Welcome And Meet The Guest

Vipul Bindra 0:04

Hey, welcome to another episode of Studio B Sessions with me, Bindra. And today we've got an awesome guest, Elias or Elias. And thanks for driving. I know you drove quite far, so you're a videographer, filmmaker, photographer. I mean, what do you not do? Production company owner, right?

Elias Andres 0:22

Yeah. Uh I try not to edit. That's the one thing I'm trying to get away from.

Vipul Bindra 0:26

That's awesome. And like always, we have Mario on the producer desk. Thank you, Mario, again, for helping us.

Mario Rangel 0:31

Hey guys, nice to see you again.

Vipul Bindra 0:34

Thank you, Mario. All right. So uh tell me more. I mean, obviously, we work together indirectly in a way, and we'll talk about that.

Elias Andres 0:41

But tell me more. Yeah. So uh I'm a uh filmmaker and photographer based out of West Palm Beach. I've been born and raised there. I'm actually here with my partner. He's off camera, but uh his name is Eric, and together we own a production company called Digital Artisans. We started we started right after high school. So our high school was actually a film school. It's actually, I think, one of the at least at that time, was the only like film school that was a high school. So they had a whole production lot. They had uh the teachers there were actually professors at the local college. So we were getting like taught college level, you know, classes in high school for free.

Vipul Bindra 1:22

That's pretty cool. I've never heard of that. So this is where West Palm Beach again? Yeah, West Palm Beach. Yep. Oh, that's pretty cool school. So so that's how you got into it?

Elias Andres 1:31

Yeah, well, actually, it's like so. When we were when I was gonna go into high school, I was gonna go to my local high school. Um, but in middle school, like at eighth grade, when you know, like the high schools come and like try to like poach you and stuff like that. Uh G Star came and they were like, Oh, yeah, we do video, we do photography. And at that time, YouTube was like a new thing. And so me and my part, my buddy, we made a quick YouTube video with a few friends at the park and posted on YouTube the next day, and literally everybody in the school saw it. Oh, really? Even the teachers, like everybody saw it. You know, the next day everyone was like, Oh my god, that video. And you know, this was like it kind of go like viral or yeah, it went viral, yeah. And then we were like, oh wow, people actually can watch this and we can make stuff, and it was all digital. It was Windows Movie Maker. It was like

Vipul Bindra 2:17

Wow, how long ago was this?

Elias Andres 2:18

This was uh 2009, 2008.

Vipul Bindra 2:21

Wow, that's a long time.

Film School Origins And Early YouTube

Elias Andres 2:23

It was a long time ago, and uh yeah, we were like, we can actually do this. And when this film school came, we were like, oh, we'll give you like professional great stuff, you'll use like real things, you have actors, because the high school actually has an acting uh department as well, so you would like have actors there ready for you, you have like sets, everything. And so I was like, all right, let's do it. You know, why not? And so it was me, my my buddy, and another person that went to that school, and everybody else went to a local school. And from there, like I got taught everything like movie making, uh directing, editing, all that stuff. And slowly they had a photography class show up, and then so I took that too, and I just learned everything from there. And it was it was amazing like to have the opportunity right in my backyard, like right there.

Vipul Bindra 3:07

That's really awesome, yeah. And uh, you know, what's crazy, uh I want to talk about like how we met, and I love um shouting out the again, the networking group that David built. Uh so again, we I run Bindro Bindra Productions, my company, and then you know, we we technically offer people video and photo, but you know, I specialize in video, I don't do photo. Uh, so I love to you know find people in my network that we that can come in and help my clients do photos because let's be real, clients want the same vendor to handle both, you know, photo and video. Right. So so it's really cool uh to be able to partner. And I needed someone, I think one of my older clients came back and he was like, hey, I just need photo, which is not common, but uh, you know, usually they want photo and video, and you know, and I'm happy to oblige because at the end of the day, you know, sure it's not a lot of money because I'm passing the majority of the income to someone else. Uh, but you know, as a company, I want to be able to help them. And plus, I can then send money to my network is better than then some random photographer they find, right? Both ways, I find it a positive. So anyway, uh my client came back and uh he wanted photography for an event, and I was looking for someone who's closer to Miami, and then your name uh came up in that group. And so I hired you a few different times, even though we had not met in person. Obviously, we had spoken on the phone and it went great. The client obviously loved it. Uh so here we are. Now I know we are gonna be working again in the future where you're gonna be doing the same thing for me. Yeah, uh, but it's good to actually meet in person and connect versus you know, I've obviously I've hired you, but we never actually got to meet. Yeah. Uh, but that's the power of networking, you know. You don't even have to meet somebody in person to be able to pass off work and yeah, be able to make money from each other.

Elias Andres 4:49

Yeah, I actually met you twice, so I moved to the first. Yeah. Okay, now I feel bad. All right, hold on. Okay, so where did we meet? Tell tell people that. So the first, the very first Orlando meetup, I think you were there, huh?

Vipul Bindra 5:01

Yes, yeah. No, but the first meetup was just five guys. So it wasn't the first one. It wasn't at that rooftop bar? No, that wasn't the first one. See, I was there the first one, but that was like very small. It was like me, David, Adam, Emmanuel, Doron, I think. And uh, it was like it was very small. But yes, I I do remember the rooftop one. You're talking about the one in Winter Garden, right? Yeah, yeah. You know what? I remember you now because I remember David saying, Yeah, somebody drove from West Palm Beach here. That was you, man.

Elias Andres 5:30

Yeah, it was me and my buddy, yeah. We drove. We oh come on, okay. Now we're okay. See, this is what we have to connect. There we go. So yeah, so not day one, day two, maybe I guess. But yeah, yeah.

Getting Hired Through Networking Groups

Vipul Bindra 5:39

So I meant I saw you there, but yeah, like I was talking to David, and I talked to a few other guys, and it's just you know, you were talking to a whole bunch of people, so we just didn't have yeah, time to like just exactly because I don't remember having a but that's what happens at one of these see, like I said, it started so small, but now it's grown so big that most of the last few ones I've gone in, I haven't been able to talk to everyone. But I think that is why I think more and more people need to do this in their community. You need to do in West Palm Beach. And uh, I know David's trying to do this nationwide because the whole thing is you know, in filmmaking, tell me if you believe it the same way. It's all about networking, it's who you know. It uh skills are important, obviously, you have to do a good job, but most of the who do you know? Because if that person doesn't know you're doing what you're doing, then you're not gonna get the job, right? So, majority of the thing is just networking, and events like this, I think, are perfect because you know you're meeting a-like-minded people, you're making friends, you're you're you're just chatting and building a network, but then next thing you know, people are passing off work and you're making money off of them.

Elias Andres 6:42

Yeah, yeah. So, actually, we do have we me and my buddy, we set up a West Palm Beach version. It's a little small right now. We only had one meeting, but yeah, we're trying to do that too. And actually, I joined another group called DTS. Okay. So draft to screen. So it's a it's just a bunch of filmmakers coming together, and what we're doing is right now we have like 30 people, and everyone just brings in their talent, like whether you're an audio guy, makeup person, actor, director, editor, writer, we all get together and we go and pitch. So, like, if you want to pitch, you could go up and go in front of everyone and say, Hey, this is my idea uh of a short film or feature. This is the story, the plot line, blah, blah, blah. And then you're like, All right, can anyone help me? And uh so far it's been successful. We've been starting to like everyone just meets up. We meet every two weeks, so every Thursday, uh, every other Thursday. And it's been amazing. It's like everyone just comes together and just like, you know, gets creative, and then afterwards, everyone just keeps talking, like, oh, what do you do? What do you do? And it's it's amazing because it's like, you know, that there's so many people that want to do something, but we can't, we need a team. Yeah, you need that, and you need a passionate team. Exactly. You know, you need someone who is like, oh, okay, we're gonna shoot for 12 hours, we're gonna shoot for 18 hours. All right, I guess I guess that's fine. Like, I have work in the morning, but I guess I'll get like four hours of sleep, and then uh yeah, hey, it's all for the passion. Yeah, and so that's where I think it's important to get that networking group that people like yourself that wants to create, you know.

Vipul Bindra 8:08

Yeah, and at the end of the day, you never know who's gonna go where. And usually, at least again, and this is why I like to find common thread, common people that like each other, because usually people will take uh everyone above. So let's say, because you know, there is a factor of not everyone's gonna find the biggest success. But if you're talented, you have a core group of people that you like to work with and create something awesome. Let's say somebody gets a huge project, guess who's the who they're bringing? They're bringing their core group of people. So now you never know. Any one person or two people in the group can lift the whole group up. So there's there's more power to networking. A, obviously, like you said, you friendship, uh, you know, building a like-minded group. But the the business side of it is as long as you know you you find your group, you do good job, you do good work together, not everyone now has to then be a good at business person, right? Yeah, because you can now lift each other up. If one person finds it, you need people, like you said, it's a collaborative industry. Right. So who are you gonna call? You're gonna call people in your group, right? Then random strangers that you don't know if they're good or not, right?

Elias Andres 9:16

Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a good point because I'm I will admit I'm not that great at business. I'm a good creative, I'm good at camera, I'm good at photography, I'm good at all that stuff. But business is one of the things I I kind of like, you know, it's like my weak point.

Vipul Bindra 9:28

And that's very important, right? So that's why you want to partner with someone who's like good at who's like, yes, I'll go get the business and we can both create it together, right? I think that's and that's exactly why you need like-minded people. Because if you're not good at business, it doesn't matter how good you're creative, you're not gonna last. But same thing the other way. Let's say you're really good at business and you get all the leads, now you can't deliver, you're not gonna get them again. So it's like uh you need to be good at both. And if you're not, which is okay in my opinion, yeah because not everyone knows everything, you partner with people, right? Yeah, yeah, you delegate, you know, yeah, exactly.

Elias Andres 10:00

You you get people that know more than you do, you know, in certain areas. And yeah, I think that's one of those things you learn in the beginning is like you think you could do everything, and technically you can, but you could do it good. Yeah. Now, if you want to do it great, you need other people that are not gonna be like tired, like, oh, I only got two hours of sleep, and now I gotta do another shoot. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 10:18

Yeah, you definitely want a good talented people, and also uh, I like the advantage of your own group is you don't get pigeonholed. For example, I've noticed what happens is let's say you work with somebody new and they hire you as a photographer. Right. Then in their brain, you're a photographer. They're not like, oh, he can also do video, right? Right. And then you get hired, let's say, as a gaffer. They're like, oh, this guy only knows lighting. You know what I mean? It happens versus with your group. Somebody knows, like, oh my god, he's good at this, this, this. So they know where to plug you and they're not pigeonholing you, right? Right. Uh, and and that's not even a fault of someone. I'm just saying people hire you for something, they just associate that with you, and then you can sometimes lose on jobs, even though the people may like you because they have no idea that, oh, no, he's really good at video too. Oh, he's really good at I don't know, grip too, or whatever, right? Yeah, uh, so uh so that so that's why I think that's another advantage of your group because you can do in these niche roles. Yeah, somebody's like, Oh, I only need a PA today, and you're like, sure, but that doesn't mean you're uh normally a PA, right? You normally could be a videographer or whatever, or camera operator and and whatever. So so they're not gonna pigeonhole you because they know you, they're they're like, Oh yeah, it's my buddy. He's just helping out today. Obviously, that's not what he does all the time, right? Yeah, so I think that's an another advantage of of networking, but like just look at us. You got this job only because, like I said, we met, but to be honest, I didn't even remember. But because in that group, uh we were able to connect again, right?

Elias Andres 11:43

Yeah, and actually I had to be proactive because you post you you put it in the group chat, like, hey, I need someone, and I immediately reply within I think like 30 seconds or something.

Vipul Bindra 11:51

Yeah, and that's how it is. People are worlds, man. Yeah, but but that's a good thing, to be honest. Like I said, and I trust the group more because I know if somebody's in that group, they've been to a David's meetup, right? They have been vetted, and somewhat, you know, and plus you know, I'd rather again give work with the people um that are you know like-minded in the same group, they're like, you know, in the same network. And then once we talked on the phone, I was like, Oh yeah, of course I gotta hire this guy, right? Yeah, and then obviously, but the weird part was I wasn't there. So how did that go the project go? What would you say?

Elias Andres 12:24

Yeah, the project went well, you know, like they had their own production team over there, and so I just they just kind of like put me into the little square peg, and I was like, all right, I'm in. Exactly. You know, so it was good, like everything went smoothly. It was a conference for some like medical company or something like that. Yeah, it was good. Like I had no complaints, like it was just like, okay, you can do A, B, and C and just do your thing. There you go.

Social Skills And Budget Conversations

Vipul Bindra 12:45

And that's sometimes is all it is. And like I said, for me, it was uh uh a big you know relief to have somebody there I trust uh that's gonna do a good job. And then you know, I'm just helping out the client to me was like a side thing, but it was really good to to be able to, you know, kind of actually work with you. Yeah, uh, because you know it's one thing to just network, but to be able to pass off money, I feel like is it takes that relationship to the next level. And now the other advantage I think is now that I that happened once. Now this time I'm gonna drive there myself. I was like, oh, I got a project, I need a photographer. Well, guess who I'm calling? Yeah, and but I didn't want to do that pigeon holing thing. That's why I was like, hey, day one, we need somebody for video. If you're free, we can do both, so that I don't always just call you only photo, because that will happen. Yeah, you know, because your brain just goes, Oh, photo lies. I gotta call. And then, but that's not that's not all what you do, right? So I was like, hey, we may need a third. Uh if you want to jump in, you know, that'd be cool. Yeah, so I think that's that's another way to kind of uh you know just be more versatile, I feel.

