"Success"

In this conversation, Steven and Darrell discuss the recent events surrounding rapper Julio Foolio and the controversial interview conducted by Adam 22 with Blockstar V, a person involved in the murder of rapper Pop Smoke. They explore the marketing tactics used to generate buzz and controversy, as well as the ethical implications of promoting violence in the hip-hop industry. The conversation highlights the need for better messaging and positive role models in the community. The conversation explores the importance of storytelling in various forms of art, particularly in music videos and filmmaking. The speakers discuss the impact of good storytelling on captivating an audience and creating a cohesive and engaging narrative. They emphasize the need for character development, identifying problems and solutions, and creating an arc in storytelling. They also touch on the challenges of capturing and maintaining audience attention in the current era of short attention spans. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the significance of captivating viewers from the beginning and rearranging storytelling elements to create a captivating experience.

In this conversation, Darrell Reese Jr. and Steven Almeida discuss various topics related to the film industry. They touch on gatekeeping in the film industry and the importance of networking and building relationships. They also review Lupe Fiasco's album 'Samurai' and highlight the importance of storytelling, sound quality, lighting, pre-production planning, and precise editing in filmmaking.

TAKEAWAYS.

• Promoting violence and disrespect in music can have real-life consequences and perpetuate a negative cycle in communities.
• There is a need for better messaging and positive role models in the hip-hop industry to promote unity and upliftment.
• Storytelling is a crucial aspect of various art forms, including music videos and filmmaking.
• Good storytelling captivates the audience and creates a cohesive and engaging narrative.
• Character development, identifying problems and solutions, and creating an arc are essential elements of storytelling.
• In the current era, it is important to captivate viewers from the beginning and rearrange storytelling elements to maintain audience attention.
• Great storytellers are able to manipulate the craft of storytelling to create captivating experiences. Gatekeeping exists in the film industry, and aspiring filmmakers may need to navigate it by building relationships and playing the game.
• Lupe Fiasco's album 'Samurai' is a must-listen, showcasing his lyrical genius and storytelling abilities.
• Mastering the basics of storytelling, prioritizing sound quality, utilizing lighting to enhance mood, planning in pre-production, and editing with precision are essential in filmmaking.

Follow Darrell Reese JR.

Instagram.com/Darrellreesejr

Twitter.com/Darrellressejr

Follow Steven Almeida

instagram.com/___therealworld

Twitter.com/___therealworld

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Some dumb ass kid trying to make a name for himself, man.

(00:02):
Someone you forgot to pay off.
Someone you slided, not even realizing.
Could be someone you put out of business.
You're being so successful, look at you.
Success.
It's got enemies, Frank. Lots of enemies.
Your success took a shot at you.
What are you gonna do now? Are you gonna kill him?
You're gonna become unsuccessful.

(00:25):
Alright, so here we go, man.
Another installment of your favorite podcast, the I Hate This Industry Podcast episode for
I Am Your Humble and Handsome Host, Stephen Armada.
And this is my good brother, Darryl Reese Jr.
Man, what's going on?
Yes indeed.
Gotta get me green tea in.

(00:46):
Coffee, man. Coffee. Caffeination.
Oh yeah.
I'll be bugging though. I'll be spending like $30 at Starbucks.
They be getting me.
You ain't got the app?
I got the app. I get my points and all that.
I don't play around.
I get my points, but yo, during the week, like last week, bro, I was getting like every day.

(01:08):
And I'm just getting the same thing now.
Oh, you're saying throughout the week?
Boy, I thought you were talking about in the day.
Yeah, throughout the week.
Nah, nah, nah, nah.
Oh, that's damn.
Nah, that's crazy.
Alright man, we gotta have a conversation about that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I might double back sometimes and you know, I might pull the double up on them, but I never go three times.

(01:29):
That's crazy.
Even two is a lot.
But nah, it'd be like 30 throughout the week.
And I was looking at that.
I was like, yo, I don't even pay this much in tithes, bro.
Starbucks mean more to me than God.
That's crazy.
Nah, nah.
And now you gonna have an epiphany or a revelation me ordering the coffee.

(01:51):
Yeah, nah, nah, nah.
They gonna have to still deliver.
God sent me this coffee.
He made me energized.
That's the revelation I'm having.
I'm gonna jump right into it.
Julio Fulio, my new favorite rapper, bro.
Yeah, I know you've been following along with the situation.
Like I've seen the clip that you sent me, but as far as the detail, intricate stuff of it, I ain't really.

(02:12):
That ain't on my side.
I ain't really dive into that.
I'm low key obsessed with it, man.
I don't know why.
What's going on with it?
What's actively going on with it now?
So Julio Fulio is a Jacksonville, Florida artist, right?
And he's part of that whole, I guess what we call it, drill, that whole drill scene where, you know, they diss their ops and they diss the dad and they smoking on this guy and smoking on that guy.

(02:39):
Honestly, not my kind of music.
I don't even listen to it.
But it just captivated me.
The dude is an interesting dude, very polarizing.
He was out celebrating his birthday and he got shot up, right?
He got shot up, killed, apparently, supposedly killed.
And it's a big thing because he was like, he was a very disrespectful artist.

(03:01):
He gets killed and then, you know, you see, I know you've seen it before, like the rapper, a rapper dies and then all the other guys who he's dissing starts posting him, talking shit, throwing the subliminals, all of that.
So the same thing happened with this dude, right?
And it got a lot of attention because of his Instagram page starts posting.

(03:23):
And he is posting like all this voodoo shit because he had a song called, like, My Grandmother's Voodoo.
He did an interview on Nojumper where he said, like, I'll never die and all that.
Right. So they start posting all of this.
The page is trolling like his enemies and all that, like posting, commenting under their post and posting all this demigod shit and all this voodoo shit.

(03:45):
Like Chucky scenes and all this crap.
And I'm like, yo, this dude is alive.
I'm there believing this nonsense, man.
I'm there watching academics page as he breaking down the murders, the shooting and all of that.
I'm just like paying attention to.
I don't know if he's still alive.
Let me say that.
And it's sad.
I'm laughing and I'm joking because it's kind of funny.

(04:07):
But I am super, super against all the violence that comes with hip hop these days, especially all this drill music.
And there's one reason why I don't really I don't really listen to New York drill because a lot of people die.
A lot of people have died from that.
A lot of kids have been killed.
I'm not I don't advocate for that at all.
I'm super against that.

(04:28):
But what's interesting about this is just how like polarizing it is.
This dude, I'm just so intrigued by by like how my main issue with this, if he is alive, then this might be one of the greatest magic tricks in his life.
Tricks in hip hop history, right?
I mean, it's like it's like the Tupac.
He's still Cuba, like faking his death.

