what's serious? I think I, I don't know, I I haven't shot with them to be fair.
Speaker 2:Um, but the remus is like they look freaking cinema are you being sponsored by them? Right now, I'm not but I would be completely open to please sponsor a right now I'm completely open to it in every way yes, but that was the longest intro.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna say hi guys, welcome back to another episode. Uh, obviously, as you you can tell it's already going to be a fun conversation. Yeah, see, we already got a lot of great info. We're really fun. Yes. So welcome back to another episode with ApeNap. He's a 38 videographer based in well, I did say 38. Yes, 38. So this podcast we're going to dive into, you know, cinema, world stuff, cameras, cinematography, our aspirations, all that good stuff, and also, a very special surprise, a trilogy.
Speaker 1:I would not reveal the name, but we will be getting to that because it's pretty much unpronounceable everyone yeah if you just read it, you're like but it's like it's I I guess I would say it's like a harry potter spell yeah, it sounds like, it sounds exactly like, all right, so okay, let's start with the first question I guess, also, I'm not gonna follow the questions, so you need another drone, we'll flow through it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll flow through it, but before we do that.
Speaker 1:What's what? Where can people find you?
Speaker 2:okay, so um a lot of places, so I'm mainly active on instagram, but I have like 8 000 accounts is the problem, so you can follow my photoshop stuff oh, my goodness, at baby spielberg, as in steven spielberg, baby spielberg. And then, um, my name is abe nap, so, um, my cinematography stuff is all up on nap stories, knapp stories, um, and then I have a million others, but you can just figure that out for yourself I have.
Speaker 2:You know, I have my personal account, and then I have one for the trilogy, and then, um, you have tumblr. I don't have tumblr, dude, I'm only on instagram you have immature nope, I don't have that. I should get an art station or something like that. I know that I don't have an art station I do get all my stuff reposted on art station all the time and people like to credit for it. That's so much oh my gosh yeah like people like make pngs of like all the posters that I make.
Speaker 1:I'm like you are killing you could be your social media strategist. Apparently, he runs thousands of accounts.
Speaker 2:Well well well, I mean, I do a lot of social media assets for a bunch of different places. Like my dad owns a pontoon rental business so I used to run it. Please don't look into that, because there are some cringy videos that I made that are like TikToks. Do not look into that, because there are some cringy videos that I made that are like TikToks. Do not look into it. But if you want to rent a boat on the Panhandle, check out 38pontoonrentalcom.
Speaker 1:Tell us who you are.
Speaker 2:Your mission in life as a creative and what you do.
Speaker 1:Okay, go.
Speaker 2:So I'm Abe Knapp, I am a cinematographer, I am a Photoshop artist. I live in the Florida Panhandle. Okay, I am a Photoshop artist. I live in the Florida Panhandle. Okay, I write.
Speaker 2:I play a little bit of guitar for my church, which is just something I just love making cool stuff. You know, yeah, and my really honestly, my mission was laid on my heart years ago and it's to literally like how do I explain this? Like I want to try and make like a second Hollywood dude, like as violent and as crazy and as shoot for the moon. That is Like I really love, specifically like the 38 community and the people on there. But, as you said before, like it's hard to find people, people on there, but, as you said before, like it's hard to to to find people. Right, that's what you said.
Speaker 2:I've I've watched a few episodes of this podcast and it's a solid one, and watch the last one that I that I watched. Um, but, dude, I love, love making cool stuff with cool people, like genuinely, and if I was able to just take some time and really make my own indie circuit or something like that, if I was able to make a almost like a monty python kind of troop with um. You know people from around here, people from across, who just maybe don't want to get into some of the I guess, the darker side of hollywood and get into just making things, to make things and having real solid experiences making those things you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I mean yeah but uh damn, you have a hell of a aspiration. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:That's really good I shoot too high sometimes, which is kind of a problem.
Speaker 1:No, you got to shoot high. If you want to go somewhere, if you're going to shoot for mediocre content. No, you're not going to go anywhere.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I would be so happy if all I did was make cool stories, right? If I was able to do way more, I would be also completely fine with that. Right, if I was able to do way more, I'll be also completely fine with that. But wherever I end up on that spectrum, as long as I'm as long as I'm making.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm completely fine with whoever I turn out being bro, okay, I gotta say I'm really, really jealous that you do have that passion, because you know when you're, when you work so hard on this and this industry, you start to get burned out and you start to feel jaded. So congratulations. You have that passion that most people really would like to have. I do.
Speaker 2:The thing is it gets lost so easily. I mean, you've said it on the podcast before, it is so easy to get jaded in the craft right, in the craft right. But I've, I've really looked into well, what can I do entirely to combat that feeling of being jaded, like what, what do you do there right? And it's? It's just like you need to keep making things for yourself and I haven't been doing it as much as I'd like. Okay, I'm focused on this year, in the coming years, to make things that aren't just like for other people. You know what I mean. I want to really tell stories because it feels like I'm doing a lot of commercials, which I do love making the commercials. I'm doing a lot of Photoshop pieces and stuff like that and I'm telling a little bit of a story. It's a fraction of what I actually can do do and stop me if I'm talking too much this.
Speaker 1:This whole entire thing is not focused on getting curated parts of what you're saying it's supposed to get the raw content. So if you feel like you're going on a tangent, you're not okay, that's that the purpose is to to have a podcast and have something to talk enjoyable To talk real shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, so you're good.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. You're good so shoot Crap.
Speaker 2:where was I?
Speaker 1:You were talking about how you were working on projects, but you were struggling with the fact that there's only like a small fraction of what you can do to show off your cinematography style and skills. Well, you cinematography, uh style and skills well my, you know my ability as a storyteller.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. So I was. I was up in arizona. I was shooting for this lightsaber company, right, oh wow, it's actually, it's a flex right there.
Speaker 1:It's really fun so the thing is, it was the farthest from home.
Speaker 2:Okay, right, which is kind of sad because it's still in the states oh, you feel like you're a homebody kind of a.
Speaker 1:I'm such a homebody.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm such a homebody, but but it was the farthest way I've ever been. It was probably one of the biggest shoots that I've done. Okay, and I filmed there with my buddy Frank Platt, I love you and I filmed there with a buddy and we just watched Steven Spielberg's the Fablements. A fantastic movie Okay, and that movie also totally gets you talking about cinema because it's about cinema, right. And I told him. I said, frank, this is the farthest away from home I've ever been.
Speaker 2:This is one of the craziest shoots I've ever done yeah and I didn't have like an oh crap moment for a second, like I'm not putting my feet in the ground deep enough. You know I'm not taking steps that are big enough, like I need to be sinking my own money into doing crazy outlandish stuff and I feel like, because it's okay, because it's our job, right, you have this is work, and then you have this is work, and then you have this is my passion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, and when you're doing your passion, you're thinking I should be doing my work yeah and you totally like it becomes like you totally forgot the reason that you got into doing this yeah, it's like I need to be constantly making. Well, I'm just gonna drown, but there's a there's a scene now.
Speaker 1:I, okay, there's something you said you need to constantly make something, but you're gonna feel like you're drowned. That sounds like a lot of people in our creative industry. We feel like we have to play catch up or else, if we don't do something, what everyone else is doing especially the heroes that we look up to yeah, it puts a lot of pressure yeah, it's pressure, dude, but it's good pressure. Yes, I agree with that, but I'm just saying sometimes, if you don't get that under control, you will start to Dang.
Speaker 2:Yes, you're going to start to feel burned out and all that what I'm talking about is not being drowned out in a sea of other people doing what?
Speaker 2:you're doing but being drowned out as in, like I never got to do this awesome thing that I wanted to do and I feel like, like with heriath, right, which is what I've written short films that I have it's all out. I have three parts of it. It's really cool, right, uh, it's like dune guys kind of like uh, uh, but like I want to do it. And there are these other like short form documentaries that I totally want to do it.
Speaker 2:And there are these other short-form documentaries that I totally want to do and for such a long time I was so afraid of actually going out and doing this and because it's like I need to be doing my work, because it's like I don't want to, I don't know what I'm waiting for. Honestly, I don't know what I'm waiting for and I just need to do.
Speaker 1:I think you're at the apex of building, like the Assassin's Creed. You're just, there's a button that says jump, yeah, yeah, you're just waiting for something to push you. Am I correct to assume that there's this sense of uncertainty, that you're scared?
Speaker 2:In terms of will it work out or not work out. The thing is it's, it's. Can I, can I effectively pull off something that is worth someone's time?
Speaker 2:you know, and a lot of it rides on. So I I feel like I as a person can do it right and I feel like the people that I know on the crew team can do it. I need to find decent people to fill the roles and I'm a big fan of what I've written. I think it's really solid and it's dark, but it's hopeful, it's inherently hopeful, and it's filled with so much love that just bursts out from it and it's a really solid script. I think I have like 30 pages on just the first part, and then there's two other parts. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm proud of it, and if I don't make it, I'm going to die.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, okay. So before we get into that, we're gonna actually you will be getting to that trilogy. Yeah, I love the information that you just spit. First of all, the struggle of choosing um, the work and your passion, all that, those are dude.
Speaker 2:That's a great answer just so you know you're doing great.
Speaker 1:That's sweet okay yeah, so okay, wow you. We are jumping all over the places here because we hit like 30 000 points when I had one question about that trilogy. And now we jump back up to career, which you were talking about, the work at balance. Yeah, yeah, see, see, guys, I don't care about conform, uh, rules, conformity, whatever that is no, all right. Now we're going to start with the personal life. Okay so.
Speaker 1:Abe. What happened in your life on a dark, stormy night? What was that day like for you to decide? Out of all the career, choose that. You are so maddening enough to choose a career that will not provide yeah exactly. For most of the time, it will not provide sustainability, financial security yeah, what got you into this?
Speaker 2:dude, it's not like I could have chosen a million other jobs. Yeah, I could have. I could have been an architect, I could have been whatever right really I don't know I could have been something. I'm just listing examples, yeah.
Speaker 2:But there is, there's something inside me right that says you got to tell people stories and you got to shine light on, on these, on things that people wouldn't shine light on. You know, like individual real stories in like you have to, I have to be making something. You know, what I mean. Like it's weird, because ever since I was, I only had like one other career thing and it was when I was like freaking four and I was like I want to invent things and then Really Well, I was like four.
Speaker 2:So every kid is like let me build a jet pack rebuild a jet pack, but it's like I, I, you know, and then you know I had it placed on my heart. Yeah, that all I want to do in my life is make you know what I mean. And if I don't, again it's like what I was talking about with, all right, if I don't end up making, then I'm just gonna feel like you're drowning and you're dying off yeah, yeah, exactly. But on the other end, I was really scared about the financial stuff, right? Yes.
Speaker 2:But I'm fairly well off and I was like what in the world? You know, it's something that you don't because everybody's like oh yeah, you know the money's bad and stuff like that. But then if you work hard enough at it right and you find the right people, I wouldn't say I'm like super well off, but I'm okay and I'm fine with it, because if I was working a nine to five or something like that, I tried that. You know, and I can't do it, I can't do it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to do a counter argument to that. I used to be in that mindset, working in a nine to five yes, I had that mentality was like, nah, I ain't gonna follow your rules and all that. But it was. It wasn't until the the struggles of having to do freelance, like we just do it for yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's such a different yeah, um, dynamic and um change. It's a big change. And one thing I would say uh, if I could tell my younger self kino, you little, why are you so stubborn? You could have done this years ago, but I was. So my new stance on this is that I really appreciate the nine to five, depending on the job, if it's something that's related to what you do. If you got that job, hang on to it because, um, if you have a creative job that still involves in what you love to do, yeah, it will still allow you to get the funds to get what you want to make your projects that you want to do, especially passion projects, possible. Because if you're not doing, if you don't have an income, you're always going to be so stressed about getting the financials in order. So, while balancing the time, or making the time, yeah, to do what you love.
