Latest / Story Scaling / Camera as Connection: B-Hill’s Storytelling Spark

Transcript

Camera as Connection: B-Hill’s Storytelling Spark · Story Scaling

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Story Scaling by PodcastVideoscom, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind and the growth.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, boys and girls, this is Story Scaling.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I am your host, bang, and I am here with a great.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I don't even know what camera to look at, but I'm just all over the place.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I am here with a great brother of mine, brian Hill, aka B Hill.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to call you B Hill for the sake of the podcast.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I figured you would.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: That's why I brought in the aka.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Like, the listeners are going to get to know you really well, so you know Brian Hill.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to read this bio.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: You tell me if you approve of it.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yep, if we need to add something, take something out.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Today's guest is Brian Hill, the creative force behind Combi Creative in Fayetteville, arkansas.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: After earning his stripes locally and launching full-service campaigns, from studio shoots to brand consulting, brian took documentary filmmaking to the next level with Relentless Ride, a powerful exploration of human endurance, across Arkansas' gravel back roads.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: His blend of polished production skills and intimate storytelling makes Combi a go-to partner for brands and audiences looking for content that truly resonates.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Let's dive into how he builds visual narratives that play on emotion Sounds good.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: To me Is that it Sounds a little too good.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I had a homie sit in the seat and say I don't hear people talk about me like that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: No, so when you hear this, it's also funny, because I hate being put in a box.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so when you hear this, what it's also funny because I hate being put in a box, yeah, and so that is one facet of me, that's that world and I love it and that's so honoring and I know that's what this is for.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So I'm like sure I'm a father.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I'm a husband.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I love sports, I'm into you, know whatever.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: But at the core of what I do and what I'm chasing right now, professionally or as an income as well as creative.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's on, it's, it's dialed in.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I don't need anything else, bro, there is there's few people that if you put d in front of their name, it's justified.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Stop, you might be there, bro, like you might be bb hill.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when I, when I was first meeting you, it was almost like when you, when you guys, were introducing me to your friend puffy I can't even remember his full name at this point, but like there were stories about puffy, like he disappeared into the woods and came back with a, a fort built and all these different.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean like, and in that friend group, all y'all the same.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Like, like before I met you, it was the same thing.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Like, bro, this dude is crazy with a camera, he got the sickest Nike collection.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Like just a bunch of different, and so, like it's, it's, it's dope to you know, know you personally, and that you came in and sat with us.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Bro, where do we start fulfilling journey?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, let's, let's go to the beginning.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah for sure.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: So the beginning started with me.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Man, I love people, I love kids, I love influence, um, and not in a way of I want people to be like me.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I think I love everyone's unique story and that's what I'm realizing now as a superpower.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: But I think in my early, early twenties it was oh, there's a kid, a kid struggling, like let's see how he is and let's see what this is, or let's get some more kids to this event working in non-profit world and doing that kind of stuff.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: A fun way to do that is doing silly, goofy videos.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Get kids hype.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Back in the day it was very different than it is now.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Not everybody had a camera that they can make them.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're talking 2000s, early 2000s, so so with that it was very much man.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I love to geek out on knowledge and so teaching myself is everything.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: I was a biologist, I was a chemist in college.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: That's not what I do now, right, but it was.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Chasing information, I think, is the is the most, and when I partner that with my relational desires of people, I chase information in their lives and it's fun because I get to ask questions and I get to dive in, but then making silly videos to draw them in, to be able to have those relationships is kind of how it started.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: It was very weird.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I wasn't like a film nerd or geek or any of that kind of how it started, which is very weird.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I wasn't like a film nerd or geek or any of that kind of way.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: It was more of I care about people and I I want them to feel comfortable, to feel a word that's been used recently about me that I actually am so honored by was disarmed, and I want them to drop some of those things in their life so that they can just be themselves.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: They don't have to put the front up, they don't, they just be yourself and that, and then we can connect and that kind of thing.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: So that's how it started.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: A camera, to me, was a tool to be able to connect with people and it's still, to this day, the reason why I'm around cameras, um, and why I use it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: My seat is different in some ways as director, director and producer and things like that.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I still hold the camera a lot because I love that creative outlet, but connecting with the people is is why I do it, like there's no other reason why I do this, wow we just gotta let that breathe for a second, bro.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Like that's crazy.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I'm down.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love silence.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: A camera is a tool to connect with people.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Wow, when you first started, it was strictly passion projects.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Man, I want to highlight this person, I want to tell this story, I want to get to know this person.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I want to serve in this way.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: At what point?