(04:50):
If he's not alive, then I think this shit is then this is just like insanely corny.
And I don't think the people on this team have a good taste if they're doing all of this.
I watched the academic stream where he said that he spoke to the family, like to the mom, and she confirmed that he is dead.

(05:11):
And that it is like his people, his management team or whoever controlling the page and that she that she's and that she's approving all of this.
I'm going to go ahead and say maybe before he passed, this was a conversation he had with his team.
If something happens to him, like maybe he had a, you know, a plan like how to execute things.

(05:33):
And that might be genius, you know.
So the question is how far is too far when it comes to marketing and promo?
I mean, yeah, I think that's what it is.
Like it's two sides of that coin.
Yes, I'm pretty sure it's probably his management team that's doing it.

(05:54):
Like I'm pretty sure it's his management team that's doing it.
And then you have the promotion of the is nothing positive that's going on.
And then you have another form of that as people putting out dead people's music.
It's just his management team just trying to keep what like keep him relevant and things like that.
It'd probably be going to die down now.

(06:17):
But the only thing I've seen about it was what you sent me.
It's crazy how all this stuff always fall back or always centered around something that Adam 22 is involved with.
Like that's crazy.
Like we're talking like we I mentioned Pops Smoke and I'm sure we'll talk about that.
He always in the center of it.
If you did something crazy or something like that in that realm, you're going to get an Adam 22 interview and he's going to reach out to you in this corner.

(06:41):
That's cool.
That's kind of his bag.
And I like that on 22.
I can't even knock him.
I used to watch his content and I watched some of it.
Like there's definitely some interviews I tap into, but he gives artists a platform who normally wouldn't get a platform.
There's a lot of people I heard through Adam 22 who I would have never heard of if I didn't see them on his platform.

(07:07):
So there's a good there's you know, there's good that comes from it.
But the bullshit is the entertainment of the bullshit.
That's a little that's a little corny.
Like I don't like the fighting on camera like the podcast dudes fighting all of that shit is it's just advocating for the wrong things.
We'll get into the more of that no jumping thing.
But with the with the marketing thing, what do you think of that?

(07:31):
Do you think that's good marketing?
Jadakiss said that rappers get better promotion.
I mean, yeah, they do.
Like the passing of Nipsey, like everybody gravitated towards his music and his movement and things like that when he passed.
Pop Smoke, Tupac, Biggie, who else?
Like XX, like XX, Etatio, DMX, like these people.

(07:53):
So yeah, if you oftentimes, yeah, if you do pass and when you do pass away, your whatever you did in the present or in the past, it's gonna be blow up.
But I mean, what's being marketed with Fulio like was the music is like the way he like his image like what's being marketed.
The image. I think the music, I think new music is coming.

(08:16):
And that's why I say I think it was he had like a like a like a plan for like if he died, that's why it's it's a little fuzzy.
And I have like this skewed perspective on it.
But yeah, what's being marketed is like that he's not dead.
That's the play, right?
That he's not dead, that he's a child of voodoo and all this nonsense.
And I'm pretty sure they post in like videos and it's keeping that image alive because trolling the opposition.

(08:44):
I think I think there was things that said like music coming soon or you'll see soon.
So they're trying to keep the image alive as well as promote that something is coming.
It's hard to tell. Is it genius or is it like just distasteful?
You know what I mean? I guess two things could be true.
Yeah.
I mean, all depends on the person, but the act of it.

(09:07):
It does. The act is kind of in between.
Yeah, the act of it is nasty work, but that's his image and that's where it kind of lays.
Well, that whole Jacksonville scene is wild.
That's why I was I was digging into that.
And yeah, I'm not a fan of it, but it's interesting, man.
Like it's just very, it's very interesting.
I never heard a Fulio song.
Never. So the fact that I'm this interested in his character should tell you everything, you know,

(09:34):
that the music, the music didn't even penetrate.
Shout out to everybody out there, man.
Be safe. Everybody out here who making that drill music, who living their life.
That shit don't end well.
We need to promote better things, man.
We need the kids, we need the community, the culture to receive better information.
The message should never be go kill each other.
So, man, rest in peace to that boy.

(09:56):
Absolutely.
Adam 22 and the Block Star, Block Star V. Did you watch the interview?
No, I don't.
I don't know, man.
I don't know, man. It's just like.
It wasn't a good interview. It wasn't even a good interview.
Like what I've heard from people like talking about it, it was just like how the guy was perceiving himself
and he just seemed lifeless or things like that.

(10:18):
But it's like.
I think it was hot.
I don't know, man. That's weird.
That whole situation is just because it's like how would the West Coast feel if he if Eric Holder was released and they interviewed him.
So let's go all the way to the East Coast.
Like people don't take that lightly.
That's something that.
Yeah.
Why this is this is a son.

(10:40):
This is I don't know if he had any kids or things like that, but this is a friend, a brother.
Like this is somebody not only his family cared about, but the streets cared about.
And certain people in that area don't play.
So like, yeah, you're giving this guy a platform for what?
Like what is the true meaning behind it?
What you going to ask him? Why he do it?
Why? What was your like? What was the motive?

(11:02):
All right.
You said you seen an interview like what was the question that he was asking?
They kind of wanted to get straight to the to the to the pop smoke thing, but they danced around it with a bunch of other nonsense.
I mean, I get it.
Everybody has a story and this kid's story was it wasn't unique.
It wasn't special.
There's nothing about this dude that that would make you intrigued into who he is.

(11:26):
You know what I mean?
He's just a kid from the hood.
And what's sad about it is that Adam 22's response to it all was kind of like, oh, his his boy block stars boy who Adam 22 school with is about to come out of jail.
So he's like, I was going to be around you anyway.
So, you know, this is a good way to like kind of get to know each other.

(11:49):
And this that was like kind of his thing, because all you really want to ask him about is the pop smoke thing.
You know, and then it got even super corny because he goes to what you're going to do.
You're going to rap now.
And the dude is the dude's like, well, man, you know, I got a lot of things in the works and all that.
Some cornwall shit, bro.

(12:12):
And then he apologized.
He said, I feel bad.
But then he goes, I don't regret it because I'm from I'm from Hoover.
And I'm just like, what?
The one thing that I learned from that interview, the West Coast don't give a fuck about pop smoke.
West Coast don't care because you know what it is.
Those kids were young.
He was like, I think it was 15 when it happened.
Those kids were young and that was the culture out there that breaking breaking into cribs, that B&E culture.

(12:39):
Like, that's just how they got their money.
That's how they did.
So pop smoke was just a casualty of that.
You know what I mean?
So it wasn't I don't even think it was personal or anything like that.
According to the kid, he wasn't even supposed to get killed that day.
The way he explained it, what happened, he said to a lot was happening all at the same time.
It did display a lot of this goes back to the Julio Fulio thing.