Speaker 2:So totally right with that. You were totally right with that?
Speaker 1:what will make you? Uh, where are you right now with the mindset? Are you just like, are you waiting for something to get you to change, uh, your perspective on a nine to five? Or, by the way, we're not disrespecting y'all that are in the nine to five, we really respect what? You do, yeah, exactly but go on.
Speaker 2:The thing is I've I've always been someone who has thought like how to explain this? I actually completely forgot the question for a second. But um, no, it's. It's. It's stressful because you have to try and find the money for yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you gotta look out and you gotta find these people to, to work with and collaborate with yes, but what I found to kind of take the weight off of me financially is I outsource a lot of my stuff, so like when I'm doing my own videos and stuff, I do that all myself. But if there are buddies that I have that are looking for work and I have a client that and I can't do their thing, or something like that, just send it on, it on over to them, right?
Speaker 2:And then I talk to them obviously about it and I'm like, hey, I'll put a little commission cap on top for myself because I'm finding these clients and they're completely fine with it, you know what I mean. So that way it's like you're managing all these creative entities that are going out there right and it's nice because these people like in social media as much, as it is a net negative or something like that. When it comes to connection and finding people within your creative sphere, it's a complete positive. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like I've met some great people from all the way in India. I've met some people on the other side of the pond in the UK. I've met people from all over these places that I genuinely love. These guys Like they're actually really solid people, yeah, and I'm able to send jobs out to them and you know, they get to do a little bit of the work and I get a little bit on top. You know it's nice.
Speaker 1:See, that's one thing that I wish I'd learned early on. It's like outsourcing. How did you?
Speaker 2:come across that I've only started it really recently, so I didn't really come up I hadn't really seen anybody do that where they just like basically have the way that I refer to. It is like a disassociated production studio or something like that, where you can hire these group of freelancers right. And whoever you hire from gets a little cap or something like a commission cap, and then he says okay, well, you need him, you need him, you need him right.
Speaker 2:And then those guys get sent off and they work on that job and that way, whoever is actively looking for these clients, everyone's getting these. These clients, everyone's getting these clients yeah, everyone's getting paid. It's really nice and it's and, oh my gosh, the guys that I know are some of the most genuine people you know, and I'm gonna have to link you with some of them because they're really cool they're really cool, of course, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think they. One of the benefits about outsourcing is because, if you were like what you said, if you had a video edit and you send it off, it's like you're earning money when you go to sleep because the video is getting done on the other side of the planet's day and when you wake up it's already ready to go. You send it off. That's the power of outsourcing, guys.
Speaker 2:I haven't done it as much as I'd like to I'm trying to throughout this year. I have some stuff there, like this guy's wanting to get a children's book done, so I hired out my buddy, matt to name dropping a little bit to illustrate the thing. I send it over and it's still working on it.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to work out the kinks and stuff like that, but it's a way to get your friends money that's interesting because, uh, you know, as creative when we work on our own projects, we tend to have this thing where no, I will not let anybody touch it, it's mine it's like it's our, it's our baby yeah exactly walk us through how you managed to uh balance between that version of yourself, that side of you wanting to do it for yourself, versus toning down the ego enough to let other people do it.
Speaker 2:So you know that it'll work out. You gotta know that they can do a good job. That's really hard, but the trick is when I have something like Horaif where I need other people to do things right I, you know I I'll say hey, jonathan, right, uh, can you? Jonathan's my composer buddy. Yes, you have to have a lot, he's really okay.
Speaker 2:We're setting out another love sitting on a lot of it um, I'm like, dude, I'm trying to brainstorm this idea of my main character. Right, Could you make me a test score and I'll pay you for it, right? And then he sends it over and I'm like this is the most beautiful sheet of music I've ever heard. I'm going to send this out and I think I have it up on my YouTube channel the first one that he ever did and he's made some changes to the sound of Horiath, which is really cool.
Speaker 2:Okay, to the sound of her wrath, which is really cool, okay, um, but uh, and then I have other people, like I had ganesh, another shout out um who's.
Speaker 2:You know, he, um, he made the angel's wing, which is the main ship of, uh, the movie right, okay, and um, he did such a fantastic job. And you know, like all these different people, I know that they did great stuff for me. I know that they could do for other people because they're insane. So it's just knowing that you have a friend that can do something good and that you're not the only one with good ideas, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:No, I gotta get you my connect next. Uh, you uh do it right now. Open up your phone. Yeah, uh, look up abraham abraham. I love you man I miss you.
Speaker 2:It's been a while. Abraham, are you serious? Abraham mast? Oh my gosh dude, I've only met one other abraham in my life oh, okay so my full name is abraham. That's crazy. Abraham mast, okay, uh, blender artist Abraham.
Speaker 1:Mast, okay, blender artist. Oh, really, blender artist, really, really really good, Abraham.
Speaker 2:what's his last?
Speaker 1:name Mast M-A-S-T. M-a-s-t. He's really good. Abraham, you the man bro.
Speaker 2:You are a god, holy crap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he does serious stuff and he's based in Nashville. Now the second connection I connection I want to give you is, uh brooks. That's the one I talked to this morning. He's a music composer, so I'm sure you probably already have someone that does music. Yeah, but his uh specific um style of music is an orchestra. Um, he likes sci-fi, he likes all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So that's why it might be a good connection for you to have his name is brooks, liby, liby, uh, so brooks and then liby, l-e-i-b-e e it should have a profile picture of um half shadow yes, that I'm talking about whoa okay has dinosaurs in this profile that's him.
Speaker 2:Anyways, I love you both you guys are fantastic people.
Speaker 1:They're gonna get you um whenever you want to talk to them. I think they're gonna be a great addition to that trilogy, but we're going way too far ahead. With high wrath we will be getting this is gonna be like an eight hour podcast episode and I am so here for it, as you can see the passion like this. Please, don't, please, try not to lose that when you, uh, when you get deeper into this hellhole, uh, film industry. See, I am very jaded in some ways.
Speaker 2:How old are you? I'm 19. So that's why I'm way too positive. Well, to be honest, okay, no, that's good, but god damn, I've been really focused or positive, as weird as that sounds. I've been watching a lot of Parks and Recreation. A what Parks and Recreation.
Speaker 1:What does that have to?
Speaker 2:Okay, I remember what's his of parks and recreation a, what parks and recreation? What does that have? Okay, I'm following. What's his name? Chris pratt, the guy that goes literally, but he's like so positive in the show and when he's on screen he's mark lowe. Okay, rob lowe. Yeah, I haven't watched parks and recs. Okay, it's really funny, um, but he's just so positive about life and so happy and really interested in finding out more about it Okay, and I found that I love people like that, so I want to.
Speaker 2:you know I've been like that, but I haven't been as much recently.
Speaker 1:My gosh. I hope you don't get corrupted. I hope this industry doesn't eat you up and spit you out? I hope so too. Oh my God, 19? Corrupted. I hope this industry doesn't eat you up and spit you out. Oh my god, 19. How old do you think I am? I don't know honestly, take a shot 22, how old are you? 25?
Speaker 2:you're 25, seriously, yes, dude, I thought you were like around my age no that's crazy.
Speaker 1:That's crazy actually yeah, that's why I'm jealous of this. You remind me of me. Oh, my god, I feel old when I said that ah oh no it's all right.
Speaker 2:Now you're good. It's all right, you know no no, no 25 is a number. 25 is a number 25 is a number 30 yearsyear-old self 30 years old is a new 20s.
Speaker 1:30 is a new 20. 30 is the new 20. But no, seriously though, dude, I really miss that energy because In this industry, it's just so easy for people to when you show how positive and how happy you are. There's just a lot of people in this industry that, while there are good ones, like your friends, there are some others that will want to take that. Yes, they will want to use that and especially the fact that you have this passion. There will be people that will take that and try to twist it in a way that they will get as much from you, and you won't even know it.
Speaker 2:Dude. That's why I'm talking about this new hollywood huh that's why I'm talking about this new hollywood kind of thing. You know hollywood sucks hollywood sucks dude. There are gonna be people knocking you down what I'm saying is having people like you and me yeah just you know, with high hopes and wanting to do cool things, and we don't all hate each other, you know, like, how hard is that? How hard is that man?
Speaker 1:no, I think you're right. Finding the right people is just so hard. But keep at it. Um well to you all aspiring filmmakers. Please don't lose your um childhood, your child, the inner child that pushes you to do this stuff.
Speaker 2:It's crafting your network dude yes it's having like cut out people that just don't make you happy. When you're honest, you know if you, if you're gonna be doing something for yourself, cut them out yeah, even if you have uh like longer than three years friendship history dude, it does not matter. Well, I mean see it matters. But you gotta be honest with them, you gotta be like yeah dude. Like when we're in a creative sphere, we need to be open to having these ideas yeah discourse and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:But if you're, if you're gonna put up a wall and just you know, knock me down, I'm not gonna stand for that yes, yes, positive energy for 2024.
Speaker 1:Actually are you? Are you? Have you heard of calliope films? No, follow that account. They host a um creative meetups every month in Pensacola. I just came back from there you will meet so many awesome people there. We should go together. Dude, I freaking love hanging out with you Pull it up, calliope Films, I think the next one's, next month, we should go. I bring my girlfriend, I brought my boss to the to the um event your boss is a cool guy by the way.
Speaker 2:Huh, your boss is a cool guy by the way which one, cj, or the one that I met?
Speaker 1:oh, that's cody, cody. Cody, love you man, love cody. Okay, uh, caliope c-a-l-l-i-o-p-e films, I see it. Oh, another connection I want to give you, danny. I love you, buddy. Danny is based in Pensacola. He's a visual effects artist as well.
Speaker 2:Sweet, oh, my gosh. Okay, what's his film name?
Speaker 1:Danny VFX.
Speaker 2:Danny.
Speaker 1:I love you, man, you are awesome. Wow, this episode, I'm going to title it.
Speaker 2:It's just like Linky.
Speaker 1:Okay, I may have to find Linky, because there are a lot of Danny VFX. Yeah, danny VFX have you, you know.
Speaker 2:I think there are a lot of Danny.
Speaker 1:VFX. He's someone. The profile picture should be him sitting on a film chair.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm looking. Hey, you can just find it. You got it.
Speaker 1:Oh wait no.
Speaker 2:It's VFX Danny, not Danny VFX.
Speaker 1:Danny, you were awesome.
Speaker 2:This is just shout outs to the episodes. Yes, shout outs to the episodes. Okay, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Very talented.
Speaker 2:Wow, look at that account.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's very talented.
Speaker 2:That is so sweet. Okay, that is so sweet.
Speaker 1:Oh, so you chose this career because you want to do it. Now, let's be honest. Yeah, what are your fears about it?