Elias Andres 13:50

Yeah, yeah. I feel like the two main skills you should learn as a creative is be social and be proactive. Like, that's just the number one thing. Like, like I said, if I, you know, just never talk to you at the group or anybody at the group, I was just like, ah, let me just talk to my buddy who I drove there with, and that's it, and then I go back home. I, you know, I didn't get it, you know. And it's just like you have to kind of be like, you don't have to be a social butterfly, but you have to be like, hey, my name's this, and this is my passion. And when you talk about what you like, it's pretty easy, you know? Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 14:19

So and that's why those groups are fun for me. Believe it or not, I'm a I'm a I'm a big introvert. Normally you would never see me go in a group and just start talking. But the thing is, all these people in these networking events care about the same thing I care about, right? Yeah. If you ask me to go talk about something random, I'm probably gonna be like, uh, hold on. No, probably not. I'll be shy. But if you're like, hey, talk about photo and video, I'm like, oh, let me get started. Because you know, I'm passionate about that, so I could talk. So that's another thing I like is that it I don't have to feel that shyness in these events. Because, like you said, you have to be able to talk to everyone. Yeah, and I'm not worried because I'm like, hey, all the things I care about, most likely these people care about too. They're not gonna be like, you know, why are you talking this jargon, you know, that us we may use in our industry? So that's to me at least a lot easier. So you don't even have to be, I think, an extrovert as long as you find that niche that you're passionate about. I feel like it makes it a lot easier, right? Yeah, right to just talk and be comfortable because you're like, if you start talking to me about video, I'm like, oh, awesome. Like, let's talk. You know, like I'm not gonna at all feel any any sort of way, because at least to me, that's like a to my hard topic. So I can talk, you know, all about it without feeling any sort of way, if that makes sense. Yeah. So at least to me, that's that's why I like meeting people who are like mining, and which is why it's harder for somebody like me, because most time I'm the people I'm dealing with are not video people, they're business owners. Right. So you have to flip that switch where I'm like, okay, they don't understand at all. Like, I have this happens so often, believe it or not. And you, I'm sure you've had this where they're like, Yeah, I want a video. And you're like, but what does that mean? And then they'll email me, they're like, No, we need a code or we need a prior, like estimate or whatever. I'm like, but I don't know what I'm making, you know. That that means nothing. It could be like, yeah, do I show up with my camera, hit record, hit stop? Very cheap, you know. Or am I am I bringing a team? Like, or do you want me to develop creative? And a lot of times they're like, Yeah, I have no idea. So I'm like, which is fine, but then then then the next thing you do is like, okay, then I need a budget because you cannot work with zero, right? Right because I'm like, then I could go, my brain could make so many different videos, right? Oh, I could do this or that for their business, but the budget isn't there. So next thing I'm like, what's your budget? And then they'll have such a low budget, it's like, well, no, we can't do anything, right? Right? It's like uh like that's gonna take time to develop your video. That already you don't have the budget for. Right. So how are we gonna do that? You encounter people like that, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Elias Andres 16:44

It's just like they have a general idea of like, or they show me a video, and I'm like, okay, well, well, obviously, that's like a multi-billion dollar, multi-international company. Like, I don't know if we could actually do that. But uh, yeah, it's like you gotta get that's why you need that social aspect. Okay, it's like you gotta lead them to what they want. You gotta like kind of pull it out of them. Like, I you know, just like take their hand and go like, okay, do you want this video? Like, are we gonna go here? Do we gonna go to production?

Vipul Bindra 17:10

I've had that happen where they showed me a sent me a video, they're like, we want to do something like that. I was like, Well, this video has a budget north of one million dollars. It they also travel to this country in Europe. Uh, if you have a budget like that, obviously we can recreate that. However, here's something more realistic. How about give me 10-15k and I can get you 80-90% there? Obviously, we want we want to go to Europe, but I can make it do it in you know, in in our local city or wherever they're located from. But that's kind of funny. This and Jenna know for a fact they ain't gonna they don't have a million dollars because what they're sending has celebrities in it or whatever. And I'm like, Yeah, you can't even afford to have them show up on set. Right. Uh, but have you had where it's like they have no idea? They're like, I just want a video, and then you go, Do you have an example? And they go, No, I have I have nothing.

Elias Andres 17:58

Yeah, yeah. And that's where like you just gotta like brainstorm and you, yeah, that's where you gotta do a little bit of like pre-production and just figure out, okay, well, what do you do? You gotta you gotta have that full conversation with them. And that's why, again, you need to have that social skills. Like, all right, just like talk to them casually so that way they you know let their guard down and they're like, Oh, you know, I was thinking this, really, this is my personality, this is how my company works, this is what we do, this is what we want. And then you slowly just get there and just you know, it's you know, it doesn't have to be like clinical, surgical, you just gotta talk to them like you're talking to a buddy. You're like, okay, my buddy wants a video. How do I help his business? How do I help him? I want to help him, he's my buddy, yeah. Exactly. So, like, what's the best outcome? And then so you kind of have to do that for them too, and you know, get get in their head and go, okay, so this is how you're gonna achieve the best results, right? With your budget. And yeah, that's pretty much it.

Vipul Bindra 18:48

How do you approach that conversation about the budget part? Is there a particular way, or does that does your friend handle that part?

Elias Andres 18:54

Yeah, my friend usually handles that, but like I said, I'm just like, uh, you know, it's like a million dollars. But uh yeah, he handles that. And that's it. Like, that's why it's good to delegate, you know, like what you can do. Like, I can edit. Do I want to edit? Not really.

Vipul Bindra 19:07

Like, I let So he edits and does the business and you do more what? Photo and video? Yeah, photo and video. So I'll do more. Creators, yeah.

Elias Andres 19:14

Yeah, yeah. So again, that's why you gotta find those people who can like, you know, who love to edit or who love to just talk business, you know. Like they're not, they're not um, they're not a video guy, they don't know anything, but they're like, oh, I know numbers, and I can help you in that way. So yeah, that's like you definitely need those other aspects. Like, if you could do all everything, then you know, I mean, hey, amazing, right?

Event Work And Real Pricing Ranges

Vipul Bindra 19:36

So that's actually uh pretty good. I mean, like uh seems like a very good partnership, you know, uh, because you guys seem to have the right set of skills. What type of work do you normally do? What are you typically, you know, you would say average type of shoot or photo, whatever project that you handle?

Elias Andres 19:53

So we do a lot of events. So currently we do like weddings, but then we also do like restaurants. So we work with some like agencies when they're like, okay, we need some restaurant video and photos of this place or grand opening or something like that. And we also work with our local uh downtown development authority in West Palm Beach. And so they do like you know events or like pop-up shows and stuff like that. So we kind of work a little bit more on the commercial side, and so that's where but we do love events. Events are great, they're always happening in West Palm Beach. So that's where we are currently.

Vipul Bindra 20:24

Awesome. So, how do you price those? Like, do you handle any of that? Or um, like what would a typical so somebody let's say they want to get into event photo and video, what range could they expect their projects to be in? Uh from your reference point.

Elias Andres 20:38

From my reference points, it's like, yeah, you could go from like a thousand on the cheaper end to like five thousand dollars. It depends on what they want. You know, we do also do some smaller ones, um, but usually I can delegate it to someone else. But yeah, it's around around around there.

Vipul Bindra 20:53

That's pretty good money. I mean, I I find and same thing in Orlando. Again, uh events are are less, but we will sometimes do corporate events, and that's why I still do it. Like I said, I love you know more scripted content or or high-end interview content. That's kind of where what I enjoy or commercial content. But honestly, in it, I think Orlando and Vegas are the two big cities with uh a lot of conference and event work, and you cannot just say no to that because there's so much money and it's right in my backyard, right? So we we do get enough opportunity, and like I said, it's not my favorite work, but it's also not hard work. So I personally like it, like I said, and and that's good money range that you're talking about, like I said, 1k to 5k for an event. You know, it's just you or and your friend lets it two people. I think it's it can be uh very va uh profitable too. Um, you know, unlike commercial gigs where you're just spending money and money, and you know, you need a set, you need this, you need that many people.

Elias Andres 21:47

It's harder to um what about the creative side? Like, do you work also like I think I heard Mario, I think you talked with him on the podcast. You did uh an indie you shot and helped yeah, that's how we met.

Vipul Bindra 21:57

It's so funny. Uh Mario, remember uh Uh the movie we did uh I did for Daisy. So he was the A D and I was the DP. That's and then so but he was in my part of my crew. So I brought all the camera department was mine. Right. So all the operators and and the sound guy and gaffer, but Mario was technically uh from the client side. But you know, again, what happens when you talk the same language? Uh we immediately connected. I was like, this guy knows what we're doing here, and he was like the perfect liaison to have between me and the client because he understood. They don't, you know, clients don't, and it's okay, they're not from our field. Understand what we're bringing, what we're doing, how we need to go. Anyway, talk about that, Mario. Remember how we met and that whole game?

Mario Rangel 22:43

Yeah. Um for Daisy. Yeah. How you like the movie? I think it was pretty good for what it is. I mean, yeah, we made a movie out of almost nothing. So no, I think it was great uh to work with you also to meet you there, um, to see how you work and anything. And from there on, we'll be working together.

Vipul Bindra 23:02

So yeah, it's been a long time now, obviously, at least two, three years. So that's that, and that's what I'm saying. It's so random where you can meet people, right? So I'm here helping a client, and he technically works for that client, and he's like, Oh, yeah, I freelance too, and I do this. And I'm like, Okay, I'll think of a project, and sometimes it doesn't happen for months. People also think you know that they'll get immediate, like you meet someone next day they're calling you for a job. It may happen, but it's rare. But you know, four months later, I'm like, Oh, I got this perfect opportunity. Mario, you wanna come hang out and help me? And he was like, Yes, and then we hung out, and I was like, Oh, this is great. A few months later, hey, there's another up. You know how it is, like, and then next thing you know, uh, same thing I did season one, and I was like, you know what? This needs some kind of more cameras and switching, but I can't do that. I'm having a conversation. So I was like, hey, you wanna come be the producer on this season? And Mari's been helping us, so that's what I'm saying. Kind of, you know, you never know how where you meet people. Yeah, yeah.

Elias Andres 23:55

Are you do you do more creative stuff like that?

Vipul Bindra 23:57

Like short films or no, honestly, I'm one of the weird ones. So most people do like, you know, corporate commercial works to to uh make money so they can go make movies. I'm the opposite. I would do a movie only if I'm like getting paid or whatever. Yeah, and it's okay, it's like a personal thing. I know I I get it. Most people are not like me, but there are other people who enjoy corporate commercial work. Okay. To me, and and it may be just my love of it. I grew up, you know, like I said, my family's been generations in business. I just I have that entrepreneurial mindset, like I said. So I enjoy kind of dissecting a business and figuring out how video can help them, or just with agencies taking their creative and making it come to life as a director. So sometimes, you know, the two major things that we work either directly with a business and I get to help them. And a lot of times, like I said, they have no idea, or they'll say, show us a video, and it's like they can't afford it. So, how can we do the best for them? And then the other side is whereas an agency they're like, Hey, we came up with this. Can you make it now? And this is your budget. So figuring that out, figuring the right people. I don't know. As a producer director, that's kind of what I enjoy, especially, like I said, scripted content or high-end interviews and talking heads. I don't know. I enjoy that more than a movie, uh, even though I know movies can be fun too. I'm not saying movies are not fun, but I'll do rarely.

Elias Andres 25:18

Yeah, what about F1?

Vipul Bindra 25:20

I would do anything for F1, but they're not calling me. I wish F1 was calling me. I mean, Drive to Survive, I would take over that contract. Dude, I have all the gear. We can tomorrow record Drive to Survive. I just need access to the paddock. So you know what I mean? Like, so that's like the access. Yeah, I don't have that yet.

Elias Andres 25:38

But I bet that's your like, is that like is that like merging the two of like video business and then F1 just like that?

Corporate Work Versus Indie Film Life

Vipul Bindra 25:44

Yeah, if that happened, but you know, that's how I got into video. So I don't know if you've listened to that. I I don't know, I've talked about a little bit that, but initially, initially for me, it wasn't about filmmaking. I was just into tech. So I just wanted to make tech reviews. I've always been into tech, right? So I was like, you know, it'd be so cool if I get this new PlayStation or this new this or this new laptop, and you know, I talk about it. And it's so silly. I was on YouTube literally when it opened, I think 2005 or 2006, but it never clicked to me that could be a career, right? You couldn't think of back then because I could make this video and put it in YouTube. Who knows where I would have been then? But all I knew was at that time we had a tech show on TV. So I was like, that's my path, right? You know, I'm just gonna be on that TV and I'm gonna be a television personality because I'm gonna go review these gadgets and go talk about them on TV. Anyway, so that's how my video production thing started. Plus, we were also friends running around making videos about video games and stuff, you know, just like Assassin's Creed in real life, you know, parkour, uh, you know, the silly stuff. But point is that's how I kind of started. It was never about actually filmmaking, it was about making a video about my favorite video games, or it was about reviewing technology. But then as soon as I showed up on the the television show, I was like, crap, I enjoy the producing, the directing, the behind the scenes, the DP, you know, way more than I enjoy being on camera.

Elias Andres 27:06

Right.

Vipul Bindra 27:07

So, and that's the reality check sometimes you get, right? Um, and uh hence here we are. So this is the complete opposite of how it started and where I am. But so honestly, yes, again, to bring it full circle, if I get a really good movie, I'm obviously me and Mario are kind of still working on my own movie. I will definitely do it, obviously. Uh, I'm not saying no to movies because I do get calls where they're like, hey, we need gaffing. You can you light our entire movie out there?

Elias Andres 27:36

Is it a yours is a short or is it a feature?

Vipul Bindra 27:38

No, no, it's a feature. It's a feature. Yeah, I I had a story, Mario wrote it, we're still working on the scripting. Oh, so it's pre-production, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's pre-production, not production yet. But I would love to finish it hopefully soon. And that's like a passion project, you can call it. So, again, not that I can't make movies. A lot of people think corporate or filmmaking, they don't merge. Yeah, yes, I've been on DP on movies. Yes, we can I can shoot movies and we will, but on a day-to-day basis, I'd rather do this. Right. But sometimes we get movies. We're supposed to be doing a movie later in the year where um, you know, we're gonna be doing all the lighting for them. So, you know what I mean? When they have a budget, they can bring us on. Uh, like I said, we're not to be uh uh honest expensive, but we're not cheap, we're not indie movie rates where somebody's bringing some GVM lights and doing their best, right? Right. So if I'm bringing a two-ton van, it's not gonna be the cheapest, but it's not really that expensive. Right. So I will take on, and sometimes, like I said, I've we're like, we need a DP or whatever, we need the whole crew. I will sometimes do movies, but it's rare. Like I just did a short film with uh Fernando who was on the podcast. Yeah, that's I was watching that. So that was pretty cool. So he was just like, Hey, and I was like, Well, I've got time, so you know, it was one of those shoots where my van was already working, so I was like, Well, you don't need too much gear, I can show up. And he was like, Yeah, so I brought some lights and we all had fun, and that was such a fun shoot. So sometimes, like I said, I'll do it. Okay, but I try to restrict or strict uh mostly income, like you could say, to corporate commercial work, if that makes sense.

Elias Andres 29:09

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I'm the normal one where I'm like, yeah, I do the commercials and the events and all that stuff to make features or short films. And yeah, that's what currently me and my buddy are doing. Like, we're trying to like see how we can navigate into that space where it's like we can make our money from doing shorts, doing features.

Vipul Bindra 29:28

That that's a hard thing. Have you uh seen is there an avenue that you guys see already, or are you still working through that?

