How VFX Transformed an Award-Winning Marketing Campaign

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Scottie Yang takes us behind the scenes of "Future 48," an award-winning marketing campaign that used time travel and visual effects to transform perceptions about manufacturing careers in Arizona. As producer at Ideas Collide, Yang brought his unique background—spanning Hollywood post-production, competitive volleyball, and brand storytelling—to create something that transcended typical corporate content.

The conversation reveals how Yang's unconventional career path shaped his creative approach. Starting as a radio broadcast major who dropped out of college, he found his way into post-production through a technical school and developed his craft sitting alongside talented editors in Los Angeles. This technical foundation combined with creative storytelling proved perfect for bridging the worlds of filmmaking and brand communication.

What makes this episode particularly valuable is the detailed exploration of the VFX collaboration between Ideas Collide and Foxtrot X-Ray. Rather than bringing in visual effects as an afterthought, Yang describes how having VFX expertise on set transformed what was possible—from transforming a small training facility into a massive EV production line to creating holographic interfaces that made the future tangible. His insights about meticulous pre-production planning and maintaining creative standards regardless of budget constraints offer practical wisdom for anyone contemplating a VFX-enhanced project.

Whether you're a filmmaker looking to incorporate visual effects, a marketer seeking fresh approaches to storytelling, or simply curious about the creative process behind award-winning content, this conversation provides both inspiration and practical guidance from the trenches of modern production. Listen now to discover how combining technical excellence with compelling storytelling can elevate brand content into something truly memorable.

Hosted by Foxtrot X-Ray’s founder and “chief pixel pusher” Paul DeNigris, who brings to the conversation 30 years of experience in both independent filmmaking and visual effects, as well as 20 years of experience in teaching all aspects of digital filmmaking at the university level.

For episodes, transcripts, and more, visit http://vfxforindies.com

For more information about what Foxtrot X-Ray can do for your film, visit https://foxtrotxray.com

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
A high school student time travels toget a glimpse at Arizona's tech future
in a series of CGI infused short films.
We'll talk with the producer of theaward winning marketing campaign
on this episode of VFX for Indies.

(00:34):
Welcome to VFX for Indies, a podcastabout the intersection of visual
effects and independent filmmaking.
I'm your host, Paul DeNigris, VFXartist, filmmaker, and CEO Of boutique
visual effects shop Foxtrot X-Ray withme today is Scottie Yang, producer
at ideas, collide a full servicemarketing agency in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He's also a freelance producer, editor,motion graphics, artist, clothing

(00:56):
designer, college instructor, Renaissanceman, and all around cool, creative dude.
Welcome to the show, Scottie.
Hey, Paul.
Thanks for having me, man.
I'm stoked to be here with you.
Oh, thanks for joining us.
On this show, our goal is to bringon guests like Scottie to share their
insights into visual effects and filmproduction without going too deep into
the weeds of tech talk with the goalof educating filmmakers and producers

(01:18):
who are relatively new to using VFX.
If you like what we're doing here,please like and subscribe to stay
updated as we release new episodesand you can find all Our entire back
catalog of episodes at VFXforindies.Com.
As I mentioned, Scottie's a producerat Ideas Collide, and we recently had
the opportunity to collaborate on abig campaign for the Arizona commerce

(01:40):
authority called Future 48, which madeextensive use of visual effects to give
young people a glimpse into the possiblefuture of tech jobs here in Arizona.
Get them excited about educationalopportunities in that sector.
Campaign has picked up a shelffull of awards and has been seen
millions of times across the web.

(02:16):
Let's get started.
Scottie, why don't you tell us a littlebit about your background and education
and what brought you to produce yourproducing career in the agency world?
Yeah, I would definitely say that,like, I have 1 of those, less
conventional paths to this career.
You know, I, I, I'm nota film school graduate,

(02:37):
that sort of thing.
I actually was a, uh, I started out asa radio broadcast major and, didn't
really have, like, the, the desire.
Or at the time, didn't really likeknow what was my motivation going
into like the film or the commercialproduction space and things like that.
Although I, although, you know, as faras far back as I can remember, I've

(03:00):
always had a fascination and I thinkthat's where a lot of my, my motivation
stems from is like a curiosity factor.
I mean, As early as some of our earliestmemories are just, you know, watching
a, a cartoon, uh, see a commercialwatching a film that I've always
wondered like, oh, how did they do that?
How was that made?

(03:21):
And like, what's crazy is that thatsame curiosity, like, Still carries me
today, and I've learned that that ismy driving force behind developing the
craft and continuing, like, learning newphases of the production, like cycle.
We will, so it's that straight upcuriosity, you know, and keeping ahold
of that, and being intrigued by thecreative process and the production

(03:45):
process of creating that so I, I'm aform, actually a former college dropout.
I was an athlete forabout 18 years of my life.
And, so, and I would play, I playedvolleyball competitively, on the
beach and indoor, and I was goingto be a professional volleyball
player, you know, that stereotypical,athlete perspective, right?

(04:06):
So while I wasn't, I was,I was, intrigued by the
broadcast radio broadcast.
I had fun doing it.
That wasn't my primary goal.
Initially, I, I ended up actually,uh, flunking out of, of college.
And I was back here in Phoenixand this was probably like,

(04:28):
oh, 5 and it's just 1 day.
I was looking at the new times and, um.
I saw an ad in New Times for AlphaPacific Institute, uh, you know,
get, get rolling in digital filmproduction, media, uh, radio.
It was a kind of an all facetvocational technical school.

(04:49):
And I just kind of called it upand the guy that, that, owned it
and operated it, Michael Petri,who's actually kind of a media guy,
broadcast media guy here in Phoenix.
He's, he's still around.
So shout out, Michael, if you're,if you happen to come across this.
It was basically like a 6 monthintensive training program.
It was like my job, uh, you know, yougo in and you spend like 2 or 3 hours,

(05:12):
just kind of like lecture format.
And then he basically gave you a, a taskand you went out for the rest of the day
and you produced whatever that task was.
And then the next day you come backand you review it and critique it
and discuss it and talk about it.
And then you rinse and repeat, andthat was like 6 months straight.
That's what you did.

(05:33):
That was like the extent of likemy, my traditional like film school,
uh, experience, I guess you will.
But what was great about that, he,he taught us Avid media composer.
And because of that foundationalexperience working on, on Avid, that was
my lead in to getting my entry level gig,uh, first entry level gig in Los Angeles.

(06:00):
At a post production, uh, postproduction, like marketing
broadcast agency called studio city.
And I went in there in the tapevault as a tape operator and a
vault librarian, making tape dubsand, you know, all that stuff.
Right.
Right.
And, and learning the learning, patching,patching, you know, machines to, you
know, You know, I think they had, like,15 edit bays in that facility and just,

(06:24):
and just kind of cutting my teeth.
I felt like I was relearningeverything over again.
It was, was really, afascinating experience.
And, I'm actually gladit went out that way.
So, and then just from there, justthrough sheer ambition and, and
will and a desire to, to learn.
All phases of post production.

(06:46):
And the company saw that in me andthey promoted me to assistant editor.
And that's when things really startedto open up for me and it was probably
one of the most life changingthings that's ever happened to me.
And, uh, it's propelledme, you know, for 15 years.
Both creatively and technically becauseit's a, it's a healthy mixture of both.

(07:12):
That's, I think that'sone reason why I love it.
The technical stuff.
Has always been a natural to me, right?
It was the creative stuff that I,I, I didn't have the craft down.
I didn't understand it.
And so I, that was like my gradschool to me, those first few years,
it was like graduate school for me.
So I became an assistant editor at studiocity and that's when some of the creative

(07:35):
stuff really started to, blossom.
Because now I had anopportunity to sit with some
extremely talented editors, like extremelytalent and, and learn from them and, and
watch their cuts and help them find shotsand organize their projects for them.
And, you know, through that process,right, you're looking at their

(07:56):
timelines and you're seeing howthey're constructing their timelines.
And a big thing for me was, theyall emphasized your need to grasp
how to handle audio, how to cut upmusic, how to understand music theory,
how to compose, taking like a trackand recomposing it based off of the

(08:17):
dynamics of the song and what you'retrying to do with it in your cut.
Right.
Like next level type shit.
Right.
You know, that.
Most young amateur editors just aren't,aren't thinking on that wavelength.
Right.
And then, just sitting with themand there's a couple of editors
that would come through somefreelance, some were on staff.

