Film Stuff Podcast

Informações:

Sinopsis

If you're a film buff, this is not the podcast for you. Soo Zee and Leigh talk about film in the loosest sense of the word. Mostly it's about what it means to be creative.HI! We're Soo Zee and Leigh and we Do Stuff and then make videos about it. Videos are real stories from our lives. It's reality, only with a better narrator. We do stuff mostly in Seoul, South Korea, but sometimes other places too.

Episodios

  • Creator Burnout And Breakdown

    25/02/2021 Duración: 24min

    Lots of creators—especially young, successful ones—publicly admit to being emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted by their channels. Why is that? And while we know burnout is a real and serious problem, we have to wonder. How much burnout is true burnout, and how much is because many creators are new this: new to managing professional life, new to making art, and new to the notoriously demanding work of filmmaking. We look at creator burnout from many angles and even suggest ways to avoid it. Show notes: • Leigh mentions details about how the YouTube algorithm works "as far as we know." That paper she read that made her think YouTube's recommendations are so great? It's from 2014, from a Google research paper titled "Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations" https://research.google/pubs/pub45530/ • If you really want to understand the algorithm deeply, we recommend following Matt Glielen and the team at Little Monster's research https://www.littlemonstermediaco.com/our-research • "That origi

  • Finding better video jobs

    07/02/2021 Duración: 29min

    The film world we were brought up in works on an apprentice system, where you attach yourself to a person or team, and usually work on the projects they land. In the world of modern video making, where creators can be full-time and video is a huge part of marketing, that world is evolving. Now there's tons of openings for filmmaking jobs. They're not all good. Some are gold, some are garbage, and in this episode we talk about how to tell the difference. We get super tactical for anyone job hunting or looking to hire. • This is the puzzle we've been doing. Not an ad, we just think this puzzle company is really cool! https://cloudyfields.com/products/shadow-puppets • There are a loooooot of ways in which print design and digital design are different (not to mention video and materials design). This is just the tip of the iceberg https://medium.com/inkbot-design/5-key-differences-in-designing-for-print-vs-digital-media-6e69edcfc414 • Leigh wasn't joking. Final Cut Pro 7 is dead. Officially. https://larryjordan.

  • Editing for mobile devices

    22/11/2020 Duración: 24min

    Our friend Mickey had a simple question about audio mixing. The answer isn't quite so simple, and led us to have a full on film stuff episode about the ways that making films for mobile devices isn't the same as making films for televisions, computers, or projectors. We talk all about it in this episode, including: audio mixing, screen real estate, and why you should never watch Maze Runner on a plane. Extra special thanks to Mickey for inspiring this one! • Frequency distributions on recent iPhones are surprisingly good https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/5kdvnv/iphone_7_plus_audio_measurements/ • We talk about Christopher Nolan's most recent sound mix issues, which have come to light again with the release of Tenet. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/16/tenet-up-listen-christopher-nolan-interstellar-sound-mixing • Roy Anderson's films came up too, particularly his use of background action and detailed framing that's best left to a large screen size https://youtu.be/bLCtJkGKefU • The Dead Gi

  • How corona virus will affect film

    10/04/2020 Duración: 13min

    Coronavirus has affected many parts of the world and during this quarantine/self-isolation period many of us have been consuming media more than ever. Which bring us to this episode, where we talk about how COVID-19 has affected the film industry as a whole and and foremost how it will affect the business side and the creative side of movies and tv in the future. • Vox article that describes how 9/11 affected movies, tv, and even the music industry afterwards. If you are interested in reading about it https://www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12814898/pop-culture-response-to-9-11 Music includes: Circus Waltz - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100291 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

  • Educational video vs. pornography

    04/04/2020 Duración: 20min

    Another analytics episode! All too often we hear people talk about "good" videos and metrics as if they're universal. They aren't. Case in point: e-learning videos on sites like Khan Academy and Udemy, adult-only videos, and both the ultra-long and the ultra-short (e.g., live sports and TikToks). We lay out how you should approach making a learning video differently, which metrics you should be watching if you're a small business owner, and the epic story of how pornography killed Betamax. • Lynda.com was indeed acquired by LinkedIn and is now LinkedIn Learning • YouTube does offer a certification program for specific subjects https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6145904?hl=en • That cooking Master Class that taught us how to glaze carrots was Thomas Keller's first https://www.masterclass.com/classes/thomas-keller-teaches-cooking-techniques • The home video format war between VHS and Betamax is an interesting economics story that is still heavily contested. Here are the facts, as they relate to the adul