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Because we're talking over two decades in the game now at what point did you say, man, I'm good at this.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Or man, this can be more than a hobby, like?
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Is there a defining moment or was that a gradual transition over time?
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: um, there was defining moments for sure.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: There was, uh, people coming to me saying, hey, this guy is trained in this.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: We want you over over him, you're better.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: And I was like, well, say what?
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm doing.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have no pressure on me.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: When hobbies become professions, it gets a whole lot harder.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about the game is different.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk about that.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so when I make it for myself or when I get to do something, so when I make it for myself or when I get to do something, there the expectation is mine.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: If it fails, it's OK, and I'm OK with that.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: If I submit something to somebody who has a contract in paying me, oh, that's a heavier burden, because if they don't like it, I'm like what do they want or what do they need?
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: And so there's two different things.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: And so people came to me and trusted me.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: But I remember those early days of like am I phony?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Can I do this?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Did I fool them?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Because no one told me to make this, I just made it with my idea.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Now they're giving me creative parameters and those are a lot harder to work in Now.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I thrived in it more than I thought I would.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: But there was a lot of fear early on and I'll say this the first jobs I had paid very little and the barrier of entry into those jobs was lower.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I would travel to third world countries and visit people who were doing incredible things for nonprofits and try to make their present known.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Now, mind you, we're talking 2005,.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: 2006, 2006.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Building a website was hard, making videos was hard.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: So when I gave them stuff to communicate what they were doing to a base, they were beyond grateful.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: So if we're in a different landscape today than we were, again, for sure but that's how it started.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: It was basically me going okay, I can do this.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Now I have a skill.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: How do I take it a step further?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Um, but as that grew into being actual viable as a job, yeah, the people who want stuff, you're like I gotta I gotta make sure I give them exactly what they need or expect, for sure.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: So, learning brands and learning story and learning narrative I would dive into everything that I ever created, every video that I ever made, before I even started thinking about what am I gonna do?
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Not to be not to make exactly what they had made, but knowing what they liked, so that my V1 or V2 was good enough to push through.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and to this day, I stand on that.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, knowing who somebody is and what their brand is is so important if you're making content for them yeah and that's in the commercial side, that's not.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I still always make fun videos or make things with my family now, or make things whatever that I want to make, and I think the balance there not treating a client as my personal creative project is big and I think it.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: That alone has produced longevity for me to not think that doing a video for the Fortune One company in the world that I need to put my spin on it as heavy as I think I do.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: They want me, but they also have their brand and their voice and I need to align with that.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: If I need a passion project, I can go after that.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: I can do that myself and I'll enjoy it more.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: And I don't get hammered creative.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of burnout in that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: When you do it as with that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if I need a passion project, I can go after that and do that myself.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'll enjoy it more.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't get hammered creative.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of burnout in that.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: When you do it as a job, yeah so, yeah, oh, there's a lot of points that you touched on and just now, uh, when you talk about going from hobby to profession, something that I've experienced in my field, as a musician spent years.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: You know, I think first time I recorded I was probably 12.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: So literally my entire life.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: All I know is creating because I'm a creator, not for monetary gain, not for another motive, just because I like to make things.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Another motive, just because I like to make things.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And then there's a defining conversation where it's like okay, you can either do this for a hobby and create on your own terms and do it when you feel like it, or you can take it serious and make it more like a job.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: And those are two completely separate steps.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Because if you wanna do the hobby route, then cool.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Whenever you feel like vibing, go vibe.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: But when it's a job, even when you don't feel like working, just like probably your normal job, you still have to show up.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: And so for you, what was one thing that you noticed significantly changed in terms of like, oh man, it's not a hobby, no more, now I have to treat it with this level of reverence and respect and show up in this way, like what was?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Do you have something specific?