(08:39):
That if, especially if they'rea freelancer, if I knew.
That they were coming in becausewe booked them for, for some work.
I would, I would literallydrop everything I was doing.
I was like, you know, fuckeverything else I need to get done.
Cause I would go and I would just like,I would build a relationship with them,
sit with them, ask them questions.
And a lot, pretty much all of themwere so gracious with their time,

(09:02):
willing to help out a young, uh, youknow, a young emerging editor come,
you know, and, and learn the trade,learn the craft a little bit more.
So I spent a lot of time doing that.
And then eventually I, I decidedto go freelance as an assistant.
I was a pretty damn good assistant editor.
It came natural to me.
Right.
Cause it's very technical in nature.

(09:22):
Yeah.
And I started, you know, at that pointas an assistant, I began just, I joined
the, the motion pictures, editor guildgot on their active roster and then
began, like, that's the easy part.
It's finding the actual gig.
That's a union gig out there.
Right.
That that's, that's the hard part.
And I just went freelance and that'swhen I kind of entered into the, like,

(09:45):
agency commercial production world.
And working with some post productionfacilities out in like, like Santa Monica
and Venice, that had relationshipswith like Shy Dane and stuff like that.
And so I got, that's when I reallygot exposed to like the super
high level, large budget, likecommercial storytelling type stuff.

(10:07):
And, uh, I lied to get hired onsome of those gigs saying, I had
only known Avid media composer.
Up until that point, and, acouple of them, uh, were Final
Cut 7 based, didn't know a lickabout Final Cut, only knew Avid.
I remember I applied for a gigas an assistant, uh, for a final

(10:31):
cut seven based, uh, projects.
And they were like, adament inbold letters, you must know Final
Cut 7 in the posting for it.
And, I just so happened to know oneof the producers and she kind of, when
I talked to her, she emphasized,okay, so you know, you're, you're
an expert level, like in final cut.

(10:51):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
Okay, cool.
Like, all right, well come in on Monday.
Like we'll, we'll get you onboarded andthen we have some work lined up for you.
I literally bought a book thatwas titled Final Cut Pro 7
for Avid media composer users.
And I read it in a weekend andthen went to work, on that Monday.
Uh, and that's kind of how Ientered in that, that large, large

(11:12):
budget agency commercial space.
Which was really, really cool becausewe got to be on, we were on set.
We were doing live captures on set.
As they were shooting it direct feed fromcamera and then as part of my job as that
assistant editor was, you know, to, todo those takes and then feed them over
to the editor that was cutting there.
So that was a really awesome experiencebecause then I got to wander around

(11:34):
on the lots and like, check out whatother productions that were going on
that had open sets and things of thatnature, which was a really, really cool
part of that whole Hollywood experience.
Right?
Yeah.
And getting to work in LosAngeles and stuff like that.
Yeah.
And then it just, I could have, Imean, if I really could have, I could
have dedicated my career to being acareer assistant editor, you know, and

(11:56):
eventually get my into my way into thestudio system where the union gigs are,
are, and, and being an assistant editor,a first assistant, second assistant
on, on film, that sort of thing.
But, for some reason, Ilike to make things hard.
I like to challenge myself forwhatever reason, and the creative
storytelling aspect of all was stilla little bit of a challenge to me.

(12:20):
Like I wasn't great.
I wasn't great at it, right?
I was still trying to develop that craftand I knew at a certain point I had
to stop taking assistant editing gigs.
You know, everyone was viewingme as an assistant editor.
Right.
And a good one.
Right.
Which was why I was getting gigs.
But at some point you have to takea stand and be like, I want, I'm an

(12:41):
editor and that's what I'm going to be.
And that means I got to stoptaking assistant editing gigs.
And that's kind of where it is.
Ended up happening was like, I justhad to stop, you know, and it was hard.
It was a challenge, you know,because work dries up because
you're not taking assistant work.
You're, you're working ondeveloping, getting your reel ready.

(13:03):
And so you can put it outthere and get the gigs.
And eventually it started to pickup, went to work in NBC for a
while, worked on some, some showcontent there and that sort of thing.
And then that's just kindof how it's progressed.
You know, and then.
At a certain point, I, I did, Idid leave Los Angeles for a stint.
I did some grad school work.

(13:24):
I went and finished my bachelor's.
I actually went back to collegeas a 30 year old and competed,
finished out my NCAA eligibilitywhile finishing my degree.
And I was out in South Carolina.
And the next thing you know, likeyou're so specialized in Los Angeles
as an editor, you're just like, well,now I don't have anything to cut.

(13:46):
Right.
And then you feel like, okay, well, thenyou started to figure out, okay, well, if
I want to keep my knife sharp, I just gotto go out and start filming my own shit.
And so I just bought a camera and Ijust started filming my own stuff just
so I can go out and cut and keep mypassion, which was at the editorial side.
Right.
And keep developing those skills.

(14:07):
And I had no choice.
So now I'm like getting,I'm out in the field more.
Right.
And now I am.
Holding the camera andnow I'm producing stuff.
Now I'm taking on local clients, right?
And I'm doing, I was actually the,the school I went to, uh, shout out
Limestone University, uh, is hiring mebecause I knew they knew my background

(14:28):
coming in, you know, And they starthiring me to produce some of their
athletic content for them, right?
So now I'm getting exposedto these other areas outside
of what my specialization is.
And that's when things reallystarted to blossom for me, right?
I'm now developing my craft as aproducer, as a director, a bit, as, As

(14:50):
a cinematographer and that sort of thing.
And I've just built upon that, youknow, year after year after year, take
whether it's just whether I'm workingwith just doing the editing, or if I'm
coming up with a story concept for aclient that I take on, uh, to producing
it, to directing it, or, hiring ona director or things of that nature.

(15:11):
And that's, really, I found a realgood niche out of that is that I
can tell a brand story pretty well.
Right.
And I've just, that's kindof where I'm like, all right,
well, that's, that's my focus.
I want to apply a lot of thoseprinciples and practices that we take
when we're, you know, uh, producingor creating a feature length film.

(15:33):
Let's apply that to Brandstorytelling, right?
I think that there's a lot of people,a lot of like, I guess you can call it
corporate video and we all know what thestereotypical corporate video looks like.
Right?
Right.
Overly washed lighting, lack ofnarrative, not very entertaining.
And that's kind of when I figuredout is like, if I can make something

(15:54):
entertaining to an audience.
It can be about anything.
It could be the most driest content,but if we can tell it in a storytelling,
entertaining type of way, like that'sgoing to hold your audience, right.
And it'll be more effective that way.
And so, That's justmy approach now, right?

(16:16):
Cause I see there's an opportunity inthat particular space where we can apply
filmmaking practices to, I guess youwould call corporate stock type of video.
And there's so much corporate content andbrand content out there, but it's done in
that historical kind of bland kind of way.
Sure.
It's like, so if we can apply someof these principles of filmmaking

(16:40):
to it, Now we're separatingourselves from the pack, right?
And that's kind of where I'm, I'mpushing things, trying to push
things forward, uh, to this day.
Yeah, that's great.
You know, when we were working togetheron Future 48, which we'll come to
in a moment, I did notice, that youwere, you were really well dialed in

(17:00):
on the creative side, like your ideasand execution work were fantastic.
And the way you worked withyour team was, was incredible.
But then when it came time for youto actually turn material over to us.
Like your timelines were meticulous.
Your stuff was super organized.
You named everything correctly.
And I was like, who is this guy?
Like, this is amazing.