(13:00):
This it displays a lot of what's wrong with our communities and our culture.
And I think if nothing else, that kid's story, that block star, that kid's story should be looked at as what's going on in these communities that need to be fixed.
It shouldn't be highlighted.
That's why I don't really like what Adam what Adam did.
It shouldn't be highlighted.

(13:21):
It shouldn't be about he said something like, what are you going to do with this newfound fame?
Even though you got it through this this like situation.
I'm like, this kid is not famous.
This kid is not famous.
That clout is a drug.
And he's like, like perpetuating.
And he's saying, oh, you have this.
I know you don't have this.
So I don't like that.

(13:42):
They that they highlight that they put it in this in this in the spotlight like that, because that kid's story is not one to celebrate is not one to look at and be like, that's normal.
That's just L.A. shit.
No, that's what's wrong with the communities with our with our communities, the communities of black and brown people, this hip hop culture, this the street culture is like we got to do better.

(14:05):
And this kid is just a casualty of it as well because of his circumstance.
But we don't celebrate that.
And granted, he was being forgiven.
He did say he didn't want that.
He didn't mean that he apologized to the family like I could I could give him more.
I respect that.
Was it worth it at the end of the day?
Was that interview worth it?
And I think it was corny on Adam's part.

(14:27):
Man, God bless that kid, bro.
I hope his life turns around because it's not it's not going to be an easy road, man.
It's not going to be an easy road because you got to live with that.
I mean, yeah, definitely got to go to sleep at night with it on your conscience.
That's all I got to say about it, man.
It's just this a weird, corny situation on both parts.
Adam and the other guys.
So, you know, did you I know you saw the Kendrick video.

(14:49):
Absolutely.
Oh, yeah, man. I woke up to it.
I woke up to it.
When it dropped, when it dropped on the fourth, didn't it?
It dropped on the fourth.
On the fourth.
It dropped on the fourth.
Yeah, it's crazy because I've just seen it the other day that it dropped like two hours
into the all white party that Drake was at.
Just imagine like you just partying, you mingling around and you hear somebody in the back.

(15:10):
Oh, shit, the Kendrick video just dropped.
Man.
It dropped his glass on the fight.
That's crazy.
You know, there was at least there was at least two, three people in that party watching
this video.
Oh, yeah.
The party just stopped and everybody just went to the liver room to watch it.

(15:32):
That's crazy.
It was I think it was notorious where Biggie was off.
I forgot where he was.
And they was like, hey, man, turn the radio, turn the radio.
I think he might have been in the car and hit him up, just dropped.
And he was like, man, what?
But yeah, I watched it.
I watched it.
I loved it.

(15:53):
I loved it, man.
I was like, I played it this morning.
I think I watched it this morning again.
I watched it at least 10 times.
But yeah, man, we knew it was coming.
We knew it was coming.
And just the creative direction from Dave, Free, Kendrick, the whole P.G. Lang team.
Like, that's just something separate that's just truly amazing that I look into when it

(16:14):
comes to filmmaking and just the people that was involved in the video as far as like inside
over from Tommy Punch, Top, the whole TDE, the whole Black Hippie.
You had everybody in there.
Cool Boy Q and all those guys.
I seen Brandon T. Jackson in the video.
Like Brandon T. Jackson, it was a couple more people that was in the video, man.

(16:36):
And I love how he opened it up in just true Kendrick fashion by giving us like a snippet
of another song.
And it might not come out.
It might come out.
You never know.
But yeah, I love that part.
I love the video.
I love how simple it was.
Like, I love to study the simplicity of the Kendrick videos because there's not a lot

(16:58):
of effects.
There's the more the pop out thing, no pun intended, of these videos is the camera movement.
Like I loved it.
I loved it.
Like I instantly had an epiphany watching it.
I was like, all right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I liked it.
I liked it.
I liked it.
So yeah, man, the video was amazing, man.
It's just, just to go along with the song, man.

(17:19):
It's just truly amazing.
And then the pop out a few weeks ago and I seen somebody posted another filmmaker about
the true value of music videos.
And in my mind, I'm like, the true value of music videos was always there.
It's just people that don't have the big, big budget, they settle for just like the

(17:40):
$400, $600 videos that's going to have all these little weird effects and all that.
They'll do that and they'll just leave it at that.
They'll drop the video and go on to the next one.
But like I see artists with big budgets that take time to craft the video.
And then I say all that to say, you don't have to have the biggest budget in the world

(18:01):
to have a great video.
Like the most thing you need is just knowledge.
Like study, study, study, like study your favorite artists, study your favorite film
making, things like that.
And even if you don't have a favorite filmmaker for your artists, study your favorite artist
videos, and then find someone, find you a videographer that takes pride in storytelling,

(18:23):
that takes pride in music videos.
And like that's why I love Kendrick videos so much.
And I've just been truly inspired by his most recent ones, especially from his last album
process.
And I can go on a whole little, a whole little solidical about a whole little thing about
it.
But yeah, man, just take pride in the art, take pride in music videos and just incorporate

(18:44):
the storytelling aspect of it.
Because me personally, where I am now today, I'm not finna just, like it takes me, I'm
not just finna shoot a video, plan for it, or plan for a video in one week, shoot it
the next week.
Like I'm finna have multiple notes, multiple handwritten things and just try to figure
out how we're gonna do this.

(19:05):
So yeah, man, the video was amazing, man.
I love it.
I'm excited.
I mean, it just made me more excited to see what's next.
I don't care if we get something tomorrow, I don't care if we get something this year,
next year.
Like take your time, Kendrick.
Like just, I'm just excited to see what's next.
Like just for me.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Yeah, and that's the thing with music videos.

(19:27):
You're absolutely right.
I think the biggest thing with good music videos is your ability to tell a story, right?
And what makes a music video special is being able to tell that story with the least amount
of tools.
Like it's okay if you don't got the big million dollar budget.
If that's the case, put a high focus on your creativity.

(19:48):
All you need is your phone.
Yeah, all you need is your phone.
How creative can you get with what you have?
That's how you supplement that million dollar budget, those big budgets, with your creativity.
And it could be, like you said, it could be simple.
Kendrick puts a lot on cinematography and storytelling.
So it's very, I've seen low budget videos that are great.

(20:12):
So it's doable.
Yeah, I really liked the Kendrick video.
I think it was dope.
I like the little hidden gems that he put in there that people are just picking apart.
I think that was genius.
And I think that was intentional.
I believe that was intentional.
He had all these elements that people just picked apart.
And my favorite post was, they said it was a picture of Drake at the white party.
It said Drake is becoming the white dude.

