Welcome Back And Introductions

Vipul Bindra 0:04

You want to start singing now?

Alex Minor 0:07

You belong to the city.

Vipul Bindra 0:11

Welcome to a new episode of the Studio B sessions. I'm Bendra, owner of Bendra Productions here in Orlando, Florida. We got Mario, like always, on the producer desk helping us make this happen. Hey guys, one more time. How are you? And our guest today, if you don't know from the singing, Alex Minor. I mean, you had the best intro season one, and you're gonna have it again on season two. Uh, but you know, you're a video professional, a media content creator, a video production company owner. You've been doing this basically your entire adult life. Yeah, I don't want to age you here, but that's a long, long time.

Alex Minor 0:46

Yeah, I just turned 43.

Vipul Bindra 0:48

Well, there you go. That that should tell you. Yeah, but that's awesome, man. Thank you for coming.

Alex Minor 0:52

Uh, you're uh you know me and you, we always have good conversations, so it's a pleasure.

Shifting From Production To AV

Vipul Bindra 0:56

Which is why I was like, when I was gonna do this, and I was like, Oh, I want to obviously talk to a lot of new people, but I was like, I have to bring back Alex, you know. Yeah, you were one of the one of the favorite episodes, and that's just because you and I vibe so well. Yeah, I feel like um from the very first meeting. Exactly. We we uh I I like the way you think, uh, I like the way you like to conduct your business, and then just in general, you're a cool dude. So thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for coming. So, what's changed since last time we spoke?

Alex Minor 1:22

Um, I think the biggest thing that's changed since last time is that I'm focusing less on the video production side of my business and focusing more on my career as a uh corporate video engineer and projectionist. And the reason for that simply we we discussed a little bit in the last episode is that just in my personal life, I was experiencing some kind of a little bit of overwhelm just due to personal situations, you know, divorce, trying to be a good father, um and and then just the the mental the mental ramifications of all of that. Um for anybody who's not aware, like running a business is complicated. Like trying to run it the right way, and there's a lot of there's just a lot of things that come with that. Like it's hard to it's hard to turn it off. Um it's it can be hard to just figure out what your path is, what you need to be doing on a day-to-day basis. And there's just so much in my life that was not going according to plan. That for me trying to create plans and and have it make sense and be able to actually stick to it um was was getting really hard. And so I just needed to take a step back and cause because it because it was like it was like a lot of things were just like I said, not going according to plan. Um because when business was going really well, what happened was like my my video production company had transformed into like a video production and podcasting agency just due to client demand. Like first it was one client asking about me helping them produce a podcast, then it was somebody else referred me another client that wanted me to produce their podcast, and then somewhere along the line, an uh a software company asked me to help them launch a podcast, and and so that was like that that was like my major source of recurring revenue, but then within like you know, a couple years down the line, within probably six to nine months, all the podcast stuff went away. And then I'm sitting there like, oh crap, where's my recurring revenue now? And and uh at the same time, that's that's when that started, that trend of like podcast number one going away, podcast number two, like when that all started was kind of at the same time my personal problems were starting, and I'm having to um you know to just during the separation process, having to move out, get a new house, uh, do all that stuff. I'm di I'm burning through cash because cause I'm using up all my savings to do that. It was just it was it was just too much for me to really handle. And so and so after kind of limping along for a year and a half, I was like, you know what? I I'm good at the corporate video engineer stuff. I did it for a good I that was my main income for like a good 10 years at least. Um, but up from from pretty much 2010 up until the pandemic, that was my main source of income. Like I started the video production company on the side. Oh my bad, dude.

Vipul Bindra 4:45

Look at that, people not putting their phones in silent.

Divorce Stress And Lost Recurring Revenue

Alex Minor 4:48

That was rude. So yeah, so uh from from 20 from 2010 to about 2020 when the pandemic hit, that was my main source of income. Being a corporate video engineer, working events, working expos, uh, working conferences. And it was like that's I know that world. I'm I've been kind of out of touch with that world since since COVID. I was like, I was kind of getting halfway back into it because companies were calling me. They like probably about towards the end of 2000, uh, 2022 or the beginning of 2023, companies started calling again because business was coming back. Um, and so I I had like one foot in that world just because companies were reaching out, but I wasn't really taking it seriously seriously. I was like, I'll take the money if it comes, but I'm not really looking for that. But at this point, I was like, I'm tired of drowning, uh or I'm tired of struggling, I'm tired of so much unknown stuff. But this world, like, if I can just get back in contact and get in rotation with some companies, like I know that world, I know the job. Like, I I you go do it, it's done, you come home, and then a month later you get a check. Like it it's it's less complicated. And so um a few months ago, I started leaning back into that, reaching out to new companies, asking old contacts to help put me in touch with with people, and so that's that's been the focus, and it's at least for the moment it's working.

Vipul Bindra 6:22

Yeah. I mean, that's good to know. Uh that you know, you've you finally, you know, figuring out what you want to do, making it work. But you know, like we talked about last time, I mean, you went through a lot. The the thing is it's hard to to go through that and then focus on a business. Yeah. Because the the main thing is running a business is a 24-7 thing. It's hard to turn it off. Yeah. And uh not only that, you're especially if you're a small business owner, your personal life can come into the business and and vice versa, and then it can just start affecting things. Like you said, if you're not focused, you're you're distracted, uh, business is gonna suffer.

Alex Minor 7:00

Yeah, and it does and it doesn't help. And and I'm not saying it's to to like sound cliche or or lean into the trends, but it it's like um I have I have ADHD. I just got diagnosed in like the last couple of years, um, like while I was going through all of this is is when I've finally got hit to the notion that hey, you might have ADHD just from listening to other people's symptoms and their stories of getting diagnosed. Um so trying to under trying to understand that, what that means, how you know, it made a lot, it made a lot of things in my life make sense for like how my brain works and some of my weaknesses and and things that I thought were just quirks that I had. Um, it made a lot of things make sense. I still haven't completely learned how to manage all of that, but just like the it it makes some of the things that business owners have to handle, I think it makes more difficult. Um and it and stress makes it worse.

Vipul Bindra 8:07

Yes.

Alex Minor 8:07

And so going through the whole process um of what I was going through, being stressed out, feeling directionless, or or feeling like you know things were just falling apart and I didn't know what to do, um, you know, I I think it just magnified those symptoms that come with having ADHD. And and part of that means it's for for me as a business owner, it's very difficult for me to not only to veloc to develop, but to stick to systems and processes and routines. And and so I'm I'm just like, I need a break. I need like my uh I need I need to get away from all the weight that's that's on me and the things that are uh you know just make keeping my brain fried, basically.

Vipul Bindra 9:01

No, totally get it. And then I think it's just something a lot of filmmakers suffer from. I guess it's a personality type that leans towards you know, wanting to operate cameras or or run a business. Um, but I think at some point we have to accept, like, hey, we're distracted too easy, or uh, you know, we're overwhelmed because we are of so much knowledge, you know, that we're going through. Because what we do is a lot of science. People don't realize this as far as I'm saying the work goes. Um, and then on top of that, running a business is a lot of analytics and math and and um you know projections. I'm saying even at a small business level, you're trying to figure out you know what you need, what you need to save.

Alex Minor 9:40

And my brain doesn't naturally work like that. Like, that's not it's not to say that I can't learn those things or that people with ADHD can't learn those things, but for me personally, like that that's just not the natural direction that my brain goes in. So it's really tough to to zone in on that and to to be any sort of efficient at that. Um, and and I and I'd like to think that I've learned over the years to work with or work around some of my weaknesses, but also um in this period of kind of stepping back from having video production be the main thing and the main source of income. I'm hoping that when I circle back to it as the main thing, because I do eventually well, I don't know. We'll we'll see.

Vipul Bindra 10:32

Yeah.

Alex Minor 10:32

But I I feel like eventually I I feel like eventually I have to come back to it being more prominent, or I've gotta find a way to make it be more profitable while still having it consume less of my time uh and my mental space.

Vipul Bindra 10:52

Yeah.

Alex Minor 10:53

And and there's other things that I want to do too. Like I've I've always been a creative, so I like really what I if I could just do YouTube for a living.

Vipul Bindra 11:02

Yeah, but you do you did do YouTube for a while.

Alex Minor 11:05

I was doing YouTube for years, and and you were you had pretty decent following too. Yeah, I have about 3,500 subscribers, maybe 3,600 subscribers, and and if I had been able to, and part of it was just like I had to make a decision between, you know, building a company, being a being the the video engineer guy, and being a father, it was like and plus trying to build a YouTube career. I couldn't do it all. Yeah. And so and and plus I I was a music producer and engineer, and and I was trying to do that. So it so it was like I had too many rods in the fire, and I had to make decisions. It's like, okay, I want to be a good dad, and then I have like these four or five things that I do good, but I don't have time to do them all. These two make money, so let's do those.

ADHD And Systems That Actually Stick

Vipul Bindra 11:57

Yeah, no, that makes sense. Sometimes you have to do that, you have to like pick like this is what I'm gonna focus on, because otherwise you're you're like you said, directionless, and then next thing you know, you're not like I don't know, happy or all successful or whatever that is. Uh, but no, I mean YouTube is a good avenue. I mean, we had David on the podcast, and you know, he does great with that. Um, and again, it doesn't take a lot of followers or subscribers for that to to make a significant impact, whether that's financially, directly or indirectly, where it's like getting you work or referrals or whatever. Because the thing is you do great video. Like last time you were here, you talked about I think the project where you know it was a cross-country like project where you hired video teams in different cities and you're gonna be able to get it.

Alex Minor 12:40

Oh, and actually, I'm I'm I have to do that again. Look at that. So the the the company just contacted me again um like a week and a half ago. They're they're doing the same comp because this is their yearly, their big yearly conference. They own the conference, um, with along with another company, they co-own it. And so their presidents got to do another, you know, big speech. They want another opening video, and they decided they wanted to work with me again. So we just started the ball rolling on that process.

Vipul Bindra 13:10

Look at that. Yeah, so exactly, and that's the thing about doing good work, because you you did such a good job. They probably want you back. And the last thing about these conferences is which is why I tell people like, look, it may not be the shiniest, most fanciest stuff, uh, it, but it is a important for them, and it's good, consistent work that usually will come back every year. Uh, you know, so it's like a consistency, and you get enough of those clients, you got you know, revenue coming in all the time. Yeah, that's what that's what it's all about. Um, and uh yeah, I I really was fascinated by how you executed it from production hub to going yourself on one or two, and then just this, you know, that's what makes you a video producer, right? Being able to figure it all out, make it happen, uh, getting it done, making the client happy, and now you're gonna do it again. So it seems like you're you're doing two, three things. You're basically freelancing, you're running your company, and then you're also going to the side of being the tech, right? Is that what did you say?

Choosing Fewer Lanes To Focus

Alex Minor 14:13

Or something like that. It's right, and it's and that's part of what makes it weird is that I'm not all in on any one thing. Like right now, like most of the money that's sitting in my bank account right now came from doing these audiovisual convention jobs. Um, but like I said, this company just contacted me. That like the money that I make off of this video is probably gonna pay the bills for September. And and uh and then uh I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but there's uh a local chamber that I've been working on a video series for since uh this past December. Look at that. We we we like we made the deal, I think, last October. We started filming at the end of December. Filming was really only supposed to take three months. Yeah, it's not taking three months.

Vipul Bindra 15:06

That's a long project for the chamber, though.

Alex Minor 15:08

Well, it's it's because we're not putting too much into it. We're getting down into the weeds, but it it's just because it's mostly scheduling with the companies. Yeah, that what they're doing is they're highlighting member companies in these episodes that we're creating. Um, and like I didn't want it to be a long, drawn-out process. So I was so in the in the original deal, it was like, yeah, we gotta film two of these a month because they wanted six episodes, and they're like, oh, we'll film once a month. I'm like, no, I want to film, I want to film them all in three months. So two a month, but the scheduling just hasn't worked out that way with the companies. Um, and unfortunately, I had put it in the contract that I wouldn't get the like I get a deposit up front, but then I put in that I wouldn't get the balance until we finished filming the last episode. We're only we just shot episode four.

Vipul Bindra 15:59

And how many there are?

Alex Minor 16:01

And there's six episodes. Oh, so you got yeah, but I but I talked to them and they were like, and and I would because they came, and the reason I mentioned it is because they came back and they're like, hey, we're so happy with how things are going. We want to get another contract for another six episodes. And I'm like, cool, but can we really try to keep to that three-month schedule this time? Because we're like at twice that already, and we're not even done. And and and it's like, and I don't get paid till we finish shooting the episodes. The payment terms, right? He was that's what he said. He was he was like, Oh, well, next time we'll make it so that you get paid at three months no matter what, and we're gonna go ahead and cut the check for the rest.

Vipul Bindra 16:44

Look at that.

Building Chamberworks For The Chamber

Alex Minor 16:45

So, because they're because they're happy, yeah. So they're like, they're willing to they're willing to play ball, and they know that, and they're sitting there like, oh, you were supposed to get paid by now, and it's not really your fault that you haven't been able to finish.

