Meet Fernando And The Path From Brazil

Vipul Bindra 0:04

Welcome to another episode of Studio B Sessions with me, Bendra, owner of Bendra Productions here in Orlando, Florida. This is a raw, unedited, unfiltered conversation with somebody in the video production industry. And like always, this season we have Mario on the producer table. How are you doing, Mario?

Mario Rangel 0:20

Hey guys, how are you today?

Vipul Bindra 0:22

And our guest today is Fernando. Good to have you, uh video director and producer. You've been doing this over six years. That's right.

Fernando Tosetti 0:31

A long time. Yeah, it is a long time, definitely. Am I dating you by saying that? A little bit. I'm 27. So I started around, I feel like when I was 20 years old. Uh as you know, I'm originally from Brazil. So I feel like the first couple of years of me doing this uh was pretty much as an intern or as like a first job at a university. So, but if you really want to trace it back all the way to my first couple of videos or films, then I've been doing this pretty much my whole life.

Vipul Bindra 1:04

Yeah, that's how it is, right? You were already most people who do video were already somewhat passionate about making video because that's why you meet so many people are like they started skateboarding or surfing or something because they just weren't wanting to make videos about what they loved, and then it turned into a different love of hey, I like the other part of it too. Uh so which school did you go to? Is it local?

Film School, Advertising, And Practical Learning

Fernando Tosetti 1:24

Uh yeah, so when I moved here, I actually moved um as a student, so it was like a student visa, and I moved here to go to UCF, University of Central Florida. So that's where I got my degree. Now, the funny thing is, like the first um the first few months there, I would say the cup the first couple of semesters there, I actually did I was in the film program, and then what I started noticing is that it was all very repetitive, yeah, very, very repetitive and very uh I was about to say like it was very focused on theory, yeah. And I quickly noticed that like if I wanted to be a filmmaker, I would have to be on set and I was gonna have to actually create things direct, especially, right? And so that's when I started uh to you know jump more into that side of things, and on the other hand, decided that I wanted to get an advertising degree because that would give me not only something that I'm more familiar with because my family comes from an advertising background, so I kind of grew up in that environment, but also a degree that actually was valuable and meant something because unfortunately, many times a film degree doesn't really mean something on paper, really. It just means like what skills can you yeah, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 2:32

You can probably relearn everything you learn at film school or more by just being on set. So, like you said, yeah, the degree doesn't really have value as far as um, you know, um I would say real job worthiness or skills versus advertising could definitely come in handy to be able to go to a marketing agency. So it's also also makes you more well-rounded, right? To be able to do corporate and commercial roles because now you have a well-rounded approach, not only you know how to make the content, why to make the content, the purpose of the content, right? Exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 3:04

That's beautiful what you just said. I think you said it brilliantly because uh that is something that I try to bring to every production that I'm a part of. Of course, I can't bring that to everything, like depending on my role on a big set. I'm not calling the shots, so I'm not trying to you know overstep or step on anyone's shoes. But with most of the content that I do, I try to understand the messaging behind it. I try to understand why we're doing what we're doing, and I'm very focused on the storytelling side. And I say that from a very like true like perspective. I've always been very focused on that. We were talking about the other day how you know how gear is important and and how I've learned naturally to become a little bit of a gearhead myself, not as much as you're not even close to an expert that you are, but just it's the nature of the trade, it's the tools that we use, right? But to me, I've always approached it through a storytelling perspective. And so, I mean, if you want to jump into that, yeah, I think uh what you're saying is correct.

Vipul Bindra 4:03

See, people have two perspectives. Usually they're like, gear doesn't matter, right? Or it's like storytelling doesn't matter. You know, it's like every I'm saying everyone has their own perspective. Somebody's like focused more on storytelling and they have no idea about gear, and then the other way, some people are more technical and they they know all about gear, but then they don't understand the storytelling element of it. The truth is both matter, right? For you to be a successful person, you need to understand both uh the technical side of what we do, right? Uh, but then you also need to understand the creativity behind it. It's it's okay to know the rules uh for you to break them, right? Uh, because a lot of times people like learned rules, but then they're like, don't know when to break them. And then the other way, people have no idea about rules. Like they'll break the 180 you know degree rule or whatever, the eye line is just completely destroyed, and you're like, where did you go? People get lost, right? And then they're like, why is it not clicking? So it's like again, the the easiest way to put it is you gotta be, you gotta understand the tools you're using, you gotta have the right tools to tell the story that you want to tell. But at the same time, you gotta tell a story, right? Yeah because if the story is ineffective, you're not telling it correctly, then uh or the audience isn't getting it rather, then what's the point, right? Of all that, all the screens and everything, right?

Story Versus Gear: Rules Worth Breaking

Fernando Tosetti 5:15

100%. It's funny because you mentioned like specifically with the 180-degree rule, and that is something that I have had people on set that were very skilled on like the gear that they were using, but didn't understand me when I said, Hey, let's make sure we don't break the 180 on this one. And I'm not saying you have to know every single rule, I'm not saying like you have to be a master of everything, but to have that foundation first and to know how to do the bread and butter. In Brazil, we say I hose evident, so like rice and beans, because that's our basic like food over there, like rice and beans.

Vipul Bindra 5:46

If you don't have the rice and actually, that's like the basic rules, the basic rules, like rise and beans.

Fernando Tosetti 5:51

So, like if you don't have the rice and beans, you don't want to have the meats and have all the other things that you're gonna add to it. So that's that's the same thing with film, right? Same thing with video production. Like, you know the rules, you know how to follow that, then you can create that more disruptive style. Yeah, that can be like a one-take film.

Vipul Bindra 6:06

Exactly. Or you can figure out where why the rule needs to be broken. Like, like I was talking about another episode, it's like uh you know, people are then uh they'll learn, oh, dynamic range, you know, you gotta make sure the windows are not blown. But then you'll watch a Hollywood movie and a famous cinematographer decided to blow up the windows, like you know, they're I you know they're the they're they're um uh you can't like um you know, like they're not in um in correct exposure, supposedly, right? But then that's an artistic choice that the the DP made. And uh and so what I'm saying is nothing is set in stone, right? You gotta understand the art, but then you gotta also understand the story that you're trying to tell. Um so people, you know, and then that's again, that's where why it separates directors and directors of photography from others, because you choose in your story to communicate emotions and feelings and elements a certain way, which would make it different than how I would do it or somebody else would do it, and then the next person. And um, and it's very important to, I guess, do enough different things to build your own style, right?

Fernando Tosetti 7:11

Well, just to like piggyback on what you just said, um, w when it comes to artistic choice and like things being like either too bright or too dark, and you you know, if you were to look at the waveform, it would be like, no, this is like underexposed. The Batman movie, which either won or at least got nominated to Best Cinematography, the newest Batman movie that came out uh a couple years ago with Robert Pattinson. Uh beautiful, super dark, though, like underexposed. Like there's stuff there that like you can't even see. That's like almost like the highlights are all like you can see in some of those shots. So a lot of it is silhouette. So, anyways, it's like an artistic choice, and it works for Batman. It works for that story.

Vipul Bindra 7:51

Yeah, or or that show, what was it that people are complaining about? I think Game of Thrones, the night uh scene where um I think it was a battle basically where the White Walkers and and uh people in the north or whatever. I don't know if you watch Game of Thrones. I don't watch, but but it was like you know, the scene was at night and uh people were complaining about again because they couldn't see anything. They were like, we just see some torches moving. Oh, I've heard of that. Yeah, yeah. But but then what's amazing to me is I I see why that happens nowadays too. Because they probably mastered it on OLED TVs because uh when I was watching it on my my LG OLED TV, I could see everything. So I was like, I don't get the complaint. But then you know, you pull it on your fold, you pull it out of the then they're like, Oh, I get it. Because you know, um It's a great point because they probably mastered it on a screen where you could. Do you think the same thing happens with audio? It's possible, yeah. Because they probably master it in a place where they're perfect, you know, uh there will be atmosphere speakers and everything, and then you play it on your phone. I mean, you would assume that nowadays people know that most content is zoomed on a phone to test it, but it may not be happening. And most likely is that they have LGOLA TVs or some other, I'm saying, reference monitor, which is obviously gonna be very high quality. So if you decide that, hey, I want this scene to be really, really uh, you know, dim or whatever, right? Uh, because you it's an emotional, or like you said, Batman, this is the right tone, and you master it and you're like, let's go as low as possible or whatever, right? And then you master it, but then you forget that short after the movie theater, people are gonna watch this uh on their phone or whatever, right? Or or the TV, then it's completely different, and then they're not gonna the experience is where where that's where people could go. Like, I don't see it, and a lot of times it is legitimate. Um, like, have you seen the trend of subtitle thing? So uh I think somebody did a some b YouTube video too. Like, how come most new movies you need to use subtitles for? Uh, because it's like how the they're mastering audio, audio, yeah. But but you have to see, it's I think it's because it's getting complicated complex. Because in the past things were simple, right? They're probably doing ADR, they didn't have good enough mics, uh, things were very clear, sound design wasn't this complicated. Now, even you're making a sci-fi, you know, Star Wars movie, there's like probably 200 layers of sound effects. Yeah, and again, this is just my educated guess. I I don't won't want to say that I'm expert on sound design, but the point is that probably makes that there's so much happening that, and then there's so much sound design to cover you that sound the dialogue isn't the most clear, and then people complain about not being able to hear the there's so much more to mix for the sound mixer, 100%.

Fernando Tosetti 10:26

And what you said is is interesting too, because like you said, so we have the rules, we have somebody trying to break the rules. It works in some mediums, it doesn't work in others. So then maybe they should have stick to the rules a little bit more. So that's the importance again of knowing the rules. The Batman movie, again, I said it, I thought it was beautiful because I saw it on IMAX. Later on, watching it on TV at home, yeah, not like I couldn't see half the movie because I literally can't watch what's there, what's going on because it's so dark.

Darkness Debates: Batman, Thrones, And Displays

Vipul Bindra 10:53

Exactly. And you need a TV that can now that go that dim. You need to turn off every light, which is the environment they wanted to create, but it just doesn't work for the medium that you're watching it at. And it is just like I said, unfortunate, but I guess it is the the artistic choice that they make, right? Um, and that's the choice that you can make, um, depending on you know the project that you're making, and I guess the approval from the studio very true or whoever whoever finally has to sell it to someone, because you know, uh home sales, which uh again is getting less, but you know, that that's part of their their their cost uh uh of uh you know revenue basically. They want they already account for like we're gonna make so much money from the theaters, then maybe we're gonna sell it to streaming or home or or or DVD or whatever, because you know, these these movies need to make money, but like you said, if most people can't see it, then they may not buy the DVD or stream the movie or set halfway and then they don't make any money.

Fernando Tosetti 11:50

So yeah, it's tricky because how do you balance how how do you mix audio or how do you color correct or color grade a movie to 20 different mediums?

Vipul Bindra 12:00

Yeah, exactly. And then that's not even get started on dubbing and other languages, right?

Fernando Tosetti 12:05

Well, you know what? The other funny thing is I have a friend that works at uh Warner Bros. Brazil, and I'm not gonna give detail into what director it is, but there's a certain director that doesn't ever let them crop their movies into vertical for social media, so they have the hardest time in the world like uh promoting the films because they're like we have to post everything horizontal. So half the ads that we want to show, we can't. So we have to either come up with graphics based on the movie, but then we're not showing the actual movie or do stuff like that, so get creative with that. Even the three-layer thing, they don't like it, they want everything horizontal, or like what um whatever you want to call landscape. Yeah, so that's like another like very specific thing, yeah, you know. So it's it but it's the nature of like where we are right now. Like, is content gonna go fully vertical?

Vipul Bindra 12:54

Like what's been for phone, yes, it's already gone vertical, right? I think ever since uh it was the the reels, TikToks, whatever made vertical video popular. I mean shorts on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, everything's vertical. The only time you're consuming, and and it's so crazy if you think about audiences that are okay to take their phone, they will not watch horizontal video on any apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, everything has to be vertical, but for YouTube they will. So the only place I feel like horizontal content works now, at least as of right now, is YouTube or Netflix, or you know, any of this this horizontal uh based apps. Outside of that, I don't think social media at least is ever going back to horizontal. At least I don't see it.

Fernando Tosetti 13:38

I agree with you, I agree with you, and that makes it harder for content creators, that makes it an extra step to take. But I totally agree with you, and I think the nature of the medium itself is a little different. So when you're on YouTube, unless you're watching an ad, you're there to see something specific that's probably a little bit longer if you're not talking about YouTube charts, right? So you're talking about something horizontal. Same thing with Netflix, like yeah, it's the same uh idea behind like watching a movie in the movie theater. Like tomorrow.

Vipul Bindra 14:07

It's intentional, basically.

Fernando Tosetti 14:08

I'm doing that exactly. And so it's one of those things where like I know I'm gonna step into the theater when I go tomorrow, and I know that you know I'm paying for that ticket, yeah. And I know I'm like, I want to see what's there, therefore I'm already engaged with the story. Exactly. It's different than an ad or a commercial, and we can get into that too if you want, but like there's such a different mindset because a commercial, like, you have to make it appealing to the people right away.

Vipul Bindra 14:30

Yeah, exactly. No, I love that, and we can go there, but but if you think about it, also it's the attention span. So if you're watching a YouTube video or if you're watching uh a movie in a theater, they they don't have to start immediately with something stupid to get your attention, they have time to build the story, right? You have time to build the what the characters, the whatever, versus uh social media. Guess what? You have so much choice, and they're they they're vying for your attention, so they have to uh feed you content that you immediately go, you know, watch it, otherwise, you know, you can keep swiping, right? And eventually, yeah, you can't.

Fernando Tosetti 15:02

So many videos I see uh unfortunately don't get your attention right away, and then 30 seconds in there's an amazing shot on social media.

Vipul Bindra 15:11

And I'm like, wow, no, most people won't get there.

