The first episode of Film Stuff is here! In it we talk about Stanley Kubrick: his elaborate sets, his special effects techniques, even his choice of music and framing. As you listen, you'll also hear us mention the following:

• Our toast video, in which we parodied the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey (https://youtu.be/uuBfDW-kGx4)
• An awesome video essay about Kubrick's love of one point perspective (https://vimeo.com/48425421)
• Slit scan technology (https://vimeo.com/41747091)

The importance of Stanley Kubrick

Another film stuff is here! In this one we talk about what makes YouTube different from other genres of film, why Soo Zee and Leigh like it so much, and what in the moldy cheese is a genre anyway? As you listen, you'll also here us mention the following:

• The "overture" also sometimes called the "dream ballet." Find more examples of that here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DreamBallet
• We also talked about Casey Neistat's vlog style and we did a whole video about that. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/uVVMJdGXzEw
• BookTube! We really like this genre, and here is a great BookTuber. Soo Zee calls this channel squirrels and things because she can't remember the actual name: booksandquills. https://www.youtube.com/c/booksandquills
• We mentioned clickbaiting at the end, and how YouTubers might have to do certain things to gain more likes, but we sort of glossed over it. Ethan and Hila Klein from H3H3 did a pretty funny video explaining (and parodying) how to play the Youtube game. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/HkuZ_8KnCzg?t=1m1s

Music: http://www.purple-planet.com
Hep Cat Jive  & The Chase

YouTube is a genre

More film stuff! In this one we embrace our rage and rant about Korean television, namely why 미생 was such a big deal, the difference between Korean and international K-Drama viewers, and why Korean TV shows don't have seasons?????? Also we call people in their 40s and 50s "old folk" even though we don't really believe that. As you listen, you'll also here us reference a few specific dramas. Here's the full list:

• 꽃보다 남자 (Boys Before Flowers)
• 드림하이 (Dream High)
• 미생 (Incomplete Life)
• 커피프린스1호점 (The Coffee Prince)
• 아이리스 (Iris)
• 굿닥터 (Good Doctor)
• 굿 와이프 (Good Wife)
• 도깨비 (Goblin)
• Sherlock
• Lost
• Game of Thrones
• Grey's Anatomy
• Days of Our Lives
• How I Met Your Mother
• Friends
• Big Bang Theory

For more nerdy discussions about film sign up for the Film Stuff newsletter here http://bit.ly/2bVmOez

You can also see the stuff we make over here http://youtube.com/c/DoStuff

A rant about Korean dramas

We tried flying a drone! Here are some of the things we learned, some things we didn't expect, and the details of what you need to know to fly a drone in Korea. Despite how much we rant about our drone stress, we actually love aerial photography. Helicams, quadcopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), oh my!

Show notes:
• We mentioned how some militaries are training eagles to take out drones. Here's more info about that (from the Washington post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/21/terrorists-are-building-drones-france-is-destroying-them-with-eagles/?utm_term=.229d2180c179
• Here's our video from the Netherlands where we used those "static shots" from the drone (drone shots are at the end) http://bit.ly/2sbnqsW
• A big thank you to our drone friend for letting us use his helicam! This is the exact model we used https://www.dji.com/phantom-3-pro
• All the restrictions and safety concerns we mentioned led the Seoul Metropolitan Government to create an official space for people to fly model airplanes and drones. It's called the Drone Park, and here's more info about it (from Korea Times) http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/06/116_207875.html

Music includes "Uluru" by Purple Planet
http://www.purple-planet.com

The ethics, laws, and reality of drones

It's a hard question to answer, since where (or if) you go to university and what you major is a personal question. Soo Zee never went to film school. Leigh went to film school. Twice. There's some pros and some cons to going to film school and we go over them in detail in this episode. We also talk about why we hold the unpopular opinion that going to a prestigious film school is better than going to one no one has ever heard of. TLDR: if you aren't already making films, film school won't help you.

Show notes:
• The milk frother we're obsessed with https://www.nespresso.com/us/en/order/accessories/vertuo/milk-frother-aeroccino
• My classmate Max's mini Guy Ritchie heist movie. It's called Getaway. Keep in mind this was made a decade ago. It was also probably the first film he ever made using filmstock (not digital video). I'd have to ask him, but I think he was barely out of his teens when he wrote and directed this? https://vimeo.com/13182883
• We mentioned George Lucas just donated a shedload of money to build an incredible production facility. It's called The Lucas building for short. Here's a video tour of the facilities (from the official USC School of Cinematic Arts YouTube channel) https://youtu.be/qxKqMJxw6vc

Should you go to film school?