Speaker 2:to do it now. Let's be honest what are? Your fears about it my fear is me being changed as a person through it. Okay, I do not like what you're talking about, like losing this enthusiasm and stuff like that yes and not lose that but, I mean like my I have fear about, like not having anything that's worthwhile to show any like I don't even care if.
Speaker 2:Like if I exist right and like everyone. Like if I'm not like worldwide renowned, I don't. Like I don't care about that, you know Right. Like if I make a handful of things that touch people that are that are close to me you know, that's all that matters to me. You know that's all that matters Damn. You know that sounds like a great mission.
Speaker 1:Please don't lose that side of that.
Speaker 2:I'm trying not to. I'm rekindling yours. You know what I mean. No, I died a long time ago. No, it's coming back. It's coming back.
Speaker 1:It's coming back. No, no, no, no. I feel like Joker in this industry.
Speaker 2:I just want to watch everything burn. Yes, hit me, hit me. You know, dude, wipe it all out, let's start again. Huh, wipe it all out, let's start again.
Speaker 1:Oh, are we doing therapy now? Okay, all right, a little bit Well, so I guess that's your mission in life. So you want to tell people your story. Wow, the enthusiasm is just off the charts. Good, so let's start with the personal life. Okay, star Wars, you have so much Star Wars stuff on your profile, dude. It clearly shows that it has a huge impact, especially your trilogy and all that, but with Star Wars, with that specific franchise. Now, by the way, we're not going to talk about the new trilogy that one.
Speaker 1:No, my opinions what were they thinking with? Pop a team bro anyways, I nothing.
Speaker 2:They weren't thinking about anything star wars.
Speaker 1:tell us the impact that it had on you, um, as you grew up and now you're in this career, how did that franchise influence your cinematography style and as a creator?
Speaker 2:So here's the thing I've done like over like 20 lightsaber commercials. Holy shit, which becomes a little bit.
Speaker 1:Oh, is this the Cabaranth.
Speaker 2:Corbanth Corbanth, oh sorry, almost yeah, corbanth Sabers, right? Yes, so I've done a lot of work with them. Lightsabers, right, so I, I've done a lot of work with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, it's shaped how I do product cinematography because I'm shooting these lightsabers and stuff like that, oh speaking, which he just came back from a trip for a new marison.
Speaker 2:Well, we should talk about that. We should talk freaking crazy, by the way, but go on into your story, so on into that and then we'll talk about that.
Speaker 1:It's really. If you want to see that, it's in this instagram it's really fucking good.
Speaker 2:It's really cool, god. So the thing is like you make 20 of these videos and you can't help that it shapes your cinematography style and stuff like that. But when it comes to how star wars itself has like impacted me is like it's original, like everyone loves the original six right yes I agree, you know but, like dude, the original six. Everybody loves the story from start to finish, right, but really, where my heart has been, where my interest has been, is, um, okay.
Speaker 2:So after return of the jedi is over right before the corporate juggernauts over at Disney had bought Star Wars, they have this whole expanded universe, the legends, right. Where it's like Mara Jade, who is Luke Skywalker's wife, and you have like freaking. You know Darth Vader having a secret Sith apprentice and stuff like that and these stories that feel completely like a different world. And then you know Disney buys it and they snap it all out of existence, right?
Speaker 1:I say the pun, Disney, with Thanos snap.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly. But, like I've always been interested in, like, what could have been, and the cool thing about Horiath is it is I don't know where the word actually comes from right now it's a project. How do you not know that? I know, I know I'm forgetting it right now. I think it's a Welsh word Okay, I'm pretty sure which means a world that you can't return to because it was destroyed, or a world that you can't return to because it never existed, right or a world that you can't return to because it never existed, right?
Speaker 2:So that whole idea of that whole time period, of people who were reading all of these things and watching all of these things and playing all of these games and then suddenly it's gone and it's like it never happened right. That influenced a riot in a big way, because that idea is really interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because that idea is really interesting, yeah, but you know Star Wars itself like mainly George Lucas' intent behind the series and I loved seeing I studied his like process of how he ended up writing all of that stuff. So he originally had formatted nine movies, right, right, but not the nine movies that we know now.
Speaker 2:Or maybe it may have been ten, I don't remember, and he had the first movie being like a prologue, the second two movies being like a two-part epic about the story of Darth Vader, and then it goes into the grandchildren and all this different stuff.
Speaker 2:No, it was 12 movies actually, and I found that idea of him formatting all of this stuff super interesting because it's so crazy and no one had ever done anything like that and no one has done a 12 part epic of one story, well, I mean harry potter's, the one that comes close, harry potter's the one that becomes closest exactly, but, like george lucas's original intent of doing that was something that had never been done before. Right.
Speaker 2:And I loved how high he shot. And dude someone to come up with a story of six movies, because I only see it as six movies, but, like, because I don't count seven, eight, nine, no one counts seven, eight, nine. Yeah. But just how he shaped that dude, it's influenced my writing style. Maybe, more than my cinematography style. I think my cinematography style is closer. At least I'm wanting to push it closer to the Richard Donner Superman movies, the what. The 1970s Superman movies.
Speaker 1:Wait, is that what George Reeves? No, christopher Reeve.
Speaker 2:Christopher Reeve, george Reeves is the one Christopher Reeves Yeahves, george Reeves, christopher Reeves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I got those names mixed up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, also, you want that style.
Speaker 2:I want to push it towards it. You know what I mean. I love the practicality of everything. Wow I love. The thing is, my stuff is it's like all handheld and you're, they're moving in and moving out, but I've been so attracted and I cannot. It's so hard for me to do, but I want to just keep stuff on sticks all the time now. Oh, dude, I can relate to that I want to, because it's more I watch movies and then I'm slowly starting to realize like no one's moving the camera. Dude, I know right.
Speaker 1:It's only really with Steadicam, but it's just a dolly track, yeah the scene, let just scene tell that play out dude yeah, the movement. All right, bro. I used to shoot music videos. I thought it was cool, but I kept swinging left and right, left and right, left and right. I was like, oh yeah, this is cool, but it makes it a pain in the editing room.
Speaker 2:Huh, it makes it a pain in the editing room. Yes, because you're like it a pain in the editing room yes, Because, you're like, the clip is like this long and the select is like this big or something like that, yeah. And then I'd have to like make everything like 0.5 second cuts and stuff like that. But recently I want to try is all I'm saying Wow.
Speaker 1:So you want to try the cinema toffee style where everything's charged. You want to stick to the sticks just stay still. And then, oh man, you want to do a trilogy. Well, no, that's a.
Speaker 2:That's a great, ambitious goal to have when I say trilogy, it's not like three feature-length movies, right, it's basically one movie, right but it's split into three parts right like 15, 20, 30 minute. Right parts but uh it in and of itself. Yeah, it's absolutely terrifying and, honestly, right now I'm content with just doing one.
Speaker 1:But uh, we'll see now, what the other part of the fear when it comes with managing expectations, with all of? That? How are? You. I can't Tell us how you are. Walk us through that experience. Because that's an important thing Because especially people like you that are starting out, they get wrapped up in the expectations, like they start to get into their head that they can do it. But how are you managing that? Expectations? I'm not, oh no, I'm not, oh no, I'm not.
Speaker 2:Well, I I want to say I am, and you know I am content with getting to a, you know, just getting stories out right. But my, my aspirations are so astronomically high I know I can't hit them like really. But to have that like end goal in mind, and if I'm just shooting a little bit lower, I don't care about it. You know what I mean, but like the expectations are huge, they really are.
Speaker 2:But I think that if I can really, you know, set into my ways and go for it, which I have been trying right, I have been trying, then I can do something that's worthwhile, but no, my expectations are uh, my expectations are way too high and I can't, I can't just I can't bring them down I can't bring them down so you're.
Speaker 1:You have your force, like in star wars, the expectation that you have is just like it's so strong in you. It's like the force awakened, the force awakened. You're literally the force awakened right now.
Speaker 2:Wow, I've been aware of it. I've been aware of it. I know that a lot of the stuff is insane.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, not insane To people they all think it's insane.
Speaker 2:But to the right people they will see that as possible as possible, but also like, like dude, if you have like some kind of crazy project, I'm in, I've. I've gotten to a point which is difficult for me financially, right, okay. But if you have a project that is cool enough and like interesting enough, it really grabs my attention, or if I just like working with you, I will jump on for completely free wow, I don't care I've stopped. That's the thing I've stopped make sure you get paid though it's bad.
Speaker 2:Make sure you get paid, though. Well, obviously, if it's something like if it's something where I could be getting money, I'm going to try, but if you have something right and it's, you know, that's just where I'm at, Wow.
Speaker 1:That's just where I'm at. I love the confidence with that one.
Speaker 2:That's where I'm at, that's good, that's good. Well, dude, like, if you have a story that you want to tell who am I to be, like, well, we'll pay me first. You know, because we're buds. You know what I mean. We're buds, I'm going to help my bud and like, obviously, I, dude, I pay my friends whenever, whenever they work for me, and stuff like that. But, like, I don't like, if you want me on a project, if you're doing a cool documentary, if you're doing a short film or music video or something, and you're like, dude, I just want to work with you call me up, guys, if you have any projects okay, wait a minute.
Speaker 2:There's a line.
Speaker 1:I said my friends well, now with the Star Wars, now that you describe how the way, with the 1970's style of Superman. What about the photoshopping thing with the fan arts?
Speaker 2:yeah, they're good they're yeah, they're pretty decent, yeah, so a lot of it again. Like I was saying before, like it came from um, I just wanted to learn photoshop right stuff like that. And then it got to a point where you know a lot of the social media traction that you get with Photoshop is recognizable IPs that people really like. I'm a real fan of DC. Superman is, I think, one of the best characters ever to see Okay there's a line I like. Marvel.
Speaker 2:Well, well, okay, I like Superman and I like the Justice League, but I don't like the DC extended universe of the movies that they've been making recently, like Batman versus Superman, that kind of stuff. But I don't like the DC extended universe of like the movies that they've been making recently, like Batman vs Superman, that kind of stuff. I don't like that.
Speaker 1:Wait, are you talking about the Snyder Cut? I didn't watch the Snyder Cut. You don't like the Snyder Cut.
Speaker 2:I didn't watch the Snyder Cut. What I watched? The Snyder Cut. I didn't watch the Snyder Cut. What the fuck.
Speaker 1:This is, in my opinion, the best portrayal of the Justice League, in my opinion that DC has come close to Well yeah, well, the thing is I, how do I explain this?
Speaker 2:How do I explain this? I haven't seen it, so I can't really comment.
Speaker 1:Oh, you have to man.
Speaker 2:I'll watch it. There are aspects of man of steel that I really love right where it like. I like the format of the storytelling and stuff like that. But I am a christopher reeve big guy. Really I love christopher reeve. I think he he's one of my favorite actors of all time.
Speaker 1:I'm obsessed you think henry cavill lived up to the Superman?
Speaker 2:name. I think that he could have, but I don't think he has.
Speaker 1:What do you mean? You expanded that.
Speaker 2:Expanded that Okay, okay, we'll go to the Superman.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, okay.
Speaker 2:So there are a few like standoff things that I think qualify him as being possibly the best Superman. Henry Cav qualify him as being possibly the best superman. Henry kevin tried okay, but he okay. It's not that he didn't try, because I think if he was given christopher reeve script he could have. Well, I don't know about christopher reeve script because I don't think their original superman movie okay james gunn is also coming out with a different.
