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Classic City Vibes
Classic City Vibes Podcast - Conversations with people in the Athens, Oconee and surrounding communities who help make this such an amazing place to live. Learn what is going on in one of the nation’s most famous music, film and art scenes, learn about some of the amazing opportunities around us where you can be active and interact with others who have similar interests. This podcast is put out by the Athens Regional Library System where we are committed to helping build strong communities and celebrating our diversity. Engaging Communities, Exceeding Expectations.
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Classic City Vibes
Illuminating the Screen: Miles Grier on Film Set Lighting and Industry Insights
Set Lighting Technician Miles Grier share his journey into the film industry. From essential roles and safety on set to sharing invaluable career advice, the discussion emphasizes the importance of collaboration and respect in the film industry.
• Understanding the structure and roles in the lighting department
• Importance of lighting for mood and visual storytelling
• Anecdotes highlighting challenges faced on set
• Discussion on safety procedures and risks involved
• The journey from intern to industry expert
• Insights into networking and growing in the film industry
• Aspirations to become a director of photography
• Encouragement for aspiring filmmakers and technicians to learn and be kind
Miles is a "Film Set Lighting Technician in the state of Ga."
Welcome to Classic City Vibes. I'm your host, Anthony Zuniga, along with the host with the most here.
Speaker 3:You could say co-host, but sure, sure I have a little.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm still the baby host. I'm learning stuff.
Speaker 3:Brother, you got this. This is going to be easier than memorizing a bunch of lines on stage.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's true.
Speaker 3:He's the face out here, man. He's a big actor.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm Zach Wilder, by the way, we were talking about stuff. Well, yeah, let's get into the introduction here before we get rolling into it.
Speaker 1:Our co-host, zach here, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, and we've oh and I don't want to mistitle you or anything, so in a way I'm going to ask you a question to start to also get you introduced. Okay, so for the layperson, for the people, can you explain to us the titles and scope of various jobs that you've done in the film industry? Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:So I would normally consider myself to be a film set lighting technician and that is one of like several jobs in just one department in the industry. I work on film and television shows in normally Atlanta, georgia, but kind of bounce all around the state of Georgia um what one long stint in Savannah we won't talk about yeah, one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was a it's. It's a whole jurisdiction thing. It's a whole other thing, um, but the way I would describe it would kind of be top down. Uh, and I've worked in each one of these positions in varying lengths of time, but I would normally find myself as a set lighting technician.
Speaker 2:The lighting department is a key part of the movie. Like you know, if you got no lights it's just dark and that's like not ideal to see anything. So from top down, it's like the director of photography is one of the key positions in the lighting department. Although they don't necessarily do any lighting, the person who does the lighting for them would be the gaffer or the chief lighting technician. And I've done a little bit of gaffing, mostly some second unit pickup stuff, more than leading a project on my own. But that is the person who is like your shot caller.
Speaker 2:The director of photography sort of comes in and there's tons of any, any like major motion picture, major television stuff. Like there's like two or three months of pre-production where there's already been conversations about everything that you show up to on a day-to-day thing, and you kind of get there and it's like how do you want this to look, boss, so you talk to the director of photography and you know, in this scene we're doing a podcast. So you got a little bit of mood lighting, like just enough that you can kind of see, you could thumb through your notes. It's kind of setting that vibe and you don't really want like harsh, strong light that's cutting shadows, like that kind of stuff that you want to dance around and you kind of just sometimes there'll be, you know, as in-depth as.
Speaker 2:I don't want this, I don't want that, I don't want this. But a lot of the times these days we get into just kind of a vibe and the gaffer gets the vibe from the DP and they kind of come in and go OK, here's what we're doing. Camera team will set a frame, gaffer comes in and orders come down From the gaffer. You would have the assistant chief lighting technician or the best boy, and the best boy is like a manager I've heard of best boy yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a debated title where people are like what's the best boy do?
Speaker 3:That's exactly why I wanted this. I actually put it as number two, but Anthony's keen insight was like this has got to be number one dude, and I was like okay, yeah, of course, Because I would have absolutely mistitled you 100%. Even after all the years of you calling me randomly at one in the morning and yelling at me about someone who was yelling at you, I still don't have the lingo and the jargon down. So, lighting technician, have you worked other spots or is that primarily what you've done?
Speaker 2:Primarily, I have been a lighting technician, I feel bad, now I've been this one thing, idiot, not really. That branches out to other areas, right like the vibe that you were describing too yeah, like, um, if you got the lighting department, you got lighting, camera and grip. So camera department is camera department, it's everything that you see, but without the lights you can't see anything. So if we are the lighting department, we typically call ourselves like the sun, and whether it's whether it's a super harsh, sunny sun, oh, like sun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We're like the light the sun.
Speaker 1:I was like the sun. I was like whoa, who's the father here? We're the sun man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a whole other metaphor there, but the grip department would be the clouds. So they are modifying the light. So we've definitely come into the world of LEDs and that gets into a lot of funny stuff. But just in a standard situation, lighting department is the sun and the grip of the clouds, and they can bring in all kinds of different we call them flags and you have different kinds of grid. You've got different kinds of like an opal or something.
Speaker 2:Is it just off the hand, something that modifies the light so it can come through a little bit softer again? It's kind of depending on the vibe. So it's like they kind of come in and we need a lot of light and we need, like, daylight, and the source that we use for daylight is pretty over powering sometimes and like you've got a certain amount of up and down on the dim. You can do. But if you still want sunlight coming in but it doesn't need to be crazy we might throw an opal in front of it and then, once the opal's in front of it, you look in the lens, you see what the camera's saying, and then, okay, we'll get another flag to kind of cut it so that we have, like you know a harsher line, or we make it so that it doesn't impose a little bit too much on our scene, or we might get into going in the weeds. But you get like a cuculurus and it's like it's literally something that's cut in the shape of branches yeah, what's a cuculurus?
Speaker 2:yeah, like we were looking at each other like whoa but it's like I said, it's a little in the weeds. That's not like super obscure stuff but like unless you've really touched anything you wouldn't really know that offhand. But going further from that, more towards a layman electric department is the sun, the grip department, the clouds. You know, camera team is camera team, they're the eyes. You've got plenty of other departments, uh, that kind of operate within there, but I typically have stayed within the lighting department. I've worked as a grip as well, um, and I've worked the majority of the jobs in the lighting department and a few jobs in the grip department.
Speaker 3:That's what I was thinking that you had moved around Like my. You know this could be completely off base, so correct me if I'm wrong, but in my mind you were very fluidly moving back and forth between a lot of disciplines, right, like setting things up and getting lighting made, and like procuring, like equipment and like maintaining that stuff. Yeah, yeah, organizing it.
Speaker 2:Okay, and that kind of rolls back into, like the assistant lighting assistant, chief lighting technician, or the best boy, so the best boy is your, your manager. It has an alternate title. Well, it's, you know, like europeans now I see.
Speaker 3:Now I see.
Speaker 2:Now I see where the politics comes from you'll be like well, we, we uh want to be seen like by this organization or we've submitted it to these things, so we want to be seen in a certain light. It just kind of depends. But Best Boys are your managers. They order kind of gear. We have any unorthodox needs that if we're on a location we need a big lift and some extra lights or we need more power. Their job is to kind of communicate that to the rest of the team.
Speaker 2:You know, in lighting a set they might not be the next, you might not just hear it from them, you'd probably still hear directly from the gaffer. But they also manage like your crew. Typical crews can be like a core four. You've got four guys, you've got the best boy, you've got the gaffer and then just four set lighting technicians, which is where I typically come in, and your set lighting technicians are basically lamp operators. So our job is to take the lamp, place the lamp and the lamp just being whatever lighting fixture, because it can be an actual lamp. But that gets into like set dressing and they don't like us touching it. So we just put the bulb in. But was it like practical lighting?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, so like you.
Speaker 2:You can do just standard practical lighting. You can get into there's, uh, different companies and different individual heads, but whatever your boss is calling for, we take that in, we place it, we make sure it gets powered from our power and we point it where it's going. If they don't have the notes, we'll communicate to the grips like, hey, this needs a sider so we can cut off some of the light from the side, a topper to cut some of that light off, that's from the top, bottomer, like some of those kinds of things that we just kind of work with each other to make sure that each individual lamp is doing what it's doing and then, um, some of like the regular everyday parts of the operation are just also on the electrician, the set lighting technician. We sometimes say electrician, but it's like I've had people ask me about doing electrical work and it's like, oh no, I've got like yeah, it's like I understand how much is bad, but yeah, it's like you
Speaker 2:got to be kind of careful there, because that's.
Speaker 3:That was what I would have called you a set electrician, I think, would have been just my intuition. Yeah, I think that applies, okay, okay, but like you were just saying, when you say electrician, people normally think the guy who runs wires Yep, but they don't mean like XLR wires or whatever power wires you're running for your lights they're thinking like you're running for your lights.
Speaker 3:They're thinking like you're in the wall yep, and uh, that is a very uh difficult, different and dangerous field oh yeah I guess, like kind of rolls into the question I wanted to ask a minute ago, which is all these different moving parts, how, how much danger do you feel like you're in at any given moment? Is it low?
Speaker 2:no, he's told me about getting stuck in a picker before. Yeah, like, like a short version of that would be in. In that period of time where we were in Savannah, we had a lift.
Speaker 3:Oh, we weren't going to talk about.
Speaker 2:Savannah. I forgot that it was in Savannah. I mean easiest version of the story is like we had a lift that malfunctioned, but it malfunctioned in the air, and you know like we're.
Speaker 3:You never want to hear the words malfunctioned in the air, in the air, right right.