(17:20):
I wish every producer client wasthis well versed like you're kind of
a unicorn in that, in that regard,like not a ton of producers that I've
interacted with have that level oftechnical execution.
So it's a, it definitelyhas served you well.
Well, I appreciate that.
And I, that's probably the, one of thebest ways you can compliment me is by

(17:40):
saying that because, and that stems frommy time as an assistant editor for those
that, that may not know, like assistantediting, you're not doing creative work.
I mean, it's technical.
I mean, you're setting up projects.
You're, you're.
ingesting media, you're managingthe project, you're managing the
media in itself, on the serveror wherever it may be living.
Right.
And you know, you're sifting throughshots for the editor for them.

(18:04):
So you're doing all that legwork forthem because this is the, this is the
interesting part is that, that whenyou're producing a TV show, you're, Right.
It would take us, uh, fora one hour television show.
It's a two week turnaroundfor one episode.
Right.
And a lot of people don't get that.
It's, it's literally likea production assembly line.
Right.

(18:24):
And because that createsthe most efficiency, right?
So, you know, you're, you're taking thefootage from the production team and
it's being brought in and it's handedoff to like a PA or like a transcriber
and they're transcribing everything.
And everything's in a certain phase ofproduction, you know, And part of your
job as that assistant is to make surethat that production is flowing and, and

(18:47):
that the editor isn't doing that work.
You're paying an editor 250, 000 a year.
The last thing you want themto do is to be sifting through
shots or wasting their time.
No, like you pay, this is kind of,this may sound kind of harsh, but like
you want to pay the assistant who'smaking a fraction of that, right.

(19:08):
And to do that legwork, cause you wantthe creators creating that's, you know,
they need to be creating for 10 hours.
That's what their purpose is.
And so, my time as an assistanteditor has really laid that strong
foundation for when it's time to gointo finishing, you know, and working
with guys like you, like your team.
You know, is making sure thatyou're prepping things correctly,

(19:29):
because trust me in Hollywood.
If you don't prep it correctly,I would hear about it.
Right?
So you kind of learn the hard way of, ofwhen you don't do something correctly.
And there's a, there's a way to dothose sorts of things like prepping your
timeline for Colorists, prepping yourtimeline for VFX, things of that nature.
And, um.
You know, so that's why I'm like, yeah,like that's, I take pride in that.

(19:51):
Like I'm a little OCD about it actually.
But you should, you should takepride in that, yeah, that's great.
I, you know, I used to, I don't knowif you know, I used to teach Avid.
I used to teach, I taught film attwo different colleges for 20 years.
And, uh, I used to teach Avid andI wouldn't let my students do any
creative editing until they hadreally mastered the organization.

(20:12):
How to organize their bins, how tocreate thumbnails, how to name stuff,
where stuff was stored because Avidhas its own unique architecture.
You know, you can be, you can besort of lazy when you're cutting
and final cut or premiere, you canjust go to go to finder and drag an
MOV in and you're in wherever it is,that's where premier is
going to access it from.
But Avid's like, Nope.
I have to transcode it.

(20:32):
I have to put it in my database.
I have to put it here.
And then the assistant editor hasto know how to find stuff, how to
manage the database, how to repairthe database when it's broken, you
know, all of that sort of stuff.
And they, I would drive my students crazy.
They were like, we just want to cut.
And I'm like, you need to knowthis stuff before you can cut.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And the ones who stuck with it,you know, they, they, They got it.

(20:53):
You know, when you, the people who getAvid really get Avid and, and they go,
I don't want to cut on anything else,but by the same token, like you can,
you can learn premiere or final cut in aweekend because Avid's the foundation.
Avid is the root from whichall non linear editing.
You know, has grown.

(21:14):
Totally.
And it's like, I just, it's been a whilesince I worked in Avid, but, cause it's
not, you know, in the Phoenix market,it's not in a high demand application.
Right.
But like, I just, I rememberAvid, it was the best way I can
describe Avid Media Composer.
As a program is fickle.

(21:34):
Yes, it's a very fickle program.
And, uh, yeah, to your point, it'slike you had to do it a certain
way or else Avid wouldn't like it.
Right.
And we're able to crash on you or, youknow, I remember always having, as an
assistant, I was always troubleshootinglike these random ass errors on Avid.
And I just remember a quick, uh, I havea quick story about that because when

(21:55):
I, on that gig that I was working atthat post house where they were all
final cut, well, one of the ownersand like main editors there, they had
a leased Avid rig in one of the editbays because the editor was editing.
I think it was Transformers 2.
I think it was that time.
Right.
And it was literally my firstday, my first day on the gig.

(22:17):
And, he had an Avid error that noneof the bullpen of the assistants knew
because they only knew final cut.
And I was like, Hey, that's something Iactually know because I was faking it.
I was faking it the entire time thatI knew what the hell was going on.
And I'm like looking over the shouldersof all these other assistants on like how
they were using their hot keys to export.

(22:38):
Right.
Things and stuff like that in final cut.
Right.
So like immediate, when I overheardsomeone say, you know, Hey, is
there someone available that, thatcan troubleshoot this, everything I
immediately popped up cause I knew Ican, I need to prove myself a little bit.
And so I hopped in thereand, it was a database error.
You know, so you just had to trash yourdatabase and then restart it and stuff
like that was a simple fix, right?

(22:59):
But it was like, it made me looklike a golden boy because, and then
what, what was great about that?
I got to sit with him for awhile while he was cutting some
scenes from Transformers 2.
And it's like just takingthose opportunities, right?
Like taking those opportunities to developand talk to another creative about
their perspective from that particularcraft standpoint and that trade.

(23:21):
I was like, I just, it was oneof the funniest things ever.
And I'll always remember that.
And I remember a lot of the times, justthose late night conversations with some
of those editors and sitting with themand, and those sorts of things, because
those are the sorts of things that one,you don't really learn in film school.

(23:41):
And, it's the.
The stuff that doesn't comeout of a textbook, right?
It's where you sit and you talk tothem and you really learn about scene
perspective, who's You know, whoseperspective is the scene, the characters
through, you know, the, the scene throughthe characters viewpoint, I learned from,
and I'll, I'll never forget this guy.

(24:03):
His name is, his name is Danny Sapphireand I don't know if he's still in LA
or not, but it was kind of known aslike the film doctor, how I, how I
remember it, uh, he fixed a lot of likeshelved films and, He would freelance
with at studio city quite a bit.
So Danny was 1 of those guys that,anytime that I knew that he was coming

(24:23):
in, I dropped everything I was doingand I was always there to help him.
If you need.
Hey, Danny, you need something.
Like, what do you need?
Like, you need a shot.
I'll go find it for,you know, immediately.
And, eventually we had a prettygood rapport is a funny guy.
Uh, he would invite me to his houseafter I got off work because he had
an Avid rig there and he was, uh,cutting some film stuff over there.
And so I would go after hours after likea 14 hour day, I'd go to his house for a

(24:47):
few hours and sit with him and he wouldtalk to me about what he was working on
on one of the scenes and the perspectiveand he, it's when you really learn.
That like really good editors havethe ability to, to one, look at every
single frame of footage and creativelyproblem solve as they're cutting

(25:10):
something And he's the one that was, Idon't know, like next level thinking.
And from an editorial standpoint, likecreatively, there was, I just remember
there was one scene where the actress.
She had to like, look in a directionand he was, we were scrubbing
through the takes and, and he waslike, I hate all of the takes.

(25:34):
It's like, I don't like any of the takes.
Right.
He's like, but.
It's like, I found something and hewas like, after the director says
cut, the camera was still rolling.
Someone off camera shoutedthe actress's name.
And then she looked and he'slike, that's it right there.
It's like, that's the, so itwasn't even part of the take.
Right.
And he's like, this is why, and hetaught me that he taught me like, this

(25:56):
is why you review every frame of everyfile of every take, because you never
know when you're going to get somethingbetter than what was the actual take.
Right.
And so that's what made it intothe cut was not the cut of her
looking the takes of her looking.
It was the outtake because thecamera was still rolling in
hand enough frames to work with.