Vipul Bindra 16:58

Hey, you that's the crazy part. You're telling me you have a chamber of commerce paying you to make videos? Well, they're not paying full price, okay.

Alex Minor 17:05

Yeah, like they brought the price, so the full price deal is for the six episodes. Um, because they're because here's what they get in the deal. They're filming six episodes, so we're doing video production of six episodes. They're so that's the the filming, the actual on-location filming. Then they get sit from that filming, we're generating six full-length YouTube episodes, which are roughly 10 minutes each. Um, a couple have been a little bit shorter, one's been a little bit longer just because we've had so much content from that episode. It was a really good episode. And I there was I can't wait to see. There was still well, there's episodes out right now. Um, and it's the seminal, uh, this the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce. Pull it up, pull it up. YouTube. And and the and the series is called Chamberworks. Okay. Um, but so they get they get these six uh full-length YouTube episodes, and then for each episode, there's like three to four social media clips that we produce, and and so that's the package that they're getting. Um full price for the deal would be if they were just regular customers paying the full tab, it would be the numbers on the first deal were like sixteen grand or something like that. Um they but we brought the price down because like Chair Chamber, they're a nonprofit. They most of them don't have money like that to just burn on media. Um, so what they offered as partial compensation to bring the price down for them is a sponsorship package. So I'm gonna get um I'm I'm gonna be featured as a sponsor on multiple events over I think it's it's either like three months or six months. I gotta I'd have to go back to the contract to to get the exact details. But three to six months of that, uh three to six months of like email blasts, banner ad placement. Um they're gonna show they're gonna show some of the content at some of their events, and and um I'm supposed to get like a commercial placed on some of that stuff. So we're we're so it's pretty good.

Vipul Bindra 19:13

I mean they're giving you uh they're gonna give me a lot of shine. Where's that one? Where's the one you did? So goodness.

Alex Minor 19:18

Uh so if you see Chamberworks right there, it's like yeah, that second video. Oh, yeah, that's that's Hollerbox German restaurant. That that there was I couldn't even fit everything in the episode. Look at that.

Vipul Bindra 19:32

And obviously, uh they're not uh people are not hearing audio. So if you're listening to this, just go to uh Seminole County Chamber and you can see the videos called Chamber Works. That's what we're looking at right now. Looks very beautifully shot, though. Uh I did my best. I did my best. So this is essentially what looks like a person visiting the business, right?

Alex Minor 19:53

Yeah, so the so the lady on the right is Rebecca Arthur. She's the chamber president. And so in this series, she goes to a business and she spends a day working in the business, looking behind the scenes, finding out. And it's basically to kind of like showcase some of the inner workings of these businesses and and highlight aspects of the business that the regular customers don't see, don't know about, never hear about, just to kind of show, you know, what people in the community are doing, what it takes to run these businesses, and just you know, kind of bring people in and and you know, make them, you know, feel like part of the journey. And and I mean, we've learned all sorts of stuff that we never would have learned otherwise about these businesses. Like that restaurant, for instance, they even though they're you know open during normal restaurant hours, they're operating nearly 24 hours a day because they're so big and there's actually multiple businesses under their umbrella. So it's not just their main hollerbox restaurant. They've got like a um they they've got like a store that sells like a bunch of German uh like knick-knacks and paraphilia and clothing, they've got another bar that they own. They uh they have a catering business. I think uh they might actually own two bars, I think. Like they've they it's so much stuff, and they grew just from that the from that original one restaurant, and they've always been in Seminole County, and there's a lot of history, and you know, and uh German chocolate cake is not from Germany, apparently.

Vipul Bindra 21:29

Yeah, that sounds anytime they add a country name to an item, it's usually not from there.

Alex Minor 21:34

Yeah, it was actually made by a guy whose last name was German.

Gear And Lighting For Small Crews

Vipul Bindra 21:37

Yeah, so that makes uh more sense. So uh what's interesting to me is um uh that's actually really cool videos. So, what did you shoot them with the FX 30s that you have?

Alex Minor 21:47

Yeah, FX 30s. We we run everything off FX 30s.

Vipul Bindra 21:51

What lighting package were you using? You remember? Or did you not use lighting? Is it nice?

Alex Minor 21:57

For the majority of it, it so the only time. That I lit something for these episodes was the sit-down interviews. So we shoot, we kind of we kind of take a reality TV kind of format where I'm I'm chasing around with them with the camera, capturing everything as best as I can, and then we kind of do uh after action interviews, one with whoever the representative is from the business, and one with um Rebecca Arthur, the chamber president, and then we you know at Big Mean, yeah. We we cut it in, we cut stuff in as it helps to tell the story and fill in details. So uh what's interesting to me is Oh, but to answer your question about lighting package, all I'm using is a uh Amaran 60X, and then maybe maybe a tube light as a kicker. Look at that. And but yo, this I've been putting this 60X to work.

Vipul Bindra 22:53

Yeah.

Alex Minor 22:53

Like, like I even uh we have one episode of Chamberworks where we I don't know if it's out yet. I think that may be the next episode they put out. That might be the July episode, um, where we went to the Central Florida, we went to the Central Florida zoo and um I shot the interview outside in the shade, but outside, and that 60X worked. Yeah, no, like I I did not think that it would be able to to help in that environment, but it actually worked.

Vipul Bindra 23:21

No, I have one of those I really like. It's a good light, and uh also very small and portable, so it makes it easier and runs off of V mount battery and power.

Alex Minor 23:30

It it like I'm I am surprised at how well it works in so many different situations.

Vipul Bindra 23:36

No, that's it uh that's really cool that you did this partnership because I love chamber partnerships. However, it's awesome to me is that you were able to get them to pay you. Usually, like you said, they're nonprofits, they don't have the budgets and things like that.

Alex Minor 23:48

Yeah, it's just the amount of work it is, but I'm and this and this is like to everybody out there, whether you're solo shooter trying to build a production company don't just take the work because it's work. Like, take the work because it's work you actually want to do. Take it because and make sure that you value it properly, and that looks different to everybody. There's different levels to the game, there's different price points that will make sense at different points in your career. So like there's no way that I could do a project of this scope for free. It just demands too much time. Yeah, it demands like not only on the ground shooting, but in the post-production process. Although I've got it down to where if I if I was really pressed for time and I had to, I could edit an episode and and and the social media clips in probably two days, if I had to. But I hate editing in that kind of compact window. I like being able to take my time with it and and break it again, it's that ADHD thing. Like I can really only I can really only focus intensely for maybe three, four hours a day. And I mean, that's most people, but even then, like I have to structure it into blocks. And like, like sometimes if I really get into a flow state and I'm really into it, like I can sit there for three, four solid hours and just like if it's going really well and everything on the shoot was well planned and it's just the stories just coming together, I might just be in there and and yeah, just knock most of it out. But but otherwise, like I'm having the um I'm I'm using like the Pomodoro method to in editing. Like I'm I'm taking like an hour to 90 minute blocks or sometimes two hour blocks, then I'm taking a break, then I'm coming back. And I can only do a couple of those in a day. After that, I'm my brain's burnt.

Vipul Bindra 25:41

No, I totally get it. And also, you know, editing, uh yeah, is it chat? Plus, you also have kids that I'm sure distractions can be a I can't I can't work if the kids are at home.

Pricing Reality And Contract Lessons

Alex Minor 25:51

Okay, so you can't. Like I I I've given up trying. Like, if there's something about me where if my kids are at home, even if I'm not directly interacting with them, like there's just a huge portion of my focus is on them. And trying to drag it away from them and and on to work, like I I haven't figured it out. There's there's probably a hack, there's probably a method, there's probably a way for me to do it, but it's the reason why during the during the pandemic, I moved the business out of the house and got an office with with people, and because like it was so hard to get any client work done working out of the house, even though I had a room to myself, I could close the door, everything. But of course, kids don't care. They're like they not they want daddy, yeah. And and so like I had to move my business out of the house to to get any work done. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 26:46

Yeah, that that's can be a pain for me too, yeah, having the distractions. So uh uh I'm even saying, I know you did this project uh obviously uh subsidized because you're getting sponsorship, you're getting value, uh, and it makes sense for you, you know, to do it. Uh, but the other thing I'm saying, even your full price seems very reasonable to me to do six 10-minute videos that's 60 minutes of content for 16k. Uh, that's a that's pretty reasonable. That's pretty low, really.

Alex Minor 27:12

It's pretty low. Exactly. And I'm and I'm aware of that. And how much did they do?

Vipul Bindra 27:16

You said 50%. What was the sponsorship level?

Alex Minor 27:19

I don't want to say because I don't want to put their business out there like that. And and I don't know what other deals they made. They they they don't just work with me on video content. There are other video companies in the chamber that they work with. So I don't I don't want to put them on blast or like if I got a better deal or something, then I I don't want people, yeah. I don't want to do that.

Vipul Bindra 27:38

But we'll just say that you you sponsored a book shop.

Alex Minor 27:41

I got an I got enough money out of it that I'm happy to do the work. And and and um and also like I found that I I enjoy making this series. Like I'm the type of one of the reasons why I like working with businesses in general is just I like finding out people's stories. I like being able to see behind the scenes, I like learning from my clients. I I've and that's one of the reasons why I've historically um done a lot of work with like business coaches and and life coaches and things like that. It's because I get basically to learn from them for free. Like I have a whole course on uh I have an entire I have actually I have more than one course on uh what's it called commercial real estate because my one of my clients was a commercial real estate coach. It's and I'm just sitting there the whole time, he's dropping this knowledge people pay him thousands and thousands of dollars for, and he basically paid me thousands of dollars to be a fly on the wall while he created these courses. And I mean, one thing it told me is I'm in the wrong business, yeah. Like commercial real estate, and you can get into I tell people if you want to make money, video's not the place.

Vipul Bindra 28:54

There's so many easier ways to make money, like finance, real estate. Um, but this is if you're passionate about it, then the exactly go for this business. It's not a bad business. Uh, but you're like you're right, yeah. You're making money.

Alex Minor 29:08

The the key, I think, with this business is kind of like what you've done is you you are very organized, you are very systemized, and I know, I I know, I see you laughing at yourself. It's I know it's up to a point.

Vipul Bindra 29:22

Yes, but I am very okay. I'll tell you, like you said, AD, I haven't been diagnosed with anything, but I can tell I'm very organized. I love organization. Guess what I hate doing? Organization. You don't want to look behind, like this set looks incredible. It was put together really fast because you know I was on a shoot. And when I came back, literally in a couple of hours, because even Mario is busy, so I was like, I have to do this by myself. But if you look behind your couch, you'll see the the organization. But all the angles. Yeah, all the angles. I really like go see. Yeah, it's but I can only do so much, it's just me, you know, and I appreciate the help that Mario gave in. But he had meetings, like he he couldn't be here, and we had two hours to set this up, you know, when we did. And it was like, oh, well, where's all this extra domes gonna go? Where's all this milk crate gonna go? Well, you don't see behind the couch, so that's where it's gonna go. Oh, that's why I tell clients all the time.

Alex Minor 30:16

It's like, don't don't worry, like, I will hide all the stuff that needs to be hidden. You're gonna look great.

Vipul Bindra 30:22

But go back, yes, I'm very organized. So yeah.

From Shooter To Business Owner

Alex Minor 30:25

Yeah, but but I mean, you have you've developed systems, you've developed relationships, which are really important with key people that enable you to operate what is essentially at its core a one-man business, like a much bigger business. Exactly. Yeah, and and and and I understand that that's one of my weaknesses, and when I kind of shift back to video production being more of the main thing, that's one of the things that I want to start. I I kind of want to start, I want to try to rebuild it from the ground up with those things in mind. Because getting into video production, it it was basically like I had no choice because the pandemic took my other choices away from me. And and that's when I went into the business full time, and so it was it it got to a point where I was making money on a consistent basis, at least for that good kind of two-year period. Um, but it always kind of felt like putting out fires.

Vipul Bindra 31:28

That's what it is, and you know, like you said, it took me a while uh to accept it, but now I I finally do, you know, like so. This year was that year for me where I accepted that I'm a business owner. You know, for a while I didn't want to be just a business owner, right? I wanted to be uh, you know, whatever. Point is, but now I finally accepted that's who I am. I run this company, it is Bindra, is Bindra, you know. Uh but I'm saying for a while I was like, oh, I just want to be the director, the creative director, or I'm the I'm the filmmaker here, right? Um, and then you know, uh so for years I did that. I try to, and I think it was me, it was my mental thing saying, Oh, I I am uh, you know, not just a business owner. And then I finally went, you know, what do I actually do? Uh sure, on set I may have roles, director, producer, whatever, DP today, gaffer today, sound guy today. But actually at the core of what do I do, like you said, I'm a business owner.