(20:34):
It's giving white dude with dread vibes.
What was your favorite scene from the video?
My favorite scene was the camera movement shot that they did in the civil room.
I can't remember who was in it.
I think it was everybody in it.
It was some dancers and-
You had the dancers.
Yeah.

(20:55):
Yeah, that was my favorite shot.
And then the container shot, when they was dancing inside the container, somebody mentioned-
Oh my God, that was so hard.
Somebody made a wire reference.
And I was like, damn, it makes sense.
They said wire season two.
And on the wire season two, it was more so about the shipyards and the containers.
But within those containers, it was the transport of women.

(21:18):
So it was that situation.
So they made that analogy with Drake and they made that analogy in a video and things like that.
And if you watch wire season two, you will understand that correlation.
And I was like, damn.
I don't know if Kendrick did that, but if he did, that was genius.
That was genius.
I like the A-minor scene where he's doing the little bop, the little hopscotch.

(21:41):
Oh yeah.
That was hilarious.
I mean, I like that in that shot.
Camera angles are very important, man, when you're shooting a music video.
It could change the perspective of the entire shot.
It was like a zoom out shot.
And then it had a bird's eye view of him just doing those little steps across that hopscotch on the floor.

(22:03):
That was so clean.
I like that last shot, that family shot with them, the black and white shot with them dancing in the room.
I thought that was pretty dope.
I like that eagle eye there, that scope lens that they use.
I like that.
That scope lens.

(22:24):
Yo, you know, it's crazy.
That fishbowl.
Yeah, fishbowl.
Yeah.
My homie, Supe, maybe like three years ago, she was like, yo, she kept telling me about the fish eye lens and the scope lens.
And she's like, I'm telling you, yo, this is it.
She was like big on it.
That's something that was big for her, style-wise.

(22:47):
And I was like, yeah, it's dope.
And it was cool.
I just didn't have no experience with it.
So I didn't really know how to use it in a sense.
I hadn't experimented with it.
She started using a lot of her projects, her visual projects, she uses it.
All these years later, yo, that's such a popular style right now in hip hop.
That fish eye lens, that fishbowl lens.
And that's crazy.

(23:08):
Shout out to Supe, bro.
You saw it coming early.
She saw it coming early.
Talk to me.
What's your perspective on the artist's storytelling?
What did you want to get into?
The art of storytelling.
I will say this definition that I would give my own, in which it's kind of centered around that anyway.
The art of storytelling is the craft of conveying events, experiences, ideas, the words, images, sounds, and actions to entertain, educate, or inspire an audience.

(23:39):
I like to talk about it all the time when it comes to music, when it comes to filmmaking and things like that.
And I always say that storytelling is our greatest art form.
That was our most exciting things.
Those are most exciting moments as a kid.
If we got books read to us, if we watched our favorite cartoon, there's always an element to that.

(24:00):
And we like to hear stories about the past and things like that.
And we all watch movies.
We all watch TV shows.
And we just talked about it with the Kendrick Lamar video and how him, Dave Free, and the other guys that's in that bubble approaches filmmaking.
And storytelling.
So the people that I studied, the Danny Geverts, and he's one guy that I've just been watching lately.

(24:21):
He's a filmmaker that just released a film called I Think I'm Sick.
I haven't watched it yet, but I watched the journey and I watched the behind the scenes and things like that that he did and he conveyed to the world and what went into it.
I was just like, man, okay, okay.
I'm a big student of the game.
And before I jump into something, I want to study it.

(24:43):
I want to learn.
I want to do this.
And oftentimes I tell myself, okay, is there such thing as too much studying?
And of course it's not. Of course it's not.
We also have to get that experience.
We also have to jump out into the water.
That's all we're going to learn how to swim.
And so when it comes to storytelling, it's more so the sound of it.

(25:04):
It's more so it's not necessarily the quality of it.
I always talk about the quality of a quantity.
What I mean by that is not the image, the 1080p, the 4K, the 8K, things like that.
You can tell the greatest story in the world from a phone.
It don't matter what type of camera you have, what type of this and that.

(25:25):
You can tell the greatest story from a phone.
Of course you have to prioritize lighting.
That is damn tier number one, if anything.
So yeah, more so storytelling is just sound, man.
It's just the conveying sound into your films, conveying sound
and the elements of that into your music video and things like that.
And I can just speak from my experiences, like where I am now,

(25:49):
it was a point in time to where, okay, let's plan for this.
Let's plan for this video and let's go out and shoot it.
And then I come back and I'm just like, ah, I missed this.
I missed that. I wish I would have did this.
And that's where planning comes in.
So like with the gospel video that we started, I want to say in April,

(26:12):
I think we started that in the second quarter, I think, second or first quarter.
And it was times where I felt that I was rushed through that.
It was times where I was just like, is this enough? Should I do this scene? Should I do that?
Then I had to take so many steps back just to realize, like, okay,
let me add the storytelling aspect of it. That's why I did the therapy session.

(26:34):
That's why I did the intro sequence with me and Zevon playing chess.
That's why I did certain things throughout the video that convey
an emotional and intelligent aspect of him and throughout the record.
And with the pop out video with Kendrick, with the videos that I've been watching in the past,

(26:55):
it's like, man, the process, me, I always have these moments to where I'm doing something,
but then I just keep getting stacks of knowledge every day, every day, every day, every day, every day.
That's the same process with this album.
I always get epiphanies. I always get some newfound knowledge throughout this process to where,
okay, I got to add this and that. And then I look back four years from four years ago,

(27:19):
I look back five years ago, but when I first started my first short film,
Visionary, and it was more so just off the top of the dome.
I didn't really have any planning for it. I was just like, hey, man, let's just get this camera.
Let's just turn it on. I'm going to just talk. And what you're going to do?
We're just going to go on top of the head and we're just going to put it up.
That was the plan for that. But the more and more I grew, the more and more I understood the true value of storytelling.

(27:44):
Man, I was like, I don't have to rush. I don't have to rush. I don't have to put this out.
I don't have to film this today and put it out next week, next month.
I can truly take my time with it. Like we have that luxury. Like right now, we have that luxury of we can take our time with it.
We know we don't have people knocking on our door or we don't have a higher up to look up to as far as like, hey, you have this deadline of September to put out this film.

(28:12):
We don't have that. I can put out this film in 2027 if I have to. I'm not, but I could. But like damn, if I do that, that's what's coming out this year or next year.
But yeah, like the true value of storytelling, man, just conveying the emotional side of a visual, man.
And you can do that through audio as well, but more sort of filmmaking aspect, man. It's just a beautiful thing.

(28:37):
Like just me personally, it's just a beautiful thing just to be able to convey stories and bring stories to life.
Like my company slogan is being like bringing stories to life by being authentic in the process.
That word authentic means everything to me when I'm crafting something. Of course, I get inspiration from some filmmaker.
Of course, I get inspiration from someone that's doing something similar to me on a higher level. It's always there. It's always there.