(26:18):
Right.
And he got a nice organic, naturallooking reaction from the actress.
Right.
And so I'll never forget that, you know,and it's something that I share with
the students that I teach, in some ofthe classes I teach, you know, to this
very day, cause I'll never forget that.
Yeah, that's great.
I wish, uh, when actors receive awardsfor their acting in movies and TV, I

(26:40):
wish they would thank their editors morebecause their, their performance is just
raw material until an editor shapes it.
Yeah.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
And it doesn't matter howbrilliant an actor is in the
hands of a mediocre editor.
The performance may not all cometogether, the story, the arc, you know,
it may not all come together, but in thehands of a master editor, uh, even a,

(27:02):
you know, an actor who isn't the, youknow, Sir Lawrence Olivier or whatever.
Right, right, right.
They can, they, they can really shinewhen they're, when they're, their
performance is shaped correctly.
That's what I love about it.
That's what I love about that the craftof it, because I mean, you're, you are

(27:23):
kind of like a director, you're, youknow, cause you work very closely with
the director, you know, on, on theseprojects, you know, and it doesn't matter.
It could be a feature length film,a short film or, or commercial.
It doesn't matter.
Like you're working prettytightly with director.
It's a strong collaboration with them.
You know, but it's sucha mixture of, yeah.
All disciplines within thiscraft in this industry.

(27:47):
It really is.
And, to be able to do thateffectively is such a great feeling.
It really is.
So you've been, you've obviouslybeen around for a while,
you've your career has taken, asyou said, a very unusual path.
And you've, you've landed in thisspot where brand storytelling is,

(28:08):
is, is your jam and it's what you're,you're good at and what you're
known for, uh, here and elsewhere.
So let's, let's turn the conversationto that as we, you know, we move
into our collaboration together.
So in your, in your opinion, asa brand storyteller, you know,
what are the benefits that you seewhen, when VFX team onto a project?

(28:31):
Like why, why in marketingand advertising and brand
storytelling, why would you want?
VFX.
To be one of your tools in your tool set.
Why would an agency like IdeasCollide bring a team like mine
at Foxtrot X-Ray onto a project?
One, it's your ability toelevate the story to be told.

(28:55):
I really can, like you can, andit comes on different levels too.
Right.
And we've talked about this before,you know, just in our own personal
conversations of how, how you, wecould utilize and lean on you to,
you know, and I, this is such a dirtyword in the business, but like to
fix, you know, fix certain things thatmaybe, you know, You know, that may

(29:20):
have been out of our control, right?
In production, right?
You know, so you do your best you can tocapture everything as cleanly as possible,
but sometimes shit happens, right?
And sometimes you need some help, right?
And you, the best way to do that is tolean on partners, such as yourself to,
to clean that up or help us fix that.

(29:41):
To make it still look authenticand natural as if we did
shoot it through the lens.
Right.
And so that's one thing.
And you guys helped us with, withsome of that on, on Future 48,
but if I recall correctly, weactually did very little of that.
And, and, and here's why, because youand I were preemptively having those
conversations on set, which is great.

(30:05):
We were, we were talking and I was, Overyour shoulder, looking through the lens
with you and going, my guess is clientis going to ask us to paint that out.
Can we just get some grips to move that?
Yes.
And so that's one reason that was, I mean,like that was such a huge help because,
you know, a lot of my experience with.

(30:26):
Collaborating and working with VFXteams, was specifically related
to the post production aspect.
Right?
So I've sat in those bays, you know,with, with the artists working in flame
to, to do the finishing aspects of acommercial and sorts of things like that.
Right?
Which is a great experience, right?
So to see it from that perspective, butthen to now then dive into that same.

(30:51):
Concept, but having to be on setright now, we're shooting it and we're
shooting it for use in VFX, right?
And to have you there andhave that perspective.
Was super helpful because as you canimagine, or probably already know as a
director, like you are just bombarded withall these things the entire time, right?

(31:13):
Scottie, this Scottie, that Scottie, this.
Hey, Scottie, do youthink we should do this?
Scottie?
You know, so you're making,you're having to make decisions.
Like, Every single moment on topof talking to your actors, making
sure that they understand whattheir motivation is and what they're
trying, what they're, what you'retrying to get from them, right?
Talking with your DP, right?
Making sure that you're on the samepage with what he sees, with what

(31:36):
I was hoping, what I was originallyenvisioning, things like that, making
sure the lighting's right, making, youknow, there's so many things, right?
And just like to have you there as anone, as an extra set of eyes, You having
you thinking through, and seeing thingsthrough the lens of a VFX artist, as

(31:58):
an extension of, uh, as a extensionof a creative director on top of that.
Right?
Like, I mean, it was super helpfulbecause there were, I remember
specifically, Paul, that there was1 moment inside that Lucid facility.
Where I was the, the shot that wasplanned when we saw it through the
monitor, I was like, it's like,this is not fucking working and

(32:21):
I was like, like, full honesty.
Like, I was like, I don't knowwhat the fuck to do on this.
Like, I can't think of anotherframe or another angle to approach
the shot to get what we want.
And I remember distinctly,like you came in.
And I think you could sense, you cansense my anxiety about the situation.
And you just, and you stepped in andyou said, you tap, I remember you

(32:44):
tapped me on the shoulder and yousaid, Hey, can I suggest something?
And I was like, please do, but like,that's what, that's what a team is.
Right?
Like, that's the thing is like, andit's so funny we're talking about it.
Cause I was just talking tomy class on Tuesday and I was
reading through some of their,their, I had them doing like an
assessment, a skills assessment, soI can kind of get a gauge of what

(33:05):
they've done, what they haven't done.
That's really.
And I remember 1 students wrotewas like, I want to be a director
so I can tell people what to do.
And I'm just thinking that'snot what directing is.
Right?
No.
Right.
And so, in my opinion, like, to bea good director, it is about that
collaboration, but it's also, it's notnothing about telling people what to do.

(33:29):
Right, because even good directorsget hung up and they may not
know what to do that moment.
That's why you have a team around youand to have someone like yourself there
that was just as committed to the storyand just as invested into the story that
that the whole Ideas Collide team was tobe in there and and to sense that that.

(33:52):
I was kind of at a roadblock that I, Icouldn't figure my way around for you
to step in and be like, Hey, I havean idea or having a suggestion and,
and, and got us through that part.
And I'll never forget that.
And that's like that in itself iswhy I would like, if you have an
opportunity to work with, with your team.

(34:13):
You gotta take it because it's, it'sgoing to elevate what you're doing
in execution, like tenfold, you know?
Well, thanks.
That's awesome to hear.
Yeah.
Do you, I don't know ifyou remember that though.
No, I, I, I don't know if I rememberspecifically the shot, but I, but
I do know that that Came aboutbecause we had, we had been working
together on the project for likesix months, I think at that point.

(34:35):
Yeah.
Right.
And we had been on set togetherfor several days back to back.
So yeah, but I was able to read yourbody language and tell like, okay, you
know, he's in the weeds a little bit.
And he needs, he needs a push.
Uh, and, and I had also earned yourtrust by making small suggestions and,

(34:57):
and looking for those opportunities,like, Hey, this is going to cost us money
in post, but if we move the camera andavoid that, or we just get our grips
to like, move that cabinet out of theframe, knowing that this is the frame
you want, like we can remove that.
And then we're not spending money.
We're not spending your budget.
Your VFX budget on stuffthat doesn't matter.
We're spending it on thestuff that really does.
I had earned your trustso that I could step in.

(35:20):
Is it, that isn't the kind ofthing that's going to happen.
Like we, we meet and thenimmediately, it doesn't work later.
That's not how it works, man.
It's not how it works.
Right.
It's a, it's a matter of, uh, of buildingthat, that trusting environment.
And, and you know, that's to your creditand the credit of everybody at Ideas
Collide that I interact, interactedwith, like you guys were all super

(35:42):
open, uh, to whatever we suggested.
And so, yeah, let's, you know, let's kindof jump back in time and talk about, you
know, what exactly is this Future 48 thingthat we've alluded to a couple of times?
What is it, how did theproject get started?
How did, how did itland at Ideas Collide?
And then, and then howdid you come to recruit us?