Alex Minor 32:20

And then that's where in the last uh like the last I'd say year that I was really in the business or working on the business um as the main thing, main thing. That's the kind of the transition I was trying to make, which even the like you know, when you met me, I was shooting on GH5s and shoot and I still love the GH5, but we made the switch to the FX30s because I was transitioning to the point where I'm like, I gotta get the camera out of my hand. I need to not be the one who's always holding the camera. I need to get I need to move from shooter to director, producer to executive producer to business owner. So I needed to get to the point where I'm hiring people to do more of the thing so I can focus on generating business, on doing deals and doing that sort of stuff. And that's why I moved to the FX30s because for the price point, it made it made the transition away from micro four thirds less painful. Um, because I don't I don't ever want to shoot full frame.

Vipul Bindra 33:26

Yeah. Really, like I mean, and you don't have to. Half the movies are still on Super 35.

Alex Minor 33:31

Right, but but you know, but you know how the video production world is. And so for guys who are like who are gearheads, and I mean we're we're gearheads. So for gu people who are gearheads and into the tech and everything, it's like, oh, but you gotta go full frame. And and I'm like, have you seen what full frame lenses cost? No, I don't want to go full frame.

Camera Choices And Renting Gear

Vipul Bindra 33:51

Double the money, and then uh for what? I mean, it's not the visual quality is better. No, I do get it. Here's here's uh I'll defend it too a little bit. The thing is, usually on corporate work, I'm stuck into the ugliest room. Like I'll go to a like say a medical office, yeah, and we'll see, oh wow, the beautiful lobby. Oh, this is a nice room, and they'll be like, Yeah, yeah, but but we're working here. Here's the one room available, and it'd be the ugliest, most yellow wall. Uh, I don't know who comes up with these colors, and now it's like, okay, film here. So then the easiest thing I can do is like one four, full frame, as much as a few. Learn everything out and set the subject. Yeah, exactly. And that's the easiest little light on the wall. There you go. You get it. That's the easiest thing we can do, and quickly, because we don't have time there either. So we can do so. It can it can actually be a tool that helps us, but as far as just talking about quality or something better, it's not necessary, dude. Like I own two FX30s, though I am trying to get rid of them because I don't use them. Uh, but FX3s are in uh what I'm saying is the quality is being willing to entertain a pay to on one of them. And that's what I realized. I'll tell you what happened with me. I so I owned, you know, two FX6s, two FX3s. So two FX30s made an uh made a perfect combination because I sometimes do need five, six angles. And the problem is I realized quickly that I'm I'm silly. I only need four cameras, and when I do need five or six, I can always have you bring your FX30s because you did one time, like when I needed them, you brought them. So I was like, why did I buy them? They're brand new, sitting in a box, having used only once. I think one camera is used once and one twice. Basically, brand new cameras.

Alex Minor 35:30

So I'm like, But did you make your money back?

Vipul Bindra 35:32

No, I mean, okay, I take that back. Probably, you know, I guess on that shoe, but again, they were necess unnecessary because of fifth and sixth angles. Right. I'm pretty sure that the guys were doing yeah, the guys who were doing cam 5 and 6 could have easily brought theirs. Because but I really liked yours. Initially, if you remember, the first time I used the FX 30 was when you brought it. And I was like, this looks this is just the FX3. So uh yeah, so long story short, I bought two, they haven't been used, so that the current thing I'm trying to do is just I think it'd be good to re-home them because somebody else can put a way better use because that liter I'm talking, they're even the same serial limit because I bought them at the same time. They literally are like one ends in like two and one three, like they are literally in a box together. And uh, and I was like, come on, what what did I do? But I wasn't thinking long term, right? I was just like, Oh, I need a fifth and sixth camera, but I'm like, how often do I need it? And when I do, it can be an easy add-on because the rental price on an FX30 is not that much. I don't know why I was not thinking that.

Alex Minor 36:28

Yeah, but again, but that's why I love the FX30, it's such an economical camera. Yeah, um, because what is the the price for a new like 1700 bucks or something? And then and then if you're buying APS C lenses, uh tariffs.

Vipul Bindra 36:42

I think they raised the price on it, but yes, that was what it was pre-tariff.

Alex Minor 36:45

Yeah, but but then but then you look at the price of APS C lenses and the amount uh specifically for Sony, the amount of third-party glass that's available. Um, whether you're looking at you know, primes or zooms.

Vipul Bindra 37:00

Uh, did you see the new Sigma 174018? Oh my goodness, that's gonna be so good for people who shoot on Sigma. That's the APSC, yeah. Yeah, this is not for me.

Alex Minor 37:10

It was what the seven, yeah. This basically they they read they remade the 18 to 35, and it's so much better, is what I'm saying.

Vipul Bindra 37:16

The new one, so it's like, wow, you can even make that like right, and I've been saying that for years.

Alex Minor 37:21

I was like, if Sigma would just remake the 18 to 35 for emount, like they would have sold so many, yeah. And I remember using that on the GH uh 5 and 5S and 4s with the meta bones, and we get even more less than even when I got the FX30, I had a I had I still have it in 18 to 35, and I got the Sony adapter for it, and it works pretty well. Um, but I was like, if if y'all made it in the email, like y'all would sell so many of them.

Vipul Bindra 37:52

And now they are, and they improved on it. So it's good for it, like you said, APSC shooters, lenses are cheaper, cameras are cheaper. Again, gear doesn't matter. The whole thing is gear matters, but where it does, you can rent it. And usually you just need a smaller kit for your own shoots, and that's where I'm saying you can use FX 30s or 3s, they're very similar. Uh as far as um body goes, it's exactly the same. Rather, the FX 30s have the newer better screen, uh, more you know resolution screen.

Alex Minor 38:20

And and there are some there are strengths and weaknesses to both full frame and APSC, and it really depends on you know what you're doing. Like for me, one of the benefits of staying APSC is that when um, like for instance, we've talked about conferences. If I'm going to shoot at a conference, my cameras have longer reach with the lenses because they have the smaller sensor.

Vipul Bindra 38:43

So which sucks on the FX6s, because because we cannot do uh crop in, uh, my least favorite thing is that I cannot do um like a 4K, you know, super 35 mode camera. Oh, they don't have it? No, because the whole sensor is just 4K, so so they don't have the option to crop in and get more reach out of the same lenses. Uh but uh, you know, some other cameras can. Uh and I missed that from my Canon cameras having that ability. Um, so like I said, there's pros and cons. Like I said, I like the the ability to blur out the background, but that's quite literally it. It's not like and then obviously low light is better, yeah. But that's really about it. The the but then Ibis is better on the FX30. So you know.

Alex Minor 39:20

And the thing about the whole low light conversation, like I I love low light shooting in concept, in theory, but I'm a corporate shooter, I like my shit.

Vipul Bindra 39:32

Yeah, no, that's good, but hey, do you do shoot events? Then you know, it's like a lot of the events where it's they're so dark, like they don't light anything. Because you know, they're having a good time.

Alex Minor 39:41

So yeah, but then that could be a thing of uh, you know, picking the right lenses and and what is it that you're actually trying to film, and then and then even just scoping out the environment and knowing your camera to be able to come up with the best settings and things like that.

Vipul Bindra 39:57

I think simple answer to that is get whatever camera you can afford. You know, don't overextend yourself, and they're all good cameras, but to be honest, yes, FX30 is worth uh the money that they're charging for it. Um I think it's really um uh like I said, balanced price, and then it make gives you a clear upgrade path. If you're happy with it, keep it. But if you want, you can easily go to an FX3. All the buttons, the menus, everything stays the same. So it's a oh you know what?

Alex Minor 40:27

I'm even gonna throw another camera out there that's a little bit less expensive. That for anybody who's just getting started in the business and and needs to buy their first camera, that might be something that you might want to consider. Z V E 10 Mark II.

Vipul Bindra 40:44

Oh, isn't that the one that has the same sensor as the uh FX?

Alex Minor 40:48

Because see, before I bought an FX 30, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to invest in Sony and if it worked for me, so I bought a Z V E 10 as a test camera and and this to to film like some of my YouTube content with. And the Z V E 10 worked so well that I actually bought a second one. And then I bought the FX 30. Um and then once I bought the second FX 30, I sold my extra Z V E 10 to a friend of mine. But the Z V E 10 too fixes a lot of weaknesses in the original Z V E 10, makes it even more like an FX 30. So if you're trying to test the Sony Waters and not sure okay with the thought of APS C Z V E 10 Mark II, I think it's like a thousand bucks, and you can get in the song. It's it's basically gonna give you the same image that a FX30 is gonna give you. Uh, and and now, because of the upgrades they put in it, most of the same shooting features in terms of like codecs and frame rates and things like that, uh, color profiles and all of that. You're gonna get S log 3, you're gonna get uh, I I think they even put in what's what's Sony's color profile that everybody likes the baked yeah, it's got cinetone in it. So you're gonna have all that stuff. You I think it's still got 4K 60. So that's that's your easy entry level into the Sony ecosystem. If you're okay with APSC, you're testing the waters before you want to commit to a camera that's a little bit more heavyweight.

Vipul Bindra 42:21

Yeah, no, that's very smart. Like I said, buy what you can afford. Or again, you can uh and Quentin and I talked a lot about this last season, but you're an expert on that too, which is um the whole AV world. If you just uh uh enhance your skills, there's so much work that you can have where you don't require any equipment. Uh, you can become a tech, you know, you can do um chem ops or whatever for for these events where or even other production companies' point is where you don't need to show up with like you're gonna help me tomorrow, or where I asked you to bring nothing. I'm like, just bring yourself. That's all I need. So there's a lot of uh which I appreciate you coming, but that's what I'm saying. It's like a lot of work out there where you don't need own equipment, and when you do, just uh like I said, just get yourself uh a smaller.

AV Work As Low Overhead Income

Alex Minor 43:07

And I'll say this for a lot of guys out there, um the skills that you've acquired as a shooter can I'm an advocate for the A V world. One because like you said, you show up, you do the job, you get paid, there's no homework. You don't have to you don't have to go back to the lab and edit, you don't have to deliver content afterwards, like you go, you work on site, you come home, eventually you get a check. Um and and for a there's for a lot of guys who are trying to build their video production business, but need to fill in the gaps and need other income to help supplement, A V would be a really good thing to get into because one you're making relationships with companies that are working for other Businesses where potentially, depending on what kind of positions you're working, you might get in a position where you can beat somebody who might be a client someday. Um, or I have an A V company that I freelance for who because they knew um that I did video production, they actually hired me to to shoot some stuff during the pandemic. Um or you know, they might or and actually they hired me again once events came back because their client asked them, hey, we want to get video and b-roll and photo shot uh for our conference. We don't have anybody. Do you know somebody? And they were coming to Orlando, they called me. And that was a the eight thousand dollar job.

Vipul Bindra 44:44

Look at that. So the connections that you make are also valuable. Plus, like you said, the best thing I like about that is like you said, show up, you do the job, you're done. You didn't have to buy anything, you didn't have to invest in anything other than relationships.

Alex Minor 44:57

Right. And and it's and you might find out that that's a career path that you really like, even as much or more than running your video production company. It's it's just another avenue. And you can make good money. Like I I I was making six figures a year in the A V world before the pandemic. Um, I I have confidence, especially because the rates have gone up a little bit post-pandemic, that I could go back full-time into this and be making six figures doing that again. Um, like I just came back one of the jobs I just did in the last month, it was nine days in I want to say it was nine days. I made eight grand. Look at that. Yeah, and it's zero investment.

Vipul Bindra 45:43

That's the best thing I like about it.

Alex Minor 45:45

And they f they flew me out to the event. I worked it, things went well, like the feedback from the clients was great. Um, and you know, I'm gonna get paid.

Vipul Bindra 45:55

Look at that. I think that's the that's that's why I tell people like there's so many paths. If you want to make a living doing what we do, you can. And um, and like I said, there's so many avenues out there where you don't even have to own equipment, you just need to go make those connections, you need to just uh, you know, obviously learn the craft and the skill. Uh, but there is a ways to make a living. And when you are ready to be a production company or a freelancer or DP, whatever, start small small the camera that you're talking about. Or I even think save a couple hundred bucks more, get a used FX30 because it's so much uh more accepted because you know, you say cinema camera.

Alex Minor 46:32

Yeah so you can start and it's easy to dress up with stuff that like you can you can take that FX30 and make it look like a bigger camera if you want to. Like with the stuff that's out there, like you know, uh Caleb Bike has the Cineback, or even if you just if uh what's the what's I'm so out of touch right now, like I can't even remember the gear companies. Uh what's what's small rig? Yeah, small rig. Like there's enough small rig stuff that you can bolt on that you can make it look like something significant, you know, add a screen on top, add a battery on the back, like put a cage, put some rails, put a hand, put a handle on the side, all of a sudden it looks like you run in and gunning with like badass cinema camera.

Vipul Bindra 47:18

Exactly. And like I said, the image matches. So the thing is, cameras are so good now, and that's not to discount like saying, again, if you're at the higher level, higher cameras matter, like I said.