Speaker 2:It's not a combination you really are looking for. But it's like you know you're up in the air Sometimes. It's like the smallest lifts we have are like 40s and that's not like a scissor lift. I think most people have kind of seen one, whether you're just kind of walking around in some building or whether you work with them. We call them like cherry pickers or condors is another word we use. But it's like if you've ever seen the, like your local lighting, like your local power company, like messing with the lines. It's like what linemen use on the back of a truck. But it's this big tank, honestly, like it's huge four-wheeled beast that has just an arm and a basket and we put lights in them.
Speaker 3:We build big grids off of them with pipe like oh, I didn't even think, okay, yeah, that makes total sense, so cool. Okay, I didn't think about like using it as like a platform for lights. That makes total sense they are.
Speaker 2:When you, when you go to get certified, they are aerial work platforms, gotcha, gotcha, um. But I mean you there's a certain amount of like. You know you're not a technician for that, you're not certified to really repair or change anything. But there's a certain amount of like. You know you're not a technician for that, you're not certified to really repair or change anything. But there's a certain amount of like. You walk around make sure it's not leaking. You walk around and make sure that if you're going up with lights, that the cable that's powering those is like in a place that's not going to get snagged when it goes up. Because you could go up 40 feet, you could go up 60. It goes up to like 120. And in this particular story I was in like an 80-foot lift with lights in it. Oh boy, and I get like up in the air.
Speaker 3:That's like what six, seven stories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Getting us nervous over here, yeah, and like you kind of start going up and you're driving with it and it's like it's normally not too bad. They're usually like you place it and then worrisome, but um, in this case it was man, I can't imagine having to do that constantly.
Speaker 3:There was a time when I was at the archives of pascal where he took me into the vault and like let me on their like proprietary picker now only went like 20 feet but it would like lock into essentially like a row of like stacks and fucking go and it's just like it's a machine and it's like you're going oh, dude, and it gets windy up there you know.
Speaker 2:Surprisingly, it's not like birds or anything that you deal with when you're in these things like they, just they want nothing to do with them. They don't come and like land or something. It's bees. It's bees and wasps it's it's.
Speaker 3:I don't know how to describe how that makes sense but like they, they zip up to your, like box and then just follow you to the light. Oh the light, oh, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2:But you know, like you don't you use these kind of during the day with a light, where it's like you have a light on and maybe you're in a building and you're blasting this light in the building to. You know, the sun's going to do what the sun's going to do. It does the air quotes. Same thing every day.
Speaker 2:But you know clouds will mess you up, like tons of things, but we normally prepare a backup in case it's cloudy, overcast, anything, so like you can be going into a building during the day, but a lot of the times you're going to be working at night with these lifts and lighting and you get in the air and it's like bees and wasps and I've seen all kinds of like. You know, one of those kind of giant wasps is like the size of your thumb and it's like we're just in the woods somewhere and like, and you're 80 feet in the air and it's like. You's like you just decide to look up and check on the guy who's up there and you can see him like swinging his jacket and it's like, hey, what's going on? The light's moving. What's the problem? He's like wasp. He's like what do you mean, wasp?
Speaker 3:Mothman's attacking me right now.
Speaker 2:And, like you know, we have all kinds of like plastics and stuff and, depending on how cold it is like this part of the year, you'd wrap the basket a little bit, stop some of the wind getting in. But you'll see people and like they'll come down in the lift and they're just like layered up and then you're like OK, it's like yeah, man, the wind's worse up there, Wow.
Speaker 3:The wind keeps shooting hornets right into my face. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like you'll go to cut the light off and we normally, like you know, sometimes you load that stuff back onto the truck or you brought it. Sometimes it's there and you cover it. It's like you go to cover it and anytime you move it it's like just burnt everything coming off of that thing and you'll find all kinds of curled up bugs. It's like I didn't know these existed, man no.
Speaker 1:I thought these were extinct. I don't know. Those challenges would even come up for a lighting specialist Goodness. What I also wanted to ask is like what are some of the good times, you know? What are some of the things that you're like? I love doing this, you know, man I?
Speaker 2:I mean, I would say the same thing as well for the lifts, like for sure. Uh, just to clarify like working in film, your job is not just lifts, it's just, it's something I kind of started in a way that you as an additional, like you're kind of competing with tons of people. You know, like it's you're just a name off a list sometimes to some people and like to make that kind of impression. It's like you got to be good at something and that's you know you can have a good eye. But when you're starting out like the person that's paid a lot of money to be a good eye doesn't want another good eye coming in and like making suggestions, like it's just kind of like, hey man, like that's a good idea, but also like you kind of gotta be in your lane a little bit.
Speaker 2:Um. And I would say, as far as a good thing, um, stepping away from lifts would be, that I have been incredibly lucky, I think, to kind of bounce around from group to group to group and meet a lot of people that are kind of challenging that norm of just like you can't really have an opinion. Now I think there's still definitely a lot of times where we'll say the adults are talking and it's like think about it, and it's like You're stuck at the kids' table.
Speaker 2:No, but it's like.
Speaker 1:Just my sippy cup.
Speaker 2:It should be like a 12-hour day, which is like a standard, and you're at like hour 11. And you're like I'm not holding the script, but it's like, you know, you're looking at the call sheets telling you what it's supposed to be, and it's like we're behind and the adults are having a conversation and it's like we can't you know, we can't figure out the angle. Like it's that somebody's not performing or we're having a difficulty time with with the gear, like something, and like there's, you know, a producer, someone, someone who you should not be talking to, is like having a conversation with your boss and like they're trying to solve something and like that's not the time to come in and have an idea. Like you might say something to the best boy as an idea and the best boy might cue that up, but like you just kind of remove yourself from those things. And I think those situations exist in a lot of different workplaces and a lot of different scenarios where it's like it's just not really your, that's above your pay grade to do that.
Speaker 2:But I think that in the creative process I've been very, very lucky to be around a lot of people who kind of want your input and you know, again, like there's still a time to do it, but like you'll place a lamp and it's like some of the guys I've been working with, it's like I want to light here. I want it to be hitting their face and doing this. I don't want anything like on their hair. I don't really want it to hit the super shiny earrings that they have. But I want it to hit the super shiny earrings that they have, but I want it to kind of be this like vignette. It's just got to be right there.
Speaker 3:I want that where we're getting this little shot and like oh, you like euphoria, huh, yeah, yeah, and it's like okay, I got.
Speaker 2:I got something for you and like you know you you still may be told what tool to use, but it's on you to kind of sculpt that light and make that happen and like something. Like you know you do a good job with that. Sometimes you're doing something as simple not simple, but like it's called like a ballyhoo and it's like, say, you've got like a spotlight and somebody think about the circus, and it's like these lights are moving all over the place and it's like there's people operating those and, depending on what you do, you're in a situation where you need to replicate that. And it's like I've never done that but I've seen something like that. And sometimes it's like I can't cue you to.
Speaker 2:I've got a laser pointer and say, do it like this and move this way, and like you can get an idea, but ultimately it's on the operator to make that thing. You know, do that thing. So like I think in those cases, like you're trusted to help create this thing, like your input is very valuable on this, where it's like, okay, just make sure you don't. You're moving the light, don't hit them, or something.
Speaker 3:But it's your, but you're doing all of that within the purview of your own position. That's not like stepping on anybody else's toes. Yeah, essentially I got you and then, and you said, positive effects of the set you've been a part of is that people are very open to your suggestions, right, ah, very good, and not just necessarily Miles, but the crew we work with.
Speaker 2:Okay, that I was saying about the lighting department. A lot of the times the same people will run together when they hire. They hire the gaffer, gaffer hires the best boy, best boy hires the crew.
Speaker 1:It's the thing that makes sense, right yeah, gaffer, gaffer hires the best boy, best boy hires the group.
Speaker 2:It's the thing that makes sense, right, yeah, yeah. So like you may end up running around with people, that all the same group of people, like I've heard our lifestyle, our, our industry kind of compared to carny's, where it's like you kind of go and you set that thing up and you make it work and it's, it's safe and everybody's good for a week and then you rip up out of there, Bro.
Speaker 3:You're making me have horrible war flashbacks to working in the music industry, Making me think of the 40 watt, which, by the way, I goofed and there are no questions on here about the 40 watt. We should absolutely talk to him about that at some point oh yeah, Because he does come in and LD at the 40 watt sometimes.
Speaker 1:Would like to hear about that. Well, I think you may have mentioned earlier how long have you done this for?
Speaker 2:Oh, so I started in 2017, I believe I started with an internship and I've kind of been pretty steadily working since. Was that during?
Speaker 3:school, or like when you were going to film school.
Speaker 2:Oh, so that's a great question. I was a part of a program that's called the Georgia Film Academy and I'm not really a sponsor or spokesperson for them, so I can't really go crazy on like the details. I think the program's changed a little bit but essentially you go and the idea is for you to learn how to be a set PA. You go for one semester. It's a two semester program but it's like you go for one semester and you are taught the hierarchy of different departments. You're taught the ins and outs of how these things work together. You'll work together and you know, you kind of get to choose, like hey, I want to be the sound guy, I want to try this out. And like you'll do a little film project together and you kind of work through making a production happen from all angles and you learn about the financials of it. Like I said, the hierarchy, like you kind of learn to be a PA, which is a common starting position in film and the second semester.
Speaker 2:Initially I think they have always intended to offer internships to as many positions as people will be open to part me, to interns joining, but typically there are a lot more PA interns than a particular department. That said, I finished my semester and learned all my kind of set basics, and the second semester I qualified and was accepted to intern on the Walking Dead. I think it was like season seven, and I got one of. I think there's more still, but I've got one of, like the hybrid programs where I could work as an electrician as well as a grip, which is both sides of the lighting team and a part of why I would bounce around as much as I did.