Elias Andres 29:33

We're still working through it. Like we we've seen because in in our area in West Palm Beach, there are there's actually one I don't know their name, S A B U D, somebody the group, and it's just a bunch of FAU students, and every day, every day they're just shooting. They just like it's not that great, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 29:50

But they're shooting, and that and that's my point. So I I do want to bring it. Um that's a good the good thing you bring up. See, the the thing is there's a difference in passion and uh business, right? Now, you know, I wish my utility company would take passion, you know, or mortgage company would take that, or car company would take that. You know what I'm getting, but but there is a lot of people, and I don't want to discount it because, like I said, people make awesome short movies. I love my friend, like I said, I'm just talking about Fernando. Yeah, makes great movies, you know, right? Uh, but the thing is that's not a career. Guess what Fernando does on a day-to-day? He goes and works at an agency. Then that's a passion, that's not a business. And I've met very few people personally who are like, yeah, I I make full-time money from just filmmaking, right? I go make shorts and we're profitable enough that I can pay, I can have a, you know, I'm not saying rich, but like I can have a house, car, you know, I can live a normal life, yeah, yeah, and I only do short films. I have not met somebody. They're either, you know, doing high-end Hollywood stuff, that's fine. Then where they're either below the line or above the line, you know, where they're like, I'm a first AC, I'm a DP or whatever. That's a different thing. Then your career is your DP for movies, or you know, they're like, Oh, I I I'm a producer with this agency or this company that makes films or whatever, right? Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, then your job, you have a job that's not the same, but yeah, very few people I know who are like doing indie movies and they're profitable, if that makes sense. No, yeah, yeah. So it's always like a side passion. So I would love uh for you to be able to, I guess, figure it out, and uh that at least make some revenue from it because it's it's very hard.

Elias Andres 31:35

Yeah, I mean, I mean, like you even look at Hollywood now, like Maurice Corsese, you know, big time director, you know, won Oscars critically acclaimed, he has a hard time finding funding for his projects. And then you have Tyler Perry, who's you know, like his movies, you know, if you like Medea, hey, he's just got to you. But if you don't, you know, like most people, he's just like middle of the road, you know, whatever, it gets the job done, right? It's a good airplane movie, if you will say. Um, but yeah, he owns like a whole bunch of film studio production lots, like uh, you know, soundstage. He, you know, he's like a multi-billionaire, he's a billionaire at this point.

Why Indie Films Rarely Pay

Vipul Bindra 32:12

Because you know what Tyler Perry is? A businessman. A businessman. Yeah. Filmmaker? Sure. I don't want to obviously offend, I'm sure people love Madea or Tyler Perry Perry's. No, no discounts to his creative skill. I'm not saying I'm better than Tyler Perry. Let me be real. I'm just saying he's not Martin Scorsese, right? But yes, those movies are low budget, high profit, because again, low budget, yeah, and he has an audience that he's built that will watch those movies. So at the end of the day, Tyler Perry, I think is a great example of yes, how you can make money from making movies, but there's a there's a formula that he he's not making some creative, amazing storytelling movies, in my opinion. What he's building are, you know, I don't know, movies that his audience just wants to watch. They're not the most creative, they're not most technically sound, you know, but at the end they uh they get the job done, they make him the money, they make the uh the audience laugh or have fun or whatever the genre is, right? Uh just example why Hallmark movies exist, right? Yeah, there's an audience, uh and those are great, but but like I said, it's very few people like Tyler Perry who make it, you know. Most people that I mean, and that's what I said. I met like gaffers, and and for example, I'll say, who are like, oh yeah, I love I'm such a good gaffer and all this. And I'm like, great, I would love to work with you. Why I don't work with indie people? And I've hired them and they're like, Oh, yeah, I'd be like, So what would you charge? And they're like hundred dollars a day or whatever. And I'm like, that's really cheap. How can you even survive in a city like Orlando working that? But that's I forget that that's the rate indie movie people are paying them. And I'm saying, bringing the gear, you know, everything in that rate, it's like nuts. It's uh it's not even like hey, just show up. And then, but then when they show up, and I'm like, you know, whatever, I can pay you 50 bucks or 200 bucks more than that if you bring, especially if you're bringing gear. But my experience in the past has been the the items that they bring, I'm like, they're not up to par for my set, and I'm not even doing some high-end stuff. They'll show up with these lights that are clearly green, and and then I'm like, sure, use my light, but then they don't know how to set this light up because they've never seen it. So I'm like, you know, you're not really a gaffer because sure you're very passionate about it, and it's not even your fault. You just never had access to the right equipment, but you cannot show on a higher end set and and work because you never are exposing yourself to the the the right equipment and the right people, the right way of working and safety measures. And uh, I don't need that on my set. It doesn't matter how cheap you are, right? Uh, and and and it's not their fault because that's what indie movies are. They're like, hey, bring whatever you can and we'll make it, and because you're doing it for passion, right? Yeah, and so I and like I said, I'm not the expert, it's a good conversation. I have no idea how you navigate from that to hey, we put in we gener, let's say we saved up 10 grand or whatever, or raised 10 grand, and we made something really good that made 10 grand back. Forget profit, right? I don't know anyone who does that. So, like I said, I've shot some movies where they've uh like I said, Mari's an example where they paid me because I was paid to be real, it wasn't the most amount of money, but I didn't go work DP that movie for free. I and I like I said I had a lot of fun. I don't know the economics of it, I don't know how uh the director, how she's and the producer, how she's making money from it. Is it profitable for her or not? And I get it, I'm not even gonna ask Mario because he's probably knows, but he's not at the liberty to say, right? You know, I'm not gonna, but what I'm saying is I I was doing that and I was like, I know this isn't my full rates, it's kind of discounted. And I still don't know how she's gonna make this money back, right? Yeah, uh, because we were literally we had a whole grip man outside, we had so much crew, and half the time nothing got used because we were running so fast, right? Right, because that's how indie movies are. Yeah, and I'm like, I have no idea how this client's gonna make this money back, but I thank goodness I'm not in that, you know, at that side, right? Mario, wouldn't you agree? At least I mean most indie movies it's hard to make money.

Mario Rangel 36:15

Yeah, for sure. And I think um I mean like Elias was uh telling, indie movies is not about making money. Yeah, it's passion and it's really it's a way for getting to make uh or getting to Hollywood or getting to a big studio or getting uh to uh for producers to know your work to eventually earn money with bigger films, but in the movie is not about it's never been about making money, but it's just like uh a step before you can uh get known f from Hollywood people so you can start making after.

Vipul Bindra 36:57

That's a that's a good way to put it, at least I think it's a good stepping stone. So you can make some good short films, good indie movies to get yourself noticed to not go work for somebody else's movie where they have budget.

Elias Andres 37:09

Basically, you create your own work, it's almost like you know, like, okay, I want to do you know, let's say horror movies or you want to do a thriller or whatever. So you show, especially nowadays, where like everything's cheap, you know, like you can get really good images from like $2,000.

Vipul Bindra 37:25

You don't need an expensive camera. Yeah, you don't need to show a good images.

Elias Andres 37:28

Yeah, so now and you can show that to anybody in the world, you know, you can show it to someone in you know Asia or South America.

Vipul Bindra 37:34

Have an immediate audience as long as you know people.

Elias Andres 37:37

So, like I said, in this world, like it's it's it's different. Like you in, you know, like 30 years ago, I was like, you could never do this. You know, like the only person you can show it to is like your mom, your dad, and like your neighbor. That's it. It's like, oh, that's nice. But nowadays, yeah, you have the ability to, like I said, it's a stepping stone that you could show people, this is what I can do. Like, if I put 100% and I only have $10,000 or less, imagine what I could do with a hundred thousand, a million dollars, whatever. And I think again, it's like that, it's you need that passion. Again, it's like it's yeah, you know, it doesn't pay the bills, but like if you can follow it and if you can show people you can do this, then you end up you can end up doing what you want to do instead of like, you know, uh hired by other people, like you hired, now you do the hiring. Like, okay, I want to make this big project for like a feature that I have in my head that I know will generate an audience, you know, and especially nowadays with like Netflix, Apple, Amazon, like they're just buying everything up. Like it's crazy. So I you know, again, the the economics and the the numbers on that is all it I mean, they don't even know. They're just throwing money at everybody. They're like exactly okay.

Vipul Bindra 38:40

But that's that's how it is, and and because and that's why you see Hollywood's dying. Yeah. Because the way they made money was from ticket sales and all that extra stuff and DVD sales. There's no such thing as DVD now. I mean, I don't even know who buys DVDs or Bluebeams anymore. Okay. Most people don't, and then uh and then the other thing, most people don't go see the movies in the theater, which is why I currently I uh again see people in Hollywood like you know, who actually live in LS suffering because um, you know, they're they're talented people, it's just that the work isn't there in the in the film industry. Um, like I guess I was talking to another industry professional the other day, just off camera, not uh, because you know, believe it or not, I do this anyway. Not all of these are recorded. And same thing, he was telling me he's like, yeah, I was busy and now there's nothing. There's literally nothing.

Elias Andres 39:26

Yeah, because we just left Georgia, right? Oh, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 39:29

It's just there's there's not much money, and there's less projects because they're not making as much money, and then the projects that are happening, they're dropping budgets, you know, more and more. Because again, streaming services, they're just one more and more content, so it's like quality comes next. This is quantity, right? Yeah, and uh I don't think this is permanent, but uh again, I think the the the summaries, you're absolutely right. I think short films and any feature films or anything indie project, I think, is great to get noticed to as a stepping stone to go to that next level, where whatever that may be for individual, whether you know you want to make uh you know a feature or short or whatever with a higher budget, or just go into a certain role, right? Even though you may now do the whole thing together, but you're like, I just want to be the DP for these this type of project or sound guy or whatever. I think uh that's the way. I don't think there's any way, and like I said, I could be wrong because I'm not an expert on that, but I don't know if there's any way to like make profitable career out of only making indie movies. I think indie movies are just a passion thing you do to step to somewhere else to make your career, right?

Gear Expectations And Client Trust

Elias Andres 40:39

Yeah, yeah. It's just it's like a portfolio. It's like yeah, like I said, it's just it's just uh the first step forward, you know. Exactly. And I I mean, I mean, I'm seeing now the trend is like uh have you seen Weapons, the new movie that just came out. Um yeah, they made that with like under 40 million, is like really like to Hollywood, that's low budget. Yeah, and they made, I think, already 200 million dollars. So I think what Hollywood seemed to be.

Vipul Bindra 41:00

But that's a rare team in Hollywood nowadays, you know. Like most movies are flopping or not making big money. Obviously, uh good movies exist. I'm not saying they're not making good movies, like I like that F1 movie they made too, because again, but I like F1. But but the thing is, I didn't even go to see the theater. I I care about F1, but I was like, I don't care about Brad Pitt. I don't know. I'll see it when it comes, so it finally came out, and I was like, okay, I watched it, you know, on a streaming or whatever, and it was fine. Like it was like, oh, cool movie, but you know, I'm not paying going to the movie theater for that. I did go for a while back, uh Fantastic uh four that came out, the new one. I did go, but then half the theater was empty. I was like, holy crap! And I went like I'm saying opening weekend or whatever.

Elias Andres 41:43

Yeah, I went to the Superman movie, and that thing was oh, really?

Vipul Bindra 41:46

Yeah, it was but they're saying like the first uh the the original Superman with uh what's his Henry Cavill. Yeah, it's sold like three times the tickets that this one did. So yeah, it's all yeah, and and again, like I said, I don't wanna I don't think Hollywood's going anywhere to be real. I I think it's just a dud, it'll come bounce back. That's just happens. People want content, people want entertainment. Uh, but at least for me, and and like I said, not saying that that's the wrong path because you're not the only one. Most people I know are like you who are like, hey, I want to make movies and creative stuff. This is just a uh a way to get there. For me, it's just like you know what? If they have a budget, if you have a budget, I'll come either DP, gaffe, whatever you need for me. I I I'm not saying I don't want to be part of them, yeah, but I want to stay away from the financials of them. My thing is if somebody can pay, uh uh, you know, and I don't think I charge a lot to do indie movies, I will happily go either DP them or help them produce them, or you know, the roles that I usually fit in or or come uh be the gaffer happily. But that's where I limit it to. So I don't want to ever go, oh, I'll I'll make a short film or I will go do this for free because this is a passion. I I don't know, I don't think it's for me. Um, but again, most of my friends want to do that, and that's why like I support them. So I'm not a rental house, but believe it or not, my get stuff is used on movies all the time. So I'll have friends always show up. They're like, hey, I need your FX3 year, I need this production monitor, I need your wireless transmitter. So my stuff always ends up on in the Indie movies. Oh, yeah. And now normally I wouldn't do this for strangers, but people I know, I'm happy to rent, like which I don't charge that much anyway. But it's like, sure, take this, whatever, just sell me this much or whatever, right? So that may be an indirect way of helping my friends. Yeah, you know.

Elias Andres 43:34

Yeah, I mean, the way the way I've done, so I've shot three shorts now, and uh, yeah, like so far, everybody just gets together. Like, everyone has, like you said, the sound guy, he does all kinds of different commercial work and stuff like that. You know, I do my own commercial work. So, like when we all come together, it's like we all, and again, it's a passion. Like, yeah, we were like, okay, we're gonna take this weekend off, and it's like, all right, just book it out. You know, it's like we're not making any money, we're not doing this, but it's the passion of like we want to create something. It's amazing. Like, um, and again, that's the whole thing about being proactive. Like, so when I uh it was like uh one weekend, I shot something like a 3 a.m. was a nightclub thing, it was an event, and I got home super tired. I get a call like 11 o'clock, and I'm like, okay, who's this? I don't even know the number, it says unknown. And they said, Oh, we need a DP because we're doing a 48-hour short film, which I was like, okay, yeah, you woke me up for this. Like, I I kind of want to go back to sleep. And they're like, Oh, well, okay, hold on. So we got recommended by my buddy, and they're like, We our DP, what happened was that they had a DP, he had like a red camera, all the cinema lenses. He put it on this table. They were shooting at a university, and they and the tables are slanted for the kids to like read better. He didn't know that. And when I got there, it does look flat. And so he shot one shot, put his camera on the table, and then it slid and cracked the whole thing open.

Vipul Bindra 44:52

And uh wow, and uh this one way to lose the job.

Elias Andres 44:55

Yeah, and he was like, he just got up, got his camera, and left, and he didn't say anything else.

Vipul Bindra 45:00

Yeah, I mean, what is he gonna do without a camera?

Elias Andres 45:02

Yeah, and so and then and then so they called uh so one of the producers, she called one buddy, a buddy of hers. He was like, I'm busy. Then he called my buddy, and then he was busy, and then he called me, and I was like, I'm tired. Yeah, but they were like, hey, listen, you know, if you it would really help us out, like we literally lost three hours because of this whole thing, and I'm like, you know what? This is my passion, right? Is it exactly you know, did I get in this to make money? Like, I could make I can make a lot more money doing like science or like mathematics or coding or whatever. Like, that's where the real money is, right? Yeah, finance.

Vipul Bindra 45:33

Of course, yeah. Video is not the right thing. Yeah, yeah. Even in corporate commercial, uh, like I said, it's not bad, but it's nothing like finance. Yeah, yeah.