Alex Minor 47:28

Well, I mean, even some of the higher end cameras now, they're so small, they don't look like high-end cameras.

Vipul Bindra 47:33

Exactly.

Alex Minor 47:34

Yeah, like what what what the what's the last the the last reds like a cube like this?

Vipul Bindra 47:39

Yeah, the Komotos and the Raptors, yeah.

Alex Minor 47:41

Yeah, they it like if you just see them, if you if you're not a camera person and you just saw a bare red, yeah, it just you don't think that's a camera, or you don't think that's you don't think that's a pro level body expensive camera or worth what they're charging for 10 grand, 25 grand, whatever. Yeah, you don't you're not gonna know that it's once you build it out and make it look all fancy and put it on a huge ass tripod, that's when it looks like you know something you shoot a movie with. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 48:06

Uh no, and and you're absolutely right. And and again, we can go into client perception versus value versus if it's worth it to attach some stuff that's unnecessary. But and there's pros and cons to both, I'm saying. But at the end of the day, yes, you're right. Like most cameras are good. Uh just start with what you have, and you can always rent and upgrade as you go. But most stuff when you're working with end clients, uh cameras not the factor, it's right, they don't storytelling, the lighting, it doesn't enter into their minds.

Alex Minor 48:35

Like, like I said, I think I said this in the last episode. The only time I've ever had somebody ask me what kind of camera I shoot with is if I was subcontracting for a production company and then they want to match images, or their client for some reason has a strict requirement. Maybe if it's maybe if the project they're doing is like some kind of national commercial or something or a narrative piece that they're doing, like, and they wanted to match, yeah, yeah, something like that.

Vipul Bindra 49:01

And even then, the demand is usually always Sony, right? So it's like either nothing or Sony. It's very rarely, I'm sure there's one off situations, but usually there are times where people want red.

Alex Minor 49:12

Yeah. But a lot, but it's Sony's so pervasive these days that usually people are like FX6. Yeah. If if they're asking for a specific camera, it's usually FX6.

Vipul Bindra 49:23

That's absolutely true, or something in the Sony line. Or FX9, maybe. But yeah, you're right, you're absolutely like like you said, they're not asking for it if they're asking for at least what I've seen. And it's been a few years since I've even heard the word red. I've only heard the word canon once. Um, I think recently somebody had a Canon request. But like I'm saying, they're so far between that you remember the request. Like I get requests for Sony all the time, so I'm like, okay, whatever. It's it's just a request. Versus the request for nothing. Even freaking Quentin went and bought a Sony. He and he paid it paid for himself, right? I asked him, he's like, oh yeah, the one trip that I bought the FX64. It's been sitting since then because it's not. But it paid for itself. Exactly. And I rented from him, so he made some money. So by the way, I rented his FX6 for the Chicago.

Alex Minor 50:08

Now, thank you for reminding me of that. Now I know I got somebody else like besides you that I could rent an FX6 from if I need it.

Vipul Bindra 50:13

Exactly. And and he he was he said the same thing. I was like, hey, I'm I if I'd rather give uh money to a friend and and rent.

Alex Minor 50:21

I'd rather pay Quentin all day.

Vipul Bindra 50:22

Yeah, and and he knows that I'll take care of his equipment, you know. And so it was a fair exchange. And for him, it was just sitting because you know his preference is black magic cameras, uh, but it made me. Yeah, and that's okay. That's his thing. He can he can he can invest in whatever he wants to. I mean, the amount of black magic cameras he has in that studio.

Alex Minor 50:41

Bro, it's it's kind of it's kind of mind-boggling. I I think he's just a collector.

Vipul Bindra 50:46

Yeah, I I think so. I mean, last time I was there, I was I had literally a client ask me a while back, and it's so funny. You know, they were like, we need radios, like real like Motorola radios. I was like, well, I don't know because my sets are not that big. We use the we used to use the ear text, now we use the Holly Land stuff. So I was like, no, we use regular. They're really nice. I mean, they've been working great. I've I've not owned them as long as Earths, but the Ear Text was amazing. The only issue I had with them was uh one of them broke, so I had to replace that, but that's just regular. But then the that we could not whisper on them. You know, you just talk normal, they were great, but sometimes you know you're in an interview. And the Holly Land, I have the C1 pros, and you can whisper on them. What I like is I can like hey Mario, pull back or whatever while the shot is happening without ruining the shot. But that's essentially the difference. I would say, and plus I can have up to eight sets without. I don't want to do a uh like a hub. Yeah, so in ear text, you could do five without a hub. In these, you can do up to eight without a hub. So I have an eight set, and I don't need usually more than eight. And if I do, then it's somebody else's problem how to get comms up. And same thing. So I had a client ask for radios, and I was like, I don't have them. And then last time I went to Quentin to pick up the camera, and it's like there's a whole, a whole uh, I don't know, container full of radios. He was like, Yeah, I just got them from C Fan or whatever. They were just getting rid of these. And I was like, What are you in the crazy hookups? I was like, what are you talking about? That that's a lot of Motorola's right there. And uh, it's good to know. I was like, if I ever need radios now in the future, right, I would have called but it's just crazy to me. Yeah, I love that guy. Yeah, so anyway, so yeah, that was that's how that worked. I was like, oh, so you bought an FX6? You're like, he used it on that one trip that he took, uh, I think to Africa, and he was like, Yeah, that paid for itself in rentals. Because he was gone for like two, three months. Exactly. And I'm like, that that basically like free camera, but and then and he sticks to black magic. So I was like, Well, let me rent it for a few days, and here's the money, you know. And uh I was like, that's awesome though, that even he has a Sony camera now, uh, somebody who really just is into black magic stuff. So uh again, like I said, we're not biased here. I have no connection to Sony.

Alex Minor 52:55

Yeah, like if I had my way, I'd still be shooting Phantasonic, but they were too slow on getting phase detect autofocus.

Vipul Bindra 53:01

Yeah, but look, they they have now too. Right now, the current hype is again back to Lumix. So the current hyped cameras, at least recently, that I've been hearing is the uh obviously the the Pixis 12K, but the the Lumix stuff, the S12E, I don't know the camera models, but I think it was the the one that just came out. That has uh the RE log Ultimate 2D.

Alex Minor 53:21

It was like the second of the second edition of the camera or whatever. Yeah, I know it's funny.

Vipul Bindra 53:26

So there was and then they just upgraded the even though those ones, and then they had released a model or two uh now, and then they also added an option to paid RE log. So you can get straight you know RE log out of these cameras. Again, it's not gonna replace an RE camera, but you get the point you can have a matching log profile coming out. So again, they're doing great things, and like I said, their autofocus now finally works, which is crazy. Yeah, it didn't when I won't touch. So I was like, I was all manual focused on those.

Alex Minor 53:52

Uh and we made great content. Exactly. We made a lot of money.

Vipul Bindra 53:55

Exactly. At no point did we not make money. So uh and again, I had Jacob on the podcast, he still uses one, so he still has Sony cameras and stuff, but he has still a GH5 that you can.

Alex Minor 54:05

I mean, I still have it.

Vipul Bindra 54:06

I just had it, yeah.

Alex Minor 54:09

Yeah, it's sitting, it's sitting in a box.

Vipul Bindra 54:11

It's sad. Sometimes I I kind of regret selling it. I was like, I should have kept both my Canon T4i and the GH4 because I feel like they had nostalgic value to me because that was my first Canon camera because you get it in school. So I had funny enough, tape cameras and stuff before then. Like my mom had bought me a DVD camcorder. I'm going back in the day when I was a kid. Point is like my first proper camera that I bought myself was a T4i. And then obviously I sold it, but I was like, I sold it for like four or five hundred bucks, uh, you know, years and years later. I'm like, I should have just kept it. It would have been so good to have it.

Alex Minor 54:43

Yeah, because part of me wants to part of me wants to sell the GH5. Or do I still have two? I s I had three. I sold one, I think I still have two. And oh, and I also have a uh Olympus uh EM5 Mark II.

Vipul Bindra 55:00

Wow, they're not even called Olympus anymore.

Alex Minor 55:03

Is it or is it EM1? EM EM1 Mark II. Yeah, and so I still have that, which I bought that one because of the autofocus, and the autofocus on that works pretty well. Um and and so like part of me wants to sell them, but even now, like the price that I could sell it for would probably only be like three or four hundred bucks. You might as well. So I'm kind of so so part of me is kind of like, eh, I might just hold on to that.

Vipul Bindra 55:26

The thing is, um, Olumpus is not even a company anymore, right? They're called OM or whatever, some new company bought.

Alex Minor 55:32

OM systems or something.

Vipul Bindra 55:33

Yeah, so it's technically old Olympus, but it's a new company, yeah. And that's what I'm saying. Yeah, you might as well kept it, and I wish I had kept the GH4 because again, I had GH5 S's, uh, but they were not as I would say close relationship because you know I had GH4 for years, and I was like, uh uh, you know, because it was the first 4K camera. I bought it as soon as it came out, I think it was 14 or 10.

Alex Minor 55:55

And I shot with the GH4 a little bit because a friend of mine that I did some work with, he had the GH4, so he would so he would throw that in to give us an extra angle when I was.

Vipul Bindra 56:04

And that was my first camera where I was shooting log. So the Vlog was where I learned how to color grade and do all that. So anyway, it had a nostalgic factor. Obviously, it's been long sold, uh, so then now getting those back. So I say I I like Lumix cameras, I have nothing against them. Like I said, they're now starting to make good cameras again. But at the end day, like I said, the way I tell people look, there's a gearhead side of me that wants to buy it all and enjoy it all. But the real thing is as a business owner, if you want to make a career, that's not the same thing as I want to do this as a hobby. And as a career, to start out with, all you need is an FX30, and even that is a really good upgrade compared to what used to be. You can make good images from it, uh, or maybe an FX3 if you do have a higher budget, but that's about it. And then as you upgrade, you can obviously get an FX6, so used FX9, you can get uh other brands if you really like black magic or whatever. I mean, you can buy literally whatever camera that you want. Technically, I mean GH5 or CS6 have making money with especially with reels. Yeah, I don't think a client would care if you're especially on the code.

Alex Minor 57:10

Oh, and actually shooting reels with a GH5 is clutch because you can do the open gate, and that makes shooting vertical content easier.

Vipul Bindra 57:18

Exactly. And uh that's one thing I like about Lumix. So they do let you do open gate, uh, so you can, you know, very easily make reels at the same time you're doing horizontal content. So again, just buy and start is I think the the right m message that we're sending, right? I don't think the gear matters. It does matter as well.

Alex Minor 57:37

Gear matters when it starts getting in the way.

Vipul Bindra 57:40

Yeah.

Alex Minor 57:40

That's what I say to people. Like, the gear doesn't matter until it starts getting in the way of you being able to do what you want to do. If the gear is limiting you or preventing you from being able to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish, then it's time to upgrade. But until then, you don't need to go nowhere.

Vipul Bindra 57:56

Exactly. And then when you are doing those high budget projects, uh, you know, I personally would say whether it's directly, because sometimes, you know, like, and we can go, we talked about this last time, but you know, you can go in your invoice and put the price for the gear. The other way is build it in. Either way, the prices are there, yeah, and you should just charge for the rental cost and you'll make your money back because the truth is that is your cost. You have a labor cost and you have an equipment cost, and the clients over the time are paying for that. Uh, and uh, you know, you shouldn't be paying for that. And uh and the advantage they get is they don't have to buy thousands of dollars of equipment, you can spread it out over years with all your clients. So uh point is yes, charge for your gear, whether that's renting from somebody else or buying it yourself and then paying yourself a rental rate. Um, gear should be treated as an investment, I think, not as a as a uh I don't know, as just a desire thing. If I only have this, I can make this or whatever. Yeah.

Alex Minor 58:54

Yeah, definitely there should be uh gears. You should be thinking about that in your pricing structure somehow.

Vipul Bindra 59:01

Yeah, because uh to be honest, like if you, for example, needed FX6s, like you said, you know Quinton, or you know me, like I would happily rent to you. I know you that I'm like my gear is taken care of. Why would I care? And and if it makes way more financial sense than go punking six grand plus thousand bucks to stay in accessories or whatever to to rig it up when if you only need it for one day, I'm saying. Exactly. And that's only two would be like you said, if somebody calls you and says, hey, we need an FX six. Otherwise, it doesn't even matter about that. You could probably just use your FX 30s. So yeah, that's definitely the smart way to run the business.

Alex Minor 59:36

Sir.

Vipul Bindra 59:37

All right, what are we gonna talk about next?

Alex Minor 59:39

I don't know, man. I mean, we could I mean if you want to keep going, we can keep going.