Speaker 3:And cross training yourself in any profession is the smartest way to make your skill set. More Absolutely marketable is the word I'm looking for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you also understand the other person you know On those long set days.
Speaker 3:That's my boy, anthony, right there.
Speaker 2:He knows he's like my empathy is firing off right now and that's the key there, of of like if you're you know I'm building this light and it's like if I just I know lighting, that's it. Put the light boom. We're good, grips will figure it out. But it's like I can look at this and I again, fortunately enough, worked with this guy enough I know what kind of stuff he likes, and he's worked with these other guys enough that they know what he likes and we can just have a conversation of like it seems like this is what he's saying, but they'll probably want to throw some some opal on this.
Speaker 2:We might want to do a cider, like I'm doing what I can, but can you have one nearby if he asks? And you know, like those kinds of things and you should where you can, you should get along with your coworkers and if you understand what they do and you know, you just kind of can keep that whole thing rolling. But, um, as far as film school, like yeah, I did the Georgia Film Academy program, I would encourage anybody interested in coming into film to check that program out. I got into that in like a technical school, uh, from my hometown and you know, just kind of hit the ground running from there.
Speaker 3:It turned this dude's life around like from an outside perspective, like there was miles before that and then there was miles after that. And like getting into this program and then getting on set and getting experience, having like actually went to school with you before. That really seemed to be the thing that like broke whatever was going on beforehand and then bam, now you're in the film industry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard good things about GFA for sure. Oh yeah. And have you always wanted to be a filmmaker, or how'd that start?
Speaker 2:I would say so. It was definitely one of those things where you're, you know, I think everybody kind of goes through life and it's like you've got this idea and I would love to say that everybody has a dream, but I have definitely met some people that do not dream and they are just, you know, like you're just kind of a one-note, like every day.
Speaker 3:Give me a big belly chuckle.
Speaker 2:And you know like it's just different Everybody, different strokes, different folks.
Speaker 1:You met some zombies, not on the Walking Dead.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I'd like to say everybody dreams and you have a goal that you kind of want to do and this path that you want to kind of get into. And I think the film industry is definitely one. That's why I was really happy to kind of accept this and talk about things, but it's definitely one where it's not really a straight path to kind of get into. We've we've, like GFA again, has done a great job of like opening doors and creating some kind of a stepping stone to kind of get into things, and that's excellent. But besides that it's not really a good way to do that. I chose the school that we went to because, like my older brother went there, I didn't. I didn't apply like I'm talking about people that don't have a dream, like for a period of my life I would say I didn't really think about it like that. It was like my my brother went to this, this University. I'm gonna apply to this University.
Speaker 3:Is that why you ended up going to GSU?
Speaker 2:That's the only reason. Wow, I did, I took the sat, I did all that stuff.
Speaker 2:I made just the number to go to gsu you were too busy olympic swimming at that time, trying yeah, that's a story for another time cool, but uh, like trying to do that and trying to just like you know, every day I'm just doing that, like I kind of moved in this way and I knew there was a film program there, but I was like you, like I'll go in. My brother did English. I feel like English is a wide enough thing for me to get started and see if I want to do something else. And all these people change their majors, like this is a good place to start. That's where I want to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like this is safe and I think that that's not a bad mentality. But being safe and not having a dream, I think, is where it's a dangerous mentality, where it's like I just need to be safe, like you got to you know, you got to do, you got to do a little bit of both, because if you can't see, you can't see this ideal thing for yourself and you can only see like, well, I just need to make sure that you know basic needs are covered, like respectable. Sometimes you're in that position, but I encourage people to kind of dream, to look at that. What would you do? And film was that kind of thing for me.
Speaker 2:So I was on a different path entirely. Like I was. I was doing English but I was in ROTC and I was like trying to do the film programs and the classes that I need to do. I think I tried to start with it as like a minor and I finally kind of started to try to swap it and I was around all these people that were also into film and also wanted to become filmmakers. But at that time to touch any gear, to rent anything, you had to be of a certain level of experience, I don't know, a certain pace in the program and it's, like you know, seniors, juniors, are over freshmen, so like you couldn't really get a hold of any gear unless you were there.
Speaker 3:Am I misremembering? I feel like they gave you an iPad at one point and were like make a movie with this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it wasn't. I don't even think it was an iPad. Make a movie on an iPhone.
Speaker 3:We're talking first generation iPad, oh like early, everybody was like Apple's crazy bro.
Speaker 2:You see, this is the future and it's like you try to do that and we're old. Like the photo booth app and all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just like this is not.
Speaker 2:This isn't working man.
Speaker 3:I remember. Yeah, oh man, I mean, it worked out for some people obviously.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I mean it worked out for some people, obviously Absolutely. There's people people from my program have gone and done a couple of excellent things, but ultimately it just didn't vibe with me and I was kind of like you can't, you know, I can't get my hands on this stuff and if I can't use this stuff then like I'm not a real filmmaker, I can't do anything. I specifically there was like a project that I was trying to do on the side with someone in that class and like we were trying to make plans. I was like I don't know how I could do any of this stuff without these things and like again, like no drink, not like super limited, kind of boxed myself in and from there, like things didn't go great for me at GSU and I like went back and uh, I like I don't want to say wasted.
Speaker 2:But I spent three years of my life just like working at a kroger, keeping myself employed, making enough money to keep myself entertained and fed, and that was fine. But like I was being a bum man, it was like at home with, with my parents, and like again, like sometimes you need this period of time to grow and I did and I kind of got there and somebody from the GFA program happened to. I went to high school with one of them who was teaching there and he's like what are you doing? Why aren't you here? Why aren't you here? And it was like the program. The college was across the street from Kroger.
Speaker 3:The way it works. That was the universe trying to pay you one back for doing you dirty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got knocked back and it's crazy because it's like again that like I don't have a dream, I'm just, you know, I'm everydaying. That's kind of where I'm stuck at. It's like that mentality for three years and it's hard to say that if I had taken the first bite that, you know I'd be where I'm at today. But for three years I kind of like did not bother, I was just like I heard it, I would, you know, I'd entertain it. I kind of walked by.
Speaker 2:One time I got a pamphlet Never, never really bit, Never really gave it a shot and I think something happened at that job where it was like you know, easy money Clock, where it was like you know, easy, easy money clock in for a couple hours a week and make the money, like something about that became not easy and I'm sure I've specifically told you that the interaction but like something happened where it was just not easy and that was enough to shake me and make me go. Why am I doing this, Like, what? Like? Why am I like, you know, people, like you said, it's like universe knocking and it's like you don't get that kind of an opportunity consistently.
Speaker 2:It's not consistently presented to you for three years, unless it's like dude I. You know how long can I keep tossing you the rope, how long can I try to get you out of there? You got to do it, but I'm trying and finally kind of tried it and got in. And you know, from there to now I've been what is of tried it and got in and you know, from there to now I've been what is that it's like. It's like coming up on eight, I think.
Speaker 1:Uh, next year, wow but yeah, would you say, you're a dreamer now say I'm a dreamer. Now how have those dreams evolved over time?
Speaker 2:oh, man, uh, definitely moved in a way. That's like I kind of started and and came in with that same mentality of like do a good job, get the work done, they'll call you back. Okay, what's up. You know, like Cluck in, do a good job, cluck in, do a good job, make.
Speaker 3:wow. What is it, cubans? I don't know. That came later. That came later.
Speaker 2:But it was like you and you know, coming coming from, coming from, uh, like gsu's, doing my. My initial route was like coming out of high school was like, yeah, I'm gonna try to swim and if I can't go to the olympics, I've got to join the army. And my dad, uh, like retired from the army, was like you're gonna go the Army, you need to go and be an officer. And that's like at GSU, it's like I'm doing this and it's like I'm trying to be an ROTC. And they're talking to me and they're like son, where do you want to go? It's about that time to make that decision and you sign now and we can cover the cost and you're good.
Speaker 2:And it's like I'm looking at the options in front of me and I'm like which one of these is like the artsiest? And it's like it's hilarious, because it's like you're sitting there in uniform and it's like which one of these can I? Like I could go into radio and it's like it's not radio, it's not radio dummy. Like your communications are just like oh man, and that was a part of like what made me kind of step away, because it was same time that I was, you know, not dreaming. It was just like it's knocking, but I didn't want to really go for it.
Speaker 3:Man. That's so weird Because, like knowing you in both of those periods, you were talking about the period where you would say you weren't a dreamer, and then the period where you were at college and we were, like you know, running around the city trying to figure out who we are.
Speaker 1:And what we wanted to do in life.
Speaker 3:I always looked to you because you seemed like you knew what you were doing. You always seemed like you knew what you were doing, and now I know that was a lie. Oh yeah, I know that now, but you were so good at making it seem like you know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Fake it till you make it will work in a lot of situations. But I think a part of it is just like I wouldn't say that I was faking it to anybody, more than I was faking it to myself and just trying to like, hey, this is what it takes, and like I can be a very stubborn individual and it's like this is what's going to work as long as I'm here on time, which, starting off, I was never on time.
Speaker 2:That's a key. If there's a question about what would you recommend to people, I would just start here with be on time. Be 30 minutes early. If you think that, coming from wherever you are in the state to wherever you're going, you're going to be there right on the dot, be there 30 minutes early.
Speaker 3:Give yourself an hour of buffer time.
Speaker 1:I'll take that one, because I've been learning that the hard way.
Speaker 2:Everyone does. It catches up to you Again. It's like I got super, super lucky with the group of people that were around me enough to. Instead of not calling me back, they were like, hey, dude, stop doing that. It's like, oh no, it's good, I was there but I didn't get in the van and they didn't move me and like the van took like 15 is like doesn't matter, 15 minutes to get that. That's a part of it. You should be here before that. It's like you should be here before anybody's looking for you, because when we're looking for you we're not, we're gonna stop seeing you and like never, you know, never really clicked for yeah, probably two jobs, probably probably two jobs, and like good, good relations with those people now.