How exactly do you get a job in the film industry? The same way you get any job: a good network and a good ask. In this one we talk all about the ask. It's our guide outlining how to successfully cold contact people - that includes people you know and people you'd like to know - without coming off like the world's biggest douchenozzle. We also tell you straight up how to work with us. Soo Zee even writes (a really good!) fictional email to Leigh. Hopefully this will help you adopt the right mindset and land a film job, wherever you happen to be living. Happy hunting!

Show notes:
• The "Directors Chair" lawn chair Soo Zee uses as furniture in her bedroom in action! https://twitter.com/ltcooper/status/937607138158952449
• Calvin Stowell's excellent Twitter thread (rant?) about writing resumes https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/900166100167651329
• We didn't actually get to the networking part (I smell a part 2 one day) but just for funsies, Mark Sister has two great articles on (1) how to do conferences right and (2) how to not be a conference ho.
1. https://bothsidesofthetable.com/this-post-has-nothing-to-do-with-sxsw-32f982be007c
2. https://bothsidesofthetable.com/be-careful-not-to-become-a-conference-ho-8add822b2c75

How to get a film job

This part one of our two-part look at what it's actually like to be a video or film editor. We cover all the feels that go into the edit room: what it feels like to have the whole production look at you to put the film together, what you fight about with the film's director, and what elements of the film are beyond your control. Leigh also goes on a tirade about her filmmaking pet peeves so that you can avoid making the same mistakes. Look forward to part two!

Show notes:
• Here's a bit more about how a vector file is different than a jpeg file https://vectr.com/tutorials/what-are-vector-graphics/
• We ragged on guns in student films, but we didn't even begin to cover how complicated using a gun on set is logistically. You'll need to warn local law enforcement that you'll be using a prop gun, you'll likely need the services of a union-member armorer, and your actors will probably need some training in addition to their safety briefings. Film independent talks a little more about armorers in this article https://www.filmindependent.org/blog/want-weapons-in-your-film-ask-a-pro/
• Darious Britt brought up a bunch of other on-the-nose amateur film mistakes in his video rant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1myw_0W5E8

Music by http://www.purple-planet.com and Good Times by Nicolai Heidlas is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: https://soundcloud.com/nicolai-heidlas/happy-vintage-70s-background-music-good-times

Being a video editor (pt 1)

This part two of our two-part look at what it's actually like to be a video or film editor. Soo Zee makes up a fake short film and we talk you through the whole edit process. How long does transcoding take? How many cuts do you usually go through? What's all that exporting mumbo jumbo? All this and more in this episode!

Show notes:
• What is the RED Camera of which we speak? More here http://www.red.com
• Soo Zee mentioned Scott Pilgrim vs. The World type graphics. Those are awesome! Nerdwriter talked about them in detail over here https://youtu.be/pij5lihbC6k
• Why yes, I did compare directors to Winnie the Pooh. You can read all about him sitting down to a good think here http://lib.ru/MILN/pooh.txt_with-big-pictures.html#5
• If you haven't watched every single one of Tony Zhou's Every Frame a Painting film essay series, you should, starting with this one about how editors know when to make a cut, titled (aptly) "How Does an Editor Think and Feel?" https://youtu.be/3Q3eITC01Fg

I'd love to do a much longer episode about that middle artistic process. If you're interested in more details about what I called the "kumbaya" part of editing, tell us. If the idea makes you break out in hives on the other hand, we want to know that too. Let us know in a review!

Being a video editor (pt 2)

Today we deep dive into the relationship between art and commerce. We start with a discussion about why it looks like every YouTube video is the same. Next we talk about how it's not enough just to make art. You have to be a skilled promoter and business lady and community builder too. Lastly we talk about how hard it is to strike that balance between on one side, making art that's true to your vision and on the other, making concessions that make your art appealing to consumers, clients, and investors. Both of us agree you can't deny the commercial element of the art you make, but you also can't be enslaved by it. Before you get too down about the inevitability of compromising your vision and conforming to the almighty algorithm, we offer some words of hope.