Fernando Tosetti 15:14

I'm like 95, 99 of people probably didn't even get to this. I'm only watching this because it's like my friend that did it.

Audio, Mastering, And Real-World Playback

Vipul Bindra 15:19

I'm like, all right, I want to see what they did. Exactly. Social media is quite literally, and it's so funny you talk to your friend, most best viewed reels, it's just like immediately there's something you're doing stupid or very hook-oriented, or I don't know, something crazy has to happen. That's what I'm saying. If you want to make a commercial nowadays for social media, you might as well blow up something or make it, you know, AI and then go to the real thing. The real thing is, because you have to gain their attention. Yeah, uh, again, not the most artistic thing in the world, yeah, but it is just what it is.

Fernando Tosetti 15:48

Well, I will say though, that when I do, at least personally, and I have heard that from other people too, when I'm scrolling through, just you know, not even thinking what I'm doing, and then something stands out visually, there is a tendency to stay there a little longer, even if I'm not looking at a filmmaker's page. Because if I am, then of course I want to see a lighting setup or whatever it is. So even with that, I think the higher production value is super important.

Vipul Bindra 16:14

Yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 16:14

Like if you're if you're just watching a regular video shot on a phone with natural lighting versus you're watching something shot by a cinematographer with three-point lighting that looks like this, like what you guys build here is beautiful. You're scrolling through and you see this, you're like, okay, that stands out.

Vipul Bindra 16:27

Yeah. But do you think is it because you're a filmmaker? Or do you think everyday people like do random people in Brazil or Florida or whatever, do you think just random people who have no interest in filmmaking, do you think they would stop at high quality?

Fernando Tosetti 16:40

I think it's both. I think for us, there is definitely a higher chance of us doing that because of our background and what we do and what we our job is and what we do all day, and we want to look at shots that look uh um you know more aesthetically pre pleasing, and we're like, okay, like what's behind this? What makes this so pretty, right? Of course. But I do think that regular audiences, a lot of times they watch something and they're like, there's something off about this. That's usually what they'll say. Yeah, they won't exactly know quite what it is, they'll just feel it. They will feel it. And you hear that a lot in movies when you're watching movies, and you maybe, because of your background, understand what was wrong with it. Yeah, or I will understand what was wrong with it, you're gonna understand what's wrong. And then maybe a friend or a cousin or whatever, or your mom or my mom is gonna watch it and say something like, Oh, I don't like I don't like it, I don't know what it is, but it looked really weird. Yeah, oh okay, well, I'll tell you what it was.

Vipul Bindra 17:35

There you go. And and but don't you see? So here's what diff. So we're obviously we love doing pretty much similar thing. We want to make content, but we're also different as in I want to do corporate commercial content mostly. You not only do what I do, but you also want to make movies, right? So, what do you see is the future? Because here's the thing the truth being is Hollywood is right now struggling. Yes, people don't watch movies to in the theater. All these uh streaming apps don't pay enough to make classic movies or whatever, right? And then most people are consuming content on their phones, which is not the best form or medium, right? Uh or device to, I guess, get to watch cinematic, you know, high quality audio quality uh content. So where do you see I don't know filmmaking going? Do you uh do you think you'll continue making films 10 years down the road or that is a tough question.

Vertical Vs Horizontal And Platform Intent

Fernando Tosetti 18:29

I remember we kind of talked about it a little bit on our trip to Miami on the van. It was a four-hour drive. So we we got to talk about that a little bit, and we had a lot of things that we agreed on, and you know, I mean we can jump into those, but I think um bringing the cinematic quality from the filmmaking world into social media is something that I have been doing for a while, and then now you see that more often. And you see a lot of people doing that. And it's one of those things where like this there's pros and cons to that, right? The the one on one side, anyone can be a filmmaker, anyone can have the gear and call themselves that, and probably make a short film and get honestly, maybe more views than some director in the 80s that couldn't fill up a theater. Yeah. So like nowadays, maybe with your even with your phone, I'm gonna say there's like it could happen that you, you know, just got a video with 50 million views, or like a short film that goes viral for some reason and you get millions of views. So you're reaching that audience and you're calling yourself a filmmaker. And I'm not here to tell you if you are or if you're not, and and I don't know exactly I feel like it's very hard right now to say where the line is. But I think the concept of being a creator, of being a filmmaker, being a film director has changed.

Mario Rangel 19:50

Yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 19:50

Now I will say though that there is a difference when I am on set with other filmmakers, with a bunch of actors, and I'm telling a story that is an actual movie, and I'm directing a crew, and I'm talking to a cast, and I'm trying to make an actor or actress uh go the right direction. That's what directing means. It doesn't mean you're telling them exactly what they're gonna do, but you're giving them cues and and a little bit of a background to see where they can go with that story. There's a huge difference between that and if I'm alone filming with my camera filming me. I I feel like this is not quite directing as much as that is.

Vipul Bindra 20:28

That's true. That's I wouldn't call that directing either. You're right, because what are you directing yourself? I mean, I mean, I guess you could, but filmmaking truly is, yeah, where you have actors, somebody acting, it doesn't have to be traditional actors. But you're right, it has to be a story that you're telling, and then the story has to be told via the you know the crew of at least a director, cinematographer, whatever, and and some kind of actor. It could not be a very small film with one director DP and one actor. I don't know. You can do it. I mean, I I remember years ago uh watching the movie The Room, I think it was it was it was shot basically in a room, right? Or maybe set that looks like a room, but very limited landscape of what the visual you can l visually can do with a room, right? 100%. But the movie did really well. I think if I if I'm not mistaken, it won Academy Awards or whatever, too. Yes, because so what I'm saying is as a filmmaker, you can put yourself in a sandbox and still create what I would call a film, right? Uh but does that mean necessarily that everything's a film? No, you know, everything's a movie, no. So I think I guess like you said, it's not our job to put a label a label on if this is a movie. I think the audience can do that because I don't I don't think we are at the pay grade where we get to define what a movie is and whatnot, because a lot of people I'm saying, listening to this, would look at me and say, You're not a filmmaker. Yeah, right? Yeah. Because you don't make actual movies.

Fernando Tosetti 21:54

It's not also up to them to judge, and it's not also up to us to judge. I feel like it's up to people to create their own thing. Whatever makes them happy.

Vipul Bindra 22:01

Because I've heard that where the first people go, let me pull you up on IMDB and see what you've done. And I'm like, sure. I mean, yeah, that's the way you approach people's worth. And then there's the other way where it's like, oh, how much money do you make? That's one way people approach people's worth. And I'm like, why does any of this matter? It doesn't. It matters is you saw content, you like content, or you don't like content, right? That's basically it. Like I see your movie. Yeah, I can be like, hey, Fernando made an amazing movie. Or I didn't like Fernando's movie. That's about it. I don't get to judge you based on like uh, you know, if you're a filmmaker or not, if you make any money on the movie or not. That's none of my business. You know, like I don't know why people want to insert.

Hooks, Attention, And Social Aesthetics

Fernando Tosetti 22:42

I love I love that you're saying that because I 100% agree. And and I also think that the same way like we are saying, like it's not our job to go and to put those labels, like I also don't want other people putting labels on. Like what I do. Um and and I agree with you, like you could call it a film, and you could not call it a film. I think a lot of it is like the the feeling that you have what when you're there creating that, and to be able to to me, art, whenever I think of art, and I didn't like read this anywhere, and I'm not like you know, copying anyone's quote because it's not a quote, it's just a thought that I've that I've had looking at different art because I love painting, I love drawing, I I love seeing that more than I like doing it. But I I used to be I started as like a traditional artist, like drawing, like really that was my thing growing up. And to me, the the whole idea behind art is to translate that feeling that you have when you're creating it or when you first thought of that idea to the audience through a medium. So if it is you, your camera in one background, and you are directing yourself, yes, you're doing that 100%. Now just be careful there are steps between that and directing a film with 30 people, 50 people, 100 people. There are steps to be taken.

Vipul Bindra 24:02

Exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 24:04

It's not the same. And I say that also coming from a perspective where like um I because I went to school for advertising, and because my background was so solid in that side, and I worked at an agency for six years uh in Orlando Um because of that, I had to develop a bigger strength in the filmmaking side that I didn't learn in school originally, right? So what I did, just going back to what I was saying earlier, it's funny, like I sent like I basically like met a few guys that were interested in film, and we were like, let's shoot a film for this Campus Movie Festival, which was the movie festival at UCF. And then I won the best director award out of 115 films. So I was like, okay, maybe I like directing. Yeah, nice. And the cool thing about this world is like you like to be the DP. I like to direct. I have friends that like this guy loves to be a gaffer. Yeah, this other girl is an art director, like each person fits that role and they like doing that specific job, that specific gig. How beautiful is that? But just to the to the point that I was saying, so I had to kind of play catch up a little bit and learn the skills. So when I went back to Brazil, I did a um basically master class program that had like several classes, like once a week. It was like the whole day on Saturday. Yeah, every Saturday. It was really cool. It was for a few months on cinematography. I went from not understanding anything about lighting to understanding several different types of lighting uh skills and tricks and tools and and equipment to use to get there, and and just understanding a lot more about cameras, understanding like when you walk into a room to turn off certain certain kinds of lights and call her temperature, and understanding caller temperature on a level that like it's so helpful to me on set today. And I did the same thing with acting. Yeah, I threw myself in front of the camera, the hardest thing in the world. It's so it feels so vulnerable. I mean, I'm saying this as I'm in front of the camera right now, but it's such a thing that you have to break away from that shell, but that will make you grow so much as a director.

What Makes A Filmmaker Today

Vipul Bindra 26:17

Because you have to you get to see the actor's perspective. Because you know, they have to put themselves in the shoes of whatever character you're creating. And the the performance I find again, my limitation. I've obviously I've made movies, I made short films, I've made a uh uh full indie film. That's how I even met Mario. We were on a film I was DPing. So it's not like I don't make movies, but that's not my passion. My passion is uh Corbin commercial filmmaking, so I'll stay there. Like usually I'm if I'm directing actors is for a commercial, right? That's basically what I'm directing. Most of my other directing is gonna be, you know, CEOs, like on camera a little bit. That's not I wouldn't call that directing, I guess. Properly. So coming back to it, like I said, the way I approach it is very simple. Like telling them what we're trying to get out of the role. Like, hey, our goal is I don't know, stories, you're a family, right? You're having a great time, right? The emotion that we're invoking is that you are a family that's having a great time enjoying the cereal. I'm just making it up right now. So so it's like, and then rest, I kind of just leave it up to the professionals. If you hire good actors, if you did a good job doing, like you said, casting, you did a good job. And I'm talking again, this is not a movie, this is a commercial. And so it's like if you did a good job casting them, you like the the chemistry between the actors works great, right? It's not really the most complicated thing. It's making sure that the scene looks authentic, it does not look like this is being forced, right? And that's I think is most of that goes into a making sure you have the right people they have they're actually interested in the project, and B making sure they understand what we're looking to get out of it. Like the kids, you know, for example, are the one of the hardest people to direct, but you know, you can kind of lean them towards. I just want you to have fun, like you want a big smile because you're gonna eat cereal and you know, or something like that. It can be so much easier uh to direct, but I'm sure now this gets way more complicated when you're trying to make a movie because now you need to carry that from one to two scenes to 60 to 90 minutes, you know, and and that's a completely different thing because it needs to carry the character to scene to three, and a lot of time, you know, you're not filming a movie uh linear, so you have to go back into the emotion that may not have happened yet in the other scene. So you're like, okay, so now this is the scene, right? When you're you're you're have you're breaking down, or whatever, or what was the scene we did, like you're you're winning the movie's ending. We did the movie's ending before first, yeah. When we were as we were like, so what's uh so you know, uh I don't know, you're cheating on your husband, or what what was the scene? I forgot, it's been a while. But point is you know, you have to get them back in that mood. It's like, yes, we haven't gotten to how this happens or whatever. Let's get you in that zone. And I don't know, it's fun but challenging too, and it requires a certain level of skill to get these people uh into their zone, right? Because that's what our your job is, right? Is to make sure they're to get the most out of their performance, right?

Fernando Tosetti 29:11

Hopefully that's like the number one thing. Um, I feel like going back to what I was saying about cinematography, a lot of directors, and I had I I was in that in that space as well, which was an issue, are very focused on the visual side of things. So you're very focused on cinematography, but you forget that you can hire a cinematographer for that, and you can, of course, work with them on a mood board, you can work with them on a storyboard, but hopefully you can, like you said, uh communicate your idea and your vision well enough that everybody that's on that set understands what you're going for. The biggest problem with film, I think, is when the tone is not there because even the minor things, the smaller things that are going to mean a lot. So, like what you're saying, right? So the film is not shot in a linear way, so you might have to have an actor or actress um reach a certain level of emotion that might be very different than what they are feeling as a human in that moment in their lives.

Vipul Bindra 30:10

Yeah, right.

Fernando Tosetti 30:11

So from that also to the macro, so like the big thing in in making a film, which is uh making sure everyone on crew and cast understands the vision and is going there. To me, that's huge, especially when you're working on a set that has not a lot of people, because then even the gaffer has to understand the vision that you're going for, because they will help the DP get there with the lighting. Yeah, that's different than if you have 500 people just on your camera department. Then it's like, all right, like each person is doing such a small job that maybe not every single person has to understand the vision of the full vision, yeah. But if you're doing like an indie with like 10 people or 20 people, then yeah, like everybody there is probably gonna have to either wear multiple heads or at least understand what the other person's role is a little bit so that so that they know what the story is. I think that's huge. Um, but when it comes to that um that commercial side, you're absolutely right. A lot there is uh way more about one specific uh uh emotion, one specific uh uh gesture. Maybe they're just drinking something, maybe they're just smiling, maybe they're just looking at a very specific angle that you need them to look at. Very different directing than film. Yeah, uh, we call that results-oriented directing, and we try not to do that on film. Yeah, so in in commercials, uh, when I'm directing a commercial, the result-oriented directing is way more uh there's way more freedom for me to do that.