Speaker 2:But like once that kind of finally clicked, it's's like okay, I see what the problem is, like being being, uh, grabbing the boss of soda is not, you know, it's not going to keep me employed, like what you know? What do I actually know? Am I actually dependable? Am I actually reliable? Can you, can you trust that if I say I've got the thing, I have the thing?
Speaker 2:And like you know, starting, starting in the industry, that was kind of a thing that it's hard to tell people, it's hard to teach people, because I feel that in film for sure, but I would from from a little bit of moving in other kind of arts industries from my experience in film, it's like we are a stubborn bunch. Um, I, I know what I'm talking about. I am the person who is the expert on this thing and like we box ourselves in in a way like that where we don't accept a lot of input from others and it's a dangerous place to be in because, especially when you're breaking into this thing in anything, in any scene, if you come in, you know, pigheaded, you're gonna you're gonna bump people the wrong way and that's not necessarily the best thing. Sometimes who we like is somebody that bumps people the wrong way but like you're not that guy pal, like you just you, shouldn't you?
Speaker 2:shouldn't bring that energy like the best thing to be. Is you so like? Come in, be earnest if you're earnest, be naive, if you're naive, and be willing to learn? And uh, I don't know, I'd say that's kind of a key thing I think.
Speaker 3:think that the film industry, as an outsider's perspective, seems to me something that has so much mystique around it that when people come into it for the first time they're expecting it to be one way, and then they don't realize it's really just a bunch of sweaty dudes running around yelling at each other and snapping stuff together behind the scenes that clock, you know, and watching buddy dudes running around yelling at each other and like snapping stuff together behind the scenes, that clock, you know.
Speaker 2:And like watching the clock, like you get into like depending on who you're working with, like you find those guys that are just super like regimented, which is like what I would say is like kind of I'm still that way, but it's like kind of how those guys start, where it's like all right, it's time for first coffee, and after first coffee we do this, and then, once we get first coffee, the snack is going to come out. And when the snack comes out, like that's all you need to worry about, man, the craft service department every three hours you get a meal. So three hours in Crafty brings you a hot snack. Then three hours later you go to lunch, then three hours after that, if you're lucky, you get a second meal and it's like you know, it's a food-oriented world.
Speaker 3:Love your crafty table, oh yeah, which is where the Cubans come in.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, so I just make a coffee and it's called Cafecito.
Speaker 2:It is just, I can't give you too many secrets, but it's just a, a coffee, it's just a coffee that somebody I was working with made once for me and it just kind of became this like daily thing. Just a little shot of espresso and came this daily thing that he was doing and I had gotten hired. I'm trying to think now, because it's like in the realm of like has this movie come out? Has my oh yeah, not has my Nnda expired? But rather like is this out?
Speaker 3:that's kind of speaking of which this, this man, uh, googled your imdb.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say I was gonna be in a segue like I was gonna google your imdb. Yeah, look you up. There's some cool stuff on there and we'd love to hear any of those. If you can talk about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like on on this show was um, it was like fear street, there's like, uh, netflix movies. It's like on. This show was like Fear Street, there's like Netflix movies. It's like a three movie thing. Something happened. The first two and that's one crew, and then the third movie turned out to be another crew and somebody I had worked with we'd been just kind of hanging out once in a while gave me a call and I got picked up on that crew For the third film.
Speaker 2:For the third film Wow, which was like not really the third film. For the third film Wow, which was like not really the third film, because it's when you come into shooting things, it's like it's very dependent on location. So you know, if it's all studio, we will do it in whatever order makes sense, typically like actor availability, but sometimes, like in Fear Street, it was like we were at this camp. I think it's like an old Boy Scout camp. Sometimes, like in Fear Street, it was like we were at this camp. I think it's like an old Boy Scout camp and you're there working, but it's like, at what period of time can we be here? For three or four months, so once ever that sorted itself. It was like we were there and that trilogy is like kind of talking about not time traveling, but it's like these things are happening, cycles, like I encourage, encourage you to go and watch it yourself. I try not to spoil stuff where I can't, but it's like all this stuff happens in this area, in this town and like this is an important point.
Speaker 2:So like, while we're filming one movie, like they were filming all of them as one film, basically one production one long thing okay so it's like we had some of those people maybe not all those actors, but it's like you need to get some of this stuff here where you're in I think it's like eight, I think I'm literally wearing a shirt it's like you need to get some of the 94 stuff and the 1978 stuff and then some of the 18 or 1666 and it's like some of these different periods of time you've got to be, you know, at the at this big, open field. That can be any time period. You want it to be right, um, but it's like we, we did a lot of stuff like that to where I was saying about the coffee is like someone I worked with made the coffee and, um, he was a day player is a position that we normally have. It's just you're a day player, you're there for the day, um, sometimes you get a bunch of days and you're the main day player. Sometimes you're core and you're there the whole run, but day players can come and go.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's just somebody you knew, but he made the coffee and this coffee is great and he came back a lot and he's a very skilled technician in his own right. I would give him a call if I had any kind of jobs that I wanted to have done. But when you're working overnights and a guy makes coffee every day at a certain time for everybody, you know you get a lot of work.
Speaker 1:Especially cafecitos.
Speaker 2:So it's like you kind of get that going. And it's like I kind of learned from him and it was like at a point in his life where he was like, man, I'm getting tired of making these things Like I'm just done, and I was like, show me how to do that.
Speaker 3:So I kind of started making it. That's it.
Speaker 2:That's the secret code phrase Show me how to do that Exactly, exactly. It was like we would do it. It's like everybody wants some espresso. You're working late. You're late and you're like if you're staying at the hotel, you're like 20 minutes. It's got that sweet tang to it, dude, but it's like. It's like it's like 20 minutes for the hotel or I'm going home and it's like an hour. Like you know, anything will help. Like we're not necessarily passing them out at the end of the day, but like you got to get through. We work over nights, it's. It can be rough. So, uh, that ended up being something, and like that I would definitely tie that into. Like just be willing to learn. Like how can I do that? Or how do you, how does that work?
Speaker 3:and like and and what skills, what? What skill set can you, as an individual, uniquely bring to this team to be able to make it more robust and make everyone's jobs easier? Absolutely, yeah, and for you it was just, it just happened to be making coffee yeah and uh they're incredible man like he's got this little percolator box set up like please explain the box. Yeah, yeah, it's legit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a Pelican case and it's that original guy his idea. It's not my idea, because I'm going to hopefully like share this around and be like hey, everybody, check this out. I did a little interview and I know he'll be like yo man, what's going on? You're giving out the secrets. What's his name? No, no, no, no no, no, no.
Speaker 2:That's the one thing I'm going to try for is not name drop my peoples, and it's not a negative, but just try to work on it. I got a fun story about this is like I got some good advice once, in that you know being careful to make sure that the project you're working on like, if it's out, you can tell some things. You know you don't want to go too crazy. You definitely don't want to go too crazy, you don't. You definitely don't want to go spoiling stuff. But, like, dropping people's names can be taken positively or negatively and it's not, you know. It's like, oh, I just want to shout out my boy, but it could just be that you know they they didn't appreciate that and and this story that you're telling, like maybe they don't like the way that they're seen. And you know, I personally don't think I've spoken ill of my friend here, but it's just some advice that I had, in that things change, people change, perception changes.
Speaker 3:So it's just a matter of like be safe. That's a massive difference between the cultural world you operate in and the cultural world I operate in. It's like I'm like all of my friends. Here is my list of homies, my best homies from A to. Z from my best homies from. A to Z yeah, it shouts out that's how I am, but it's like I can see how that would not work in the film industry.
Speaker 2:It was I'd done early on out of GFA, I'd done an interview and they were just like we want to talk to you about the program and they started asking me questions about Walking Dead and like we're actively shooting Walking Dead and they're asking me stuff I don't know and they're like who was the coolest actor to interact with? And I'm like, oh, yeah, so-and-so, and it's like, yeah, da-da-da-da-da, this interaction and like shared that. And they're like that's great. And then, like a great professor of mine pulled me to the side and was like hey, uh, what do you think how the interview goes? Oh, it's great. I think it went good. I was a little worried. He's like, yeah, don't do that. Again, it was like what? He's like, yeah, you did this. And I was like what do you mean? He's like you don't do that. Oh, I. He's like I didn't know. He's like, yeah, like it. You know it can be cut in the worst way like this was a, this is a video interview.
Speaker 2:so it's like I was a video interview, so it's like that was a whole other thing it was like so it's, but it's like it can be cut in a different way, Like that person may, like it might not be known that that person is still on the show, Like do you watch that show? And I was like yeah, yeah, it's like it's recurring character and it's like, oh, you were with so-and-so, weren't you? Wasn't that your boy?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's interesting it's just difficult for me to reconcile like a miles who is Conscious about those things and a miles who literally makes AI fake deep, fix it himself.
Speaker 2:Often is like it's it's gotten so bad.
Speaker 1:Is this an expose? No, no.
Speaker 3:It's mostly Danny DeVito. He'll post pictures of Danny DeVito, but with his face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I know, the thumbnail is usually pretty set. I can get you a selection and you can get a Miles DeVito face.
Speaker 3:Bro, if you send me a deep fake of yourself, I will put it as the thumbnail. No one can stop me.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you, it's gotten so bad that some of my friends will. They'll send me stuff or they'll be like dude. I was watching a commercial and I thought, this was you. I thought this was you.
Speaker 3:So it's a good side hobby there was one you posted the other day that had me tripping really hard.
Speaker 2:Whatever, the last one you posted was oh, I think it was like Starship Troopers or something.