(29:02):
Like it's always inspiration from someone that has done this, that has done the experience. It's never anything on a local tip.
It's never anything of that aspect. It's always something much, much higher.
So yeah, of course I draw that, but I always just formulate it and fuse it together into what I'm creating.
So yeah, man, I always look at a project. It's more so taking my time with it, like just not rushing the process.

(29:25):
It's always being patient. It's always just that element side of it. And what I'm doing now, man, it's a beautiful thing.
And it's being crafted. It's like my own personal Frankenstein, my own personal like angel head, man.
It's being like we working on the details every single day.
That's why mastering the artist's storytelling is such a useful skill.

(29:52):
Storytelling is a big part of my creative process. My first few film projects, it was kind of the same.
I was really on that same type of like energy of like grab the camera, let's just put it together.
Because I had that innate sense of storytelling, I could always piece it together a certain way.
And I was good on the fly, like just being on the fly and go, okay, we do this and do that.

(30:17):
It'll come together a certain way. But a lot of my early work was kind of random, you know, in a sense.
Kind of random, but a fit. I think Hostage was when I really got into like connecting all the pieces intentionally.
And even that was kind of a little sloppy because of how far apart we created it.

(30:40):
Hostage, the Hostage short film we did is a good example of something that doesn't have to come out right away.
And something that you could piece together, you know.
Like we shot the different scenes in that almost a year apart, you know.
It was like taking these two parts that were shot a year apart and then making it make sense and connecting it.

(31:03):
And I feel like it did for what it was.
And that's just in music videos. I've done short films way before this.
And I think that's why I definitely picked up and learned what storytelling was. I use that a lot.
Zaki L, he's a really amazing storyteller with his music and video wise.

(31:25):
But something I watched him do that he always like gave me game on was he would connect these sounds.
Like how you would say he would connect sounds in his music and he would connect them to certain like different tracks.
And it had this cohesiveness and this cinematic feel to it. He's very big on making his music feel cinematic.

(31:47):
I remember this album he was working on and there was this skit he had where like I believe he was in a train station.
There was like a homeless person shaking a cup with change in it asking for change, right?
So you hear it and it's like jingling, jingling, right?
And that jingle turns into like this transition bell. That bell is a sound on the next track.

(32:13):
The sound just morphs into that. And you see that in film and it's something that I'm privy to.
But watching him do it in music and audio form and how the transition between everything was almost flawless.
It's very captivating. I was like, wow. And that's storytelling.
That's the ability to take you from one scene to another scene flawlessly.

(32:37):
Without making you feel like you've been ejected from one scene and then projected into another.
You kind of ride it through like how you watch a film. You're in these transitional scenes.
And I think that's magic. Like when you could do that in any form of art.
Audio is just there's a very manipulative tactic with audio because it's not seen.

(33:01):
So there's something magical about that. Seeing him do that was very dope.
And with storytelling, storytelling is important. It has this, you have to create this arc, right?
I feel like a lot of times as I watch films today and even listen to music today,
I feel like a lot of it lacks like character identity. It lacks the arc of storytelling, right?

(33:25):
So you never really identify who the characters are.
And if you do, they're not engaging enough and they don't pull you and the storytelling doesn't grip you.
You never get this character is here. We know who he is, what he loves, what he hates.
And as you climb up, it becomes he identifies this problem. And now you have to go search for a solution.
So the journey becomes, oh, I'm searching for a solution. You get here and then you climax at the peak.

(33:47):
This is where everything kind of happens. And it's like you're dealing with all the adversity
that comes with finding a solution to a problem. Then the decline happens, right?
Then they start slowing down. It's like, okay, you're able to surpass or pass through that, those challenges.
And as you come down, you get closer to the solution.
And then you get to this point where the problem is solved and you have this story that's told.

(34:08):
I think every film follows that, but it also has to be polarizing, captivating, good. It just has to be good.
And films these days are made like music, right? It's microwavable. So I feel like we like that a lot.
And that's why I like listening to the Nick Grant album. I feel like it took me through that too.
Like right from the jump introduces you to the character.

(34:31):
You get an identifying factor of what he's going through and what his challenges are.
And as the album continues, he's gone through all these phases of finding the solution to the problem.
And as the album comes to an end, you get the feel of the solution,
at least the feel that this person is on the path to the solution.
But you get the art because at some point the album has like a climaxing, right?

(34:54):
And we get that with great projects, with great art comes great storytelling. That's just what it is.
Great projects have a storytelling element.
Unless you're just throwing random shit against a wall and seeing it stick, then it doesn't matter.
But you're not going to captivate people. People want to be captivated.
That's why they watch films. That's why they go to movie theaters.
It's something about being engulfed into what you're watching.

(35:17):
And if you can't tell a good story with that, you're just wasting people's time and money.
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. That's been my biggest struggle.
That's been my biggest challenge just to bring people in and captivate them and get them seated and get them to watch.
That's my biggest challenge because I ain't going to say everything else is there.

(35:39):
But as far as what I have done, just business-wise, content-wise, filmmaking-wise and things like that,
that has been my biggest challenge.
We also live in an era where people are not sitting down to watch things, right?
You have to grip them off the 30-second clip.

(36:00):
You got to grip them off of that first engagement like that.
So this is where we start altering storytelling, right?
Because you might have that art that people follow.
But sometimes in this generation, you got to start with the climax.
You got to just hit them right off the jump just so that you grip them, right?
And then you unwind and tell the story.

(36:22):
That's why I love the people who tell the story backwards.
That's some of my favorite films is that form of storytelling where they're telling the story backwards.
So they introduce you at the ending.
They introduce you at the ending of the story because you instantly captivated from the victory, from the ending.
Or that climax, when you're introduced to that climax scene, it's like right off the gate.

(36:45):
It's like, oh shit, there's so much going on, so much action, so much.
You're right in the middle of it and then it pulls you out.
Now we're going to tell you how we got to that scene.
So I think we're in a generation now where more people, we need to captivate right from the beginning.
So now how do we tell the story?
Now it's rearranging the different pieces and that's the magic.

(37:06):
That's the art of it.
That's manipulation of the craft of the story.
So I think this generation is the test of true storytellers and great storytellers.
You might struggle with that, but you know, we got to punch him in the face, bro.
That's it.
You got to smack him in the face and just captivate right off the beginning because people want to be captivated.

(37:29):
It's sad though.
It's hard for me to sit through movies now, to be honest, if the story isn't good.
I watched Dune too.
Man, that was so good.
Just from the beginning to the end, I was captivated.
So it's like, it's very, I don't watch too many movies like that, that are long form and have that element to it.
Like great storyteller.
Yeah, I got to watch it.