Vipul Bindra 31:37

Uh yeah, you tell them what emotion to feel and things like that, right?

Fernando Tosetti 31:40

Yeah, and and and and look at a certain specific place or do a certain movement because you need that. Yeah, like you gotta make sure you're not covering that label of the logo when you're drinking it because you have to see that because it's a shot of that product.

Vipul Bindra 31:55

Yeah, exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 31:56

In a film, there's so much more. Maybe that's the intensity of like drinking that in the middle of like breaking up, and so you're just trying to swallow that. Like, you know, there's so much emotion to it, it's so different than directing a commercial, but I do think that one skill translates to the other really well. Yeah, really well. Uh, one super quick example is I actually learned that um in that acting class in Brazil. Um, I remember telling the the director there, okay, but if I'm directing a commercial, I always have to be like result like oriented, right? Like there's no other way around it, right? And she was like, What do you mean? There's always like a way to like give motivation to the actor rather than the final result. I was like, Whoa, no, like what if I need them to just look left to right really quick? Like there's I I have to say that you have to look left, right, real quick. No, you don't have to. Here's what you can do you can say, hey, there's a truck on fire going from there to there, and it's like speeding and it's going right now. Look at it. Yeah, you just gave them something to look at. Exactly. Isn't that huge?

Directing Actors: Commercials And Film

Vipul Bindra 33:03

Yeah, no, that's huge. That's good uh good tip to people who want to learn how to direct. And funny enough, talk about me seeing in your element. So how we met, obviously it was years ago, I think through the the podcast that you guys were doing through Manual. But then I he invited me, and I'm talking, I think, a year, year or so ago. I don't you'll know the timeline more. So he was like, I had gotten the I so I had done a really high-end project, and the gaffer had these uh, you know, CRLS panels, and I was just like, you know, again hate the game word game changer, but I was like, this is so incredible, and you know, I'm obsessed with lighting, so I'm a like you said, director, producer, DP, those are my primary loads. But on these small sets, I end up doing gaffing sound, you know, like this is good, and this guy is good. So basically, I was just like, oh, this is not something I can take back, right? Because it's not like we're not gonna have that level of gaffer usually out here, or on the type of jobs we're doing, at least. So I was like, this is really cool. And I was like seeing how he's working, you know, all that, and I'm like, okay, this is cool. So I went and I realized, oh, God's is making basically a copy of it. So let me buy their kit. So I bought their K1 kit, and me and Emmanuel ended up talking about it. He's like, you know what? There's this really cool shoot happening, you gotta come. This will be perfect for it. So, you know, I was uh I was like, Yeah, absolutely, let's do it. And that was your movie. So you so you're directing it, and uh, I think you had guys had rented some of my equipment too, but I just showed up because Emmanuel asked me to, you know, and then I didn't had no idea it was your shoot or whatever. He's just like, I'm doing a shoot, I think these panels would be great for it. You should come. And they should and and and yeah, and then I was like, you know what? Absolutely. Normally I'm like, uh, I'm you know, I'm lazy or whatever. I was just like, no, no, I'm coming, absolutely, because I was excited by the panels. So that's how I came and I was like, oh, this is your buddy Fernando. I remember him from you know the podcast or whatever. Uh so I got to see you on your element that day because not only did we get to do use the panels, which was really cool. Um, that was my first time ever actually like outside of a you know test situation, putting them to use. Uh, but then also just so you could see you, you, you, and your elements uh kind of just I don't know, directing, doing the scene. Doing my thing.

Fernando Tosetti 35:10

Yeah, how was that movie? It was amazing.

Vipul Bindra 35:12

Yeah, thanks for inviting to the premiere, or actually rather say Emmanuel again for inviting me to the premiere. Yeah, that was really cool to come hang out again, see the movie from the the final side then that you made.

Fernando Tosetti 35:23

That is so cool, yeah. Like when I I didn't invite you, that is true. I'm sorry about that. But when I did see you, yeah, when Emmanuel invited me, so I invited Emmanuel invited you, so I guess that's that's good enough. But I was very happy to see you there because you were such a crucial part for us, especially on some of those uh exterior scenes. And boy, it was hot, it was so hot. I mean, it was around this time last year, and so in Orlando, yeah, it's in Orlando, yeah. I mean, anywhere in Orlando between like I would say even April, all the way to like August, September, it gets like a little crazy.

Vipul Bindra 35:58

Yeah, so yeah, it's hot, it's hot, it's humid, you know, and you're outside, like you said, it's uh also uh almost uncontrolled environment because like I said, we did use the panels, but outside that there wasn't much light or whatever, we were just using natural light. Natural light, yeah, exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 36:15

Well, that scene, yeah. That scene that you were, I feel like that was probably the only scene that you were. Yeah, that was the only scene. I was there that day, yeah. That was the only day, yeah. Super important day too. But uh, you said like I was in my LN as much as I could be in my LMN with all of the other restrictions going on around, which is like something that you never you can't use that as an excuse because if you signed up, that's the way I see it. If I sign up for a project, I'm going in all the way and I am giving my 100%. But I do know by doing so, it won't be quite what you are probably expecting. Although I will say the final product came out great and I love it. But how can I be performing at the best of my ability in that situation if it's 100 degrees and I don't see water or whatever it is, whatever the situation may be, right? And I'm not not calling everyone uh anyone out for this. The crew was amazing, the cast was amazing. Yeah, everyone was struggling, probably even more than that. What I was struggling with to make that happen, to make that work. But that has to be passion because that's independent filmmaking. That has to be passion, and you have to give yourself a little bit of um you have to like understand that uh with within that capacity, within that lower budget, within that independence scenario, you're probably not gonna get the ideal, ideal thing that's in your head. You're probably gonna have to just work with what you have because you don't have a control environment. Yeah, right. Here we have a really nice control environment, really great lighting, great sound. And even here, sometimes, you know, stuff can happen. Day your life unpredictable.

Vipul Bindra 37:54

Yeah, storms happen, you know, you still hear it. It was funny. I don't know whose podcast I was doing, and it just started storming. I don't know how how well it caught the in the mics, but it was like you can't control things. But no, that was really as uncontrolled as get in Florida weather, and I still remember their scenes, you know, we're doing for second, you know, we'll get cloud coverage, and then it's like, you know, it's cloudy, but that's not the rest of the scene, yeah. Yeah, yeah, the yeah, so but again, it was good to see, like I said, I was just brought on by manual, to be honest. Like I said, it was you just like come on to test the panels. It was awesome, yeah. And then, like I said, so but it was really cool, like I said, from my side, because I'd known you just from the podcast, right?

Fernando Tosetti 38:33

Well, then we got to work again, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 38:36

And exactly talk about that, then we actually got to work. So thanks for the recommend. So obviously we knew each other now, so and you had rented some gear from your whatever, so you commanded to your buddy Googa, yeah, and you guys were doing some fancy commercial down in Miami, and uh, I guess uh you got me fancy, yeah. I I mean a pretty good size for you know the crew size that we had. Uh so you got me um connected, and you know, uh we got to go and we not only get to work together, we got to actually uh drive down the whole way to Miami, yeah, which is what you were referencing earlier. Sleep in the same room in the air. Exactly. I know. We'll get there, we'll get there. So, how was that? Um uh what made you think of me? And I don't know, tell me more about that gig. I don't know from your perspective, I think it's in the drive down.

On-Set Problem Solving And Crew Chemistry

Fernando Tosetti 39:21

Yeah, well, I mean, right away when so Google's a cinematographer, he's actually uh also from Brazil, and we've been working together on a few projects, and he is very much the same way that I am, and I think that has to do with us being from Brazil too. It's like a lot of the stuff you end up having to do there is very last minute, and there's not a lot of planning going on. So, and when you are able to plan, we just feel like wow, that's amazing. This is like a control environment. I'm gonna have access to lights and things and like bring my vision to life. Wow, that's awesome. Uh, something personal ended up happening to him during that same trip with like his dog that was sick. So, even with everything being planned, I didn't know about that. Yeah, so even with everything being planned, stuff like that can still happen. Yeah, so he was just going through that at the same time that he was trying to to you know DP. And so he he he told me in a very humble way, like, hey, I might need you to step out of your comfort zone a little bit here. And if I'm not on set, you might have to call the shots sometimes. You might have to have Bendra come up and do things that are outside of like what his official role is. Yeah, and he communicated that very well, very clearly, and we and we did that, and I think we did a really, really cool job, but it was essentially a commercial for a new fragrance uh created by a brand in partnership with Nadia Feheda, which is uh the um Miss Universe Paraguay, shot in Miami. And right away when Guga told me we need all of this gear, like I remember you mentioned somebody, and and you told me that whenever I I needed that amount of gear, I should reach out to him. I was like, Yeah, I got you. I got you. Like Bendra is the man for this. There is no other, there is no one, there's no other man for this.

Vipul Bindra 41:10

Which is so crazy now that I think about it, because you know, he reached out, he said, Hey, we'll need a few lights. I was like, Oh, I got you. You know, I was like, of course, I got a few lights, we got enough lights. And then it's so funny because um, you know, that was the and again, he didn't know either. Like it's uh I could tell when we got there why you know was it's this one of those shoots. And and again, we that's what we do, you know, we gotta roll with the punches. But what I'm saying is like, yeah, the the the brief that I got was hey, we're gonna do a commercial, uh, we're gonna do a couple lighting setups, need a few lights. And I was like, I got you. Easy, easy, and you know, and then at some point he was like, Hey, I could use a couple lenses or whatever. You know, I was like, Normally for your book means a gaffer with lighting, I don't bring a camera cart. But you know, I was like, I'll just bring my camera cart, you know, you know, you never know what we need. Yeah, but I I I just met you. I don't I don't know how you operate. I'll just bring everything, whatever. Don't worry about the cost. That's not true. And so glad we did, because anyway, so a uh so obviously we got to write down that was fun. We talked business and stuff, but when we get there, I quickly realized that, and again, I think him too, because he was they were supposed to bring cameras, yeah. So they brought an FX6, but they didn't have a VMUT plate on it. And I guess I I don't want to blame them, they probably flew far away from Brazil, right? They flew from Brazil, yeah. So they they didn't have everything. So I was just like, you know what? There's two FX6s, so glad brought my camera card. So I think that shoot entirely basically used mostly my gear. I think at some point we pulled like Google's like vintage lens or whatever.

Fernando Tosetti 42:35

Yeah, but it was mostly uh 90 percent 99% of what we use, I feel like was yours. At some point, we might have even used some of your SD cards.

Vipul Bindra 42:43

Yes, uh, you definitely they use my cards. They also use the recording function, which is rare, on my monitor. So I use my director's monitor, right? And uh they actually use the um uh the recording function, which is rare. People don't use that, which is good because you know it's proxies, yeah, but whatever. But they definitely even use that also. Never happened to me before. We ran out of lights. I was like, what? That imagine this guy running out of lights, exactly. Which we have added more lights.

Fernando Tosetti 43:11

Okay, so you wouldn't possibly run out of lights, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 43:15

Exactly. But I was like, if that happened, we gotta add more. So we added four new lights since then. You did? What did you so I added a 1200 X and the three three light kit for the Storm ADCs? So all the latest stuff from Aperture. Okay, so I want to check that out. Yeah, ADC, yeah. Yeah, uh, excited about that. So so that's been added, but either way, what I'm saying. It was interesting to me. Um, that you know, and it's because we did three setups, that's why we had so many lights. So we wanted to be able to immediately you know switch.

Fernando Tosetti 43:42

Um, but well, do you want to talk about that? I mean, just the switch and how we had to I think it was really interesting because, like you said, originally we didn't know exactly how much gear we would need, but once we see the space, it's a pretty big studio. Yeah, but it's pretty good psychwalk. Pretty good side. And and what you what we needed to To do was to do three different setups, but they wanted to do all of that on camera. And so they wanted that transition of lighting as the model was walking from one side to the other to happen on the spot. So you needed all those three different setups to be ready.

Vipul Bindra 44:14

Exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 44:15

And you don't want to keep talent waiting ever. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 44:17

Especially, you know, somebody you know who's popular or famous rather. Point is uh yeah, so we ended up essentially uh again, shout out to uh you know Cidus Link app from Aperture. So uh yeah, I basically again we set up the lights with your buddies, talk about them. Um, what are their names again?

Fernando Tosetti 44:34

Uh Bruno Bruno and Luis.

Vipul Bindra 44:36

They were so incredible, and I love Bruno. Because again, remember, when I'm new, I am not a Brazilian, these are all Brazilian people. For me, what was interesting is like I'm just new, I'm frightened of figuring out how I fit, right? Yeah, and then and he was totally like my kind of guy. First, I'm like, I don't know him, but he immediately was like, I was trying to get up on a ladder or something, and he was like, No, no, no, no. And he just took the light from me. It's kind of at first, I'm like, what is he doing? Yeah, but then after I understood his nature, I was like, This is amazing. Amazing. He I would love to have him on my set because he he had this attitude of like, no, I got you, instead of more like, no, no, let me do it. It's more like let me be helpful to you. Yes, and I really like huge difference, right? Yeah, very huge difference. One thing to uh, you know, I don't know, be rude or whatever, but he his intention again, once you know Bruno, very different, yeah. He is the perfect guy to have him set because you know, everything that most people don't want to do, like you're like climb a ladder, yeah, you know, put yourself in this weird situation, hang this light up. He's already there. He's he's already there, yeah. And then once I knew the trooper, he made the the rest of the the the shoot so incredibly easy, yeah. Because I was like, this is incredible. Like I everything that would take long is A moving much faster, yeah. And bit and the other thing is it's the initiative, and he loves it. So it's not like he doesn't feel like I'm like just throwing it all this. Yeah, he's he's ready to do this and he's good at it.