Speaker 3:It was Starship Troopers, I looked at that image, looked away back to Helldivers, looked back at the image and was like, oh, that's Miles, Like I glanced right over it, it's just accepted. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Man. It's really nice to hear, though because you you've been mentioning this that people respect your creative inputs and that you actually can riff a bit on set. I also like seeing when other artists inspire other artists. Like you know, maybe a choice that you had or a suggestion creates a different shot. Or the director is like whoa, I like that, let's add that. Or the director is like whoa, I like that, let's add that. Or the sound guy is like oh, that's really cool. You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, what would you say was one of your favorite inputs that got added, and you were like this is awesome, I'm an artist, you know.
Speaker 2:For posterity's sake I can't say I've done anything like huge that's made the director go hang on. A second like that would if I if that was the case, I'd be in a different line of work, I would be a director's assistant but um, something like that that's happened was just like uh, well, I said I'm a set lighting technician. A lot of the time I am the truck guy and I'm like an inventory guy and the truck guy is just I'm also another. We call them thirds, you know, gaffer, gaffer's the first, best boy's the second. Everybody else is a third and I am usually there to help the Best Boy keep track of the gear.
Speaker 2:I unload the truck, I load the truck, I make sure everything comes back, but I'm also supposed to be fairly intimately knowledgeable about the lights. If anything happens, it's like you got to. You know, you got to kind of have somebody that knows how to fix it and, like you know being, have somebody that knows how to fix it and, like you know, being a handyman is helpful in all walks of life. I would say, just just know it. Um, but something like that that kind of went down was we were having a discussion about whether, uh, this one big box light was helpful versus this other big box light and one of my primary concerns is the truck guy, is the weight of the?
Speaker 3:light. How does it fit?
Speaker 2:in the truck. Well, more that, like we had it, but we would well exactly that actually.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I'm talking myself out of it, but it's like we had a light, that's similar to this other light, but it comes in a different case and I would love more than anything to get the odd thing off than the thing that fits. So I started pushing really hard to kind of pitch this and it went a couple of different ways, because it started first of like that's not going to be enough or it's not this. And I was like look, I think I think that if you start with this and I get this other thing headed up, this thing is in the way, so if I get this out and you can use it and it solves this problem, that helps us both out. But if we can get it out there and like it solves these other things, like maybe that helps and like the man's a legend in his own right and I like it. Should this ever get back to him and he hears this, he'll know exactly who he is and what we're talking about. But it was enough of just like. He kind of was like all right, let's try it.
Speaker 2:And then we started using that thing way more and again it was like it was kind of in the way of like it comes off the truck first, so we might as well use it, but it kind of got in this way where it was like this is sort of a demo, this is sort of um, sometimes you'll have the dp will have certain lights, that lights that they like, and we've gotten in a way where there are a lot of different lights that have a specific functionality. We have, you know, there's like lightning lights, where it's specifically this thing that is imitating what they used to do and they used to take carbon sticks and clap them together for lightning flash. Like there's tons of things that used to be that have been like hey, let's stop doing that and let's let's put that in a box and then you use that or you do like the LED stuff is like it's so multifaceted and like it covers almost everything. But you get in these spots where it's like I need, like you get a guy who's been working for more than more than eight years and they're like I need the clapper and I was like what is the clapper? And it's like it's like a lightning light. It used to be like the carbon sticks, but it's this thing. It's like uh, and then you know somebody, somebody else, somebody older, wiser, gruffer is like all right, I'll call a rental house and like one of those things shows up and then, like I said, rather like you said, it's like how does this work? And it's like learning this stuff and doing that.
Speaker 2:But I'm getting a little bit away from the question. I would say specifically, I made a recommendation that, like, let's try this thing, like if this can do this. They're kind kind of the same shape. They're both led lights. This one has less input in certain situations, but, for you know, this room needs to be warm. We should try this. And we did that. And then, once we kind of did that, it wasn't a matter of like oh, I'm checking with the truck guy of how to do things, but it was a matter of like, okay, what's the easiest thing? To get off the truck? And like, as silly as that can be. Hour nine, hour ten.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's like that's a really helpful long run. It makes a difference, yeah, between staying there past that call time, you know, past that 12-hour mark too.
Speaker 3:We also. You keep saying we got off track. I don't think Did you answer the question about what is your dream now? No, I don't think I think, I think I, I think I pulled you off track.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to put you back on track, because that was an excellent question that I have a personal stake in.
Speaker 2:No, I'm kidding. Well, I think that right now, when I, when I started, like I was saying it's like kind of moving in that way where it's like, just do this, do that, you'll be good, you'll work, and as long as you're here, like you're, you're winning, and like I don't think that's a bad mentality still. But I've kind of moved in a way where I started down the path of becoming a filmmaker. I've really wanted to be an editor and I in that, in that film program, like you have to, you know, I was at a community college so I still had to. It was a lot of a film program was there and they still wanted you to kind of do these other things to get your credits, even though I was really there for the program. I finished the program and I started this new venture that is my current career. But I learned a lot of different things there and was like how can I be an editor? I want to be an editor and I took a class there and I tried it and I learned a lot of information, got the book, everything was cool and we kind of got to the point of our project and it was hey, here's what you're going to do.
Speaker 2:I shot this movie four or five years ago. Here's the hard drive and I was like, okay, what do you want us to do? And it's like you guys cut a trailer out of it. I was like okay. And then you go and you get in this hard drive and it is like, listen closely, if you want to be an editor, it is what the client gives you and it is not organized. It is not anything that you would find useful. It is a lot of images. There's usually a lot of stills. There's like some video. There's usually a lot of stills. There's like some video. There might be audio if they had a sound person. None of it is organized. None of it is labeled. None of it is in your mind the timeline that you would have somewhere else. It's not like AI has pulled all the pictures of your cat that you've seen and made you a little video. It is not that. It is a jumbled somebody's old backpack that they've opened up and said, yeah, I think there's a trailer in there. It's good stuff.
Speaker 3:There's enough in there for you to make a trailer. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And like in that experience I kind of started doing it. I came up with something and I think it was good. You know, it's something that I put some time and effort into and I only submitted what I was happy with. But I kind of did that and after I had finished that I was like, yeah, it's editing, it's editing, it's not for me, man, like I might edit my stuff, but like if they're gonna give me this, like no way.
Speaker 2:And um, once I kind of got in the lighting path, I was instantly sort of like who's the top lighter person? How do I be the top chief lighting technician? How do I? And tried to move in that way of like I need to go for the top. And um, you know I, you know you honestly could catch me outside of the people who are my current inspiration. I couldn't name drop any gaffers at that time and I couldn't name drop any, honestly, any directors of photography. I couldn't. I couldn't go and list these people who. I want to do that and it's like you know I didn't.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say I didn't respect the craft, but rather my, my knowledge of the craft and what I'd say, what I respected is easiest. I wouldn't say I disrespected it, but what I really saw is important. I just saw the credits. I didn't really see anybody in that, those credits. So once I started I kind of came in and was like as long as I'm here, I'm good, as long as I'm in the credits, I'm good. And that was like what I got and I got and I got there and like you know, that thing about a dream is like you can have this dream. It's like what happens when you reach it. And once I kind of was there and like was around these other people and was like again those old kind of guys who've been here 30 years and been in the business. I kind of really started to think about like no, no diss to them. But it's like, do I just want to do that? Do I just want to be here? Do I want to be at a certain point?
Speaker 2:And through a lot of discourse, a lot of conversation, we kind of got in this world of like in my time, if you haven't done this for blank amount of time, people don't respect you, people don't care about your opinion, you're not like it's. It's like being like working uh, it's like working a pop-up, it's like working in the carnival. It's like you're gonna come and you're gonna go and people come and go all the time and you're gonna be there and you're gonna be in the credits for this thing and then the hours are too long or whatever and you'll leave and stuff like that. So it's like nobody really really cares. Nobody really cares about your opinion unless you're in one of those lucky spaces where they care about your opinion. So from being in that and having people kind of explain that to me and asking questions about like you know what I hear, you don't like this person. What's wrong? I think they're cool, it's like dude, it's, it's, you know, it's it's a all of a sudden come up. They just did this. They didn't even put any work in and it kind of put this idea in my head of like, yeah, put the work in and you know whether they're old or they're new, like the guy that's been there this amount of time, you're going to have a little bit of respect on what they do. You're going to trust their opinion and you should, because they have actually put that work in.
Speaker 2:So my initial goal from being there turned into like getting better, and I got further and further along that path I had a couple of opportunities open up that were like not a shortcut, but like, hey, I can go and do this thing. And at that time I didn't take those and I would encourage myself if I could. You know advice for yourself at year two versus year eight. It's like try that stuff, like you don't have to stay there, you don't have to do that. But like, as long as you're doing this thing and you care about it and you're putting your time and energy and effort into it, you might view it differently, you might have more critiques or some new knowledge that would change the way you would do things. But like, as long as it's something you care about, you should make it and that being the case now from.
Speaker 2:I want to be in a little longer. I want people to respect me, I want people to value what my opinion is on things. I've moved in a way that to a point in my circles people care a little bit about what I have to say and I really would like to gaffe, which is a long, long, long way to say I'd like to gaffe. But I would like to gaffe. I want to put that time in and be a very good technician for a good while, and then, when that opportunity appears where I can step in, and people were like that, that input of like what, what really changes, what's that input? And then I'd like to give that input and be seen as somebody that's, you know, got some ideas, that dreams. And then, once you get there, I'd like to gaff for a couple of things, to see what happens. And then, from gaffing, I'd love to be a director of photography.
Speaker 2:But I honestly, the same way that I was, like the lighting department is the light and the grip is the clouds and the camera is the camera.