(36:04):
Yeah, I mean, it, it was, Aninteresting situation, I know the,
the agency has done some work for theArizona Commerce Authority in the past.
And so I believe that's, I don't knowthe full details of, like, how that
relationship started, but what, how Igot involved with the project was, I was
asked, we had done a substantial amountof focus group, data and surveying and,

(36:31):
That sort of thing on to, to define andclarify who the target audience was.
And who they're trying to hit andwhat they're trying to do with that.
And so this was kind of a comprehensivecampaign that was to also include a
landing page to help drive awareness.
It was like a more of a generalbrand awareness thing around.

(36:54):
Arizona's efforts to promote and advance,advanced manufacturing, in the state.
Right?
So make it enticing, but like, um.
Not so much as like bringing the companiesin the focus of this was to educate, and
build general awareness around, likefor recruiting talent purposes, right?

(37:17):
And so there was a lot of misconceptionsof what manufacturing is, right?
Everybody thinks you think,oh, manufacturing job.
That's not a very fun job.
Everybody wants these, youknow, easy peasy you know.
Cushy marketing jobsor whatever it may be.
Right.
And like, when you hear the termmanufacturing, you're thinking

(37:38):
monotonous, boring, uh, maybe overlyphysical, like labor, dark, you know,
grimy, gross, that sort of thing.
And part of this whole campaign wasto be like, this is not that this
is the future of manufacturing.
We're looking, you know,the chip making companies.

(37:58):
Right.
Uh, the, the Lucid motors of theworld, like these are not like your
traditional manufacturing jobs.
These are highly skilled,highly technical, and
technology driven, careers.
And they were having a perceptionissue with the younger demographic,

(38:19):
the 18 or even 16 to 24 year olds.
Right.
And, and letting them know,Hey, you don't have to go.
The traditional route to find areally good career and build a
good life for yourself, you know,we can train you on the job.
We will pay you well, startingout and training things like that

(38:39):
and opening up the opportunities.
And guess what?
You don't have to leave your family.
You know, if you grew up here,you don't leave your family.
You can stay home and find agreat job, make a great living and
build a great life for yourself.
Right.
And so that's kind of wherethat a lot of that stemmed from.
I was brought in, and I had notbeen with the agency that long, but

(39:01):
I was brought in because of my, mystorytelling, ability and my experience.
Right.
And so, they Matt, our, uh, our CEO,the agency, I said, Hey, it's like,
I would love to get your, get yourhelp, get you in on this project.
And we can, you know, leanon some of your storytelling.
Okay.
And so I, you know, I grabbed that, Itook that PDF of the focus group findings

(39:26):
and I just read it, you know, I neededto get in touch with, with what we're
trying to hit, what we're trying totarget and who we're trying to talk to
specifically.
And as I'm reading through it, I'm like,shit, I was like, holy cow, like this was
me when I was 18, like just reading, likewho the responses and stuff like that.

(39:48):
I was like, cause I was that I was like, Ididn't know what the fuck I wanted to do.
You know, I knew that I was anathlete and that was, that's what
I was leaning on the entire time.
Like, I felt my early twenties, Iwas like lost that sort of thing.
And like, I'm reading it andlike, like, that's what a lot of
these responses are describing.
And so I just begin kind of writingand I started with a character

(40:13):
that was in that demographic.
They're trying to target.
And I just built that out.
I just wrote brain dumped this andstarted coming up with this character.
Right.
And, and then I, I remember I hada, a meeting with, Ryan Katz who
works with us over at the agency.
And, it was just kind of talkingthrough it and we kind of just, he

(40:36):
and I begin to build out like thisrough framework of what this could be.
Right.
And I just like took that and I ranwith it and it was initially, it
wasn't like, there was zero intentionof like hiring, you A VFX team, you
know, that all came about with whatI wrote, and I was like, okay, like,

(40:56):
this might be a little ambitious,but I just started going with it.
Right.
I just like, you know what?
But like, this was like a narrativestorytelling type of thing, something
that the, the commerce authority hadn'treally ever done before with the campaign,
uh, you know, and the, you couldn'tdeny that the story like hit exactly
the things that they were trying todo, uh, through that focus group data.

(41:19):
And so.
Okay.
That's kind of how we're going.
And then we're just reading through it.
And I was like, okay, and I justtold him, I was like, I get it.
Like, this is ambitious, right?
We're teleporting this personthrough alternate realities that are
future based and stuff like that.
And, so that's kind of where it started.
And.
And then I don't know exactly if, ifour, our, our leadership team at the

(41:45):
agency, were, were expecting that.
Uh, but as it turned out, you know, uh,Katz to his credit, he kind of just did
some diving on like finding, and I thinkthat's when he, he came across, uh, your
company, and initiated that conversation.
Yeah, I believe he found us.
Cause we're, uh, we're, we're both, both,uh, both companies are members of the,

(42:06):
uh, APA, Arizona Production Association.
Yeah.
So, so Ryan, yeah.
Contacted me after seeingme through the APA website.
So plug for ArizonaProduction Association.
Oh yeah.
Great group of folks.
Totally.
Yeah.
Agreed.
Uh, yeah.
And so that's kind of howit, how to sort of go.
And, you know, everybodywas like, this was, you know,
was on board from the agency.

(42:27):
Like they were, you know, Matt,the entire team, they were.
This is into their credit, right?
Because they could have easily said,Hey, this is, this is a little, probably
a little too ambitious for our budget.
Right.
And, and they didn't, and itplayed to one of the values of the
agency is as this blue sky thinking,and that's the approach I took.

(42:49):
Right.
I was like, I'm shooting for the moon.
Right.
We can figure out a way to scale thisback if we need to, but like, I'm
always going to shoot for the moon.
And then, because it's a lot easierfor me to scale that back than it
is for to, to elevate somethingafter I've already written it.
Right.
It's, it's kind of harder for me.
It's harder that way.
So, so to their credit, youknow, they were all in on it.

(43:12):
They, they, they loved the story.
And, and so then they werelike, let's roll with it.
It's like, okay, can you presentit to Holly at the Arizona
Commerce Authority tomorrow?
Oh, okay.
You know?
Uh, yeah, yeah.
So this is where I, I didn'thave time to storyboard it.
So I had to use, I used mid journeyto just basically put out some, some

(43:35):
concept storyboard frames for me.
Uh, you know, just enoughso I can pitch it to Holly.
And and we did that andthey, they loved it.
She was, she was all in from the, from,from that point, you know, and I'm
sure because she was with us on set.
So, like, she was and what I, whatI loved about Holly working with

(43:57):
Holly was she said this severaltimes throughout the production time.
Was like, Hey, you guys, youguys know what you're doing.
It's like, I'm just here to make surethat we're all good, you know, and she
let us cook, you know, and you can't askfor a better client partnership than that.
You really can't.

(44:17):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There's, there's so many ways that thiscould have gone, you know, uh, Been been
bogged down with too many cooks, too manypeople, you know, too many stakeholders
having, having, uh, input and, uh,people working at cross purposes, but
no, it was once everybody bought in.

(44:37):
And again, I think itcomes back to the story.
It really does.
It's what, what mademe and my team buy in.
It sounds like it's what made,uh, Ryan and, and everybody
had Ideas Collide buy in.
It's what made Holly buy in.
We were all on board like this.
Is a very unique, entertainingway to convey this information

(44:58):
that it wasn't, it wasn't dry.
It wasn't boring.
It wasn't, you wouldn't look at it andgo, oh, this was born from a focus group.
Oh, right.
Right.
Right.
And that's like, that'sdefinitely not what you want.
Right.
Is, And again, I, that to me iskind of what I, what I talked about
earlier is like, what can we do as anagency to separate our style of work

(45:22):
and what we can do from the dozensand dozens of dozens of producers or
production companies out there that areproducing in the same market segment
that we, that we create work for.
Right.
Because they all kind oflook the same after a while.
Right.
And, it's like, okay, but.

(45:42):
We want to be able to createsomething that when someone looks
at it, they're like, oh, that'sideas, collide work, you know?
And that's, that's what every, everycreative person is trying to strive
for and mastering their craft.
Right.
Is like, is to be able to put yourthumbprint of your style and figuring
out it's harder, it's hard to do.
Right.
That's something that, I'm surelike all teachers are trying to teach

(46:06):
their, their people in film school islike, You, you really become unique
when you have, when someone looks atyour work and they know it's your work.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's what we wanted to do waslike, let's create something here.
That's not the same as everythingelse that's out there because
there's a lot of it now.
Cause everybody thinksthey're a filmmaker now.
Right.