Fernando Tosetti 45:53

He likes it, he has passion to do it, and it's so cool because his background's in TV, so he comes from a background where like he had to do all that stuff, including like building sets, yeah. So imagine like how and and going back to what we were saying earlier, too. It's like each person fits in that specific role and sets so well, hopefully, right?

Vipul Bindra 46:12

Yeah, and that's when you get the best sets, exactly, and then also everyone's willing to then do also whatever it takes, because at some point who's willing to grab a gimbal. True. Oh, you need to go from here to here, the dolly won't reach, let me just grab uh a gimbal and get away.

Fernando Tosetti 46:28

So that's that's huge too. You're right. Like being open to wearing multiple hats is a really big thing in our industry.

Vipul Bindra 46:34

Yeah, exactly, especially on these smaller sets. Yeah, uh, but it was just fun. I I really liked, like I said, the challenge of it. At first, uh, you know, getting there, uh, you know, immediately we were like, okay, we're gonna set a lighting setup, and then uh, you know, just trying to figure out what they're looking for.

Fernando Tosetti 46:49

Even like not doing it on stands and just uh hanging everything from the ceiling was like exactly pretty cool.

Miami Fragrance Shoot: Gear, Grit, And Improvisation

Vipul Bindra 46:56

It's pretty cool, but it it was uh a little weary. It took us a little bit because at first they gave us that what do you call the um like the the word for it? Like a crane, no, it's like a scissors, scissor lift, yeah, yeah. You would yeah, and you would think it's easy, but it wasn't accurate. No, so uh I can't believe we didn't pick the ladder up because so it was slowing us down rather. But as soon as we got the ladder and we had Bruno, it was moving so much faster, yeah. With the thing, it was like and then it wouldn't go exactly. My thing was tight and then it would jerk if you go very little. Yeah, so anyway, the first light I would say would be was difficult, but then as soon as we figured out what was the fast way, man, that sounds it was so man amazing. But then yeah, it was like, but what was interesting to me that shoot was like, let's get one more light, let's get one more light, let's get one more light.

Fernando Tosetti 47:41

I'm so glad you had everything, but I'm also very glad that like everybody that had such a positive approach. Like sometimes I'm just like sitting back and I'm just looking at it, I'm like, that's so cool. Like, like when you get something that's not like that, when you got people that are just not interested in helping, or they don't want to step outside of their comfort zone, or even like they don't want to wear a different hat because it's like too much. That's just it makes it so much harder because at least from my experience, let's be honest. Like, most of the sets, especially here in Florida, especially like Orlando, they're probably either gonna be like considered indie or low budget or smaller than like a full even if the budget's big, you're probably not gonna have like a hundred people. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 48:20

No, it's not, it's very rare to do that here, if that are any at all. No, and that's why like I I was just having a good old time. Then also, what my other favorite part of that shoot was a obviously I got to work with you, that was pretty cool. That was finally, and then also uh how friendly everyone was because I was the odd one out, like you guys were all Brazilian, having fun. Uh, I mean, you could have been saying mean things about me, but I never felt that way. I had I had such a good time, and I felt like an honorary Brazilian for a little bit. I was like, Yes, you know, you guys had that um the I don't know the right way to say it, but like you had that vibe, you know, the chill factor where it's like everyone's ready, eager to work. Yes, they want to do good work, but then they're also laid back. They're chill, you know, like we're not like stressing about this is not brain surgery. Yeah, exactly.

Fernando Tosetti 49:04

Yeah, we are like that in Brazil. I'm very thankful uh for being Brazilian. I always say like it's always there's like things that come with being an immigrant and living in America and being from somewhere else, but I wouldn't pick anywhere else to be from just because of that aspect of things of just being chill, being laid back, like understanding like, hey, I'm here already. Like I'm I'm already doing my best at this. Yeah, let me relax too, and like let me not take this super seriously. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 49:29

Because you know, you don't want to make it super stressful. We're already, you know, like doing the the best we can. So no point about stressing or anything.

Fernando Tosetti 49:36

You're probably already like not eating for a few hours, you're probably there on the set for 12 hours straight. Like you don't want to die, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 49:42

Man, and you don't want to be around people that you're like what? But anyway, at least from my perspective, is that I felt at no point like an outsider. That's also you know, so that's I felt so good, and I was like, you know what, this makes me want to work with uh Brazilians even more. I'm like everybody's very happy with you too on my hour. That's good to know because yeah, we had we had such a great time. I think the images we created were beautiful. Beautiful. What if what footage? Yeah, but what's the other funny thing is it is beautiful talk about the the day. So again, I uh I get to luckily with what we do, we get to work with lots of celebrities. I typically either don't know or don't care. Yeah, but it's so funny. I was next to I think it was day two or day three, I forget. Uh but obviously you guys have told me like she's famous or whatever, like I don't know her, but whatever. We're we're creating great content, having a good time.

Fernando Tosetti 50:29

She's married to Mark Anthony.

Vipul Bindra 50:31

Yeah, which is what I'm talking about. So I was there and I had literally what I thought was a I was like, who's this new homeless guy showed up?

Fernando Tosetti 50:38

Who's this random dude?

Vipul Bindra 50:40

And I genuinely like I'm standing here next to me, and I think I I approached you or I or Google, I forgot who. But anyway, I approached one of you. I'm like, I think it was me. Yeah, it was probably you, most likely. Because I was like, is this the guy? Yeah, and you're like, yeah, and I was like, oh. Uh because I was like, he's the odd one out, you know, like in the set. Yeah. So it was funny to me, like, where I don't know the guy. You have mentioned like that she's married to some famous guy.

Fernando Tosetti 51:04

Yeah. And I'm like any Latinas out there will know. Yeah, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 51:08

Probably you do, you're Peruvian. I mean, you know Mark Anthony. Of course I know who he is.

Mario Rangel 51:14

Everybody knows he's Mark Anthony.

Vipul Bindra 51:17

I mean, great guy. I have nothing negative to say about it. But what I'm saying is, I didn't know.

Fernando Tosetti 51:21

Very like Artsy, so he's very laid back. Yeah, which is what I meant. I didn't mean he's homeless. No, yeah, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 51:26

He's chill and yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 51:26

Just you know, dressed up as a homeless person. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 51:29

That's his vibe. And my thing is he was odd one out. Like he was not dressed like anyone else outside. So you could that's why I was like standing there. I'm just watching the monitor for something, some lighting change or whatever. And I was like, who's this guy next to me? Like he's new, like he wasn't there day one or whatever. Or if he was, I didn't notice it. Yeah. So anyway, and then I came to you and I was like, I was like, is this guy? You're like, Yep. I was like, Oh, that's the famous guy. Okay, now I get it. Looks different. So you know, yeah, definitely. He's his own vibe.

Fernando Tosetti 51:55

He is the the funny thing, you just reminded me of like you were like watching the screen, as you said, right? To like see like how everything was going. Um, a lot of stuff was like very last minute, like fixing to on the spot. Like, we couldn't get a certain specific uh aspect ratio to work. Uh, so we what we did on the on the monitor, on the director's monitor, is we just got gaffer tape, just did like a very thin gap tape and boom, put it there and make it made it 9x16 or 16 by 9.

Vipul Bindra 52:23

You know, like I really love that idea. So and the reason that was we were using quad view, so it can do aspect markers, but that's if you're using one camera, yes. But we wanted to do quad view, and there's no way to apply uh as far as this monitor goes, you know, aspect ratio markers. That's what it was. So so that was so smart. I don't know whose idea that was.

Fernando Tosetti 52:41

Well, I feel like we do that sometimes in Brazil, just like random stuff like that.

Vipul Bindra 52:45

So I mean gaff tape is I our duct tape, yeah. But anyway, we we yeah, you guys uh literally like had a thin gaff straight and I it worked.

Fernando Tosetti 52:53

I mean GitHub it got the job, it got the job done so that we could uh frame it in a way that you could do both horizontal and horizontal and vertical, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 53:02

That was like it's I had a good time, um, and now I have a story to tell to people about the whole Mark Anthony situation because I had no idea. Like, and I'm like, oh, you guys probably know if you listen to the music. Yeah, I need to. And um but you know, I think I think it makes a fun story to tell to people that um you know how we get so into our art that I don't even know this famous thing next to me. That's very true. That's very true.

Fernando Tosetti 53:27

You forget what's around you sometimes.

Vipul Bindra 53:29

Exactly. But I think we created great images, we had a good time.

Prelights, Multisetups, And Lighting Control

Fernando Tosetti 53:33

We have something coming soon, too. Oh, really? That yeah, so we got a movie early next year. Look at that. So the cool thing, and I haven't told anyone this yet, but we went I went to Brazil. Um, I got back from Brazil like a week ago or something like that, and I met with uh the producer. Okay. So it's legit. Oh, look at that. And his office is like huge, right? In like the nicest fancy area in Sao Paulo, which is the biggest city like in a lot of Latin America. So like you can imagine, like, that's legit. It's like New York City in Latin America. He has the whole like floor, it's all his company. And I'm like, all right, you guys are legit. So we talk about a project, and we're like sitting there just like this for like two hours, just talking and talking and talking. And I get to know the guy, and he gets to see like my work, and we talk about like our process. And as I leave, he's like, I want you to be the director on this. And I'm like, wow, like I'm so like I feel so thankful, like so blessed right now. So it's just like a such a good moment. And yeah, I mean, I'm gonna have Guga in this project, hopefully Bruno too, hopefully Luiz, and it and hopefully you with your whole everything you're gonna break.

Vipul Bindra 54:45

That's a good crew. Like, I'm not joking. I would love to have all of those guys back. Even Lewis, he was so fun to hang around with really everyone there was talented, like nobody was I mean, like I said, everyone did their job well and but didn't take themselves too seriously, you know, like I said, doing great content, and like you said, I didn't even know about Googa was going through that personal thing, but he he didn't let me feel it, you know. He was on top of it. I did feel like I said, the only thing feeling I ever got was that that like nobody kind of knows what's happening, yeah, but at the same time, everyone is putting their hundreds. But I think that's like most corporate shoots as a small thing, right? You have an idea what you want to create, but you have no idea what's happening, you're just figuring it out as it goes.

Fernando Tosetti 55:24

The funny thing is we had a pre-light day, yeah, and we set most of the things up on that day. At least the positive side, I think, from doing that pre-light. Uh first of all, I don't think we would have been able to shoot without a pre-light. No, we definitely needed that.

Vipul Bindra 55:38

Rather, they didn't even account for I mean, they counted for pre-lighting, which is great, but I don't think they counted for the pack up time. So that's why we were all rushing at the last like to be able to pack everything up. Yes, that's very true. Because that was a lot of lights to pack up.

Fernando Tosetti 55:51

It was a lot of lights to pack, and I think like what what is important is that she was happy with it too. Talent was happy, which is the main thing, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 55:58

Because that's her name, her commercial, yes, so production company happy, talent happy.

Fernando Tosetti 56:03

Yeah, we had to go through our struggles in order to get there, but we got there. And I think I saw like one of their shots and their actual page, because that's any that's the only thing they released so far. Wow. To know that like we were there, yeah, you know, and we made that.

Vipul Bindra 56:20

We made that. And what's crazy to me is the power effect six we like I said, I wasn't even supposed to provide the camera. No, but we used to be able to do it. But what's amazing to me is yeah, that thing is shot entirely on these cameras that I just brought as a backup. I'm not even joking. The whole thing was like, I'll just bring it. And then us ending up using most of my lenses and cameras to make it happen. Yeah, I actually felt good about it. I was just like this is so cool. Like uh that I'm able to help the production, you know. As a as um, you know, I do my own thing, right? Usually, like I said, I bring all the equipment, I bring everything. So uh, you know, I'm just handling the but it's really cool to be able to do that for other people. I don't I I don't know how to explain that feeling where it's like, yes, I've dialed this in so we can go create awesome content for our clients, but that that's awesome to see this can also go create awesome content for other people.

Fernando Tosetti 57:08

For other people, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 57:09

Yeah, and it's like, oh wow, like this is pretty cool. Like uh, you need this, and I'm like, uh, yeah, I have that.

Fernando Tosetti 57:14

Well, and we know very well that like you were going above and beyond to provide us with things, you know. And I think the the friendship or the positive like personal side that came out of that was also because you could see that you were going we could see on our end that you were going above and beyond.

Vipul Bindra 57:34

And that's okay with me, you know, because at the end of the day, like I said, I knew that wasn't planned. It's one thing, you know. Like I said, I always tell people if somebody take tries to take advantage of me, then the answer is no. But this wasn't that. No, this was like, hey, they and they had the FX6, the the it was on a lie, they had the camera. It just didn't have all the accessories, the memory cards, or whatever. So it's kind of like I no, at that point, you know, it's me saying, No, let's make this production happen. I'm already here. I brought that here, and then you guys too, like I said, making me not feel left out, making me feel welcome. Yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 58:05

But I will say too, like to people uh I don't know who who watch who's watching specifically, but like to people like starting out, like sometimes you saying yes, not letting people walk over you, not letting people uh take advantage of you, not see you as someone that's less than the other person. Therefore, I will provide an extra that's not the point. But what I'm saying is sometimes like you going above and beyond and doing like an extra step that like maybe wasn't exactly what was there in the official, like original written contract or whatever it is, or the original message or email or whatever it is. But sometimes that will be the reason for you to book that gig again with that person or that production company.

Culture, Vibe, And Working With Brazilians

Vipul Bindra 58:47

Yeah, yeah, and they see that. And I think it's and it's I think like I said before, I think it's just the right thing to do, anyways. You shouldn't expect no extra things kind of like I think me and David on the on the podcast were talking about how this referencing a shoot I did for Adam, same thing. It was supposed to be a two or three camera shoot, and then you know they throw up a last second, like, hey, uh, we want a shot of the interviewers in there, and you know, I had the choice to say, Oh, this is not in my scope of work, or rah rah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just thinking, I have a fourth camera, so all I did was sure. I just pulled out a fourth camera, pointed them, started recording. I have a full idea that Adam's never gonna use this, but you never know, and I just hit record and just did it, solve the problem. At that point, I'm like, I could argue, I could cause fun. Yeah, but why why do any of that?