Elias Andres 45:42

You could be a doctor, you make sense way more money. So I was like, you know what? This is what I'm here. I'm supposed I'm here to create. So I was like, all right, I got down there, we shot it, we spent like 14 hours, it was insane. And from there, it's like that the the director, he just like blasted everywhere. Like this guy was just like post, he got it on PBS. He got it on yeah, he got it, you know, international films, he got into a whole bunch of stuff. And I was like, you know what? This is who in that moment, I was like, okay, this is what I was supposed to do. You know, this is what I want again. It's like it's passion. Like it's it's uh a bunch of people came together. I didn't know anybody. Like I literally got there and I'm like, okay, I don't know anybody here. Who's who okay, are we gonna shoot? I had my FX6 and one lens, and that's it. Because I was like, okay, guys, like I we need to shoot this fast. Yeah. Because I shot one the year before, and yeah, that was uh yeah, and I know those people, and that was it wasn't crazy. I was like, all right, you know, I was like, okay, now I know how to navigate this. I'm like, all right, keep it simple. One light, uh, one lens, one camera, that's it. We're not gonna do anything crazy. And from there, it's like I I made I made a whole bunch of new contacts, and it was just like I got a whole bunch of more work from them. Um, and yeah, it's like if ever since then, that's like I've figured out like yeah, you just gotta like go for it. Like you just, if there's an opportunity, like you just gotta go and grab it because it's you know, it's like if you have, you know, like for the longest time I always imagined, like, okay, if I had a camera, have I had this, have I had that, blah, blah, blah. I I'll do whatever I want. And now I do, and it's like, okay, well, now this is the time to do it. Like, you gotta just you gotta put your your foot on the pedal and just go for it, you know.

Vipul Bindra 47:18

Yeah, exactly. No, that's at that's very smart, you know, because like I said, not every project is about um, you know, just money or whatever, because you went there because you were passionate about it, even though you're tired, and plus to help people, you know. And at the end, they like you said, you got uh, you know, you got more work out of it. Plus, you built all these networking contacts. I mean, I just had Zay on my podcast, and and you know, we were talking about the same thing, you know how another uh a friend of mine, but initially, you know how we met, because he wanted just needed some microphone, and I just happened to have one and I rented it to him. You know what I mean? And that's how you I could have just said no initially. I was like, do I want to rent this expensive mic to this random person? And most likely I was gonna say no. And then I was like, you know what? I want to help the guy, he needs this. And I'm so glad I said yes, because years later, now we're friends, we've passed on like I've he's given me so much work that I would have never thought about, right? It just came from that simple thing, he needed something, and I happen to have it, and I was like, sure, whatever, right? So, so you and and that is um um, you know, it's just again being nice, I think, to people and just helping out. Uh, but there's a difference. Obviously, I don't want anyone to go out and get taken advantage of because there is a lot of people I meet who are like, you know, I just want indie movie, just come help me for free, food provided, and and you know, there's just I feel like a lot of them are just exploiting people's passions. Yeah, but projects like that, like that you're mentioning, I think is it's really great where they needed you quite literally, they needed you, and you stepping up was like life, you know, life-saving for them, or at least a movie saving for them. Yeah. Uh for it for you to kind of show up and then be like, yeah, sure, I got you. Yeah. Even though, you know, for you, you're like, I've kept it simple. For them, it was like they had no other option if you didn't show up.

Elias Andres 49:00

Yeah, and I like the community too. Like, because when we when we did the the 48 hour, like we did it there at that festival, but then you know, again, the director, he just went everywhere. And it was cool to meet other filmmakers. Like, again, it's uh you know, it was great to hear like them talk about how they shot their stuff. Um, you know, people came like from all over the like some guy came from like New Jersey, another guy, and uh a girl, she came from like Brazil, she flew out to this little film festival in Fort Lauderdale, and she was like, Yeah, this is what I do. And I was like, Wow, that the amount of passion some people have is is amazing. And um, it's crazy the work at it. Like, there was one guy, he uh he shot with the uh black magic pocket cinema camera, so the old one. Oh wow, and um I didn't know that. I saw it and I was like, this was shot like with an Ari. I was like, this has to be. It was so beautiful, it was so good looking, and the audio was like so crisp. Yeah, and he was like, No, we just had a pocket cinema camera. These are like three uh girls from like the college class of you know acting, and we did one rehearsal day, then we went to go to Coney Island and we shot it, and that that was it. And it was like he had a vision, he had the he had the like the um the passion for it, and it and it's just it came on screen and it was it was amazing to see like what you can do again. It's that this new age where it's like you can do that with this little camera that's like six hundred dollars. Exactly, and you know, it just you just need the people, you just need that network, you need that contact.

Vipul Bindra 50:25

That's exactly because the you see the thing is um in it in every video industry, um um, you know, clients' budgets are shrinking. What they want you to do is increasing, right? So it's like you need to learn more, do more, and uh for less money. But the thing is the tools that we have access to now make that a lot possible, you know. Like we were saying, uh a cheap camera nowadays looks so good compared to just five years ago, man. I still remember looking at, and I know a lot of people love like Sony A730s. This is before I had any Sony. I looked at the the colors and that, and I was like, this is horrible. I would never use this in a professional setting because you know, again, uh what I was using at the time was so much better. And then look at A7S3 that came out after that, and I was like, holy crap, you know, the jump that they made uh is huge. And now I think any camera is pretty much like at that level where it's like good enough for you to just take and start shooting. It really comes down to is uh I think skill level uh and I think your creativity, right? To be able to to use those um uh you know tools to to tell a story. Now, obviously, this doesn't discount it. I I've seen here's the opposite side of it though. I think that's disservice. Uh there's higher-end tools. For example, you know, you're building uh, let's say a deck in your home, right? Right. And you I don't expect you to go, and I wouldn't, go buy the most expensive Milwaukee D-Wall tools, right? You're you're gonna buy something consumer grade, right? Because that's just you doing it, right? Just for fun. Now, if you hire someone, they charge you 20 grand and they show up with like cheap, you know, black and decker or whatever tools. I'm just saying I would be like, not that I care what tool they use, but I'm like, how professional are you that you can't afford better tools? That's my thing, right? Uh and and so same thing. I've seen people who are like char, like I know these people who will charge 30 grand for a commercial and then they show up with like an FX3. And not saying an FX3 is bad, I'm just saying, but the budget was there for a better image, you know. Right. Uh like I say, it may not be that much. The image difference is there. You put a mini LF next to an FX3. I love my FX3, I use it a lot. But if a client's paying me 30 grand, I'm bringing something better because I can see the skin tone difference and all that, right? It may be minute, it's worth it. And that's where the budget comes in, right? The budget isn't just for nothing. Right. But but I've had that happen. Then they go, Oh, I didn't get another commercial for that company. It's like, yes, because you charge them 30 grand, showed up with an FX3 and your friend, and then you were like, Here's a commercial, you know, like uh uh you know, any any other proper production company would have shown up with proper tools and done a better job. Not saying that your commercial is bad. See, I'm not saying that. But you but that's a five thousand dollar commercial, that's not a 30 grand commercial. There's a big difference, I'm just saying. And and that's a quick way to to you know, kind of kill your company, I think. So I'm saying there's a balance of that, right? You have to you have to find the expectations of the client and then meet them with whatever the tools are. I don't think the tool is important, the tool is just relevant to the job. If the budget's higher, I don't think they expected him to, for example, own a better camera, right? You rent that because that's where the budget goes, right? That's why they're like, hey, our budget is this much, so what can you do? Right. Right. And that budget is so you can now go get better tools or more people or you know, a dedicated sound guy instead of the road mics, you know. And that's what I'm saying. But that's what people are doing nowadays on $30,000 commercials. And and can you, yes, absolutely. But that's I think a good way to disservice your client and not to get hired again, you know.

Elias Andres 53:53

Yeah, yeah, no, no, for sure.

Moving Abroad With A Remote Business

Vipul Bindra 53:54

And then there's the opposite people, you know, who are like doing $500 and bringing FX3 lights and uh multiple friends and then making commercial for that too. And that's where it's like unsustainable. Can can you do it? Absolutely, especially if everyone's working for free. But then that's not sustainable, right? I know how expensive it is to live in Vest Palm Beach. Oh, yeah. So unless you're living with your parents, I don't know how you would be able to afford to do that more than you know, one time I'm saying is a courtesy.

Elias Andres 54:20

Yeah, well, that's actually why I'm I'm actually going to Sao Paulo. I'm actually gonna move to Brazil. Oh, really? Yeah, so I'm gonna take a year off, maybe six months a year. I'm still figuring it out. And that's one the other great thing about networking, is that I met like some other people in the group, like Fernando, who's Brazil and he's from Sao Paulo, he's actually going next month. Yeah, and uh that's you know that that's what's interesting about what we do is like it's portable, you know, and and the language is universal. Video is video.

Vipul Bindra 54:47

How about Portuguese though? Did you did you learn any?

Elias Andres 54:49

Yeah, claro, I'll follow Portuguese. I go around. Look at that.

Vipul Bindra 54:52

I don't know what you said, but as long as uh because you know, uh I know you uh obviously going to Brazil, you gotta speak Portuguese, but yeah, that's how it really is. I mean, the filmmaking like I worked with for talk about again the opposite of uh that I worked with him and his crew all the time. Like, I'm gonna hire his friend Bruno I met through for uh Fernando uh on a project uh that I want to, you know, that I'm doing. But same the same reason, like language is not a thing an issue because when I met him, I was like, oh, his language isn't English isn't the best. I'm not talking about Fernando, I'll talk about his friend Bruno. But then we gelled so well, I was like, oh, this is a great guy, you know. Uh and uh Lexan, I want to hire him on my project. So um that's pretty cool though, that you're gonna uh go to Brazil. Just do you have a projects lined up, or you just want to go?

Elias Andres 55:35

Uh yeah, I just want to go. I just want to I just want to immerse myself in a different culture, like a different way of you know living and like working, you know, that their their style of doing stuff over there is really weird, it's different, it's it's a whole yeah, it's not as uh organized, which I mean I say uh okay.

Vipul Bindra 55:53

In my experience working, there's more like organized chaos. Uh and but I like it. Like I said, I like working Brazilian, so you're probably gonna have a good time. I think they're pretty chill people. Oh yeah, yeah. And uh did you connect with Fernando? So is he gonna get you some work there or whatever? Yeah, yeah.

Elias Andres 56:07

So we've been talking back and forth, and yeah, like uh, like I said, I'm finding my place, and yeah, like I'm gonna use what I learned here, which is again going to those groups, going to like uh those events, whatever, like just shooting people messages like hey, I'm new here, uh you know, I speak English, I speak Portuguese, I have all this tool, you know, yeah, and I'm ready to work.

Vipul Bindra 56:28

Like I'm just ready to but you're abandoning your friend. What's gonna happen to him?

Elias Andres 56:32

He's gonna be left here alone. Are you not taking him? Uh well, he has a kid, he's married, you know. I don't have any of that stuff. So I have no baggage. So how's digital artisans gonna run? So I'm gonna be working with it remotely. So I'll be getting the clients overseas, you know, just be you know, hitting up the emails and you know, talking to clients, and then he can shoot it. We also have, like I said, a network back home, like those filmmaking groups, like they're you know, they're filmmakers, but they also want to make some money, of course. So, like, yeah, it's like, hey, you wanna we got this shoot? Can you do it? Boom, boom. You know, it's like so yeah, it's like it's nowadays you can do everything. You can do everything anywhere.

Vipul Bindra 57:07

So so are you taking your cameras with you too?

Elias Andres 57:09

Yeah, I'm taking my FX6, my A7 IVs, and my whole lenses, everything like that. Anything that I don't want to rent because things are over there a little expensive.

Vipul Bindra 57:18

Even more expensive, yeah. Yeah, it's a terrible thing. So uh you what what do you shoot with? So you said FX6 and A7 IVs? Yeah. Is that what your choice is? Yeah, yeah. So how many do you have? So one FX6, two A7 IVs? Is that what your kit is?

Elias Andres 57:30

Or yeah, yeah, that's yeah, yeah. And I I find the S74, like it's also a good B cam.

Vipul Bindra 57:34

You know, and for good photo cam.

Elias Andres 57:36

Good photo cam, you know, it does everything you have to do. And yeah, like I actually kind of like the FX3s, you know. I go back and forth with the FX6 and FX3 because the FX6 looks professional and then yeah, it's easier, you know, you can hit the dials and do that stuff, but the FX3 is just what do you think about the FX2s?

Vipul Bindra 57:50

You know, we got two, so just because I didn't want A74s, I didn't want the overheating. So, but same reason I got because they can do both photo and video. Have you tried one yet? I haven't tried one yet. It does look interesting.

Elias Andres 58:00

I think you know, it is in that.

Vipul Bindra 58:01

Hey, before you go, maybe you should try it's basically an A7 IV with the FX upgrades and all that. Yeah, yeah, the FX body is body, and then you know the big six menu, the the whole shutter angle, you know, all the specific video features, but it still can go do all the stills and the right, you know, stuff you need it to do, like in on an A7 IV.

Elias Andres 58:19

So do you find uh like because you said you work with some RE cameras and stuff like that? Yeah, sometimes easy to go back and forth with the Sony and then the Ari, like yeah.

Camera Brands And Industry Demand

Vipul Bindra 58:29

I mean, okay, uh that's a good point. Uh I uh I think the cameras are very easy to use. I think most of them, like even red cameras. I rented one earlier this year for a uh a uh like a project we did that was on um like a wall, you know, like a LED wall. So it just global shutter helped, you know. Right. But so you just have to kind of learn um, you know, I think basics, and I think it just translates to most cameras. For example, uh talk about let's say RE again, unless you're doing RE raw, let's leave that for the side. Just let's say you're shooting Pro Reson on a Mini or Mini LF or 600, whatever camera I mean. Uh essentially it's the same thing, right? It's the you find the native ISO, right, or gain, and then you put it at that. You find your aperture that you want to shoot at for, and that's a creative thing, right? You put that at that aperture. Uh shutter angle journal generally, I leave it 180, so there's no changing that. And then white balance again, same thing for most cameras. You figure out what your white balance is, you use a c on a higher end set. I would use a color meter or a light meter on uh indie set. I'm just eyeballing, you know what I mean? Uh like hey, just uh 4300 looks good here. And you know, by now I I've done this 15 years, I kind of can guess get it very close uh that fast. But you see what I'm saying? Yeah, it's not any different, it's just a little bit of menu difference. And most of these camera companies, by the way, I highly recommend people go to their companies, they have virtual menu players like on the website, so you can actually pretend like you have the camera, you can like press buttons and it'll let you navigate the menu. It's just yeah, no, I'm telling that's all it is. It's like you have to understand obviously the menu, but most cameras are are the same. I mean, talk about that. I switched from Canon to Sony and I had no trouble because same thing, most of the settings translated. The only thing I had to learn was native ISO, and funny enough, most cameras of native ISO's 800. So that wouldn't even change for me going from Canon to Sony, and then uh same thing before that. I was on Panasonic, I also on Fuji cameras. I I've changed cameras plenty of times. I that's why I tell people I don't care what brand camera you want to buy, because at the end of the day, I will shoot on whatever my clients want to. Now I'm noticing more and more, and I've talked about this that people only want to shoot on their own Sony or Ari nowadays. Red is basically dead, very rare. I'm not saying it's it's not demand, but it's only the people who have who keep that old five years ago where red was really great, everything else sucked. Now red isn't that much great, is what I'm saying. The demand is in there, yeah. You know, like I I know people whose Komodos just sit collecting dust, they're not using them. That's how and their FX3s work all the time. It's just the demand is in there, not saying that those cameras are bad. Uh anyway, the point I'm trying to make is I don't think uh now the same thing with like reds. Once you learn their traffic light system, I don't know if you've used a red and you you know that what I'm talking about, or not? No, no, no. Okay, so they have like a traffic light system where if you're shooting in raw, you don't want any channel to clip. But once you kind of understand the system, there's nothing else to you, you know, because you know, a red is slightly different in that way, it's like they're raw, as in you can change everything in posts, so yeah, yeah. Uh so you just don't want anything to clip. So I generally try to still expose correctly on a red too. But as long as you're not uh you know, uh clipping anything, you can recover it. That's the point of the role.