(46:26):
And so, What can we do to, to make itunique and stand out a little bit more?
Yeah, uh, the other benefit, thatI saw in terms of the way you
guys worked was you came to usand your script wasn't finished.
It was, it was close, but it had a lotof sort of TBD effects to TBD, you know,

(46:49):
uh, environment TBD and it, and you guyscame to us and said, what can we do?
Here are the, here are the, the different,uh, areas that we want to talk about.
We want to talk about, you know, electricvehicles and, uh, aerospace and biotech.
And for a while we were talking aboutsolar and a couple of other things.
And, and so you allowed us.

(47:13):
Uh, the privilege of, of reallypartnering and being able to say,
okay, here's, here's how I think wecan maximize production value with
the budget you have, if we write itthis way, or we focus on these areas.
And, and some of that was once youguys started locking in your partners
for your locations, like Lucid,like, Amber Riddle up in Prescott.

(47:36):
You were sending us photos and,and kind of explaining, here's
what they're giving us access to.
Now, what can we do to embellish that?
What can we add to thisto make it the future?
Uh, so it was, it was justa really good give and take.
And it was, uh, it was definitelya contrast to a lot of projects.
We get, we don't, we'renot brought in until post.

(47:57):
Like a lot of times you're notinteracting with VFX people until post.
And that's, uh, that's often a mistake,you know, because, uh, having, having
your VFX team part of it early on atthe very least you're, you're, you're
gaining the benefit of, of their,their planning input with you guys

(48:17):
being open and saying, you know, we,we don't want you guys to just push
pixels around, we want you to creativelybuy in and, and, and guide us through
this process and help us add value.
With your strengths, like that,yeah, dream project I've said, right.
Well, it's like, if, if it's, if youwere truly dedicated to telling the

(48:38):
best story possible, why wouldn't you?
Go that extra step.
Yeah, and I don't even I don't and maybethe extra step is the wrong use of word
because I don't see it as an extra step.
I, I consider it part of the process.
Right?
Then that's that sort of thing is ifyou, if you really want to be committed
to that part of the prompt, you know,to the, to the story, that's kind of

(49:01):
like, it's, it's hard because, um.
I've, I've always been pro artist.
Right.
And as I've gotten older, I've gotten alittle bit better about like, you know,
bound that balancing act of the businessaspects to the artist, the art, the
artistry or whatever you want to call it.
Right.

(49:22):
So I'm always going to fight forwhat's best for the story, right?
And, and so this collaborationwas what was best for the story.
And so if that means bringing you onto be our onset, you know, supervisor
for the VFX and having that input,like, I don't think the project and the

(49:43):
final output would have been as good.
If you had not been there, you wouldhave done your, you would have done
your, your best with what you hadand you still would have elevated
the project overall and how we weretelling that story and what we wanted
to visually communicate in that story.
But like, uh, your presence there, yourideas, your input, your collaboration.

(50:08):
On location, it brought it up10 more notches, if not more,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, that's because like,you don't, you can't do that.
If all we're doing is sending youfootage, you know, remotely, and
you're doing your thing on that end.
Like there's, you're missinga pretty big valley of, of.
Opportunity within that, you know, andso I just, I see as like committing,

(50:31):
if you're truly committing to tellingthe best story possible for your
client, and getting the best possibleoutcome from it, you know, like it's.
It's just part of the process, right?
Uh, how long was the wholeprocess on, uh, on Future 48?
Cause I, I, like I said, I know youguys were working on it a bit before
we, we came on, dude, I mean, yeah, Imean like, dude, we were, we spent, I,

(50:54):
I want to say a solid five months justto set up like location scouts, right?
Right.
So you got to remember, like,we're, we're working with some
very large scale organizations.
Right.
And I'm telling you this right now, like,if it wasn't because the project was for
the Arizona commerce authority and Holly'srelationships with these large tech driven

(51:20):
businesses, we never, never would havebeen able to get access to these places.
Right.
So like, to the credit of the ACA, likethey got us the access to things that
if I were to me as a producer, ScottieYang, the director and producer, we're
going to try to call these people up.
Right.
And say, Hey, we want to film a, acommercial, uh, in your facility.

(51:44):
They would have been to go fuck yourself.
Right?
Like, there's like, no, no, no way.
Right.
And, we want to shoot a commercial,not for you, not about your brand,
not about your brand, but yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, it's like, and it's like, Idon't have the, I don't have like,
I don't, I always, I kind of wondersometimes like, okay, if I was like a

(52:04):
known, you know, Golden glow winner.
It's like, would that have helped?
And some of them, I don'tthink it would have helped.
Right.
Like, no, they wouldhave said, hell no, no.
Right.
And rightfully so like, I get itbecause like you have industry
proprietary stuff that's happeningand like, yeah, I, I protect that too.
And that's what, that was their intention.
It's not that they wouldn't beinviting to do that, but it's like,

(52:28):
they've got to protect their businessand the technology they're using.
And a lot of it in some ofthese cases were proprietary.
Yeah.
And so totally get that.
But it was.
I want to say we started in, I want tosay March or April of 23 is when, like,
the initial conversations were happening.
I was, I was writing things of that natureand it took us all the way up until like,

(52:52):
I think, mid to late July to even go look.
Because all these conversations withthe solar farm, even though we didn't
film, you know, that got cut right.
Embry riddle, uh, Lucid.
What is that?
The, the, the PBC labsand stuff like that.
So it took that long just to go lookat locations and then even then.

(53:15):
I think it was a week beforewe were about to shoot.
We had to change locations on one of them.
Right.
And so that was, we had everything booked.
I remember that right.
Lucid understandably decided not to letus, you know, run around with cameras
in their actual production facility.
How cool was that visit though?
When we actually got to visit,I remember how excited we were.

(53:38):
Because it was everything that I was,that was when, as I was writing this out,
it was everything, all the visions thatwere popping in my head when writing it,
like, it was everything we had hoped for.
I mean, I was like, Iremember being so giddy.
About when we first walked on thatfloor and seeing that expansive line

(54:01):
of robots assembling those cars, I waslike, Oh, my gosh, this is, this is it.
This is the perfect location.
But yeah, and I get it ahundred percent, right?
It's part of the job, right?
You, you're having to problem solveand, and, and adjust on the fly,
you know, so, uh, about, I think itwas like a week before, you know,
We were scheduled to shoot, we hadto change it up, uh, rebook, uh, the

(54:25):
talent, the crews and stuff like that.
And we did it and it was great.
You know what I'm saying?
Like it was, and it still worked out.
And, and then with your guys help and yourguys guidance, you know, we had, their,
one of their training facilities andyou guys were able to, to make it look
like what was originally inside my head.
In the best way possible, really.

(54:46):
Yeah, which was, yeah, that was a,that was a fun challenge to, to now
have a much smaller space with muchless automation, one car, and then to
do digital set extensions to really,you know, to blow that out and make it
into a full blown production facility.
Yeah, which is probably like one of thebest shots of the, of the entire thing.

(55:10):
It was one of the money shots reallylike that when he steps back from,
when he steps back from that car.
Yeah.
You know, and you see that lineof, of EVs rolling off the line.
Like, I was like, huh, that was such anawesome, but like, you know what, like
my favorite pieces of that were, wereweren't, as much as I love those shots
and how you did that, I, and the verysubtle use, but were the holograms.

(55:37):
I love the hologram.
And to me those are the ones.
It's those little things likethat, that really, accentuate
and like really make it feel like.
Real to me is where those, you know,the person walking by on the wall, you
know, the hologram from the watch or,uh, the, the tech inside the hang, the

(55:57):
airplane hanger, you know, and he, andhe's swiping it there, you know, and,
and the work on the PBC labs, thatwhole DNA strand, Helix, uh, I mean,
that whole thing was, that was so cool.
Like that was that, those are probablysome of my most favorite shots for those.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Well, I'm a big, uh, youknow, Marvel, Tony Stark fan.
So anytime we get to do funstuff like that, it's, uh, it's

(56:20):
always, uh, it's always a blast.
It was so fun.
Yeah.
Thanks.
So what's one piece of advice?
You've got another, another producerwho's in the brand storytelling space
and they come to you and they say, uh,Scottie, you did, you did all these VFX.
Like what's, I've never done VFX.
What do I need to know?
What's one piece of adviceyou would share with them?