Speaker 2:The camera, Like I, I've got no real fundamental knowledge at all of the camera and like spent a lot of time not ignoring it but just understanding that like that is the way that, uh, it's metal gear, like it's. Like you, you step within that, the, the exclamation point is going to go off and you're, you're going to get yelled at, get out of the camera. You shouldn't be in front of the camera, and it's like I don't know enough about really anything. I know how much it sees, which is, you know, useful for my job. I know how much it costs. So it's useful for my job so I don't run into it or make sure everybody knows not to run into it and how to be careful around it. But I think that I would love to get into the position of somebody wants me to help them establish the vibe of this thing they're creating, so becoming a director of photography in the long run would be excellent and, honestly, that would be perfect for you.
Speaker 3:You are one of the most vibes-based dudes I have known and I have cribbed your vibe-setting abilities for my own vibes for many years now. I've cribbed your vibe-setting abilities for my own vibes for many years now. I was thinking the other day my mom was giving me compliments on the LEDs and I was like I didn't have that idea.
Speaker 2:I stole it from Miles and he did something cooler.
Speaker 3:He didn't put them on the ceiling, he had them under his bed, so it was like lighting up the floor. That was dope, I still haven't gotten to that point.
Speaker 2:I mean, the word I would use would not be to steal. Like, if you were talking to me and I was not doing an interview, I would probably just say, yeah, I stole that idea, like something like that. That's why I said crypt yeah, but it's like be inspired by so many things.
Speaker 2:Like be inspired by that and like you know, given an opportunity, like give credit, but yeah, I think not specifically to that, but it's like I've been inspired by so many things I've seen, so like I don't want to say so many movies, that would be a little bit too boisterous, but it's like I have seen a lot of things that I have been interested in.
Speaker 2:I've branched off into other things. Like I like this kind of movie. I watched this movie. Who's in that movie or who did that movie? I'll look at what other things they've done. And you go down that rabbit hole of learning and learning and learning and like you just kind of see these things and you just explain.
Speaker 3:Sorry, no, you're, I'm going to make a stupid remark. Make a constructive remark, so you go for for it.
Speaker 1:I was just gonna ask. I mean now, now I'm intrigued what are some of your inspirations?
Speaker 2:oh, so I have always been, uh, incredibly interested in, like japanese, kurosawa, kurosawa, kurosawa I said like it's like you're not that guy, like kurosawa was that guy?
Speaker 2:and um, like, comparatively, I don't have a strong I don't want to say I don't have a strong knowledge of a lot of the way that filmmaking has gone in america. I have a lot more of an input on how, like, japanese cinema has kind of progressed and changed and, like this time period of like, or rather time period of like, this timeline of like who's the guy? And, um, a conversation, a funny conversation I had with, like, my father is deeply in the jazz, which is why my name is Miles Um, but it's like he was talking to me about, uh, honestly, musician I'd never heard of and I was like, okay, like what you got, and he was watching a documentary. It's explaining to me that this gentleman had recently passed and he kind of goes down and he lists this crazy chronology and it's one of those like you know, you know, you know somebody that's like super into a thing, it's their special interest, and my dad's like super into music, all things media, and he was talking to me about this and he's going down the line of, like you know was a trumpeter and, like you know, for a long time.
Speaker 2:I would say definitely like Miles was the guy and then after Miles it it went to this guy and I would say that after this guy it was kind of like Robert and after Robert it turned to this guy and then, once it turned to that guy, I would say it was Roy and then, like there's only a couple of those guys left and in the interview they're talking about this and he kind of goes off on this like very interesting, actual, informative, tangent about these things.
Speaker 2:And I'm kind of listening and I was, like you know, when you started to say that it just immediately made me think of the way that I would talk about like japanese, japanese cinema and be like, yeah, like I would really say that for a long period of time, like kurosawa will be the man, like the person that put it on the map is this, and then you jump into like you really have to give recognition to Honda and his Godzilla movie, and then you've got to jump to here and then I would say that that guy, like after that that's kind of debatable and you could say it was Suzuki, but then I would also say that like it kind of moves in this way where it's going to be like Kitano. Like I think Kitano is currently that guy and it's like kind of't know.
Speaker 3:I think Is it Takeshi Kitano.
Speaker 2:Yeah, am I thinking the right one? Yeah, I know a little bit.
Speaker 3:I know a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say oh, that one made me raise an eyebrow, takeshi.
Speaker 3:Kitano, he's a face. That man is an entire black hole, vibe.
Speaker 1:He walks into a room and everybody gets tense.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, he's like Japanese Yakuza gangster of gangster movies.
Speaker 2:Which films has he done? Great film to watch would be Outrage, Outrage okay. It is just like a yakuza, it's a gangster film and it's kind of like one of these vibes that I enjoy in film is just like betrayal, I would say in my life and as a concept that's like interesting to me does not sound as good as it sounded in my mind about betrayal.
Speaker 2:Betrayal is interesting to me. It's one of those concepts in the way that people react to these things, not that, oh yeah, I try to betray as many people as possible. It's just like in film when you go and you've got this established thing, everything is as it is. It's going to be this way. Old guard's been the old guard, new guys are the new guys. Whatever is as it is, it's going to be this way. Old guard's been the old guard, new guys are the new guys, whatever. Um, but in like a lot of gangster films it's like there's always that that first twist, that first thing that's changed and and like outrage without getting into like spoiler stuff again is like it kind of starts he's just a yakuza, he exists, he's doing things that the boss is asking him to do, doesn't really ask questions. There's like this sidebar with him and his men where it's like I don't really understand why we were going to do this like this. You know, like this kind of doesn't sound like a good idea, but you know, orders are orders and he does what he's supposed to do and as things are going, it's like all of a sudden he's now asked to like apologize for this and say all right, like I did what I was supposed to do but like, okay, like whatever, the boss has got a plan whatever. And then it kind of hits a point where like no, apologies, not enough, you've got to like remove them from the family, like they're dead to us, kill them. And the boss is like all right, cool, like that's where we're at, that'll solve this.
Speaker 2:I don't like that guy anyway. And it's on and like that's. You know, that's the whole movie, it's a, it's a trilogy, like it's it's just like vengeance and vendettas and all this kind of like his response to this betrayal is, I think, incredible and I think it's there's a wide range of emotion that can be portrayed in that. And, uh, I personally would say one of the films that I encourage a lot of people to watch is outrage. It's. It's one of my first like I wouldn't say a tester film, but it's like if my friends and I or someone I've met are talking and interested in stuff and we have similar interests, I'm going to try to cut Outrage on and like we'll see how far you go into Outrage Like it's like if you just really are not enjoying that.
Speaker 2:it's like, okay, cool, like there's a whole list of things that we don't have to discuss or things I don't have to recommend, and I can find something else that you'll like.
Speaker 3:You immediately made me think of what my film for that is, and you'll be able to say it right now.
Speaker 2:No, what is it? It's Redline, it's Redline, it's Redline.
Speaker 3:He knows.
Speaker 2:That was awesome, I think for sure, we've been friends for a long time. Man Takeshi Kitano's Outrage, his Outrage Beyond and Outrage Kota are the trilogy, but I'd say, watch that Definitely in Kurosawa. I would say, like I just recently re-watched Yojimbo, which is great.
Speaker 3:That's of like that. I guess, like nebula of films, I always think I'd go to Yojimbo first.
Speaker 2:It's a definite vibe check. I think it's about two hours. I think I watched it, if not yesterday then the day before. I've been just like I've been binging a bunch of stuff recently. It's incredible.
Speaker 2:This one is about he is a wandering samurai and he kind of comes across this village that's in the middle of this crazy back and forth, where there's a gambler's den and it's like the town officials are basically all the way involved in this as well, but it's like there's a gambler's den that's been booming in money. I think they normally export silk or something, but this gambler's den's opened up and they're huge now. And then on the opposite side of that there is like I believe it's a brothel and it's like the brothel exists and they're like also booming from all the people in town and through some kind of disagreement they're like at ends with each other, but they're like evenly matched. So Toshiro Mifune comes into town and he is this wandering samurai and he's just like that guy and he basically just kind of comes in and he goes into a small inn and is talking to the guy and it's like what's going on. He learns what's happening and he's like, you know, like there's some money to be made here.
Speaker 2:We'll play both sides, like I got this. So he kind of goes and he goes to court one side and see what they can offer him, and then he goes to the other side to see what's happening and then conflict happens, and then they both come and, like you know, they both take losses. And we got to get that guy. That guy's super strong and they try to hire him and it's just this whole kind of back and forth on. The outcome of this village is now sort of based on which side he picks and which side can convince him to be there. And he's just playfully kind of like well, there's some money to be made here. I can be entertained for a while because he's just wandering.
Speaker 3:Is that plot starting to sound familiar to you, if you just replace the samurai sword with something else? Yeah, think about it Guy rolls into town Two factions. Oh goodness, I'm stumped. Oh yeah, think about it Guy rolls into town, two factions.
Speaker 1:Oh goodness, I'm stumped. Oh, okay, I'm stumped.
Speaker 3:When he says it you're going to go. Oh, of course. What is it? What is it? Oh, it's the fistful of dollars. Yeah, yeah, Dang it.
Speaker 2:Oh, you were testing me. No, no, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:It. Oh, okay, for a fistful of dollars that's going on the list. Dang it. I mean, you've seen the Good, bad and the Ugly trilogy? I've seen. No, I've seen. No, no, I haven't Check it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:All of that stuff's cribbed from Japanese cinema and Yojimbo is like the starting point. A lot of Western aesthetics are just straight up jacked from Japanese cinema. What and?