We went over a lot in this one. Here's some notes, thoughts, and further reading:

• We mentioned that YouTube doesn't publish details about its algorithm. Most social networks don't. There's a few reasons why it can be problematic that companies are allowed to treat their algorithms as proprietary trade secrets. ProPublica roughly outlines a few of the big ones in their series "Breaking the Black Box." It focuses mostly on machine bias, but there's other reasons too related to privacy, censorship, anti-trust laws, and something called "the right to be forgotten." I'm sure we'll eventually do a whole episode all about algorithms. https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-what-facebook-knows-about-you

• Matt Gielen of Little Monster did a great in-depth analysis of the YouTube algorithm if you'd like to know more about how trends spread on the platform http://www.tubefilter.com/017/06/22/youtube-algorithm-research-cracking-the-code/

• That great article from The Atlantic that Leigh was talking about is called "The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur" and you can read it here https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-the-creative-entrepreneur/383497/

• Soo Zee brought up a great point about patronage that we weren't able to include: art has historically been a commercial venture. For centuries, artists only survived because wealthy nobility and clergymen commissioned their work. It's a romantic idea that an artist should focus on the art and leave the selling of their work to someone else, but in reality art has always been commercial. Patrons like Leo and Gertrude Stein who enabled the work of many modern day masters do exist, but it seems far more often benefactors were either wealthy institutions like the crown and the church, or generous (concerned?) family members like Vincent van Gogh's little brother Theo.

Selling out

We are fashionably late to the Black Panther party. In this episode of film stuff we dig deep into culture, starting with Afrofuturism: what it is, why it's awesome, and what it has to do with Los Angeles's Koreatown.

Show notes:
• At the top of the episode we talk about Janelle Monáe and her genius Afrofuturist operas. Some more details about her work here https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17318242/janelle-monae-science-fiction-influences-afrofuturism
• Also we talk about Kilmonger and his displacement in America. There's an awesome episode of Song Exploder that goes into depth about how the Kilmonger theme relates to Prince T'Challa's. Check it out here http://songexploder.net/black-panther
• Just how big of a box office success was Black Panther? Read more about it in this great article by The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/the-game-changing-success-of-black-panther/553763/
• Soo Zee mentions a Korean dish called army base stew. There's a lot more to say on the subject, but you can get started with this article from the Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/smart-mouth-the-korean-stew-that-mash-made/2013/01/31/5b484c52-6b0f-11e2-95b3-272d604a10a3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9a4764d64359

Did you like this episode? Let us know! You can find us on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, on Instagram @doevenmorestuff, or on iTunes. If you leave us a review it helps us a lot!

The Afrofuturism bandwagon

Music is one of those topics we seem to get endless questions and comments about, so finally we've created an episode all about it. It's too much to fit into one episode though, so we made two. This is the first, all about the artistic part of picking music: why it's important, where to find it, and how to know if you did it right. Then we introduce something Soo Zee finds hugely entertaining. It's called "The Music Game." 

Show notes:
• Leigh mentions some of the playlists we've made. We thought it might be fun for you to hear some of what we like. Here's three different playlists.
1) Almost Summer Days playlist: http://apple.co/1XAWgDx
2) Almost Summer Nights playlist: http://apple.co/1NzdHlF
3)Goodbye, Summer playlist: http://apple.co/2bB1yzi
• Our friend's favorite Do Stuff video is this one about Sparkly https://youtu.be/r7YyTJj3BOE
• During "The Music Game" one of the songs reminds us of a nonsense informercial. When we talk about "How to make a plumbus" this is what we mean https://youtu.be/SWMGd_rzRdY
• That "Transylvania Castle" sounding music was from this video about Turning 30 https://youtu.be/jhubRevTa10
• We talk a little bit about how Steven Spielberg used John William's Jaws theme, but there's so much more amazing detail about how they use it to cue the appearance of the shark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQKLJ2MuHvY

We hope you liked this episode. If you did, let us know! We're over on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, on Instagram @doevenmorestuff, or on iTunes. If you leave us a review it helps us bunches.

Choosing music (pt 1)

More music! This is the second of our episodes all about picking music and figuring out how to best use it in your videos. We cover three specific techniques and also talk about what you should look for in a song. Leigh hates fade outs, and in this episodes she explains why. Soo Zee also explains what the biggest filmmaker sin is and gives some advice on how to avoid it. Wow, this one turned out a lot more tactical than usual.