(56:42):
That's a great, great question.
I would say be.
meticulous in your pre production.
And that's like, you could probablysay that for any project VFX or no VFX.
Right.
But I personally saw this as a growthopportunity for me to improve myself by in

(57:11):
the conversations I had, I would send yousome stuff in pre pro like planning stuff,
shot descriptions, things of that nature.
And I realized in S there were certainaspects where I felt like there were gaps.
You know what I'm saying?
And so whether that was, betterstoryboards to illustrate,

(57:33):
each shot or more storyboardsof, of the in between of the
master frames I provided, right?
Even though I didn't feel like therewas, I had the time to do that,
things of that nature.
Right?
Yeah, a lot more detail.
Get a little bit more granular withthat to provide that over to your team.

(57:54):
So you guys can have a strongerpicture of what we want to execute.
Right?
And, um.
I, that's what I would say is like,be extremely meticulous with what you
want in pre pro, that way, when youget on location, because inevitably
it's something's going to happen towhere, like, you're going to have

(58:17):
to adapt on the fly, but without astrong, like plan and strategy on your
production days, you know, you canget over those hurdles a lot quicker.
Right.
And so, which I didn't, wedidn't really have a whole lot
of problems on production day.
In our ability to adapt, but I think ifI'm nitpicking, like my process, I, I

(58:38):
wish I would have had a little bit more,granular detail to provide your team.
Leading into production day.
Sure.
So I would, you know, I would takeit probably 50 percent further
than what I even provided you.
Yeah, I think that's good advice.
So, you know, uh, meticulous planningis always important, especially

(59:01):
when VFX is involved, because thereare so many moving parts and there
are so many ways to screw it up.
But at the same time, youknow, there's 2 things.
I always think about 2 adages thatI always say planning is invaluable.
Plans are useless, right?
Right?
Because plan.
And the other adage is no plansurvives contact with reality.

(59:24):
Amen to that.
Right?
So we can, we can plan andplan and plan and plan.
And then the plan goes to shit.
The second you walk on set or yourlocation falls through or whatever.
And you have to adapt.
And the only way to trulyto be adaptable is to plan.
It's, it's counterintuitive forfolks that don't do meticulous

(59:44):
pre production planning.
They think, well, I want to be ableto, you know, make decisions on
the fly and be creative on the fly.
So I don't like to do a lot of planning.
I don't like to storyboard.
No.
Storyboard, shot list, plan, plan, plan.
So when you get on set and reality doesn'tmatch what you planned, you can lean back
on that and go, okay, here's how I adapt.
Yes.
Here's how I change this shot list.

(01:00:06):
Here's how I cherry pick thesestoryboards that I need to absolutely
tell the story and adapt them to thisnew environment, this new situation.
Yeah, no.
And 100 percent because it's like,you know, like I said, I was an
athlete for 18 years of my life.
And I was also a coachafter that for a few years.
Right.
You know, and we always had, youhave a game plan going into your

(01:00:28):
matches and this is for any sport.
There's always the coaching staffcomes up with that game plan.
Right?
And there's always adjustments thatyou make, but you always go in with
a sound game plan because again, itis kind of, kind of counterintuitive.
Like you think, well, like then howis having a meticulous sound plan

(01:00:50):
going to help me get over the randomshit that happens to us on the fly?
Right?
But it does, because it prepares you,you're thinking in that mode, right?
And you, you, you mighthave something in that plan.
That you're able to inject or move aroundto overcome that roadblock that you're,
that you're experiencing on set, right?
That's why you have thosethings you need to have, you

(01:01:11):
know, that toolkit ready to go.
Yeah, and that's just one, one waythat I, I felt like I, I should have,
what it helped me was to build morediscipline within my pre pro process.
Sure.
And that's what, that's whatreally what, like the, the
learning takeaway from me is, is.

(01:01:32):
Is to develop more of that discipline,when you're going through your pre pro
right and adhering to that and beingstubborn about it, even if you have to.
Because sometimes the pre pro stuffis not the sexiest, you know, the
most fun thing to do, but it'sjust, it's the nature of the job.
It's what you got to do to, tobuild a successful team and have a

(01:01:53):
successful production, you know, so.
Absolutely.
I mean, Scottie, if you hadplanned better, maybe we
would have won more awards.
We, maybe, why don't you talk a littlebit about the, uh, the awards that
the, and the, the accolades that theproject has picked up the campaign.
Oh, yeah.
I'm trying to remember, what theywere, to be honest, it's like, it's fun.

(01:02:18):
And it's great to berecognized for your work.
And, I think it wasthe, the most recent one.
I can't remember that.
The, uh, Zima What I love about winningan award for that on the, on the project
was that is judged by other creatives.
And that to me is what, means themost is, to be judged by a body of

(01:02:43):
our peers, you know, and that's great.
And that's really, that lets meknow as a creative professional
that I've done, I've done good work.
The team has done good work.
And like we were onthe right track, right?
As I kind of mentioned aboutthis particular angle that I

(01:03:06):
want, I'm trying to approach thisbrand storytelling from right?
In a more cinematic way, itlets me know that what we're
doing is on the right path.
And that we can, we, we need to justkeep building and lean into this
style of work that we want to do.

(01:03:26):
And it's hard, it's hard to, whenyou're talking to some, you know,
uh, large tech companies and they've.
Done these overly corporate stylelooking types of things for years
and years and years and it's hardwhen you want to pitch them something
kind of out of their comfort zone.
Because they, they, unlessthey see it, you know, it's

(01:03:50):
sometimes hard to get the buy in.
And so that's something that, thatI'm, I'm constantly pushing for,
uh, with some of our clients and,and trying to make that happen.
And, this is kind of like onething that I told, my boss, James,
who's been an amazing colleague andcoworker and, collaborator, is like,

(01:04:14):
you know, it doesn't matter to me.
It doesn't matter what my budget is.
I'm going to, I'm not cuttingcorners on my creative process.
Based off of the budget, like I'm doingwhat I'm going to do, no matter what.
Right, right.
Because you, you, you don't change yourprocess based on the budget, right?
You still pour your heart andsoul into whatever you're doing.
And, you know, I, I tell everyone,I don't have a middle gear.

(01:04:38):
And I taught, I think,uh, we talked about this.
I don't, I don't have a middle gear.
It's it's low or high and that's it.
Right.
And so like my, my approach toeverything is like, I'm, I'm not
changing the, the process of how Icreate something because the budget says.
So like, I, this is not how it works.
You know, artists don't do that.

(01:04:59):
Right.
And so if it takes me.
15 extra hours to do something.
I'm going to spend 15 hours tocreate the best story possible.
In post, right?
Like that's, this is how it works.
I don't say, Oh, we hit our hours.
Max, I'm done.
Let me export it now.
That sort of thing.
And send ship it off.
No, that's, that doesn't one, likethat doesn't serve your, your, your

(01:05:21):
customers in the best, in theirbest interest, it doesn't serve
your agency in the best interest.
It doesn't serve you as an independentartist in the best interest in
continually developing your craft.
Right.
And so.
You know, that's kind of my just mygeneral approach on on everything
right on.
I do know we got a we got a tellyup here That's for that project.