(37:50):
I got to watch it soon.
It's on my list.
I got a list of movies that I'm going to watch before I start filming.
Because once I start filming and once I start things like that, I'm going to try to stay away from certain things.
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm going to lock in on it.
Yeah, that's good.
I try to do that too, just to find the inspiration.

(38:12):
The Foundation album announcement and the All 7 Installments announcement.
Of course, we released it through content, far as words, but a lot of people ain't reading that shit.
Yo, people, he's not reading.
Birdman said, fuck them books.
Birdman said, fuck them books.
What can I do to help you?
Bro, Birdman was at a jail, speaking at a jail, and he said, well, what can I do?

(38:35):
I want to help.
What can I do to help?
And one of the inmates go, we don't have access to good books.
He said, the fuck is books going to do for you?
He said, fuck them books.
What can I do for you?
Y'all niggas don't read?
Birdman's so wild, bro.
I was just like, this is crazy.

(38:58):
I like the real gatekeepers in the film industry.
I want to hear what your takes on that is.
People talk about gatekeepers in music, and which I get that.
I get that.
But it's like platforms like TikTok, some platforms like that that filmmakers necessarily don't have.
Of course, there's YouTube.
As far as gatekeeping in the film industry, if you watch the Oscars and really pay attention every year, every year,

(39:22):
you will have a different level of thinking when it comes to filmmaking.
And you will either quit or you will keep going.
The best thing, if you tell yourself, I'm going to be a filmmaker, I'm going to produce movies, I'm going to produce TV shows,
you have to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what does success look like in this business?
If you tell yourself you want to be Grammy nominated in music, you tell yourself you want to win an Oscar in movies,

(39:47):
you have to move like that.
So you have to carry yourself in a way that you have to start now.
You have to carry yourself in a way that's going to put you under that spotlight.
So there's going to have to be certain mingling going around.
There's going to have to be certain things that you have to do to put yourself in a better position,
whether that's relocating or having a different friend group or building certain relationships within the industry that you don't necessarily want to.

(40:15):
You have to play the game.
Because if I promise you, if you tell yourself that, like if you tell yourself, I mean, this is the Goddardest truth and this is the harsh reality of it.
If you tell yourself you want to win a Grammy and you not putting as much marketing in your music as you is making it,
nine times out of ten, like that's that mission that you're trying to accomplish is going to further be pushed back.

(40:37):
Not saying it's obtainable, but it's going to be further pushed back.
So if you tell yourself that you want to win an Oscar, but you're not willing to do this role or do this and that as an inspiring actor or inspiring director,
things like that, then same with the music, the destination is going to be further, further put back.
So you have to mingle in these circles once you get that opportunity.

(40:59):
I'm going to say this, the road to winning a Grammy is much more obtainable than the road to winning an Oscar.
These nominated films that the Oscar nominates, you're going up against the Spielbergs.
You're going up against whatever movie Samuel Jackson in or you're going up against Oppenheimer.
You're going up against DOOM.

(41:21):
These are the major categories, even in the musical categories, there's a gatekeeping level in that as well, like the theatrical and the theater and all that.
So there's gatekeeping in that. So you have to, you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
That's what you have to develop within yourself in trying to get there.
Within a Grammy, you can produce or you can A&R, you can be attached to something.

(41:50):
And the same with filmmaking in certain aspects, but you can be attached to something that's still getting nominated or still win a Grammy.
You don't have to be on a major to win a Grammy.
You don't have to be. You don't have to be.
Like I've seen one guy that I follow on Twitter, I can't remember his name, but he just won a Grammy the last go round.
And I think he's independent.

(42:11):
Yeah, I know a couple of Jamaican producers who won Grammys who were just, you know, they were just attached to the record.
It wasn't like his album.
So it wasn't like his album that he won a Grammy or it was something he was attached to.
So within the music, it would be easier to get to that.
But when it comes to the Oscar level of it, that's something these people put time into.

(42:34):
So that's only if your goal is to win that.
But there's levels under that that you can obtain also.
There's levels of getting a number one or top 10 TV show on Netflix or HBO or things like that and that you can accomplish.
Like those are more realistic goals, but those are something that you more so subscribe to in that aspect of that.

(42:57):
So yeah, I haven't been to that level of like, okay, people keeping me out the film industry.
I haven't got to that level yet.
So I wouldn't know personally, I wouldn't know firsthand how that feels.
You can say good art would get you there.
Good art would like get you through the door.
But man, sometimes it's not true.
Sometimes it's not always the case.

(43:18):
I mean, it's not true, bro.
It's not the case.
Sometimes you'll squeak on, like the rat will get through the door just a little bit before it closes.
But most of the time it's not.
It's not great.
And good art won't get you there.
Great undeniable art will get you noticed.

(43:40):
Right.
And then politics and network will get you further.
There's just no way to do it off.
Great art is not realistic because everybody doesn't eat off of great art.
You know, there's a little Basquiat died, broke, Tupac died, broke, Biggie died, broke.
And I'm just saying these people made great art.

(44:02):
A lot of the time it's a network that you know and can people profit off of it?
Like, what's the representation of it?
Who's attached to it?
And that's like that's that's the gatekeeping element of it.
And it sucks.
But if you it's like you saying, if you want to be in those levels of it, you have to play the game.
You have the network.
You have. And I'm not saying that I'm being over, you know, satirical when I say that great art won't just do it.

(44:27):
But. You it starts with great art, you know, it starts with something that that's amazing.
It starts with a message. It starts with something.
It starts with a body of work that is undeniable.
And everybody might not think so. You know what I mean?
You have to be able to hit those things and then find the right people to attach to it.

(44:50):
I can take it to that next level because there's a lot of filmmakers who are just making films that might never reach that status.
Doesn't mean they're great bodies of work.
And maybe you find a gem on Tubi or maybe you find a gem on on YouTube or something.
Maybe that's all it does. But that piece of work can be inspirational.

(45:14):
You know, that body of work might be something that that that changes the world just because of its impact.
Awards don't necessarily mean impactful. You know what I mean?
Like culture still exists. So it's important for creators to also find their place in the culture so that you don't chase the it's good to chase the gold.

(45:36):
Chase the big, you know, the ashes.
Those things are important, important if they mean something to you.
So you chase those things, but also understand culture and your relevancy in the culture because impact is the one thing, right?
Because impact exactly impact changes the structure.
You can never have eyes on you and you make that one piece of work that has an impact.

(46:02):
It might take three, four, five years after that to continue to impact.
But you know what? Somebody might see after that. You might get a gig after that.
You know, you might get an introduction to somebody you might impactful art is also something to strive for.
That's important to get keeping in any industry, especially the entertainment industry is there.
So maybe it's an illusion. I don't fucking know.