Speaker 2:that's even what I would say is absolute. The absolute Miles Vibecheck movie must see, must watch, is three hours long, up front Older cinema. So things were different. There's an intermission in the film built in you can say Magnificent Samurai. Seven Samurai.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, so Seven Samurai samurai is based on.
Speaker 2:I believe it was a french novel that, uh, kurosawa just happened to have read and wanted to adapt and, uh, I think even then it might have been like the studio. He brought it to the studio as the thing he wanted to do. And seven samurai is huge, um, growing up like my, my dad, same thing, super media guy. He was working at Circuit City and they're gone. Rest in peace.
Speaker 3:Circuit City. Circuit City Rest in peace. Circuit City. The big red sign, baby.
Speaker 2:And he would just get tons of movies. My dad's a big movie guy as well. He's a big Spike Lee guy and somewhere somehow I believe in one of Spike's guides he's got these kind of guides on filmmaking that he did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have one in our collection. It's like the big purple one with his name on the front. Yep, yep.
Speaker 2:So it's like in there he mentions these are some things that inspire me. So my dad sees this and he goes and checks out what inspired this guy, who makes things he likes, and he's watching it and he comes home, you know like 7 or something, and I'm like I'm a little kid, I'm like maybe third grade, maybe fourth grade, and we'd watch movies together when he'd come home until I had to go to bed or I fell asleep, so he would come home and we'd start watching this movie. It's a three-hour movie. It is a like as a little kid, it's a hard three hours, so like so like.
Speaker 2:but it's like you know, samurai, and it's like they're they're building this group and there's this village that's in danger and they decide to pull all their money to deal with these like bandits that are attacking them and like extorting them for their rice and just terrorizing them, and they go out to go hire some people and they hire this one reasonable samurai and samurai is like let's get some people to come and back us up. So then they go and get this whole bunch of seven samurai to come back and defend this village against. Like it's huge. I think the number is supposed to be like 40-something bandits, but it's like it's never 40 bandits, it's like 100-something bandits that are running around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like people being thrown through windows and whatnot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So like it's huge Dude does a flip and a scream and and that's like the film that really took Kurosawa. Well, rashomon exists. Rashomon really broke him in, but Seven Samurai is huge.
Speaker 3:That's the one that normally gets attached to his name. I would say yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Am I tripping? Magnificent Seven, is that From Seven Samurai?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's OK.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, wow, I mean I'm mind-blown, so I told you you got to meet this dude. I told you, you guys would speak the same language. Man, I mean, yeah, you can't call it stealing, I suppose, but that's inspiration, I feel. I mean, you know, going from a novel to everything.
Speaker 3:If I'm not mistaken, there was money paid over the dispute, right? Yeah, yeah, so that's how you know. It's a big deal, like it's a shot-for-shot remake of Yojimbo, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's nuts and I mean you know same thing. It's like maybe not stolen, but people were inspired by it and at a certain point in time it wasn't cool to say that you were inspired by something.
Speaker 3:It's so funny Like a bunch of Italian dudes make this film about Westerners, about cowboys in America, but it's like a shot-for-shot remake of this Japanese film Absolute wild Buck, wild nonsense.
Speaker 2:And you know, without the internet, without cell phones, without the instant means of communication that we have.
Speaker 3:Some people would get away with things for a while Many years, yeah, and then have to pay a nice little kickback to the dude. That's good stuff, man.
Speaker 1:Well, since we're kind of I mean, toward the end we're not done yet, though Okay I wanted to ask what are some of the films in the Greer cinematic universe that you would recommend, or personal favorites?
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean kind of tag it on there, definitely Outrage. The Outrage trilogy is excellent. That's Takeshi Kitano. Then I would say, like there's a. I would say like Seven Samurai was a huge inspiration to me and a big part of why I wanted to make film, but I would keep it on the list. But the one Kurosawa movie I would put above that is like you have to watch, is dreams um, that's what I am seeing is amazing.
Speaker 2:It is, uh, it's literally. He used to sketch like crazy and um, he there's, like some of his arts out there, like he's got art books to release hard to get, mind you very hard to get.
Speaker 2:I don't have them yet I will, but uh nice yeah it's like he would just write down his dreams and make notes and it I think, if not four, it might be six like little short films that he shot about just these dreams that he's had, and it varies from tons of different topics. Like, without going into the going into the weeds about it, it's like you could really say the same kind of thing about like miyazaki, and it's like all of the Miyazaki films that he makes, like the Ghibli films, it's like all of that stuff. It's like, while it's this fantasy stuff, it's making some kind of commentary on the world out there and these dreams are like very much so the same kind of thing where it's crazy.
Speaker 3:You see a bunch of like there's this field and the rainbow, but then there's like this shot with all these soldiers, yeah.
Speaker 2:Whoa, that's the best one. That's the best one, Okay. So like I mean, if not that, then it's like the fox's wedding.
Speaker 2:But, again, without going crazy into it. It's like there's a lot of folklore, there's a lot of stuff like that that's going on in there at the same time that there's, like you know, not heavy critique, but there's some stuff that's kind of being the more you kind of go in there you'll you'll see some good stuff, but it's visually so amazing. And then one other one that's usually like a sneak that people like don't really think about me is I really like Road to Perdition. Oh, road to Perdition, I think is Sam Mendes, I feel like is his name For some reason.
Speaker 3:I thought you were going to say Snatch.
Speaker 2:No, snatch is incredible too, but I was.
Speaker 3:I thought that's what you I don't know why, but that's just what I felt like you were going to say. It's another one that like my dad showed me.
Speaker 2:Oh, seeing a trending theme here A through line and he's like a top hit man for whatever family and he's got two sons and something happens where he tries very hard to keep his family away from his business, keep them clean, pure away from it. Something happens his son sneaks along in the car, ends up seeing a hit go down and they find out and it turns into this big thing and the rest of the film is about him trying to get his son safe. Whoa, and another movie I watched with my dad. Tom Hanks is a hit man. It's great Whoa. And it's like Chicago.
Speaker 2:It's like that period of time where it's like early American mobsters and, uh, you know, like they got the Chicago typewriters and like it's, it's, it's, it's amazing. There's a lot of great action. It's it's kind of a thriller. But, um, I would really encourage that one because it's beautiful. I think, same time that I have a deep appreciation for just Japanese cinema. I want to just go and live in the Japanese countryside. I will go and work in a field, I'm fine, I just want to be out there and see that landscape always. But there's so much about America that is shown beautifully in this film, just all of that kind of stuff, and I think that it's the first film that I really kind of dug into analyzing, like analyzing and okay.
Speaker 2:I'm a real like kind of anti in that it's like a writing exercise I'm sure you've been through. It's like why are the like where the curtains are blue? And like what is that?
Speaker 3:I have heard you ask me the phrase what? Why were the curtains blue so many times?
Speaker 2:I I reject it very strongly most of the time where it's like you kind of you have to show and not tell, and like I think that sometimes we take things, and especially things we like very well, and we try to dissect them so far down that you lose anything that's relevant. And I think when you kind of get into the weeds of that like sometimes it's like hey, this is definitely blue to make you understand and experience this, and like you kind of associate these things, these colors, with emotions. There's a lot of that that exists in like viewed media and I don't hate that. I just kind of feel that when there's a simple enough discussion of like yeah, dude, he's sad, like you don't have to go that deep sometimes, and I think that that's like kind of touching back on something you said earlier where it's like talking about laymen, it's like I think that this is art to be experienced and enjoyed by everyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I feel like sometimes, in our attempts to enjoy this thing on a higher level, we can exclude a lot of people, and that's why I would say for sure, like gangster stuff, gangster stuff huge for me. But it's like you know, most people are willing to check that out and see that it's something that gangsters have always interested people.
Speaker 3:Accessibility. Accessibility, absolutely. But yeah, yeah, we are thinking about that a lot at the ARLS these days and I can have a conversation with you about that. Why, off mic? That's a trade secret that I can't say copy that we've.
Speaker 1:You've given us a lot of advice. Just what's your golden, golden rule of advice that you give to aspiring filmmakers?
Speaker 2:oh, I mean, I kind of thought like this is kind of one of those things where I was like I feel like this is kind of a question and I I talked it over with some people and like everything that I had started to say, just shooting from the hip, just trying to express like what kind of advice would I give somebody, I feel like it came off incredibly like negative and it kind of like, in a way that's like sort of a like dim your light kind of thing and I think that like, like thinking on it and trying to figure that out over the drive to get here. I would kind of word it in a helpful way of just like something Zach said earlier that I've kind of been repeating, repeating, repeating. But it's like show up and be willing to learn. Um, I think that in film, like a lot of things, in a lot of places, we have so much that is growing and new and these crazy industries that have changed, whether that be with like computer, computer engineered things, whether you get to the world of like ai, and this crazy amount of just straight theft that people aren't using is generative. It's just like I'm claiming this is mine. There's so many things that people are just moving into, that exist, that are new industries and are like kind of defined by you and what you know. And film is also one of those things that's growing and being defined by you and what you know. But just like I kind of want to say, I mean even in music to a point. But it's like there's this knowledge, there's this information, there are these trade secrets, there are these techniques that, like there's usually an old guy who is just willing to teach you and like you know, if you come up and you're just like, all right, tell me how to do this stuff, hurry up here, I'm out time. Like you're getting ready, you're getting old, you're getting ready to leave.
Speaker 2:Like you know, nobody likes to be treated that way and the thing that I would encourage you to do is, you know one always be respectful to your peers, whether that be, like I said, pas are a very often cited starting place for people. If you're lucky enough to get an internship, you can end up in the lighting department, but if you don't, you may start as a PA, you may start as craft services, you might start as catering, but treat everybody as well as you would treat your best friend. It's like the golden rule of you know how you would treat others, how you want to be treated. I would say treat them better and just be kind and be real with people, and especially your seniors, your elders, in these positions in this industry. If you find yourself, as I have multiple times, with a guy that's older than you working the exact same job as you one, there's a reason that guy has that job. Sometimes that reason is that guy is just friends with somebody else and that's why he's here, but it usually comes along with. He is friends with that guy because he knows how this works.