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: um, there have been jobs that I've been on that have gone poorly, that I did not.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I assumed I had the vision and I didn't ask enough questions in the front end or communicate enough.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Things had been shot and and then you're just chasing on the back end.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: You're like, how do I make this person happy?
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Are their expectations out of line?
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: And of course you're like they're crazy.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Like this song's good in this thing, like I don't want to go find another song, or they can't pay for the song they want.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: You know people asking for a bang track on their video.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: It's like y'all can't afford bang.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: You gotta, you gotta up the price.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: You know the price going up no, sink price is going through a roof so it's stuff that you just go communicate up front, make sure you're aligned well before anything happens.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Show examples if you need.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Whatever it is, there's been too many times I've gotten into the weeds and had to sit down and just be like I don't know how to get out of this, and there was one project that in particular, that it was a complete reshoot and redo, which is fine, um, but it's not fun and you're not making money at that point.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: You're losing money on it, so, which is okay.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I think the the learnings are always come back to communication in that client's creative relationship, like finding that alignment is is huge and understanding what is needed is huge, and it happens.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: You think it would get easier, but even still, we get hot asks all the time 24 hour turnaround, 36 hour turnouts and just crazy stuff, and it's awesome.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: So you're trying to shoot and make sure you're asking the right questions at the same time, and so those are the things that have propelled me forward.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Is creating the guardrails in the pre-production, in the process, to where it doesn't spiral as bad as it has before.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: And if I, yeah, and it's not fun yeah when somebody's not pleased with what you put out there or even remotely critical.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: When those comment sections blow up on something, you're just like huh, yeah, I thought this was good.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: You love the like.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And you're're like I thought it was good.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't have sent it to you if I did.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: So there's things in that world and that's going to be a hurdle for anybody getting into anything you do.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's unique to video or music.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I think there's expectations that people are going to have when they're paying you to do something, and so I think, if that's what the the relationship is, figuring out how to navigate that through communication, through understanding, yeah, through empathy, putting yourself in their shoes.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Who's above them?
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: You know, there's plenty of times that I think I I've sat across from somebody and I quickly realized that their story has changed and what was asked, yeah, and I think it's a person above them.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe that changed the story and they didn't get to communicate as well.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: And so being empathetic to that person and not make them the bad guy and be like, okay, how do we fix it so that your boss is happy with what you asked me to do?
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: So the transition into that, I think, has just been a lot more.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It adds layers of complexity to a project versus you brought up.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: You know the puffy aura like I went and filmed him in the woods.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: There's no plan.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't have to have a plan.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: What I put out there people love, it's great.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: But if you know, some mega corporation comes and asks me to do something, I have to be sure that when I start I'm giving them what they expect or need.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: With my creative spin, yeah, but if there's no creative brief, if a client just says, go make a video, yeah, it's your job to be sure that they're going to be okay with.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Even if you come up with a plan on your own, take it back to them before you shoot.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing that I'm like, I gotta do this, yeah I'm hearing you say the difference between hobby and professional is just an area of intention.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Conversations need to happen, strategic planning needs to happen.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: You need to get something approved, whereas when you're doing it just for a hobby, there's almost this level of ignorance or freedom, like blissfulness, like I don't.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know what it's going to turn out, I don't know what I'm going to use.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to go out here and create dead on.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, um, you mentioned something the comment section.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a crazy place, it's a dark place it's, it's, it's wild down there, man.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: The comment section.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Do you re-comment?
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: no, oh well, I do.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: If I do a lot, I mean, yeah, I, yes, do they affect you?