Show notes:
• Leigh implores you to rubber band your music in Episode 7 - Being a Video Editor pt 1 https://soundcloud.com/do-stuff/episode-07-being-a-video-editor-pt-1
• We also talk about cutting on action, but it's kind of hard to explain, so I recommend you look at the coffee scene from Baby Driver. We could do a whole episode just on this scene, especially the section where he actually orders the coffee and the dialogue and blocking is timed to the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBR3JKrgW74
• Basement Jaxx in particular does a great job of providing a ton of different phrases within their songs. One of the most obvious examples is probably "Everybody" https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/everybody/183030567?i=183030971
• Sign up for our newsletter! The next one will be more details about audio masking so sign up quick to make sure you get it https://forms.aweber.com/form/41/608569141.htm
• That song we're obsessed with is called "Ultimatum" by Disclosure, featuring Fatoumata Diawara. It originally samples her voice from the song "Mariage / C'est Moi Ou C'est Lui" by Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ultimatum-feat-fatoumata-diawara/1383668447?i=1383668457

Tell us if you liked this episode! You can leave us a review or rating on iTunes (we love that!) or we're over on twitter @soozee324 and @ltcooper, and over on Instagram @doevenmorestuff.

Choosing music (pt 2)

This episode is about why movies are starting to look more like television, and why television is becoming more like movies. Also, we reveal our favorite YouTubers and which predictions about the future of social media we agree with. We also talk a lot about the new Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald movie because it's basically impossible to talk about successful episodic storytelling or world building without  mentioning the Wizarding World.

• Haven't seen Twin Peaks? No worries. Here's an interesting Digg article about what order you should watch the series in. http://digg.com/2017/how-to-watch-all-of-twin-peaks
• To clarify some of the things that made Lost's production more like a movie and less like TV: Lost was shot on 35mm film stock, the pilot episode alone cost over $10 million to make, and they negotiated the end date of the series 3 years in advance and then wrote the series knowing exactly how many episodes were left. Personally I feel the storytelling style itself, with the ensemble cast and how they played up the character storylines and downplayed the sci-fi for a whole season, contributes to the cinematic feel.
• That awesome Edgar Wright clip was from his interview with Marc Fennel https://youtu.be/FiwthDKv8E8?t=292
• That awesome little snippet from Gary Vaynerchuck is something he talks about a lot. That particular bit was from his 2016 Inbound keynote, but you can also hear another version of it in some of his Daily Vee episodes, like this one https://youtu.be/gzOupHqh_dU?t=445
• Alice in Paris is made by another super creative duo and they're hands down our favorite YouTubers. Watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsavdcJzrxU&list=PLX98sAmndWt1gxu0UAQsfF-Ct7GaJY4RR

Movies vs. TV

This episode is about this year's YouTube Rewind video, the video YouTube produced to recap all the internet trends, memes, and (on YouTube at least) hits from 2018. They've been doing this every year since 2010. The reaction this year has been pretty cold online, but somehow we still have warm fuzzy feelings for YouTube. We explain how. Also Soo Zee touches on the difference between "big" and "big on YouTube," and explains why it might be okay for YouTube to suck at this.

If you'd like to sign up to the newsletter we mentioned at the there, you can do it here: http://bit.ly/2bVmOez

This is kind of an deep cut, and we recommend you refresh yourself on the Rewind videos before listening. If you don't know who the hell anyone in these videos is that's totally okay! You don't need to get all the references. Here some of the past episodes of Rewind we mentioned in the episode:
• 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbJOTdZBX1g
• 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsCjmMhFmw
• 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GuOjXYl5ew
• 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK9bwTlAvgo
• 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKx2B8WCQuw
• 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jtC8vjXw8

The YouTube Rewind 2018 controversy

In this episode we dive into the almighty algorithm and talk about how it's changed the way filmmakers tell stories. Soo Zee makes a good argument for why this is a bad thing, and Leigh reveals how much we pay attention our own YouTube analytics. We talk about Netflix's recommendation engine and why it's simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to streaming video. We also compare iTunes Music to Spotify and talk about what place human curation has in this world of AI, big data, and deep learning.