Speaker 1:I'm actually so excited about that yeah, the way he's going about that is a lot closer to christopher reeve. Yeah, exactly era than what we're asking. What's not a cut? It's more dark, more grounded yeah, well, I think there's.
Speaker 2:There's a line between, because you can do grounded right, but we can or cannot you can do ground, okay, but you have to do it in a way that still makes the character the exact same character, okay what I mean yes, so it's like he can, he can have. I really liked what snyder did with krypton and you had like a real feeling alien world right felt like actually like, okay, I understand this right and it felt almost lord of the rings and I was like okay, I really like that yeah but then if you have, you know, superman, who is the beacon of all hope, fighting zion and metropolis instead of in an open field where no one would be hurt it doesn't make as much sense because he is like in my mind.
Speaker 2:I've I've read so many superman comics. I am such a superman fanatic.
Speaker 2:This is the one thing that I think my girlfriend might hate me for. I've read everything. Honestly, this may sound weird. Go for it Like I've had a notes app in my phone for exactly what I do with a Superman saga, wow For such a long time, and it's so solid and I think it would be the best adaptation of Superman ever. It would be so good, but I couldn't do it in a million years because I'm freaking 19 and no one would hire me. To be fair, we didn't.
Speaker 1:We didn't expect james gunn to even take the helm of um of the dc. So no, and there will be people that will come after james gunn is done with the. There will be people that we didn't ever expect. So I think, yeah, I think you can do it. It's just more of like you gotta do the trials and retribution that the the directors that went through to get to where they are now.
Speaker 1:So save that, I think it might come in handy yeah, exactly the last thing I will say about the Superman and Snyder Cut is how I really appreciate how Snyder portrayed difference in terms of strength between the army soldiers. Do you remember that I don't have you watched man of stew?
Speaker 2:I have watched man of steel. Yes, do you?
Speaker 1:remember the scene where they were fighting in the town, where superman was fighting off the aliens um zod's, um uh partners or they were fighting with the american soldiers. What I appreciated about that is you could see the distinct strength in comparison to a superhuman yeah, a regular soldier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that, yeah, and I will not diss Snyder's cinematography style because it is absolutely stellar. Yes, and it is so distinct. Yes, and it is so I feel like he can paint like a comic book visual so well, just like Watch Like. Watchmen yes, like Watchmen, I think Batman v Superman has some incredible cinematography.
Speaker 1:Wait, batman vs Superman.
Speaker 2:The BVS, yeah, bvs, okay, yeah yeah, yeah, I think it has some incredible cinematography.
Speaker 1:Storyline sucks.
Speaker 2:Story it sucked. I also didn't watch it because I'm that much of a hater. Well, I'm not that much of a hater, it sucked.
Speaker 1:No, what, you never watched BVS. I didn't watch BVS. How can you say that and not watch it?
Speaker 2:But you are right, I'm a major, I don't have I think people are so Like, don't have to have reasons. Yes. Just like people are infinitely.
Speaker 1:You save yourself time. Bvs was not good.
Speaker 2:Okay, good it. Just I heard the director's cut is better.
Speaker 1:Yes, I can agree with that, but no, still not as good, still not as good. Okay, so that's a bit about the Superman With the Photoshop. One more thing on that one yeah, go ahead With Photoshop. How are you transferring the skills that you've acquired in Photoshop into what you do now as a cinematographer?
Speaker 2:Well, okay, so I actually started as a cinematographer before I was in photoshop oh, okay, so I I've been. My parents enrolled me in an online christian film school. When, I was 14 okay and I really worked hard on it. Well, I didn't really work hard. I did it and um, I've been filming. I filmed on a freaking canon 60d, if you can imagine. Old school cheapo stuff. Old school Dude. I learned a lot, and then I installed a software called Magic Lantern onto my camera.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I haven't heard that name in a long time.
Speaker 2:You remember Magic Lantern. It killed my camera. Oh. And so the camera was gone. The camera was gone and I was like crap, what do I do?
Speaker 1:How much was that?
Speaker 2:camera. At that time, bro, it was only like $200. It was not expensive. It was not expensive. But I was like I'm not going to get another 60G, I'm going to upgrade. So I didn't do it for a long time. And then I was like so, dude, what do I freaking do when my camera's gone? So, dude, what do I freaking do when my camera's gone? That was like my thing, yeah. So I got into Photoshop and, dude, I loved it. And you were talking about like how did this actually influence like what you're doing now? Right, so what I've found is to look development and, because it doesn't really affect me as much, I think I am better at lighting subjects because of it with natural light.
Speaker 2:Okay, because I know how to relight faces in Photoshop and stuff like that, and I know how to paint intricate costumes and stuff like that, but it has to be believable. So, like color theory and stuff like that, I do know a lot more about that, but mainly it helps me a lot in terms of, you know, visual development of horiath, right where I need to like, like, I want to pin down like a look for this character, I need to figure it out, um and like, like, once I have it, I can photoshop better than I can draw at this point. So so it's like I Photoshop the character out and I'm like, oh well, I totally understand who this character is. I can write this character like that, and it's just helped in that aspect and it's fun. It's fun, I love Photoshop.
Speaker 1:No, because Photoshopping was a. It used to be a thing from a long time ago. I used to create Photoshop composites and it's never, really Never stuck out to you.
Speaker 2:I don't like it. Well, it depends on what you're doing with it. You know what? I mean yeah.
Speaker 2:And it depends on how you curate the experience. All you got to do is freaking picture in, picture a funny and put it in the top corner of your screen, and I could work for 20 hours a day and I could be making anything. All you need is some baseline. What I found okay is when I'm working, if I can come up with something fun to do during something that I don't like. I like what I'm doing, so that's what's helped. With Photoshop, I just put on a funny show.
Speaker 1:It's just really hard to sit through, but then again I think it takes a certain people like you to really enjoy the experience. I think some people will find maybe it's not for them, but I'm really glad that the skills that you have found in Photoshop still is transferable to cinematography in some form of capacity which is good.
Speaker 2:I still do Photoshop all the time. I'm making rack cards for businesses. I'm making all this different stuff for business. I'm doing like I've done album covers, I've done movie posters, I've done a ton of stuff. Um not trying? To brag or anything, obviously, but like, it's okay to brag, it's okay it's okay it's a business of bragging, but um, it's, it's transferable and I still use it all the time yeah, all the time.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to pivot into the therapy session, or section of this episode. How have your parents accepted your choice in choosing this career? You already answered it with your own perspective, but now I would like to know how are they able to come to terms that you are going to go with this career path?
Speaker 2:Dude, they've pushed me for it so hard oh man, you are really lucky to have that.
Speaker 2:I am, I really am Dude. My parents have been. So my mom, my mom was a musician for a really long time and she, dude, she phenomenal musician, phenomenal voice, just phenomenal whoa, phenomenal character. And my dad my dad was a pastor for a really long time and he always like pushed me. He was like I really didn't like the college experience. If you've always felt called to you know filming and creating and stuff like that, yeah, I'm gonna help you. And so my parents actually totally a lot of people are like dude. My parents got so mad at me when I got into this yeah my parents.
Speaker 2:They've pushed me to work harder, okay, which like when I was like freaking 17 or something like that I was like come on Mom and Dad Like I'm 17.
Speaker 2:And then you know they were totally right it was like if I work, there's a difference between us, like I don't want to go down the college path or something like that, I don't want to go down this path and I don't want to go down the college path or something like that. I don't want to go down this path and I want to do my own thing. I'm going to be an artist, right, but you're not working, then you're just, you know, you're just not working, you're not trying, and you know what I mean. And it's like my parents pushed me to work hard in what I was doing, but also they were, they were so supportive and I really thank them so much Because, dude, I know so many parents who would have killed their kids if they did this, killed them. I'm beyond blessed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, beyond blessed dude. Now, that's a weird thing to have, especially because I understand. As I got older, I understood where my parents were coming from, but Jesus Christ, yeah. That's not something you should take lightly. The fact that they're doing that. It's just like how has that boosted your confidence in going forward?
Speaker 2:So much, dude, I don't have to. The thing is, I only have to worry about letting them down. You know what I? Mean, and I don't like, I don't see them thinking that really. And it's like I really admire, like how they saw this, and my parents are people who love the arts. They like love seeing people do what they're called to and I actually forgot what the question was a little bit.
Speaker 1:What was the question again? How has that boosted your confidence? In going forward with the support of your parents. It totally has.
Speaker 2:Remember what I said, dude, it is one in a million and I'm so glad that I have it, because if I didn't have it, well, if I didn't have them kicking me in the butt I would have been doing nothing. But if they were like they, they told me like to work at it, like make, like go out, make connections, talk to people and do what you love. Because if my dad worked for a long time Just at a 9 to 5. And he was like I hated that, and then do you know what I'm doing now? I have a boat rental business and I get to go and put people out on the water and I love my job. And I'm like dude.
Speaker 2:I don't want to have a period in my life where I'm not doing exactly what I love.
Speaker 1:You know, can you walk us through a time where you have that side? Of the support Now walk us through a time where everything was just. You felt down, you just felt doubtful, Because I guarantee that you cannot tell me there has not been a moment like that in your life. This happened, dude. Tell me this happened.
Speaker 2:There has not been a moment like that in your life. This happened, dude, but I, you know it there was. It was really just when I wasn't putting my nose to the grindstone, okay, and I thought like, oh, like you know, it's the typical teenager mindset where you, okay, you know, I'm a teenager so I can say it but it's like, oh, I don't want to do what everybody tells me what to do you know? And it was when I realized oh, I can be on my own path.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I can take these inputs from people and actually apply them. And well, you know, I felt so much better. I was actually doing going down the right path. You know what I mean. I was actually doing going down the right path. You know what I mean and I had. You know. It's that time where I broke my camera. I was sad, but like Sad boy hour. Sad boy hour, but like I, if that never would have happened, then I never would have learned.
Speaker 2:No-transcript photoshop so you believe in the butterfly effect dude, I am, I'm a christian, so I'm like totally like everything is predestined, everything is going somewhere. You know what I mean and I feel like I know exactly where. Not exactly where I'm going, but I know that there's a plan in the long run. So that's just it's cool.
Speaker 1:That's the hardest part, because even when I was doing this for a while, it's just the fear. You say that it's all pre-planned, but well, guess what? I would like to know that plan in paper oh dude, I do too.
Speaker 2:Don't think that I don't too. Everybody does. Everybody's just like, oh, I know exactly what's going on. Nobody knows right, but I feel like if you find the path and you walk down it and you're like, oh okay, you know it, yeah. You're like this is the path. I know what it is and you may stray from it, but that's also part of the bad. That's what I love about that's oh my gosh, that's what you know.
Speaker 1:This is kind of an emotional podcast, see that is the purpose, to get you cry, um, actually, the fact that you're 19 and you know what to do means you're already at least like 60 or at least like 75% ahead.
Speaker 4:Of everybody else, Because dude at that age they're still going to.
Speaker 1:There are still some friends of mine who went to college and still not know what they want. So the fact that you know what you want it puts you ahead of the game Now the question is this, now that you know what you want to do. Yeah, has it been hard for you to you know. Um, cut out the friends that aren't, because when we are so passionate, and when they see that they're gonna, they're taking them wrong way right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, the thing is, you are incredibly right with this and what I found is that if I can't find someone who doesn't have even if it's not in film that doesn't have, like this is like me shooting for the moon. This is something crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, and they're not. If they don't know it yet I try and push them toward it a little bit, like, think of these things, yeah, think of where you're going, because I was blessed to know when I was freaking 14. Like, I knew where I wanted to go and I feel like it is it's. It's not that I cut them out, but it is so much harder to connect to people that don't have a dream you know that.