Fernando Tosetti 59:31

You know, well, you're not doing it with the intention necessarily of getting another gig or making extra money. But the reason why I mention is that mentioning this is because I do think it's valuable for people that like are starting out that like are scared that people are gonna take advantage of them. But there's a fine line there between that and also just like just taking that extra step. Yeah, it's very important to you. It might bring money back to you later, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 59:55

No, and people notice that because you know, in in my sets, for example, people showing up on time or maybe a little early or you know, willing to be staying a little extra. Sure, I may say shoot ends at 2 p.m., but sometimes you know how productions are we end up at 2 30. Yes, you know, and and that's it's like being able to understand that, like, hey, nobody did that by being mean or taking advantage of you. But it's also another thing to say 2 p.m. and then you're 8 p.m. school day, right? That's the fine line that you were talking about a little bit over, a little bit early, a little bit little extra, like hey, I asked you to be a camp and then I'm asking you to put a light, it's okay versus you know, completely changing the role would be a completely but exactly, but those type of people you want to stay away from. But most people in the industry, I think, if you work with good people, aren't you trying to do that? They're not gonna try to do that. We're all trying to just create good images and have a good time doing that.

Fernando Tosetti 1:00:44

We've been there, we've seen it, so we want to help them as well. Like, if I'm directing a set and I invite somebody, like there's somebody that I reached out to recently for a commercial coming up, and I told him right away, you're gonna have to wear multiple hats. Are you okay with that? Because this is what we have for that day. Yeah, you have told me before that you want to work with me and you want to learn from me and from my team. I would love to, and I'm gonna direct this commercial. I'm doing casting right now for it. And I told him, You might have to set up a couple of lights on top of doing the BTS work because this is a tiny set. He's like, I'm cool with that. I'm like, okay. Okay, so now when we go to set, it's okay for me to ask him for a couple of extra things, exactly, which is totally fine.

Vipul Bindra 1:01:28

Yeah, because you're setting the right expectations, and then they have something to gain from it. Like you said, they want to learn or whatever that is. I think a fair communication is everything. I think it's just about being fair to people, yeah, and uh just being nice and generous.

Fernando Tosetti 1:01:41

Hopefully, that would be like beneficial to both. Yeah, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 1:01:44

Yeah, and that's what you want. You don't want to take advantage of anyone. Uh, but like I said, I had a good time. Uh I'm so glad I went. Oh, but here's the funny part. Let's talk about so I didn't know this. Look, this is last minute. You just introduced me. Uh he told me, and I was like, Oh, yeah, it's Miami. Uh, absolutely, you know, I think it was three days, right? I think pre-light day and two days of actual shooting.

Fernando Tosetti 1:02:05

And uh and then a day at the casino and party that didn't happen, unfortunately.

Vipul Bindra 1:02:10

Yeah, but uh so anyway, so so we traveled together, and I guess they traveled together. We got there. I didn't know, usually, you know, I when I'm not booking it, productions book um rooms or hotels. Like I I don't I don't pick it. So he had booked the ERB. I didn't know we were sharing rooms, which I don't mind. Here we go. It's not that big of a deal to me, uh, personally, but normally that doesn't happen. It's been a long time since productions put me in a room with someone else. But anyway, so we get there, and uh and uh I don't know, I think we were late or whatever anyway, right? Because we've traveled, we've done pre- the first day lighting, I think whatever we had done, like the pre-light day anyway. So get to the Airbnb, they're like, yeah, bro, you're you're in this room with me. And I'm like, oh okay, we're sharing the room, which is fine. I mean, I know you, but then I'm like, just so you know, I I snower. If I had somebody warned me, I would have warned them. So I'm like, I snower. Uh and uh, you know, it's not my fault.

Fernando Tosetti 1:03:05

Do you know what I did? Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:06

To at least that day. Yeah. Well, I knew that.

Fernando Tosetti 1:03:09

No, you said AirPods, right? I had a problem with that.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:12

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to get to. So let me finish the story. Anyway, so I warned you. I was like, hey, I have uh, you know, I snore, and I'll let you tell you from your your perspective because I've heard Emmanuel tell what you your side. Anyway, so I was like, look, I I snore if as long as that's cool. You're like, yeah, that's that's cool, that's okay. And I was like, okay, and then next morning you wake up, we're like, bro, I couldn't sleep. It was funny. Kind of funny, but also I felt bad for you. It was funny. Uh, but yeah, please go ahead.

Fernando Tosetti 1:03:41

Uh I mean, well, the the thing with the AirPods is that they ran out of battery. So with the AirPods, that that's the camera, right? With the AirPods out of battery, you can't do the noise cancellation anymore.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:54

That's good.

Indie Realities: Heat, Limits, And Passion

Fernando Tosetti 1:03:55

So with the without the noise cancellation, like they were useless. Yeah, and they weren't providing any sound either because they were out of battery. So like they're not doing anything, they're just on my ear not doing nothing. So what I do is like I keep thinking of like different ways, like what can I do, right? Because I need I need to sleep enough to so to wait, and I really don't want to wake you up. Yeah, like you are uh one of the people doing the most stuff here. Like you're like carrying you're carrying so much stuff, like without him, nothing's gonna happen. Like, do I just go downstairs and sleep on the ground, like on the floor? Like, what do I do? So then they had a couch, they had a couch downstairs, but I don't I didn't know who was on the couch downstairs if there was anybody there. But what I end up doing is I get my phone, I put like rain sound effects, oh yeah, and I put like my ear against the pillow and I put that right here, really loud, and it's like in my ear the whole night, so I don't hear you anymore, I don't hear anything anymore. I wake up feeling amazing, and when I look at the thing, it says like six hours. So, like I literally played it on Spotify for like six hours straight. So crazy. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:05:01

I mean, I know that then the next day or two, whatever you had your your your character. I charged with your charger. Okay, yeah, there you go. Yeah, you made sure they were charged. Uh, but hey, had I known, I would have given you uh what do you call fair warning in advance. I didn't know that. That's totally fine.

Fernando Tosetti 1:05:16

The the the yeah, I mean, I feel like Brazilians are very much like that too, in the sense that, like, hey, here's this house, like we're gonna, there's gonna be 20 people sleeping here. Well, it's like a house for the city.

Vipul Bindra 1:05:26

No, Indians are the same way, but you know, that's why, but I don't work with Indians anymore. Usually people I work with, you know, it's like no, I mean Airbnb is very common thing to do, but I'm saying usually it's like a real Americans.

Fernando Tosetti 1:05:36

Usually are very much like boom, boom, boom, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:05:38

We are more like uh yeah, and like I said, I I grew up with Indians, so I'm I'm chill with that thing. And uh, but it depends on who you are. Like I don't mind it. I grew up, you know, my dad snored, so to me that's like white noise. Yeah, but somebody who's not used to snoring, then yeah, you can't sleep next to that. Yeah, and you gotta know that, you know, it's like a fair warning type of thing. That's so funny. Prepare for that, yeah. Yeah, that's so funny.

Fernando Tosetti 1:06:00

a great time the the audio uh the the the sound in my head worked the putting the phone right against my ear and then airpods yeah which i like i said charge with your charger for that the other two days or two nights worked so it was great i ended up sleeping enough yeah that's good i'm excited for this for this movie yeah me too so is this the one you were telling me or is it a different movie it's the one i was telling you i'm very excited we're shooting like the beginning of next year we're trying to shoot it at a moment where it's not summer so that it's actually okay for everybody to be outside yeah to be outside and shoot with like better conditions than the last film we did that we were talking about earlier that that was tough um and it's a really cool story i can't really get into that much detail but it involves uh teenagers there's a school there's like a skate park so there's gonna be like a lot of opportunity for different like types of shots and cool locations so we're looking at like renting out like that school for a day that like skate park for a day uh there goes the water yeah there goes water anyway um and and then a couple other things we're looking at is like right now we're in the process of casting so I'm looking at different actors there's a lot of local talent here in Florida there's a lot of local talented people yeah that are looking for opportunities to you know showcase their talent like I said this is this is a small market technically right very small market all mostly happening like you said is indie movies and stuff yes uh but this movie will this movie will have a good budget yeah that's what I'm saying it's a good uh it's a good thing to shoot here because the talent is not the limitation it's just budgets aren't coming here exactly so if you get a movie with a good budget then you can actually maximize you know uh the most out of hair because a lot of people are willing to go that extra mile because they want to be part of something good you know so that's pretty cool it's gonna be in English or it's gonna be in English it's gonna be in English so like the actors are gonna be all local uh all you know speaking English and the the cool thing about it too is that since it is that age range that's probably gonna be between 15 and 20 for most of the actors okay they're going to be actors that really want to jump into that opportunity because that might be their opportunity of jumping into a film with a good budget before making into I don't know Atlanta New York LA those like bigger markets because they're at that age where they're they're not like a 40 year old actor that might be amazing too but that's not looking for that huge opportunity to break into the market probably right if they're locally here. But imagine the amount of talented young people that we can get for this plus we're also gonna have a couple of actors that are a little bit older there's some people I have worked with in the past that are going to guide me through the right you know paths to get to the right talent because dude there's some amazing actors here.

Vipul Bindra 1:08:55

Yes really absolutely if you look for talent is there they're just searching for like I said the the the decent budget movies that are very rare you know like I said most productions happening here are smaller um you know like I said more indie so if you bring any budget you can definitely make your dollar last more here because of that because of that and and people are willing to want to like I said go that extra mile for something really cool.

Fernando Tosetti 1:09:20

I'll let you know this time if we need to use the full Bendra package.

Building Teams And Wearing Many Hats

Vipul Bindra 1:09:25

You're good man I'm excited I like I said when you told me on the way back I was really excited and you're like hey this is a potential thing that's happening I was like yeah I'm down like I love I loved collaborating with you I had such a good time and like I say especially uh you know not to give him special credit you all were awesome Guga you know Louis but Bruno I need I need somebody like in the set I'm like where's his phone number I need to just start calling him yeah because if I have somebody like that usually I'm taking away so much yeah because most of the time actually I'm not saying other people aren't tarranted I I work with great people like your friend Emmanuel yeah but you know like Emmanuel's gonna go up the light after tell Emmanuel take this light go up here you know what I mean like it's not like he's not gonna just start climbing uh Bruno's so proactive he's like I'm gonna I'm gonna do it yeah on the on that same film that you were asking me about um the the one that we did together right there was a specific scene where like all the whole restaurant had like uh dividers for COVID so between the tables they had these dividers and Bruno wasn't sad he's just in the corner right and I'm like I don't know if we're gonna be able to shoot this scene anymore because there's these things behind and I just hear like and I'm like what's going on he's probably taking I just look he just yeah he just has it on his hand he removed the whole like he's like unscrewed the whole thing and removes each divider. I'm like bro you're amazing he's like all right all right just keep directing like he's so low key about it I'm telling you now that I know him yeah exactly day two I was so chill because he was like no no no I got it and I was like I was I was having a good time it's so amazing man it's like that that proactive is so yeah and and and somebody who's enjoying it it's not like you're making them that's the different thing when they're act actively want to be part of it and just help because like you said it wasn't just that it wasn't just putting up lights he was open to doing camera and he did good work I saw his work it was like incredible so willing to do camera willing to do that willing to just hold up a fan or whatever I think Lewis did that part. So I think everyone there was like you said it's a good crew so for your movie coming back to there it's like if you have those people on your crew which you will obviously it's just incredible people is what I'm saying. That's awesome man that's so good to hear I definitely am bringing all of them back hopefully all of them are able to come back don't forget your honorary Brazilian oh you are you are in my man you are in seven guys it's so fun you're in our spreadsheet there you go by the way it's there it's your name so that's awesome no I I loved working with you guys like I said it was one of the more fun projects I had this amazing and then also uh like I said I also love your buddy that you have a production company with together uh Emmanuel he was here and you know he's so so fun like I like I said I'm so glad he introduced us yes because uh and I see why you guys vibe together you're both chill like uh on that shoot that I wanted to bring you in Chicago that we weren't able to make the schedule happen because we went to Brazil uh but so I ended up bringing your buddy and same thing I'm like why I wanted to bring you guys I was like we need the vibe to be chill and fun and not you know like again we're gonna create great images we're gonna do great work that's yeah the minimum you know that's not the the hard part yeah it's more like you want to be around people who are gonna have fun after you know and we were able to I I I hate that we've shown this photo multiple times but show him the photo of the beam with us hanging out and having a good time after uh but like you know we were able to then as a crew because we're all friends you know afterwards go curious yeah look at that look at that we went out and then we had fun we hung out and you know just had a good time you know well that looks good that looks sharp yeah that's that's the thing too it's like uh again for for people uh starting out or people like in the beginning of their careers like soft skills within like our industry is very important too because like everybody focuses on the hard skills when you're applying for a job yeah and dude the real the the real thing is like this like the one-on-one exactly the look each other in the eye the talking the understanding each other on set like the soft skills on our industry are very very important exactly because people want to bring people on set you know that that work well and I and if you listen to any you know like you talk about masterclasses from any famous cinematographer director they'll tell you the same thing we'd rather have uh you know a person who may not know as much on set than somebody who's gonna ruin the vibe or you know who's just gonna be weird or whatever uh you know because uh at the end they and not saying you know and if you find both which is what we try to do here you know then it's amazing because you talent's not even the question you're like hey you're talented but now who has the better vibe right and that's what you bring on set and it doesn't mean you have to be goofy all the time my thing is you got to be able to just gel you know you got to be able to just have fun with it and you and that doesn't mean like I said being a character you know there's only one Bruno but but that doesn't mean you know like you have to be weird is what I'm saying. Yeah and to me that's very important. That's why when this project happened and because you know it was my buddy's project I was just recommending people. That's why I recommended uh you know uh you and Emmanuel and and Mario because it's like I want to have if I'm gonna be DP yeah and I'm gonna work I'm gonna work with people who are not only talented but also fun and set fun and set exactly yeah that's super important.