• You can find that article we mentioned about how Maniac's story was influenced by Netflix streaming data here https://qz.com/quartzy/1372129/maniac-director-cary-fukunaga-explains-how-data-call-the-shots-at-netflix/
• If you want to know more about how House of Cards came to be, read this article from 2012 about how Netflix used big data when making House of Cards. Note the tone, where WIRED makes some stuff that's now completely commonplace seem utterly groundbreaking, like uploading all the episodes at once. https://www.wired.com/2012/11/netflix-data-gamble/
• Here's an older piece about how even after Neilsen switched from phone surveys and media diaries to data collection boxes, their ratings data was still deeply flawed https://www.vulture.com/2011/01/why-nielsen-ratings-are-inaccurate-and-why-theyll-stay-that-way.html
• A great, simple-english explanation as to why pure randomness is impossible on a deterministic machine like a computer https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/can-a-computer-generate-a-truly-random-number/
• That story about having to fix the iTunes random shuffle feature was in a book all about random fallacies called The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/115699/the-drunkards-walk-by-leonard-mlodinow/9780307275172/ but if you don't want to read the book you can also read more about it from this explanation in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-random-shuffle-feels-far-from-random-10066621.html
• Leigh's really interested in machine bias, and we talked for a good 30 minutes about why algorithms don't have to be the way the currently are. Unfortunately we had to cut that bit for time, but if you want a good, solid intro to the darker side of algorithms, check out this Note to Self podcast episode with Julia Angwin https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/propublica-facebook-algorithms-bias-privacy and also the Pro Public project "Breaking the Black Box" https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-when-machines-learn-by-experimenting-on-us
• Here's some more details about how never think curates videos https://about.neverthink.tv/faq/

Data driven storytelling

We absolutely adored Netflix & Black Mirror's new choose your own adventure movie experience "Bandersnatch." It was incredibly well constructed both technically and narratively, and had all the mind bending hallmarks of our favorite Black Mirror episodes. Leigh explains all about the technology they used to make it seamless. Soo Zee harangues our fellow filmmakers for failing to grasp why Bandersnatch is completely groundbreaking and has the potential to change everything about how we watch and tell complex stories. Both of us also throw out a few ideas for films we'd love to see adapted to the choose-your-own format. We make a pretty strong argument that you don't even need to have multiple endings to make it work.

• If you play Bandersnatch a few times, it feels like maybe you're only missing out on a few scenes, but in reality there were several scenes filmed that still haven't been viewed by anyone yet. If you're interested, this feature in The Hollywood Reporter has more details about the Netflix Branch Manager tool and exactly why it's difficult to calculate how many permutations of Bandersnatch there are (spoilers!) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/black-mirror-bandersnatch-endings-explained-1171556
• The fictional games company from Bandersnatch, Tuckersoft, has a whole online world, including this thoroughly '80s ad for programmers (which links to Netflix's career page) https://tuckersoft.net/jobs/ and this fake history of Tuckersoft's library https://tuckersoft.net/ealing20541/history/ you get to via one of the easter eggs in the movie (game?). There's even a playable version of the video game Colin's character is developing you can download.
• Leigh mentions a choice between something from the real world and something from the Black Mirror universe. The technical term for this is metafiction; Bandersnatch draws attention it's own construction. Because the story is self-aware — of both the facts that is it a story set in 1984 and also a movie being streamed on Netflix — it holds both of these truths at once, and puts the viewer in a liminal space. While watching we're both the viewer consuming the story, but we're also a character within the story that the other characters interact with. If you're into metafiction and liked Bandersnatch, I highly recommend you also check out the novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
• Soo Zee talked at the end about how interesting it was that Bandersnatch is on a streaming service, not a special games platform. It's a movie, right? But somehow also a game? It reminded me a lot about notpr0n, an online website from the early '00s that is also kind of a scavenger hunt/puzzle game. To date, less than 50 people have ever solved the entire thing. http://notpron.org/notpron/levelone.htm
• There's a whole topic we had to cut for time about how Netflix knows what you chose. Most choices were pretty even splits, with a few key differences, like how fewer Brits were willing to toss tea over a computer than people in other parts of the world, or how 73% of us wanted Stefan to take the Tuckersoft job offer, even though another character straight up tells us it's the wrong choice. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/bandersnatch-stats-reveal-how-folks-have-chosen-their-own-adventures There's one choice in there that's controversial, made doubly so by the fact that Netflix don't just know what you chose, they actually record that information. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/02/224640/netflix-saved-black-mirror-bandersnatch-choices

Bandersnatch: choose your own movie

Genius or jerk? In this episode we give a few anecdotes from the work and business practices of seminal Walt Disney that only begin to touch on this complicated question. There's a reason why Walt holds a record for the most Academy Awards, and why Mickey Mouse is one of the most globally recognized figures. We talk about Walt Disney the man's vision and insane attention to detail, and Walt Disney the company's theme parks and copyright practices.