Vipul Bindra 59:44

We just got started. Um, so let's talk about the gig that you're gonna come help out. So I was so excited. So I really uh so I'm shooting this project, and uh, you know, I I told the client, like you said, I I always underpromise and overdeliver. So I told them that uh um I'm gonna have um you know three people. So that's including me, and that's all we need because technically the requirements is we're gonna do b-roll and interviews. Okay. But then you know how I am. If my clients take care of me, I take care of them, and I'm like, hey, it's local, it sounds like a fun project. So how can I now take you to the next level? I was like, oh, we have actually I can bring a better crew and then we can go Cineglass, or oh, we can go uh we can go, you know, bigger key, we can put an eight by eight, and I got the 1200X. Are we gonna do an 8x8? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. There you go. And then uh, but we're gonna do the the quicker version that I saw I did in Chicago where we basically so you know the ideal way would be two frames, right? And you bounce the one and you you push through one, but obviously we're not gonna go that deep. So the way I'm we're probably gonna do is one eight by eight, 45 degrees, but with the magic cloth just hanging. So ultra bounce on it. So you know, we bounce the light from the bottom to ultra bounce, so kind of like a book light, yeah. It goes through magic cloth, and I think it'll just be so nice and uh and creamy, and but it's faster, and put it on veal stand so we can because we're not gonna keep setting it over and over again. We can just wheel it around, makes it faster for us. You know, those are the advantages of having talented people and a crew there is I was already gonna do it, but I would normally do it like with this, like a 600x with a dome and a couple of cameras and sticks. But the advantage of having uh talented people like you, Mario or Manual, there's like, oh, let's take it up a notch, let's put an eight by eight there. And then what else can we do? Oh, well, because I don't want to overdo it either. So I'm like, I'm not gonna put a Dana Dolly, but I was like, oh, we could put Cineglass on it, you know, and uh uh especially since the R's I have them, I don't have a rental cost now anymore. Because used to, I didn't like to own Cineglass, I always rented it, but then added a cost, which is why I decided to add them to the arsenal. Where it's like I don't have a budget to get something really fancy like signature primes, but I also don't want to use photoglass. So I think those would be perfect. Throw those glasses on there, and then it just takes it up a notch a little bit, right? So again, point is how do we take a normal shoot, make it up a notch without overdoing it, where we enhance because the stuff they've shown me uh that reference videos again. I'm like, oh, okay, this is what you want to do. And then I was realistic with them. I was like, we can get here, not here, because this is your budget, this is their budget, right? But I'll try to get you close to it. And you know, I take care of my clients, so uh, I think that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna essentially use that, probably put HBM on it, Hollywood Black Magic Filter 18 just to take the edge off. I think it'd be a really fun shoot, and then try to again. Uh, you've been there, you've been to the factory. Do you remember the live streaming that we did? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a fun gig. Yeah, so there you go. So you remember, so uh so idea would be ID-again, I don't know how it's gonna work, you know, corporate gigs. There's very little planning. Uh, but ideally, we should move a little bit so every scene looks slightly different in you. Uh, and that would be really cool if the background's different. If we have to, I mean, easier on us if they're like, no, you gotta move faster, then it'll just be the same setup every time. But ideally, everything should be on veals. We literally just move it a little bit here, bam, it's a new setup, and it looks you know different. And I think uh it'll just add to the value. And then the rest is this B-roll. So I'm just like I said, exciting.

Alex Minor 1:03:11

How many people are we inter interviewing?

Vipul Bindra 1:03:13

Uh, five or six. Okay. Yeah. So but they're all engineers, so it's gonna be fun to get content out of them. Because you know, engineers are not really the camera type of guys, so uh so we're gonna have to work our talent to make them comfortable and uh get the most out of them, and then there's some scripted content, but that should be easy because the CEO is very camera friendly, so he should be able to read off a teleprompter. Um, so yeah, I think the mainly reason I wanted you there is um A, because you're fun to be around, and B, I was like, we can use your talents uh in terms of manual focus and also just B-roll, man. Like putting a couple of these FX3s on a gimbal. I'll grab the uh me or Mario will grab the Ronin 8K, you know, that'll be fun for moving shots. I think uh I think we'll be good. We'll we'll have a good time. Um, so yeah, I'm glad it worked out though.

Alex Minor 1:04:04

Yeah, it was it's and actually it's really good timing that is tomorrow because on because yeah, today's Monday. So on Wednesday, I'm flying out of town. And so it was like it's like, hey, this day it falls perfectly in.

Vipul Bindra 1:04:17

Yeah, and I was like, literally, when I was thinking, I was like, who can I add? And I was like, Oh, I gotta add Alex. And then I was like, is he gonna be free? It's like he's probably busy. I was like, I know you told me this last time. You're like, dude, message me no no matter what. And I was like, you know what? I am gonna message him. I I you know, uh worst case, you just say no. Yeah, so I messaged you. I was literally on a shoot, and you were like, I'm free. I'm like, okay, as soon as I get out of this shoot, I'm calling him. I was like, I am you know, uh, sure, you know, the budget obviously doesn't have actually how many is it? So me, Julie, Emmanuel, Mario, Andrew, and you. So it's six of us. So I've doubled the crew. So I'm pushing myself a little thin, but I do think it's worth it to have all of us there. A, talk about Dream Team.

Alex Minor 1:05:00

And then two, I think we can Oh, it's a good thing Andrew's gonna be there too, because I I need to ask him for the the project I got covered. He edited it last year. Okay, and so I need to ask him if he could edit it again this year.

Vipul Bindra 1:05:10

Look at that. You can ask him tomorrow, he will be there. So, and I I like working with Andrew too. He's such a such a nice guy, and obviously.

Alex Minor 1:05:17

Oh, and he sh and he was that last year, was that the year before? It was the year before last. He he helped shoot a project year before last that yeah. We shot this, we shot a video for uh this grief camp for kids, and he came out and he was he was part of the crew, helped shoot B-rolling interviews for that, and it was a good project.

Vipul Bindra 1:05:36

Yeah, no, he's a he's a great guy. So I think all everyone is so I think it's uh that's what I was trying to do. I was just you know, as a producer element, obviously tomorrow I'll be more director element, but today or before when I was booking you guys, I was just a producer element. I was like, okay, client duty fulfilled. Uh I'm there, Julie's there, Mark's there. I was like, okay, legal obligation fulfilled, but now how do I actually make this? You know, how do I help all of us? Take you to the next level, and I was like, Oh, well, I gotta add these people, I gotta add this people, I gotta add these people, and then ultimately, uh, you know, now I'm happy as a producer. I'm like, okay, we got a really good team there, yeah. But now, how do I effectively use you? I don't want that many people there just standing around. So I'm like, we're gonna have to be really yeah, you gotta have useful people, not just not just bodies, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I was like, plus, uh, I feel like people who know what they're doing is even worse. I was like, it's one thing if I bring a PA who's like, okay, I set up a stand now, I'm free. It's one thing for them to stand there as a body, but I'm like, I really don't want to have you or Andrew or Manuel like be there, or even Mario, Mario there, like you guys are just standing here, like, okay, what do we do now? So hopefully we're gonna be more efficient with our time. And I was hoping, I don't know that yet. Like I said, this is where the the you know how carpet world works. This is not a fully pre-produced thing. We have, I mean, idea of what we're doing, but we're gonna roll with the punches. But I would really love to split us in teams. Okay. So once we like set up the interview, then you know, here you go, you guys go B-roll, and you know, you guys go do another B-roll segment while we do interviews. Because once it's set up, all we need is like because Julie's gonna ask the questions or make sure the script is done, you know, or she has whatever she needs for post. And then so and uh I can kind of direct roll around, and then we just need two people here, two people there. Well, yeah, actually, we can't have three teams because it's six of us, right? So two, three, four, five, six. So yeah, it'll be two teams. So two of two b-roll, four here on the interview set, and I think that may be the more easy way where like go get B-roll. Well, and I don't know who I put how we divide it. We can figure that out tomorrow.

Alex Minor 1:07:40

But I think it's just and that's the thing with the people you got, like, we're all capable shooters, we all we we can do different things.

Why We Bought The Ronin 8K

Vipul Bindra 1:07:46

Yeah, exactly. It looks like the cameras we're using are very familiar. The only odd one out is the Ronin, but I I got that, like I said. Uh, and it's again, it's just an extra edition, anyways. It's not like that big of a uh what made you buy the Ronin? So, oh my goodness, that's a whole tangent. Basically, I I've told this story before, but people like this, hopefully. So let's talk about it again. Basically, I was wanting a Burano. I basically okay, so I have two FX6 and two FX3s, they work great. Like I said, I have two FX30s, they don't work that well because they are not used, so I was like, they need to go. So if I'm getting rid of those, what do I add or what do I remove? Where does Bindra go next? And I was like, so I'm really good for most corporate and commercial work. I've did dial down for interviews, I've got dialed down for B-roll, and that's what we use. I was like, I basically want to be able to do more for the middle level clients. So I have high-end clients, but and then I rent the Lexus for them, right? And um then I do these regular corporate jobs. I was like, there's nothing middle ground. Like, if you know, they're like, hey, we have decent budget, but it's not like high-end budget. Uh so that's where it, like I said, came down to um, you know, I was thinking about adding a Burano because it's in the same family, it's a better image, it works, you know, really nice, you know, and Sony, so I can still use my e-glass, I can also use PL mount. Point is that's where my brain was. And so the Chicago project came, and then we decided to use a Burano as the ACAM and three FX3s and one FX, uh, so three FX6s and one FX3. And uh, so we were gonna rent a Burano, and I was like, that's great, I get to play with it. And then the same thing with lenses, we're gonna rent them. But I decided just go and make the leap on the lenses, so I bought the lenses. Uh, because I was like, Yeah, this these are really nice high-quality lenses per what you're getting. Because I think the whole set is like 10 grand for five of those lenses. So it's really good for what it is. Uh, and uh then I was like, okay, now camera, and so I rented it. We turned the cameras on, and all of us had the same reaction. We were like, they look the same. Like there's four angles, and the Burano and the FX6, rather, because of the angle, because you know, Burano is more obviously a wider angle meant to be cropped because it's 8K. The other thing kind of looked nicer because they were done perfectly because we don't want to have, you know, we want to do it perfectly. There's not that much cropping room. Point is even the director, my friend Zay, he's looking at it. You know, we're looking at, we're like, this is not that much better. Uh so essentially that kind of made me go back to the other option. I was like, so uh that I was like, okay, I want Silverano because it still makes sense. I'm saying the lineup, but it really wasn't worth 4x better if that, you know what I mean? I would say it's 1.2x better, it's slightly better, and you do get more resolution to crop in, but it's I'm not joking. And now we didn't put it under, like I said, outside environment and uncontrolled lighting. I'm sure there'll be bigger differences, but right the way we used it, I genuinely was like, and I'll rent it a couple more times, you know, figure out. Point is I was just like unimpressed a little bit. I was like, it's better, but it's not that much better. Okay, so I was like, okay, this doesn't make sense right now as a company, you know, again, investment-wise to put 25k down. I don't know if I'll be able to recoup that. And then the other thing I've been thinking about is a roaning 6k, but then I read more on it, and then even because it's very affordable, it's 5k for the whole package. I was like, that's not bad. Uh uh, and then because I want those walk-in talks to not have like Z bounce or whatever, or tracking shots. And uh, but the people said it had Moira issues, the sensor wasn't the best. Uh, you know, it was a slow sensor. Long shit, people said get the 8k, but it's double the price, it goes to 10k, and then you have to add accessories, so it like becomes 14k. So it just as a business, I had to decide. I was like, so it took me a bit, I'm saying that it wasn't made like the next day, like let's get the roan in. But that's basically where my brain was. I wanted two problems solved, right? The problem was how do we add a mid-tier element where we can offer something elevated to our clients, and then how do we solve those uh tracking shots and make you know, because gimbal's fine with an FX3, but you know, it does it doesn't have that dolly move where I have essentially where we want to do a dolly move, but we don't have time and budget to set up the Dana Dolly, if that makes sense. That's basically where where I see the Ronin fitting in. Okay, or or like we're doing a car shoot, and we're like, how do we quickly make a b-roll of tracking this? So you select the car, you move around it, and the shot is done with the Ronin. Versus, can you do it with the other way? We'll need circular track, you know, time to set that up. And on a bigger budget, we'll still do that. But you know, mid-tier again projects, you gotta just move fast. Yeah, so it was just a lot of money, but I did plunk it down. We'll see how I'll I can't wait to see what you think of it tomorrow when we use it. Uh, but like I said, so far that's where I'm at. It just made sense. It was an investment. I should be able to recoup it back because I do do enough walk and talks or active B-roll where I can I can definitely use the tracking things. Uh, Mario, you've used the camera. What do you think about it?

Mario Rangel 1:12:45

The running? Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, for now, we haven't uh used it in a real production, but uh at least for now we've been trying the tracking all the different uh um f full uh following like I I like for example that we have we have used it in the production.

Vipul Bindra 1:13:04

Remember the event that you did? It was a 6k, it was an 8k obviously with an older version.

Mario Rangel 1:13:09

Well, not not us personally, but yeah, Anthony brought his own. Uh for now, I I think it's a versatile camera, like we can do different types of shots. Um but for uh but let's see how it goes tomorrow, yeah, for sure.