  • Quizzing Soo Zee on film set terms

    11/02/2020 Duración: 16min

    I quiz Soo Zee about the meanings and origins of terminology used only in the film world. It's tricky because if you search online for some of these terms, you won't get the thing you're actually looking for. That's why it's a game! Here's the full list of terms we went over: • ADR/Looping • Stingers • C-47s/Bullets • Alan Smithee • Dead Cat • Windscreen • Champagne Roll • Martini Shot • Abby Singer Shot • Rushes/Dailies • Squib • Walla/Rhubarb • MOS • NG, Hold, Print • Choker • 50/50 • Cookie/Cucoloris If you'd like some visual guidelines to this or some further explanations, B&H has a great page with just that: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/guide-film-set-lingo-and-hand-signals

  • Our thoughts on Parasite and Bong Joon Ho

    15/11/2019 Duración: 15min

    Parasite (Korean title: 기생충) made headlines in May when it won Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palm d'Or prize, the first Korean film to ever do so. Now it's November and suddenly people around us who are not so familiar with Korean cinema are starting to talk about it as it's being distributed in America and Europe. It seemed like a good time to talk about director Bong Joon Ho (Korean: 봉준호), namely why we like him, what we thought about Parasite, and what signature filmmaking moves he always makes that you should look for when you go see it. Because you should definitely see it. • We talked about the blurred lines between Indie and Industry film. Here’s an article about how these two models of filmmaking are working in the current world of film. It’s not definitive, but it’s the start of a larger conversation. https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/independent-films-vs-blockbuster/ • Way back in 2016 Stephen Elliott argued that film festivals are a scam. It’s a pretty compelling argument https://therumpus.net

  • The anatomy of a dance movie

    05/07/2019 Duración: 14min

    Lots of people like to lump dance movies in with musicals, but we think they are a genre all their own. In this episode Soo Zee and Leigh discuss all the key elements of a dance movie and which dance movies make their list of all-time favorites. We're hard to predict; we hate on Swing Kids even though we think Do Kyung-soo can dance. We defend Step Up even though we think it's cheesy. We disagree about Honey. Listen to get the full lowdown. Here's a list of all the dance movies and musicals we mention: • La La Land (2016) • Singin' in the Rain (1952) • Swing Kids (2018) • Magic Mike XXL (2015) • Step Up (2006) • Honey (2003) • Center Stage (2000) • Save the Last Dance (2001) • Billy Elliot (2000) • Black Swan (2010) • Footloose (1984)

  • The complicated Walt Disney

    01/05/2019 Duración: 19min

    Genius or jerk? In this episode we give a few anecdotes from the work and business practices of seminal Walt Disney that only begin to touch on this complicated question. There's a reason why Walt holds a record for the most Academy Awards, and why Mickey Mouse is one of the most globally recognized figures. We talk about Walt Disney the man's vision and insane attention to detail, and Walt Disney the company's theme parks and copyright practices. • It all started with Snow White, which was not only the first full-length cel animated feature film, it was also the first Disney animated feature film. So yeah, Soo Zee was right. Technically, it's the first of the 15 official "Walt Disney Classics" home videos. • Before Snow White, Lotte Reiniger had already made a full-length animated feature called The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Disney didn't just know about it, he studied it, and even adopted her pioneering multi-plane camera setup. He then of course patented it https://patents.google.com/patent/US2201689A/

  • Bandersnatch: choose your own movie

    23/02/2019 Duración: 15min

    We absolutely adored Netflix & Black Mirror's new choose your own adventure movie experience "Bandersnatch." It was incredibly well constructed both technically and narratively, and had all the mind bending hallmarks of our favorite Black Mirror episodes. Leigh explains all about the technology they used to make it seamless. Soo Zee harangues our fellow filmmakers for failing to grasp why Bandersnatch is completely groundbreaking and has the potential to change everything about how we watch and tell complex stories. Both of us also throw out a few ideas for films we'd love to see adapted to the choose-your-own format. We make a pretty strong argument that you don't even need to have multiple endings to make it work. • If you play Bandersnatch a few times, it feels like maybe you're only missing out on a few scenes, but in reality there were several scenes filmed that still haven't been viewed by anyone yet. If you're interested, this feature in The Hollywood Reporter has more details about the Netflix Branch