• It all started with Snow White, which was not only the first full-length cel animated feature film, it was also the first Disney animated feature film. So yeah, Soo Zee was right. Technically, it's the first of the 15 official "Walt Disney Classics" home videos.
• Before Snow White, Lotte Reiniger had already made a full-length animated feature called The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Disney didn't just know about it, he studied it, and even adopted her pioneering multi-plane camera setup. He then of course patented it https://patents.google.com/patent/US2201689A/en Her work is incredible. Watch it if you have some time, and try to remember her first feature came out a full decade before Disney's first did.
• Disney's pre-Mickey character's full name was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Universal snatched the rights for Oswald. Mickey Mouse was intended to be a replacement character for Disney.
• An old behind-the-scenes look at the cel animation for Snow White https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OebUzEhSLBI
• Leigh said Toy Story was the first 3D animation film. To be more specific, Toy Story was the first feature-length film to be entirely computer-animated.
• Dustin Curtis originally broke down the amazing speaker work at Disney World in an article titled "How  Mr. Q Manufactured Emotion," but the article has since been removed from his site. You can read a snippet here https://boingboing.net/2009/11/08/how-the-ambient-soun.html Ramit Sethi shares even more details from Disney World https://growthlab.com/behind-scenes-disney-world-w-ramit-sethi
• Speaking of Disney World, Max Krieger has a great take on why the 1994 version of Tomorrowland is the greatest https://twitter.com/maxkriegervg/status/951497989381656576
• Here's a quick little primer on Disney's copyright law practices from Adam Ruins Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiEXgpp37No
• It's not just me that's not sure this is a great practice for cultural development! There are tons of angry people who are clearly rankled by Disney's copyright policies https://twitter.com/eevee/status/1064327801908555776?s=20
• The Lion King bears some unmistakable resemblances to Kimba the White Lion. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHps2iC8W3o
• The copyright infringement case about murals in schools was actually for Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy and not Snow White. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/daycare-center-murals/
• In case you're curious, here's an article about Zara stealing indie pin designers' work https://jezebel.com/zara-appears-to-have-stolen-over-40-pin-and-patch-desig-1784271292

The complicated Walt Disney

Lots of people like to lump dance movies in with musicals, but we think they are a genre all their own. In this episode Soo Zee and Leigh discuss all the key elements of a dance movie and which dance movies make their list of all-time favorites. We're hard to predict; we hate on Swing Kids even though we think Do Kyung-soo can dance. We defend Step Up even though we think it's cheesy. We disagree about Honey. Listen to get the full lowdown. Here's a list of all the dance movies and musicals we mention:

• La La Land (2016)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• Swing Kids (2018)
• Magic Mike XXL (2015)
• Step Up (2006)
• Honey (2003)
• Center Stage (2000)
• Save the Last Dance (2001)
• Billy Elliot (2000)
• Black Swan (2010)
• Footloose (1984)

The anatomy of a dance movie

Parasite (Korean title: 기생충) made headlines in May when it won Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palm d'Or prize, the first Korean film to ever do so. Now it's November and suddenly people around us who are not so familiar with Korean cinema are starting to talk about it as it's being distributed in America and Europe. It seemed like a good time to talk about director Bong Joon Ho (Korean: 봉준호), namely why we like him, what we thought about Parasite, and what signature filmmaking moves he always makes that you should look for when you go see it. Because you should definitely see it.

• We talked about the blurred lines between Indie and Industry film. Here’s an article about how these two models of filmmaking are working in the current world of film. It’s not definitive, but it’s the start of a larger conversation. https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/independent-films-vs-blockbuster/
• Way back in 2016 Stephen Elliott argued that film festivals are a scam. It’s a pretty compelling argument https://therumpus.net/2016/05/the-great-film-festival-swindle/
• Bong Joon Ho is so good at doing interesting and unexpected things with his films, that he begged the press in an open letter not to reveal anything that wasn’t in the film’s trailer, so audiences would be surprised when it took that turn that’s always in a Bong Joon Ho film.
• Soo Zee mentioned the lady who funded Parasite. There's not much information in English about her, but here's something in Korean http://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=128976
• We didn’t go into too much detail about the 52-hour workweek, and there’s a lot to unpack about it http://www.donga.com/en/article/all/20190528/1743264/1/Palme-d-Or-winner-Parasite-guarantees-52-hour-workweek-for-film-crew
• Bong Joon Ho did a Notes on a Scene too where he broke down the hows and the whys of Parasite's opening sequence https://youtu.be/bP-eqx2X9AY
• He did an Anatomy of a Scene with the New York Times too, this one talking about Soo Zee's favorite scene, where they try to get the housekeeper fired https://youtu.be/FxLOTM1wliI