Elias Andres 1:01:48

But what about black magic? Have you worked with those? Rarely.

Vipul Bindra 1:01:52

So okay, I'll say that. I love black magic gear. I own tons of black magic stuff. We're literally cutting this on a on a black magic ATM. It's just again, I I don't know. I have I've I've shot stuff with people who are using the pocket 6k or whatever as their camera, and I'm like, okay, that's fine. I know a buddy who loves black magic camera. Like, if you go to his studios, just black magic everywhere, he knows if he's listening who I'm talking about, dude. Like, I've never seen more Ursus in my life than I when I go to studios. I'm telling you, talk about fanboy. So so I know people, I'm just saying, but I personally don't shoot black magic that much, but again, I have and I wouldn't care. I do love the new Pixis 12K that they have, or the Cini 12K with the prices on it so much lower. I know if you saw that. The yeah the prices are so low on the 12k now because they lowered them.

Elias Andres 1:02:42

Yeah, and there's a professional camera. I mean, there's some it's not bugs, it's more like you need a crew for yeah, it's a it's a crew camera. So he's like, if you buy yourself, it's like you're better off with FX3. Like if it's just you, this is another one.

Lens Choices And Affordable Cinema Looks

Vipul Bindra 1:02:54

Yeah, but but what I'm I like is the flexibility that we live in a time where under 10k you can get a 12k camera. Uh, I think it even comes with like an eight terabyte recording module, and uh B-Raw has a yeah, B-Raw, which I mean it's not real Raw. Let's be real. B-Raw is fine, but it's not like red raw, it's not the same thing. You know, it's called RAW, but it's not really whatever. Whatever. I I don't want people to hate me. But you go go read the white paper. What I'm saying is technicality is a different thing, right? Uh but uh uh what I'm saying is yes, I love that their cameras exist because they're so cheap and they give you so much more. I think blackmagic has always been this company, I don't know their philosophy. All I could say is they launch these crazy awesome products and their prices are always lower than you think that product should be. So, which is why I think they're loved by a lot of indie people, especially indie filmmakers, because it's a real good image. But again, personally, I don't use them because there's no demand. I don't get an ever a call, hey, let's shoot this on blackmagic. I've had one person even tell me in the last 12 months that they were gonna shoot something on, I'm talking something with a budget, right? Right, right, right. Yeah, something that let's say 10k or higher budget, where they literally even told me that they were choosing to shoot it on the 12k. Uh so and and and so again, I would gladly shoot it. If you call me and you're like, Whipple, I need you to DP. Come Blackmagic cameras are so easy to operate, man. They're even easier than Sony. Uh, I love their menus. Everything is easier than Sony. So that's what I'm saying. Yeah, so so you tell me, I'm like, I'm happy to operate them because uh uh I wouldn't care, is what I'm saying. I'm very camera brand agnostic. I'm like, camera needs to be good, it needs to work for me. And the only reason I use Sony to be real is because that's where the industry is dominant. Uh, because in the corporate commercial world where I am, the demand for FX6s and threes is really high. But outside that, I wouldn't care. If tomorrow somebody else, like if everyone was like, all agencies were like we want a black magic 12K, I would buy four and just show up with four of them. That's my style, you know. I show with more than what you ask for, but I don't I don't care what the brand is, if that makes sense. Right.

Elias Andres 1:05:04

What about lenses?

Vipul Bindra 1:05:05

So uh so lenses I have obviously currently because I'm the so Sony ecosystem. So corporate stuff, I like their G Master, I have their latest primes and literally every G Master. I think the only one I don't have is like the 28 uh or 20, the new F2. Yeah, 28 to 70. 28 to I just was like, I don't understand. Like, why isn't 24? I I guess they can't make it, but I feel like the wider would be more important to me than the I would have rather been 66, you know, 24 to 66 than a 28 to 70, because that four millimeters in the wider end to me is far more important than the further end. Right. So that but I have their GM2, you know, the 24 to 70 GM2. So I have basically all their GM lenses except for that one, uh, the new one. And uh, but for cinema, I've generally been renting, so I did all the higher end stuff. Typically, I go with unless a usually the client tells you, like I said, if it's an Agency, sometimes they may have a look. We need this with this. But if they give me that choice, I usually rent, like I said, mini LFs with uh RD signature primes. That's my go-to. I have filmed on cook lenses a lot of times because if they want cook look, then we'll throw cooks, you know, whatever on them. Uh, but uh, new thing that I bought and I've been offering my clients the past few months is the Arl's lenses from DZO Film, and they have been incredible for us. Uh, because it's like a midpoint where it's like, hey, we don't want to go, you know, like we don't want to spend money on renting RE lenses or cook lenses, but we want a higher end look. I think it the look is very close, it's like 90% there for like fraction of a cost. Like I'm charging, you know, let's say 400-ish bucks to to upgrade, which is not a lot, I'm saying, on a budget to and and and um they've been really good for us. So, like I said, they haven't fully paid off yet, but I I think they will because you know we don't use them all the time. I think they're just a stop gap. It's like, hey, corporate client, Sony, hey, you want a higher end image, or it's a higher budget corporate and look, then we'll go to RLS. Or hey, we're doing a commercial, but we don't have you know 30 grand or whatever. Okay, R's is a perfect upgrade, and and I love using them because for me, the way well, they're a little heavier, but the the feel is all the same as signature primes, and I've used those lenses enough. Uh, because let's be real, I do projects with like 10 people or under usually. Very rarely will have 30-40 people and said that's but that's like most. So I don't have a first AC a lot of times. So I'm saying I'm used to like handling the myself or having the team handle it. But what I'm saying is I'm used to handling Ari's signature primes, so I kind of know the feel. So our uh the the R's uh have you used the DZO film arms? No, but I've used the Nissi's Athena. Okay, yeah, they're very close. I think no, but the R's are so I've used Athena's, these are much bigger, yeah, and uh much heavier, but they're like very sick close to I'm saying like a signature prime lens, a little heavier, yeah, but you know, RE's are just too light, I feel like. But but the feel in the hand is very similar, which again, I'm surprised that they were able to copy them. I I don't know if I want to say that, but but they did a good job, I'm saying, yeah, to to make them very close uh to higher end lenses where I'm like wow, that I can buy this. Yeah, I could never think about buying a signature prime set. It's like what 100-150k, and and that makes no sense. I don't rent them enough to to make that sense uh for my clients, but something like an Arles, which is funny enough, is just sitting right over there. Uh, the case, it's it's incredible lenses. Uh, I would recommend renting them for like a short film or whatever. They are the look is like, I'm telling you, 90% like cook, and uh so it's warm like cook. Uh the the you know, the the fall, the roll-off is very much like signature primes, and you're paying fraction of the price. So anyway, that's what I've been doing. Um at least I would say past few months, but you know, these things are changing. Yeah, I like the Athenas. I mean you own the Athenas or you rented them?

Elias Andres 1:09:05

So so we work, so my partner he works with FAU, and so so they have a camera department over there, and they have some Athenas, and yeah, we've used them on a few projects already.

Vipul Bindra 1:09:15

Have you tried the Aureus? I love uh I've seen those. I've not tried those, I've tried the Athenas, and they look really good. I don't think uh I still think based on images, now this is not my personal experience, I think R's are still better, better, but they look really amazing. It there the Aureus is like uh their T14. Yeah, it's a little bit of setups. So but but they look incredible. I think Nisi. See, here's my thing if a client wants clean image, which is what I think Nissi's provide, I'd just rather use my GM lenses. I find people want the look, you know, this the creamy. Yeah. I f my I I was this close to buying Aureus set too. But then I had to sit down because that there was a a really good offer that I was gonna get on it. So brand new set, but like it was like thousands of thousands of dollars. So I I got tempted with the aureus because I was like, I've used the Athena's, I know how good this is gonna be, and I saw some images. But the issue that I have with them is the same thing, and it may work for some people, you know, if that's what your client desires. Right. I was like, my clients, if they're gonna pay me a premium, they want that premium look, if that makes sense. And I thought the aureus were too clean. Uh like again, I don't want to have two characters, I don't want vintage either. Like, I don't want Vespids, you know, on my my thing, you know. But to me, uh, I felt like the the images coming out of the Athenas and the Aureas, they look like very much clinical to me, with just better roll off than Sony. So I personally thought like if I'm gonna put this on a commercial, it's like has to be like a very you know clinical commercial, right? Whereas with R's I can go F uh uh like T14, right? And I can have some look. And it's still not vintage, it's a nice look.

Elias Andres 1:11:04

Right.

Vipul Bindra 1:11:04

But then let's say if you want a clean image, we just put it to T2 and it just cleans up. So I can do both with an Rl that I can't do with the neat that I don't know how to make character. Obviously, you can put some filters on it, but it's not like it doesn't get you that, you know, the swirly, the creaminess, you know, that you're looking for uh without going to vintage. Obviously, neither of these lenses are gonna get you vintage look. But what I'm trying to give my clients remember, this is an upgrade for they don't have a high budget. Right. I I find the R's were perfect for me, uh, but I am tempted, like I said, with the the Nisi stuff. Yeah, they are killing it, especially with their variable ND, the jet mag stuff.

Elias Andres 1:11:45

Yeah, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:11:46

Man, that that stuff. So you talk about the advantage there. Most NDs I find are horrible because they have a cast, versus the Nisi filters are so clean. Yeah, I guess that's why their lenses are clean. Right. So in a VND, that's a positive. So I love their NDs and stuff.

Elias Andres 1:12:01

Yeah, I mean, I like the Dinas just because they're small and compact. And it was like it's we used them for a short film we shot like two months ago, and it was just so easy to just pop one in. Exactly. When you're in a Dana dolly, you can just take it out. You know, you don't again like bigger lens, bigger glass. Yes, you're gonna get more character, but like goddamn.

Vipul Bindra 1:12:18

Yeah, unless you don't need, and and again, most times to be real, most people don't shoot T1.4, you know, in most circumstances. I have. We did that project in Chicago where we just maxed it out, but we wanted the look, we wanted it to be high-end, you know, moody in that that look. Uh, but but it's not for every project. I agree with you. Um, and and that's what I'm saying. Like most time, I'm like, let's go to T2 or whatever, like and then get that cleaner image because that's what most cor companies want. You know, they don't want something crazy.

Elias Andres 1:12:51

Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:12:52

They're just trying to tell their story, get the results that they want. They don't want it to look artsy. Uh, like, you know, obviously, we we we like to get there, doesn't mean the client wants to. And our job is to define the perfect balance where they get a beautiful video, but at the same time, it works. It it's not the other way around. You know, if it doesn't work, then it doesn't matter how beautiful it was.

Elias Andres 1:13:12

Yeah, and it depends on the project. Like I said, this gear depends. I mean, like I said, I I like that thing is because when I'm doing like short films or stuff like that, it's easier to move around, quickly get shots. Like, I'm more in the mindset of like, okay, I need to get these shots and I only have 10 hours. Yeah, we need to get through like 80 pages.

Vipul Bindra 1:13:28

And I think it's also like I said, trend where industry things change, you know, something becomes an industry standard and then it doesn't. Like, I remember five years ago, I was renting an genuine lenses a lot. It was a thing, like, let's get some Fujinons, let's get some Anjou lenses or whatever. And I was, I was like, okay, I'll rent whatever. You know, uh, like again, uh, I you know, my job is to to fulfill the project as needed, right? I'm not like, why would I care like what they want to rent? But now the last three years, I haven't heard anyone want to call me and say we want to rent Anjino. They've been all like, we want RELFs or whatever, right? With the the signature primes. Uh, I know sometimes they're they want ultra primes if it's like a regular mini, but what I'm saying is it it's it's changed now. Like I said, I haven't used anything on genuine, I think last three years, but I'm sure somebody will make something, and then all of a sudden it'll be like, Oh, we want this lens. And then so as a as a DP or producer, I generally try to be too non-emotional about it, right? Because uh, you know, I I'm like, I don't like people like that who are like, no, we have to use this. And I'm like, why? Like, you know, unless it's like a specific reason, yeah, yeah. There has to be a reason for look, or you know, you're and but the client has to agree too. It's not just what I want. Like, for example, talk about Arles when we use that in Chicago project. I was able to bring it to my friend who was taking us there, like, because we wanted to use some other lenses. I think it was cook sp4s or something, uh SP3, sorry. And I was really I was able to show him, like, look, this is our ideal lens set, this is this lens set. We're gonna get there and we'll save so much more money. And uh, and then he saw it and he was like, Yep, absolutely. So, kind of like that, you know, sometimes you have to show the client too where they can save money, and that's why I'm like, I like the RLs, but um, I also think it's also what you own. So now, for example, I own RLs, it's a lot easier for me to go to a client and be like, hey, let me bring these because I already own them, right? Right. Versus if I didn't own them, it'd be a lot more cost to go rent them or bring them or whatever. So I think that's another thing is what you have access to. Because if you don't have access to a certain thing, then you know you can't bring it. So, what about you? What what what type of lenses are you shooting with or cameras that you like? Do you rent anything outside of your FX6?

Elias Andres 1:15:42

Uh, not really. I like I said, I like to keep it simple. Simple, easy. I know how to use it, I know what to do with it. Uh yeah, I have a 24 to 70 Sigma lens. I have a 7200 Sony G Master, which is perfect, and like a 14mm G Master, and a few other like little primes and stuff like that. I don't get too crazy, too complicated, because I do a lot of vet work, so I just need it, you know, I just need the events at Sony.

Vipul Bindra 1:16:06

I'm not putting no art any Cinemens. Unless they're absolutely, but it's very rare that they would want an event event to be cinematic. They want clean footage, autofocus is perfect.

Elias Andres 1:16:18

Yeah, yeah. You don't want those, yeah. So yeah, keep it simple, keep it easy. Like I said, if you know what you're doing, like when I get into more artistic stuff, yeah, then I'll get the Athenos and you know, you put the the full for autofocus. I have a first AC, they'll they'll track, they'll do that, we take retakes, all that stuff. So it just depends. And it's like, yeah, for for event works and stuff like that, I keep it like you say, clinical. I keep it straight to the point.