Speaker 2:Don't have a like this is where I'm going, and it's easier right when it's someone who wants to go the same way as yes, like dude me and you, like we hit it we hit it off like probably shooting for the mafia oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Uh, for context, we were at a uh event shoot. Um cannot disclose the event, but it was a pretty cool event where a lot of high value. People showed up and he was there shooting into black magic, but as 18 to 35, yeah, and it was a big ass break whereas I showed. It's where I showed up with a fx3 his, his rig is so light and I'm so jealous a carpal tunnel dude I'm going to do but go on, I'm gonna have jacked on four arms by the end of shooting.
Speaker 1:Yes, by the end of shooting with this. Yes, unless you get an easy rig?
Speaker 2:I actually won't. I've. I've played around with one I got I got to use it an easy rig and it was a ronin 4d. Oh, are you talking?
Speaker 1:about the chicken head. Chicken head, I call it a chicken head. Yes, totally chicken head wow it.
Speaker 2:It was nice and I get to use a 900D. Damn, were you on a camera show Like an expo. I wasn't, so a buddy of mine, dylan, hi Dylan.
Speaker 1:Hi Dylan, another shout out.
Speaker 2:Has a ton of gear and I was doing real estate stuff with him for a while. Okay, not doing it as much anymore, who knows?
Speaker 1:But going back to the experience of it's just so hard. Now you want to find the right people. How is that like in this area?
Speaker 2:It's hard, but when you find someone, it's fantastic Because they're so desperate for it and they want to find it Like dude. I found you right and you were like dude. It's so hard to find people in this area, which I agree with, but I also think that if you look hard enough and you find the right people, it's so much more worthwhile. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:If you're trying to find creative people, go to 30A and film whoever's playing music. I'm buddies with Dion Jones, dion Jones and the Neon. Tears, deon jones and the on tears. You should totally have him on this podcast. He's such a chill guy sup deon.
Speaker 2:Um, he like I just I was out. I was actually filming for my buddy, okay, who now goes by buddy because he's also a musician. What's up, michael? Uh and uh, right after we were getting food and de was playing, I was like dude, can I shoot you? He was like go for it.
Speaker 2:And then we totally worked together and I went to film him at a studio and stuff like that. He was a super chill guy and it's again. I do agree with you that it is hard to find people, but the people here are so awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, with that being said, do you ever see yourself going to LA or Atlanta, or New York, maybe Atlanta? Well see, because here's the thing Atlanta, All you think of is tourists. In my opinion. I've said it in previous podcasts, not that I don't have any hate, but it's just the way it just feels. People come down here to retire yeah, because it's a place to relax. People don't go down here to retire because it's a place to relax People.
Speaker 1:don't go down here to build, but there are people here that are trying to do that, whereas with ATL and Atlanta or no, atl is the same thing as Atlanta.
Speaker 2:Atlanta, new York, atlanta.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have all this place, you have access to people just like you. So, is that in your predestined plan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So yeah, you have a good point there, right? But within this, the thing is, there are so many memes where you get to los angeles and it's like, are you? Oh so you're the special guy from your hometown that everybody? That everybody a little bit of fear is there right? Yeah, it's like I don't want to be the guy that is that you know what I mean't want to be the guy that is that you know what I mean we're on the special guy from my hometown yeah everything I would like.
Speaker 2:there are really cool opportunities in the panhandle. Like dude, freaking chris stapleton has a house down here. I've I heard that taylor swift is building a house down here, like dude, but they're probably doing that to relax Exactly to relax, and stuff like that. But you're on vacation. How about a music video? Well, dude, I would be fine with going wherever the wind takes me, yes, right. I love this area.
Speaker 1:I think it's the most beautiful area down here, oh my gosh, I'll tell you, I'm really jaded with the beach and the beach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you don't like the beach, because you get the hearing aid and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah but also it got old after living here for six or seven years. Six or seven years I agree with you. How long have you lived here?
Speaker 2:I've lived here since I was 10. Jesus Christ, nine years. I've lived here since I was 10, so nine years, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, and you have not gotten tired of it.
Speaker 2:No, dude. No, I love this place. That's impressive, it is. It is difficult, but I also, to be fair, I live out in Santa Rosa, okay, and Santa Rosa is in the heart of everything. You have. Destin right here, you got 30.
Speaker 1:You got Inlet rosemary, yeah, and you've got niceville, and you know, niceville is a little bit more boring. It's a little nice about this place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all right, it's all right, but you know they're dude. They're nice people in niceville. I love the people here. Yeah, well, the people in this area, I think, are so nice. And is it a little bit of me being a homebody? Sure, yes, sure it definitely is, but honestly I am fine with wherever the wind takes if you got an opportunity to work on a dune trilogy like next trilogy yeah, I would be there, of course I would yeah, and then once you start getting to the environment, you see all these directors you have easy access to.
Speaker 1:They're all right what's gonna stop you from not wanting to come back here you're right, and it is family.
Speaker 2:You know actually. You know what you're 19 I think you will.
Speaker 1:Uh, we're gonna have you. We're gonna have him back on a later episode. He's gonna be a different person then I'm gonna be.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be 20 and I'm gonna be like I hate everybody. Oh, oh God, I'm going to be 30.
Speaker 1:Whoa. Oh my God, but anyways. So well, I mean, you have a lot going for you. I hope so. I'm 25. Yes, you have a lot going for you. Shut the fuck up. Thank you, thank you. Okay okay.
Speaker 2:You have a lot going for you, which is good. You're going to do great. I have a lot going for you, which is good. You're going to do great. I have a lot of opportunities and it's great, and I'm working and I'm really happy with all I have.
Speaker 1:Please take this time. If there's one thing I could tell myself, it's to slow down. Just don't burn any bridges, please. I won't.
Speaker 2:I have. I will try not to anymore Dude it will come back to bite Dude. It is so easy. It is so easy so you've had some experiences there. Yes, is what you're saying. So are you allowed to elaborate on?
Speaker 1:camera, burning bridges. There are some where I just like to. There is one particular. There were multiple experiences. One company that I worked for, basically, I shot. They saw my work. You know, know, the usual drill it's all work, looks cool. Hey, can we hire you? Cool, yeah, I shot a music video for them and then all hell went broke. Uh, broke loose really. First sign of trouble was um, there was one scene where we were supposed to be done in two, but they kept saying that my lighting wasn't doing any good, so I had to rearrange 20 setups 20 setups.
Speaker 1:So, keep in mind. This was when I was, I think, 19 or 20.
Speaker 2:Okay, Were you a one-man crew here. Were you a one-man crew here.
Speaker 1:Well, actually I had a friend of mine, hunter. He was helping out.
Speaker 1:They had me do 20-plus setups just to because they all they kept saying, oh, we don't like the lighting, it was the makeup. But I kept saying, no, it's the makeup. And after 20, I told guys, we were, we were, we were supposed to be there for two hours, only to end up being there for four hours. Four hours, are you serious? We had to pay time. And I finally told them hey, you need to get a makeup artist here to fix the makeup yeah, and lo and behold, it was the makeup it was the makeup. That's the first sound of trouble. Second sound of trouble.
Speaker 1:I was filming for a scene it's the last one, yeah, but they told me to get off the camera and they would be the one to shoot the rest of it. Yeah, dude, and they're not experienced in video camera. That is awful. The third experience with that third lesson from that is they took the original footage because they asked for it, which was not part of the agreement of the contract. Any footage will be under my property Ownership.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and so they said okay, all right. And so they said okay, all right. I found out later on they took the exact same footage, outsourced it to somebody in LA and used some of the parts that they told me not to use, but they ended up using it. The editor used it and the call grading was just terrible. And yeah, they took my footage and just, oh my gosh, yeah that sucks. That's one experience out of many.
Speaker 2:Well, it's also. You need to like the problem starting out, and I have done it too is finding actual good repeat clients. That's hard. It's so hard, yeah. And especially ones that want to pay.
Speaker 1:Oh, we're going to take a break, we're going to go get a bit of water Actually water and a fridge Go into the repeat clients, because that's I think if you have a repeat client. That is the golden type of it's a golden egg versus a one-off client it is nice. Walk us through how you've been able, or walk us through how you're working towards um getting as many as many.
Speaker 2:So the thing is, I have a handful, and when I say repeat clients. It's like they're all on different schedules. You know what I mean. So one may be repeat every two weeks, yes. One may be repeat every week, yes. One may be repeat every three months, yes, four months, five months, or they just come back.
Speaker 1:Honestly, people generally there was one guy that was awful- All the names discussed in this episode have been revised to protect their identity. Revised yes.
Speaker 2:Except the people that we said nice things about we still love you.
Speaker 1:They are real names.
Speaker 2:We still love you. It really just came down to asking and asking and asking and asking, right. So bad idea, right Bad idea, but to some people it totally works and I have burned a few bridges but I have strengthened others. So I like I'm really good at pitching, like I can pitch like that. So like I'm like hey, dude, I have this really cool idea to modernize your website. Right.
Speaker 2:What we're going to do is this thing, and this thing, and this thing. And then they're like well, we can't do all of that, but we can do that one thing, and that happens every single time. So I just over pitch way to the sky. And then they're like okay, we'll do another one.
Speaker 2:And then what I kind of do is make myself invaluable to a way, so like I am this brand's only video guy. They don't know anyone else. Also, I own the rights to all the footage that we've already used, so they're kind of locked in. So that's one way to go about it.
Speaker 2:is you kind of got to make yourself invaluable and other ways to do it is to just also try and be as likable as you can and constantly be giving free stuff and stuff like that. But what you do is you charge up the stuff. So it's basically so like when I say free stuff, right, what I do is I send like a 1080p version of a thing and I'm like, if you want it 4K, just let me know and then, boom, they have something in 4K right and I'm like if you want uh it 4k.
Speaker 2:Just let me know and then boom, they have.
Speaker 2:So they get 4k right and I'm like hey, um, if you like with add-ons, I'm really good about that. So it's like hey, if you want like a story template or something like this, I'll make it for 20 bucks, okay, and that takes me five minutes. Like like, I just do that, send that out. People like free stuff and people like cheap stuff. And then they're like this guy actually likes me and he wants to do more stuff with me, right, and then they buy bigger stuff and do cooler events and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Well, that being said, I think there's another way of going about it, which I from my other podcast episodes. There is this recurring theme that it's now shift, the talent and the personality starting to shift, whereas especially you can see this in the industries that yeah, you could be an asshole but still have a great talent. But the fact is that it's starting to go down and people are now putting more priority in how much they like working with the other person, exactly my gosh yeah. Yeah so.
Speaker 2:I think that's they may have Like it's a bad thing. When it comes to art, right, okay, if you have like a good performance and stuff like that, but when we're talking about how much art that you can make, if you're like it's cutting out what you don't like, yes. You can find somebody that you like who is equally talented or something like that. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like, and it doesn't take that much more work, especially in the age of social media where you can find people really easily right um, but you know, some people you're locked into or something like that, and I think back on the day, but now it's not that hard hmm, have you?
Speaker 1:have you gotten yourself on like a film production set before?