Our thoughts on Parasite and Bong Joon Ho

I quiz Soo Zee about the meanings and origins of terminology used only in the film world. It's tricky because if you search online for some of these terms, you won't get the thing you're actually looking for. That's why it's a game! Here's the full list of terms we went over:

• ADR/Looping
• Stingers
• C-47s/Bullets 
• Alan Smithee
• Dead Cat
• Windscreen
• Champagne Roll
• Martini Shot
• Abby Singer Shot
• Rushes/Dailies
• Squib
• Walla/Rhubarb
• MOS
• NG, Hold, Print
• Choker
• 50/50
• Cookie/Cucoloris

If you'd like some visual guidelines to this or some further explanations, B&H has a great page with just that: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/guide-film-set-lingo-and-hand-signals

Quizzing Soo Zee on film set terms

Another analytics episode! All too often we hear people talk about "good" videos and metrics as if they're universal. They aren't. Case in point: e-learning videos on sites like Khan Academy and Udemy, adult-only videos, and both the ultra-long and the ultra-short (e.g., live sports and TikToks). We lay out how you should approach making a learning video differently, which metrics you should be watching if you're a small business owner, and the epic story of how pornography killed Betamax.

• Lynda.com was indeed acquired by LinkedIn and is now LinkedIn Learning
• YouTube does offer a certification program for specific subjects https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6145904?hl=en
• That cooking Master Class that taught us how to glaze carrots was Thomas Keller's first https://www.masterclass.com/classes/thomas-keller-teaches-cooking-techniques
• The home video format war between VHS and Betamax is an interesting economics story that is still heavily contested. Here are the facts, as they relate to the adult entertainment industry: Sony did refuse to license the Betamax format to pornography companies, VHS was used by a larger number of companies in general, VHS was notably cheaper and had longer recording times that were important factors for the home consumer, the format war also coincided with an era that was more open to pornography consumption  in general
• If you're curious about Betamax, enjoy this bunch of old promotional videos from the '70s https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63824/how-betamax-was-going-change-your-life-according-sony
• Pornhub's data science blog http://www.pornhub.com/insights/
• OK Cupid's data science blog https://theblog.okcupid.com/tagged/data
• We know that Musical.ly is now TikTok, but the anecdote about Musers monetizing on YouTube via compilation videos is insight from before they became the same thing

Educational video vs. pornography

Coronavirus has affected many parts of the world and during this quarantine/self-isolation period many of us have been consuming media more than ever. Which bring us to this episode, where we talk about how COVID-19 has affected the film industry as a whole and and foremost how it will affect the business side and the creative side of movies and tv in the future. 

• Vox article that describes how 9/11 affected movies, tv, and even the music industry afterwards. If you are interested in reading about it https://www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12814898/pop-culture-response-to-9-11
 
Music includes:
Circus Waltz - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100291
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

How corona virus will affect film

Our friend Mickey had a simple question about audio mixing. The answer isn't quite so simple, and led us to have a full on film stuff episode about the ways that making films for mobile devices isn't the same as making films for televisions, computers, or projectors. We talk all about it in this episode, including: audio mixing, screen real estate, and why you should never watch Maze Runner on a plane. Extra special thanks to Mickey for inspiring this one!

• Frequency distributions on recent iPhones are surprisingly good https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/5kdvnv/iphone_7_plus_audio_measurements/
• We talk about Christopher Nolan's most recent sound mix issues, which have come to light again with the release of Tenet. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/16/tenet-up-listen-christopher-nolan-interstellar-sound-mixing
• Roy Anderson's films came up too, particularly his use of background action and detailed framing that's best left to a large screen size https://youtu.be/bLCtJkGKefU
• The Dead Girls Detective Agency is one of Snap's originals, one of the only examples of made-for-vertical programming out there https://story.snapchat.com/p/cb699648-66fd-4483-8269-8b3c1511951d/5888840593047568
• We also alluded to a vertical music video we loved. We meant YELLE's Interpassion https://youtu.be/Neqp_R-xAYs
• Screen real estate isn't just a film concept. It's also used in website design. One Utah Valley University class had a quick primer on graphic safe spaces and dynamic screen real estate http://desource.uvu.edu/dgm/2740/IN/steinja/lessons/04/l04_02.html?m=1
• Also John Wick! We love John Wick and think it's one of the greatest action movies ever made, from the actual fight choreography to the subtitle styling. Apparently other people also love it as much as we do https://www.reddit.com/r/JohnWick/comments/g6b2m0/john_wick_subtitles/
• If you make videos with subtitles, you should definitely read up about captioning standards. The one we follow is CEA-608, which we export to .scc files and upload straight to YouTube.