Fernando Tosetti 1:14:25

Yeah I hope we get to who work again uh together soon I do have the film coming up that I like I said I'm sure you're gonna be in and I want to bring together people that are like that because even though it is a good budget and and we are going to have more than we usually do in terms of resources it's still always a lot of work. Like even if you listen to interviews about the new Jurassic World movie you know it's like they're gonna say oh this day was super stressful we had all this stuff to do and the sun was going down yeah that's like a 200 million dollar production and they're still having all of these uh you know obstacles so imagine like something smaller yeah exactly and you don't want that then when that happens because it will happen it will happen part of production you want to have people there who can deal with the stress and not make a fuss about it you know uh and that's what it's about like I said we had a great time wish you've been here uh but you know we'll we'll we'll find a day I mean I try to put you in the shoot that we're gonna do soon but I think that one wouldn't work out because you took a new role right yeah it's a new role so the new role is as a uh producer more focused on the social media side but I'm also gonna be doing bigger uh commercials so whenever those bigger commercials come in I'll be doing the DP or directing in those commercials and in the social media side I'll be doing the you know the content in general right so as I was saying earlier my background is in advertising um that is my degree but I also have a background in the filmmaking side right so as you know just being on set on different commercials but also just doing films and directing and they really wanted somebody that you know on top of the soft skills because I think I got along really well with the guy too like just talking and and then getting coffee and chatting about the position um I met this guy like two years ago.

Vipul Bindra 1:16:11

So like dude it takes sometimes like it takes a while to yeah and it takes if you want some budget out of it takes a while to build that relationship and that trust for somebody to trust you with that money.

Fernando Tosetti 1:16:21

And to say hey like I w I want you in in this project I want you in the in my company right uh what I have found and that's like just a very personal thing but what I have found is that for me personally uh I spent two years freelancing and having my own company in Brazil and even though here I think the system and everything else makes it easier for you to write things off have an LLC purchase gear everything's easier in that sense I don't have the backup that I have back home with my family and friends and culture to do something fully on my own. Versus when I am working for a company I can focus on the creative side and I can let all of that stress be somebody else's problem be somebody else and like they are going to be doing that and hopefully they will enjoy that side of things and I will enjoy what I am doing and that way I'm able to contribute with so much more than when I am the one looking for the clients looking for everything. That doesn't mean like in the future I won't have my company or that also doesn't mean I'm not gonna do freelance work anymore. That's something I've you know spoke with this a guy about I was like okay I'm gonna work for you I love it I love the work you're doing that's huge for me because I'm not in this for the money I always tell everybody when they ask about money I'm like if that was the case I would just go into finance.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:47

Yeah like that's not my you know money is huge of course yeah right you've got to pay your bills you've got to pay the bills but you cannot be motivated by it right you that can't I in my opinion that can be the number one motivation.

New Feature Film: Casting And Florida Talent

Fernando Tosetti 1:17:57

So doing amazing work an environment that looks good looks like it's creative and it's gonna bring that creativity to life I was like because of all those things I'm in I'm gonna do it but I want to have that flexibility of going home when I want not of course I'm not gonna be like 90% of the time Brazil hanging out on the beach but seeing family hanging out I want to have that flexibility and I also want to have the flexibility to keep doing uh freelance work with people like you with people like Emmanuel with people like Google like Bruno I still want to do that and he was like that's totally fine let us know like a week or two weeks in advance and you can totally do that. I'm like okay in that case I'm in okay and so to me that's just so much that stability and that role where I'm able to bring my background in advertising is huge. Yeah because you've already worked for an agency I did already know how that works I know how that works and I don't know if it's because I'm used to it or if it's because I actually like it but that environment to me is really good for me. It complements really well my my video production or filmmaking environment and style like I'm not a guy that's 100% supposed to be on set every single day setting up lights. That's like that's not the thing that drives me. Yeah I'm more of the guy that will be in a brainstorm session will understand the client we'll work together with the the team come up with a vision and then be on set contributing. And then if I have to set up a thousand lights I'll set up a thousand lights. But I like bringing that expertise and that experience and I like being in that scenario and I think I grow when I'm there and I and I am able to uh contribute better than when I'm doing one thing yeah like if I'm freelancing as a gaffer a whole year yeah that's nothing wrong with that but if you want if somebody wanted to yeah nothing wrong with that's not who you are right that's and you've got to find out who you are that's so hard that's been that's been my whole journey this year.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:57

Yeah trying to figure out where you you fit in talk about how you're gonna now balance like you said that the taking this role sounds awesome for you but then how do you balance adapt with a manual or study films like your own obviously clear because clearly you're gonna continue doing it. You're on the top with a movie that you're gonna do. Yes.

Fernando Tosetti 1:20:15

But how do you balance being able to do all three and more you know depending on what you there are going to be things that uh I'm going to have to put more time into one thing than another and there will be moments as it is with all of us that we have to make decisions on where we want to put more energy right that's like especially because we also have personal lives right I mean I don't have a full family of mine yet but I will eventually and then it's just another step. Yeah and uh so I am very much looking at things from a perspective that I never have before which because before to me was more about work work work work work and I don't see the other things now I am at a level in my life of maturity that I've gotten to just with life really that I can say no to certain things to focus on the things that I see growth and that I s know they're gonna give me peace of mind. So I will make those decisions as the time comes and I will know that in the next few months. But what ideally would happen is I would be able to balance things and I would be able to give those couple of weeks in advance um to the agency so that I'm able to go ahead and book those other gigs that are usually bigger commercial gigs. So whenever I'm doing work with the manual it is what we're looking for is those bigger commercial gigs. If I'm doing films same thing it's a bigger set is a whole film set. I'm probably not going to be taking on those gigs that I'm taking when I'm a freelancer that I'm just doing like minor role on a minor set that is not paying well but I'm still gonna do freelance work for the people that I want to work with. Like like if you invite me to something and I'm I'm able to say hey in a couple weeks in advance like hey I need those days off to work with Ben Drill on this thing like I'll do it. I'll be like a camera operator I'll be like yeah for whatever you need yeah but it's for specific people or specific budgets for things that make sense to my career too. Yeah that's where the film comes in the film will probably mean a week off of that job.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:14

But you'll also gain valuable experience and valuable skills that you can use. So it makes sense and I'm pretty sure they'll understand because you'll give them advanced notice enough where you're like hey I've I gotta do my movie then and yes and that doesn't take away from what they're doing. It seems like it's very different.

Fernando Tosetti 1:22:30

Yeah it's very different. Yeah as long as there's not like a very specific uh competition between both things I don't see a problem and like I said I and that is again a personal thing as a first generation immigrant that's in America I feel better when I'm backed up by a team and I'm part of something and it's beautiful that you your journey is beautiful. Yeah and I really well it's not easy though but it's not easy but also each person I think has to know at some point like the decision that they want to make and like what's better for them. Yeah. All right yeah I hope for like we all are trying to be happy at what we're doing.

Soft Skills Beat Hard Walls

Vipul Bindra 1:23:09

Exactly and it's not that easy I mean like you said it's it's sometimes the stability is important and I've said always you you like you said you had soul searching you this year you've been figuring out and at the end of the day you have to figure out what's best for you. Yes. Right if that means having a nine to five so that you can have time to do these bigger projects that you're aiming to do exactly with your companies that you have then that's the way exactly and like I said for me it was like I didn't want to do the nine to five so now how can I figure this out which means having to work double maybe extra hours long nights like today look at that my back's like killing me but I'm enjoying I'm having a good time and I wanted to do this like I said nobody's making me do this right this is a choice that I made uh maybe not for Mario but for me at least I had just to be here here in Tempia yeah exactly right right Mario were you forced to be here yes no I mean I enjoy I enjoy working with you uh helping you with your projects yeah yeah I mean I enjoy it well yeah this is this is like a passion project of mine you know for years it was like trying to figure out a way you know how to how to be able to do this you know or just in general how do I uh you know create content that I want to watch and and this is part of that but that that meant being able to have the schedule being able to do this in a certain way that would work for me and hopefully somebody out there wants to actually enjoy it like I would right and you saw that I mean it you're one of the people who who rode with me so you can be proof guess what I was listening to right on the earlier I actually was playing that I was like because that's the type of content I like if I'm going a road trip just play a podcast and uh might as well listen make my own you're authentic though we can tell that like you're not putting up a a face because like even on the drive to Miami I'm like dude if we were recording this whole thing this would be a podcast exactly because that's what we talked about like this is nothing different than what what we already did so good and talk about because my thing entirely is this there's nothing to gain from this right it's not like we're pitching something we have no sponsor or courts to sell so you know this is as real as it gets and this is just because I want to put it out there. Yes and um like you said we I'm already having these conversations we just didn't record it like that drive there that was even longer. People are like why is this two hours I'm like because that's how typically long it takes uh you know to clean up or where gas runs out I need to stop somewhere that was my intention behind the time uh but you know to be honest like I said that was a four hour drive we talked a lot and you know it's not like topics ran out no so that's kind of and then a four hour drive back and more topics exactly that's why I played it I was like you probably are I'll talk so I started playing the podcast but I think at some point we picked up and then we had the conversation again all the way back. I think we listened to something in the middle of the podcast that we were like actually we need to talk about this and we pause and we start talking again yeah exactly so funny and that's how it works believe it or not it's I and everyone I wibe with that's how it is like because you know and that's how you can tell that you're gonna wipe together because even though we have different backgrounds like I say I come from original from India you're from Brazil you have different life experiences you have different goals like you say you're trying to make movies right and I uh and you do commercials as a as a thing to get to maybe like bigger movies right and I'm doing the opposite I'm like I'll do a movie but I want to do bigger commercials. So we're doing the similar things but our desires or path may be slightly different but it but the things that we love are the same you know and that's what I like. You know because uh like I had to I have to do some soul searching this year too I'm like what do I actually enjoy you know and and then what I I was like so I you know once you get a little successful right you go what do I want to do right what is this for and I'm like I could technically because you know I hear like all my friends like I'm going to Spain or I'm going to I don't know Costa Rica or whatever like they're going vacations I'm like I can go one too but do I want to yeah I was like no what do I want to do I want to watch a movie I want to watch what's the coolest you know movie I want to sit there and sit watch the cinematography and and I'm like the I'll enjoy that more you know or I'll spend a day with my kids you know at a theme park or whatever right so you have to do that because I'm like I'm not gonna go on a vacation somewhere not that we don't go on vacation if we run a cruise but point is I'm gonna do something that I enjoy I'm like I don't enjoy personally which is weird to a lot of people living in Florida I don't enjoy the beaches.

Stability, Agency Life, And Creative Fit

Fernando Tosetti 1:27:29

Well you know what you're saying is so cool because what do you enjoy? It doesn't have to be what other people are doing. Yeah I got in the middle of that soul searching and what you're talking about too it's like I got stuck a lot in that idea of like I have to be like these other people like I have to have that camera. Like for very very niche to our industry okay but very niche things is like I have to have that camera. I have to edit on that software. Like if you're editing on Premiere and you're editing you're not editing on Da Vinci like you're worse than everyone like that idea And you start comparing yourself to other people. And then you start comparing your content to other people. And then you start comparing how much money you're making in your personal life. And then it just becomes this thing, right? And you're like on this spiral. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:12

And it's not healthy.

Fernando Tosetti 1:28:13

That's not healthy, bro. Yeah. That is not good. But then when you pull yourself like away from that and you're like, hold on. Like everyone wants to go to the beach at this party and whatever and go to Miami, go to Costa Rica. If you don't like that and you don't want to do that, like do what you enjoy, right? There's nothing wrong with it.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:30

Because everyone wants to go to the beach. And I'm like, that just gives me a nightmare. I'll go if I have to shoot something. But I'm like, I don't want to go to the beach. And that's okay. You know, and you have to go at some point go because people will be like, Florida, and you don't like beaches. Because you know, my daughters love beaches. You know, everyone I know loves beaches. Yeah. I'm like, that's not my thing. And that doesn't mean obviously I won't go with my family, but the point I'm trying to make was that the the thing that you learn is, hey, what do I enjoy? I enjoy watching a really nice movie, you know, something that I enjoy, and or creating this content, you know, or going out on a shoot or spending time with my family. Then I'm like, okay, then that makes life easy. I'm just gonna go do that now, instead of sitting here trying to make more money, trying to go on some vacation that I'm not gonna enjoy, you know, or whatever, whatever, whatever, right? At the end, I the like people are like, Why are you doing this? You know, like what's the goal? And I was like, the well is nothing, but I'm just gonna create something for me. Hopefully, people enjoy it, they get some value out of it. Like you've already talked and talked about so many cool things, right? So somebody's trying to be a director, whatever, they they learn from your your your perspective. Good. But if not, I'm just like, I just wanted to connect with you. It was like we haven't seen each other since that shoot. So it's like, hey, how's how are you going, Fernando? And then I find out all these new adventures and things that you're gonna do that I didn't know about, right? So I that at least what I'm saying is I'm doing what I enjoy, and I I tell people that figure out what is it that uh you actually enjoy, and not because social media is telling you or people are telling you, exactly, and then just do that if that does mean going to a beach, uh huh, then figure out how to get to the beach, right? Yeah, uh, but if that's not, then don't do what to do it because even uh just because other people are right, yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 1:30:06

Yes, I think uh there was a a thing for me to go through this year to get to where I am right now, and I and I totally agree with you, and part of it is understanding who you are and what and what makes you happy personally, and also it's very hard to label yourself. That's like a big thing too in our industry, right? Yeah. Because you were saying earlier, like, oh, sometimes you DP, you direct, but sometimes you're the geffer, sometimes you're I don't know. And you can do from from what I've seen, you can do a lot of that stuff, a lot of those roles better than a lot of people out there. There are specific to each one of those roles, but you don't have to uh necessarily uh uh put a label on yourself into like what exactly you are, unless unless, and that's again for people like watching that want to do something specific, unless you know exactly what you want to do, and that's the only thing that will make you happy, then you might as well just do that. Yeah, I don't I don't know if uh for someone that wants to be a director, if just working every week as a gaffer is going to necessarily take you there.