Vipul Bindra 1:16:38

Which I do want to clarify. I said earlier, I was like, I don't have a first AC. Well, it's one of us who acts as a first AC. We don't bring a dedicated AC. So when you're a small team, you know, everyone does three, four roles. I didn't want it to look like, yeah, we're not pulling focus. We're pulling focus, obviously. Those lenses are in focus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, nobody's like, I mean, so yeah, that I I didn't want to clarify that. Yeah, gotcha. Uh, but no, uh, so what do you think about the the the uh your opinion? I know I gave my opinion on the Athenas. What you what you think?

Elias Andres 1:17:06

Yeah, no, I think they're great, like they're just portable, you have a full set, like you can easily move things. And they rent cheap too, right? Yeah, they rent. I mean you can just buy them, honestly, for like things like 6K, exactly, they're a lot cheaper, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:17

And it's like seven, eight lens, right? Something like that. It's a it's you lose money by not buying them. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for those, yeah. Because once you pay, like same thing with me. Like, I was like, I bought the set for I think 10 grand or something like that, five lens set. And I was like, by the time I add enough time I use it, it makes no sense. Because the, you know, like I said, but but it only with lenses like this. Anything over this, I probably don't ever recommend buying them. Because again, lenses get yeah, you know, lenses aren't uh, you know, if you need something different for a project or whatever, you're not always gonna be able to use them. Right. Uh, but but lenses, yeah, these new lenses are so much more.

A Feature Film Built Like A Documentary

Elias Andres 1:17:54

Yeah, and they keep their value. Like it's like it's like if you don't need it in a year or two, it's like, yeah, you you know, like you made so much money off the projects anyways, that's like the the difference that you sold it for for where you bought it is like negligible. Exactly. It's not even there. But especially for cheaper lenses like that. Yeah. Um, so I'm curious about this uh feature film that you're trying to do. So, like, what do you know the product? Like, do you know like what you want to shoot on or what's oh yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:18

That is this is what I'm saying. Usually it's weird, it's the opposite, right? You have a story and a script, and you don't you're figuring out the production side of it. I have all the production side figured out. I just need the script to be ready. Man, Mario, when's the script gonna be ready? Huh? Huh? Oh, he's not paying attention. You hear me?

Mario Rangel 1:18:38

Yeah, we hear you. Okay, when the script I mean, it's ready. Five minutes? I mean, right. Yeah, yeah. Uh well, I mean, the script is uh, I don't know, eighty-five percent ready. See, that's all we're waiting for. We we just we just need to, I think, refine the dialogue. Yeah. Um, after that, it's ready to.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:01

I am ready, dude. I'm excited, but at the same time, you know what happens? Is it your idea or is it his idea? Yes, so I came up with a story. So here's my thing, you know. I just wanted to, you know, I'm passionate too. I like video production. But I was like, how can I make a movie without making any compromises? And I wanted to um uh I was like, so here's my thing. Like, let me take it back a little bit. Just like indie movies, right? Indie movies just look like indie movies. Yeah, very rarely do you see an indie movie, and I'm not talking Hollywood level indie movie, but 10 million is an ultra low budge. I'm talking real indie movies, people are scraping to, you know. So this is like a movie, for example, with like almost zero budget. Like again, nothing is actually zero, but you get the point. Like, no budget movie. So it's like they look a certain way, they're they're terrible, the dialogue is this way, sound design is terrible. So I was like, I want to make a movie that should look like it had a million-dollar budget, but it should be zero dollar budget, right? We have no budget, and I was like, the only reason I can do that is I have all the production equipment, access to great talented people who want to be part of such a project. Uh, with so resources won't be limited, right? Right. Uh, the only thing limited is I want the story to be great. So I had the story in my mind. I was like, and obviously it had to be strategically written so it would cost less money to shoot. So basically, this is essentially the the best way I can explain. My movie is uh a doc um a narrative documentary. So it's not a real documentary, but it we present it like a documentary, right? Which makes it a lot easier to shoot because majority of the movies high-end interviews, which I do them all the time. Yeah, the listeners. So it's a lot. So I can so 90% of my movie is can be shot like this in like a weekend, and it and we can throw real budget at it. Like I want to use, I'm talking uh the plan is obviously this could change, but mini LFs to A and B cameras with the Atlas Mercury anamorphic lenses. So it's gonna be like very and like I said, very high-end lights, all aperture latest storm lights, 1200x's, 400x. Uh, we're gonna go obviously Dana Dolly, we're gonna go all out um as in like an indie movie level, but it's gonna look like we had a budget. Like I want it to look like, oh wow, they had a million dollars, right? So the idea is obviously I want most people to see it and go, like, oh wow, great movie! Can't believe it, they made it for a million dollars, right? Or what? They made this crap movie and wasted a million dollars. But the reality being that we didn't have a million dollars, we just spent our our time and effort making it. That's literally my only incentive to do it. I want to do it to show that you can do it, you can do it, and you can make it look good. That's the big thing. And and that's why I told Mario, I was like, you take responsibility for making my story. Because I came up with the story, but he put it to pen and paper and kind of made it sure that it flows, right? Uh, and then I was like, I'll take all responsibility if the visually doesn't look good, but you take responsibility if it doesn't, you know, if it's not a good script. And I was like, that that's a good partnership, right? Same thing here. I'm like, look, I can come up with a story, but I don't know how to put in pen. Yeah, yeah, to structure it. Yeah, exactly. And he helped me do that, and we were able to come up with beats because the thing is, if it's a documentary, every five minutes, unlike a traditional arc, you know, it's not that. Every five minutes, something needs to happen. It's a very crazy arc. And the reason is because we have to maintain people's attention for 90 minutes, it's a hundred-minute movie, but the last five, seven minutes, we do something really crazy. Like I'm talking like the sixth sense type of twist. It's like the whole movie flips uh and it's really cool. So the whole idea is you watch this whole movie and then everything changes just the last five minutes. Okay. But if people don't get there, then they don't see the twist, right? Yeah, that's the hard part. So exactly. So we wanted to make the movie interesting. So we're trying to basically make sure every every f five minutes, 10 minutes at max, there is some kind of craziness happening, right? Yeah. So that you your attention span is made, and then so you make it to the 90-minute mark, 95-minute mark, and then you see our crazy twist, and then we'll have you on the seat, right? That's at least the plan.

Elias Andres 1:22:57

Interesting. What did what inspired you? Like, do you get nothing?

Vipul Bindra 1:23:01

It was just to be honest, a I love watching documentaries. Obviously, I love making documentaries. I should say that. I usually say corporate commercial, I meant I don't know why combine documentaries in that. I love making documentaries too, especially corporate documentaries, those are amazing. Yeah. Uh, so anyway, so yeah, that's just my passion. I love making documentaries, I love telling stories. And uh, I was like, what could be a narrative documentary? You know, obviously, a real documentary, follow character, you come back with thousands of hours of content, right? You cut it, right? That's a documentary.

Elias Andres 1:23:30

Right.

Vipul Bindra 1:23:30

Here, I'm like, I can make a character say whatever, right? I can have anything happen. But the craziness is yes, our movie is crazy, crazy things happen. But if you watch some real documentaries, like watch Tiger King, crazy things happen in real documentaries. So I don't want people to go, this is over the top. It's not meant to be a critically acclaimed movie, yeah, it's meant to be entertainment. I want people to watch it and just be wholly entertained. Yeah, as a story, exactly. And you to do that from a documentary is hard. So we have crazy characters, we have crazy things happen, and uh and that's essentially it. But to break it down production side, yes, that's the plan is to make it as easy to shoot. So it's just gonna be high-end interviews uh in a location, and most of the location is gonna be one location. We're gonna make it look like you know, five different locations. Okay, and uh, so we're gonna just rent one location over a weekend. 90% of the movie is gonna be shot because you know it's just interviews, but it's not real interviews, they're reading dialogue. So a good actor should be able to do that pretty fast. And then um the rest of that is found footage because the movie's like a like a murder thriller, right? What would you describe it as Mario again? Uh like uh murder mystery investigation, right? Yeah, so so that's basically it. So that way is the footage is from decades ago, right? Study yeah, so it's just potato found footage. That'll be easy to shoot. You can shoot that on uh FX3. I'm not planning to use the R's for that, and we'll put the filters on it. I may even get, I don't know yet, a real VHS camera just to make it legit instead of throwing a filter on FX3, might as well just shoot it. Yeah, yeah, creative with it. Yeah, it's funny. Because it's gonna be like home videos or CCTV footage, but from like 90s, you know, or 80s or whatever this time frame is. Uh, but you know what I mean, like very old. Yeah, yeah. So 30, 40 years ago. So it's ain't gonna be like some spectacular thing, is what I'm saying. So uh so that's that, but that we'll do after, and we can fill in because the idea is to to see what we need and we go shoot that, right? But it doesn't need the same actors because again, they don't look the same, right? The ones who are doing the interviews aren't gonna be in that.

Elias Andres 1:25:31

So that was interesting. Well, do you know like your actors or your no, no, we're too early for that.

Vipul Bindra 1:25:36

Like I said, we need to currently get our script 100%, then we will get to that stage. And I would love to partner with people like our Fernando and you know other people that I know in my network that love to do that. I think it it's gonna be an incredible project within some parameters. Like, let's be real, we're up front that hey, we want this to look like a million bucks, so we don't have a million bucks, so we're gonna constrain ourselves to high-end interviews over a weekend, but then go all out with equipment and skill and lighting and to make it look like I want it to be like you know, you watch something, and I hate throwing that word out there, but like something you'd watch on Netflix, like it should just belong, or you know? Yeah, now hopefully we can get the story and acting, all that to that same level. I'll try. I can't guarantee that, but we're gonna give it our 100%. But the production quality, I don't want any compromises on that. So that's at least the approach of that makes it.

Elias Andres 1:26:26

Have you have you shot a feature before? Yeah, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:26:28

I did that, like I said, with Mario. Oh, that was a feature, and that's just an example, yeah. Yeah, because I I heard it.

Elias Andres 1:26:33

It was like they shot some stuff before.

Vipul Bindra 1:26:35

Yeah, so they had so I shot like portion of the movie, if that makes sense. So they had a portion, yeah, and then we came in and we filmed a portion over a night. So I'm saying that was half a feature basically. I thought I felt like a half, maybe it wasn't half. He'll he knows how many pages was it?

Mario Rangel 1:26:50

Uh, it was around 15 pages, yeah. In one night. In one night.

Vipul Bindra 1:26:55

Yeah, so I came in, I shot that for the. But no, I've done movies all the time. Like I said, I do short movies all the time. But again, it's not as frequencies I do pro uh corporate. Those I'm doing like every other day versus uh the other thing, you know. It's like once in a while. Interesting, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but yeah, but like I said, I'm not worried about the shooting part. Like I said, that's easy to me at least. I'm more looking for the other help that I need, which is like casting. I'll help with location scouting and uh permits, crews. Yeah, well, I got permits. We do permits enough. So cruise and permits, I got it. Uh but yeah, I'm talking more like the narrative side that we don't handle that much. I mean, even casting I do enough sometimes for commercials, so but the stuff I don't do uh especially is like that, like you know, working uh I don't know, working on a tight schedule to shoot a movie over two days. It's rare, but I do it. Obviously, I did with a lot of it. But yeah, that's gonna be where I need help. And like I said, I have people like Fernando that I know that are in my network where I'm gonna be able to partner with them that do this. All the time and be like, hey, so how do we make this right? Bring present it to them, work with them, help me find source actors, help me source location, you know, all the stuff that we'll need beforehand we go to shoot. But I think it'll be easy because if I can get A roll done, we can get a cut done. And once we get a cut done, we know where we need inserts or whatever, and we can go film inserts. I don't think I'm gonna need a whole crew for that.

Elias Andres 1:28:23

Right. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:24

So we'll do inserts after. The goal was to get a storyline in because the whole point is to make it engaging. Right. So we're gonna we're gonna basically go, oh, is this engaging enough? No, let's cut this or let's do that because we're gonna overshoot the interviews, right? Right. And then we're gonna cut that down. And then I think then we can go and get inserts. So uh like I said, it'll it'll be a longer process to finish it, but shooting it should be just a weekend.

Goals For The Film And Portfolio Value

Elias Andres 1:28:47

And what do you what are you what's your like end goal? Like what what are your goals?

Vipul Bindra 1:28:50

Well, the goal is just to sh to make a movie, like I said, that looks amazing. That's it. Visually, I'm saying that's a different than yeah, good movie.

Elias Andres 1:28:58

But like like film festivals or like I don't know.

Vipul Bindra 1:29:00

Uh to that's too far. Obviously, ideally we'd like to sell it to a streaming service, but I don't want I don't want to care. I don't want that's why I tell people I like to underpromise and over-deliver. The goal is we're gonna make something awesome.

Elias Andres 1:29:11

There you go.

Vipul Bindra 1:29:12

That's it. That's it, and we're gonna make it better than most indie movies you're part of. That's it. Like that's where I'm gonna cut it at. But obviously, ideally, we'd like to go to festivals, win some awards, uh maybe sell the movie to an to uh some kind of streaming service that there where it belongs, if it's good enough. Uh like I said, but I don't want to sound too overconfident because the whole thing is let's be real. Yes, I haven't made I haven't come up with a story for a feature, then shot it, then sold it for millions of dollars, right? That's not my thing. But I sell videos for hundreds of thousands all the time. So I don't I don't see why this would be harder, especially if you make something awesome, because we're not going there to raise funds. I'm not, I don't need funds, right? I don't I don't need to go. That's harder, I think. Where you go and say, Hey, I have this concept. Can you give me and then they're like, You've never done this, right? You know, especially at that scale. Um so I want to have a finished product product if that makes sense. Then we will see how good it is, and we can approach it that way. Ideally, like I said, in the in the best world, if it looks amazing, we approach streaming services and try to sell it there. If let's say it looks, you know, okay. Again, I doubt, but you never know. Like I said, I I I want to be humble. Uh, and then in that case, we'll just say, hey, we made something really awesome, and it can be a portfolio piece. Like, look, we can make something that looks like this. Because like I said, imagine five, six high-end interviews. That is a good portfolio for most people to have to be able to show. And then remember, they're all different settings, they're not all the same. Even though we're filming in the same house, we're gonna make it look like one's like a prison, you know, one's like an old tiny house, one's just sitting on a bed, you know, and we're gonna make it look like very, very different. So, yeah, so you're so you're gonna have five really high-end interviews that we're gonna shoot. So I'm saying for most people they're gonna partake, they're gonna have something really good to show and put in their portfolio, right? And then if if like I said, it is what I want it to be, I think we'll have extra avenue to like go sell it, uh, to get to get something out of it. But like I said, I'm happy with what I do. I'm not trying to become a narrative movie director here, right? Uh I like I said, what I'd like to do if anyone's listening is give me lots of money and I go make a documentary about Formula One. That'd be an ideal project, right? So that's kind of where I want to go. This project is just a one-off, I would say. Like to just showcase that, hey, we can do this. A lot of people then go, oh, commercial people, they can't really make movies. You know, it's like, no, we can. I choose not to. Yeah, so this idea is to just go make something really awesome within limited constraints, obviously. Of course, and uh and then uh just have something, and then um I think go pursue stuff I like anyway, which is like say high-end documentaries, high-end corporate, high-end commercial. Yeah, and because I'm happy where I am, you know. Yeah, so I have awesome clients.