(01:05:43):
Oh nice.
We do have a tell that's right.
We got the telly.
We got a American Marketing AssociationAward and the Zima which is what
Arizona Indirect of Media I believe so.
I don't remember.
Interactive marketing advertising.
Marketing.
Something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah.
And, uh, and hopefully maybe a couplemore coming and I know, uh, I know

(01:06:03):
it's been performing really well onYouTube and, and there's a great case
study on the Ideas Collide website thattalks about, Everything, the whole
process, uh, including our part of it.
Uh, and I'll link that in theshow notes for this episode.
And then on our site, there's awhole breakdown of, of the work
that we did and some, uh, somereally cool before and after frames

(01:06:25):
and all of that sort of stuff.
So I'll link all that stuff in the, uh,in the show notes, uh, for folks who
want to, who want to check out the workthat we've, we've been talking about.
So what's next for, uh,what's next for you, Scottie?
What, what, what upcoming projects,what are you excited about right now?
Uh, see here right now.
We have a few projects thatare like early in the pipeline.

(01:06:46):
We're still trying to flesh out, whatexactly that's going to be and like how
much, how much demand it's going to, it'sgoing to pull on our, our production team.
I can't really say much yet causeI don't want to say anything
that's not fully in concrete yet.

(01:07:07):
But, there's some reallycool opportunities coming up.
It's always tough in these, the, theseearly Q1 months of a new year, it
kind of, it slows down a little bit.
And so you just, you're workingon building your pipeline up and
pitching ideas, to, To clientsthat you have relationships
with and things of that nature.
We just actually there'sa really cool opportunity.

(01:07:28):
I think that's with, 1 of ourclient partners, uh, their mobility.
And we, they had a, uh, a really,like, hot rush need for, uh, just
a simple montage video on, um.
That they were going to put onthe booth at CES, they're rolling
out this whole connected car.

(01:07:50):
Division, and that's kind of where the,the trend is going towards or these, like,
connected vehicles where you're not justlike, using it to pay your tolls as you're
passing through tolls and stuff like that.
But, like, it's getting even morerobust where it's almost kind of
like, doing a lot of the same thingsthat your smartphone is doing.
Right?
So it's kind of a future lookingof war that that technology is

(01:08:12):
advanced advancing within vehicles.
And, So I see a really cool opportunityto, to do some storytelling with
their, and so I have a, I've got acouple things that I've been working
on in the background of, of like storybased, like end user experience,
ideas that I, that I wouldn't mindpitching, towards, uh, to them.

(01:08:37):
You know, and there'sjust a couple other one.
There's another one that that'sa, I won't say the name, but it's
a, a group of like amusement park,that are, they have, I think, several
locations in the U. S, uh, that werethat we're, we've been talking to about.
Potentially doing some work with,so I'm really excited about the

(01:08:58):
opportunity of that because we dosome really cool stuff with that.
So that's, that's just kind ofwhat I'm looking at right now.
And then just really, working on,we're doing a lot of like, wanting
to do like more live stream type work.
As well, like getting live doing likewebinars around a various, host of topics

(01:09:21):
and, and having conversations aroundthose, kind of expanding on that and like
making use of like interacting live withpeople on, on channels, like LinkedIn.
From a business like B2Btype of perspective and like
sharing some more knowledge.
And then I've kind of challenged myself,me personally, myself this year to write

(01:09:42):
my first feature length script, whichI've never done before, but I have, you
know, I have like a running list of justlike story premises that pop in my head.
And so I've decided this year, as longas it takes me, whatever it takes,
uh, to, to start writing my, my firstfeature length, uh, Narrative scripts.

(01:10:03):
So fantastic.
Yeah, it scares me.
The writing process scares the hellout of me, but I was like, it's good.
I want to do it.
I want to do it.
Yeah, that's good.
If, if, if you're, what's the saying?
If your dreams don't scare you,then they're not big enough.
Right?
Exactly.
So I think it'll be cool.
I have another saying, right?
Uh, uh, a good, a friendwill help you move.
A good friend will help you move a body.

(01:10:24):
A great friend will help you make a movie.
I'll remember that one.
So, uh, well, you know, youknow how to get a hold of me.
If you, uh, you, you need any advice onyour, your filmmaking journey, been there,
done that, you know, have worked at abunch of different budget levels and,
uh, and always, always, always happy foran opportunity to, to, to chat with you

(01:10:46):
or collaborate with you or, or whatever.
Talk about your podcast a little bit.
We, I was recently over atthe Ideas Collide office to
record a podcast episode.
Yeah, yeah.
So, I am working with my, my friendand colleague, Alex, Alex, Alexis.
Uh, she's an editor and I talked toher a few months ago about like, you
know, and this has been something I'veactually had a desire to do for a number

(01:11:09):
of years now, just, just never reallyput any, any time or effort into it.
I, I've always wanted to doa podcast focused on artists.
Themselves like the artists.
So I'm talking like painters,sculptors, pottery makers,
filmmakers, fashion designers.
It doesn't matter like artists, evenlike comedian, it's an art in itself.
Like I would really love totalk to and have a conversation

(01:11:31):
with some comedians as well.
Cause I really do, feel liketheir, their craft is an art
form as well and itself as well.
And so it's called the artistry forum.
We're.
We're actually still in the, theearly phases of production on it.
We're trying to get a bunch ofepisodes in the can first before
we launched the podcast, but it'sgoing to be called the artist reform.

(01:11:53):
Just really focused on the storiesof artists themselves talking about
their craft, their process, wherethey started, their influences,
how their work may or may notinfluence, our society, our culture.
You know, so we've had you, we've had,uh, so far we've, we've talked with the

(01:12:13):
colorist of the Future 48 campaign andhe's a colorist for film and TV, uh,
PJ, it's a good friend of mine as well.
And we've also talked to, agood friend of mine from graduate
school, uh, Christopher, who'san artist, uh, painter himself.
He does mostly like really large.
Like large format picture, uh,paintings and in an abstract, form.

(01:12:38):
And so, and super cool guy,uh, really stoked about that.
I plan on talking to some, myfashion design mentors, about their
creative process and their storyand their path of what they're doing
in fashion design and how they'rechanging the game, in fashion.
So just super fascinated with, Artists,various artists just create a process

(01:13:02):
and I see it as like an opportunity tolearn about someone's process that I
could potentially incorporate into myown right and getting that perspective
and just hearing about them and theirbackgrounds and, and their stories and
what motivates them, what's inspiringto them and things of that nature.
And so, that's largely what themotivation is of why I wanted

(01:13:27):
to put that together becauseI, I don't know, it's like.
There are so many amazing artisticpeople out there in the world that
aren't like household names, right?
And like, we only hear about the oneswe, we read and see on TV, but there's
just, there's so many more amazingartists that we never know anything about.

(01:13:49):
We don't hear about them.
We don't know they exist or anything.
And so I wanted to create an opportunityto just talk to those people.
You know, working artists.
You know, just like in Hollywood, they're,they're a kajillion working actors that
are making a great living for themselves,but like, they're not household names.
We only hear about the A listers, right?

(01:14:10):
Right.
And the big times, but not realizingthat there are You know, probably 10 to
20 times more people that are making aliving and building a life for themselves,
doing, doing this crap, that craft.
Right.
And so I feel the same waywith, with, artists in general.
And I just want to hear about them.
I want to hear the story, hear the path,cause everybody has a unique story.

(01:14:31):
So let's hear about it and learn from it.
That's great.
Well, when, uh, when yourepisodes start to drop, you
know, you'll have to let me know.
So I can share it with my audience.
Yeah, for sure.
And, uh, and point them towardsthe other half of our conversation.
Yeah, totally.
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, thanks so much, Scottie.
I really, uh, really appreciate you beingpart of the episode and, uh, and always

(01:14:53):
just always a pleasure to talk to you.
You're just a super upbeat, positive dude.
So I love, I love your energy.
Oh man.
I appreciate Paul.
You rock dude.
You're a badass man.
And what you do, uh, always any time.
You wouldn't need anything from me, man.
I will, I will, I'll do it for you, man.
Thanks so much.
That brings this episode ofVFX for Indies to a close.

(01:15:15):
And in addition to thanking ScottieYang for being our guest, I want to
thank all of our viewers and listenersfor tuning in to our discussion.
If you enjoyed this episode,please like, follow, subscribe,
leave a comment or a review.
Whatever you think will help,every little bit helps us get
the word out about our show.
For Foxtrot X-Ray and VFX forIndies, I'm Paul DeNigris.
Thanks so much for beingpart of our VFX community.