  • Data driven storytelling

    02/02/2019 Duración: 14min

    In this episode we dive into the almighty algorithm and talk about how it's changed the way filmmakers tell stories. Soo Zee makes a good argument for why this is a bad thing, and Leigh reveals how much we pay attention our own YouTube analytics. We talk about Netflix's recommendation engine and why it's simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to streaming video. We also compare iTunes Music to Spotify and talk about what place human curation has in this world of AI, big data, and deep learning. • You can find that article we mentioned about how Maniac's story was influenced by Netflix streaming data here https://qz.com/quartzy/1372129/maniac-director-cary-fukunaga-explains-how-data-call-the-shots-at-netflix/ • If you want to know more about how House of Cards came to be, read this article from 2012 about how Netflix used big data when making House of Cards. Note the tone, where WIRED makes some stuff that's now completely commonplace seem utterly groundbreaking, like uploading all the episodes at

  • The YouTube Rewind 2018 controversy

    12/12/2018 Duración: 14min

    This episode is about this year's YouTube Rewind video, the video YouTube produced to recap all the internet trends, memes, and (on YouTube at least) hits from 2018. They've been doing this every year since 2010. The reaction this year has been pretty cold online, but somehow we still have warm fuzzy feelings for YouTube. We explain how. Also Soo Zee touches on the difference between "big" and "big on YouTube," and explains why it might be okay for YouTube to suck at this. If you'd like to sign up to the newsletter we mentioned at the there, you can do it here: http://bit.ly/2bVmOez This is kind of an deep cut, and we recommend you refresh yourself on the Rewind videos before listening. If you don't know who the hell anyone in these videos is that's totally okay! You don't need to get all the references. Here some of the past episodes of Rewind we mentioned in the episode: • 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbJOTdZBX1g • 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsCjmMhFmw • 2016 https://www.youtube.com/wat

  • Movies vs. TV

    07/12/2018 Duración: 15min

    This episode is about why movies are starting to look more like television, and why television is becoming more like movies. Also, we reveal our favorite YouTubers and which predictions about the future of social media we agree with. We also talk a lot about the new Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald movie because it's basically impossible to talk about successful episodic storytelling or world building without mentioning the Wizarding World. • Haven't seen Twin Peaks? No worries. Here's an interesting Digg article about what order you should watch the series in. http://digg.com/2017/how-to-watch-all-of-twin-peaks • To clarify some of the things that made Lost's production more like a movie and less like TV: Lost was shot on 35mm film stock, the pilot episode alone cost over $10 million to make, and they negotiated the end date of the series 3 years in advance and then wrote the series knowing exactly how many episodes were left. Personally I feel the storytelling style itself, with the ensemble cast a

  • Choosing music (pt 2)

    13/11/2018 Duración: 15min

    More music! This is the second of our episodes all about picking music and figuring out how to best use it in your videos. We cover three specific techniques and also talk about what you should look for in a song. Leigh hates fade outs, and in this episodes she explains why. Soo Zee also explains what the biggest filmmaker sin is and gives some advice on how to avoid it. Wow, this one turned out a lot more tactical than usual. Show notes: • Leigh implores you to rubber band your music in Episode 7 - Being a Video Editor pt 1 https://soundcloud.com/do-stuff/episode-07-being-a-video-editor-pt-1 • We also talk about cutting on action, but it's kind of hard to explain, so I recommend you look at the coffee scene from Baby Driver. We could do a whole episode just on this scene, especially the section where he actually orders the coffee and the dialogue and blocking is timed to the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBR3JKrgW74 • Basement Jaxx in particular does a great job of providing a ton of different phrase

  • Choosing music (pt 1)

    10/10/2018 Duración: 18min

    Music is one of those topics we seem to get endless questions and comments about, so finally we've created an episode all about it. It's too much to fit into one episode though, so we made two. This is the first, all about the artistic part of picking music: why it's important, where to find it, and how to know if you did it right. Then we introduce something Soo Zee finds hugely entertaining. It's called "The Music Game." Show notes: • Leigh mentions some of the playlists we've made. We thought it might be fun for you to hear some of what we like. Here's three different playlists. 1) Almost Summer Days playlist: http://apple.co/1XAWgDx 2) Almost Summer Nights playlist: http://apple.co/1NzdHlF 3)Goodbye, Summer playlist: http://apple.co/2bB1yzi • Our friend's favorite Do Stuff video is this one about Sparkly https://youtu.be/r7YyTJj3BOE • During "The Music Game" one of the songs reminds us of a nonsense informercial. When we talk about "How to make a plumbus" this is what we mean https://youtu.be/SWMGd_rzRd