Elias Andres 1:32:02

But it's good to like, yeah, like flex your creativity, yeah. Exactly. You could choose how the the interviews look like, you know, and that's that's the fun part. It's like, okay, you're you're you know, like get creative, like it's unlimited, it's limitless what you can do. And it's it's fun, you know. It's like that's the whole point. I mean, you know, it's like making something beautiful, making the image like just stand out. It's like and showing people, hey, I can do this. It's like, you know, is like it would you do that with the regular interview?

Vipul Bindra 1:32:27

No, because that's like it's just I mean, some projects, like I said, that's why we really enjoy that when we talk about that Chicago project loss because we got to be creative, but no, most times it's rare. It's very rare that uh uh I'm saying a client will go, no, make it moody, make it cinematic, go T1.4 and go all crazy at it. But normally, yeah, no, they want sharp, clear content because you know we're trying to tell uh a company story, so you're right, it's it's gonna be incredible to be able to flex that creative muscle and uh show what we can do, right? Or or to be real, I do do some documentaries where we do get to do some creative stuff, but either way, just something to high-end. But I don't to be real, I I I haven't gotten a project where I've been asked to do anamorphic because most commercial corporate stuff is not anamorphic. Uh most I'm not saying all. So, huh?

Elias Andres 1:33:14

Do you like the look of anamorphic lenses?

Vipul Bindra 1:33:16

Yeah, absolutely for the right project. I mean, maybe a commercial, I wouldn't ever use it on a corporate. I know people who have, but I'm just like, this is not the medium, because you know, uh funny enough, uh, we get paid so much money to not make content with iPhones because people want don't want it to look that cinematic. No, yeah, that's they want to tell a good story, which is why we still get hired. Yeah, the again, the camera is not the factor. I'm just saying. So, yeah, I don't think uh people care. Like, yeah, uh, you know, Atlas Marquis, I guess, on a mini LF. That's not really the desired uh uh look I'm saying for for most corporate projects. I don't want to see, say, because I'm sure somebody watching is like, oh, I did this project. So, you know, there's always uh random projects here and there where you do it. But I'm saying it's not a common request that I get. Usually agencies want spherical lenses, and like I said, generally if they have the budget, I go for the Ari lenses or cook lenses, and if not, like I said, we'll bring our Sony lenses or we'll rent something. Like I said, I've rented Athena's, now I have R's to offer them, and that's kind of where we limit ourselves to. Like I said, it's very rare nowadays to deviate from that. And then I'm talking the last two years, just because it's kind of become the standard. I feel a change coming, I feel the industry is gonna shift in the next year, but right now it's not. Right now, I haven't heard you know, any emails come through where they're like, Oh yeah, we want this or that, you know, because because then I'll be like, okay, it's shifting, it's changing. Uh, and I'll just go with the trend, you know. That's yeah, that's so that's what I'm saying. It'll be a cool project to do all this creative anamorphic stuff. Yeah, then you never get the chance to, you know. Yeah, and if if somebody called me for commercial and they said we want to do anamorphic, I would absolutely do it. I mean, that's not an issue. It's just I'm saying nobody's asking for it. Yeah, they are at least the price range I am in. Uh normally, like I said, I've done some really high-end stuff, but most average projects, I'm saying we're we're in that, you know, small project. I would say like 10,000 to 100,000, and in between that, that's kind of where my my projects are uh, you know, average being about that 25k ish, I would say. But then some corporate projects are low. I don't want to say it's all high. Sometimes, you know, it's a corporate video, 3, 4k. Sometimes we go to inter uh meetings and then the client says 1k, and I'm like, I don't know how to do that professionally. Because you know, again, I don't want to discount that 1k is not a lot of money, but when you're trying to do it properly, I'm saying color it, you know, shoot it, edit it, light it, come up with the creative, uh, you know, pay my editors, pay Mario, you know, pay other shooters that are gonna come, then it's like hard to to do. Yeah, and and sometimes so sometimes you know we just have to say no because it's like, hey, that's not doable. Yeah, do you have that happen where you have to just go, no, not the right fit, or not yet?

Elias Andres 1:36:00

Yeah, yeah, because I mean it's like you know, when you start out, you know, you take any job you can, you're like, okay, I'll do this for $300, I guess. Which is not great. But yeah, and but then yeah, eventually you get to a point where you're like, okay, I know that I can't, it would just hurt me at the end of the day. Because I first of all, I know I can do better. It's just that I just I'm not gonna bring all this gear, bring people and do this, and I'm like, I'm losing money on something. Um, and it's like it's just not, it doesn't show what I can do, it doesn't show like my potential, you know. Yes, and so yeah, at the end of the day, it's like you it's almost like you gotta help yourself and be like, okay, listen, this is gonna hurt this is actually gonna hurt you. This $300, $500, whatever like low budget it is, is actually gonna hurt you in the long run than it is gonna help you.

Vipul Bindra 1:36:42

Especially my thing is I like to work with legit businesses, right? As in, look, there's a business. You're your let's say your friend is like, I'm gonna start baking cookies in my my kitchen, which is I don't even know if that's legal, you know, and packaging them and selling them, right? I want a video, I'll pay you, buddy, and like a dinner or 300 bucks, right? The thing is, that obviously, yeah, that's their budget. It has nothing to do with they're being mean to you or whatever. They don't have the money for you, right? And you you can do the best. Obviously, you could go above and beyond then the money, but that's not a business at that point, right? That's again passion, helping a friend. But when you're doing this as a company, look, like so many people depend on me. Like, to be real, I don't want to get in discount. We're not that big company, it's just me and a bunch of contractors. But there's a lot of people that kind of depend on me for work or or whatever. Um, and you know, I I it's not a charity, is what I'm saying. We're actually really cheap for what we do, in my opinion. Right. Like I said, but I'm not cheap, you know, as in like we don't do video for 500 because that's impossible in a place like Central Florida. And a lot of times we're flying, it won't even buy that plane ticket to go to the location than to shoot. But compared to the agencies they're comparing us to against, we're like a fraction of a price. Yeah, and that's what I'm saying, it's the client you're looking at. So if you go to the mom and pop shop and I tell them $5K for a video, which is lower side for me, and they go, Whoa, that's a lot of money. No, I'll just call somebody else or whatever, right? That's one approach. Then we're too expensive. But then you go to an agency who who's gonna charge 100K to the client to do a conference coverage, and they call me and say 15k, can you do the conference coverage, right? They pull 85, and I'm not kidding. That's the kind of numbers a lot of agencies can pull. And then they'll pay me 15k and they'll put 85 in their pocket, and that happens a lot, right? In that case, I'm the cheap guy. They're hiring me because we can do a good job in that 15k, right? Where the client won't go, that we paid you 100k, and why does this look like BS? So that makes sense, but they're not looking for the most cinematic thing. Yeah, what I'm saying is to them we're cheap, and then to some we're like really expensive. Yeah, I think it's just a way of looking at it. Like, for example, when I help friends, so I I'm not always freelancers, but if I have my schedule's free, I'll go help out. Uh, and then, but what I charge for my day rate, I generally bring my van. It's like you can't rent this stuff, you know what I mean? Like, go rent some Cheps mics, a couple FX6s, and a couple FX3s, and uh, you know, a 1200X, a couple of 400Xs. You calculate the cost of, and that's the basic stuff. That's not counting the stands, grip, you know, generally you're pulling from the van.

Elias Andres 1:39:15

Right.

Small Cameras That Save The Shoot

Vipul Bindra 1:39:15

You account for that. Uh the rental cost, it's higher than what I'm charging, you know. Like, so they're just getting me for free. And but I I do that for friends because we have enough of our clients that can pay the bill. I could never, this would never happen, which is why it's a rarity to have people like that in your network because uh um, you know, it's just not financially feasible. The only way I can make this financially work is I have clients that pay big numbers, and then you can then offset that between all of them, right? Right. All this equipment, and it's always something new, right? There's always something coming. Uh, like I was showing Mario, a new camera showed up literally yesterday. I haven't even turned like recorded with it yet. So it's like always something new happening, and we have to have it because our clients are expecting us to have the latest technology, right? But the reason we can afford it is it gets split. So that it only costs a client a fraction of the money because it's divided in the hundreds of clients I'm working with. And that's that's what I'm saying. So, and that helps my friends or other people that I'm freelancing with. Why not? I don't mind it. I already have that in my van. I'm not gonna, it's more work for me to go take this out, take this out than to just show up. Obviously, there's a reason, obviously, if they hire me to do lighting and now we start pulling all the camera equipment, then it's like uh uh but if it's a yeah, but if it's a friend, I wouldn't maybe not that much, but you know what I mean. Like there's a there's a thing uh about navigating that, but I don't mind that because again, I wish like and and to be real, I have friends who help me out all the time. I've had friends where like I know what your rate is. Hey, can you really I need you to come just operate a camera for me? You don't need to bring anything. Can you work for this rate? And I know it's a lower rate than they take, and I was like, it's okay if you say no, and then they'll say yes because they know I'll do the same thing for them, right? I'll show it with all this crap when they need me. And I think that's uh the the again then coming back full circle to where we began. It's the power of networking, man. It's like helping each other out as long as you do it in a genuine way. I think it comes back, at least my experience. If you work with nice people, oh yeah, um, you know, it's always reciprocated, and uh, and um, you know, and that's how you grow. Is the whole point I started this was I want people to have real conversations from people who make real money going out and doing this, and uh and and and just see a perspective because there's so many different ways to go about this. You don't have to do what I do, yeah. You if you don't have hundreds of clients who can who can pay you enough to split all these costs, then this is not the right way of doing it, right? And that's why it's like, hey, here's 20 other approaches on how to do this.

Elias Andres 1:41:52

Yeah, yeah. And I mean I've listened to the podcast, and there's you know, one guy that he just used the DJI Osmo, like that's how he makes his money.

Vipul Bindra 1:41:58

Yeah, Justin probably hates me for that because I made it seem like that's the only camera he owns. Uh, but he owns obviously more cameras than that. But he does do a lot of work with the Pocket 3, and funny enough, I want to shout him out. I was totally against small cameras, right? I was last time I used my GoPros, I need to sell them because they're so old, it was like four years ago, five years ago. Take that back before this year, let me say. Okay, because we have been using a lot of small lucky. So I want to say before I talked to like Justin, I was like, no, these small cameras are not good enough or whatever, like they're they don't keep up. Like the other cameras have come up, but no, like I was just not playing with the latest small cameras, so we own like Osmo360 from DJI now, two two Action 5 Pros, two Osmo Pocket 3s. So I've like compiled a good list of small cameras, and they are being wonderful. So projects where we just need like a bunch of angles, sports stuff, wherever, you know, fast action-based stuff. Right. Where yes, could we mount an FX3? Uh, you know, but we don't have five FX3s, you know what I mean? Like we have two. So to be able to get 10 different angles or whatever, we cannot throw all these cameras at the same time. We did a project with a car company uh uh months ago where it was so amazing to use these cameras. So, what I'm saying is yes to to say I I have turned around on that as in like I love these small cameras, I think they're wonderful, right tools. Now, I don't personally think I would exclusively show it with a pocket three for a client, but I think it makes for an incredible. We we did a shot. Do you remember that day, Mario? You and I meant, and we did like a vortex shot. Now, yes, we had a gimbal, we had an FX3 on it. Could we have, yes, done the Vortex shot and the FX3? But our arms hurt, you know, after that. And so we did all the B-roll with the FX3s, but then we were like, hey, let's do some creative stuff. Now we're just here. So I brought a Procit 3 just because now I have one. I just throw it, it doesn't take space. And we literally did like a vortex shot because it's also gimbal, right? With that, and it was so cool. And when we looked at it, it was like this is not bad, you know, at all. And it this will cut in perfectly within this footage, because again, because cameras nowadays are good enough. What do you think?

Mario Rangel 1:44:05

Right? No, it was I mean, it's so easy to use. Um, yeah, I mean you can you can do shots that you normally I mean you need more money, more people, uh and it's just so easy. I mean, and it was yeah, it turned out great. Did you already use that footage or not yet?

Vipul Bindra 1:44:23

Not yet, we haven't gotten there. But but that's the part I'm talking about. We have whole car rigging stuff right there. I can put an FX6 on a car if you wanted to, if there's a budget. But for this client, for example, they had a budget, but it wasn't you know huge. Right. So, how do we get them good shots? Pocket threes with those the the Hydra Alien minis, you know? And and you put those, you put some action cameras, you we got great footage, uh incredible footage, and we were able to get that fast because remember, we only had access to uh the track for a couple hours or whatever, something like that, each track. So it's not even like um you know, and again, low budget stuff, it's not even like I was like, Oh, I'll go above and beyond, you know, the amount of people we would take to grip a car rig and then to be able to change it, we wouldn't have gotten that many shots. Sure, it would have looked better, but at the end of the day, it cuts well because our our FPV drone pilots putting an F Action 5 on it anyway. You see what I'm saying? It all actually cuts well, and uh, like I said, so I've turned around as in like again, I don't think I could only make all my living with pocket threes, but I am not afraid to sh uh cut uh you know an Action 5 Pro or an Osmo 360 shot or a Pocket 3 shot in a in a footage now. Yeah because and like I said, I own a collection of them now. So that happened this year, and I think they're a good uh stuff to have again because it fits in certain levels of shooter, certain types of shots. Uh, I think especially like if the client's budget is low, it's just a couple of one of two of us, not a whole crew, right? And we want to do cool, our arms are gonna get tired. We can't do 12 hours of gimbal holding. So here's where it's like, hey, we'll do we'll mix and match, we'll get some extra shots, and then the client's getting more because they don't care, they just want the shots, you know. Yeah, and uh that's the realistic part of this business. Like, I can come here and tell you, like, we light everything perfect, we do this, we do that. Yes, we do some of that, but we do some of it, it's like run and gun. Yeah, you gotta be adaptable, you gotta be flexible. And then the and the end day, um, trust me, if you'd gone to my client, somebody listening would be like, and that's why I'm like, that's the bad business approach. If somebody's like, okay, sure, I need to find this client, and I'll go, I'll take the same money, but I will, you know, give you a full FX3 Wartech shot or whatever. I'm just saying. People think that way, and they and it's like, you think you'll get that client? No, because the reason we had the client has nothing to do with equipment, it's because we built years and years and years of relationship by doing jobs and jobs and jobs. That's how you'll get the job. And then when you get there, yes, please use whatever equipment you want. But I want, if any of us are helping anyone in any ways, just get there. And then that is just building relationships and being nice and doing a great job. Yeah, I don't know if just killing your arms is the way to get there. It's a it's a bunch of stuff, I'm saying, yeah, to get there, right?