Vipul Bindra 1:13:25

Yeah, excited. Like I said, we'll try it. And you're obviously welcome to play with it if you want to. It's like the chicken camera. It's the only negative I found to be honest, was funny enough to talk about tangents. I sold my easy rig a year or two ago. I had like um an easy rig because you know, I was using it in my GH4. I used to do manual focus and GH5S. One is then when I got to C200s and FX6F, I was like, I don't need an easy, these cameras are already so light and small. So I get rid of it, and then I switched to SAC, which is like uh, you know, like one of those Cine saddles. Okay. So it's and if I'm like if I ever need to go handheld, I can just put it on there and it's so light because it's beanbag, essentially, right? So and so that's where I was as a company, and then now I bought the Ron in 8K. First thing I left, I was like, wow, this is very smooth. And I was like, five minutes later, I was like, oh yeah, this is tiring. This is kind of you would think it's like not bigger than anything. Yeah, and and I don't even have a heavy lens on it. And I was like, this thing is it it has it's it has got heft to it. So essentially, I think an easy rig would or easy rig would be a perfect combination with it. So I am looking into an easy rig option for future. I think that would be the main thing I need to reacquire. Outside of that, like I said, I'm not too much into acquiring more gear as of right now. I'm happy where we are, we already have enough gear.

Alex Minor 1:14:45

That's and and and that's an interesting place to be in, um I think for myself as well, because I haven't really since I bought my what's the light uh see, it's been so long since I've been buying gear that I can't even remember the names of companies anymore. Um since I bought my 700 watt light, what is it?

Vipul Bindra 1:15:12

The Nanlux, Nan Light. Yeah, the NAN Light.

Alex Minor 1:15:15

Since I bought my my NAN Light, I don't think I've bought a light.

Vipul Bindra 1:15:21

Yeah, that's more than enough for most corporate things, yeah.

Alex Minor 1:15:23

Yeah, and and like the and so like I'm in an interesting place because as somebody who is a self-admitted gear gear head who did used to do YouTube and do gear reviews all the time. That that was what I built my channel on, was like gear reviews and things like that. Um it's interesting to be in a place where I'm like, I don't really need to buy anything to to like get the job done. Like I have no I have no serious gear desires. Now, is there gear I want? Yeah, I want I want that uh 17 to 40 just because like that's great. And I want and I want one of the 35 to 150. If I have the 17 to 40 and 35 to 150, I really don't need any of my other lenses. Um I I want those two lenses just so I can get rid of all the other lenses or stop carrying them around. And then I want I want at least one more high-powered light just so that I another 700 or 500 or 600, something in that range, just so I have another light for those situations where you really need it. Like you're filming up against windows, you need to fight the sun, or you need, you know, you're doing an eight by eight and you need some extra push through it, and the 700 by itself just isn't enough. Like so those type of situations.

Vipul Bindra 1:16:43

Yeah, and and that's why how you should acquire gear. You should look at um, you know, what's necessary in your workflow and if you're gonna use it enough. Because the other thing is so is if you're gonna use it one time, then it's not a good purchase. But if you're gonna use it over and over again, then it makes sense to just buy it.

Alex Minor 1:16:59

Yeah, I'm I mean, truthfully, I'm probably not gonna use it enough because like I'm not because I'm not doing this every day in and out right now. Like, eventually, if I get back to doing video production as the main thing, I probably will be sitting there like, you should have bought that fucking Alex. You should have you should have bought it when it was on sale. You saw it, the price was down, you should have bought it.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:20

Hey, I mean, the price the sales will always go on. There's always a Black Friday, there's always a made-up prime day.

Alex Minor 1:17:26

I haven't bought gear on Black Friday in like three years. It's so sad.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:31

Yeah, that is one thing though. Yeah, it is smart to wait. And if you can, obviously wait. Sometimes I get it. There's a project you need something. Like I had to buy an arm recently, and I was just like, I wish I could wait for a sale. I had to pay full price, but I needed it, and I needed it rather from Amazon. I couldn't even call my dealers up in one of these video stores because you know they can give me some discount. But no, I had I was like, no, if I need it today or tomorrow, I have to order Amazon and I am gonna pay full price for it. It is just the nature of um needing things on time.

Alex Minor 1:18:04

Well, I've just I just haven't bought from Black Friday in like three years because I haven't really needed to. Like before, it was like, okay, I really need to make this upgrade because I know I'm gonna run into a situation where I need this, and if I don't do it on Black Friday, I'm not gonna be able to. I'm there's no way I'm gonna be able to afford this thing, so let's pull the trigger now. And and I'm like I said, I'm just in a space where I've got most of the gear I need to do most of the work that I get, and I don't really need to buy gear. Like ever anything that I buy right now, other than another five, six, seven hundred watt light, is really extra.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:40

No, that's actually very smart, you know, be very uh proactive with the saving money because as we've seen this year, it's been like all the time.

Alex Minor 1:18:49

I do need to buy more memory cards. I will say that. I need I need some more memory cards for my cameras because I've got like a couple of the high-speed Sony memory cards, which oh my god, those make data transfers so much better.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:03

Yeah.

Alex Minor 1:19:04

Um, but other than the like, yeah, so I've only got a couple of those. I've only got like two or three of those, so I'd really like to have some backups. Uh just because like I have regular memory cards, but I want the high speed ones because they make offloading the data so much faster. Uh so yeah, that that's the only like real need that I have, just to make sure I have extras of those.

Network Effects And Local Crew Economy

Vipul Bindra 1:19:24

No, the having good memory cards is very important, but like I was saying, gear is not where you know you people should fixate on the whole thing is if you need it, hopefully you can wait till Black Friday, get a good deal. But if not, obviously just buy it. If a client's paying for it, that's a completely different thing. You don't need it for a project. And that's what I'm saying. The entire point of what we're doing here is a just entertainment. Let's be real. You know, that's all it is. But if somebody does want any value out of it, that's all I would say. Just do not fixate on gear. If you need a gear, then just rent it or hire someone who has that gear.

Alex Minor 1:20:02

Definitely rent before you buy it, because renting, and and here's the thing like if you've if you've never rented stuff before, you might think that renting is really expensive. It's really not. Like to to get something for like three days or five days or even a week, usually it's really not that expensive. And if, and especially if you can do it where maybe you're renting it for a project, but then you can also the price is low enough that you can play with it for another couple of days and maybe shoot a spec project or just even some YouTube stuff, like some something personal, so just so that you get a better feel for it, like do that before you go out and drop thousands of dollars on something.

Vipul Bindra 1:20:43

Yeah, and most places will let you rent a light for a week by only paying for three or four days, so you don't actually pay the seven-day raid. Also, even if you rent it for a day, let's say you have a project tomorrow, you're usually allowed to pick during the evenings a little bit earlier the day before for free and return the next early morning for free. So, what I'm saying is you can actually play with it before you go on your shoot and not only use it for shoot, but also learn from it that um uh you know it's the right thing for you. And the other thing for me is that's just a share grid way of doing it. If I know somebody personally, I'll rent them directly, and then I don't even care about those rules. You know, I've had that happen. My friend's like, yeah, I need it for a day, but then I'll give them a whole day even before early because I'm like, I'm busy on a shoot, like you could come pick it up now. Yeah, so I'm like, I don't know if they're using it for two days, and I don't care honestly. I'm just helping a friend out. Uh so and that could be another way, you know, find people again.

Alex Minor 1:21:37

I feel like we say the same thing build a network, get to meet other people, and then you can just ask the it's so valuable to and I think it's understated because a lot of us are in our silos trying just trying to survive and trying to build our businesses. It's the the value that you can get from having a network is just insane. Because like Venge's Vendress taking me on a job tomorrow. Vendress hired Quentin, Vengers hired me, he's hired other people from the group that we got going. Um, and uh Adam, you Adam's hired you, you've hired Adam, I've hired Adam because he's because he's a drone pilot and he has a good drone, like, you know, and so just the value of the not just the knowledge that you can get, but the work opportunities that you can get, and even just the the opportunity to make good friends is people who think like or at least have similar interests.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:35

I think that's such a key thing, you know, because what we do, like you said, it and it doesn't have to be just gear, but you know, we are so interested in the technical of what we do and the creative of what we do, and like I said, the conversations that we have are so interesting. But can you imagine uh you know not being surrounded by people like that? I feel like it just makes your life boring because yeah, yeah. Most regular people don't want to talk about business and video and all this camera.

Alex Minor 1:23:02

Or most people just don't know anything about this world. So so even if you try to have a conversation with them, it's kind of alien to them.

Vipul Bindra 1:23:08

Exactly. So you can make such good friends because don't take it to your family, because you know, yeah, my family's just like nothing. We don't want to hear anything about cameras. So it's good to have friends, you know, that you can actually have these talks or their discussions with, um, and uh, you know, just talk strategy with even or like you said, hire each other, rent gear from each other. Um, I don't know. I think that that's the collaborative part of what we do, right?

Alex Minor 1:23:31

Yeah, and like even when I first met, when I first met Ben, when I first met Quentin, like part of what I was trying to do is put them up on game. Like, cause because uh I mean it's amazing to see Ben at where he's at now, cuz he was the guy shooting $500 music videos when I met him, and he's looking at me like I was a big dog, and I'm like, I ain't doing nothing, bro. Like, I'm just trying to to get a dollar out here. But I already had some business clients that was doing the kind of stuff he was trying to move into. So when he worked with me or when we talked, I just open book like learn as much as you can. And now, I mean, you know, he's doing his thing, man.

Vipul Bindra 1:24:13

I mean, a lot of opportunities. I'll let him tell, you know, what I don't want to, you know, air out what he's doing, but he's he's doing a lot of cool stuff, and uh he's created a lot of opportunity for himself, and like I said, I really love the value, just like you said, you were open to him last year. I loved how he was out here on the podcast and he opened up about quite literally how to promote your business through Instagram, to ads, or whatever. And I like people like that, you know, like you said, you it's passive forward, right? Uh, and and being able to tell people like, hey, if you if you want to do this, again, it's optional, not everyone has to run ads. But then I was like, hey, here you go. This is how I'm doing it, I'm in, this is how I'm doing it, this is how I break it down, this is how I run a meeting, this is how I charge. I'm like, I don't know how more clear cut can it be that he gave his entire formula on a podcast, and um, and yeah, and and like I said, he uh and and he's actually doing that, and he's killing it by doing that. And uh, but like you said, it came from uh I'm pretty sure a lot of from you because you guys work together. He was able to gain some from you, and I'm sure some from other places and other coaches, and that's how you uh can advance in your career, and that's not a negative thing, because you know, um, I like helping people, and I'm sure you do too. It's it's part of what we do.

Alex Minor 1:25:29

It's yeah, I think mentorship is is very underrated in our business, especially like the corporate independent aspect of our business. Like in the more traditional filmmaking sense, it's it's it's kind of I'm not gonna say like or well, maybe an internship culture, uh, as opposed to like an apprenticeship or mentorship culture, but it's very it is kind of expected that you come in at the bottom and learn and work your way up.

AI Video Ads And What Comes Next

Vipul Bindra 1:26:00

It kind of feels like um you just kind of appear, and either you've got a business or you don't, and you either do good or not, and that's simply because you know how to solve a problem, right? Usually uh there's two ways to make money doing corporate and commercial video production. One, like I said, my favorite is uh the other side of it that you talked about earlier, is AV or freelancing, where you don't have to have zero investment, just invest in your skills, your soft skills, and networking. Literally no need to own a camera. I mean, it's nice if you own one to practice, but I'm saying you don't need to own it, and you just go out and work and uh you make day rates from AV jobs or freelance jobs, and that's one section of the career, and then the other is like completely, you know, more I would say um in tune or more time consuming, but can have bigger results, which is now you can start uh building your production company, you can start doing commercials, you can really take it as you want, because you know, sky's the limit, Super Bowl commercials are a thing for now at least. I mean, I don't know how much AI is gonna replace those. Did you see the VO3 Super Bowl commercial that was released? Uh it was, I mean, to me it's garbage, but it's attention-seeking garbage, so I see why it would work.

Alex Minor 1:27:16

And I mean, I'm seeing a lot more AI video these days, especially like YouTubers are getting crazy with the AI these days, um, and all sorts of verticals that you wouldn't even think would want to use AI and their stuff. Like, I'm just seeing it more and more even when it comes to like, and I don't know how time consuming this is, like, I think I wouldn't want to invest the time that's necessary. They probably got editors. Uh, but yeah, like generating tons and tons of AI clips just even just for shorts. Yeah. And it's like, bruh. But I mean, they're getting really good. They're getting they're getting good so scary fast. Because if you think about like one of the the examples that gets used a lot when talking about AI video. Video is like that. Will Smith even played a spaghetti uh AI video that looked like abstract art. And now when they do a clip of Will Smith, it looks like halfway decent.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:12

Yeah. So, and then watch, give it a few more years, like look where it is. Uh so yeah, for now the commercial market still exists, but I don't know how long. The problem with commercial uh versus corporate. See, corporate I don't see going anywhere because you're promoting a specific business. I don't know how AI replaces that.