Speaker 2:I was talking about, like these crazy ways we used to do lighting things, these crazy tools that we use, and like you don't know about any of that stuff if you don't see it. So once you kind of move through things, sometimes there's a tool that already exists. It's great, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. But other times, like there's just gems of information there and ways that you can be very successful in your craft and, you know, have something to say and have something to bring in, where you can go and learn these things from people and be inspired by this stuff. Like let the traditions continue Like that's. What I would say is just find somebody that you can learn from, learn what you can and grow with them, and you find another person that you can learn from and learn what you can and grow with them. And you know it shouldn't be. There should only be so many industry secrets. But being good at your job shouldn't be an industry secret.
Speaker 3:So you know I like that. Don't grow from somebody, grow with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I like that, I like that, and they may teach you how to make cafecito later.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, hey, you know. Last question we ask everyone the same question on the show what are you currently reading? Or, alternatively, you can choose which one. What book has had an impact on your life?
Speaker 2:Oh, I would say it's like it's a yearly read for me. I have this little like beat-up copy I got gifted way back Akira Kurosawa's something like an autobiography and, um, kurosawa didn't, didn't speak very much English and some somebody somewhere just happened to be interested in Kurosawa and, uh, somebody else that knew Kurosawa just happened to talk to him and he had expressed an interest in, you know, getting an autobiography written and putting his story down. So they met and I believe that this author name lost right now uh, translated for a couple of things and was kind of curacao's personal translator, well, and they ended up working on this thing. But it's kind of, I mean, an autobiography and it's from start to finish on this life and I think it's super interesting to me and made such an impact on my life solely because in this kind of reflection over these, you know, sometimes insignificant, sometimes major events in your life, it's like how those things become this mountain of who you are.
Speaker 2:And I would say Kurosawa is like this mountain of a man and you just kind of go through and it's like learning about Kurosawa's life and some of the things that have happened to him. And you know it started with this interest in movies. His older brother worked in a theater and he like would go there and that like these positive memories associated with film and like didn't necessarily want to be a filmmaker, he wanted to do something entirely different but like just kind of found his way into this position. And then their industry and also that side of the business is different. But it's like started just being an assistant director because it was like a company job and it was paying and like I would not say like crazy good, but it was good enough money to keep you busy and you weren't, you know, fighting.
Speaker 2:So it's like you kind of go into all this sort of easily said propaganda where it's just kind of like we're propping our country up. This is wartime. Filmmaking is propaganda a lot of the time. But it's like got in and did that and learned a lot about making film and learned a lot from a lot of people. And some of that advice that I have expressed is inspired from Kurosawa learning that you got to trust those people who do this for your living and learn how to do that with them. And I mean definitely he would work. He would work with people building these sets, he would work with people putting all the lights out and he was not certified in a lot of these things, but he would always try to help and I think that that's one of the big things that super inspired me and has driven my mantra, I guess for now, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I'm not going to let you get away from this. What was the most recent thing you read? I know it had to have been some kind of manga Like what was it? Oh, Like that counts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, like that counts. Yeah, okay, okay, yeah. Well then, what I have most recently read and finished was probably Billy Bat oh, okay. Billy Bat. Billy Bat who it's like. It's definitely fan translated. There's not an official translation right now, but Naoki Urasawa is a cartoonist.
Speaker 3:Cartoonist mangaka mangaka, cartoon, whatever you want to say A god of manga. He's incredible.
Speaker 2:His art is incredible, but all of his stories are excellent. Anybody who is trying to get into anime and manga. A lot of people don't want to read. I don't know what it is. I think it's a very it's a problem that we have in our society because a lot of our information is there and it is not being digitized.
Speaker 3:Hey dude, you're preaching to the choir. I know, I know where I am.
Speaker 2:But, it's just like a huge thing there is that he is widely regarded as excellent. Something on Netflix I'd recommend as well is Pluto.
Speaker 3:Pluto. The Pluto adaptation was so good, it's like eight episodes.
Speaker 2:I think they're an hour each maybe. They're an hour each and every single episode has a different vibe it's.
Speaker 3:Are you familiar with Astro Boy? Yeah, it is a reimagining of Astro Boy.
Speaker 2:One of the bigger stories in the. Astro Boy mythos he retells with his own flair, with a signature from Tezuka's family.
Speaker 1:So it was a big deal then.
Speaker 2:It's still huge now, but he tells crazy, crazy, crazy good stories. And another great one is Monster. I think is on Netflix right now, is it yeah?
Speaker 3:Monster is another good one. Before I go too crazy talking about that's like when you think about people, when people are looking at like, what are the like artsy or literary or whatever your rosebuds, yeah, your rosebuds.
Speaker 2:Whatever Monster is one of them.
Speaker 3:It's a gritty detective story about one of probably the best written villains in manga. I would say Absolutely ice cold, like. Make me wake up in the middle of the night thinking, yeah, this guy actually exists, doesn't he? This is a real dude who walks.
Speaker 2:Monster.
Speaker 1:Yeah monster.
Speaker 2:And then you know I could list all of his work. I'm going to stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could but.
Speaker 2:Billy Bat is this story that is about? It's like kind of moving through time, in that this guy is a manga con. He happens to draw this comic about a uh, you know, kind of a detective noir bat character and it's like think about like Looney Tunes-y maybe not Looney Tunes at that point, but like Mickey Mouse sort of idea and, um, as he's writing this, somebody comes in and is asking a question. It's like during the Red Scare and he's in America and they're like thinking that someone across the street is a communist and they're commandeering his studio to do a stakeout and then one of the officers just happens to see his comic and it's like, oh yeah, I saw this when I was stationed in Japan. And he's like there's no way, like I just drew this, like it's, I started doing this like two years ago. And he's like nope, nope, definitely seen it, it exists in Japan. There's like what? So artistic integrity goes? That's crazy. I can't Maybe. I saw this when I was growing up in Japan.
Speaker 3:He's a Japanese artist. There's a word for this cryptomnesia when you see something and it goes into your subconscious and then you recreate it later and then you freak out because you were like, did I see this? That's the word for that cryptomnesia.
Speaker 1:I don't know that either. But yeah, that's weird.
Speaker 2:But he goes to Japan to figure it out and starts hunting down the person that created this and it goes into this crazy, crazy, crazy story. If that's enough of a hook, I hope it's enough of a hook. Scanlation fanlation is excellent. Sometimes there's just people don't think there's any money in this. It's Urasawa Pay and translate this officially it would be wonderful. But sometimes people don't think that and there's a lot of great people who are fans and they go and find these things and scan and translate.
Speaker 3:It's wild to think about that. Urasawa would not get that treatment, just considering what the name, the weight the name carries, because it's not like Pluto is new, nope, the adaptation's new, but the manga is like what? 2001, something like that monster probably came like right after yep yeah we got.
Speaker 2:We've got that, we've got pluto, we've got monster. We have 20th century boys just finished 20th century boys.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:His current work asadora is being done like there's tons of stuff, but it's like a couple of his older works haven't been officially translated.
Speaker 3:yet who put out 20th Century Boys, dark Horse?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think Dark Horse is the longest.
Speaker 3:That's how you know it's dire is when Dark Horse put it out. They pulled a lot of good manga, when they were huge, saved it from Western obscurity. Berserk primary Of course, that's the reason I even know about it, honestly. Huh, I'm going to get that poster framed. Man, it's sitting in a stack of stuff in my office that needs to get the treatment before it goes on the wall. Yeah, It'll happen, it'll happen.
Speaker 1:One of these days.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You did a good job, hey thank you. Thank you. I mean props to Miles here. Thank you for coming through and sharing some knowledge. It's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you, let me yap, I'll go.
Speaker 3:I've had this plan for so long too Probably as long as I've been doing the podcast. I'm like I've got to get Miles out here. But it's not an easy thing to call up your buddy and be like hey, on a weekday can you just drive over to my city? Yeah, you got plans after this. Like, are you going to drive back to ATL?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm probably just going to head back. I've got a whole like a buddy of mine is having some car issues so we're trying to go down to visit another friend that's in town and it's like a whole rescue operation. But then I gotta get him there, do New Years and then get him back.
Speaker 3:So it's like yeah, not even just his film like career, but like this dude's got like so many international friends like flying through and like being like show me the city Miles and he's like okay let's go to the aquarium let's go to the aquarium.
Speaker 1:He's thinking about living in a city. Right got a lot of people coming through wanting to see it.
Speaker 3:I mean it's what he wants in life. It let's go to the aquarium Just thinking about living in a city, right Like got a lot of people coming through wanting to see it. I mean it's what he wants in life, it's his dharma, he wants to be the guy who knows all the cool stuff to show you.
Speaker 2:This shouldn't die in obscurity. You should see this yeah.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to hit stop because that was our show everybody.
Speaker 2:Hooray.
Speaker 3:Thank you for listening. This is classic city vibes. Anthony has graduated. You will see more of his stuff uh here soon. Uh do you have any uh ideas for your first couple interviews?
Speaker 1:you thought about that at all definitely wanting to get, uh, jeff montgomery, the leader of the athens film office or the director. Yes, I'm trying to get him here to just talk to him about what we, what's going on in the city, what we can do around here with that new Athena Studios.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so yeah, we'd love to put that up soon, sweet Well, look forward to that. Next few episodes I might do one, who knows? Now I got someone who's excellent at doing it, I can just push it off on him. I'll do all the editing. Sounds good.