  • The Afrofuturism bandwagon

    14/09/2018 Duración: 18min

    We are fashionably late to the Black Panther party. In this episode of film stuff we dig deep into culture, starting with Afrofuturism: what it is, why it's awesome, and what it has to do with Los Angeles's Koreatown. Show notes: • At the top of the episode we talk about Janelle Monáe and her genius Afrofuturist operas. Some more details about her work here https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17318242/janelle-monae-science-fiction-influences-afrofuturism • Also we talk about Kilmonger and his displacement in America. There's an awesome episode of Song Exploder that goes into depth about how the Kilmonger theme relates to Prince T'Challa's. Check it out here http://songexploder.net/black-panther • Just how big of a box office success was Black Panther? Read more about it in this great article by The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/the-game-changing-success-of-black-panther/553763/ • Soo Zee mentions a Korean dish called army base stew. There's a lot more to say on the subject, but

  • Selling out

    03/02/2018 Duración: 14min

    Today we deep dive into the relationship between art and commerce. We start with a discussion about why it looks like every YouTube video is the same. Next we talk about how it's not enough just to make art. You have to be a skilled promoter and business lady and community builder too. Lastly we talk about how hard it is to strike that balance between on one side, making art that's true to your vision and on the other, making concessions that make your art appealing to consumers, clients, and investors. Both of us agree you can't deny the commercial element of the art you make, but you also can't be enslaved by it. Before you get too down about the inevitability of compromising your vision and conforming to the almighty algorithm, we offer some words of hope. We went over a lot in this one. Here's some notes, thoughts, and further reading: • We mentioned that YouTube doesn't publish details about its algorithm. Most social networks don't. There's a few reasons why it can be problematic that companies are al

  • Being a video editor (pt 2)

    12/01/2018 Duración: 17min

    This part two of our two-part look at what it's actually like to be a video or film editor. Soo Zee makes up a fake short film and we talk you through the whole edit process. How long does transcoding take? How many cuts do you usually go through? What's all that exporting mumbo jumbo? All this and more in this episode! Show notes: • What is the RED Camera of which we speak? More here http://www.red.com • Soo Zee mentioned Scott Pilgrim vs. The World type graphics. Those are awesome! Nerdwriter talked about them in detail over here https://youtu.be/pij5lihbC6k • Why yes, I did compare directors to Winnie the Pooh. You can read all about him sitting down to a good think here http://lib.ru/MILN/pooh.txt_with-big-pictures.html#5 • If you haven't watched every single one of Tony Zhou's Every Frame a Painting film essay series, you should, starting with this one about how editors know when to make a cut, titled (aptly) "How Does an Editor Think and Feel?" https://youtu.be/3Q3eITC01Fg I'd love to do a much longer

  • Being a video editor (pt 1)

    06/01/2018 Duración: 14min

    This part one of our two-part look at what it's actually like to be a video or film editor. We cover all the feels that go into the edit room: what it feels like to have the whole production look at you to put the film together, what you fight about with the film's director, and what elements of the film are beyond your control. Leigh also goes on a tirade about her filmmaking pet peeves so that you can avoid making the same mistakes. Look forward to part two! Show notes: • Here's a bit more about how a vector file is different than a jpeg file https://vectr.com/tutorials/what-are-vector-graphics/ • We ragged on guns in student films, but we didn't even begin to cover how complicated using a gun on set is logistically. You'll need to warn local law enforcement that you'll be using a prop gun, you'll likely need the services of a union-member armorer, and your actors will probably need some training in addition to their safety briefings. Film independent talks a little more about armorers in this article http

  • How to get a film job

    04/12/2017 Duración: 16min

    How exactly do you get a job in the film industry? The same way you get any job: a good network and a good ask. In this one we talk all about the ask. It's our guide outlining how to successfully cold contact people - that includes people you know and people you'd like to know - without coming off like the world's biggest douchenozzle. We also tell you straight up how to work with us. Soo Zee even writes (a really good!) fictional email to Leigh. Hopefully this will help you adopt the right mindset and land a film job, wherever you happen to be living. Happy hunting! Show notes: • The "Directors Chair" lawn chair Soo Zee uses as furniture in her bedroom in action! https://twitter.com/ltcooper/status/937607138158952449 • Calvin Stowell's excellent Twitter thread (rant?) about writing resumes https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/900166100167651329 • We didn't actually get to the networking part (I smell a part 2 one day) but just for funsies, Mark Sister has two great articles on (1) how to do conferences

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