Speaker 2:um once, but not like I wasn't really doing anything, I was just there oh yeah, try to get yourself on a site.
Speaker 1:It's a whole different world. How do?
Speaker 2:you. How do you do it? Because you have, you're part of this production company. You guys get hired out, right do do like these studios that want their stuff on commercials and stuff like that. Well, what does the?
Speaker 1:company that I'm working for one shot creations love you guys. One shot creation um, they're a video production company and they're more focused on the um commercial and real estate kind of stuff. So we're not really like a film centric studio like you would see in hollywood. Um, that's where they're at yeah and with the experience of being on set that comes from uh, having connections with people in the industry.
Speaker 1:So I have a couple friends of mine, uh, where they've taken me on a film set and there are some where I just somehow found my way to it. Yeah, I'm glad I'm not working in that environment anymore. Yeah, really, it's 14 hours plus. It's like, uh, you have and you have to drive back and then go back to the same set. So it's that kind of environment where I once thought was glamorous. You know, you get to be close to. I met the um doc brown from back to the future, christopher lloyd dude yes, and that guy from the best friend of zach efron and high school musical corbin blue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I saw how everybody's working. It's just like this glamorous side of hollywood that I once fell in love with just became this kind of like a uh, was it a lifestyle that I wanted to live and? I just ultimately didn't want to yeah, yeah because I don't think I'm gonna be in that environment as much yeah but there is an environment where it's like a music video.
Speaker 2:It's a smaller scale yeah that's kind of environment I want to be in and around with people that I enjoy working exactly well, this is what I'm talking about, like dude, a freaking second hollywood, where you're not working 14 hours a day because you're just doing it with your buds yeah it's. I've had this idea to put together basically a monty python. Oh okay, a monty python. You know how monty python like?
Speaker 1:functioned right.
Speaker 4:It was like do you never watch that sorry, okay, but like monty python.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure about this fact. This is completely an Abe fact. Okay, basically, how Monty Python functioned is it was a group of guys who would get together and make a movie. Okay, like, I have a good idea, let's freaking do that and let's pay ourselves to do this, right, and they just made, got together and made it, and apparently none of those guys actually liked each other or something like that they did not. They did not like each other or something like that.
Speaker 2:But if we were to make a serious group of guys right who just wanted to make, and it doesn't matter if it takes. That's why I love like the idea of obviously I've never really been on a set or something like that, well, you will be, I will be, I'm trying, um. But you know, I like the idea of, like, with the wrath trilogy, I'm gonna take that, that's gonna take a long time and I'm weirdly fine with that yeah you know, it's like push it out or like make it slowly.
Speaker 2:So number one, production quality goes up because you are actually like you know, you're acquiring more money over the course of this time. So you're able to put more money yeah right and again, this is all theoretical, so I have no idea. Um, and, and you know, you get to like actually just enjoy the experience with the buzz instead of it just rushing through this reminds me of.
Speaker 1:This reminds me of a quarter corridor digital Freddie Wong, because, you know, are you familiar with video game high school series? Yeah, yeah, I've heard of it.
Speaker 2:I'm watching though.
Speaker 1:He started off a simple concept which balloon into a full-on production. That looks like a real TV show and they were working with their best buddies, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's totally what I want to do. Oh man, Doesn't that sound appealing? Huh, that sounds appealing. Right it is. It sounds like something to do.
Speaker 1:It's just the hard part about that is making sure that the work doesn't affect the friendship, because sometimes work will actually Affect the friendship, Burn it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Well, if you're making something that's cool enough and you're taking your time with it and it's like if I'm putting my money, I am more focused on having, well, I think you can craft stronger friendships by crafting strong art. And if you trust each other In other trauma bond because film is trauma bonding, yes, trauma bonding, no, yeah, actually yeah, there's trauma bonding.
Speaker 1:Going back to the uh monthly retainer, uh, clients, how do you walk us through how you convince yourself that what you're worth is actually what you're worth?
Speaker 2:I have a tough time with that. Actually, everyone has a tough time with that. Honestly, a lot of the time I'm like I'm not being paid enough or something like that. That happens a lot, but it's really. I struggle with it, but I put myself out there and it's like I don't know if I really understand my worth yet as an artist. How come? I price myself too low sometimes. Well it depends. It really depends. It's just project by project.
Speaker 1:I'm like if I like this.
Speaker 2:I'm like, yeah, but I feel like a lot of the time I don't end up getting. I don't put my standards as high as they should be. You know what I mean but that's just me.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of factors that go into that, but I can understand where you're coming from, because, one, you have all these other people that could be doing way better than you. And two, it's hard to price yourself right in this market, oh my god.
Speaker 2:And three, it's hard to find people that want to do yes and it's like like I've tried pricing myself higher and it's like the people that I'm pitching to I'm not having a lot of people come to me as much. It's mainly I'm cold emailing, I'm cold calling. I probably need to like fix that, I don't know how, but it's like I'm kind of like my ball is in their court yeah, I mean they have to decide all these things so they're gonna go.
Speaker 1:You gotta turn that out the other way around.
Speaker 2:I know and I'm trying to think on how I can do that. So when it comes to you, so you work through one shot. Um, before did you work like you. You did freelance for a while. Yes, so did you have. Was it mainly you messaging people and calling people and stuff like that, or did you you had people just mainly coming to you? I never did any of that seriously elaborate on that, because I'm like I don't even think I have my google business listing up. That's probably the main problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but go ahead tell me, so it's the same way how you are now extremely passionate and I was grateful enough to um friends of mine. One that got me my start was just so happened to be a best friend of mine. She wanted to be a singer and she wanted to do music videos. At that time I knew I just wanted to make music videos. I did not think of anything related to business. All I could think of was let's just do it, I'm making.
Speaker 2:All right, I said you, I'm making. All right, you're making Huh.
Speaker 1:I said you're just making, yes, yeah yeah, and that was one of my first earliest projects. It was Sway Okay, no budget, no budget, nothing like that. But we were somehow able to make it turn like a somewhat of a like a Los Angeles kind of a music video in terms of quality. I had nothing, no budget, just a black magic, ursa and yeah. And it was through. I guess I would say that it's you're right, Working with the right people that you love working with, and then putting our all into this project.
Speaker 1:That's how the word it got spread the work that we did. When I went across the community here and people that wanted to get the same services that I wanted to do, they called me up yeah and so now, as far as um cold calling, I never did any of that. I never believe in that.
Speaker 1:I never did emailing, because I could never just bring myself to do that yeah I just, oh man, I I guess well before before that music video, it was with um nice for high school I shot a powerade music, uh, powerade commercial really. I won them ten thousand dollars for that school and it was a nationwide uh video contest. At the time I was like, yeah, let's do it for fun uh but I made it to.
Speaker 1:I tried to make it look like it was a nationwide video contest. At the time I was like, yeah, let's do it for fun. But I made it to. I tried to make it look like it was. It looked like it was from a Powerade commercial. After that one it was just because of how well you make a video look good. That led to other people, agencies that want to. That saw my work and they wanted to work, have me on their projects. But call calling again. That saw you, that saw my work and they wanted to work, have me on their projects, yeah, but calling again.
Speaker 2:So you never did any of that. So here's the thing like I have done exactly what you did, yeah, and I do occasionally, okay, have people come in and they're like, yeah, totally, totally do this. Like I have a photography studio, that really they like what I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm, you know, I was friends with their daughter and they're like, yeah, dude right let's, let's um, let's work together right, so they send me out on a few jobs and stuff like that with people who need it, right, and I really enjoy that and it's great in the pace, good so um, but the problem that I'm finding is that I don't. I feel like I do it a lot right, yes, but I don't get as much as I'd be thinking. You know what I'm talking about yes.
Speaker 2:But I do get interest. So I did the Rocky Bayou Christian School. You know what I'm talking about. So they we're probably just leaking our IP addresses. So we I did two videos for their high school basketball team because my brother was on the JV and my other brother was on varsity and they did so, and one of those videos is one of my favorite videos I've ever done, I don't know if you've watched it.
Speaker 2:I don't need to show you it because it's really cool and I did it to like 70s disco music and it's like really really flashy, flashy. I was at a raiders game, okay, and I was just walking around. I had three people pull me over and they were like I did. I did this split screen thing where I had like three of the guys on the team all like line up a shot yeah, like all the same framing and they oh wait, that's a three frame, and uh, I saw that one and they were throwing the hoops.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember seeing that one I had three people pull me aside and they were like dude, like this was not even at the school and they were like dude. I loved when you split it into three and they walked off and I'm like how do you know who are you?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's like, I feel like I'm getting the connection in the community yes but I'm not getting as much interest as I'd like well, part of that could be the pricing, where um lower pricing tends to have this um thing where people think it's not a good service. Yeah, but you have a middle I'm you know you're making me thinking about how it started it. It's just I think I just got really lucky After 2019 or 2020, especially COVID. It just died off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the momentum just.
Speaker 1:The momentum yeah but man, I took all that for granted.
Speaker 2:No, you didn't take it for granted, dude. You took what you were given right you were given, and then you worked and you kept going with it. And look where you are now. And given right you were given, and then you worked and you kept going with it and look where you're not and you're still going.
Speaker 1:No, I quit multiple times, everyone quits multiple times, but you're still. You're back and you're going. That's hard, it's hard, it's hard. I think it also depends on the location. This again, this area, is just really really, really, really hard, because this area, if you think about it, a lot of it is real estate commercials, but there is literally no market for narrative or creative projects. It's one of those areas where you have to make that opportunity for yourself. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Well, that's where a lot of the lightsaber stuff came in. Okay, dude, I freaking DM'd like 40 companies on Instagram, which was dumb. I should have looked for their emails, but I DM like 40. I heard back from four, right? Um, I did some Photoshop work for one and never heard from them again. And then Corbett they just liked me.
Speaker 2:So, I guess I just kept working for them. That I again. It's the pitching up kind of thing. It was originally just like hey, I want to do some photoshop work for you, and then it was like film every one of our lightsabers and I was like the carbanth I forgot carbanth sorry guys for butchering your name.
Speaker 1:I mean with him, with them you've had. You've had that's your long time, one of your long time clients, correct? Yeah, and oh yeah, going back to that trip, by the way. Yeah, that was visually stunning, did you see? It you saw rd r2d2. I forgot. I said r2, I'm just gonna call r2 comes into the view. It's a desert. Yeah, it's a black. Uh, it's a sith or a jedi, I can't tell. Um, it's luke technically. Oh, yeah, luke technically. I remember that frame.
Speaker 2:R2 just comes in and it's all beautiful, did you like how I like I pulled out and then I just whipped back at the camera. Yes, that was sick. So what we actually did is we had randy, who's the owner of the company. He was down like on his back and his hand was up yeah against r2's head. I was like, okay, when I pull back, I pull back, I'm going to give you a three, two one and you're going to whip R2's head back.
Speaker 2:And we did it and then it looked so solid I actually found the framing by accident. I didn't even think about it. I wasn't like in a desert, bro, what the heck Dude, I was out there. It took us four hours to drive out there. I flew out there, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we went what the yeah, dude? We went, I landed in Dallas-Fort Worth, okay, and then we flew from Dallas-Fort Worth to Phoenix, arizona. Okay.
Speaker 2:We stayed there for a night and then we drove four hours out to Yuma, Arizona. So we drove out there, right, and we crossed over the border into California, right Only like five miles out or something like that, and you know you have the Arizona skyline. I don't know if you've ever been to Arizona.