Vipul Bindra 1:31:15

And and you know, once you do that soul searching and you realize that that's all you want to do, right? Hey, I want to be a director, then you're right. If somebody asks, what do you do? You should say, I am a director, right? Or you enjoy being a DP. Then if somebody asks, What do you do? I am a cinematographer. I think you like you said, you have to yourself label yourself before other people label you that. Yes, but then you're right. It's uh it's a weird for me to label myself because I'm like, Who am I? Right? Am I a DP? Am I yes, primarily obviously on set roles that I play are director, producer, DP. That my secondary roles are gaffer or sound guy, right? But I'm like, do I want to introduce myself like that to regular people? No. If they ask what are you, I say either I'm an entrepreneur or run a video production business. Because what am I first? I'm an entrepreneur or I'm a business owner, or I'm a production company owner. That's what I am, number one. These are all the roles that I play for my company or for other people's companies. That's fine, but that's not defines who I am, right? What drives me every day, every night to work hard is to because I own my company, I want to grow my company and do great things. Uh so anyway, so you're right. So I had to also go like, how do I define myself? It's not as a director, producer, that's not the right titles for me. Maybe when I'm on set, but like every day, what am I? I'm a production company owner, I'm a business owner, which is why, believe it or not, the biggest thing I did this year. So for ever since I started this company in 2018, I've been trying to hide my title. Believe it or not, for the first few years, Julie was the president of the company because I didn't want to be the face, right? I wanted to make movies, right? Or commercials or whatever. Like I wanted to make content. I didn't want to be running a business. And so, you know, and then I was the founder because I founded the company, obviously. So that was my title on my signature. And then this year, finally, I was like, What am I? Who am I kidding? Right. And obviously, uh, she's now the head of production and post-production, now the president because she doesn't want to run the company. So, point is, but I had to go, like, who am I? I'm like, I'm the owner. Why am I trying to hide behind these fancy titles? I'm a creative director, I'm the I'm the founder, I am the, like you said, uh director, or whatever, you know. So I had to just finally like my signature is now as simple as it get. I'm CEO and owner of Bingo Productions. That's all who I am. Yeah, you know, and that's it, took a bit to finally accept that. Like, why am I trying to hide behind that I run this company? This is who I am, this is what I do. And like you said, you had to go through soul searching to finally accept that it is not complicated, it's not fancy, that's all I am. I'm just a business owner, I'm a CEO and owner of this company, and that's all I introduce myself as.

Fernando Tosetti 1:33:43

Yeah, it's so cool for me because what I see with uh the successful companies and successful entrepreneurs that I meet is always that they have a love for the company that they're building.

Vipul Bindra 1:33:55

That's true.

Fernando Tosetti 1:33:56

Yeah, I see that, and I mean it. I was hanging out with a friend that's building his own company uh agency in Brazil, and I was hanging out with him the last few days, and I can see that he has love uh for his company, like when he talks about his business, when he talks about his company, the same way I see you when you talk about your uh uh production company, yeah, your business. Yeah, it's uh I I how it's your baby. Yeah, it's it's your thing. You're talking about it with love for it and love for the idea that you are an entrepreneur. The cool thing specifically about you and also about this other friend is that you guys also do uh what your company offers as a service, meaning like you're not the owner of a coffee shop.

Vipul Bindra 1:34:38

You I see what you say. Yeah, I don't I actually make the coffee. Yeah, I would be right there.

Fernando Tosetti 1:34:43

If you were to be to be the owner of a coffee shop, you would be the barista, or at least the manager telling the baristas how to make the coffee. Exactly. I love you're what I call owner operator. I love that. Yeah, that's the term, the owner operator, operate the business, not only just own it, right? Yeah, and you're a DP and you do amazing work if we if you get hired as a DP. And that to me is so cool, and it's very specific, I think, to our industry too. Right, there's not a lot of industries that you can like the coffee shop is a good example. You're probably not gonna be the first, yeah. Exactly.

Owning The Title: Business And Identity

Vipul Bindra 1:35:17

And then if you are, but that's the only role. There's not like 20 roles in a coffee shop. That you can do, exactly. Yeah, maybe a manager, assistant manager, but that's about what you need to do in a coffee shop. And uh no, and and like I said, it is weird, which is why I'm like, how many titles can I use? Because uh literally, funny enough, like I said, I I was doing a shoot recently and I was just a camp. So I'm like, so how many titles can we have, right? We can be like, I'm like, today I'm a director, yeah, right? I'm about to be in a few days, I'm gonna be the director, producer only, like right. And then I'm like, oh, I'm the DP, or oh, I am like you said, on your set, I was like, I I would call it a gaffer, right? And then on some other sets, I'm like, like you said, just a cam up, very blown the total pole. So you're you're so many roles, and that is very unique to what we do. It really is really depends on the shoot you're in and where you fall, and that could be your your title. So it's not a fixed title, you know, per se.

Fernando Tosetti 1:36:09

Well, talking about that real quick, like I don't want to open like a whole other world here, but I do want to say, like, um the last few, like two things. So, one thing is that I got hired to that specific film as a director, and now I got hired to this other film to direct uh that's gonna be early next year, the one that I that I want you to be in. We'll see exactly what title. Yeah, I'll I'll have you in as Bendra productions. There you go. Or you can just put a Bendra, that's Bendra too. That's it. That'll be the because I I'm not sure yet. And there's so much you can do and so much you can bring to the table. But I got hired to those because of film festivals, like the origin of it all was film festivals. And I just want to say, like, to people out there starting out that are filmmakers and that wanna um get into that career and think maybe there's people telling you like film festivals don't don't pay the bills. Yeah, making short films don't get the money. They cost money, they cost money. You lose money instead of making money. Right? The connections you make by making a film, how much you learn by making a film, the connections you make by sending your film to festivals and watching it with other filmmakers, the people that might be in the room watching your film on the big screen. And to me personally, the personal uh fulfillment that it gives me when I know that I contributed to that work of art and now it's being presented on the big screen to a bunch of people is so fulfilling, it's so cool. And I got I got hired um earlier this year to be the cinematographer for a film on the View Studios, the virtual studios, and I only got hired today.

Vipul Bindra 1:37:48

Yeah, the filming there, by the way.

Fernando Tosetti 1:37:50

Dude, it's so yeah, it was so cool, it was a whole different like art. But the the cool thing about that is that I got hired, I got paid to be the cinematographer in a film in Central Florida. That doesn't it's not as common a film, a film. It doesn't unless it's documentary work, yeah, it's very rare. And it was a sci-fi, which is my favorite genre. Look at that, only happened because of film festivals.

Vipul Bindra 1:38:15

Yeah, you the connections that you're forming are worth that, you know, because you're meeting the people who are also again trying to do what you're trying to do, and you never know where the connection happens.

Fernando Tosetti 1:38:24

Exactly. So I think like the the networking in our industry is so important, and to say that one thing is not like to say that coming here is not first of all, we're hanging out. Yeah, I don't know if we would hang out if it wasn't like you have to set a date and a time because we're busy. It has to be like, oh, this date, this time, let's do it. Yeah, I'm here, we're hanging out. Yeah, but you never know what's gonna come out of it. You never know. So I love that in our industry you can network and meet people and like yeah, and the same thing, like like initially I talked about how why did we meet?

Vipul Bindra 1:38:51

Because Emmanuel was like, Here's a podcast, you gotta show up, and then it's like, hey, meet my friend up Fernando, right? Uh, because I already knew uh Valley, you know. So but what I'm saying is like uh if we wouldn't have met had that thing not happened, right? So it's like networking is very important, and had I not said yes to his podcast or your podcast, I guess you guys were all doing it together. Um, but to me that was that's the power of networking in our industry. And where did it lead start from and where did it lead to? Isn't that crazy?

Fernando Tosetti 1:39:21

It's crazy. Yeah, and I I know there's gonna be other big projects coming that we're gonna work on together, so I'm very excited for that.

Vipul Bindra 1:39:27

And I would hopefully get to one day uh have you on my side. Like I said, I tried this year twice, yeah, but it's okay. And and you know, that's why I tell people like you know, we have to try, like our our dates are busy, yeah. Uh you know, it it doesn't always have to work out, but the thing is just keep remembering that you know how we can collaborate and it'll eventually happen. If not, we'll at least happen in your movie. I'm excited about it. Like I said, it what the thing is, is it's how awesome it is what we create. Now that I've done it, I was like, I had such a good time. So I know for a fact it'll be awesome when we do it again.

Fernando Tosetti 1:39:57

Well, and it's starting in this new uh company that I'll be in, some of our work will be bigger commercials. So whenever we need gear, like high quality level gear, I could pitch you in. And as long as the owners are cool with it, which I'm pretty sure they'll be cool with it, uh I will have you on our sets as well.

Vipul Bindra 1:40:16

I'm always down to hang out with you any day, man. Like I said, man. That's why I told um um, you know, uh Emmanuel or uh other people been here. I'm like, I'm always down to collaborate because, like I said, initially, like I was saying, I wanted to just be a filmmaker. I became the owner and CEO because that's what I do, right? And uh and and but when I initially started the company, all I wanted to do was do commercials and corporate video, yeah. Right. And that's what I was like, I just want to do this and I want to elevate it and do it the best possible. And then I realized slowly, obviously, that meant I had to be an owner and CEO. I wish, and like I said, that's again power networking. You don't have to do what I'm I had to do to get where I am. There's a way to go network with, like you said, now you're starting an agency, go meeting other people from agencies and just general. You can just be a DP for somebody I'm saying because they wanted to. I just didn't take that traditional problem, right? I was like, how do I be a DP? Well, I'll just find clients, right? And then I was like, okay, but I don't want to run a company. All right, you run the company. I just don't want to run a company, you're right. Slowly I have to go, okay, well, then I'll run the company. And then slowly I started to enjoy it. And I was like, oh, this is fun.

Fernando Tosetti 1:41:19

But you're still able to be on set and do your actual craft that brings you.

Vipul Bindra 1:41:24

Yeah, and and I have the freedom now, when at least on my sets, because you know, there's two types of things I do. One is direct end clients, right? Where I am running the show, I'm running producer, director, whatever. I can choose what I want to do. Like I said, the shoe tomorrow, I could have brought two people, but I'm deciding to bring what six, seven people, right? Or just say tomorrow, day after tomorrow, but uh essentially I choose how many people I want, what roles they're gonna play, if I'm even gonna show up, because technically I could just assign roles and just not show up. Yeah. Uh that's the company side of things, right? That's what I'm saying. It's freedom. I I get to choose my role, I get to choose what I want, what the project looks like, what the whole scope is, you know, how that is developing the whole project. But then the other side is what I did with you, where I'm just me, I can be there, you know, like plugged in as a as a DP or as a gaffer or as a director or producer, whatever you need. I mean, right? You said it could be without gear. Because like I said, the three days that I did, there was no gear. I just showed up and I helped them operate their cameras or whatever they wanted me to do. And then, you know, their days like uh I'm gonna be helping Adam on a shoot where I'm flying out, I'll bring some gear, he'll bring some gear and we'll execute on some.

Fernando Tosetti 1:42:31

How do you feel personally when you just show up and it's you're bringing your skills? Because, and I don't know, I'm asking this in the sense that like I I see your talent as a DP without any gear, but then I look around and I see how much gear you have, and it's hard to not want to use gear too.

Networking, Festivals, And Breakthrough Gigs

Vipul Bindra 1:42:50

Yeah, and I'm not saying even like you can jump into you know how you negotiate that, but also personally what fulfills you like see to the real the reason I've geared is I run a production company, we're a company, so we need the gear. But as me, you know, what I bring to table is I've been you know doing this for 15 years, so I've seen everything go wrong to hopefully prevent things from going wrong, right? And like I said, how did I become a gaffer? I was surrounded by so many gaffers, and I that I was surrounded by gaffers who don't know what they're doing to go like, no, do this or do that, you know. Then then you slowly like, okay, I can just do it, right? Yeah, and then you learn and you learn. That's how I became sound. I'm not a sound guy, I'm a camera guy first. But then it was like after so many times sound not being done right or getting cut, I was just like, okay, I'll learn this. And then now I'm like a lot of time around, like I was saying, so sound guys. I'm like, oh, I can do it better. Let me move. And not to disrespect them, there's some great sound guys, way better talented than me. I'm saying usually the level of productions we're doing, yeah. I'm like, no, no, I could just handle this. Yeah. So uh to answer your question, essentially, uh, you know, so that's what they needed, right? They already had the equipment. So this shoot that I'm talking about, where I was just cam up, they already have the equipment, they already have everything set up. They just need somebody to essentially I say babysit the camera, right? Um, so they introduced bring me as a cam up. Obviously, now, like you we've discussed, I'm not gonna just show up. And again, if that's what they needed, I would have just turned the recording button on and left. I mean, and and turned it off. But that but then when I'm there, I'm like, hey, uh, you know, I'm there to help them whatever they needed. So they needed, you know, lighting plans or helping move lights, or or well, how should we light this scene? And that's my expertise. So I'm like, why so I'm like, yeah, we can do this, we can use those lights, let me connect those to your side as link. So I'm jumping in, helping with things. I'm not gonna go there and say, I'm a cam up, let me just sit like in the corner and not do anything. You're not gonna do that. You're saying it's a small set, like 10 people, maybe 10, 12. So it's like I jumped in, I helped as much as I could, and I don't want to take any credit. Like I said, I was I was gonna do that anyway. Um, but I was able to help in, jump in the production, and it's good for me because we were using this gear here, so I I didn't have time to like I didn't want to break this down, so I was able to just go do my thing, come back without it affecting my projects that are currently going on.