(46:25):
And if it is an illusion, you still have to work your ass off.
It don't it don't change. You know what I mean?
There's always doors that are going to be shut.
There's always somebody you're going to have to impress as always.
That's the entertainment industry.
So you got to figure it out sometimes. Sometimes you might have to put somebody on your team you don't want just because their attachment to something brings value.

(46:46):
You know, you have to learn how to work through these things because this industry is not for play play.
It's not for play play. That's why I see Tyler Perry is a great example of this, right?
Because Tyler Perry, somebody who played the game, he started independent and then he played the game.
And then when he made enough, he got out. You know, when he when he made enough, he got out and built his own version of it.

(47:14):
You know, he built his own system, built his own production suit, built his own Hollywood so that he didn't need to play that game no more.
Now he plays it at this level. Now he has leverage.
You know, it's doable. So it's like, how do you how do you maneuver in it?
Charlie Chaplin was somebody to say Charlie Chaplin was a was came from nothing. He was he was poor as hell.
He came up in Hollywood. And when he made enough, he built he did the same thing.

(47:40):
Tyler Perry, he built his own Hollywood, one of the first independent creators who built his own production studios and had them all over.
And I mean, he did a lot of foul shit. So but I'm talking about what he actually did in Hollywood and how that changed the industry.
And I think that if people if people don't know the history of Charlie Chaplin and his impact on Hollywood and independent creators and filmmakers,

(48:03):
when we talk about storytelling, besides the nasty work he did, Charlie Chaplin told amazing stories with no sound and words at some point.
So it's like this is the genius of these things. Those guys played the game, you know, and it's not done on that level often.
You know, 50 doing it now and you seen 50s bouts with the gatekeepers live because he displayed it right.

(48:25):
He displayed when stars was fucking with him and you know, bullshit him and doing things that he didn't approve of.
The difference is today you don't have to hide it right today.
We have the Internet today. We have impact today. We have culture on a much bigger scale.
And I like saying you feel like that company is doing you wrong or that those people are doing you wrong.

(48:47):
You have a platform and a stage to display your grievances and have a call to action to your people and your fan and the culture to come in and support you.
And when you do that, that changes things because the people are ultimately who matter without the people.
The films don't matter. The art doesn't matter because people are who consume it, who appreciate it.

(49:11):
So, you know, those are the levels of the game.
Dave Chappelle is another great example of going up against the gatekeepers.
And when they took his product, when they took his name, when they took his art that he created, what he did, call to action.
He went straight to the gram. He didn't went straight to the gram and called those people out and said, don't watch this show because I don't benefit from it.

(49:32):
I'm not attached to it anymore. They stole that. You know what people did?
They stopped watching the show. And what did that cause? That caused HBO and them to give him back his property.
Right. That's David versus Goliath. Oh, shit. Wow. Never thought of it like that.
Literally, Dave Chappelle, David versus Goliath. That's the story. The gatekeepers exist. We see it all the time.

(49:56):
They do exist because that's just the industry and people protect it at those high levels. And I get that.
And independent creators like us, we got to fight our way in.
Somebody asked me about like if I would ever go corporate. And I told him, I would love to go corporate. To be honest, I would love to go corporate.
You know, I have to do something so impactful that it garners attention. And that's what I told him.

(50:21):
I said, I've been building my brand and everything I'm surrounded with, attached to on the independent side of this thing, you know, because I fight from the independent side.
It don't mean I'm against the corporate side. It just means that my stance is here and this is like my story is from here.
You know, so that's my David and Goliath story. Right. So I have to create something that's so undeniably great that they pay attention, that they then come to me to work for me.

(50:49):
That's how I feel today. I have that fight with myself every day. Yeah.
So it's like, would I take a corporate gig? Of course. Of course I would take a corporate gig because I'm also, I also believe I can impact from within.
But as my story, the arc of my story is I'm going to bust my ass and I'm going to keep creating until something is so great that they have to notice me.

(51:12):
Now they have to come to me. Now you have to come and work with me because you want some of the genius. You want some of the art.
You want some of the things that we've built and that we're creating and you and that is something that that could be profitable to them or something that they want to partner with.
And that comes with executing on high levels. It comes with good marketing and comes with great art.
It comes with great promo comes with a great team. It comes with all of that. You have to be able to execute on all these levels.

(51:38):
That's the level that it operates on on that side. And if you want to be on that side, you know, you got to be able to play the game.
And it's doable on the independent side. I'm not saying it's not. And the game that we play now is partnership. Right.
It's building this thing so great that when they want to come and play, we have a partnership.
You know, you can't buy this thing. You can't own me. You can't do that.

(52:01):
But you can partner up and we can do good business together and we could make great art together and we can make some shit that really is impact.
Because when you would impact and data and data money, that's that's that's a match made in heaven because corporate lacks impact sometimes.
So they find the creators and the guys on the ground who, you know, who could touch the culture.
So when you become that when you have that element on your side is leverage.

(52:25):
Let's get into the sound of the week, man. Let's get into it.
You are of course we both are you probably listen to more loop paid than I do. I think I heard maybe a few songs by him in the past.
But you told me to listen to this album. Samara. I did.
And I man, that is the best part about it is is the how short it is.

(52:52):
I think that's the best part about it. I think that's the best part about it.
It gets to the point. Yeah. Right.
It gets straight to the point, but you can feel it.
It feels like it feels like it could have been longer or it feels like it was longer.
Yeah. And I was just like when I was like on track seven, I was looking at I was like, man, I got one regular.
Yeah, I got one regular.

(53:13):
And like we know the lyrics is that Lupe displays to the to the music industry and the culture and things like that.
And you have to put him in that top 20. You can put him in that top 20. You have to.
It's there's no way you can truly. Right. You can truly put him in there.
And I was it's funny. I was thinking about when I was listening to the album, I was thinking about that live that he did with Royce.

(53:37):
You know, him and Royce had a little bang and forth. Yeah, I was too man.
Yeah. Yeah. I was watching that. I was like, that's what I was thinking about.
That's the last time I thought about Lupe. So I dove into the album. The first four tracks stood out to me from Samara, Cake, Palaces.
Like that the cake record in general stood out to me.

(53:59):
And I was just like, man, this man, I got to dive into the album even more. Just hear it three or four times.
But yeah, man, Lupe displayed an amazing body of work.
Like gave us eight tracks straight to the point. No really no interludes, no outros, no things like that.
Just gave you straight bars. And it didn't sound like nothing new.
Like as far as the way the the the record sound and the engineering, the production, it sounded like it sounded like some 90s hip hop.