Alex Minor 1:28:29

What I think is gonna happen is, and what I've actually seen in practice is more AI being not necessarily TV commercial, but we all know there's a lot of online advertising, ad placement, stuff. That's where I think the AI is really gonna get crazy, and it's gonna it's gonna start a lot of agencies where it's one or two people, you know, sitting in their pajama pants doing Zoom meetings and landing clients, and they don't have no camera crews because they do every everything that they do for their clients is AI. But it and and that's gonna be, I think, where a lot of the advertising for small businesses on social media and on YouTube and on um, you know, just these online portals uh goes to because it's gonna bring the production costs way down. But when you when they crack the code and they know the formulas and how to generate the AI clips and use them to get results for those clients, they're gonna pay the money.

Vipul Bindra 1:29:36

Yeah. And and like you said, um at least in corporate, we're trying to tell stories, but in advertising, especially social media advertising, it's just all about attention. And AI can do that. Because AI can do crazy stupid stuff, and that's what attack grabs attention. So I think that's where I do see it being introduced a lot, and it already is, where you do something attention seeking through AI, you know.

Alex Minor 1:29:59

But even some but like I I've seen some AI ads where you can clearly tell well, we can tell clearly that it's an AI ad, but it's like AI UGC content.

Vipul Bindra 1:30:14

Yeah.

Alex Minor 1:30:15

Which is which is crazy. Like, you don't even want to go get the actual creator to do UGC for you. You want to get AI masquerading as UGC, and it's like it's like, oh my god, yeah, that it's getting crazy, and uh, I don't know how obviously it's gonna change, but it's definitely getting more prevalent.

Vipul Bindra 1:30:33

And I think there's so much AI slop everywhere on the internet right now, but you never know in a few years you we may not even be able to tell that it's AI slop.

Alex Minor 1:30:42

Yeah, right now it's easy to tell the AI content because there's like I've noticed there's there's a quality to even the good AI content, there's there's a way that it renders the video where it's like I think it's too polished. So there's there's like a polish on it because it's AI generated, where I don't know, you got you've got to notice it to be able to you just gotta learn what it looks like.

Vipul Bindra 1:31:14

I don't know, nails, buttons, you know, I don't know, looking details.

Alex Minor 1:31:18

But even when even when there's no glaring mistakes, there's just like for some reason, there's kind of like a shine or a colish to the image that AI puts on it, whereas somebody who shoots video and knows what it looks like, that's not I see it, I see it, and I instantly know, oh, this is an AI clip where somebody else might question it for a minute.

Vipul Bindra 1:31:40

No, I I get your point, yeah. Exactly. And that's what I'm saying. Can you imagine a time, Alex, though? Uh in a few years where you're not gonna be able to tell. It's gonna get there. Are you gonna care then if AI made it or not? If you can't tell?

Alex Minor 1:31:52

I'm gonna care that they didn't pay me to make it. So you're gonna fight the computer, call it out, you know, be like, uh, nah, I'm not gonna Nah, I'm probably gonna try to get better at writing prompts and and try to find clients where I can be sitting in my pajama pants and type some prompts and create a commercial in a couple hours and be like, here you go.

Vipul Bindra 1:32:15

Exactly. No, you're right. And but I feel like at what point do regular and I know normal humans don't care if it's AI or human-made or whatever, they just want their attention, you know. But I'm like, at what point, because currently, you know, AI swap is integrated into human-made content, but at what point do actual humans, like regular humans, everyday humans, to go, nah, I'm kind of done because it's all just AI. Like, I'm just looking at humans.

Alex Minor 1:32:42

Oh, like they'll get there too. There's gonna be backlash. I mean, I feel like there's already backlash, like there there's all I think there's already backlash to like chat GPT content and AI generated pictures and things like that, to a to a degree. Like, like you said, the average person on the street, they don't care enough. But people who s like for instance, people in business circles, people in marketing, uh even just business owners or people who are operating businesses and people in circles like that. I think there is some pushback now just because people are so crazy to use AI, and like you said, there's a lot of slop, uh sloppiness, or just plain up, plain straight up bad content being generated that way. That when people see it, like sometimes there's a hair trigger reaction, like, oh my god, it's AI.

Vipul Bindra 1:33:39

Yeah, it's just garbage, yeah.

Alex Minor 1:33:41

Yeah, but even if it's good, sometimes it just might be just because it's AI, you're like, oh, I don't want to see any more AI content.

Vipul Bindra 1:33:47

And then the thing I think see is, and again, this is where I uh see, because as a normal person, like I see my mom, you know, I'm seeing people who have zero interest in video production, they like a video because it's like, oh, look at that cute cat, or oh, look at that uh, you know, person, what did they do here? Or, you know, that this is something stupid or whatever, right? It's the the entertainment value is another human doing something silly or something cute. But when you realize, and I'm not saying now, but I'm saying in a few years, that everything now you're consuming is just made by computer. That's not a real cat, that's not a real person, that's not a real news or whatever, whatever. At that point, I think even a regular person is gonna be like, why am I watching this? None of this is legit, it's not like a real cute cat video. It's just a computer wants you to to watch that because it thought in the past it was cute, you know. So uh I feel like that's when you'll see more people wanna kind of go, okay, let's let's get more human content back in, right?

Alex Minor 1:34:44

Because that's what and I think human content's always gonna be the differentiating factor because I mean computers as in as you know artificially intelligent as they've gotten, as sophisticated as the algorithms have gotten, as much as AI has evolved in just the past couple of years, there's still something about human creativity that it hasn't been able to replicate. And I think that will always shine through. That's always gonna be a differentiator. Um which is why I mean part of the reason why AI has advanced is because humans have gotten better at prompt engineering and better at bec coming up with creative ways to leverage AI and whatever it is that they're doing.

Vipul Bindra 1:35:34

I mean, yeah, and you have to be. The thing is, and then people learn this quickly, obviously. Now it's a lot of people who use AI every day know this. But initially, when Chad GPD came out, it took you, it was very quick for people to realize that hey, if I just ask a basic question, it doesn't mean the answer is gonna be what I want it. You have to uh understand how to prompt it to get the the the answer that you're looking for, whatever the result you're looking for. So, yes, it reduces a lot of work, but you also have to relearn how to ask it something to get the result that you need. And uh, and and obviously a lot of people have figured out, like I figured out how I want it to respond, what I have to say for it to respond the way I want it to respond. And uh and it saves me a ton of time. Uh, but that's also a new skill that people are gonna have to learn because it's not like you can just, and maybe eventually it'll be like that, but you can't right now just go and straight up ask a question and expect to get the most polished best answer until you prompt it properly.

Alex Minor 1:36:31

I mean, I think there's gonna come a point where like in marketing departments or even in, I mean, all sorts of departments where like prompt engineering is going to become a paid position. It's going to be a thing where it's like, yeah, AI is an important part of our workflow, it's part of our system. So we have to hire a prompt engineer, and you're gonna have to have a proof, I don't know how you're gonna have a proven track record of being a great prompt engineer. Like they're gonna come up with something. Show them your AI paid. It's gonna become a it's gonna become a thing. It's gonna become a thing where like you are going to be hired to be an AI prompt engineer. And but that's part of what I mean by like you can't escape needing the human element because even to get the most out of AI, you need a human.

How To Win With Chamber Relationships

Vipul Bindra 1:37:13

Yeah, you definitely do. And that's that's why I'm like, this is I I'm excited to be honest. I know a lot of people get worried. I'm saying I'm excited to see where things go. I do feel the positivity of it because so far, uh all it's done is just made my job easier. It's not really done anything negative, you know, because my clients ask about AI tools, and I'm like, yeah, we're absolutely using it. I because they're like, hey, what about these AI tools? I'm like, no, no, we're already using them, they're gonna be on top. Like, if you send me a script, I'm running it through AI to make sure it's like perfect, you know, and then I'm double checking it through AI for you know, proofread or whatever errors or whatever. Um, and uh so same thing for my emails. Not that I I don't like to just generate email, that's why I use it more for it to refine what I type, but I'm using it on every email to refine what I type to make it make me not sound dumb. You know what I mean? So I what I and then 11 labs and you know, art lists with their AI voiceovers, we are already on top of using AI tools. So I feel like so far, so far at least, all it's done is added more value to what I do for my clients. Because they don't have to go pay for all these AI tools. I am, and I'm already using them on the projects. It's not like I went and charged, started charging an AI charge, you know. Like rather, I found that it made it things easy for me. Some things actually reduce costs because now I don't have to go. Uh we still need sometimes real voice actors because the voice is just there. But I'm saying for a lot of simple stuff. I've done I've done the AI voiceovers too. Me too. I a few projects where we were like, no, we're just gonna use AI voiceover because you know you can tell it tonality and all a lot of things like pacing, uh, which is okay, amazing. And uh I'm like, they get the product faster, it's also value for the clients, and it's cheaper for us and faster for us because I can generate it right there and then instead of adding days on days, and you can audition different voices and different accents and all this stuff, like until you see which fits the project, right? So that's what I'm like. I approach it from a sense of excitement uh then dread. Um, except for that the only thing I worry about is the time where if everything is just AI, at that point I'm like, how do you cut through? Because my job is like I make a video for someone, it's like it should cut through the noise, right? And make the money or whatever. I'm like, but if everything's just AI slop, how do how are we gonna cut through? But again, I think we're a few years away from that, so no need to worry about that right now. Awesome. This has been a fun conversation, my friend. Like, it's always good talking to you and uh coming up with the uh you know, talk just catching up, and uh seems like you're doing great. The chamber partnership, I think, is an excellent idea. Um, I and uh it's gonna get you a lot of things.

Alex Minor 1:39:55

More ideas for chambers. I just haven't been able to convince anybody yet.

Vipul Bindra 1:39:58

Yeah, I mean, work with the chamber. You have the thing with chamber, is you have to get more involved in the one that you're doing, and uh because you know, it's the time that you put in, it's what you get back.

Alex Minor 1:40:09

And and I'll say this about the whole chamber thing. Like it came about because I approached their marketing guy about an idea I had for using podcasts as a revenue generator for the chamber, and he didn't bite on that. But he came back later when they decided that they that content was a priority and they had this idea and they had seen you know some of my work and stuff, and and then they asked me about this project.

Vipul Bindra 1:40:37

And and look, it it went through. And I think it's really good. I think if you double down uh on the chamber, and by not only that, I still think podcast ideas really good. Uh, but you know, and that may come next, you know. But if you double down and you go to their events and you're very proactive, the chamber can also be a good revenue generator because now all these companies that you are going out and making a video for with the chamber, they know who you are and what you do.

Alex Minor 1:41:02

And that's part of why I wanted to do the chamber project when they approached me, is just because it's like I've been in the chamber for well, I I was in the chamber for a year, I took off from the chamber for a year, and then when they approached me about this project, because they didn't realize I had let my membership lapse, I had to rejoin the chamber because they can't do business with companies that aren't part of the chamber. Uh so hopefully this gets my name out in front of people in the chamber more, and you know, I can start generating some new clients from them.

Vipul Bindra 1:41:33

Yeah, no, that's actually an incredible uh thing. I I tell everyone, man. Hey, I have an episode whole with Stephen Lewis, the president of the restaurant chamber, listen to that really detailed about how to interact with the chamber, how to get the most off a chamber membership, how to work with the chamber. But you are a living example right here. You you are able to partner with them, you're able to uh, you know, get some money, you know, co-sponsor it, but then you are getting value out of it. Then on top of that, uh, every single person, like I said, business you go to is a networking opportunity in addition for you. So you help the community, you help the chamber, you help these businesses, but then you are also helping yourself. So everyone wins at the end. And that's the type of relationships I think are the best. And the chamber is a perfect partner, I think, to do that. Uh now it may not be an immediate thing for people, but I highly recommend approaching your chamber and trying to start that conversation. And it may not be like day one, you get that partnership, but it could be a year down the road or two years down the road when you can actually, you know, make that happen. Once you do, but I feel like it is it is uh gonna definitely make a difference. Because uh, you know, as a company owner, at least, especially when you're more than a freelancer, you want more eyeballs on your name and your brand, and that's like the perfect place to do it. Because guess where businesses hang out? At the Chamber of Commerce.

Alex Minor 1:42:53

Yep. Yeah, and and I'll say just be patient. Um, and that's with everything in video production as a business, you gotta be patient because I've the chamber's not the only uh relationship where it took a year plus from the initial introduction for a deal to happen. Um, you know, sometimes it's been two years, sometimes it's been three years. Like everybody's not gonna be ready to invest in video content the second you meet them. If you do, if if you do get lucky to meet somebody and they're ready to buy because they've been having this itch for a while, that's awesome. But it's not the norm.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:34

Yeah, it's not normal to, you know, and again, it it could happen. I'm saying you go to an event, like a chamber event, for example, you meet someone, you tell them what you do, and they're like, I want video. That I mean that could happen, but it's a rare. Most of the time, you have to build a relationship, you have to uh get to know these people, they have to get to know you. Don't just start there and start flinging people cards and saying, I do video, you want video, you want video. All you want to do is just go there and build a relationship. Talk to as many people as you can, uh as you can, not con. That's funny. Yeah, condom. As many people as you can. Yes, no, go there and talk to as many people as you can and have meaningful conversations, like genuinely. If there's a fake thing to do, but like genuinely just try to learn what they do.