Elias Andres 1:47:15

Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's that's interesting. Like, what we do is like you know, some people do different stuff, like cars, like you know, there's different equipment for that. Like, um, if you're doing like food stuff, you know, it's so weird. Like, there's like like macro lenses, like I do micro lenses, okay.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:30

Yeah, and like in I'm I wish Sony, Sony would make one. I don't have a uh like a GM macro lens that's good. I used to love my uh Canon 100 millimeter. I used that so much for product stuff. Yeah, yeah. The L lens. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, I had both the RF version and the EF version of it, so it was really good.

Elias Andres 1:47:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting to see what people use it. And it's like, I'm like, ah, would I use it?

Vipul Bindra 1:47:52

Because I've done makeup stuff, you know, like where it's just you know, you're just taking photos of lipsticks or I don't know. See, that's what I say, I've done it, but I don't know what each product is called. I was just moving them one by one, right? And you do some videos, some photos of each product. So we'll do that, you know, for obviously. So you need a good macro lens to be able to do that, yeah.

Elias Andres 1:48:09

Interesting.

Vipul Bindra 1:48:09

So uh, so what what where do you see your career going? Uh do you plan to come back for after a year from Brazil?

Elias Andres 1:48:17

Yeah, yeah.

Vipul Bindra 1:48:18

Well are you sure about that? What if you love it?

Brazil Plans And Finding Opportunity Anywhere

Elias Andres 1:48:20

I mean, I already love it. Like, I've been there eight times. I I learned Portuguese because I loved it. I mean, it's just an amazing place. Like it literally it literally mimics the US because like everyone there uh comes from all over the place. There's people from Japan, from India, from uh like Europe. Like there's literally, I went to a place in Santa Catarina, just like a state there, and there's a city called Blumenau, where they have the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany. Wow. And so everybody just, you know, you go there and it looks they look German. Like it's crazy. And they're speaking German. They're actually it's a weird Portuguese-German hybrid, but it's it's interesting. So like there's just so many like different like uh cultures there. You go up to the north because of the African slave trade, like there's so many, like, there's an African uh culture there that's so different from the South where all the Italians and Germans go. So what I I'm a big history guy, I love history, and so when I went to Brazil, I didn't I went during COVID, so I was like, oh, let me just go here. It's a second uh COVID thing, so like this was the first. I was like, oh, I'm actually gonna be in a safer place in a way. And then uh as soon as I got there, you know, I learned so much. I was like, oh wow, there's such a rich history. So for me personally, it's more like uh, you know, it's like taking time off and like figuring, you know, like just meeting new people because that's the whole point again about what we do is like it's just meet meet other people.

Vipul Bindra 1:49:43

Like there's yeah, at the end of the day, you want to be creative, yeah. And can you be creative in Brazil? Of course you can be. You can be creative anywhere. And I think also uh the advantage you have, um, and again, I don't I don't like to say saturated because I think there's enough work in the US for everyone, but but A market like Brazil is so huge and it's gonna keep growing, it's it's growing way more exponentially compared to I'm saying the US. So the work there is gonna grow much, much faster than I'm saying that that will grow here, right? Yeah, uh same thing I tell people in other countries like India and China, it's just the brands there, the homegrown brands, are just exploding, you know. We don't have that. Uh even look at our industry. I'm saying we don't have that um what do you call the clutch of German and Japanese products anymore. Like uh talk about DZ Owens is a Chinese company, Aperture, Chinese company, DD Microphone, Chinese. So I'm saying there's a lot of these small countries that are building companies that are going huge. I mean, look at Australia with the road, you know. So I'm saying so many companies that are coming outside of Germany, US, and and Japan, the typical places I'm saying where film products came from. So all these economic uh, and these are just in our industry, there's so many other companies I'm saying growing out of these countries. So uh the economy of uh I'm saying all these other countries is growing like exponentially, if that's the right way to even say it. But it's growing tremendously, yeah. So at the end of the day, I'm saying if you're just looking for opportunities, I think uh, and if you're interested in world travel, I think that they may be places to go for a lot of people. I'm happy in the US, I'm not leaving. Uh, but you know, I'm just saying I'm excited for you.

Elias Andres 1:51:25

Yeah, yeah. And I mean we're in a market that's it's not even that big, like Orlando, you know, West Palm Beach. I think Miami's the biggest one, Tampa. But like, is that like compared to like LA or New York City? Like, those are obviously more than that.

Vipul Bindra 1:51:37

And that's what I'm saying, it's not even a huge market, and there's so much work, like so much work. It's it's crazy, and that's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, uh that's why I'm like, I'm not a fan of when somebody's like, I I'm in a small market. I'm like, no, there is work, you just have to go find it. Yeah, or they don't know where how to find you, and that's the the connection piece, but there is so much work. I hear every day somebody's like, Oh, yeah, we were looking for a radiographer or looking for somebody to help us with our headshots or whatever, and they just don't know where to find it, or where to find somebody trustworthy. That's the other thing. Oh, yeah. They may know someone, but they're like, they're not the quality that we're looking for. They're they're looking for a certain level of quality or whatever, but or the certain level of budget or whatever, right? And then um, that's where we come in. So uh before we go, I know we're our time is wrapping up. Uh, what what do you like more? Photo or video?

Photo Versus Video And Real Costs

Elias Andres 1:52:27

Uh if I want to get the job done, photo. Like it's just easier. I can't just bring one flash or one uh you know, strobe, whatever, uh uh God's 80 200 pro, whatever, and call it a day. Like it's just super easy with video. My god, you need so much stuff. It's like I, you know, it's just I honestly I do photos just because it's like it's easier. Yeah, it's easier. You could you could get more creative, you could do everything by yourself. Yeah, you know, you could do so much crazy stuff, like everything's super cheap. Like if you want a strobe or a flash, it's like $200, right? Yeah, no, no. And aperture is like, you know, a thousand, whatever. Yeah, it's still pretty cheap compared to like you know, back in the day. But yeah, you could do so much, you know, you could you could Photoshop the hell out of it. You're shooting it raw, you know, you could do exponentially much more stuff.

Vipul Bindra 1:53:14

Yeah, funny enough. Uh uh a while back, I just wanted to add um photo equipment to our site because you know, we owned everything because you know, I'm a production house, but I was like, why do I not own flashes? Because sometimes I have where I'll hire a uh photographer, but they don't have two flashes, for example, they have two cameras, but they're swapping, and it's fine, but I'm like, this is efficiency loss, you know. So I'm like, it'd be so cool to just be like, hey, here you go. Here's a flash or whatever. Yeah, so anyway, so I I I reached out of my uh um my sales rep, and I I literally was like, give me the latest two on-camera flashes for I think I was telling you about this uh for um for Sony cameras, you know, and then I need uh one, like whatever highest strobe you have, just to have it. And I'm telling you, I bought that. I literally was like, give me the best that they have right now, and it was so much all combined, entire photography stuff was cheaper than like typical aperture light that I buy. And I'm like, what the? And then everyone's like, I talked to these photographers, like, dude, I would like to know that latest strobe and it's so expensive. And I'm like, dude, you don't want to then see the video side because uh I ordered uh, like I said, three uh 400X's, but then you need a Fresnel for each, then you need this, and that's what another thing I hate now. Every light has its own Fresnel, you cannot just buy universal things anymore. Every light has its own spot if you want it to be efficient, you know, the properly designed, right? Then you need its own spotlight mount, then you need this, that like it becomes so expensive, and that's just one light, right? Now you need a truck like mine, these 30 fixtures, and then you know it's constantly upgrading. Then owning a production company is like, oh, we need new bodies, we need new sound, we need this, this yeah. It gets hard to keep up, even for somebody like me who's obsessed with uh, yeah.

Elias Andres 1:54:58

It just is picking up like your photos is like you kind of reach a limit. There's like that you can't get anything unless you get like a gold lens that's you know, whatever encrusted with diamonds.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:08

Like you kind of just you kind of be like, it just comes down to your skill, right? Like being able to capture the moment, be in the moment, yeah, uh get whatever the you know the best is from, especially event photography. We can't recreate the moment.

Elias Andres 1:55:20

Or like if it's your style, if you want to get like a Leica or Hasselbad or Fuji look, you know, it's like hey, that's that's all like just purely aesthetics and style. You're like, oh, I won that Leica look.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:31

And yeah, but that's just because I don't think most corporate now, yes, it does matter, I think, when you're doing personal uh stuff, but I think most clients don't care. Uh like I I usually that's so funny. Like with video, right now we're in the Sony system, so I ask for other video people who know how to operate Sony cameras. But outside that, like if I switch, I wouldn't care. But uh photo, I haven't I've never cared. I'm like, I don't care. Do you what do you system? I usually ask, but because I'm not editing them. If I was, that's different. Uh so I generally ask, like you're a canon, Sony, whatever. But outside that, I wouldn't care. Like when I hired you as a photographer, why would I care? You're in Fuji, like uh Hasselblad, as long as the photo, and I'm pretty sure most clients don't care. Tell me in the comments if uh you guys have experienced it differently. I think most clients want, I'm talking event again, stuff I do, headshots, editorial uh events, right? Yeah, kind of limited to business what businesses want. Right, they don't care what cameras like you're like, this is hustle blah, this is you know, like uh like the new DJI made the hustle blah was so cool. I don't know if you've seen it, like with the anyway, or you have the Leica. I've had this man, people get so obsessed with tech with the gear, and I get it, but it's like this uh it's a Leica, bro. You know, I don't know. I don't care, like the amount just to just to have it, it's so funny just because it says Leica on it. Yeah, um and then that's fine. If I mean that makes them happy. My thing is as at least for me, the the thing is I need the deliverables. The client says we need pictures from this event. I don't care what you shot it on, as long as they look good, client's happy, I'm happy, uh, the photographer's happy, and then I can hopefully give them more work in the future. That's at least the the way I approach it. Uh, because yeah.

Elias Andres 1:57:13

Yeah, but I like I said, I do like video, it's just uh I need a crew. Like you know, that's the thing is you need a crew. You if you want to do something good, you gotta get a crew.

Final Thanks And Where To Follow

Vipul Bindra 1:57:20

No, and that's the thing about video, it gets really complex really fast. Like you can pull out your phone, right? Start recording, that's video. Very simple, don't need anything. You pull out an FXC with a lens, that gets video. But then you start to, you know, the more refined it gets, and that's why I I tell people like a video could mean anything. Because now you're like, okay, we need better sound, you bring a sound guy. Now you're like better lighting, you bring people to light. Now you need lights, you need stands. Oh, we gotta control the spill here. Now you need to bring grip, you need C stands. You know, gyms. Okay, and it starts to get more and more. And then the thing is where you get to where I I don't know if you do what I do, but like where I am, they'll they'll ask, like, we have an interview shoot going on, they're like, Okay, we're ready for B-roll. So they expect a whole crew just for B-roll. And we did that, he did that a shoot with me where we were like in the middle of interviews, and I had to send two guys to go start doing B-roll, and that's common because they have they're they're on limited time, limited money, you know. So it's like we but I'm saying I need multiple crews at the same time going because otherwise that's the expectation the project's gonna happen. People go, you know, where's the money going? That's where the money is going. So it gets uh it gets complicated, hard, but like I said, I love it too. And I'm the opposite. I'm like photo, I'd rather just give it to someone so I can just focus on one because that already takes so much of my energy, right? Uh, but it's nuts, but anyway, bro, it's been too long. Uh I guess take I've taken too much of your time. I know you've got a long, long drive back. I really appreciate you. You didn't have to drive all this way from West Palm Beach all the way to Orlando. But I really appreciate because I really wanted to uh you know have this awesome conversation with you because I guess every time we've been on the phone, it's it's just an incredible conversation. Plus um, I think you bring a unique perspective. Uh especially I'm looking forward to your adventures in Brazil. Yeah, I'll be documenting it.

Elias Andres 1:59:12

I'll be on a YouTube channel. I'm gonna do like uh hey, almost like uh that one guy um he moved from New York to Cali or something like that. Uh he made a YouTube channel about that, and he you know, a Lucas Ross thing or something. Okay, I don't know. I'm not sure. But anyway, yeah, yeah. So I'll I'll make the whole thing like, okay, listen, this is me. I'm a video photographer, moving to a new place. And I think people want to see that. Yeah, you know, that'd be really cool. I would see that. So that's awesome. Yeah, because it's again, it's just like you know, if you could do it here, you could do it anywhere, right? Yeah, exactly. It's like, and it's just again, it's just the two things be proactive and just use your social skills. Yeah, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 1:59:46

Because it's not like you need new skills, videos the same, photos the same. You just need to know, meet people there who know that what you can do because they can hire you, right? That's actions and there. That's exactly what that is. And and uh um that's exciting. Like I said, I would love to watch that channel. Is there a name? Have you made the channel already?

Elias Andres 2:00:03

Shout it out? Not yet, but uh I'll probably just use my regular YouTube channel I have for now. It's called This Is Film. Okay. And it's just you know, it's about like it's filmmaking stuff. Again, I'm big into that, but yeah, I'm gonna try to use it to just do my adventures, you know, just show how how to work there, how again it's just it's a different world, right? It's like uh how many people have ever been to Brazil? Yeah, like very few people go there because you know it's got its reputation, but it's an amazing place, and I can't wait to share it with everybody.

Vipul Bindra 2:00:29

I think that's gonna be awesome. Well, before uh before we wrap, anything else you want to add or say?

Elias Andres 2:00:35

Uh no, uh thank you for having me on. Like, yeah, like we've this is the longest we've talked. Yeah, you know, and it's it's it's amazing. It's amazing what you can do again. When you just drive to Orlando one day, you're like, hey, why not? Let's just do it. And now I'm driving again. Like you literally called me yesterday, and I was like, uh like, you know what, why not? I'm not doing anything, you're a cool guy. I need to, you know, like I appreciate it.

Vipul Bindra 2:00:58

I know. I this podcast is filmed like that. I just randomly tell people, hey, you have time. It's hard to manage. You, you, you, you would at least of all people that sometimes like people here understand because it's like um, you know, I run a production company and then our schedule is everything. So it's like, you know, you have nothing tomorrow, and then next you get a call. It's like, hey, you need to shoot tomorrow. So it's like you never know. So it's hard to plan things in advance. Um, uh, so so that's why I was like, I hope you're free. Yeah, but I've got some time, and I really want to do this uh this season. So I really appreciate you. Like I said, this was an incredible conversation, and plus, I'm looking forward to our project together before you head to Brazil that we're gonna get to do together. Um, and shout out to again uh Mario for helping us produce this episode, like always. Oh, thank you guys, thank you so much.

Elias Andres 2:01:45

And uh shout out to Eric.

Vipul Bindra 2:01:47

Thank you for coming here, and we weren't able to put him. But hey, next season three, we gotta get his partner here because he'll be all alone, so we can come have him say all the mean things like how you left him here while you're chilling and having fun in Brazil, you know. I've heard a lot of good things about Brazil too. So but anyway, all right, thank you again, appreciate it, man. All right, until next time and another episode of Studio B sessions with me, Bendra. Thank you for watching or listening.