(54:29):
It sounded like some 90s New York hip hop. Oh, yeah.
And I got to look more into the production credits and the writing and things like that.
But yeah, man, he displayed a very beautiful body of work.
I'll tip my hat off to him and the albums that I've heard this year, man, I can easily slide that into the top five.
Yeah, like the ones that I did here. So, yeah, yeah, he displayed a very good.

(54:51):
He displayed a beautiful body of work, man. I love it. I love it.
Yeah, man. Lupe for me was the first Kendrick Lamar.
You know, like he was on that trajectory like Lupe had the Jay-Z feature on the second album.
He was the conscious rapper like he had a lot of that, even the content where he was talking about back in his earlier albums, the way he the way he structured albums, the storytelling, the cinematography of those, the cinematics of those earlier albums.

(55:17):
Like he was that and his issues with the record label, I think he fell. He fell from that spot.
Like remember, Lupe had top records. You know, he was on the billboards. He was like he was kicking ass.
He he was also one of the guys who really brought that skate culture into hip hop, that skateboard culture.

(55:40):
And so I've been a fan since the first and 15th, like his production company or his record label and all that since the mixtapes. I've been a Lupe fan, you know, for I loved all those. The cool one of my favorite albums.
I've been inspired by him so much because of his ability, his writing ability, right.
And that's he showed out on this album as well with his pockets, the flows, the lyrics. It's just also let me let me give him his flowers. People don't know he has Lupe has AI right called Tex FX with Google.

(56:17):
And it's like it's like an AI for rappers, right. And it does amazing things. It has all these elements of like how to use words and break down words. And he has videos on how he's written music with it and all that.
It's a genius app, a genius platform for any writer and creative. Tex FX, you know, check it out, man. If you if you any type of writer creative, it's such a useful tool.

(56:42):
And Lupe is behind that. He's the man behind that. Also, why say Lupe's got to be mentioned as one of the greatest hands down. Lupe taught this course at Harvard, I believe, and it was called Rap Theory in Practice.
I watched this whole lecture, right. It's he's writing like the writing element. Rap is rap and it's it's a beautiful art form. But at the core of that art form is lyrics, right, as well as beats and production. But the other side of that is the lyrics.

(57:14):
What he does with with his writing is immaculate. It has to be is up there with the M&Ms, you know, and people don't like M&M in today's culture because of his rap style. But his how he raps is so it's he's a great technical rapper, right.
M&M. Lupe Fiasco is a great technical rapper, as well as really good with melodies and harmonies and pockets and putting things together and records. M has those elements, too. But the way, you know, Lupe has his own style with it.

(57:47):
So he's he's meant to me he's mentioned without without a doubt in that top rapper conversation. Yeah, I mean, to be so great at it that you teach a course at Harvard on rap. You know what I mean? Like this is this is who this artist is.
So Samurai to me was a great project. I loved it. I'll just say my highlight record for me is Palace. It was so I'm a fan of those introspective records and he touched on some really like really dope topics on that.

(58:22):
And I like how he's he's a Lupe is known as a you know, he knows how to weave these themes together and his music and his album. So just that record Palace and how he put it together is is incredible to me.
I love the energy behind it, the flow, the sound. It was very vibey, but he was he was hitting. And again, this album has a big boom back feel to it. Very jazz influence.

(58:48):
And I think he said he he saved recorded in his living room or something. I saw him tweet about it. Like so it's like Lupe. I also seen Lupe make records on live before like right then and there and put the project out, you know, or put the music out.
So again, this and that's a call back to being able to do the most with the least. You know what I mean? He very, very genius at what he does. So understand it doesn't take much to make something magical like his ability and skill and a little bit of, you know, work hard.

(59:22):
Genius, genius. Shout out to Lupe. Not just a miracle genius, but just all around genius. All around genius 100 percent. Yeah. So guys go check out that album.
Samurai is everywhere now. Go check out that AI app with Google text, text FX and go check out his course in Harvard. And it's on YouTube. That's how dope it is. It's on YouTube for you to watch for free. So yeah, rap, rap theory and practice, man. Shout out Lupe.

(59:52):
So we're going to get into the industry tips of the week. Y'all know what it is. It's a segment where we give you some tips on how to navigate this industry. Let's get it. Tip one, master the basics of storytelling before diving into the technical aspects.
Understand the fundamentals of storytelling. A compelling story with well developed characters and a strong narrative arc is the foundation of any great film. Focus on script writing, character development and pacing to create a narrative that resonates with your audience.

(01:00:22):
Tip two, prioritize sound quality. Sound is often more important than visuals and creating an immersive experience. Invest in good microphones and sound recording equipment. Ensure clear dialogue, clean ambient sounds and consider the impact of music and sound effects.
Poor sound quality can detract significantly from the overall viewer experience, even if the visuals are stunning. Tip number three, utilize lighting to enhance mood. Very important, very important. Lighting is a powerful tool in filmmaking that can influence the mood and tone in your scene.

(01:00:56):
Learn the basics of the three pointing lighting and experiment with different lighting setup to achieve the desired effect. Natural lighting can also be a great resource. Always be mindful of how light interacts with your subjects and environment.
Lighting is the most important thing in filmmaking. Tip number four, plan accordingly and pre-production. Talked about this earlier. Script breakdown. Analyze a script to identify locations, props, costumes and special effects if needed.

(01:01:27):
Develop a shot list and a storyboard that should be first. Create a detailed shot list and storyboard to visualize scenes and ensure that you capture all necessary shots. There's platforms like Canva that you can do so. Plenty of platforms out there you can do so.
You can do a note, things like that. Scheduling. Develop a production schedule to keep shots organized on track. Scheduling can make or break your filmmaking set. It can make or break the whole entire film. You can't have people all over the place doing this and that.

(01:01:59):
You can make it into films and things like that. Tip number five, edit with precision. Rough cut first. Start with the rough cut to get a sense of the overall flow and structure of the film. Pacing and timing.
Please pay attention to the pacing and timing of scenes to maintain audience engagement. We talked about that earlier. And one of my personal favorites,

(01:02:21):
It's color grade. Enhanced to enhance the visual tone and mood of your film throughout.
Careful with color grade. For me personally, color grade is one of my favorite things when
it comes to filmmaking. It's very, very important, very vital. It has that overall pop and mood
to your film. Yes, sir. I mean, there you have it, guys. I don't know how much more we got to tell

(01:02:42):
y'all. The beautiful thing about these tips, if you listen to the pod, you can hear how these things
have played out in our careers and how we use them and the things we talk about and understand
these tips are things that we use ourselves and utilize ourselves. Also, they're things that are
proven to work. They're proven to work. Absolutely. All right, guys, man, we're going to close it out.

(01:03:05):
This has been another episode of the I Hate This Industry podcast. I am your humble and handsome
host, Steve Almeida. And this is my good brother, Darren Reese Jr. Yes, indeed. All right, y'all. Peace.