Fernando Tosetti 1:45:00

Did you like that too? Like just going in and out. I think it's a good break. Now I wouldn't do that 24-7. Okay, gotcha.

Vipul Bindra 1:45:05

But it was really good two, three days where I was able to just, you know, go in, yeah, do the work, come back, and I didn't have the prep day, the the teardown day, you know, the re-inventory day that I had to do, that I have to do. So it's like there's a lot more that goes before and after that I can avoid. So yes, it's slightly lower rate, sure, but then you know, the work is less, if that makes sense. I don't have to dump footage, it's not my cards. It's so funny. Usually I'm responsible for the little tinkering things, you know, how do we solve a problem here? It's like, oh, we need this, do we have something like this? Whether they have it or not, right? Like that's on the production. Yeah, and if they don't have it, then there's nothing you can do. Exactly. Yeah, if we shot me too, we realize I wasn't that far. I could have offered to come here, which again that's just me going above and beyond. But as far as production goes, yeah, that's what that is. And funny enough, I helped one of the days because one of the tripods was so bad quality. So they asked me to bring my sockler, obviously. Yeah, and it's obviously completely different quality level to go from what we were using, but that helped the production because you know I was having to move the camera a little bit and it wasn't just smooth, yeah. Versus this thing moves like butter. So, you know, it's like things like that. And I was able to bring that day two, and then we're like, okay, day three, we don't need it, so back to not bringing any equipment. So, anyway, I'm just saying I I don't mind those shoes, I rather love them, especially because they can be breaks. Because technically I'm working, but it's like feels like a break, right? Where I'm like more chill, and then back to, like I said, I do productions where I'm bringing all the gear, but it's not my production, I'm just a DP or or gaff or whatever, then like I did with you guys. That would be that type of production. Okay, but obviously, majority of my income comes from doing my own productions as you know that is. Yeah, when you handle everything, you make the most amount of money. Yeah, yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 1:46:48

I think uh both for the commercials that I'm gonna be a part of with this new role and for the film. Um, hopefully, we can bring you and bring some stuff and whatever that looks like in terms of budget, like we want to be able to do both to hire you as both. And like I said, hopefully after the first couple of months, not just hopefully, like for sure after the first couple of months. I want to be also helping you guys out with whatever you need.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:10

So I want to, you know, after having worked with you, I'm like, you're welcome to anytime beyond my set. I saw you working, I was like, this is incredible. You were able to just like you said, you were able to just jump in roles. So I I saw you go from one way like helping us with lights, then you're like, okay, let me run the Dana dolly. Then you were able to go handheld if you remember. So, and and that's the type of like people I like to work with. You know, not that again, we're taking advantage of anyone, the type of shuts we typically work on. You may have a defined role or you may not. Either way, you're doing everything within reason, right? Yeah, and people like you who are versatile, where you know you have obviously like your expertise, you're like, hey, I want to be a director, right? That's your role. But that does not mean you can't be a good DP, you can't be a good gaffer, you can uh be Cam op, but whatever's needed and you can step in. And that's the type of people we want to work with.

Fernando Tosetti 1:47:56

I don't know if you remember there was a moment where I had to take pictures. Yeah, like literally exactly with the phone, right? They just phone it then, can I think if you can't just throw like a A73, I think it was, and they're like, Hey, can you do the BTS photos for us? I was like, sure. I mean, I guess like I'm still here. Exactly. Right?

Start Now: Skills Over Gear And Gatekeeping

Vipul Bindra 1:48:14

You could have said no, because that's not scope of what we're doing, but then you said yes. I'm like and I would have done the same thing, you know. But yeah, 100%. Absolutely, yeah, sure. Let me take some photos. Am I a photographer? No, but I can easily take BTS photos. There's nothing exactly complicated there. Yeah, and and that's where I think, like I said, the things that we do, that's where you we fit best. Where it's like you can have a defined role, but you can do anything else as needed, because it's like I said, usually five people, ten people at most, right? And uh yeah, at the end of the day, yeah, like I said, collaborate. You know, I don't mind if I have my schedule available, why wouldn't I go help you or anyone else? And it it makes no sense. And yes, if that means using the cut gear the company has acquired, why not? Why not? You know, it's if it's sitting here, might as well use it. That's why exactly. Like a lot of people come and you know, they'll rent gear from me, and I'm like, they're like, oh, you must make a lot of money. I'm like, no, I'm actually losing money with this gear because the amount of time it takes to, you know, uh get the gear, you know, hand over, then meeting with the person, then usually taking it back, then cleaning it, inspecting it, putting it back. The amount of hours I spent is generally not worth it with what you earn from the rental. But but here's the reason why I do it because it's another opportunity to get to meet someone and to help them. You know, so uh a couple people I've had on this podcast, I've met them through literally Share Grid. So, you know, it's like you know, do you do you look, do I look at it, oh, this is such a time suck. My gear's getting used, I don't know how they're treating it. Sure, it's a negative, right? Or I'm making a hundred bucks for spending hours on this thing before and after, right? Or the other ways to look at it look, I met a cool filmmaker I wouldn't have met otherwise, and I was able to help their production because usually people rent gear when they're traveling, they don't have it, or they're local and they just really need something that they don't have. Right, or it's something last minute, and so when they approach me, I treat it like it's an it's an opportunity to help someone, and I would when I travel, I'd want to be treated the same way. I hope that makes sense. But it has led to some incredible opportunities. You meet someone, slowly become friends, then you collaborate, you do incredible things together, and so something as simple as renting a light or or or a softbox to someone or or I don't know, some stands to someone could turn into something big. Uh-huh. You know, so I I always just treat it like that, and and then you know, don't expect anything, but think good things have come from it.

Fernando Tosetti 1:50:34

That's amazing. That's really cool.

Vipul Bindra 1:50:35

Yeah, awesome. We're running towards the tail end of this podcast. I can't believe it's already been that long. So before we go, anything else you want to touch on? Anything else you had in mind?

Fernando Tosetti 1:50:45

Um, I think uh we talked a little bit about this already, but I think jumping into like starting now with what you have, right? I think a lot of people out there might think that they don't have the right camera or that they don't have enough time right now to do this. Or and I'm not trying to like be super like motivational here and say that I have all the answers, but I think that now is the best time to start with what you have, right?

Vipul Bindra 1:51:14

Start today, not tomorrow. Because people humans have a tendency to say, oh, New Year's resolution, I'll try I'll start after my birthday or after the new year's day, I will start.

Fernando Tosetti 1:51:22

No, or or even like when I have this, yeah, I'll be able to do that.

Vipul Bindra 1:51:26

Yeah, I will have I'll buy an FXT and then I'll shoot this. No, start now. I completely agree with you because here's the thing gear is important, like we talked about, but gear's not important. You being able to go out and create content, show interest, and learn is far more important because there's roles that you can do. Like I said, I just did a camp role. I didn't have to bring any equipment. Yeah, you don't need to, and a lot of times when I hire people, like every single person, by the way, who's coming on the shoot with me, you have to bring anything. Well, I'm gonna bring everything, right? Cool, yeah. Why why do we need to have no you don't need anything else? Yeah, exactly. I'm like, we're gonna have at least enough cameras, enough lighting. Yeah, exactly. I was like, uh, dude, I gotta show you what we did in Chicago. It looks better than Netflix. Wow. Anyway, uh, but you get the point, right? It's it's like so you have people like me, or even the agency you're gonna work at, there's a high chance they may hire Cam ops or whoever, right? Uh, where they you don't need any equipment, right, for certain jobs. So I'm saying it's a it's you don't even have to own anything. As long as you go out there, you increase your uh skills, right? Especially, you know, you know how to operate a camera if that's what you want to do, or lights or sound or whatever, and then go get the soft skills, right? Like we talked about that's so important. You know how to communicate, how to be cool. Not not how to be cool, but like how to not be weird on set rather. And just just a good person to hang around with. You can actually make a career from this, or at least start out with without owning anything. Yeah. So this idea, like you said, people have in their head that if I buy this camera, it's just silly. Because none of my clients, my real clients, like I said, that pay the money. Guess who cares about what camera I have? People who are hiring me. You know, you hire me as a DP, you'll be like, but what camera do you have? Right? Uh, but the highest paying jobs, I'm saying where I can charge 50 grand, 100 grand, big money. They never ask. They don't care what camera I have. They don't even mention how many cameras. They just say, okay, we want a video made. This is the goal, this is the story, this is where we're gonna post it. Uh, and then you know, you get the budget, either they have it or you figure it out, and then you get to the budget. And then we, as production company owners, decide how many shoot days or how many people or whatever, right? Most of my clients, I'm talking end clients, yeah, where I make majority of the money, do not care. They don't care. Yeah, I could have technically, which obviously they expect the minimum, but they don't tell me or they don't, yeah, they expect quality, but they but I could technically show with any brand of camera or whatever, as long as the footage is good, they're gonna be happy with it.

Fernando Tosetti 1:53:48

100%. I totally agree with that. So I think like starting out with other like with what you have now, like that might be like not having the ideal camera. But I also think that on the on the on the production side, 100%. Like you could even like technically go straight into uh specific clients and offer services that you're shooting with your phone, and you could get clients like that, and you could probably make a living like that if you start now with like the iPhone that you have in your pocket.

Vipul Bindra 1:54:10

Yeah, people want reels and they want UCG user-generated content that you can make with your phone and edit on the phone, yeah, exactly, and do all that, yeah.

Fernando Tosetti 1:54:18

And also on the other hand, too, like if you're making a movie and all you have is an iPhone, but if everybody that's watching that film knows it was shot on an iPhone, you right there have an advantage over everyone else that had a whole crew. Yeah, because now, like, oh, that's the guy that shot the whole movie with an iPhone. Okay, so if you do a good job with less resources, then that also gives an advantage.

Vipul Bindra 1:54:38

Yeah, and a movie has already been shot with an iPhone, multiple movies, and they have been widely recognized as good movies. There you go. I don't think camera matters. Okay, again, it matters, but it doesn't matter. The the truth is, yes, if you're somebody who's a beginner, start and just go do it. And if you don't know how to do it or want to learn, then find somebody in your area who's doing it and go offer, get internship, right? Or offer to learn from them or something, right? Yeah, uh, and and then I think that's the the right method instead of just waiting for, like you said, equipment. Equipment's not gonna get you anything. I don't know. Because you can learn the exposure triangle with your phone with a with a black magic app or some other app, like what setting does what, and you can figure it out. So I think that's just us humans putting a limitation ourselves. I agree. And and most big agencies now, you're gonna be at an agency, they have a rental budget. If it's a small production, you expect them to bring a camera package. Um, but if it's a bigger production, you have the money for an RE pen package or lens package in there. That's standard. Yeah, so I don't know why people go so gung-ho about like I don't have this camera, so I can't do this job. No, you need to know how to operate that camera, you know, maybe rent one day and learn. Yeah so next time when you are talking to a person who's hiring from agency, uh, you you're not lying. You you need to be actually able to do it. But then I don't think you need to own an RE camera to be able to work with an agency on a project that uses RE camera. I think that's just the the misinformation, right? People have.

Fernando Tosetti 1:56:06

And it's uh it's an obstacle that we put in ourselves. Like we're it's our tendency to like not want to get away from what we're doing right now or from our comfort zone, our status quo, whatever that is, just to like not so we we create those mental obstacles. And I think like once you break through that and you find out that maybe your niche is in storytelling, maybe your niche is to serve a specific type of client, maybe it's local businesses they're going to, they're not gonna care. And if you do a good job, like I said, you go to a local coffee shop, you do a video for them with your phone, you offer your first video for free, and then you start doing gigs that are paid and you start creating their content, and you do a good job editing, just like start now and then watch people like Bender, like myself, go on YouTube, you know, yeah, and then offer, like I said, to to do BTS or intern or whatever.

Closing Thoughts And Where To Find Fernando

Vipul Bindra 1:56:53

You can just try to be on set and you can learn on being by the yeah, you don't need to buy equipment or whatever until you know what equipment to even buy. Exactly. You know, and you don't know what equipment to buy until you realize the level of gigs you want to be. 100%. So, all right. I think that's been our time. Uh, this was a good topic for Nando. I I really loved everything we touched on. I feel like we went uh quite a big ways and we we touched on everything that I thought you know was important. But again, at the end of it, this was a conversation, man. People are most likely cleaning their house listening to it, sorry, or driving. So uh before we go, please tell everyone where they can find you, your social media, or they can learn about more what you do.

Fernando Tosetti 1:57:31

Of course. So if you go on Instagram, my Instagram handle is Tozetti Films. So if you just look up Fernando Tozetti on Instagram or in YouTube, I'm there. And if you want to just reach out, um ask any questions from the stuff we talked about here, or any other questions that you may have. I'm always doing master classes. I do I did a master class recently here in downtown Orlando, where I was teaching first generation college students, the basics of film and video production within marketing. So, like all of that, like if you guys have any questions, or if you want to attend any of those, if you're here in Central Florida or in Sao Paulo, Brazil, if you have questions in Portuguese, Spanish, English, just reach out and yeah, you can find me there, especially Instagram. You can find me, of course, on LinkedIn, YouTube, all of that. Look at that, look at that.

Vipul Bindra 1:58:12

This guy's everywhere, you're doing everything. Gotta be. I have no doubt if somebody reached out to you with a question, you'd be down to help. And that's that's just in your nature. So, and and you know, that's what I'm talking about. Find local people that are there to help you if you're starting out. And even if you're not starting out, if you're a veteran, you just want to connect with other fellow professionals. Find them in your local area. If you don't, just reach out to Fernando or even me. I'm down to connect any day, anytime. So, thank you, Fernando. It's been fun. Thank you, Mario, again for helping make this happen. We appreciate you.

Mario Rangel 1:58:49

Thank you, guys. It was a really great episode and really cool insights. Thank you, guys.

Vipul Bindra 1:58:53

Thank you, thank you, and thank you for watching until next episode on Studio B sessions with me, Bendra. See you next time.