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, of course I can't say that it doesn't.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Most of my stuff doesn't necessarily get commented on yeah hopefully in my corporate, in the, the stuff I make for that um, and then, oddly enough, a lot of stuff we make personal.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: We're not big enough to probably have detractors when I make a movie or make something else.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Most of the reviews have been good, most of the things, yeah, because most of the reviews are my mom.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: So that's fair.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just, and we need that.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: We do so.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I think that's the but it.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's not comments, maybe it's somebody and I say comment section.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: There's review boards that we send stuff into for certain clients and so a copywriter might come jumping in out of nowhere yeah and say something and you're just like who is this person from california commenting on this in this corporate?
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: like who?
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Who are you and why are you saying this kind of thing and where did you jump in?
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So there's people like that that I'll get frustrated with, but at the same time, I'll just try to be patient and be like welcome.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Let me explain this to you.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: If you still feel that way, let's make sure that the highest stakeholder agrees with you before I go and make everyone happy.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Where is the line?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So speak to the person who is not creating now actively.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Speak to the person who is not creating now actively, the person that will listen to this and is actively not putting stuff out there for the fear of what people will say in that comment section.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: What do you have to say to that person?
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: If that's your biggest fear, then, uh, I think that's really hard.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Grow up and do it anyway.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Is that what you're saying, B-Hill?
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Is that a B-Hill direct quote?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Get over yourself and put the freaking crap out there.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe I would say, yeah, just do it, because you're not going to be fulfilled until you take the positive with the negative, you're going to get a positive comment.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Read it three times and then read one negative, and then read the next positive one five times, yeah, and then read like whatever it is, um, it's okay that people don't like what you make.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's gonna be normal.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Like there's nothing wrong with that.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you, there's no right way to shoot a photo.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: There's no right way to make a song.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Like, if you don't, if, if you do it the right way, if everybody does the right way, everything would be so derivative from the start of whatever the art is until now.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: So you have to put a spin on it and that's going to make some dude with a white mustache, white beard upset because back in 2005, we didn't shoot it that way.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Get like.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: You know I.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: There's new stuff.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: There's new technology.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: There's new way to do things.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be, um, hurt if somebody doesn't like the way you did it, sure, or did something about it.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Now, if you want to be commercially viable, it's like you have to have fans.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: You could just be the bad guy and everything.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: But putting stuff out there and having people say it's not great, use it as fuel like great.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Like, if you believe that you should be making stuff and that's what energizes you the most.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: You need to be doing it, because being a cpa isn't gonna fulfill that for you, or being a?
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Nothing wrong with cpas.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my father shout out to the cpas yeah, what's up dad?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: um, but that's what I'm saying, like, if that's what you, if you aspire to create and that's something you need to do, then do it.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: You just have to turn the comments off.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: If you need to, I guess still put it out there yeah I don't know.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: No, that's real.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: At least start that way, at least still put it out, at least make it.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: You know, perspective is important, would you say a thousand.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: It's perspective is everything perspective is everything it really is.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend of mine and he's like it doesn't matter what people think positive or negative, don't let the, don't let the the positive go to your head, don't let the negative get to your heart is what they say, and it's because, in the grand scheme of life, it really don't matter.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: No, you know what I mean.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Like if, if you are all for this and you love it, then great.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: If you despise it and you hate it, that's kind of cool too, like you gave it a shot and it served the purpose it needed to serve by just being out there.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Yep, you know what I mean.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: It's interesting In music things have never been so fast, churning, never Literally here today, gone tonight, type of thing.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And so I hear these people give full reviews on albums that they heard once and I'm like man, there's so much detail, there's so much nuance, like you don't even know what you're listening to.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: But it's also okay if you just don't like it.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Everything isn't for everybody, you know, and so it's funny.