Speaker 1:But there's a desert there, Because when I saw that I thought you went to Tunisia, or I know it was crazy.
Speaker 2:So you're looking out, right, and it's like you're driving through Arizona and you're looking around it's like mountains and cactuses and stuff like that and then you get to this wall of sand in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. And you drive into it and it looks like it goes out for forever and the weird thing is it messes with your horizon, kind of thing, because you look out and it looks like a painting, like a genuine matte painting or something like that. And we were out there.
Speaker 2:I think we shot only for like two hours or something like that, and then we filmed everything that we needed. So I found out that that spot is where they filmed Return of the Jedi, it's where they filmed Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's where they filmed Casablanca dude. What the fuck. It was like you felt the history. We actually ran into a guy who was dune bugging there and he had been there when he was a kid, when they were shooting Return of the Jedi. We interviewed him and everything and it was really cool.
Speaker 1:Wait, was this the scene where Luke was on that?
Speaker 2:I don't know if it was an animal, but there was a oh, it's not the fighting, the rancor scene you're talking about, like the Sarlacc pit?
Speaker 1:no, not that one he was fighting, oh wait, no, I think you might be right fighting against fighting Boba Fett?
Speaker 2:yeah, or Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt? Yes, we were there. What the heck it was sick dude it was. We were in the actual. So the the plan, if it, if it works, is yeah, because the commercial actually is really cool. It's gonna go out on the 29th, something like that yeah um, officially, it's going on somebody's youtube channel. I forgot who it is, but um he? The plan, possibly, possibly, is to go to these other star wars shooting locations over the redwood forest that's the one.
Speaker 1:I think that's the tattooing yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they have a few different shooting locations, but we were, that's the plan, fingers crossed wow, we can do it.
Speaker 1:That's a hell of a campaign. That's a hell of a campaign.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm really good at convincing, oh, okay. Okay, it's really. So Randy had the idea. Yes, he owns the company.
Speaker 1:Hi Randy, Hi Randy, Good products, from the looks of it by the way Very solid.
Speaker 2:I actually have like I may be shooting this week with like five different sabers.
Speaker 1:So you should totally come.
Speaker 2:Oh light sabers. Okay, go on. They're also really fun to film because they're really fun to film. Yeah, because you know you have to use a big stick of light oh, I can, imagine, yeah, light frames really easy but uh, we'll see okay I'm happy to hear that.
Speaker 1:I think this one of those clients will definitely influence your um sci-fi film, um, because the way you film it hey you can. I can definitely tell that there's a lot of influence from your. You know, getting into this career, keep at it you're doing great yeah don't lose your passion. Fingers crossed, bro. Fingers crossed all right guys this is actually the part where we dive into the uh surprise surprise baby.
Speaker 2:It's not really surprised. We've talked about it five times trilogy ariath baby.
Speaker 1:So we're gonna start talking how riot, how riot, how riot, how riot is a trilogy that he is, that abe is currently producing and I gotta say, go check out his youtube channel. He has a video where he dives into the screenplay and the renders of the ships. It's pretty sweet. The characters it's pretty sweet, beautifully well done. It reminds me a lot of Blade Runner and, oh my gosh, dune, especially Dune. It reminded me of Rebel Moon by Zack Snyder. Zack Snyder, yeah, the Creator, the Creator was lit. Uh, it reminded me of rebel moon by um zach snyder, um, the creator, um, and the dual star wars visions episode. I don't know if you've seen that.
Speaker 2:It's a black and white um, yeah, it's like the anime stuff, right what they have the like animated sequences and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it's just but most of most of all, it's the rebel moon series or the movie. So high wrath dude, yeah, where are it's the Rebel Moon series or the movie? So Hi-Rath dude, yeah, where's the inspiration coming from? We've actually believe it or not? Just go for it. Just fucking go for it.
Speaker 2:So we've touched on it a little bit. Yes, a little bit, so the way that I kind of explain it like really fast for people that are like on the go yeah, is like it's pirates of the caribbean. Yes, she's such a vibe because you have, like, my favorite part of the like like pirates of the caribbean is the kind of like conflicting, um, like everybody's portraying each other.
Speaker 2:yes, all the time and like alliances are turning, like yeah and that and that and it's like it's that and then it's almost so a lot of the inspiration had come from what we were talking about the Star Wars legends and stuff like that. There was this book series that was about Han Solo's former life. Okay, that is really interesting and I love the idea of it. It touched on like okay, so the Solo movie? Right, I'm kind of rambling a little bit, you're good.
Speaker 1:Han Solo, the younger version of yeah Okay, you know the movie, the Solo movie, right? I'm kind of rambling a little bit, you're good. Han Solo, the younger version of yeah Okay, you know the movie that came out right.
Speaker 2:Yes, so the problem with that is it kind of felt like the movie about how Han Solo got all of his stuff. Yes, and what I loved about the Han Solo books that were produced in like the 90s or something like that.
Speaker 1:Wait, was this along during the time at the same time with star wars, or was this after?
Speaker 2:after after the after four, five and six right, oh, okay, one two three, and it's really interesting so okay it.
Speaker 2:It was written by ac crispin and it was about how han solo adopted his philosophies and stuff like that. So, like at the beginning I think he says um, um, a hokey religion is no, is no, um uh match for a good blaster at your side, kid. And you see like oh, it's because han solo um was into this girl who was in this cult and they were like brainwashing all these people and it was like crazy and it was in this cult and they were like brainwashing all these people and it was like crazy.
Speaker 2:And it was like it's. It's really interesting stuff and I love um, and then you have the pirates of the Caribbean. Influences Um. A lot of it also stems from the mummy and the fifth element. I love the fifth element. Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, it's kind of like my own fifth element, but it's for people. I'm kind of rambling a little bit, so I'll give like a basically plot arc. It's about this pirate smuggler named Solomon Toombs. Who's this seven foot tall clairvoyant right? Okay, it's crazy. And his artificial intelligence unit. Who's the first artificial intelligence unit to develop a soul? Okay, intelligence unit, who's the first artificial intelligence unit to develop a soul? Okay, and so he's in this band of pirates. All of these guys want to have their own artificial intelligence unit, okay, so it's kind of like having an air bud okay, it's like oh, like you have a dog that plays basketball, I want a dog that plays basketball.
Speaker 2:So solomon is completely against, like all of these pirates having their own version of Bo, because it's like splitting up a soul into a bunch of different like slices and it's like if I make a copy of Bo, then where does the soul go to? And because he's kind of a clairvoyant, he knows like okay, bo has a soul. Yes. So you have all of these pirates. I don't want to spoil it.
Speaker 1:Don't need to spoil it, Just give us some Basically all of those guys want their own bow.
Speaker 2:Solomon doesn't want it. There's a big climax. There's some supernatural elements about some freaking space pirate, zombies and it's fire and I love the thing and it is way too high budget for me to produce, but I'm going to try that.
Speaker 1:Well, I actually would like to dive into the screenplay process. How is that like? Because one of the hardest parts in screenplay is staring at the goddamn white piece of paper with a blinking.
Speaker 2:At a blank page. That's great, so I wrote an entire screenplay of the idea of what I was doing at the beginning and at the time I was watching a lot of space westerns, right, I was watching Shane, django, django and Shane, a lot of spaghetti westerns, stuff like that, and you, jane, a lot of spaghetti westerns, stuff like that, and you know a lot of American westerns, and you cleaned Eastwood too.
Speaker 2:I didn't watch as much Eastwood. I mainly watched straight spaghetti westerns, stuff like that, which I like over in Italy, and they were nice. But I was watching a lot of these westerns and I was writing it right and I was realizing, dang, I accidentally turned this into a space Western. So I took the plot structure that I originally envisioned and reformatted it. Like I think I'm on my I want to say seventh draft of it. I want to say seventh draft of it. Um, and I had written, uh Like three more screenplays before this. So I've written a bunch and I hadn't done anything with the other ones. Because when I reread it I was like this is crap, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And I try and rewrite it. I'm like this is still crap and so I abandoned the project. But this, I read it once I was done with it and the first draft, I was like, okay, there's some tuning up that I have to do, but this is good. And so I sent it out to about 25 test readers or something like that, and some of them were my friends. Some of them were other people in the creative sphere that I knew were going to actually tell me if I did something crap. Okay.
Speaker 2:Everyone like actually really enjoyed it, like it's a fun ride from start to finish. It's crazy they're, it's brutal, but it's got this heart to it that I, I love and solomon and both their characters are so distinct and so like it works so well. Yeah. Incredibly proud of it and I need to get it to a screen. I need to.
Speaker 1:Well, what was the difficult part about the screen playing?
Speaker 2:process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, making the screen play, I can imagine I can almost imagine you in your room and you have all these ideas, but it's so hard to connect one and the other. Yeah, oh my gosh. And I mean, you have this act structure, you have act one, act two, act three, you have the resolution climax and all of that. Yeah, what was the hardest part in that process for you?
Speaker 2:so I wrote that first draft right, entire movie right and that whole thing. I like the first act. I'm really like I enjoyed writing it. I was like this first act is sweet, this is great. And then the rest of it. I went on a tangent. I didn't realize that I went on a tangent in a completely different way even though I'd structured it in a completely different way.
Speaker 2:I went somewhere else and that second and third act I was like this sucks and I can't get out of it. And then I was like, okay, I really like that first act. Where did I go wrong?
Speaker 2:because that time, where I was writing the second and third act, I was also in a really bad mental state in my life oh, I'm sorry, oh yeah it wasn't that bad, but it was like I was in a bad mental state just and that second and third act suffered because of it and I thought, what did I love so much about the first act? And I was like I love Solomon and Bo's relationship. It is so tangible and it's almost like Wreck-It Ralph. It's like Wreck-It Ralph and Vanilla. Yes. It's like that.
Speaker 2:And it totally works so well. And I may sound really cocky saying that, but it works and I loved it okay and I was like so I was like, okay, what I gotta do is I gotta reformat it, and then I split everything into into, into thirds okay okay, I'm gonna have of the first act.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna have a first, second and third act inside that first act oh, wow easier for me okay, and you know you're following the hero's journey and stuff like that. But then you know you, when you first write, and you write your first, second, third screenplay, you're like, okay, this page right here is where I'm gonna hit, um, the dark night of the soul. You're like, if you can, if you have to think about that, then it becomes apparent and it doesn't become a movie anymore and you're following a guideline. And if it just the thing is, I wrote horiath and then it's like I looked into it, I'm like, oh, there's the hero's journey okay, it's already baked into it.
Speaker 2:I just need to spruce up the parts that actually need to be more clearly defined as part of the story. You're so passionate about this shit. This is great I am and I found it, and I have part two and three structured out. I'm also writing that at the same time.
Speaker 1:Whoa, why did I conflict with Like when? You're writing them out at the same time. Isn't it a higher chance of?
Speaker 2:well, I I finished part one, I'll rephrase and I'm into part two oh okay, like everything's been structured right. I see, but I'm only focused on perfecting part one, which is what every you know, every filmmaker says. You know, I'm working on part one and I don't know about that.
Speaker 3:I don't know about that. Honestly, I want to do it.
Speaker 2:Obviously, everybody wants to do it. And Loki, the plot in Part 2 is so crazy, it's so good, it's so dense, oh my gosh, and I can't talk about it until it's out.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course, again, nda.