Alex Minor 1:44:20

Yeah, learn to ask questions.

Vipul Bindra 1:44:22

And and you'll be surprised because you know, initially, when you look from the outside, I'm like, oh, there's 10 insurance people here, right? I'm like, it's all the same. But no, once you started talking to each one, you realize even though sure they're all selling you insurance products, how are they different? How they approach their business different, how do they think they're they're different than other people? And when you start to realize you you get their personality, you get how they are at their business, and then obviously their clients are working with them over the other nine listed there at that event because they're doing what they're doing, and you, as video production uh person, can help all of them because you can shine these personalities more through these videos, but you have to first line learn know about each of them, and then you have to even figure out who is more in line with what you want to tell the story, right? Because somebody could be a sleazy insurance person, and somebody would be really awesome, and and maybe you you want to promote sleazy people, I don't know, or you want to promote the night. I'm saying you have to get to know these people, right? To to want to even know how you're gonna promote them, how are you gonna help them? And that's the conversation that happens, I think, uh eventually, uh, once you get to know them. And then, you know, you can even become friends or help each other on businesses, and then you can be like, hey, you know, by the way, this is an uh something I can do for you, or a lot of times they'll approach you. They're like, Hey, so what do you do? Oh, you do that, awesome. And you know, two, three times later, maybe a few months later, uh, maybe sometimes a year later, it happens. It's like I've had clients where I've met them for years, like two, three years. No, no vote, nothing about video. Just, hey, how are you? And then all of a sudden, bam, they they move positions or they change companies, or they just change something about their brand. They're like video after video after video, and it's like you're doing so much business together. It's like crazy. You're like, you know, if if I'd quit a year two saying hi to them, that business wouldn't have happened because you never know. Because all these people are also making moves in their career, where are they gonna go? They're not gonna forget by you if you built a real genuine relationship, versus if you just say hi, then they're probably gonna forget you by the next event, you know. Yeah, showing up is important, yeah, and then being genuinely interested is important. Again, I think we've said this enough that I feel like people should know by now. Network, both within you know, uh in your uh field networking with your other professionals, but then also other people who you wanna uh sell to who are your customers or clients. Yeah. And then I think and that chamber of commerce is one way to do that, uh, for end clients, and then uh I think bus uh video production networking events is really good for our field. And I think if you do both and you learn enough through maybe YouTube university or through internship on how to improve your craft, I think that's a very versatile way to just start making a living from this.

Alex Minor 1:47:06

I mean, I'm I'm I'm a living example of it because I pretty much learned everything I know about filmmaking on YouTube, yeah, and and I found I found my I think I found my first coaching program if not through YouTube, then Facebook, which they also had content on YouTube. Um, and then also that's how I started networking was on Facebook and Instagram and and that sort of thing. So I'm gonna live an example of it. I've I've fed I've fed myself and my family at minimum since 2020 because of those things.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:43

And no, even before, because I think and I know you you're counting video production and AV differently, and I get it, but technically you've been doing, you know, video in general. I'm saying through A V for a long, long time. Oh yeah. And you've been through everything, you know, like you said, uh you passed through COVID, uh, through personal life issues, through this, and then you're still making a living doing something with video, whether it's A V or video production, and it's not like you're exclusively one, you're doing both right now.

Alex Minor 1:48:12

And that's and that's the thing that I think a lot of people um need to consider is that you don't necessarily need to be all in on one to make the money that you need to make. Sometimes it's gonna be better for you uh personally or for your mental health to not be all in on one and to have your depending on how your brain works and your personality, but it might be good to to be in different places so that you're not always locked into one and you know you kind of get a mental break from being.

Vipul Bindra 1:48:45

I had a really interesting conversation at a networking event with someone. They were like, Oh, we're private chefs. I was like, awesome, and you were there, Mario. They were like, uh, so it's a couple. They were like, Oh yeah, we're private chefs. I was like, awesome. Uh so what do you do? And they're like, you know, we make these fancy meals for executives and whatever. And I was like, that's really awesome. I know somebody now who does that. So I, you know, if I ever need a referral, whatever. Plus, I'm like tech, I you know, again, I didn't try to force video on them uh because I'm like uh, you know, first, second, third, third meeting. Uh, but I was like, that's exactly where video is perfect to showcase what you do. But anyway, and then but that would have been surface level, like had I just left it. But then I started talking and find out, like, oh yeah, by the way, I also work in a marketing agency, one of the people. I'm like, okay. And then the other person like, oh, by the way, I also do real estate. I'm like, what? And then the other guy says, Yeah, I'm also a real estate agent, I'm also a broker. And I'm like, what is that happening? And then the craziest thing, they were like, Oh, by the way, you do video production, right? Yeah, we also go on set. I was just like crafty because you know, chefs. So they're like, we do crafty, but then also we do P rolls. And I also do audio boom pole operation. I'm like, what is happening right now? What are you? I have 17 hustlers. Yeah, exactly. I'm just hustling with everyone. Everything. I'm like, but that's what I'm saying. You people can be way more versatile if you just ch chat on them on the top level. You know, sure, they have the key thing that they do, right? They're like, I do this. But a lot of times, if you dig deeper, like you said, people aren't again, and it's not, it's okay to deep dig deep into just one thing. You know, like I say, I do video production. That's all I'm doing. I'm not doing anything else. But that when you meet actual entrepreneurs, they're a lot of them are just doing so many things. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And the the variety, and then I was like, oh, why am I talking to you about video production? You get it. They're like, oh yeah, yeah, we know all about video production. So I was like, uh, yeah, so I'm not even gonna talk because I'm like trying to tell them what I do. I was like, yeah, you you understand. They're like, oh yeah, we've been on union sets and all that. I'm like, oh yeah. So I let me not tell you what I do because you already know I own a video production company that should already explain what I do. There you go. So, but you know, with regular people have to kind of explain what that means because uh like we have chamber members, but some of them like that's their side hustle. They literally go to a nine to five, come to these events, and and there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm saying I'm there, and you know, it's like not the same thing, right? They hire their services, they own let's say a few thousand dollars worth of equipment, and they're gonna come by themselves, they're gonna create them videography. And if that's the right fit, then that's great. But when I'm there, I'm not pitching that. I'm pitching them, let's build something, let's get you success, let's get you results through video. Let me figure out what your business is, let me bring the whole shebang to you, right? Uh, and and very reasonable to be honest. Not that much more because I talk to these people, I'm like, oh, that's what you're charging. Okay, that's not far off from me. So it's so much value here, but until I tell them that, they don't know you know what I'm offering, basically. Uh uh, but point is but sometimes you talk to these entrepreneurs and think they're doing 10 things at once. So it's okay, yeah. If you have uh multiple interests, it's okay to do uh you know multiple things. As long as you can pay attention to it, you can still be talented. Because it'd be one thing like you do this as a hobby, then try to start a business, you go to set, and then you forget what uh shutter angle you need to be on, or uh frame rate or whatever, and then you screw up. Be good at what you do. Exactly. Yeah, but you can do 10 things. I mean, if that's what you want to do, or two things, three things. Uh but man, this has been an incredible conversation. I love talking to you, and like I said, I could keep talking to you for longer and longer and longer.

Alex Minor 1:52:19

But we're gonna get to talk tomorrow.

Final Takeaways And Where To Find Alex

Vipul Bindra 1:52:20

I know. Exactly. I know I keep forget. Yeah, we're gonna hang out pretty much all day tomorrow, and I am so I feel lucky to have you on set. Not that we haven't worked before, we've worked so many times before, but yeah, it's it's rare for me to have people of your caliber on set. Uh, you know, uh, you know, I usually have to just accept Mario. Dang, Mario! Dang. I was just trying to see if he's paying attention. Like he's sleeping. Are you are you no? Yeah, no, no. No, Mario, I love Mario. He's he's like very he's very talented, man. I'm not joking now to say the good thing. You know, that was a joke. But he was literally in Chicago. I I couldn't have made his job harder. I said, oh, you're gonna operate the Burano and you're gonna manually focus. Okay. He's like, it's on sticks. So I said, by the way, we want to do creative angle on FX3, uh sorry, FX6 right by you. Uh so you're gonna be in this tiny spot between the two cameras, and you're gonna have to manual focus on that. Oh, and then hey, can you also monitor audio? We don't have an audio. So this dude is like monitoring audio, focusing. So, to be real, Mario's very, very talented. I was just joking about that. Yeah, you know, we're we're friends, so that's why we can we can we can make fun with each other, but no. Everyone that I'm saying is talented. This one's good to have people of uh all of your caliber. We're gonna have a good time like this. We're gonna joke around, we're gonna be professionals, and we're gonna create awesome content. And that client is really cool too, if you remember from last time. Uh, you know, they're pretty chill. It was a good experience, yeah. And they were pretty chill clients, and we're gonna have a uh, like I said, and they're obviously and they're also helpful. They've sent us like sh scripts and shot lists and everything. I'm like, well, you didn't need to, but this helps, you know. So now we know at least what they're thinking we need to go. And I'm like, that that helps now we know what for that they're thinking, and we obviously we can add to that in the element of what we think will go in the cut. Uh because you know, we see the edit, so we can kind of see where what we rather need that may not be what they they see. So I think between all the talented people, like I said, excited, we're gonna talk basically all day. We're gonna have fun and uh create really, really beautiful images. I'm looking forward to it. Uh, like I said, it's gonna be an incredible team. You know everyone there, you've worked with everyone, so it's gonna be fun. Uh, but before we go, anything else you want to talk about? Anything you want to tell people?

Alex Minor 1:54:33

Nah, man, I just hope everybody out there who gets an opportunity to watch the podcast can take something positive from it. Um, that's why I don't mind talking about you know, personal struggles or anything because we all go through them. It's all different. Um, and I just hope people can learn something from things I've been through, and hopefully, you know, you you don't go through the same stumbling blocks that I've had, and you can replicate the wins.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:04

Yeah. And and even if you do, just know that you know, we're all here. That's the point of this. This is a small community. Um, you know, as in like, I don't care where you're from, reach out to us. We're always there to help. Because the whole point of this was to help other people or to provide entertainment from fellow creatives that you know you you understand the lingo of. Uh, but at the end of the day, I I also really appreciate you being so open every time you come, or just in general, talking to me, because here's the thing life, you know, is not easy. When we post something on Instagram, a beautiful set, or what we created, um, you know, you can approach it two ways, right? You uh I'm saying to a person, they can look at it and be like, wow, that's beautiful. I want to create images like that, or I want to be on sets like that, or you can go, oh, I can, you know, like you can see it negatively, like my life sucks. Like, I why am I not set like that? You want to take it in that positive note because you're not seeing the struggles that people are going through. Like the the whole thing is like this isn't easy. This isn't hard, but this isn't easy, and then personal life only makes it harder. And uh so point of this is to like, hey, there's a positive side to it to stay positive and hopefully you can learn from our mistakes and not do them.

Alex Minor 1:56:15

And hopefully you'll make more money. Exactly. That's what I want everybody to do, is make more money. I want to make more money too. But I want you to make more money, yeah, especially this year.

Vipul Bindra 1:56:25

Economy's been kind of crazy. Don't get me started. Yeah, that's that's what I'm like. Let's not even go there. But yes, I would like uh the you know, all of us to make more money, make better images, do better in life, just you know, have fun creating what hopefully you're watching this, you love what we do. And if you're here at this point, you know, you love what you do. And if you love what you do, then please let's go out, create, reach out, find your tribe. If you don't have it, we're here. Reach out to us, message us. Uh, please tell us where they can message you or find you.

Alex Minor 1:56:55

Um, you can find me on LinkedIn, Alex Minor, and also on Instagram, the Alex Minor. Uh, yeah, that's probably the two places to try to get in touch.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:06

Awesome. And your company's I Am Media, right?

Alex Minor 1:57:08

I am media. I didn't wear a shirt today because I I wanted to wear purple and be a little more comfortable. Look at that.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:15

Yeah, it is it's supposed to be chill. Yeah, it's okay. But you know, uh, people, which we showed um the YouTube video that had his company name in there too. Uh, but yeah, definitely go check out Alex, really talented guy. I know you're very humble, uh, but like every time I worked with you, it's like it's it's this amazing. I like hanging out with you. Um, so yeah, thank you for watching. Thank you again, Mario, for being the producer. Thank you, guys.

Mario Rangel 1:57:36

Until next week.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:38

Yes, until next week. This has been Studio B sessions with me, Bendra of Bendra Productions. Thank you. See you next Thursday.