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I think we're predisposed to the negative comments, like somebody reviewed one of my songs and everybody is like flames, flame.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: I think it was 90 percent of people 98 percent of people was like this is fire.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Two% of people was like this is fire.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: 2% of people was like this is trash.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: But I'm still going down to that one person.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Of course, you know what you're talking about, bro.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: But I think we need it a little bit.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Like you know, playing sports growing up, it's like glad my coach didn't tell me I was the best at anything I did starting in seventh grade.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Like no, I need to get better.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tell grade.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Like no, I need to get better.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me that that that handles loose or that shots off.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Like tell me that my composition is could be a little bit better.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Tell me that it's okay.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Like the criticism doesn't have to ruin who you are as an artist.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Sure, use it to either drive you turn it off if you need to sure, but be who you are but also be open to it.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think there there is something to if you're open to criticism or open to learning or changing, then there's good in that as well.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: If, if you're completely closed off and siloed and in your bubble, I don't think that's the best thing either there's a clip that went viral months ago of Pharrell talking to an aspiring designer.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he tells him don't take it personal, take it serious and take care of it.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, so good.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: I'm just like, of course, pharrell said that yeah, Pharrell knows way more than Virginia Beach.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Virginia Beach, shout out to the clip, the knocker of it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: One of the first conversations we had, you told me that when you were just starting, you would take a camera everywhere you went, because that allowed you to get into places that you might not otherwise get into without that camera.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Yep, you were on the floor of games.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: You were in different, you know spaces.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Um, and it changed my perspective, because there is a level of preparation that comes if you were more prepared than your skill set was.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: At that point you were just starting.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you, all you had was like the confidence that I could do this and be here.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: And you know and I'm gonna figure it out as I go talk about how important it is to act and do and put yourself in these spaces, as opposed to struggling with the paralysis of analysis, like, maybe it's like, oh, I don't have the money for the gear.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know how to record this.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, I can't.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: You know how much of the journey is just showing up, like you did when you were taking that camera everywhere.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, being in the right space at the right time is most of how you get good content.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Like it is what it is and there's no reason why, especially today.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, we have amazing cameras on our phones, we have amazing recording apps, we have amazing everything at our fingertips.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: I get that.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Not everybody has everything, but you have something I.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I know there's access.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: If you don't hit me up, I'll give you.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I got cameras sitting like they're taking a camera with you to the place, just.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Even if you're not hit me up, I'll give you.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I got cameras sitting like they're taking a camera with you to the place, just even if you're not planning on shooting, there might be a moment you're like, let me try this.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: And the amount of times I try something and don't complete it because it wasn't what I thought it could be is a lot.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: So even if you see the one reel or see the one thing that wasn't the first try at it, usually that wasn't the one that there's repetition involved.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: There's skill building.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Everybody's first video isn't their best video.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: It never is going to happen.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: But having tools in your hands at any given moment, whatever you're doing, will just make you better.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Like there's mundane stuff every day but if shot well, with the right track on it, it becomes beautiful, it becomes art.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Like you can film mundane things and make them cool and get yourself better at your craft by doing that like it doesn't.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be some like amazing script that you're writing and sending into film festivals and so it.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: It can be as simple as filming a bike ride and thinking of different scenes.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: You can film and do things like that Because if you're available and then as you're riding your bike, you're like oh, what's going on over here?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I have a camera, I'll walk up and all of a sudden you start taking photos confidently, like you belong.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: No one asks questions and the next thing you know you're like I mean I think I probably told you like I walked a camera that was a stupid little camera into Memphis Grizzlies games and sat on the floor and walked in the locker room with a fake.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: It wasn't fake, it was a real press pass based on a university like news reporting thing.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: You just say, hey, we're with these people.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Can we come back?