Editing for mobile devices

The film world we were brought up in works on an apprentice system, where you attach yourself to a person or team, and usually work on the projects they land. In the world of modern video making, where creators can be full-time and video is a huge part of marketing, that world is evolving. Now there's tons of openings for filmmaking jobs. They're not all good. Some are gold, some are garbage, and in this episode we talk about how to tell the difference. We get super tactical for anyone job hunting or looking to hire.

• This is the puzzle we've been doing. Not an ad, we just think this puzzle company is really cool! https://cloudyfields.com/products/shadow-puppets
• There are a loooooot of ways in which print design and digital design are different (not to mention video and materials design). This is just the tip of the iceberg https://medium.com/inkbot-design/5-key-differences-in-designing-for-print-vs-digital-media-6e69edcfc414
• Leigh wasn't joking. Final Cut Pro 7 is dead. Officially. https://larryjordan.com/blog/apple-ends-all-support-for-final-cut-pro-7/
• We mentioned that producers are usually responsible for key creative hires on a project. What else does a film producer actually do? Production is not the same thing as producing. This great excerpt from MasterClass explains https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-does-a-hollywood-producer-do-responsibilities-of-a-film-producer-and-how-to-become-a-producer#quiz-0
• We highly recommend this excellent article called "The Confidence Gap" about the different ways male and female candidates approach a job ad https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/
• We also recommend you look at some of the research around gender differences is hiring. Totaljobs has a whole section dedicated to this issue here https://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/gender-pay-trap/, plus a tool that checks the text of a job listing to find gender-coded wording.

Finding better video jobs

Lots of creators—especially young, successful ones—publicly admit to being emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted by their channels. Why is that? And while we know burnout is a real and serious problem, we have to wonder. How much burnout is true burnout, and how much is because many creators are new this: new to managing professional life, new to making art, and new to the notoriously demanding work of filmmaking. We look at creator burnout from many angles and even suggest ways to avoid it.

Show notes:
• Leigh mentions details about how the YouTube algorithm works "as far as we know." That paper she read that made her think YouTube's recommendations are so great? It's from 2014, from a Google research paper titled "Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations" https://research.google/pubs/pub45530/
• If you really want to understand the algorithm deeply, we recommend following Matt Glielen and the team at Little Monster's research https://www.littlemonstermediaco.com/our-research
• "That original guy who wrote 'Burnout'" is a psychologist named Herbert Freudenberger, who coined the term in the '70s based on his own personal frustrations. He literally wrote the book on it https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553200488/
• Burnout isn't just a YouTube problem, either. Anne Helen Petersen wrote a great piece on why burnout is rampant among Millennials, not just creators https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work
• In 2018 there seemed to be a YouTube trend of young creators quitting because of burnout, overwork, and stress. The Guardian wrote a piece that covered a lot of the same angles we did in more depth https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/08/youtube-stars-burnout-fun-bleak-stressed
• Soo Zee talks about the emotional difficulty that comes from getting instant feedback on your work. The fancy term for this is "emotional labor," and it has a long history of being an unacknowledged form of work, especially on social media platforms. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona
• In fact, social media's impact on our mental health is well documented https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/status-of-mind.html See also https://www.openculture.com/2013/08/why-social-media-makes-us-lonely.html
• James Cameron on curiosity, and why he takes time between his films to explore areas of personal interest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfd6fg7QsM
• James Cameron did indeed head to the jungles for Avatar's sequels https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/28/james-cameron-avatar-2-brazil goin' off to the jungles
• When Leigh says she agrees with Adam Grant's definition of burnout, she's really agreeing with what he argues in this episode about burnout on his TED podcast WorkLife https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_burnout_is_everyone_s_problem

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Creator burnout and breakdown

If you're a film buff, this is not the podcast for you. Soo Zee and Leigh talk about film in the loosest sense of the word. Mostly it's about what it means to be creative.

HI! We're Soo Zee and Leigh and we Do Stuff and then make videos about it. Videos are real stories from our lives. It's reality, only with a better narrator. We do stuff mostly in Berlin, Germany, but sometimes other places too.

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