Speaker 2:There's just a hype NDA. But no, it's cool, dude, I just want to talk about all the characters because they're so good. No, no, no, no, don't give it all away.
Speaker 4:man Don't give it all away. I won't give it all away.
Speaker 1:Well, we're just here to see how you're going through this process, which is really impressive At the age of where you're at something to be proud of.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And that is also something you will always have over everybody else. Yeah, when they ask you, hey, what were you doing in 19? Exactly, most people will say, no, I was just trying to get by.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can be proud to say yeah, I wrote something, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you have multiple revisions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hard for me to get through multiple, I can tell it's like it's just like the thing is the other ones I just gave up and also it was so hard so it was like they weren't that as good.
Speaker 1:Okay, but like I just couldn't bring myself to, like I was like this is a pile of crap and I can't do it well but now I like what I made you know but then with this green play, it's just one of the hardest part is how are you able to? How are you going to be able to tell yourself that it's good enough, because just like what film and editing it's great. But you always have this naggy sense but it could be better. How do you know that? What could be better could? It's something that might damage the quality of europe yeah, no, you're good, okay, all'm just saying.
Speaker 1:It's like how are you able to manage the, the idea of the fact that your script is already good enough, but you feel like it could be better, without knowing that. What could be better? It could be something that could damage the overall quality of your story exactly okay.
Speaker 2:so with it it's like everything that I've made right has things that when I watch it I'm like that's what's really good about editing and stuff like that, because you can still see the things that you don't exactly like yes. But when people are like, that's really cool. That's really cool. I like what you did there. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And also giving you a negative opinion, but the thing is, the positive stuff happens way more than the negative stuff. The more you work on it, you know what I mean. Yes, and with when it comes to a screenplay, it's like I've shown it to enough people that they actually genuinely like it. I genuinely like it, and there are some things that definitely could be spruced up, especially when it comes to budgetary things, because there's some things in there.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I can do genuinely, I don't know, yeah, um, but ganesh, ganesh, because he's showed me a few of like the renders that he's made and he's actually I need to show you he's got the beginnings of a flight sequence started and it is so good, oh wow is wow.
Speaker 1:Is it like the Star Wars X-Fighters? Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like my. So the angel's wing is kind of like a giant X-wing kind of, Except it's got two independently rotating wings that flip around and stuff like that and it's all rigged, it's all rendered and it's ready to go and it looks so good.
Speaker 1:Sorry guys, you can't see what I'm going to say. No to go, and it looks so good. Sorry guys, you can't see what I'm gonna say. No, no, actually that leads to the uh, last few questions about the hybrid, this um. Now, when you get to this point, how have you have you started um making plans for when you start pitching? Because eventually there will be a point where maybe I can't do everything on my own maybe I need some financial help so you know that that path could be a Kickstarter.
Speaker 1:You can even go to a studio and pitch it to them. What does that look like for you, without giving too much details away? How are you planning on getting that stage?
Speaker 2:ready. So here's the thing I have. I spent like two months I'm not even exaggerating there Like two months perfecting an Indiegogo page and it not even exaggerating there Like two months, damn.
Speaker 1:Perfecting an Indiegogo page, and it's all.
Speaker 2:Indiegogo and it's all done. But the thing is, I got to the end and I'm like dude, am I ready? Am. I ready and it's like the thing is, what I found is I don't think I'm ready to ask money for people unless I, number one, have a solid cast and crew in play already.
Speaker 2:Because if I cannot find a Solomon and I cannot find a Bo, the end product is not going to work. And I know that it's not going to work unless I find the perfect, the perfect people for and if I can and I'm, I think I've sent like what about approval concept? A proof. Well, the idea is that, yeah, I want to, but the thing is it's like I mean it's the same way with deadpool yeah, yeah, exactly apple would never have been made until r.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he leaked the footage of Deadpool. And look where we are.
Speaker 2:We're literally having a movie with Deadpool and Wolverine Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right, and it's like, when it comes to that, it's like I don't. I have scenes that I'm like, okay, I could film this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I could do this out of budget or out of pocket, and I need to again, I need to sell the chemistry between Solomon and Bo and I need to find those people first before I start asking for money, and I am offering that to the camera. If anybody thinks that they look like Austin Butler or Grace Van Dyne, give me a. Dm call or whatever Literally anything. My email is babyspielberg at gmailcom. That is genuinely open for you guys.
Speaker 1:Or I don't know if you made it but highrathattrilogycom.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's not a bad idea actually.
Speaker 1:Just put everything into one place, so highrathattrilogycom, because I, oh, that's not a bad idea. Yeah, just put everything into one place. So hirathattrilogycom. Yeah, yeah. Wow. But, yeah, going on, so you're still. Basically, you still need to find the right to people which will determine.
Speaker 2:Well, technically right, like five, which is it's a cast that are more characters that I have talked about a little bit. I probably could go into detail about them.
Speaker 1:Hey, don't spoil the surprise. I won't spoil it yet. Yes, keep it.
Speaker 2:But right now, sal and Bo are the leads and if I can't get a real bond, you need the chemistry. I need the chemistry, I need to feel that these are the perfect people.
Speaker 2:And I can't find anyone else on the planet, which is a giant thing to ask, right, yeah, but it's doable and I'm. I have been putting in the work I've been sending out literally on like freaking Facebook and stuff like that, like, hey, here or here's all the descriptions and stuff like that here or some or that I've had commissioned and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:I need to find these people yes and I probably should look into a casting agency. Um, I don't know. I've looked into some, I don't know, I don't know who to look into.
Speaker 1:Really, I think, I think you're still working towards that stage and I think, you're the time of doing that. Right now is not right. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Because, you know, like you said, it's probably predestined right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly, it's predestined yeah yeah, yeah, totally, totally yeah. Well now, we're not going to spoil everything, guys, but do you have anything else that you want to say about that trilogy of yours, any last words that you've been dying to talk about and want to share? I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
Speaker 2:NDA, nda, nda, nda, okay. You can't pick, I'm going to. Okay, there's a lot. There's a lot yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:No pressure, you don't have to.
Speaker 2:no, I'm thinking, I'm thinking because there's a lot, but I'm trying to think like what would be the most interesting, like tidbit of information, everything about it is interesting, dude, it's fairly interesting yeah, do you say fairly, it's fairly interesting. But you're.
Speaker 1:You're underselling yourself. What the fuck?
Speaker 2:you gotta stop doing that shit um honestly, I think I've, I think I've, I think I've pitched a little bit enough, okay. Okay, I have stuff out there. I I don't know. There are other really cool things in the thing, but I don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, just just you know let the work speak for itself just yeah, yeah, all right we're gonna end it up with that I could say it's um supernaturally good but we'll let his progress, uh, speak for itself. If you want to keep up with the um, the progress, you can follow him on his youtube channel as well as instagram. Baby spielberg, um, and he also what is it do you have? Yeah, it's you can.
Speaker 2:You can find it through my instagram. Yeah, it's all in there.
Speaker 1:So keep up with his progress and um, please consider um helping him out, because you guys can clearly see he's very, very, very passionate.
Speaker 2:That's not something you don't get very often so I want to thank you for literally allowing me this kind of you know, this kind of platform. I love genuinely what you're doing. I think what you're doing is incredibly important. I think that you do your freaking work ethic is insane. I've seen your instagram and it's insane and like I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm just glad to be here and I freaking want to come back because this is lit okay, well, that being said, we will have that on the um idea board that I have or no, um guest list. Guest list that'll be 58 now. That'll be added on the bottom and I'll go. I'll see you soon when you get up to the next line in line. Uh, now, uh, we're almost. We're here in the closing. Guys, you know that you're out. We're gonna say goodbye and never see each other again. Yes, so where can people find you again? I know you said it multiple times, but I got to do it.
Speaker 2:For the Photoshop stuff, knapp Stories, k-n-a-p-p stories, for my cinematography stuff. Just check YouTube, check Instagram. I'm mainly active on Instagram and freaking follow this guy right here. Oh my gosh, most beautifully laid out Instagram I've ever seen in my life. Holy crap. Dude knows how to format, Holy crap. And that's what I get jealous about. It's like oh my gosh, his formatting is so good.
Speaker 1:Well, let's not forget the friends that you mentioned on this podcast. You guys have supported his career and his dreams, so please keep doing that. You guys are awesome, even though I have no idea who you are.
Speaker 2:And people that I haven't mentioned. Yes, oh, yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, you are also important as well. Absolutely, it's like the end screen in the movies the credits.
Speaker 2:Can you just edit them rolling it or something like that, like full house music playing?
Speaker 1:yes, yes, um, now, what is one? Yes, you are 19, but clearly you have gone through a lot of um the process of film production. Yeah, what is one piece of advice that you know now that you would love to offer to people that want to follow in this career path? That's a good question.
Speaker 2:I would say literally go out and find people like you. I'm not even joking. Like finding people who genuinely want to make will inspire you to make. You know what I mean. Like I am surrounded. I'm so lucky because I'm surrounded with people that are always making cool stuff and also find it within your heart to keep going, even if you don't feel good about what you're making. Because you, dude, if I never finished that first draft, I probably would have never been there you know what I?
Speaker 2:mean, and I hated writing the second and third draft, the second, third act, but I still did it. You know, what I mean, and then I have something that I genuinely like. So it's you've got to fight through the pain, crap and this cool crap. It's sweet and again, thank you for having me on. This has been one of the coolest experiences I've had in a very long time.
Speaker 1:No, that means a lot. Wow, you are a fantastic host.
Speaker 2:Huh, you are a great host oh thank you. Yes, dude, come on.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh thank you, that means a lot. Um, now, any last words, any last words. Give me one line. Give me one line that solomon says. That sounds almost close to inspiration.
Speaker 2:Oh crap, I'm going to have to look at the screen. I don't know what Han Solo did.
Speaker 1:Well, Han Solo did See you Later. What's an iconic line that you can give to us with Solomon?
Speaker 2:Crap, I'm going to have to freaking. Look through this. I'm going to look at the screen. Okay, give me a second. No, no, no, I don't have to say it. Give me like 20 minutes. He's gonna cut this yes he'll cut this. Huh, I said you can cut this right oh yeah okay, no, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, okay, I actually don't know okay.
Speaker 1:Well, what's something that Solomon would say?
Speaker 2:Would say yes, let me think I got to get into character a little bit. Okay, that's all whores. What? That's all whores.
Speaker 1:That's all whores. That's a whores. Whores Okay, very inspirational. Be a horse. No horse playing around. When it comes to your career, yeah, okay, always find good neighbors to get you through the tough times.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's what.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about. Yes, that's it All. Right, guys, subscribe to the podcast in all forms.
Speaker 2:Yes, leave a beautiful review for this beautiful man and don't forget to follow all of the socials of the Hit and Record podcast.
Speaker 1:That's usually my job, but thank you, mine now. Thank you so much for watching this episode. We'll have him on later down the road when I'm 35 and he's 25. Yay, so again, guys, if you want to see more content like this you know what he said Like subscribe and send this with all of your friends. We will always have guests like this to help you guys get started in your career. Creative all that good stuff, and I hope you all enjoyed this episode. That being said, my name is Kino Manuel. You can follow me at dpcom, at dpkino, and head record is head record, and that'll be it, kino. Signing off Abe also signing off.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love you. Bye, goodbye.