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, we'd love to grow into your market in central arkansas.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Cool, we drive over to memphis, get on the floor just because we have a camera, shoot some photos, whatever.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: There's power in having a tool.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying, go break rules and be where you shouldn't be, but I'm saying, if use your tools as ways to capture stuff, people also want content of themselves for you.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, if somebody comes up to you and you're free and they're like hey, bank, can I make something real fast, all in right, like get some photos, get out the door it's great, like.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: So don't be afraid.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Like, use it all the time, get better at it.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Put it out there if you think it's good.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: If you don't think it's good, don't put it out there.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Also, don't put stuff out that you don't want to be making.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Don't go shoot a coffee shop video or don't go shoot a wedding video that you saw somebody else shoot just because you think that's what people want to see.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: If that's not what you want to be shooting, don't.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Don't.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: That's what you're going to be hired for, I promise so.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you won't see a wedding video on my reel.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nothing wrong like, bless all you people who work with the brides, mamas and stuff, but not for me.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so take your camera, shoot what you want to shoot and put it out there and be your own voice.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: I think there's something to that and I think it'll give you access to things that you yeah.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I mean I've met some pretty crazy people just because my camera yeah, all right, we're about to wrap this up with.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Give me your five storyteller slash creator commitments.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Five can be a bit ambitious.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: If that's too many, you could do like 30, but what are the five things?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: You would tell that person that, after they listen, they don't got no choice but to get their butt up and start yeah, I think the five things storyteller commitments for me are authenticity to yourself and to your subject.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: It is the most important thing.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Um creates, just create.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be video, like if you do video, I do video for work.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: I don't want to create videos for fun.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Sometimes I do photos, sometimes I make art, sometimes I sketch on, procreate on my ipad like create, create something and it'll make you better at maybe what you're most skilled at.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Um, that's good.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: View the world differently.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Look for, look for a different point of view, a different perspective than your own, and sit in it.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Don't push yours out.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Sit in it and let that be a way that you can create.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Um, make a decision.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Decision making is being creative.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Um and finish.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I think finish, finish is a one.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Like even if you hate it at 50%, finish it and put it away.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: I get it to completion, whatever it is.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Unfinished products are fine, like.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: I know that those happen or it happens all the time.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: You're never done, but get it.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Get it as close as you can.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Don't give up on something, because you'll either learn something, you'll learn how to push through.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: There's going to be a project that you go on, where the lighting was terrible.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: You couldn't bring a light in whatever, and you're forced to finish.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: So if you do it on your own stuff or on something you're creating, that's a skill set that is much needed.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: How can I make this work?
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: It doesn't work now.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: How can I make it work?
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: How can I shift it?
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: What?
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: What can I do?
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: So?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Make decisions and finish.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: So I think those are five.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Those are five good ones that I can stand on being authentic, create other, new point of view, like look for other people's point of view, make decisions and finish.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Just finish, finish, finish.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Woo, that was off the top of the hill.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Sorry if I forgot something.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: That's gas.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: No, that's off the top, bro.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: You freestyle that.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably say something to her, but that's it.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: That's what we needed right now.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: What does she got?
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Where can we keep up with you?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Anything we need to be looking forward to?
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: man, uh, creatively, right now I'm a video storyteller, but what I'm working on currently is I bought a massive roll of photo paper to shoot, so I have an old school camera bellows.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: It looks like an accordion Really.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have an 8x10 and a 4x5.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to do 4x5 prints.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: I'm going to shoot my son and daughter with my good friend Tyson Banks.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: We're going to shoot some film portraits of them.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: And then I bought a roll of film that is 50 inches wide by like 98 feet long, but I'm going to cut it at 62.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to make a five foot by four foot, basically, portrait of my son and daughter, so bigger than they are.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: But I'm going to do it all analog, so in dark room and stuff like that.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: So it's just learning the process, learning working with my hands and everything like that so it's just learning the process, learning working with my hands and everything's like that.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: So it's just stuff like that that I'm like create fail I'm gonna screw up.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: It's gonna cost me money, but it's worth it, and it's not for anybody else, it's for me.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Tyson's I'm.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Tyson is the creative genius behind this and I'm basically I'm pushing him and paying for everything to be like.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Let's do this and see if we can make it happen, because it's just fun.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Outside of that man, you just catch me on the streets northwest arkansas.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: I'll be hanging out.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: So that's my next fun thing be healed.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, I got an inside and applause right here, bro.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, this is tight.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming man.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you, this is story scaling.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: I'm bang.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: This is b hill.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming man.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you, this is Story Scaling.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I'm Bang, this is B-Hill.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: We'll see y'all next time.